Reading Donne is very enlightening. My attention has been drawn to his use of the term "oblique" and its origins in navigation and cartography. In the baroque period, it was assumed that there were three ways to navigate a ship: in a straight line, on a tangential, 'oblique' course (complicated to explain, but it was thought that one was still ( Read more... )

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Hatesex! Characters screaming at each other! Someone seducing someone else, and then being thoroughly unsatisfied with the result! Resentment! Jealousy! Boredom! Sound like your thing?

Prompting is still open for dysfuncentine, a low-pressure HP ficathon 'celebrating dysfunctional relationships'. This sounds like just the sort of Valentine's fest for me, and ( Read more... )

Title: The Bauble
Beta:: The wonderful carolinelamb. Many thanks are also due to therealsnape for her patience and help with the story's coda.
Word Count: 9,866
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus, Albus, Rolanda, Minerva, Poppy and assorted Hogwarts staff. Gen, with strong suggestions of Rolanda/Minerva and hints of other relationships.
Summary: That year, they decided ( Read more... )

The utterly glorious hoggywartyxmas is over . . . woe is me. For it was an extraordinary pleasure -- an honour -- to take part in this fest. I owe it much of my inner stability over the past weeks. Every single contribution I have had the pleasure to encounter thus far has been a delight, and although I am not quite caught up, I am positive that further gems ( Read more... )

A wonderful, talented still-anonymous author at hoggywartyxmas has written a fabulous post-DH Snape/Slughorn -- with my name on it! I can't even begin to describe how very lucky and humbled and grateful I feel to have received such a splendid gift.

Aristophanes and Aesop has really made my (otherwise very depressing) day. Allow me tell you why ( Read more... )

Sorry for spamming you of late. I have to go offline for the next two days, so I wanted to get at least one more rec post in before then:

- Anonymous at hoggywartyxmas drew and wrote From Severus' Journal, December 24th (Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, G). This clever panel by one of the foremost artists in HP fandom will brighten your day with its witty plot ( Read more... )

I'm still behind on my fest reading, but here are some absolutely wonderful stories from hoggywartyxmas that I simply cannot get out of my mind. Yes, they are that good.

- Anonymous wrote Into the Silence (PG-13. Severus Snape, with appearances by Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Lily Evans, Narcissa Malfoy and assorted others). This sequence of missing ( Read more... )

I've got a splitting headache and fear I don't make any sense, but these stories are such absolute gems that you would be missing out not to have read them.

- hoggywartyxmas has opened and begun posting, and wow, did the fest begin with a bang! A Change of Plans for
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Happy belated Thanksgiving!

This is but a brief update. A surprising number of people have asked me about Elective Affinites lately, which is all the more amazing as I haven't updated it in months. Thank you so much for your kind words, for your encouragement! I have not given up. The whole story is outlined and is something I think about often; ( Read more... )