LINKDING

<blockquote>Of how much Helen knows, and all the bad decisions that follow.</blockquote> ➤ Ooh I love this!

<blockquote>New Orleans stank to the heavens. This was either the water, which did not have the decency to confine itself to the river but instead puddled along every street; or the streets themselves, which seemed to have been cobbled with bricks of fired excrement. Or it may have come from the people who jostled and trotted along the narrow avenues, working and lounging and cursing and shouting and sweating, emitting a massed reek of unwashed resentment and perhaps a bit of hangover. As Jessaline strolled beneath the colonnaded balconies of Royal Street, she fought the urge to give up, put the whole fumid pile to her back, and catch the next dirigible out of town.</blockquote> ➤ Steampunk alternate history about Haiti!

<blockquote>The date is June 18th, 1815. The place is Waterlô. And Sa Segokgo is racing against time. The treads of her boots scoop up huge tracts of bloody, Belgian soil and thresh it into aerosol. Archaic bullets dart about her like swarming mosquitoes, pinging noisily off her poly-diadmant suit, its staalglas facepiece. An experienced strandrunner, she is not daunted by such minor impacts. Over ridges and craters she leaps, devouring meters with each stride, explosively imprinting the IOvac corporate icon wherever she lands. Her armor does its work, yes, but it is her conditioned body that knows how to exert itself most efficiently. Every movement must barter energy for distance, and profit. There are no pit stops in this sport; to spend recklessly will purchase only a quicker death.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It takes a few decades to really get to know a person. Especially when they keep changing; especially when they're unsure of themselves.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Miss Gibson said, “In the spirit of truthful admission, Miss Bennet, I intend to spend some time devising the right question for you. If I may see you again?” Why did that sound strange? But she always sounded strange to people herself. And it was a familiar kind of strangeness, as if it were something she had heard before, only not like this. Mary, constrained by the principles of truth, could only admit that she would enjoy that very much.</blockquote> ➤ this fic is SUPER GOOD, I love everything about it!!!

<blockquote>Grandmother ruled Gir Niajra, and always had. Jummai felt certain this was so, mostly because it was impossible to imagine otherwise: anyone, anyone at all, seated so comfortably on that great golden throne except Grandmother? Anyone who could look or speak with such authority, to whom so many great and worthy people bowed down? No—only Grandmother. It had always been Grandmother, and it always would be. Then Grandmother died; and there was a war. (Or: Jummai is a princess without a throne—but she has no intention of leaving to others what is rightfully hers. She needs a wife with an army, and gets one; but her wife seems impervious to her tactical charm, she keeps making mistakes, and her cousin still wants her dead.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Tabitha walks, and thinks of shoes. She has been thinking about shoes for a very long time: the length of three and a half pairs, to be precise, though it’s hard to reckon in iron. Easier to reckon how many pairs are left: of the seven she set out with, three remain, strapped securely against the outside of the pack she carries, weighing it down. The seasons won’t keep still, slip past her with the landscape, so she can’t say for certain whether a year of walking wears out a sole, but it seems about right. She always means to count the steps, starting with the next pair, but it’s easy to get distracted. She thinks about shoes because she cannot move forward otherwise: each iron strap cuts, rubs, bruises, blisters, and her pain fuels their ability to cross rivers, mountains, airy breaches between cliffs. She must move forward, or the shoes will never be worn down. The shoes must be worn down.</blockquote> ➤ In which the heroines of two fairy tales help each other recognize how terribly she's been treated and run away together. Plausibly-deniable femslash, I think, though maybe the author meant it as gen

<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>A long, hard road to a happy ending.</blockquote>

<blockquote>features trade routes, magical fertilizer, and one girl's centuries-long effort to impress a woman who is already in a committed relationship with a boat.</blockquote> Yeah!!!! I've already read it twice since I discovered this story yesterday. the fantasist no longer has the story up so it's now posted on the author's website https://rebeccafraimow.com/2023/08/20/suradanna-and-the-sea/

<blockquote>I hadn’t had a minute, since getting off the airship, to put down my carpet bag and close my eyes. But Dr. Clarence Fullerton was intent on showing me the entire encampment before I rested. He never paused to allow me a word in edgewise, although at that point I was so exhausted I couldn’t have said much anyway.</blockquote> ➤ autistic lesbian representation in the context of alternate-19th-century dinosaur fossil wars! IT'S SO GREAT. ➤ (the word autistic is never used but it's clear the main character is intended to be seen as such. and the author is autistic too.)

<blockquote>'Fanny was the mute earth to Mary's leaping fire, the gnarled oak to her fluttering songbird, the mirror-bright millpond to her restless waves. If one could somehow, with propriety, squeeze both ladies into a single body, the resultant heroine would be beyond anything shewn by Mrs. Radcliffe! She might paddle down the Amazon, contest a knotty theological point with the Pope, battle venomous water snakes with a hat pin and a bottle of hartshorn, and sink into a dead faint at the villain’s merest glance, as if he were some species of basilisk!' Or, Mansfield Park meets Northanger Abbey</blockquote> ➤ AMAZING, Mary-centric, Mary/Fanny with caving adventures and great patische voice, though I fear I do not know the canons in question quite well enough to appreciate everything as much as I ought.

