The "Winter Song" Update, and a Big Post to Last Until Next Time
If you think that title was a mouthful, you should have seen me coming up with it! Ha, ha, ha. Alright, so it was a seriously weak joke. But, honestly, I've had a seriously long week, so what I'm going to do is write a massive LiveJournal update that will post you guys up on everything that I've been wanting to post about for a little bit here. Then, I'll update you on the status of Winter Song, which I haven't had occasion to do for a few months. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, that title is a bit of a misnomer -- I'm going to talk about ALL of my current fiction efforts, fanfiction and otherwise. That way I can be a tad more all-inclusive.
Starting off, I've been going through some emotional overhauls these last few periods in my life, and I felt that it was time to change my journal around. The new 'title,' so to speak, is Full Blown Rose for two reasons: first, obviously, is the symbolism. A rose is the most beautiful of flowers, its perfume universal -- but with that beauty it bears thorns, drawing blood. Roses are a constant source of magical energy in Wicca, my personal religion, and represent both Goddess and God. The second is a slightly less poetic one; Full Blown Rose was one of my favorite alternative rock bands from a few years ago. They contributed the relatively well-known single "Somebody Help Me" as the theme song to "Tru Calling," an amazing TV show that was cancelled a few years ago. "Tru Calling" was the first show with true philosophical roots in it that I was ever interested in, and so it seemed appropriate. I still listen to the few songs Full Blown Rose put out before they disbanded; the imagery works for me even to today.
Skipping on down to the actual start of this post:
Since my fanfiction is what I've been posting online for a few years now, I'll obviously start there. In the realm of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," are (clearly) my biggest and also most well-known works of fanfiction. Winter Song is the first story that I ever blogged about on LiveJournal, so it makes the most sense to start there. There are, to the knowledge of my current plotting, five or six chapters and an epilogue of Winter Song left to write. Therefore, I'm going to take this weekend (and possibly next week) and just sit down and write them down. I will then post at least a chapter a week until I'm done. I will NOT start posting chapters of Winter Song until I've finished writing the entire story. Therefore, have heart: when I start posting again, I will not stop until I'm finished. And, as promised, I'll also post an endnote and the final soundtrack listing to that story. There's also the distinct possibility of a bonus story at the end just for my fans, so there's that to look forward to.
Moving on to the next abysmally long story of mine, the Passion of Angels and Demons. I never apologize for the breaks in between chapters of that story. It's emotionally and creatively draining to write that story, and I only write it when I'm in the mood for it. Passion will one day be removed from the internet because the bare bones of that story are going into my original vampire novels that I'm currently writing. That's all I'm going to say about it right now because the original parts of those stories are constantly being reworked and that day is a long way away. All I'll say here is that I do have Passion chapters typed up and they will soon be going through the editing process. When these chapters will see the light of day next is anyone's guess.
I have one other WIP Buffyverse story titled The Burden of Breathing, which is my telling of the season three episodes "Bad Girls" and "Consequences" entirely through Faith's point of view. I've so far only posted the prologue to that story, but I've been wanting to return to it for a while now. Since it isn't that original and I have next weekend off, I'll try to have the thing finished by then. As for my ongoing "Elektra" story, I'm entirely unsure if or when that will be updated. Coming down the pipeline soon will be: my first ever "Dollhouse" fanfiction, which is going to be really good when I've finished, a so-far untitled Xander/Riley story (I just love that pairing more and more), and also some original fiction -- my ghost story Spellbound, my vampire novels, and I'm fairly sure that that's it.
On to another topic! I'm pimping out everything by Imogen Heap right now! If anyone doesn't know who that is: Imogen Heap was the lead singer of the band Frou Frou. They were featured on the "Garden State" and "Shrek 2" soundtracks, and put out one album, Details. After which they split up and Imogen Heap went solo, and thank god for that, because on her own she's even better than she was in a group. Her debut solo album, Speak for Yourself, earned her Grammy nominations and most people by now have heard her sing "Hide and Seek," at the very least. The chorus of "Hide and Seek" was used as a mashup for new rapper Jason DeRulo's hit single "Watcha Say." I've not heard her new album Ellipse yet but she hasn't failed me yet. Her amazingly creepy duet with electronica singer IAMX was the deliciously weird song "My Secret Friend."
