The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

1) As far as I'm aware, we don't spork MSTs, and I think that sporking something that's been taken down is bad taste.
2) You don't have to report every single badfic you find to the Board. You can just chuck 'em in the Unclaimed List.

Found a badfic!

it's called Ojamajo Doremi Rise of the Shadows.

The original fic no longer exists, so you'll have to use an MST. You can find the prologue here: http://nobody-kadaj.deviantart.com/art/NerfGuy-Sporkings-OD-RotS-1-511287897?q=gallery%3Anobody-kadaj%2F53021063&qo=8.

'Gosh, DMS,' she said, face going slightly blank, as she pictured it all in her mind. 'Duane thinks DMS are all a bunch of spotlight-hogging over-violent madmen. But even if they are, I don't see the problem with that. Duane wants to know if-' she cut herself off and glared at the rock.

'Sorry. He's a butt,' she said, looking up. Her annoyance was then promptly wiped off her face, and she leant in once more. 'Do you have stories? DMS stories?'

((Pffft, I've almost called people 'boss' and said 'bloomen' once or twice, myself. Fun stuff, that.

I am having fun experiencing him being the least horrific thing you can!))

I live in the east-northeast of France, this backwater we call Champagne-Ardennes, and do have family near the north, but I'm, and will be, in the middle of a four monthes stage, meaning I cannot take the time of coming.

I mean, apparently it uses humour and stuff, too. And I bloody leap on that stuff like a female mosquito. And instead of laying eggs I just laugh.

Pffffft. I'm sure that concept could be made interesting. It, er. Is a bloody shame, then, that it didn't! The idea of the Discworld actively going through technological and social development, as the series progressed, fascinated me. Bit of a shame that one part was buggered.
Do tell, if you put together what it is!

The three Discworld books I've read are The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Men at Arms, and I enjoyed the three of them thoroughly. And recommend them and all.

I mean, I've probably bumped into one or gotten angry at one with a loud car, at some point, but I've not ever met a cultist or any some such. I'm fascinated by that positive portrayal, because, as you said - it's a bloody unusual angle. These types of stories - and pretty much all involving cultists in general - have such a rigid archetype for cultists. Always villainous and mysterious and darkly cloaked and whatnot. And not only is this a chap who is portrayed entirely reasonably, his status as a cultist adds an entire other facet to his personality! He's driven by his faith, has a full, relateable history relating to his faith and why he has it, and you just have little moments of him praying or recalling verses or whatnot. And you can look at him and you can not only see how he became part of that cult, but you can relate entirely with it. He's a human!

I mean, I always was one for representing characters that don't fit your standard archetypes and such, so it certainly appealed to me!

And, huzzah! I'm classy! I have class! I'll celebrate this with really cheap pizza delivered to my door! And my teacher doesn't got any projects relating to it (but she is pretty cool,) it relates to a major work thingo I'm doing. Writing a story with elements of absurdism and such.

And, you know, I actually just read that section you're referencing, today, and it struck me, that part. Bloody hell.

because I just returned from my final weaponised explosive animal cartography lesson, having graduated in the art of weaponising explosive animal cartography. I have a certificate. I've placed it over my bed. My mum squints and frowns whenever she sees it. She looks at me with lost, cold eyes, that look through me into another universe where she never had a son, and is on a beach in the Caribbean, drinking some drink that involves coconuts.
So if we get attacked and are lost at the same time and feel like the animal diversity in the general area is kind of low, I've got ya. Got ya in spades.

P.S. Keeeeeeeey, believe theeeeem. Mean every single word, I do. I mean, not the dumb sarcastic ones, but the nice ones that I genuinely mean because I believe them. Because you're bloody good at things and I think you're bloody good at things.
And original? Clever? Published? RRRRRRRRRRGH, thank youuuuuuuuu. I still feel warm from having read that. Cheers, mate, cheers bloody to eternity. I* try my bloody hardest to not disappoint you, mate.
I mean, bugger me, Key. Honestly lost for words. Except these: give yourself more credit, oy? :) (and maybe give me a little less credit, but that doesn't sound quite as cheery, does it?)

P.P.S. Oh, I assure you, that goatee was very distinctly not lovely. A collective of hairs, perhaps, rather than a goatee.
I'll get a good one, I swear! It'll come back, twice as glorious. And I'll have to wait for it to double again, maybe double another time, for it to actually get somewhere. But somewhere it will get!


