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May. 25th, 2013 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turpsJames went off to France with the Scouts yesterday. I've talked to him this morning when they stopped for breakfast and all is going well. Thankfully the weather seems to have turned as it's been terrible lately, both here and France. He's still got a long journey ahead -- it's about a 20 hour coach journey, but everyone sounded cheerful enough. I really missed him when he went, and I'm not sure why. He goes away every year so I'm used to it, and at least Corey is here, so it's not like the year I came back from Camp Sparkle and James and Corey went away the same day, leaving me alone for a week.
But yeah, he's gone. Getting packed took some doing though. Not helped by the in-laws and Corey getting a nasty computer virus one night that meant a call to the police. It completely locked his computer with a message supposedly from the police, plus an email saying he'd downloaded illegal content which could result in prison time or a huge fine. Reading about it now it's easy to think, trojan, but when it happened it really knocked him. When James phoned the police they said it's a known scam, and that he'd probably have to send his hard drive to an expert to get it cleaned up. Thankfully, I think she was assuming we had less knowledge than we do as it was pretty easy to remove once we'd googled the fix, though Corey did have to do multiple scans and a full system restore.
The in-law thing happened Thurs night. For background, my 9 year old niece broke her wrist a few weeks ago. They don't have a car, but live 5 minutes from the hospital. We live a 20 min drive from the in-laws in good traffic. When she broke her wrist they called James asking him to drive her to the hospital, even though she'd come home from school on the bus. Then again the next week when she went to karate and managed to pull the lining out of her cast. Then Thursday night she'd apparently pulled the whole cast off, and my MiL called asked again if James would drive them to hospital, even though he'd just been talking to her on the way home from work, so knew that he hadn't finished packing, and wouldn't get home until after 8. I know it sounds petty, and he really doesn't mind driving them places, but man, the timing was not cool.
I woke up today to see Ray had posted a song, which is pretty amazing. Isn't That Something. I love that he's creating music and I like the song, though, as I said on twitter, the title constantly makes me think of The Reel Nsync. Ding!
I finished my filler scenes for BBB last week and the story is now off to be alpha read as I don't think it's as strong as it could be at the moment. Usually I'm talking about what I'm writing with various people while doing so, but this time I pretty much did it all myself without sharing anything, so fingers crossed, I haven't got a dud on my hands.
I've been reading a lot lately so thought I'd tell about some stories I especially enjoyed.
Pas de Trois (65041 words) by eledhwenlin
Eld posted this a really long time ago, and it's been in tabs ever since. It's a fantastic Regency AU that deals with an arranged marriage between Spencer, Brendon and Ryan. I loved this story a lot, and while it was Brendon who carried the story, Spencer and Ryan's friendship delighted me -- I know, I know, predictable as always. It's just a really nice story that I enjoyed reading a lot.
Please understand it has to be this way (7539 words) by lalejandra
This is a Mikey centric story set after he split with Alicia, and in this story, Sarah. If you have issues with that, he's never written actually with her, but she is mentioned. Really, it's a story about what Mikey did after messing up his life, and in this case, he joins Empires. You really don't need to know about Empires to enjoy this, it's just this fascinating story about someone trying their best to get by after messing up. And it reads very true to me.
Food of Love (12469 words) by Lucifuge5
As I told Luce, I've no idea how I missed this at the time. Frank/Mikey is a pairing I adore, and Luce a good writer so why I didn't jump on this when it was posted for BBB last year I don't know. All I can think is I was in story saturation at the time. Anyway. This is an incredibly adorable story where the Ways run a coffeeshop/bakery and Frank falls for Mikey. Which he should do always. I loved all the details in this universe and I was rooting for Frank all the way through.
Get The Balance Right (2348 words) by annemari
Gerard does Mikey's hair. Such great Way bros and a story that says so much, and not just about hair.
L For Lucky (M for Mine) (41654 words) by deadpegasus
I loved this story a lot. It's Ray a centric Ray/Mikey with background Frank/Gerard and kind of amazing in that it held my attention and I couldn't stop reading for the whole 40k plus, and that for a story based on kink, there's surprisingly little kink happening to Ray. Yeah, it's described as happening around him, and he has some scorching scenes, but he's not off doing watersports, bdsm etc. However, it does have some issues so I'm not going to rec without bringing them up.