Moving on again! In the world of books I am now going through a miniature The Witches of Eastwick craze. I've begun watching the new ABC show "Eastwick" on Wednesday nights, which is based on both the book and the movie of the same name. I was curious -- I'd never actually SEEN The Witches of Eastwick before, so after watching a few episodes of that TV show -- and let me interrupt myself here to say that "Eastwick" is AMAZING; it's like watching an episode of "Charmed" vs. "Desperate Housewives" -- I looked up the movie and I sort of fell in love. So I'm now reading the novel. John Updike is an absolutely fabulous American author, and when discussing great literature -- truly great literature, not just a novel you read for fun -- I'm a complete British snob, so that's really saying something for me. His use of metaphor and entendre is amazing, and the atmosphere of Eastwick and the power of the narrative told through the eyes of the three witches is gripping and enthralling; I love The Witches of Eastwick so much that even though I'm only 75 or so pages into it I've already got myself a copy of The Widows of Eastwick, the sequel he just wrote this year, in anticipation.
Continuing on from books, I'm part of this really quite fabulous Amazon program called "Amazon Vine," which allows prolific reviewers like myself to get a bunch of free and pre-order books/music/what have you to review in order to attract more customers. I've actually gotten some very good new novels mixed in with some bad ones. Thus far, I'd seriously advise any fantasy lover to instantly pre-order the novel "Beautiful Creatures," which will be coming out in January of next year. That book was amazingly atmospheric and drew me in much like The Witches of Eastwick is doing now.
Since I've already mentioned "Eastwick," I might as well talk a bit about television. "House" is actually holding my interest in a long-term sort of way, which is actually weird because I've sort of fallen in and out of interest with that show for...well, ever since it started. On Wednesdays I watch "Eastwick," which is just getting fascinating-er with each episode. Thursdays are sweet because at eight I get "Bones," which is being all amazing as usual this season, and then at nine I get "Fringe." "Fringe" actually isn't as good this season as it was last season, but it's still interesting enough to watch while I'm doing something else, like homework.
Fridays, of course, are "Dollhouse," but I've been posting about that so much lately that I'm not going to get into it right now. Let's just leave it at the fact that that show is getting so amazing this season that when it most likely does get cancelled I'll likely never watch FOX again. So, moving on from there. In gay nerd terms, I've finally given in and now own the campy, ridiculous, addictive cult-gay TV show Dante's Cove. If you haven't heard of it, I'll leave it to you to find it on your own. Trust me: you're either in it or you're not. In just nerd terms, do any of you remember the FOXkids special "X-Men: The Animated Series?" Well, it's slowly being released on DVD, finally, and I've been getting it one by one, and it's a serious blast of nostalgia!
Within the real world, there was a guy that I totally had my eye on at my current school. He is crazy cute, and he's well-dressed and he has great taste in music, too! I was like, okay, until I figured out that his friends are completely stupid and worse he hangs out with valley-girl clones. I haven't really spoken to him since and it sucks. Tell the truth, I'm really not all that happy at the school that I'm at right now. It's filled with small minds trying to seem big. The teachers are pretentious, the classmates are annoying and uncouth, and frankly, it feels like I'm back in high school. I'm ready to slap some bitches around. I'm seriously going to finish acing my classes and then graduate without looking back.
Work is going much better, however; the Domino's location I'm still with is slowly starting to pick business back up from the slump we've seemed to be in for a little bit, and we've had enough business to open a location at the college, so I just walk from class to work every day. Hellooo, hours! My paychecks are good enough that I'm finally going to be able to move to a different apartment complex with a different (and much better) roommate than the one that I have now, which should happen by the end of next summer. I'll be straining myself a bit through the Yuletide season, but it'll be worth it once I get up out of this bitch! Sigh.
So, I think that's just about everything. It's good that I've gotten this out of my system now, because unless some serious shit rolls through and I have to get it off my chest, I'm not updating again until I start back in with Winter Song. Just to end tonight off, by the way, the latest episode of Dollhouse, "Belonging," was one of the most horrifying, scary, touching, and beautiful hours of television I've seen and it really hit the nail on the head as to why I watch this show in the first place. Closing on that high note, this was a good hour to end an extremely long week.
Until next time, whoever's alive out there. Peace and love, everyone, and have yourselves a damn good time.