sailing the fingers of the dragon

While doing my Yuletide nominations this morning, it occurred to me that Hope Springs is to the, IDK, caper genre as The Good Wife is to the legal genre - female-led, character-driven, emphasis on relationships between women, using the constraints of the genre rather than adhering completely to them; Ellie's husband, like Alicia's, is only a recurring character rather than a main character. I haven't watched all of Hope Springs but feel pretty confident that The Good Wife is better; still, it's almost surprising that the US network version is thriving while the UK version didn't. Go American audiences, I guess! (eta: can't believe it took me this long, but now I kind of want a crossover...) Also, to whoever nominated Batwoman and did not initially include Renee in the character list: what were you smoking, crazy person? Fixed that for you.

Some filming pics have leaked from last night's Doctor Who set. SO EXCITED. It drives me nuts the relaxed attitude to spoilers that seems to have suddenly become pervasive in fandom, though. Tumblr is particularly bad - I don't think you can even do a spoiler cut on reblogs - but LJ/DW is getting laxer as well. I'm not super spoiler-averse, but people were posting uncut lines of dialogue from last night's filming, which is a little farther than I personally want to go. I hate waking up to find my Tumblr dash covered with gifs and quotes from a show that aired in North America the night before, too - at least give me time to download it! argh!

Today I have 800 pages on the history of MI6 to read. It is a truly exciting alternative to the gajillion hours of 24 I watched yesterday (more than halfway through s6, wooooo).

Title: Book of the Dead
Author: tellitslant
Recipient: carawj for dw_femslash
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: River Song/Romana I
Rating: PG
Word count: 4000
Disclaimer: BBC's, not mine.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: From the prompt Will you join in our crusade? / Who will be strong and stand with me? / Beyond the barricade / Is there a world you long to see? During the Time War, River and Romana are sent on a mission.

( there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes )

Belatedly, it occurs to me that given the rate of evolution of the English language, a non-TARDIS-translated conversation between any of the denizens of Starship UK and an English speaker from Earth or elsewhere ought to be rather difficult. I mean, I would imagine language on the ship would evolve a lot less, and certainly in different ways, than language off it, which would have many more influences.

And now I want a River/Liz Ten "failure to communicate" fic/let.

(Yes, this is what I think about when I should be packing.)

Title: For the Fairest (2/5): The Fortunate Isle
Fandom: Doctor Who
Disclaimer: All hail the Beeb.
Characters: River, Eleven
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Blatant misappropriation and misuse of mythology.
Word Count: 4500
Summary: While exploring an ancient castle, River encounters an unknown foe who is determined to keep her – and the Doctor – hostage until they pay for their trespasses.
Notes: kaptnjack recently posted a screenshot from 5.12 of River with a golden apple in the background. This is the second of five stories exploring where it may have come from. The first, "Holding Up the Heavens," can be found here.

( The Fortunate Isle )

Title: For the Fairest (1/5): Holding Up the Heavens
Fandom: Doctor Who
Disclaimer: All hail the Beeb.
Characters: River, Ten
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Blatant misappropriation and misuse of mythology.
Word Count: 2000
Summary: The Doctor needs River's assistance with an impossible quest.
Notes: Yesterday kaptnjack posted a screenshot from 5.12 of River with a golden apple in the background. This is the first of five stories exploring where it may have come from.

( Holding Up the Heavens )

International Day of Femslash, woo hoo! Have a fic.

Title: Give Me Some Starlight
Fandom: Doctor Who
Disclaimer: All hail the Beeb
Characters: River/Amy
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 4.08/4.09
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2000
Thanks: to beerbad for beta!
Summary: River tells Amy a story about her past.
Notes: Written for this prompt by sleepscribbling at Spoilers! A River Song Ficathon:
River/Amy, connect the dots

( Give Me Some Starlight )

Title: Retrospective
Fandom: Doctor Who
Disclaimer: All hail the Beeb
Characters: River (River/Eleven, Ten)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 4.08/4.09
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1500
Summary: It takes River her whole life to come to terms with everything the Doctor knows about her.
Notes: Written for this prompt by lady_leonida at Spoilers! A River Song Ficathon:
Nothing is so good it lasts eternally
Perfect situations must go wrong
But this has never yet prevented me
Wanting far too much for far too long
Looking back I could have played it differently
Won a few more moments who can tell
But it took time to understand the man
Now at least I know I know him well

( Retrospective )