The Tuesday edition of "I HAVE BEEN TERRIBLY, SORELY REMISS FOR NOT..."

[red_satin_doll]

1) Thanking: My personal Miss Psycho Pep Squad velvetwhip. For reasons. For everything.

Everyone who has helped me learn how to improve my art skillz: chasingdemons and comlodge, spikesredqueen, rua1412, eilowyn, and kwritten for introducing me to ipiccy in the first place. (If I've forgotten anyone please forgive me.) Ok, I did some thankin' yesterday but it bears repeating. The sheer GENEROSITY of folks in this fandom is overwhelming. My real life has been all kinds of suckitude; being here on LJ, diving into making art (aka keeping myself distracted) has been my bliss.Comlodge, debris4spike, and Chasingdemons all checked out ipiccy to make comparisons with gimp/PS and give me their reactions.

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2) Pimpage happens here: My homegirl eilowyn made me an incredible gift: a Buffy Summers fanmix, with musical tracks by Coldplay, Florence Welch, Imogene Heap, Regina Spektor, Metric and more;  with incredible "album cover" art. I'm listening to it right now for the umpteenth time - Rilo Kiley's heartbreaker "A Better Son/Daughter" as a matter of fact. Perfect song for Buffy - keep fighting, keep smiling, keep hauling that load even if it kills you (and it certainly will). The entire mix is everything Buffy is - brave, frightened, loving, determined, uncertain, strong  -  everything all of us are: human. (Speaking of, "Human" by the Cinematics puts me in mind of Spike, actually, but that may be partly because of the lead male vocals. "I've been breaking my back with the weight of your heart." Break my heart now, why don'cha?) I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful gif but I'm grateful - and already addicted to it.

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clockwork_hart1's "Conclusive Etymology of a Summers" is a lovely and tender portrait of Buffy's relationship with language beyond my ability to do justice with my own words: her wit, her stubborness, her intelligence, her hope; her silence in response to the fears that grip her heart.  This story completely owns my heart, so here's a piece of mine: my first fanfiction poster.

I am so happy with how this came out. SO happy and proud. As in, close-to-tears-happy. I didn't plan it in advance, it snuck up me while I was working on something else, and just came together with hardly any effort. That's the way it always seems to be. I'm wrestling with fear, self-doubt and sense of failure in my RL, but - I can do this now. I can do this.


pickamix generously offered suggestions for a more slender font style, which I tried to replicate here;  I love both variations.

Go read Lucy's fic, it's beyond wonderful. Then check out her multi-fandom icons and her other fics, including the delightful Buffyverse/Whoverse crossovers: the sensual "Teaching the Stars how to Set Themselves on Fire" (Dawn/Amy Pond); two Buffy/River Song fics, the funny/sexy "Straight on 'til Morning" and the answer to my request for "more, please" with it's prequel: "Greet Me with Nights and Summer"; Buffy/River Song plus wise, wry Dawn, slightly-befuddled Faith, a shout-out to Tara, badass women with swords and an apocalypse-y setting.  What more could I desire?

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kikimay's fics and fanvideo: The epilogue to her post-series Fuffy fic Eros which is incredibly sweet and has a lovely Buffy/Giles scene. Fluffy Fuffy can be hard to get right, but if you've been reading along, Kiki makes sure it's well-earned. Our beloved Slayers deserve a little happiness, oui? (the entire story is rated NC-17 but this chapter is safely teen and up.) Her second fan video, "Bad Habit" takes on a serious subject: the ways that the Buffyverse women punish themselves and "self-mutilate" either literally or symbolically. It's been a while since I've seen a truly meta buffy fanvid that engaged larger social and psychological issues. She says she has plans to make a third video, inspired by "Conclusive Etymology of a Summers". I approve of this plan.

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beer_good_foamy's latest btvs S6 fic, "Building Character" (thank you kikimay!) that rewrites S6 and Buffy's resurrection in a way that is probably more realistic - and subtly horrifying, or at least extremely ambiguous - than canon. It also builds on a series-wide subtext that becomes text in S5 - the "constructed" or created individual, the "doll" (shades of the Buffybot, April and Dawn). The gang tries to put Buffy together again, however much they think they "know" her, how much is unknown and left blank?

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Don't forget to vote at slayerstillness Challenge 27, Hair Porn; deadline is midnight tonight, the 8th, in your time zone.  And check out the beautiful btvsats20in20 entries for two Season 5 episodes by starry_nightstarry_night (Intervention) and iconsoleander (The Body). Deadline for Round 2 entries is tomorrow, and I'll be able to start my entry post as soon as I get this post up. (The word "gulp" comes to mind.)

