LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>When Shen Yuan dies and transmigrates into Yue Qingyuan, he's happy to improve his favorite story without the axe of human stick-hood hanging over him. It’s kind of a surprise that he can rescue the protagonist so quickly, but he isn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. And Liu Qingge’s presence, however sticky, means that he can spar in this strong body any time he wants – life at Cang Qiong really is good! Meanwhile, if Shen Qingqiu had been more willing to discuss his past with the only person who was part of it, then perhaps it would not have taken him three full years to realize that his childhood friend is gone. When the only other option is living without Qi-ge, he devotes himself to hunting down his soul. Unfortunately, this is pretty difficult when the man wearing Yue Qingyuan’s face has ordered that he not leave the mountain. (It’s not really a surprise when he begins hallucinating Qi-ge.)</blockquote> ➤ svsss au where sy transmigrates into yqy instead of sqq ➤ the fic is in two parts: first, from sy!yqy's pov as he tries to change events within the parameters the system allows him, and then the second from og!sqq's pov follows where the first part left off, with sqq trying to deal with the fact that yqy is so different now from the one he remembers. ➤ the two parts are different in tone and both excellent, both really fitting the kind of character and person the pov character is, and what it is they want the most. I loved it! ➤ 11k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>When you were young, Mama sent you away from the land of the dead and told you not to look back. You remember the grey skirts they passed out at the border. Long lines like sinew, and waiting in them. The dark cavern sky of Asphodel. Sometimes the wind brought the honeyed scent of Elysian apples. But that is where heroes go, so you had to stay in line.</blockquote> ➤ about grief and loss; losing a parent young, and losing access to that parent's culture and language; and about holding on to what things you can ➤ the story isn't specific about exactly what happened in the disaster when the main character was a young child but the hints are enough to be pretty dark ➤ beautiful, longing, sharp and bittersweet ➤ second person pov ➤ 1k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Even death is no match for a trio of elderly, stubborn, ever-sparring sisters, who refuse to rest in peace while their grudges live on…</blockquote> ➤ an original story about ghosts and toxic family dynamics and feeling trapped ➤ the three sisters who are the main characters are all difficult people in their own way, and all fully-realized characters I truly believe in ➤ I loved that it's a story where the moral isn't "family should always stick together." family can be wonderful but it can also be awful, and sometimes you're better off apart ➤ 14k words in length ➤ I think it would be stronger for being shorter but I still enjoyed it

Summary: <blockquote>Her wedding to Philip is the happiest day of her life. Then why, Louise wonders, does she have to keep reminding herself of that?</blockquote> ➤ post-canon fic from Louise's perspective! ➤ Philip is haunted by the ghost of Rachel! ➤ Louise struggles to keep up the mindset that of COURSE she must be happy to be married to Philip! ➤1k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Wearing a face that is not his own, dressed in a red tunic and simple boots, Hua Cheng comes face to face with the love of his life - and forever after - for the first time in two hundred years. Or, the one where Xie Lian is also a ghost.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In which Shen Yuan goes poking around the ruins of an old castle and ends up haunted by the ghost of Luo Binghe, demon emperor extraordinaire... .. and Shen Yuan thinks the whole "being haunted" thing is fantastic, thank you very much.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu reconcile, years after the point of no return. Good thing the world doesn’t care about you anymore when you’re dead.</blockquote> ➤ og!sqq/yqy together after death

<blockquote>Wu Yanzi barks out a laugh. "I used to have another student," he tells Shen Jiu as he takes a swig of his wine. “I picked him up when the Cang Qiong brats rejected him.” “I don’t care,” Shen Jiu says coolly. He doesn’t. What does it matter that Wu Yanzi had a student before him? That has no effect on him. "He was far less obedient than you, though,” Wu Yanzi continues, not bothered by Shen Jiu’s lack of reaction. “He kept trying to escape. He had some kid he wanted to see, this Xiao-something he promised to return to." His grin is made of black teeth and nastiness when he says, "Make sure I won't have to bury you next to him." (Or, there is a very good reason why Yue Qi never returned for Shen Jiu.)</blockquote> ➤ the one where yue qi really did die instead of being able to rescue shen jiu - but sj reanimates him in the end

