Angelic Paranoia

Paranoidangel's Website

Wednesday 24th July 2024

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
Grave Expectations by Alice Bell. This was a random choice because it sounded good. And it was. It's about a woman who sees ghosts and solves murder mysteries, although it doesn't go as well as it does in the true crime podcasts she likes. There is a sequel to this, which the library does not have and is not yet cheap enough on Kobo.

Help Me! by Marianne Power. Another random choice. I thought I'd like it and I did so much that I read it in two days. It's non-fiction: the author decides to improve her life by reading and following twelve self-help books in a year. It starts off reasonably, then goes to the woo-woo books and completely off the rails.

What I'm Currently Reading
Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry. A random charity shop fine, it's the autobiography of the first 20 years of his life. He's very wordy: He spends about four pages talking about how much he loves music and how much he wishes he could sing, for example. It's a long book and a bit hard going, but now I'm more than halfway through I'm
determined to finish.

What I'm Reading Next
A Load of Old Balls by James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski. I just went on Kobo to double check a book's title and found this was only £1.99. I've been wanting to read it since the hardback came out (under a different title). It's two of the QI Elves talking about sport, so it should be interesting.

Category icon Books
Tag icon
Sunday 19th May 2024

Fic writing and reading

I signed up to [info]unsent-letters-exchange this year. Last year I picked up a pinch hit and enjoyed it, so this year I signed up. But was thinking that I didn't really need to get a story. And then I ended up getting a great Jo Grant story.

Until I See You Again (3234 words) by AstroGirl
Fandom: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: The Doctor & Jo Grant, Jo Grant/Cliff Jones
Characters: Jo Grant, Fourteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Friendship, Aging, Reconnecting with old friends, Mentions of Doctor/River
Summary: Jo writes letters. Eventually, the Doctor responds.

I wrote some SJA. For which I re-watched some. It being on the iPlayer now makes it much easier than getting out the DVDs. In fact I re-watched a whole series before I stopped myself - I could have quite easily re-watched the whole thing.

Alien Tales (1097 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luke Smith, Clyde Langer
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Aliens
Summary: A selection of texts between Luke and Clyde after he starts at Oxford.

It was a good thing to get my writing again - the last thing I wrote I finished in November. And since then I've signed up for [info]intoabar which I haven't written for since 2013. I only let myself sign up because I've mostly written my [info]unconventionalcourtship fic which is going to be due about the same time. And I'm a bit busy at the moment out dancing most weekends between now and the deadline. I want to say I've thought about which fandoms to put down, but it's going to be Pike meeting someone from Doctor Who or SJA, so that could be a character I know well or not...

My Unconventional Courtship fic took a while because I couldn't decide whether it should end happily ever after (or at least okay for now) or everyone dies. I looked back at previous Unconventional Courtship fics to see how many ended happily.

I've written 9 of them and:

  • 3 are happy
  • 2 are happy but angsty before we get there
  • 2 are unhappy
  • 2 where the relationship doesn't change during the fic

So in summary, anything I write is likely to be angsty.

I wrote a fic two(!) years ago where Harry turns up at Sarah's in the present, using the Big Finish canon where the Doctor dropped him off a few decades in the future. Someone in the comments asked for more and I thought I'd like to write more. And came up with some more. I am finally writing some more. At least I have a first draft for chapter two and a vague idea for what could be chapter two or a sequel depending on how it comes out. But I've missed writing Sarah and Harry.

On a related note, I had a problem with my bandwidth getting out of control, which I solved by making my fic archive private. At some point I should really sort that out since there were definitely some non-bot visitors. I was too stressed to do anything at the time and now I keep forgetting/can't quite muster up the enthusiasm.

Category icon Fan fic
Tag icon ,
Wednesday 15th May 2024

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths. This is the first book in a series about a girl at boarding school in the 1930s who solves murder mysteries. It was alright, but the school was so awful that I have no desire to read any more books about that school.

Calling the Shots by Sue Barker. This was really interesting because I knew nothing about her beyond winning Roland Garros once. She talks about all the sports she was presenting for at one point and it explained why I thought she presented everything when I was a child: those were all the sports I watched!

A 1930s Childhood by Colin G Maggs. This was a short book. It was interesting, but quite a bit of it was repeated, which made sense because some of it came under multiple chapters. But I don't know that it needed to be repeated.

What I'm Currently Reading
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. I went to my collection of books to read, pulled this one out and then discovered it had a bookmark in it. It's a collection of short stories, so it doesn't matter where I got to. But it would be good to finish it.

What I'm Reading Next
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett. Because I checked my Kobo wishlist and found this one was £1.99. Much as I'm excited to read it, I had just started the book above and really ought to finish it first.