<blockquote>SOME OF OUR MORE IMAGINATIVE READERS INFORM US that the events of the past few days -- the grisly deaths, the tragic fire, the flying carriage that caused the egregious delays on the Metropolitan and District Railway -- are attributable to the fevered pursuit of a Chinese vampire, known in its native land as a jiang shi, by the adventuress detective Madame Vastra. These readers, whose persistent letters are beginning to become tiresome, claim that this is but one of many times Madame Vastra's unravelling of a mystery has saved all of an unknowing London. We advise these peculiar devotees that we have yet again sought an audience with Madame Vastra, who, as ever, politely declines comment on any of the wilder rumors in circulation, but wishes it known that any unusual cases requiring investigation may be brought to her attention care of this newspaper.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Really, it's bad enough that you have to deal with these sorts of people in the cooler months. In summer I wish they'd just take themselves off to the provinces and all be disagreeable at each other, and leave us alone.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Young Avengers' band is also called The Young Avengers, because they're very subtle. They've written three songs together: "Destroy You," "Superpowered," and "Unnatural Love," which, given the percentage of people in the band with the same equipment fucking each other, you might think was about gay liberation, but actually chronicles the time Loki read them the juicy parts of Flowers in the Attic on a trip up the coast.</blockquote>

<blockquote>flytely asked: Eponine/Cosette & Pirate AU?</blockquote>

<blockquote>A for effort, H-A-W-K-E-Y-E, Kate says as soon as she frees herself from her harness. They really need to come up with a real sign instead of just fingerspelling all the time. Maybe a miming drawing a bow, then pointing to the eyes. Something cool. You have to get over your boner for that boomerang arrow. "Did you just sign 'angry penis'?" Sam says, distracted from his unresolved sexual tension with Natasha. "Whatever," Kate says. She flips her hair. "I'm learning."</blockquote>

<blockquote>George Cooper sees Alan Olau working at a coffee shop. For some reason, Alan has breasts now.</blockquote> ➤ Series consists of: Your Boys Have Grown Soft and Your Girls Have Gone Wild Catch You When the Current Lets You Go Catch You When the Current Lets You Go (Alanna POV) A History of Blisters Battle Born The Drop Dead Dream, The Chosen One You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone Send My Condolences to Good Sometimes I Get Nervous When I See An Open Door Waiting on Some Beautiful Boy Gone Through Life White-Knuckled All I Want to Do Is Try My Regards to Soul and Romance Outside the Sun is Shining My Whole Life is Thunder Four Weddings and a Funeral Do It For the Vine Stewart's Coat Born a Little Damaged, Man Sometimes In Dreams of Impact I Still Hear I See London, I See Sam's Town Don't You Worry, It'll All Work Out When You Were Young Because I've Been Coming For You Or Are We Dancer? Brand New Year, Coming Up Ahead You've Got Another Thing Coming

<blockquote>“You will always love the wrong men,” Cassandra breathes. “And that will bring you nothing but sorrow.” It’s Helen’s oldest darkest fear, and as Cassandra’s words draw it into the sunlight it melts away like smoke.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Three times Gaila and T'Pring met, and (some of) what happened after. Also contains background T'Pring/Stonn, massive angst, and perhaps slightly more Vulcan vocabulary than strictly necessary.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Afterwards, the Romans returned the bodies. Murna supposed that she should be grateful.</blockquote>

<blockquote>As a /supervillain /supercriminal contract worker with a morality deficit, Clint Barton leads a glamorous life. You know, stolen cars, dangerous women, a really confusing relationship with a meddling do-gooder, the works. It's pretty awesome. Except for, uh, medical bills, the mob, and being on the run all the time. That part isn't all that awesome. (A supervillain AU where Clint shoots arrows at people and gets beat up a lot. So, not really that much of an AU.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Buffy and Faith are living it up in Cleveland, over thirty and regularly trying to convince their neighbors they're really just roommates, not "roommates", no matter what Faith wants. Of course, then things get all fucked up, complete with an apocalypse.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Eponine is having a lousy night working the crowd at her usual speakeasy when in wanders a wide-eyed little rich girl, who promptly gets herself in a spot of trouble. Even the devil has to do a good deed sometimes. (1920s Chicago AU/slight crossover with Some Like It Hot, but you don’t need to know the fandom.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>After sickness and loss in Kattegat, Lagertha saves what is important to her.</blockquote>

<blockquote>After her father dies with the Ninth, Flavia is sent to Britannia to live with her uncle Aquila. There she meets a pair of British girls, and together the three of them change each other's lives in ways they could never have expected.</blockquote>

<blockquote>From her mother, Teyla inherited a bright smile, toffee-colored skin, and very good manners. (set in the universe of "the fixation of belief")</blockquote>

<blockquote>In which Jenny and Madame Vastra investigate the disappearance of one mysterious parcel and one young clerk.</blockquote>