First issue is, Ray has a exhibitionism kink, and at the beginning of the story he deals with that by masturbating on public transport, where he wants people to see him. I'm not going to lie, it's a disturbing scene to read. He does hate what he's doing and it causes him a lot of mental pain but, you can't get past the fact that he is jerking off in front of innocent people. I know that was a deal breaker for many people, and I can understand that.
Second, later in the story he has sex with a woman who basically attacks him during sex, without consent. It's warned for as dub con, but pushes very close to non con imo because she's deliberately hurting him and while he never says stop, it's obvious he wants to, and is so shocked he just lies there taking it. Ray is very much a victim here, and while the woman is dealt with, thrown from Alphabet Manor and banned, and Ray taken care of, it's another very painful scene to read.
But, if you can deal with that. This story really is fantastic. The Ways own Alphabet Manor, a place where people can go and enjoy different rooms devoted to different kink. And seeing that you'd think it's a story all about sex and kink, but it's not. It's about Ray coming to terms with himself, and fascinating relationships and people living their lives the best way that they can.
It really is one of the best stories I've read for a while, it's just a shame Ray couldn't have been introduced to Mikey in a different way. One that didn't throw so many people out of the story.
But yeah, he's gone. Getting packed took some doing though. Not helped by the in-laws and Corey getting a nasty computer virus one night that meant a call to the police. It completely locked his computer with a message supposedly from the police, plus an email saying he'd downloaded illegal content which could result in prison time or a huge fine. Reading about it now it's easy to think, trojan, but when it happened it really knocked him. When James phoned the police they said it's a known scam, and that he'd probably have to send his hard drive to an expert to get it cleaned up. Thankfully, I think she was assuming we had less knowledge than we do as it was pretty easy to remove once we'd googled the fix, though Corey did have to do multiple scans and a full system restore.
The in-law thing happened Thurs night. For background, my 9 year old niece broke her wrist a few weeks ago. They don't have a car, but live 5 minutes from the hospital. We live a 20 min drive from the in-laws in good traffic. When she broke her wrist they called James asking him to drive her to the hospital, even though she'd come home from school on the bus. Then again the next week when she went to karate and managed to pull the lining out of her cast. Then Thursday night she'd apparently pulled the whole cast off, and my MiL called asked again if James would drive them to hospital, even though he'd just been talking to her on the way home from work, so knew that he hadn't finished packing, and wouldn't get home until after 8. I know it sounds petty, and he really doesn't mind driving them places, but man, the timing was not cool.
I woke up today to see Ray had posted a song, which is pretty amazing. Isn't That Something. I love that he's creating music and I like the song, though, as I said on twitter, the title constantly makes me think of The Reel Nsync. Ding!
I finished my filler scenes for BBB last week and the story is now off to be alpha read as I don't think it's as strong as it could be at the moment. Usually I'm talking about what I'm writing with various people while doing so, but this time I pretty much did it all myself without sharing anything, so fingers crossed, I haven't got a dud on my hands.
I've been reading a lot lately so thought I'd tell about some stories I especially enjoyed.
Pas de Trois (65041 words) by eledhwenlin
Eld posted this a really long time ago, and it's been in tabs ever since. It's a fantastic Regency AU that deals with an arranged marriage between Spencer, Brendon and Ryan. I loved this story a lot, and while it was Brendon who carried the story, Spencer and Ryan's friendship delighted me -- I know, I know, predictable as always. It's just a really nice story that I enjoyed reading a lot.
Please understand it has to be this way (7539 words) by lalejandra
This is a Mikey centric story set after he split with Alicia, and in this story, Sarah. If you have issues with that, he's never written actually with her, but she is mentioned. Really, it's a story about what Mikey did after messing up his life, and in this case, he joins Empires. You really don't need to know about Empires to enjoy this, it's just this fascinating story about someone trying their best to get by after messing up. And it reads very true to me.
Food of Love (12469 words) by Lucifuge5
As I told Luce, I've no idea how I missed this at the time. Frank/Mikey is a pairing I adore, and Luce a good writer so why I didn't jump on this when it was posted for BBB last year I don't know. All I can think is I was in story saturation at the time. Anyway. This is an incredibly adorable story where the Ways run a coffeeshop/bakery and Frank falls for Mikey. Which he should do always. I loved all the details in this universe and I was rooting for Frank all the way through.