Category icon Books
Tag icon
Wednesday 8th May 2024

I've Never Seen Star Wars: eating cold pizza

I've known for a long time that eating cold pizza was a thing. But I've only had takeaway pizza once, at university, and it wasn't that exciting, so the opportunity hasn't really come up.

So I purposely did it: got a takeaway pizza that was two meals worth, ate half and then put the other half in the fridge.

It was a vegan pizza, so maybe it was different, but I really liked it. It tasted the same cold as it did hot, just cold. I don't know if the opportunity will come up again, but if I did, I would eat cold pizza again.

I'll give it 8/10 - if only because it takes longer and costs more than just bunging a frozen pizza in the oven.

Category icon I've Never Seen Star Wars
Tag icon
Wednesday 3rd April 2024

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil by James Swallow.
I bought this because it was 99p and because it was Riker and Troi. I started it and struggled, then decided I was going to finish or give up0 on all the books I was reading on my Kobo and this was one of them. I did finished it, but it was still ultimately set before the first series of Picard and therefore all about Romulans and synthetics. I couldn't find a way to care about them in this book any more than I had in the series.

How to Argue with a Racist by Adam Rutherford.
I went to add this one to my spreadsheet and couldn't find the 'acquired' entry in order to add it to the 'read' entry. Turns out it's because I bought it in 2021 and my spreadsheet starts in 2022. I had started it, but got bored and stopped. This time round I found it interesting, talking about race and genetics and how we can't infer anything at all really.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Innocents by Francesca Segal.
I just started it today and have so far only read one chapter. I had it on my Kobo wishlist and then it was reduced to 99p, so I bought it. I have no idea why I added it because it seems to be a bit romance-y.

What I'm Reading Next
I did put a hold on a library ebook. So that, if it comes in. Or it would be good to read one of the physical books I have taking up space. I have now read all of my currently reading books on my Kobo, so I have plenty of other choices. But I looked at them the other day and didn't fancy any of them. The trouble is I have nothing to read...

Category icon Books
Tag icon
Sunday 31st March 2024

An update

I survived my first month at my new job. For the first week survival was definitely the best word as I was so tired, including on the Saturday. And I managed to have something go wrong every week for the first few weeks, including a plumbing non-emergency (I've had it happen before) and my laptop charger being temperamental about whether it would charge or not (a new one fixed that problem).

Currently I have an hour for lunch and everyone has their lunch at different times at their desks, so I've been getting a lot of reading done. My commute is all through villages and country roads, so I've seen plenty of cyclists, an average of a tractor a week, a horse (being ridden down the road), a turkey (standing at the side of the road watching the cars go past) and a pheasant (eating something by the side of road, not bothered by the cars going past extremely close - as per usual with pheasants). Also fields with horses, sheep and a lot of water. And it when it rains a lot (like it did last week) some of the roads turn into lakes. But it's better than my previous commute on a dual carriageway, some of which is at 10mph due to multiple roadworks lasting months/years.

I've finally had some time to write. The [info]unsent-letters-exchange sign ups started around the same time as I started my new job. I signed up knowing I had a free long weekend this weekend and I could write it then. I spent the intervening time thinking about it, and now it's mostly written. I'm considering whether some of it should be in person rather than epistolary, so it's going to sit for a bit while I think about that. The deadline is at Passover, so I have plenty of time.

And in the meantime I'll also be writing [info]unconventionalcourtship. I have a summary and a plan, so hopefully that won't take too long to write. Especially as my weekends get busy in May. The summary I have ends: find out the true meaning of trust and betrayal which is just crying out for a Blake's 7-style ending. I haven't 100% made up my mind which way it will go yet.

I've also been watching a load of Lego Masters. I was trying to keep an eye on E4 on Sunday afternoons to see when Lego Masters Australia was back and it turned out I'd missed New Zealand series 1 and USA series 3 (New Zealand series 2 is currently on and I will binge that once it's finished). The NZ version is really small. They only had six teams (to Australia's eight) and half the prize money. But since all the episodes are 44 minutes (Australia's are variable - sometimes can be an hour and a half) it actually works ok. I really enjoyed it. USA is tough to get through the first half of the series because they only have 42 minutes and twelve teams. It's just too many teams and not enough time to get to know anyone or really remember what's going on. Once they're down to six teams it's much better. There's a lot of things in there that show there's clearly a lot of money in it, but that's not a good thing. I much prefer the Australia version.

Category icon Life
Tag icon
Wednesday 28th February 2024

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
Murder at Bletchley Park by Christina Koning. I saw this title on the library ebook site and thought ooh, I went to Bletchley Park last year and I like murder mysteries. And then it was hardly set at Bletchley Park and a lot more about the Blitz instead. There was a lot of stuff going on about the detective's life and sometimes some bits of the mystery would come up. It turns out this was the 8th in the series, so maybe if I'd read more I'd be more interested in his life. But I wasn't. And when he announced the murderer was obvious I couldn't remember who the person was. So I think I'll give the rest in the series a miss.