* I considered correcting this and adding the 'l's and whatnot, but I thought it would be more ironic, given the placement. It amuses me deeply.

IIRC QuintusFabiusPictor is a Flemish Belgian? But I haven't seen him around for ages.

On the 12th and 13th of April, I will (probably) be travelling to Brussels for a pair of rather dull conferences. Because it's two days, I'll be staying overnight - which means I'll have the evening of the 12th free.

Do we have anyone who's close enough to Belgium that they feel like popping in for a micro-Gathering? I won't have transport, so I can't really go anywhere outside the city, but I'd be happy to wander around for an hour or three with any PPCers in the vicinity.

Hey, look, I said it was a long shot. Unless we have anyone living north of Paris or west of Frankfurt, the physically-closest PPCer might well be Scapegrace. But I had to ask, right?

hS

Unrelated PS #1: The IAU has officially confirmed the themes for naming planetary features in the Pluto system. They match the pre-existing themes, with some additions. The main shift relevant to us is that the 'writers associated with Pluto' category has jumped from Pluto to Fandom's Moon Charon, but I don't think it was used anyway.

Unrelated PS #2: Fan of coins? Fan of Middle-earth? Fan of giving people money? If the second Middle-earth coins Kickstarter can make another $8000, we all get a copper Rivendell Moon added to our loot. So I definitely think you should go and back that. :D

(Feel free to use this thread to discuss the Unrelated PSes; a conversation about Europeans isn't like to get very long.)

How about using the sentence to make things more character-centred?

Steven instantly dropped the half-built crib, hearing it shatter as it(?) hit the floor, but he was still beaten to the console by a furry blur.

It's a sneaky sort of show-don't-tell: rather than just 'it broke', we get the sound of it breaking, through the character's ears.

hS

"After I was made in the badfic I'm from, I wandered around the world, doing my own thing, until I ended up in Amestris, and I found a couple things that pointed me in the direction of Central at the Promised Day. I saw part of the big showdown between Van Hohenheim and Father, and because of the whole living-ish souls thing, I ended up here, 'cause my maker said that I didn't have those, just formless energy." Apecian sighed. "It's stupid, I know. Only thing I can say is that he was an idiot and I was supposed to be there so he could kill me after he failed to right after he made me. So, how 'bout you?" he asked, eager to both find out more about Miguel and draw attention away from his backstory. Why couldn't he have come from a goodfic?

((Argh, accidentally pressed "Send" early. Please be patient while I actually write the post.

UPDATE: It got late; I got tired. I'll finish this tomorrow.

--Key))

I figure Sue gems are incredibly tacky, but hey, they sell pretty well in HQ, so there must be some value to them other than shininess, right? Though it could also depend on the way said gemstones are described. Agents do wield Sue technology sometimes, too, though that's usually in the context of a mission or a dismantling after said mission...

I've had a fair number of pets in my time. A Dalmatian, three rats, two green anole lizards, a hedgehog, and two guinea pigs is the current count, though I'm sadly petless at the moment. I mostly draw on the fire-lizards from Dragonriders of Pern to model him on, though, since that's where he's from. :)

Reading them.

--Key is reading everything

Your liking them is recommendation enough (and you've mentioned so much great-sounding stuff to me that I need to start making a dent in the pile. And books are easier than TV shows or stealing my sister's Lovecraft tome). Plus, I need more touching surreal satire, because that is the life I live. Do you know cultists in real life, or are you interested in positive portrayals because it's an unusual angle, or. . .?

Actually, not Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, because I've already read it -- yes, read the script; I'm extremely classy and I can get away with not having seen it onstage so worry not, young one! Your teacher is very cool for having a project related to it.

--Key is an actor; she's the opposite of a person

Poor Alex. Very nicely paced, too. I loved the delivery of the ruby, and that short, buoyant conversation.

There was one thing that surprised me (which might just be me being behind on PPC reading): Sue-made gems are high-quality? I always got the impression that everything or nearly everything Sues created was shoddily built out of warped reality and plotholes, and most everything would collapse upon exposure to a Reality Room (except for a few useless but shiny trinkets kept as trophies, which category I suppose the Hummingbird would fall under, but I don't imagine the repurposed ruby would be more useful than an un-Sue-contaminated one. Especially given how little Suethors generally know about what makes an ideal gem). I mean, imagine if agents could wield Sue technology! Given how overpowered most of it is, it would be a strain for them to keep from becoming Sues themselves.