Get The Balance Right (2348 words) by annemari
Gerard does Mikey's hair. Such great Way bros and a story that says so much, and not just about hair.
L For Lucky (M for Mine) (41654 words) by deadpegasus
I loved this story a lot. It's Ray a centric Ray/Mikey with background Frank/Gerard and kind of amazing in that it held my attention and I couldn't stop reading for the whole 40k plus, and that for a story based on kink, there's surprisingly little kink happening to Ray. Yeah, it's described as happening around him, and he has some scorching scenes, but he's not off doing watersports, bdsm etc. However, it does have some issues so I'm not going to rec without bringing them up.
First issue is, Ray has a exhibitionism kink, and at the beginning of the story he deals with that by masturbating on public transport, where he wants people to see him. I'm not going to lie, it's a disturbing scene to read. He does hate what he's doing and it causes him a lot of mental pain but, you can't get past the fact that he is jerking off in front of innocent people. I know that was a deal breaker for many people, and I can understand that.
Second, later in the story he has sex with a woman who basically attacks him during sex, without consent. It's warned for as dub con, but pushes very close to non con imo because she's deliberately hurting him and while he never says stop, it's obvious he wants to, and is so shocked he just lies there taking it. Ray is very much a victim here, and while the woman is dealt with, thrown from Alphabet Manor and banned, and Ray taken care of, it's another very painful scene to read.
But, if you can deal with that. This story really is fantastic. The Ways own Alphabet Manor, a place where people can go and enjoy different rooms devoted to different kink. And seeing that you'd think it's a story all about sex and kink, but it's not. It's about Ray coming to terms with himself, and fascinating relationships and people living their lives the best way that they can.
It really is one of the best stories I've read for a while, it's just a shame Ray couldn't have been introduced to Mikey in a different way. One that didn't throw so many people out of the story.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-25 08:04 pm (UTC)Is Corey too cool to go on scout trips now that he's become a teenager? :-)
The title of Ray's song makes me too think of Lance and the Reel Nsync!
I hope your alpha readers only have nice things to say about your story.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-26 12:54 pm (UTC)Oh he's totally too cool. No way would he pull on a Scout shirt now *g*
I'm glad it's not me! It's not in a bad way, just that phrase is so tied to Lance in my mind I immediately think of him when I see it.
I hope so. I had to go find a new beta this morning as themoononastick is having personal problems. This story keeps hitting problems.
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Date: 2013-05-26 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-25 08:24 pm (UTC)Thanks for the rec, darling! <33
no subject
Date: 2013-05-26 11:43 am (UTC)You're welcome!
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 03:28 am (UTC)Ray's song is grin-inducing (even though it makes me cry? IDEK, T.!)
Thank you for the rec. ^_^ Oh, and for pointing the way to the Way bros gen fic too.
I've read the Ray/Mikeyway kink fic (thankfully, after getting thoroughly spoiled for it by Akamine.) It's so fascinating that I'm still at a loss for leaving some kind of feedback to the author. /o\
The first scene really shook me up (even after knowing what was going to happen.) Mostly because it didn't read as OOC for that story's Ray. It was much more difficult (for me) to get past the second scene. To me, it deffo is non-con. Off the top of my head, it's only the second or third scene of Male/Female non-con where the guy is the one who is traumatized. Part of what makes it so memorable (other than Ray's suffering) is how well-written it is. Also, the reactions from the Way bros in the aftermath.
Very intriguing fic.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-22 08:34 pm (UTC)The first scene really shook me up (even after knowing what was going to happen.) Mostly because it didn't read as OOC for that story's Ray. It was much more difficult (for me) to get past the second scene. To me, it deffo is non-con. Off the top of my head, it's only the second or third scene of Male/Female non-con where the guy is the one who is traumatized. Part of what makes it so memorable (other than Ray's suffering) is how well-written it is. Also, the reactions from the Way bros in the aftermath.
Yeah. All of that.
The story is so incredibly written, and I stand by my wish that Ray's kink could have been introduced in another way, simply so more people would have read. I actually agree with you, how he was discovered was in character for this Ray, his mental suffering was presented clearly, and I really felt for him, and his self-hatred.
That second scene hurt to read, especially thinking of him not fighting back because he was so shocked. I'm really glad that there was that scene of action being taken after.