LINKDING

<blockquote>“There is the past and the not-past,” Heron said, blood dripping from their arm onto the nightingale floor. “Which is this?” “The not-past, you idiot.” Dog grunted as he peeled back Heron’s sleeve. He was in Heart of Storms, shoulders tense and eyes alive with lightning. With a tsk, he tore off a clean strip of bandage. “Hold still.”</blockquote> ➤ I love this!??? About an undefined relationship that is nonetheless vital to the characters involved (one male, one nonbinary)

<blockquote>“Hi, Becky.” She calls every year. If asked, Sam would not have a good explanation for why he picks up; Becky is unfailingly unpleasant and usually manages to call at a bad time. “Did it really happen?” Sometimes, when he's had a bad day, or when she's really being rude, or when he's just tired of playing therapist to someone he hasn't seen since they were ten, he considers saying no. “Did what happen?” he might say. Or “Sorry, who is this?” Or, if he really wanted to be cruel, he might just not pick up the phone. But—and here is the thing he cannot explain to other people—he knows why she calls, and he would never do that. If she didn't call, he would probably do it himself. He needs reassurance he isn't crazy as much as she does.</blockquote> ➤ Packs a lot into a very short story, telling you the important stuff through implications rather than spelling everything out

<blockquote>“Nah. We are one hundred percent shit-outta-luck,” she said, voice high and brittle as she leaned back from the computer. She gave a tight little laugh as she gestured at different possible trajectories, the different deflections achievable with nukes or booster rockets or heroic space missions. The wall of screens in front of us showed projected death tolls and ecological changes, with a lot of graphs that dropped sharply right at the end. “Earth is, uh … not to be melodramatic about it, but, absolutely doomed.”</blockquote> ➤ this is AMAZING

<blockquote>Where Genly Ai went, after Winter. [Written for Yuletide 2010.]</blockquote> ➤ oh, wow. Very effective at grounding in setting such that it evokes a strong consistent feeling throughout. Plus excellent alien anthropology

<blockquote>It is not an enviable position, being a bridge, particularly a bridge with visions. But sometimes, to build the future, that's what you need. Or: Harry and Corlath's daughter comes to Istan.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The thrilling sequel to Coco that you've all been waiting for! Miguel visits ... wait for it... wait for it... A LIBRARY. Or : Miguel probably can't prove that Ernesto is a murderer, but stupendous fuckbucket is still on the table.</blockquote> ➤ ohhhh dang this fic is INCREDIBLE

<blockquote>“It’s wastoures! They came through Newton and Blackhill and killed everything, and then they split into two big groups and one turned north, and the other’s coming here. I stay ahead of them and earn pennies by warning people.” Wastoures. Perhaps you have not heard of them, you people born a thousand years after Ada and Blanche and this runner—whose name is Hardourt, though his part in this story is nearly over: his name will not matter to you, though it matters to him. In your time they are gone, but in the twelfth century, every child knew of them, and adults as well. Wastoures: scarce larger than chickens but unfeathered and wingless, snake-necked and sharp-beaked and bright-clawed, with little arms ending in daggery talons. For long years there would be no wastoures (except in memory and dread), and then a population bloom, like duckweed choking an August pond, or locusts after a dry spring, or cicadas rising from the ground each seventeenth year. For reasons unknowable, they emerged in their scores of thousands from some unknown cave or forgotten Roman mine, and seethed like floodwater or plague across the land.</blockquote> ➤ I'm fascinated by the way the narrative continues to draw your attention to what might happen to the other characters Ada encounters throughout the story, and the structure of Story.

<blockquote>When Miles Vorkosigan is seventeen years old, he enters Hassadar District University to become an astrocartographer like his mother before him.</blockquote> ➤ YESSSS

<blockquote>As far as I know, dying in a malfunctioning shuttle does not violate the treaty. But I’m not a politician. (Seivarden finds herself in the hands of the Presger. If they even have hands.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>A detective is called to a space station to solve the mystery of whether--and how--twelve astronauts are accessing the surface of a forbidden planet.</blockquote> ➤ oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh this is INCREDIBLE

<blockquote>A drawn-out annexation, a hammered dulcimer, an old-fashioned entertainment titled Sovereign of Tavern Dancers and the story of how One Esk first found its voice.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When an underdog candidate promises a handsome reward to anyone who will help him win an election, world famous election advisers Mosca Mye and Eponymous Clent are on the job. The job is more complicated, not to mention more dangerous, than Mosca expected.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Leia was not adopted. She was stolen in the middle of the night and registered to House Organa with forged papers. This was kidnapping, a class one felony, and her parents could be executed -- unless she returned voluntarily to her rightful father. Immediately. A man called Grand Moff Tarkin explained this to Leia when she was eleven years old.</blockquote>

<blockquote>One man can alter the course of history. A random encounter leads Duv Galeni to change his mind and return to Komarr.</blockquote> ➤ aaaaaa this is so great!! actually challenging the unchallenged imperialism of the original books!

<blockquote>He's shivering as he emerges from the pod. No surprise, he was frozen for like a billion years. I do all the stuff on the script, all the "Fear Not! You are a welcomed citizen of our Utopia!" stuff while I'm toweling him off. Apparently he's about as good as I am with awkward silence 'cause it's not three seconds before he starts making small talk. "So, how'd you get to be a. . ." He waves his hand. "A Tour Guide To The Future?!" "Yeah." The guy smiles gratefully at me. "I imagine you had a lot of training. . . ?" "None whatsoever!" I chirp. He looks confused. "Allocator chose me because I incidentally have the exact skills and qualifications necessary for this task, and because I had one of the highest enthusiasm scores!"</blockquote> ➤ this story is weird and incredible and I was very surprised to be having feelings by the end given how much I was giggling through most of the story. I love it.