I also want to say that I really liked how petlike Zeke acted. He reminded me of my cat, but not to such a degree that you'd written a cat rather than a fire lizard. I'm wondering: do you have animals? Do you model him after one of them?

--Key

I should do that again sometime...

~Zing, living up to her name. Sort of. There's music, anyway. That counts.

And just got higher.

--Key

Thanks for the recommendation!

I remember reading Watership Down years ago and being impressed by the characters and worldbuilding; it's super cool to hear its accuracy verified by an actual zookeeper!

--Key

You could say the structure is like Octavia Butler's Kindred. You could say it's like that book about a time-traveling cat I read when I was ten. This is not a book with an innovative structure, but it's so good. I'm not sure it's spoilable, because most of it is in the character and emotional impact. . . like, the author isn't trying to surprise you with anything. Just, Sherman Alexie is a good writer and if one of his books falls under my nose (or in the vicinity thereof), I will read it.

Making Money. . . well, it has two plots. One is a tense, thrilling tale of assassination, scheming, and corruption. It gets almost no space. The other is the story of a brilliant, successful man's idea for taking the local currency off the gold standard. No detail is spared. While I appreciate the idea, there is a reason bank fantasy novels aren't a thing. Also, I don't know. There's something irritating about the book. I might finish it just so I can put my finger on what it is.

--Key

Essays are being not-written as I write this. But I'm slowly being sucked into Siege and Storm. . . it's weird, so much of the writing is pretentious and unrefined, and I go in being annoyed by every single one of the characters (except the Darkling,and that's just because he's so emphatically not Edward Cullen) and the ridiculous collect-'em-all approach to monster-hunting, but after reading a couple chapters I forget all that and find myself wringing my hands with worry over the fate of Alina and Mal's relationship and daydreaming about studying Tidemaking out by the lake. Sigh.

Six of Crows/ Crooked Kingdom has a different kind of worldbuilding from the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Shadow and Bone has a lot more development in the shiny, epic, heroic types of departments (how does the royalty live, how are battles fought,what can be done with magic, where do the monsters live, etc.), while Six of Crows deals mostly with the nitty-gritty, borderline-realistic issues (how do cities respond to epidemics, where does the food come from, how does the criminal justice system work, what human rights are systematically being violated, what's it like to live with a disability, etc. It's so great). So I'd say if you like the worldbuilding, you should read it. It's even got conlangs! Most of which are a mangled form of Dutch!

Squee, that Black Butler arc is my favorite too! I remember the first time I read it, when I reaized theirship was a stand-in for the Titanic, I almost put it down, it seemed so ridiculous, but I'm so glad I kept reading because, augh, that was beautiful on so many levels (I kind of want to start gushing about it now, but you know how great it is and anything else would be spoilers for the people innocently reading our conversation).

--Key does not need to calm down

I was thinking of a heist to rescue a morally-suspect roboticist from the world's best-defended technically-not-a-prison-because-no-government-will-formally-acknowledge-its-existence. I just bought your plane, boat, and mule tickets to Cooch Behar (not the site of the prison-not-prison, but. . . you'll see why)! Would you prefer to be in charge of explosives, cartography, or animal training? Or weaponry? You already seem to be stocking up on swords.

--Code Name Key Brekker

P.S. OH MY SWEET GHEZEN stop saying all those nice things to me, I'm almost starting to believe them. Don't call your agents dumb; you are one of the cleverest, most original authors I've read in a near-eternity, counting published (you'll be published soon enough; I want to hear about it when you are so I can make everyone I know buy your book). And you're so kind and put up with all my ridiculous flaky, cranky nonsense. And you are generally a better person than I've ever imagined meeting; if I tried to write a story about you I'd have to give you a crippling nose wart (or a tiny goatee) to balance it out.

P.P.S. I'm kidding; I'm sure your goatee was lovely.

Alpha Beta Chowder, by Jeanne Steig, otherwise known as the best way to teach a six-year-old what "absquatulate" means. It popped into my head for some reason. The yak bit is the first line for the poem for Y.

--Key

P.S.
'Twas a year ago yesterday, yammered the yak,
That a youth with a yatagan jumped on my back.
"To Yonkers!" he cried as he flourished his sword.
"To Yonkers at once! I'm atrociously bored!"

Well, I shrugged him off smartly.
"You yahoo," I said, "You must have been born with a yam for a head.
Had you yearned for the Yukon I might have concurred,
But July down in Yonkers?" I yawned. "How absurd."