<blockquote>The money was necessary but the thing of greater value was the life force of the ghost. Powering spells took energy. It had to come from somewhere and she could either siphon from a living person. Or she could consume a ghost. One of those choices also paid the rent.</blockquote> ➤ a fascinating world to look into, through the eyes of a believably difficult sibling relationship, but the ending note feels wrong

<blockquote>Lan Wangji is trying out a body shape when he hears footsteps on the stairs. He is already thinking he has done it wrong--he forgets, sometimes, how many fingers a hand should have, and so he makes his body have sleeves instead, to cover his mistakes. It is a man. It is a man who will scream, probably. Lan Wangji is body-shaped. Lan Wangji tries to count how many fingers the man has before he leaves. “Oh!” the man says, blinking. His eyes are whole, wide, and deep brown, with long lashes. He has a face for smiling, cheeks round and well fed, and when he smiles his eyes crease at the corners. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was up here.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>In his dreams, Xiao Jiu is dead. Post-canon, Yue Qingyuan receives a series of unsettling visitations. It's probably nothing to worry about. "Tell me, Sect Leader: in your vast and storied experience, what do the dead usually want with the living?"</blockquote> ➤ tags: <blockquote>#sometimes a ship is just two codependent assholes who deserve to haunt each other for all eternity #and that's okay #look I think this is a fix-it but ymmv </blockquote>

<blockquote>They did not want to accept me into their elite universities. It did not matter that I succeeded on every entrance exam I took; not only was I a woman, the first mark against me, but I also came from a nation that the fine people of New England regarded as “semi-barbaric,” to quote from one of the letters of rejection. But I persisted—more to the point, perhaps, my father’s connections and cheque book spoke eloquently on my behalf; and in the autumn of Meiji Year 41, or 1908 by European reckoning, I was invited to enroll at Norcross College.</blockquote>

<blockquote>[All of the Wens die and the world calls it justice. The Yiling Patriarch dies and the world rejoices. His soul responds to neither summoning nor Inquiry. A shattered soul, not enough to linger. The war is finally over—history rewritten. And Lan Huan wants to retch as he watches the ghost of a Wen boy follow his brother into the Cloud Recesses.] Or: A-Yuan in the Cloud Recesses for thirteen years as a ghost.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The man is in Lan Zhan’s bed. Did they—he begins to wonder, eyes trailing to where the man’s body lies under the blanket. Had Lan Zhan—? Then the sleep-fog clears and Lan Zhan realizes that the young man isn’t quite opaque around the edges. “You’re a spirit.” The spirit narrows its eyes. “I’m so much more than that.” (Lan Zhan buys a guqin off eBay for a suspiciously low price, only to find that it’s haunted. And now there’s a ghost in his bed.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>After an encounter with soul-sucking vine, Luo Binghe awakens as a bodiless entity in a strange new world. No matter what he does, he can't affect his surroundings and can't make himself seen or heard. He can only watch as Shen Qingqiu - in yet another body - awakens from a coma and tries to go back to his former life, unaware that Luo Binghe's soul has followed him there. What Luo Binghe sees and hears as he watches Shen Yuan answers a lot of questions, but not the most important one: With Binghe trapped along with his Shizun, how will they get home?</blockquote>

<blockquote>While I realize driving that mech likely takes all of your limited resources, please take care not to step on the roses. what Don’t step on the roses. I don’t care if we’re under imminent attack. Your mech is standing so close to them I’m cringing. who is this? I can see you typing and then stopping don’t waste my time coming up with a lie, punk Who I am or how I got your number is irrelevant. no, it’s not and, fyi, we don’t drive them, we pilot gods, you’re probably chung sol trolling me</blockquote> ➤ lol I just realized after reading some fanfic that probably this story is intended to be canonically shipping the two leads; when I first read it I was like "awwww what a wonderful intense platonic friendship!" I am inescapably me, whoops, I never notice romance unless there're anvil-sized indications. anyway this is a really good story!

