an empty ship

*boring philosophical discussion*
*someone gets eviscerated*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*someone becomes/dissects/kills/discusses an animal*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*people get really drunk*
*someone gets flayed*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*someone experiences unimaginable mental and/or physical anguish*
*awkward interaction that even the author doesn't know whether it's UST or just awkwardness*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*aggressive geophysics and/or natural landscapes*
*someone gets immolated*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*damned if you know what anyone looks like even now, except their eyes which you will know entirely too much about*
*people get really drunk*
*pretension of variable nature*
*someone gets horrifically mutilated*
*boring philosophical discussion*
*everyone is dead or wishes they were*

Although satirical, this is not altogether inaccurate, especially if one has access to a broad sample including WIPs.

I imagine most people this effects have seen the news already, but the Hennuth-Annun Story Archive will be closing at the end of this year.

I was not particularly active on HASA, but this is sad news nonetheless.

aliana1 is holding a public wake/appreciation post for HASA.

I follow a grand total of 3 television series and 1 podcast, and even that seems to be too much for me to keep tabs on.  I've fallen ~3 months behind on Welcome to Night Vale! Not sure if there are any other fans here besides aliana1, but I think more than a few of you would get a kick out of it. To me, it's a bit like Beckett meets Lovecraft.

If any of you should want to check it out, here's a quick link to one of the feeds (most recent at the top), which I always have a ridiculous amount of trouble locating from their main page. http://nightvale.libsyn.com/

I had to start catching up with "A Story About Them," and this morning I listened to "Parade Day."  Like many long-running media that begin less seriously, it has gotten more serious in terms of plot events and continuity (like, one really roots for these goofy characters and is concerned for their fate), but they've so far managed to retain a lot of the original deadpan bizarreness, which I appreciate. I still have 5 episodes until I'm caught up (and apparently there has been a mayoral election? *bites nails* *is VERY partisan*).

One awesome thing which Night Vale does is to give new musical artists broader exposure during the "weather" segment. I discovered the song I want played at my wake and/or reception and/or Tibetan sky burial, "This Too Shall Pass" by Danny Schmidt, via the weather. The episode "Parade Day" features "Take Up Your Spade" by Sara Watkins. This somehow reminds me of Mumford and Sons meets Sarah McLachlan (maybe it's just me).

Welcome to the wrap-up, where I'm not linking to the original post because now it's done and I'm too lazy! hurrah!

Thank you very much to everyone who participated, whether it was by writing drabbles, ficlets, or using the opportunity to pick up an unfinished work. I was delighted to see the variety of work this spawned. I will likely host this little challenge again next June (and maybe make some banners or something y/y?)

Attn: I will make a round-up post of links to stories next week (8 Jul). If you would like your work(s) to be included in the round-up post, please do drop a link in the comments section below before then.
Multiple links are acceptable if you archive in multiple places (links to LJ, dA, etc. also cool).
[ETA - if someone does not have LJ but happened to write something for this, anon is now enabled so people who aren't registered on this site can comment here. I'd thought I had it enabled before, but no.]

ETA 2 - Behold, the shiny new AO3 collection! Do make use of this. Posting to the collection should be open now. Many thanks to Zdenka/lignota for doing most of the work involved in setting this up.

If I understand correctly (based upon the really inadequate in-browser translations and my limited grasp of the orthography), a Russian entity at some point in the recent past--or possibly present--made a musical of the Russian fanfic The Black Book of Arda?
Just linking to my tumblr thing for simplicity's sake.

I have been cursing loudly in my intrigued befuddlement for the past hour or so.

Welcome to the second week of this thing!

How is everyone doing? Discussion, writers' angst, other stuff? Put it in this thread!

Also, discussion topic: Do you have music you're using or plan to use as inspiration for your stories or mood music during your writing process? This question extends to anyone, whether you are participating in the challenge or no: What are some songs, or types of music, that get you in the right mood for writing sorrowful or doomful fiction (or making art of the same nature)? Links or lyrics welcome!

Friendly vaguely sinister reminder that my laid-back angst/darkfic/generally-not-very-happy Tolkien fanworks challenge begins June 1st. See this post for details.

i will inflict a kickoff post at the beginning of June--possibly on the 2nd, as I will be traveling on the 1st.

So I think I meant to try and solidify plans for this...well, quite a while ago...since it seemed there was some interest: I proposed the idea in January during the Fandom Snowflake Challenge (bit of discussion in comments).
Then I forgot about it.
So now I want to gauge again whether there's still interest. What better way to retain my tenuous grip on Tolkien-fic than by hosting a low-key challenge that generally fits my inclinations? =P

This pretty much sums it up:
- The theme would be anything that's overall dark/grim/horrific/sad, but it's up to you as an author to decide what fits. Mileage varies on what one considers dark (Melkor only knows I'd set the bar on that way too high--or low, if you will--if I tried to define what 'dark' is).
- No other rules, deadlines, contests, or anything of that sort; just a casual challenge that people may write for at any time during the month of June. I would host occasional update/discussion posts much like aliana1 did for her 2013 Bechdel Test Challenge. That would be the extent of formalities.
- I'm still liking the name "Doom in June," but I googled it just now and it's also the name of some metal festival \m/. Anyone familiar with copyright thingies; could using the same name for a casual fannish writing thing potentially call an Issue down upon me or other participants?

Many have already challenged us all to review/comment more on others' work.  This is a fine idea.

I'm not the type to suddenly issue a challenge, however, I will take this opportunity to throw out an idea which has occasionally surfaced in my brain: Would anyone be interested in a Tolkien darkfic/angst/horror/etc challenge at some point?  I don't know what a proper name would be, but basically an "everything is bad and it all hurts" type thing.

Yeah I know I'm full of surprises and no one would ever have expected a query of that particular nature from me.

On that happy note, I hope everyone has enjoyed this lovely little challenge!  =D