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3) Finally, Wishing spuffy_luvr a belated Happy Birthday (July 1st.)  She hasn't been active in fandom since last fall, as far as I can tell, so I am also remiss in not dropping her a line because I miss her presence, the conversations and rants about: Spuffy canon vs fanon, fandom, politics, pretty much anything and everything - she brings intelligent, wit, and an independent, iconoclastic, no-nonsense attitude to everything in her sights. And the fic: she's known for her long Spuffy works but excels also at funny, sexy, tender Spuffy ficlets in which both partners in the 'ship are treated with affection and respect. The "it could have been canon" series she wrote for sb_fag_ends in October is all kinds of wonderful, and includes meta as well as fic. "No Earthly Remains" is something of a departure, focusing on Willow, Faith and Buffy post-Chosen; it stands next to kwritten's "You're Here, Too?" (Buffy, Anya, Willow) as one of my favorite fics dealing with the friendships of btvs' women, and Buffy's trauma and grief after the fall of Sunnyhell.

ETA: "Conciusive Etymology" poster Nominee for Best Banner in Wicked Awards Round 11:  

A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend: It goes without saying but just in case: "Don't even think about stealing or defacing my artwork or ye will be plagued by boils and all manner of afflictions".  The Miss Psycho Pep Squad icon is totally snaggable however. Have a nice day!

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I've really gotten into crossovers lately -Buffy and mal, Buffy and Loki, etc As long as the writers love and respect both partners and it's good writing. I'm a Buffy fan I want to enjoy myself, not feel as though I'm being hit between the shoulders all the time, knowhatimean?

I'm so beyond honoured that you're even reading those stories

You're an amazing writer, full stop. The honor is mine.

And Eilowyn is also amazing and this took me totally by surprise because I've only seen her write, and research or nonfiction at that. Beautiful, thoughtful, everything.

the fuffy was fluffy and delicious, and the resurrection story gave my heart pause; so gut wrenching and stark. Everything is both painful and wonderful in the fandom.

PERFECT description of both stories.

Have you read mabus33's Buffybot, Willow & Tara AU story (metem)psychosis? If you haven't you should. Very - dark.
http://mabus101.livejournal.com/125867.html
http://mabus101.livejournal.com/125867.html

bout Buffy post-Chosen, Tara grief, possibly Faith and body art that I might have to try and rewrite

Wait, WHAT IS THIS I MUST KNOW. I actually wrote a rough draft of a story last fall after the house fire - Buffy on the streets of LA right after Chosen, considering getting a tattoo and remember an afternoon she spent in front of a tat parlour in SD with Tara. It's all kinds of rough and I should try to do something with it. And so should you if you can. Yours will be better. (And I just had an idea for a fic poster....)

I LOVE YOU, you know that, right?

And you know I love you. That isn't even a question.

[clockwork-hart1.livejournal.com]

I adore crossovers, but I need them to be well done and believable - I need talented writers otherwise they can be a huge mess.

I have not read those stories but I need to and I will in a second.

It was a thought I had that I never quite got down and my rough draft was lost. I love yours. I might write that, if it's permissible? (And is it weird that I want Faith holding her hand?)

The circle of love is infinite.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Write whatever you like sweetie, it will be yours and not mine. And then maybe I'll write mine? Faith wasn't in mine, Buffy was alone in LA, although I really like the idea of Faith being with her. Faith and Buffy late seasons or post-season friendship is my crack (what comics?) (I wrote it when I was feeling delicate after the housefire and had occasional visions of Buffy hearing Tara's voice or seeing her pass like a ghost. And cried a lot.)

(And is it weird that I want Faith holding her hand?)

No why would that be weird? The handoff of the scythe (and the scene on the porch at the end of Empty Places) are two of my favorite moments in the series. But so is the perverted "handfasting" of TYG/WAY (contrasted to W/T joining hands in Hush and WAY); those hand imagery moments are so important and so overlooked (especially in comparison to Buffy and her menz.) Buffy is the Hand - and so is Faith.

And I just love the shift in their relationship. LOVE IT. Buffy in tears on the front porch giving up leadership to Faith, thinking of the girls and protecting them at her lowest moment, (do NOT tell me she's a coldhearted unfeeling bitch people DO NOT) and Faith doing her best to keep her unspoken "promise to a lady". Fandom goes on and on about the transition and changes in the Spuffy relationship, but Buffy and Faith don't get enough attention.

[clockwork-hart1.livejournal.com]

I'd love to do this. Hopefully I'll get round to it, because I adore this image.

I always want sister slayer interactions and bonding. Hold on through the pain. I like it as a mirror to the Spuffy flames of Chosen and inverting the TYG/WAY image, as well as the tattoo as a memento mori for Tara, and the other lives lost.

With B/S vs B/F, I like the idea that these feelings don't have to be mutually exclusive.