Sanguinity

Life has been very busy and I am behind on posting all the things, but this morning I had a few free hours. I spent it writing fic.

Better than Tons of Gold and Cases of Diamonds

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas for PhoenixFalls
Edmond Dantès/Abbé Faria
Imprisonment, Canon Compliant, Making the Subtext Text, No Betas We Die Like Abbé Faria
Major Character death, 1300 words

Dantès swore that nothing but death would part them. Nothing but death did. Scenes from a sort of marriage.

The last couple of weeks, I've been reading The Count of Monte Cristo with monte-cristo-daily. We're only just past the Château d'If, so please don't spoil me, I know nothing. (Right now Dantès is buying everyone boats: I heartily approve!)

But from the moment Abbé Faria was introduced, I shipped it. Alas, when I turned to AO3, I discovered this was a "when not even the sickos on AO3 have your back" kind of moment. So I fixed that. ;-)

Inaugural post for the 'ship, hooray!

For those unfamiliar, fandomtrumpshate is a fandom charity auction that supports nonprofits working to counteract some of the harms of the current presidential administration. Supported causes include trans rights, disability rights, immigrant rights, voting rights, libraries, Gaza, and more. (Please see the complete list of supported organizations, including which nonprofits accept international donations.)

I'm offering fic! In three fandoms:

• D.K. Broster novels (Jacobite Trilogy, Wounded Name, "Mr. Rowl", or a novel of your choice)
  
• Hornblower -- any of the various media, from novels to movies to radio
  
• Vorkosigan Saga
  

For the details of each fandom (characters, ships, etc.), please see my auction listing! The listing includes my email for questions, but I'm also happy to discuss any questions here in comments or private messages. Please do reach out if you're curious about anything, or whether I'm up for a particular kind of story.

Sanguinity's auction listing

$15 minimum bid for 2K words
$50 minimum bid for 7K words

Bidding opens Tuesday March 3rd, and closes Saturday March 7th. (I'll post again when bidding opens.)

And of course I'm not the only one auctioning fanworks! If you feel moved, please do have a browse of foth2026offerings (check out the sticky post for the best ways to search the offerings) to see if there's something that interests you.

candyheartsex has revealed, and I have received a delightful gift!

In Which Laurent Rises to the Occasion
The Wounded Name -- D. K. Broster
Laurent/Aymar, Amyar/Avoye
Canon divergence, Pre-Poly

Aymar despairs of clearing his name and leaves France, leaving only a letter behind.

Laurent is so delightfully himself, burning with passion for all the things! For Aymar! To clear Aymar's name! To tenderly care for him! And also to straighten out this mess where Aymar is determined to throw himself on his sword for Avoye's sake, without first consulting with Avoye about whether she even wants that! (If there is one thing that Laurent has learned from his association with Aymar, it is the frustration of having a lover throw himself on his sword for you without asking first! NOT THAT THIS FLEETINGLY CRITICAL THOUGHT MEANS HE LOVES AYMAR ANY THE LESS!!!!!!!)

I have strong suspicions as to who wrote the story (*casts a meaningfgul glance in luzula's direction*), especially given the central theme that maybe you should ask your girlfriend what she wants before making a grand life-altering gesture in her name. (A genre of story that luzula excels at!) But I shall refrain from offering official thanks until after reveals. (But please know I enjoyed it very much!)

ETA: It was indeed by [Bad username or site: Luzula @ org] -- thank you very much!

David Macaulay, Ship (1993)

Lengthy (96 pages!) illustrated for-older-readers children's book detailing an underwater archaeology expedition to investigate the wreck of a fifteenth-century caravel, finishing with a builder's journal documenting the caravel's construction. Lots of information about archaeological planning, research, and methods, followed by a similarly detailed section on historic ship construction. The illustrations and diagrams are as information-rich as the text. (When reading this aloud to grrlpup, I often stopped to elaborate further on some detail in the drawings.) For a fully-illustrated picture book, the reading level is fairly advanced (verbose and with lots of specialized vocabulary), providing lots of opportunity for an older child to nerd out undisturbed. (An older child -- or me!)


