( ECverse ) 
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 Behind the above cut is a chronology of all the stories relating to the universe of the fanfic "Elijah's Cup", for expediency called the ECverse. The best way to sort out all the stuff in this journal relating to that universe (progress reports, ramblings, fic!bits, and resource posts/character outlines) is to click the tag 'ecverse' at the bottom of this entry.    :-) 

This is a universe - in need of a name - which is composed of the slight intersection of mostly separate fandoms. It began with Van Helsing, which I then stretched to include characters from Brian Jacques' book Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, and also the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, followed by the TV shows Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Supernatural. So, they are all kind of related in that my portrayal of certain characters remains true to my "canon" despite the new fandoms they are plunked down in. The Supernatural / Stargate: SG-1 crossover fics are less connected to the rest of the fandom, as indicated below by the fact that they are somewhat disjoined from the rest of the timeline.

 

( Master Fic List of SG1, Supernatural, VH, Indiana Jones, & Castaways 'verse )
 

Fair warning, on rereading I found a section in chapter 2 of Sticks and Stones that I actually hate, very much. I'm going to be editing around it, maybe removing it entirely, maybe changing it and leaving it in, but fair warning, I'll be doing something to it.

If I'm not back here tomorrow noting that I've fixed it, you probably won't see anything until mid-December, given the Thanksgiving travelling I'm going to be doing, followed by possibly more travelling and definite moving.

If I'm MIA, then Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I've been having thoughts, recently. ECverse thoughts; more specifically, Elijah's Cup itself kind of thoughts.

I like it, I'm happy with the way it turned out. When I wrote it, however many years ago it was, I spent five days literally writing from the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep, with only food and bathroom breaks. My spring break was consumed utterly; I was a woman possessed. I was so proud of it, and of myself, because I never knew I could do anything like that.

Looking back, however, there is nothing so good that it can't benefit from some editing. And I might have gone a little overboard in my "focus on the dialogue, use that to move the plot instead of description". So I think I'm going to go back and maybe work on it, clear up any areas that might be a bit confusing, and add in some character development and setting description if it should come up.

Also, I kind of want to go back to the fic central to the series, remind myself of what I see my characters as, who they are - especially the Pevensies as I've got to write them for TQW and I'm floundering a bit and putting it off. So. Project Elijah's Cup 2.0 is a go.

ETA: Well, actually, going through it it doesn't really need as much work as I'd thought it might, given how long it's been since I've actually read it. There's just a couple of rough spots that could use some smoothing over. So that's what I'm up to. :)

Okay, so there's an update! Sticks And Stones, in the ECverse, now has a second chapter.

Yes, I know, it's been forever and I'm terrible.

Halloween was something of an inspiration to try to get this one done, though the inspiration came on the day of, rather than in time for, the holiday. Again, no beta for this beast, so tell me if you see anything wrong and I'll fix it in the 60 days I have before ffnet makes me reupload the document.

I'm actually getting frustrated with the rabid number of OCs this whole "flesh out the world" project is starting to demand. Look out for more canon characters making an appearance next chapter - though of course they are all going to be charactarized circa the publication of GOF, and possibly for appearances' sake only, OOTP. As in, some characters don't appear until OOTP, but I again refuse to touch that book if I don't absolutely have to. Yes, I'm a snob. No, I don't care.

Oh, as a belated caveat, there is some just generic, "this-is-life" and hey, sometimes life is crude and corrupt, stuff going on in this chapter. As ever, not graphic because that's not the way I roll. Bad language alert, too, unsurprisingly.

As for the rest of the EC, I have the feeling the first major chapter of To Question Why will probably be the next update, just given that I've been poking at it recently and figured out how I want it to start, at least. And yeah, all the stuff that I thought was chapter one of TQW is being pushed back for chronology continuity reasons. I can't expect y'all to keep it straight, because yeah, it's complicated, and I'm not going to compound it by confusing myself more than I have to. If I don't come out of this project on the other end with MPD, it'll be something of a miracle.

So, I'm a little behind the times.

But on YouTube is a trailer for a movie entitled "Sherlock Holmes", with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. I'm actually more excited about Watson than Holmes, really, because I didn't know much about Downey until Ironman, and I'm still waiting on rumors of a sequel to that movie (see last five minutes of The Incredible Hulk - you know, the reboot that's got Eric Bana and isn't the sucky less-than-newish Hulk movie). But I basically saw this and went, "Why's Tony Stark dressed in a vest?" and the rest of the offical trailer , which is identical to the one I first linked except for the last thirty seconds or so (I found that particular section really raunchy, beware) only sort of solidified my "hey it's Tony Stark the womanizer" impression. My overall feelings on this?

Well, one is the overturning of my conception of Holmes, which was always more cerebral than physical - his history as a boxer was always overshadowed in my mind by the violin-playing, and the chess, and the lamentable cocaine addiction. Marksmanship never struck me as - well, as brutally active as the massive swinging sledgehammers displayed.  I think Hollywood is going to blink and nicely miss the drugs, though.