What I'm Currently Reading
We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman. I did a bit of putting (ebook) library holds on anything that sounded interesting and then had to wait a few weeks for them. And consequently have no idea what they're about or why I put a hold on them. I'm halfway through this, have no idea why I put a hold on it, but I am enjoying it. It's about a woman from New York who is a playwright, gets her big break and then it all goes wrong and she runs away to LA.

What I'm Reading Next
Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun. No idea what this is about or why I put a hold on it, but it looks like it's coming up soon, so it'll probably be the book I'm reading next.

So far I've read three books that I acquired last year and have acquired nine books this year that I haven't yet read. But in my defence, I did go to a second-hand bookshop, and looked at Kobo's 99p/£1.99 books on sale. I know I could theoretically do neither of those things, but I just don't think it's possible to go a whole year without buying books, even though I have enough to read between books I already have but haven't read, and the library.

Category icon Books
Tag icon
Saturday 6th January 2024

Ficathons

I did some ficathons towards the end of last year and didn't talk about them (although one of them has only just had author reveals).

Doctor Who
There was [info]tardis-festivities where I received a Six and Evelyn fic where Evelyn is right and saves the world, which is what I love about those two:

Fit for a King (838 words) by lurking_latinist
Fandom: Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Sixth Doctor & Evelyn Smythe
Characters: Sixth Doctor (Doctor Who), Evelyn Smythe
Additional Tags: Historical, Fluff, Baking, Dessert & Sweets
Summary:At the end of an adventure, Evelyn faces one more challenge that will call on all her skills...

I wrote an Amy/Rory fic. I had a blank sign up for this, so I went through various ideas for plots before realising that I had no idea how to solve them/they didn't make sense. I remembered that they had bunk beds on the TARDIS and decided to write something about that.

Wedding Nights are Cool (972 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Characters: Rory Williams, Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Wedding Night, Beds
Summary: It's Rory and Amy's wedding night, but their bedroom isn't quite what they expected.

Star Trek
And then [info]startrekholidays carries on with the cookery theme for my gift, which had Pike finding bugs in his flour and then it all goes interesting from there:

When There are Bugs in the Flour (2076 words) by Ljparis
Fandom: Star Trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Christopher Pike
Additional Tags: Food, Starship Enterprise (Star Trek), Cooking, Bugs & Insects
Summary: Captain Pike finds something unwelcome in his pantry.

I kept looking at the sign ups for this, getting excited about various characters/pairings and adding them to my offers. And then ended up getting the most recent pairing I got excited about, which worked out quite well in that respect. And then I once again came up with a plot that just didn't work before I remembered an idea I'd mostly forgotten about.

Baby Dream (2077 words) paranoidangel
Fandom: Star Trek: Enterprise
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Characters: Charles "Trip" Tucker III, T'Pol (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pregnancy
Summary: Now is the time for Trip and T'Pol to have a baby, but nothing is ever easy for them, especially where children are concerned.

Yuletide
I didn't sign up for Yuletide. I didn't want to overdo the ficathons like I did at the end of last year. But I did manage to write some treats in that last week before Christmas when everything's quiet.

When all the requests were visible I was off work ill. It was sad that SJA wasn't requested, but Rani Takes on the World was, so it was a good excuse to re-listen while I was ill.

Time Bubble (1434 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Rani Takes on the World (Big Finish Audio Drama)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Rani Chandra, Clyde Langer, Samira Rustami
Additional Tags: Timey-Wimey
Summary: Rani's trapped and Clyde is going to save her. Just like old times.

And hhertzof's Chalet School request was just begging for some present day silliness. I think I wrote the fic in less time than I spent looking at the Maynard/Bettany/Russell kids names to come up with all the prefect's names.

The New Prefects of the Chalet School (1041 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Post-Canon, Tongue-in-cheek
Summary: It's September 2023 and the first prefect's meeting of the new school year is about to take place.

Auction
I also bid in an auction for the first time and got a long time loop fic:

Breakfast of Champions (12729 words) by sunlitroses
Fandom: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV)
Characters: Erica Ortegas, Christopher Pike, Number One | Una Chin-Riley (Star Trek), Christine Chapel, Joseph M'Benga, Spock (Star Trek), Nyota Uhura, La'an Noonien-Singh, Pelia (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Time Travel, Shenanigans
Summary: The Captain was hosting a breakfast gathering in his quarters. Number One was passing drinks. Spock was burning the pancakes. It was a morning like any other.

Until it wasn't.

Category icon Fan fic
Tag icon