Lois McMaster Bujold, The Paladin of Souls (2003)

Immediate sequel to The Curse of Chalion, plus a few years. Our point-of-view character is someone who was mostly dismissed in the first novel for alleged madness -- and in fact, her early motivations are wholly about getting out from under the "protection" of people who think she's mad.

Of course, once she does get out, adventures start being had. And she's mad about it, because she wasn't planning on having adventures, she just wanted to have a nice life being left alone on her own terms. Alas.

Ripping yarn, I liveblogged most of it to phoenixfalls as I read it, things kept snowballing in that classically Bujold way, and much like in The Curse of Chalion we were a good ways into it before figuring out what the larger plot ultimately even was. There were a number of moments that made me laugh out loud. (When she experimentally kisses the literally too-handsome-for-his-own-good guy to see if it will break a spell, and he isn't fazed in the least, just kisses her back as if this happens every so often and he considers it "impolite to duck".) Ista reminds me more than a little bit of Cordelia, and I wouldn't call that a bad thing.


Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore (2025) -- DNF

I don't usually post about my DNFs (Did Not Finish), because why bother, but I did read about half of this, and was hugely conflicted.

( Did Not Finish )

Anyway, it's a month overdue and four hundred people are waiting for it at the library, and I keep thinking about other books on my tbr list that I want to read but I "have to" read this one first. Boo. I hate it when I can see the book I would have found compelling around the margins of the book the author actually chose to write.

Today is Christmas, three times over!

1.

luzula finished Far Frae the Bonny Hills and Dales, a Flight of the Heron longfic that I have been following for the past eighteen months. AU where Ewen is transported and sold to the Caribbean sugar fields. There are tragic parts to the story (note the "major character death" warning), but it ends in a good and satisfying place. One of the things I love about luzula's writing is that she makes her characters earn their happy ending -- and they do.

Congratulations to luzula, and happy Christmas to me!

2.

fandomtrees revealed! I received some beautiful maritime-fandoms icons (William Bush, Frederick Wentworth, and Anne Eliot), thank you to sarajayechan and chewingbottles! I am looking forward to using them!

I also made a half-dozen things (which will have their own reveals post later), and that's been fun, too.

3.

Family Chistmas celebrations got delayed twice, first by weather, and the second time because my brother called up and said he was still waiting on my Christmas present to be delivered. He insisted he had ordered it in good time, but repeated shipping delays, it was supposed to be delivered any day now, etc. etc. And I was all dude, it's fine (while wondering what the big deal was, but whatever, if he wanted to hold off so we could do it all in person, that's fine, too.) I get a long weekend for MLK Jr. weekend (for non-USians, this weekend), so we pushed it all back to today, when we convened at Mom's house for delayed Christmas celebrations.

grrlpup and I got everyone a lot of Japan souvenirs -- my brother got squeaky-toy katana and a whole big box of the bubblegum he had adored as a kid (which, fair enough, took us WEEKS to find, it no longer being in every convenience store like when we visited Japan as kids) -- and we also got some beautiful hand-made art from my sister-in-law. I thought present-opening was done. When my brother dropped in my lap a great big box the approximate size, shape, and weight of an autoharp. Although a bit heavy for an autoharp? Weirdly balanced for an autoharp, too. (Not that he would ever get me an autoharp!)

Lo, this was my brother's Christmas present to me:
( color me dumbstruck )

I am very much blown away by the gift, and yes that was very much worth delaying celebrations for and also making sure he could watch me open it in person, I very much get it now.

Either he won Christmas or I won Christmas, I'm not sure which, but either way, Christmas was indeed won.

Is it too late to post about Yuletide? Surely not!

For Yuletide 2024, I tried to pick up a Hornblower-TV pinch-hit. Alas, even though I had the first part of the story written, I wasn't quick enough to get assigned the pinch-hit. Which turned out just as well, because the story stalled out and while I told myself I could post it as a treat, I never finished it. I ended up quasi-trunking it that spring as a hopeless job.