<blockquote>When Lan Zhan moved into Gentian Cottage, he was looking for a quiet home and a fresh perspective on life. He didn't expect his new home to be occupied by a ghost who was anything but quiet, or to be pulled into a century-old mystery. Lan Zhan is about to discover that the world is stranger than he'd ever imagined and romance isn't just a genre on his bookshelf.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Sandy Nissley was the youngest of five children, and by the time she was ready for high school her father was retired. The Nissleys’ large old early twentieth century duplex at Twenty-Four-Twelve North Second Street had become three bedrooms and a whole storey too big for them, and Sandy’s parents decided to move into something a lot smaller. They weren’t going far, and Sandy would be closer to her school. The change didn’t turn Sandy’s world on its head. But she dreamed about the house she’d grown up in.</blockquote> ➤ about the relationship between a girl and a house

<blockquote>My aunt the roasted chicken to the table and laid it out in front of Lord Ning. It was an excellent supper, and I had helped her with the roasting. I knew that it was good, and at first, from the way Lord Ning started to wolf it down, tearing the chicken with both hands, I thought we would soon be rid of him.</blockquote>

<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>In which Laurent encounters a ghost and Theomedes would really like a drink.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Shelly’s grandma teaches her about ghosts, how to carry them in her hair. If you carry your ghosts in your hair, then you can cut them off when you don’t need them anymore. Otherwise, ghosts cling to your skin, dig their fingers in under your ribs and stay with you long, long after you want them gone. Shelly’s mother doesn’t like ghosts. She doesn’t like Grandma telling Shelly about them. “You’ll scare her,” she says. “You’ll keep her up at night.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>It was the Queer as Folk that tipped him off. But for the four months leading up to it, Gautam just blamed his brother.</blockquote> ➤ In which Gautam has a friendship with a ghost in his apartment, who talks to him via movie titles pulled up on Gautam's netflix account

<blockquote>Han comes back as a Force ghost. I have no idea how this could work; maybe he had latent Force abilities, maybe it's something Leia taught him, maybe he can't use the Force but the Force really likes him and grants him this wish. Either way, Han is back, gleefully haunting the shit out of Leia, who is just as gleeful to have her man back in her life.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jean Prouvaire and Bahorel, in parallel, encounter revolution and death. A story about leaving in the middle of stories.</blockquote> ➤ in which Bahorel died in the 1820 Lallemand affair but that doesn't keep him down

<blockquote>"In the little cobblestoned passage of the Rue Mondétour, under the high awning of a house and a lantern-arm's iron lacework, for some time now a ghost had lived." Or: in which everyone is a ghost, and there are many snails, as well as a certain amount of spiritual progress.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Given that Prouvaire had died in a bloody revolt, Valjean very reasonably did not expect to see him again.</blockquote> ➤ from the author's tumblr: <blockquote>For vouksen, with hate and despair— who a few weeks ago wanted more Valjean/Prouvaire. I told her that the only way I could imagine it happening, for Valjean reasons, was after the barricade. Horrifyingly, this did not prove an insurmountable obstacle. So here is a sequel to Saints and Martyrs, which takes place post-barricade and features (this is your warning) old man porn of a Valjean/Prouvaire ghostsex variety. Please know that every conceivable logistical question you want to ask has already crossed my mind and there are no answers. The working title of this story is “Exit, Pursued by Prouvaire.”</blockquote> ➤ or: further adventures of the corpse flower.

➤ four boys telling ghost stories on christmas eve

<blockquote>It was Mr. Yu who had emailed them to ask if they would perform at a Christmas party that was being held at his hotel. It was a new hotel and this was the first big event they were hosting, so he was willing to pay them a generous fee. They had agreed that the troupe would perform before and after dinner. There were also going to be fireworks, and a disco.</blockquote> ➤ lion dance troupe that does ghostbusting as well as performances

<blockquote>It’s like I got spikes on my back, and every ghost who wants to stick around on Earth grabs one and hangs on. Mrs. Jernigan, my fifth-grade teacher, was the first ghost who hooked on to me.</blockquote>