My second feeling is sortof, "Oh, another THE WORLD IS ENDING!!! story. *yawn* I hope the next Star Trek movie is more in the vein of the original series, about the weird and good (but not always life-in-peril-must-save-de-wurld) mission to seek out new life and new civilization. Oh, right, I was talking about the Holmes movie . . . they're saving the world AGAIN?" I never would have thought it, but honestly? Saving the world is becoming a trite storyline. Um, what was up with that chick with the white eyes and the floaty-ness? (there's a voice in the back of my head screaming OMG LILITH!! Quite possibly I have had too much SPN. Heh. Nevermind. There is no such thing. BTW, my TV Guide says that tomorrow's a rerun of "Sympathy for the Devil", 5.01. Anyone else experiencing this confuzzling phenomenon?)

Overall, I'm going to take this new Sherlock Holmes movie (release date: Christmas Day) with a grain of salt, and read the snarky comments by the British on YouTube about the trailer and how Americans have never fully grasped the "British mindset". If by that you mean socialism and teatime, I will say that no, we haven't - current administration aside re: the former, and my own personal enjoyment aside re: the latter. But I will reference all the disgruntled Englishmen to this date in history: December 16, 1773 and hazard that it might be part of the explanation why. No, seriously, they are very snarky. They're completely entitled, of course, Sherlock Holmes is _theirs_ and Hollywood is out for attracting audiences with action and explosions. I don't anticipate, unless the movie's more of a mystery than an actual mystical WE BRING THE APOCALYPSE thing, true to the spirit of the actual Holmes, that it'll do well internationally. I'd be more interested to see the response in the UK than anything else, really.

In a totally unrelated vein - two books I would like to see accurately put to film? From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The Giver. Just because I love them both and if really good directors and writers, dedicated to the heart of these stories, do them? They could be fantastic. And eventually someone's got to go back and reboot The Dark Is Rising from the miserable disgrace that claimed some of its plot. Barbarians. What would I have to do to get the job where I decide what books are made into movies, and by whom? That would be a frigging awesome job. I could make them fix TDIR, for one. No one would recognize it. Is it too much to ask for an actor who can act and sing? And also happens to be about eleven? And male, and actually English? But I won't bore you with my (unending) list of complaints re: that movie whose name shall not be spoken but purported to be "based on" (blasphemers) TDIR.

Tootles!

Anyone else extremely, extremely confused by the teaser for next week? Because I cannot tell you how completely puzzled I am. I have no map for this. Like, none.

( 5.05 (whose title I've forgotten. . . ) and mutterings!  )



( 5.06:  )


All in all, my satisfaction rating for this week and last is at a high "contented", though next week currently has me at a solid Defcon 5 on my "WTF-o'meter". Seriously. What. The. @#$O%&(&#*?!?!?!?!?! Cue me staring, open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the screen. This was "don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes" wide-eyed. I can't even think about it anymore or I'll just be going WTF?! for the next fifteen minutes, no joke.

And this is just an unrelated random wondering: So, if this Nick guy (current Satan vessel, gullible - yet grieving - twerp) is a "substitute" vessel for Satan, why isn't there an equivalent "substitute" vessel for Michael, is what I'm asking. I mean, does the fact that Dean seems to be the only possible vessel for Michael (based on the angels) a reflection of the fact that Sam is the intended vessel for Lucifer - I mean, does it hinge on the fact that they're brothers and Azazel was running around feeding babies demon blood? Or maybe is it the other way around, that Lucifer has to have Sam as his vessel because Dean has to be Michael's vessel? Notice the underlying assumption here that it's the fact that they're brothers is significant. I'm sortof basing this on the whole psychic kids deal, but what do I know, right? I'm just curious.

Meh. I knew it was going to be a plotfiller, and in many ways, it was.

( Spoilers and thoughts )


So all in all, I don't actually feel any particular way about this episode. I don't think there will be scenes I will be replaying like I did for the first two, but that doesn't make it a bad ep. The first two were squeeable, this one was just neutral. I don't know if I'm looking forward to next week, though. *squinty eye of wariness* We shall see.

GO. NOW.

Hey There Chthulu


I _died_ laughing. It's worth listening all the way through, let me tell you.

Where to start? So much squee!!

( Squee and SPOILERS!! )

OKAY! First things first. SQUEEEEEEE!!!!! SHOW IS BACK AND BEAUTIFUL!!! SQUEEEEEE!!!!

*fifteen minutes later*

Alright, on to the nitty-gritty. Episode review! Squealables, and predictions, and not-so-random thoughts. My ESP powers are being put to use. Let's go through the episode as it happens. (Yeah, this started out chronological, and then I just got distracted, but I think I've got everything that's interested me.)

( Comments, ramblings, and SPOILERS here!! )C'mon, comment at me. I wanna argue. Or squee, as the case may be.