<blockquote>A tale of the first Thief of Eddis, as told by the Queen Thief.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Nobody pays attention to a slump-backed brownish girl with droopy-lidded eyes. She's got all the genes that make her look Less Human, according to the Important powers that be.</blockquote> ➤ this story is incredible. Great narrative voice, great characters, worldbuilding, etc. Main character is autistic, and author is too.

<blockquote>My mother had daughters year after year, and one by one, my father devoured us. There were only three names allowed in the family, and only three children. There was the oldest, who was always Ruth, and the middle child, who was always Susan. The youngest was “the baby” or simply Baby. When a new daughter was born, she became the baby. The former baby became Susan, and Susan became Ruth—and Ruth vanished. Telling the story like this, it sounds as if we knew what was happening. We did not. I am telling you this so that it will not be a shock to you, the way that it was to me.</blockquote> ➤ gosh. wow. this is really good.

<blockquote>How Bodhi Rook temporarily misplaced the two most important things in the galaxy, and how he found them again (with a little help).</blockquote> ➤ a fixit that still makes you cry is the best/worst. This was so good and now I care so much for Bodhi's family and for all of Jedha auuuuughhghg

<blockquote>Five undiscovered texts pertaining to the life of Ea-Nasir.</blockquote> ➤ I love this structure for the story, and how it allows to build out the whole world and culture around Ea-Nasir

<blockquote>A bend in the river, three thousand years ago.</blockquote> ➤ I'm not totally sure I'm following everything that's going on, but it's still really really good. Battle of Tollense River c. 1250 bce

<blockquote>"Did you win your year?" "I sure did," she said. "By a mile."</blockquote> ➤ a really good fic for a book I didn't care for at all - impressive!

<blockquote>Often, human settlements contain layers of habitation, one built on top of the other. One site can have many unseen features hidden beneath it. People are the same.</blockquote> ➤ an archeologist from space is on a team to investigate sites on Earth, along with an earth-born cultural attache. Yay for intercultural communication and space and science and stuff!

<blockquote>“you have learned love but not self-consciousness, because love does not beget self. there’s no need for heart and body to love; no need for mind or soul though you have both, programmed for one and grew the other like a struggling sprout in a crack on the pavement, just for him, just like him. ” The Passenger and the Computer, in the midst of the all black everything. Time once more has meaning, and humanity must be redefined.</blockquote>

<blockquote>‘I think people are dancing,’ Otabek says. ‘I’m not dancing with you!’ Yuri yelps, and then realises that Otabek never said he wanted to dance with Yuri. Good. Yuri doesn’t want to dance with him. Or anyone. No dancing. ‘No dancing,’ Otabek says, apparently reading Yuri’s mind. They stare at each other for another moment. ‘You want to get out of here?’ Yuri says, and then braces himself for - for what, he doesn’t know. Mockery, perhaps. Too-enthusiastic agreement. Anything.</blockquote> ➤ this fic is tagged "friendship for spiky people" and that is it exactly and it is GREAT

<blockquote>Feral Desert Child and Former Stormtrooper Learn How To Food, Beleaguered Resistance Pilot Watches With Love And Horror</blockquote>

<blockquote>The currents seemed to pull the empty ache out of her, as though her body were just a translucent husk. And then the sound of her heart beating inside her would remind her it was time to surface, and she would feel the slight throbbing of her body asking to live, and reluctantly, made aware again of her natural place above water, she would rise.</blockquote> ➤ about a free-diver in the mediterranean. A lovely story of grief and loss and living, well-grounded in its setting.

<blockquote>The Jewel of Athat was mainly a cargo ship, and most spaces were narrow and cramped. Like the Outer Station, where it was docked, it was austere, its decks and bulkheads scuffed and dingy with age. Inarakhat Kels, armed, and properly masked, had already turned away one passenger, and now he stood in the passageway that led from the station to the ship, awaiting the next.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The man loosed my arm, raised a hand. He held a long pin, like the ones in the bowed heads before us, dark wood inlaid with shell. “This was in Itet’s hand when they pulled her out of the water,” said the man. The staring woman didn’t answer. “I have seen it in your hair before, Eritiri. Itet was chosen to be sacrificed this year. And you were not. Did you think, if she was dead, you could win her place? “I would have liked to make you watch her sacrificed, before your execution. But you have succeeded in that much, at least—she is ineligible.” A twitch of the woman’s mouth, the beginning of a bitter smile. “As for you, your body will be cast on the trash heap, a sacrifice for nothing and no one, like any common criminal.” The woman’s mouth trembled, and a tear formed and rolled down her cheek.</blockquote> ➤ part of leckie's godsverse

<blockquote>The Fleet of the Godless came to the waters around Au by chance. It was an odd assortment of the refugees of the world; some had deliberately renounced all gods, some had offended one god in particular. A few were some god’s favorites that another, rival god had cursed. But most were merely the descendants of the original unfortunates and had never lived any other way.</blockquote> ➤ part of leckie's godsverse ➤ the one with the self-serving god who has promised to protect and care for a particular island nation, with things like human sacrifice as recompense