But in November I finally figured out what its plot needed to be (sadly, it would require a complete rewrite!), and then one of the Yuletide 2025 requests was even a better match for the overhauled story than the original 2024 pinch-hit would have been. So I rewrote it, and published as a Yuletide treat, hurrah:

The Worst Part of Waking Up for BromeliadDreams

Bush/Hornblower

Hurt/Comfort, Dying Declarations, First Kiss (is also the) Last Kiss (or it should have been damnit), Everybody Lives (as embarrassing as that is for some), When He Made This Bed He Wasn't Expecting to Wake Up In It, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

At the end of Loyalty, Bush is too late to save Hornblower. With his dying breath, Hornblower requests a kiss from Bush…

…only to wake up a week later and discover he's going to live after all. Damnit.

The title btw, was only meant to be provisional, but it was as sticky as fuck and time was tight and I never got around to changing it. I do realize it's the perfect title for a Folgers Incest fic (and I had a serious conversation with myself about whether I really wanted to waste such a great title on the wrong fandom), but in the end I don't have any real ambition to write Folgers Incest fic. And anyway, it's funny. So there it stayed, sorry for the earworm.

This morning I was tidying my WIP folder, archiving the stories I've finished since the last time I cleaned up, and remembered I still had the first version of the story, which is in Bush-pov. I still like it very much, and it's mostly all stuff that doesn't appear in the rewrite, except by implication.

So this morning I published it as a bonus:

Too Late, Too Late

Hornblower/Bush

POV William Bush, Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

Bush is too late to the beach to stop the firing squad.

Bonus Bush point-of-view on the beach scene.

One of the things I love about fic is that there doesn't have to be one canonical version; you can post alternate povs and alternate endings, and bits and bobs and scraps of things. And a lot of times people enjoy them! And if they don't enjoy them, they don't have to click. It's great.

So if Bush-pov on the beach scene is the kind of thing you might enjoy: enjoy!

In the Humanities 110 alumni bookgroup, we have moved on from the Fertile Crescent and the Mediterranean, to Mesoamerica! Woo-hoo! I have been waiting for this for AGES.

We got off to a slow start: most of our readings were pretty minimal, and many of us (including me) got frustrated and started doing a bunch of extra reading, just to get a better grounding in the time of place. Consequently, I lagged on doing monthly posts: in a lot of cases, I didn't have much to say until I'd finished my supplementary reading. So here, have it all at once!

Assigned plus supplemental readings from September through December, minus one book I'm still working my way through. Pre-Conquest (i.e., pre-1521) through 1649.


Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs (2019)

What it says on the tin! Episodic history of the Mexica from their coming to the Valley of Mexico through the first century after the Spanish conquest, drawing primarily on Nahuatl-language sources. Each chapter begins with a fictionalized epigram of a key moment in a historical figure's life, then spends the chapter itself expanding on the historical context. Very much intended to be a Mexica-pov history, Townsend's primary sources are Nahuatl annals, the most useful of which are discussed in an appendix. She is careful to point out where the annals are ambiguous or contradictory, or what aspects of a narrative rely on inference, or are found only in Spanish-language sources, or are just plain conjecture, which I appreciate.

I found this a good read, and a satisfying introduction to Mexica culture and history.


Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt (eds.), Codex Mendoza (1541/1992)

On its own, this was relatively dry: neither the original glyphic writing nor the Spanish nor English translations were that compelling. (Although it is cool to see how significant items such as shells, rubber balls, and feathers were as tribute.) But when taken with this next work...


Gordon Whittaker, Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs: A Guide to Nahuatl Writing (2021)

Not assigned for the course/bookclub, but I very much wish it had been. One of the lectures on the Codex Mendoza invited us to try to interpret its heiroglyphs on our own, without any instruction. When in fact it is more than a rebus writing system! There are many non-literal conventions! Some glyphs are used phonetically, not literally! Some glyphs have multiple meanings! Glyphs have multiple forms and the different forms mean different things! AGH.

( Thorough introduction to Mexican glyphic writing. )

Great book, hugely recommended, sometimes a bit more technical than I could quite grasp, it helps if you already speak some Nahuatl (but Whittaker teaches you most of the Nahuatl you need to know to follow the text), and lots and lots and lots of glossy full color illustrations and scans or photographs of various codices and carvings.


