Dreams and Swords

magick4terri is a fundraising auction to help support Terri Windling, who is going through a very rough time with her family right now. There are some very very cool things up for auction. Please help out if you can.

fandom_stocking is taking requests for this year!

Dragon*Con post will probably go up tomorrow. Today is winding down, unpacking, and trying to become sane again. (I have a plush kiwi bird, eeeeeee!)

Transformers #22-23 are incredibly awesome, and I adore everything that Roberts is doing with Megatron and Optimus's backstory as well as what he's doing with them in front-time. That being said, you can definitely tell #24 was written by someone else.

Also, the colorist for #24 hates our eyes.

My buddy suzukiblu is offering discounted commissions.

helpthesouth

In the spirit of help_japan and a whole lot of other fandom auctions, helpthesouth is here to raise money to help those devastated by the recent tornadoes in the southern United States. This is now the worst US natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina.

We created this comm for those affected by the massive wave of tornadoes that blew through the southeast of the United States on April 27, 2011. These tornadoes passed through a MASSIVE area including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and others. There were 137 tornadoes reported that day and at least 300 have been reported dead.

Here is cleolinda's round-up of posts and news about the tornadoes and the damage they've caused.

The Prisoners by blue_lacquer was her avatarbigbang 2010 story. It's this wonderful Mai-centric fic about what happened to her between "The Boiling Rock, Part Two" and the series finale.

I love the relationship between her and Ty Lee in this story, and the relationship between her and her uncle. I love how we see Mai as being very much a Fire Nation girl - she saved Zuko because she loved him, but she doesn't believe in the Avatar and she's just as imperialistic as any other random Fire Nation person.

The transfer from the Boiling Rock to the Capital Prison is a major turning-point in the story. Ty Lee and Mai meet some familiar faces and life gets very much more dangerous for them.

blue_lacquer does an amazing journey from Mai, showing us her despair at the life of a prisoner, her conviction that she'd do what she had done again, and her figuring out that maybe the Fire Nation was wrong and maybe she can do what she wants with her life.

She also does a really wonderful job with Huu's characterization. I was very impressed by that. I love her characterization of the Warden of Boiling Rock, as well as Ty Lee and her family. There's a chapter while Mai and Ty Lee are at the Capital Prison where we have most of Ty Lee's sisters coming secretly to visit her. It's a stunning contrast to the way the only person in Mai's family reaching out for her is her uncle.

There are fourteen chapters, and the chapters are of a handy size for reading. Not long enough to require you to set aside a specific time-frame to read, not short enough to be annoying.

potc_land

I love land comms, as is demonstrated by my addiction to atlaland despite the way it drives me up the wall. Now there is a land for Pirates of the Caribbean! It is small and just starting and needs you to join and help buckle some swash. <3

Tell 'em Bex of the Flying Dutchman sent you.

Innsmouth Free Press is an online 'zine dedicated to weird fiction and Lovecraftian horror. They publish short fiction quarterly, reviews of television, books, and movies weekly, do interviews, do give-aways, and all kinds of stuff.

Right now, they're running their annual fundraiser to help keep their 'zine running. These kinds of donations can be the lifeblood for small paying presses, so if you've got even a dollar or two to spare, I strongly urge you to donate. A little bit of help can go a long way.

Queensland has been hit by catastrophic flooding. To help raise money for relief efforts, I'm offering up a 1000 word minimum fic of your (mostly) choosing.

Fandoms are: AtLA, Codex Alera, Book of a Thousand Days, and Tortall (Daine).

Auction ends Sunday, January 23rd.

For those of you who've posted recently on the Holiday Love Meme, the first post has reached maximum allowable comments. You may want to repost your name on the second page.

chimera_fancies is doing a Christmas sale this weekend! I have about half a dozen of her pendants by now and a pair of earrings, and let me tell you, they are amazing.

So I can clean out my linkblogging tag, really.

- Queer Tropes

- How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

- Some Writing Advice on Reading

- Cyborg Cat Walks on Bionic Feet

- Garden for Wildlife

- "A Refugee in Oz" is Available!

- Eight Obscure But Adorable Wildcat Species

- The Kitten Trilogy Finale!

- Writing Advice from an Editor - Anthologies and Magazines Edition

- Now You See It, Now You Don't: An Infrared Invisibility Cloak Made of Glass

- Narrative, Resonance, and Genre

- Extraordinary Art On Pencil Tips by Dalton Ghetti

- New Community for Etsy Sellers

- Write Your Words

- Recommendation of an Online Backup System

- How To Take Intelligent Risks

- So You Want to be an Anthology Editor