LINKDING

<blockquote>The war is over and Bodhi Rook has been away from Jedha for too long. It’s time to go home. He winds up with an unexpected passenger. A love story between two people and a place, about all the different meanings of home.</blockquote> ➤ (and then a sequel about finding & rescuing Rey, and then a meta post describing the events that led to this au) ➤ Series consists of: Stone and Sand Different Deserts For Those That Read Stone and Sand

<blockquote>It feels like ghost stories should mean something, but it’s not at all clear what. I managed to get about a hundred pages out of the question, “What do these mean, anyway?” when I wrote my doctoral dissertation to get my PhD in Folklore, all without reaching an actual conclusion. My mother helpfully pointed that out when she read the manuscript. “If I give them a real answer, they’ll just complain about it,” I said. “So just tell me, Leah,” she said. “What do you think ghost stories mean?” “I think they’re the manifestation of people’s desire for answers about death and eternity,” I said. “But I could be totally wrong, especially since there’s a whole category of ghost stories that don’t seem to have anything to do with identifiable dead people.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>What it says on the tin</blockquote>

<blockquote>Being an early history of Aragorn Elessar Telcontar, called Estel, Thorongil, 'Strider,' et cetera.</blockquote> ➤ very effective at setting a mood, not quite sure what mood to tag with tho

<blockquote>"We should take the general on a mission," Rose said. "One that's useful and not fatal." “We have those?” Finn asked. “Probably not fatal if well-executed,” Rose amended. The surviving members of the Resistance decide the best way to help Leia is to take her on a recruiting mission to Rose's home world.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The girl does not come to Mebuyen, so Mebuyen goes to the girl. She is standing ankle-deep in the river, looking down, her mouth open. Mebuyen notices, as she draws closer, that the child’s calves are skinny, her cheeks chubby, and her SpongeBob Squarepants sando has a bullet-sized hole above her ribs. Mebuyen frowns as she steps into the river, waiting for the girl to speak.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Ah yes, the ill-fated expedition of 2031,” he said, shaking his head. I was delighted to recognize in his heavily accented English the speech mannerisms of Bihar, the state in India where I am from. Biharis are not very common on the moon. But before I could say anything about my origins, he launched into the story behind the space-suit.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Satan himself came to Lolly, she didn’t recognize him. She wasn’t on her guard—hadn’t been for years. Why should she be? Her immortal soul had long since drowned in rum and rotted under gobs of treacle toffee. If any scrap was left, it was too dry and leathery to tempt evil. But even the most pious of parsons wouldn’t have recognized the Devil in the guise of a dead woman floating face-down in the Mersey.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Two women who have been friends since they were children—one a recovering alcoholic brought up by parents who believe they’re alien abductees, the other an orphan with an eating disorder—contend with a secret that might doom their friendship.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When I finally went in she had cleared the table and pulled the carpetbag out from under the bed. It was grey with dust; even before Da died Mam and I weren’t supposed to touch it, though I used to open it when no one was looking. It’s the past, Da would say when I asked him about it. From when we thought we knew better than God. We came here to get away from that. The way Mam was laying things out, I knew I wasn’t the only one who had peeked inside. She didn’t even have to look, just put out the candles and the fancy drawings, and even the vials that I liked best. In your hand the stuff inside looked black, but when you held them up to the light you saw that it was really a dark, sweet red. Beside these Mam put a knife I had never seen before, with a thick handle and two round blades folded up like a flower. “I’ll show him,” she said. “I’ll show him my god-damned claim.”</blockquote> ➤ awful and ouchy and well-written and intense