James Lockhart (ed. and trans.), We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico (late 1500s / 1993)

Translation of several Nahuatl-language texts about the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The vast majority of the page count is devoted Book Twelve of the Florentine Codex (La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España -- in English, The General History of the Things of New Spain), an encyclopedia compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún during the latter half of the sixteenth century. La Historia General was conceived to fill two primary purposes: to be a primary source for an eventual Nahuatl dictionary, and to be an encyclopedia to Mexica culture, to better aid the twin projects of colonization and conversion. In the Florentine Codex, La Historia consists of two parallel texts presented on facing pages, the original Nahuatl and a Spanish translation created by Sahagún, plus additional illustrations (which for the most part are European-style illustrations, and not the heiroglyphic texts of earlier Mexica codices). Books 1 through 11 are an encyclopedia of various cultural and natural history topics; Book 12 is a narrative of the Spanish conquest. In We People Here, Lockhart provides side-by-side English translations of both the Nahuatl and Sahagún's Spanish translation -- which is fascinating.

( Nahuatl and Spanish )


Luis Lasso de la Vega (eds. Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole and James Lockhart), The story of Guadalupe (1649/1998)

Earliest written account of the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, set to pen nearly a century after the first written reference to the famous artifact. There's a lot of fascinating context about who wrote it (a white Spaniard) and in what language (Nahuatl) and for what purposes (to persuade the Mexica to be more Catholic about their worship at a holy site for the Mexica goddess Tonantzin; to convince the Iberian Spanish elite that the New-Spain Spanish elite were as legitimate as the Iberians and/or should be the new center of the Spanish empire).

Almost none of that context is actually in the story (except its being written in Nahuatl, which is made much of at the beginning). Instead, this is the story of Juan Diego, lowly and humble, and the visions that appeared to him, and his attempts to make the Bishop listen. There's some interesting symbolism about Spanish birds and flowers appearing miraculously, but the event we liked best is the part where Juan Diego decided he didn't have time to be harassed by Mary and tried to ghost her, and she called him on it. (And then, very graciously, solved his other problems so that he could return to working on hers.)

2025 media in review! I'm not gonna try to do a best-of/highlights summary, but please do ask me about anything that interests you. (There's a Mesoamerican books post still coming, plus another general books post.)

( 2025 Books )

( 2025 Movies )

( 2025 TV )

I picked up three pinch-hits for ficinabox!

Still Here Together for Shinzuku206
Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Laurence & Temeraire
Hurt/Comfort, Hospitalization, Plushies, Recursive Fic

After his injury, Laurence is confined to the hospital for many weeks. Temeraire bears up bravely — then Laurence, too, learns what it is to worry.

Direct sequel to shinzuku206's story, With You By My Side, in which Laurence is hospitalized with a broken leg, and Temeraire is very sweet about it.

I, of course, had to make it worse. ;-)

(Don't worry: despite it all, Laurence and Temeraire are still very sweet together.)

 

Privileges of the Purse for StableState
Doctor Odyssey
Max, Avery, Tristan, Original Character
Worldbuilding, Humor

Most people wouldn't put a CT scanner on a cruise ship. The owners of the Odyssey aren't most people.

Or: Max meets Hugh "Doc" Laurent.

StableState prompted:

Who put a full-sized CT scanner on a cruise ship? Not to mention the HGTV feature wall of unlabeled medication in glass bottles (on a boat. With waves.) or the gene sequencer. Even the usual equipment is oddly gold and sleek. They have to be custom-ordered, or medical design is very different in our world.

I read that prompt, laughed, and immediately grabbed the pinch-hit. "Privileges of the Purse" is my best crack at the first three questions.

(The final question is unaddressed in the story, but I assert there is a medical supplier out there who does fake-gold-plated medical equipment for a few select customers overly invested in faux-opulence; chief among them is the Trump Organization.)

 

What Does the Spleen Do? for stablestate
What Does the Spleen Do? ft. Harvard Medical School Class of 2016
Cryptic Crossword

A splenic (but not asplenic!) cryptic criss-cross.

