Recent reading

Unrelated to the rest of the post, today I have learned the word "anasyrma" and am delighted with it.

A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin (1968 and 1971)
Yuletide canon review. It's been quite some time since I read these, and I much enjoyed the reread. Damn, but Le Guin could write! This is not news, I know, but it does very much strike you when you're trying to write fic for one of her books. I can really see why she revisited them later for reasons of feminism, though--I'm not sure how she could be so thoughtful about POC in Earthsea, and at the same time having women be so invisible: women who are mentioned casually are only ever the wives of men having professions, and don't professions of their own, and when women have larger roles, they are most often evil or unwittingly serve evil. I mean, yes, The Tombs of Atuan very much do pass the Bechdel test, but see: unwittingly serving evil, and having a man come in and release Tenar from that. Nevertheless, I do love these books! The worldbuilding is so vivid, and the first book is such a great story of coming of age and such a good twist on the "defeating the evil antagonist" trope. Also, there's such a sense of a rich past, too. I do respect the later books, but also I do kind of wish that (like Tolkien) she had filled in the stories of Morred and Elfarran and Erreth-Akbe...

I was talking to my beta reader cahn about the style of these books compared to her later ones, and cahn was saying that the Earthsea books are doing the high fantasy thing and that's why the style is more elaborate than her later books. I'm not so sure, though: if you look at The Left Hand of Darkness, which is written about the same time, it hasn't got a simpler style that I can see. I wonder if this is just part of a general trend across literature towards a simpler style, which she followed.

My fic and podfic in 2023

Here's what I wrote and recorded last year! AO3 says I wrote 190K, but I had about 100K of "Three Strands" written at the beginning of the year. So subtracting that, and adding the 30K of the werewolf WIP, I wrote about 130K, which I'm happy with. I have also crossed the milestone of 1,000,000 words posted on AO3! \o/

My main achievement this year is finishing Three Strands, of which I am quite proud! Eight of my stories this year were written for exchanges, and the other two (or three, counting the werewolf WIP) were longer. I think this pretty well describes my current mode: plug away steadily at a longfic, while taking breaks occasionally for shorter stuff. Although (like last year) I did also write pretty substantial fics for Yuletide. I am now in a steady long-term relationship with my current fandom, and have plenty of ideas left to write in it.

Podfic-wise, I've had a few very productive years, and have now begun taking it easier and letting the podficcing lapse for a while--I haven't recorded anything the last few months. Probably I will eventually do another Broster book at Librivox? Otherwise I have no plans, except to keep teaming up with authors for pod_together, which is a lot of fun.

Flight of the Heron fic:
Three Strands, Braided Together: 'As the threads begin to twist themselves at your first meeting,' said Old Angus, 'so will they continue to shape themselves at the rest—three strands, braided together at the end.' Keith/Ewen/Alison, 148,200 words
A Point of Honour: Ewen has gone down to Fort William to visit Keith; meanwhile, a visitor from Mingary Castle arrives at the fort... Keith/Ewen, 4,200 words
A Pup of Lassie's: In a public room in York, Keith overhears a Yorkshire farmer telling a story he has heard before... Keith/Ewen/Alison, 3,700 words
Brother of His Wolf's Mate (Come When Ye May): Keith and Ewen deal with the aftermath of their wolves' mating, and with the consequences of their mate-bond. Keith/Ewen, 10,400 words
Preserv'd for Posterity: Dear Sir, I have not the Honour of being known to you, & you will no doubt wonder at a Stranger writing to you without an Introduction, but I must hope that you will excuse the Liberty when I have explain'd my Purpose. Ewen & Robert Forbes, 1,700 words
The Flight of the Geese: Ewen flies south with the migrating geese. Keith/Ewen, 800 words
The Marrow of His Heart: When Lachlan comes back to the shieling at Beinn Laoigh to find Ewen gone, he must do everything he possibly can to track him down and help him to escape—with the help of an unlikely ally along the way. Lachlan & Keith and Lachlan & Ewen gen, 12,500 words

Le Guin fic:
A Digit of Mishnory: Therem in exile: gutting fish, being one of many, and being alone. Therem gen, 800 words
Estraven the Traitor: I had heard the story of Estraven the Traitor many times during my childhood. Sorve gen, 500 words
The White Ladies of the Ring: There was a sorcerer imprisoned in the Labyrinth, and Arha had told Kossil that she would kill him—but she did not want to. Perhaps she needed to ask someone for help... Penthe/Tenar, 7,900 words

Podfic and audiobooks:
Three Strands, Braided Together, by me (Keith/Ewen/Alison, 16h 33 min)
Nearly Enough, by sanguinity (Hornblower, Bush/Hornblower, 1h 50m)
The Gleam in the North by D K Broster (12h 54m)