<blockquote>“Our job is to make people happy,” she purred, raising a playful eyebrow. “Fulfill their requests. Help them make connections.” “Connections with their fellow eniyans,” I shot back, pointing at the Iyami Aje mission statement on my cube wall, engraved on a glittering obsidian plaque. “With their own fragile kind. I don’t work like you, Bola.” I fiddled with the ergonomic levers of my swivel chair. “I don’t just ignore the hazards of getting entangled.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>The five other fairies scowled at her. They too were all drunk and well fed, and the meal in their bellies was taking on the sour heaviness of an unpaid debt. They had all brought trinkets for the baby, of course, all the gifts that could formally be expected by a low nobleman—which was why six of them had been invited in hopes of getting at least one blessing—but the feast had also exceeded what could formally be expected for their having deigned to grace the occasion. They could hardly refuse the cake, either—and didn’t want to—and would have a lingering sense of a favor owed.</blockquote> ➤ eyyy I like this

<blockquote>Maia's aunts all take an interest in Vedero's passion for astronomy.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Whispers said this new girl was officially called Brenda, but that was just as stupid as all the other Agency names, and the girl wouldn’t remember it after Processing anyway. At first I said we should call her Dishrag or Milkbreath, but even Flash thought that was too mean, and Flash is as nasty as hot sauce and lye. She’s the one who named me Ghost, on account of I’m small and shadow-dark and she thinks I creep around too much in the night. She got her name ’cause that’s how fast fosters send her back after their cat turns up dead and they realize the devil has blond hair and dimples.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Yuri Plisetsky will never step out of Victor's shadow. Not if Victor has anything to do with it. Or, the epic Nikiforov-Plisetsky rivalry in the run-up to the 2018 Olympic Games.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Every great warrior has to begin somewhere.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Dilemmas are discussed, and solved (with the aid of some tea).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Pierre Vorrutyer leaves the countship to his cousin By -- if he can be persuaded to take it.</blockquote> ➤ Stands well on its own but I'd love to have more in this au!

<blockquote>Scarlett accidentally wakes the dead in the bottom of a coat closet, with a half-naked boy pressed against her and a bottle of tequila she’s too drunk to drink. That’s all it is, in the end: flesh against flesh, and a few whispered secrets. A ghost story she swore she would never, ever tell.</blockquote>

<blockquote>While traveling in Faerie, Strange and Norrell encounter Henry Lascelles. He is half-conscious, ill, and murderous, and he has made a powerful enemy.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It had been the most desperate moment of Angelo Neumann’s life so far, and you were certain to live through many such moments if you lived for the opera. When he closed his eyes, he could still picture his friend of so many years and partner in so many troublesome events, wildly running away from the new opera house and crying: “Can’t get me in there again! I’m done! Hear me?! Done!” Which were the most articulate parts.</blockquote> ➤ a world where opera houses as a matter of course all need to hire exorcists

<blockquote>After retiring from competitive skating, Yuri Plisetsky goes to Hasetsu to train for Victor's ice show. A lot has changed, but the welcome he gets from Victor and Yuuri makes it feel like home.</blockquote>

<blockquote>There is no way to carry the gods’ warnings lightly in the heart and mind.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Light and genteel laughter spilled out of the foyer. A large group of Barrayar's high society had just arrived, clustering in small groups as they waited to be greeted by the Emperor. Ivan hesitated on the edge of the group, mind racing in circles as he scanned the crowd. He resisted the urge to rub at the spreading patches of red on his hands. I don't want anything to do with this.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Over the course of his first six months as the heir-apparent to the Ethuveraz, Idra learns a great deal of his uncle the Emperor.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Not all is as it should be in a world down the Series, and Janet is not just a raw ingredient.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Stephen's letter, folded inside his jacket, pressed against his heart like a hot poker. To Captain Jno. Aubrey, R.N., HMS Surprise: I ask you to sail on as scheduled. Do not come looking for me.</blockquote> ➤ I AM NEVER OVER HOW MUCH I CARE ABOUT THEIR FRIENDSHIP

<blockquote>"Hsst," said one of the girls next to them. "Do you fight sharks a lot?"</blockquote>

<blockquote>Emma Pole has avoided sleep and magic as much as possible for many years. One night, she cannot hold them both back, and she finds herself reunited with an old acquaintance.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In the thick of the Great War, intelligence officer Reginald Jeeves is injured, and forced by circumstance to rely upon the help of hapless, well-intentioned medical orderly Bertie Wooster</blockquote>