Just after I finished my Temeraire story, a second pinch-hit came up for StableState. After I confirmed with the mods that my "excess" 600 words from the first pinch-hit could be applied to this one, I picked it up. After all, there had been a second prompt of theirs that had interested me: one for a music video about spleens.

Fic In A Box has options for non-traditional fills: in addition to stories and art, it's possible to create works that fit various format or media opt-ins, one of which is cryptic crosswords. Which StableState had opted into for the spleen prompt! And what a lucky coincidence, I had just that week downloaded a course on how to do cryptic crosswords! I had read the first three chapters! Surely that was enough knowledge to design my own cryptic crossword??

(grrlpup laughs and confirms that I have always been like this.)

So I sailed in and did my best. It was fun! My grid was sub-standard (and I need to figure out how it is that people make up good grids), but it was neat to try to make up clues.

Happily, I had the wisdom to ask seekingferret, who is well-versed in all things puzzles, to beta. He warned me off the worst of my errors, kindly informed me that what I had created is called a criss-cross and not a crossword, and confirmed that it was in fact solvable.

(I am... not sure that anyone has solved it who isn't Ferret? But the recip left a nice thank you, and I shall be content with that.)

There's a bunch of reading I need to write up, but there was a little knot of Bujold books in there, so let's begin with those.

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion (2001)

The initial offering in Bujold's Five Gods universe, a set of several loosely-related fantasy series. This particular novel has medieval-Spanish inspirations with an original theology; I can't speak to the others.

I went into this 100% unspoiled, and enjoyed that experience very much. Since finishing the book, I've read a number of jacket blurbs and library catalog summaries and... meh. 1) We're AT LEAST two-thirds of the way through the book before ANY of that stuff happens, and 2) none of those blurbs had anything to do with what I enjoyed about the book.

So let me see if I can say some spoiler-free things I loved right from the beginning.

1. Lupe dy Cazaril, our protagonist, spends the entire book trying to solve the problem directly in front of him. He's got shit resources, shit influence, and shit big-picture perspective -- in fact, it's not until near the end of the book that he figures out what the plot arc even was! -- but by god he'll solve the problem right in front of him or he'll die trying. I love this for him.
   
   
2. A couple of chapters in, when we started to unlock Cazaril's backstory, I incredulously messaged phoenixfalls: "omg. Bujold took Aral Vorkosigan and broke him. Made him realize the tyrrany of meat. Put him through so much trauma that his only remaining ambition is to live."
   
   And I hold by that characterization of Cazaril: the once noble and principled master strategist, for whom everything, but everything, has gone so wrong that he has surrendered pride and principles and ambition and is grubbing in the mud after dropped coins. He is physically disabled. He has crippling PTSD. He would be content to live life as a kitchen scullion if it meant a guaranteed warm place by the fire to sleep.
   
   (But first he has to solve the problem in front of him.)

It is also worth mentioning that Bujold's plotting is as masterful as ever, and as usual, there is a fine array of worthy female characters across a wide range of ages.

It is probably also worth talking about the theology of this world? Except 1) I haven't really made up my mind about it, and 2) that discussion is nothing but spoilers all the way down.

I already have its immediate sequel, Paladin of Souls, in my hot little hands, although from the state of my reading list, it might be a bit before I can get there.


Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Flowers of Vashnoi (2018)

Read alouds to grrlpup; re-reads for me and first reads for her.

My reviews from last year, which I still largely stand by.

re Ivan: I still laugh to see Ivan thwarted; I still have fine-but-lukewarm feelings about Ivan and Tej. This time around, I particularly enjoyed how EVERYONE who found out about Ivan's emergency marriage IMMEDIATELY asked the important question: DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YET?? Sadly, the second half of the novel doesn't compel me the way the first half does: the in-law circus just can't live up to all of Ivan's nearest and dearest getting in line to make him squirm.

re Vashnoi: I still think this is a great novella, still appreciate how messy and intractable history is, and still very much appreciate Bujold leaving the ending as an exercise for the reader. Fair warning: this is one of the darker books in the series.