Again, I have good news, and bad news. :)

The good news is that I am now the proud owner of a shiny (purple!) new laptop. And there was rejoicing throughout the land. It will even run my photoshop program, and thus I have gifts of the Housefic variety under the cut.

The bad news is that it's not compatible with my external harddrive, which has all my writing and pictures that I want to manip, on it. So yes, there is more and more of a delay in the posting. Plus, within the next two weeks I'm going to be packing up and moving halfway across the US. Welcome to CST, after being an EST my entire life. Who-hoo for new time zones, and all that jazz.

To cheer everyone up, I have 4 photo manips for A Fire to Warm the World, below the cut:

( a fire to warm the world: coverart! )


Of them all, the last one is definitely my least favorite thus far, but I'm working on it. :) And I think that the Wilson cover is definitely missing something to balance it out, but what, I don't yet know.

Hey everyone!

So this is not fanfic-related, but I'm desperate. I need to somehow find 6,000 dollars for grad school for the upcoming year, plus room and board expenses. So I've entered a contest that, should I win, will get me 1,000 dollars! :) But the glitch is, I need your vote.

It's really simple; please just click the below link, which will take you to my profile on this website. There, you can see the photograph I took and decided to enter into the contest - and all you have to do is click the "view-and-vote" button on the right! :)

http://www.brickfish.com/mlb89

It's actually a picture I thought was pretty cool too, so it's not ugly to look at or anything. :)

Please, please please view and vote? (And if you feel like it, I have no objection to you spamming everyone you know to do so too . . . hehe!)

And now that my scholarship-entry-for-the-day has been completed, I'm off to write!

As of 7/5/09: Wow, some jerk totally trashed my picture (anonymously, the spineless coward), said I photoshopped it and it wasn't a reflection. I completely slapped their bitch-ass down, too. Outside of rotating the picture so that the trees are at the bottom, there is no photoshopping because my photoshopper is broked. (I really, really hope this @$$hole comes back and demands verification. I have a gazillion other pictures waiting to show his/her moronic butt.) As is said among my people, "Bite me." 

Hello! Randomness, ahoy!

So I was watching Tin Man, which apparently is one of those love it/ really, really hate it type movies (hey, three plus hours of viewing for $15? I'm so there), which really captured me with its steampunk element. Not so much with the lead female actress, Zooey Deschanel, who for the first five viewings or so kept distracting me with her expressionless face and flat delivery. I've gotten past that now, but it took time. Also, as a Sci-Fi Channel Orginial, the effects are always a little . . . well, sometimes they forget to make some of the CGI people move, if you get my meaning.

The character who really, really got me going "I wonder what happens next?" and thinking "Oh, wow, wouldn't it be cool if . . . " was the 'villain', Azkadellia. I think I found a female character I can fall in love with and write about. Rare for me, but seriously - it's got the reel-you-in elements of angst and tragedy, but the hints of her past and who she might be in the future - in the unwritten sequel and mostly-untold backstories of Tin Man had me searching for good fanfic. I found one. And the author is unfortunately someone like me, who parcels out big clumps of fic every coupla months or so. I am saddened.

Basically, this story has steampunk (magic + tech, yay!), angst, mystery, tragedy, deciet, betrayal, prophecies, a wicked witch, and a happy ending - plus all the little winks in there to the original Wizard of Oz just make me grin. I love it.

And so between ten pm and hey, it's almost one am! I cranked this thing out.

The title is a quote from the movie itself - the Mystic Man (Wizard of Oz) is attempting to resist the mind-probe of the Witch's mind-reading lion-like creatures, and he spins out this fantastic bit of philosophy which is just twisty and brilliant and unfortunately, almost impossible to remember enough for me to quote back at you, which was my original intent. Uh.

After much blabbing, here: A Flicker of Light in the Storm

So, I have been getting email and reviews lately. :)

They have inspired me a bit, so I've bit the bullet and gone back to the ECverse. What was stumping me in BWT has been taken care of, moving forward in the next bit of Draco's POV. The next chapter is one-fourth of the way done. I'm . . . not entirely sure who comes next, I was thinking maybe Hermione, but I'm open to suggestions.

Sticks And Stones: Gave up resisting the initial pull; the bartender is a crotchety Scot named Mac. Stereotypical. Sorry. Today he decided to tell me that he's a widower and a grandfather, and he has a surprise for the readers. And Sirius. The next POV came to me as well, given that it'll be the next day and all. I'm going to have fun meeting this character, that's for sure. Guess this means I should take a stick to the rabid frothing mass that is "To Question Why", and see what happens.

Last night got mostly through the first POV in the next chapter of "A Fire to Warm . . ."; all that needs is for it to be concluded, I think, and I'm probably going to intro the first original character in the POV that follows. Heh. House/Kid standoff, here we go. I have the feeling it's going to be war. :D Ah, but then I have to get myself back to Area 51. Um, so we could meet the girl who's throwing lightning, or one of the researchers trying not to get zapped - actually, I like that idea, but I'll put it to anyone out there who still pokes at this journal. Which one?