sparkles and badass

[jedibuttercup]

I'm a very novice PHP programmer. Let me just say that up front. But I picked up a new trick today in pursuit of a work project, and informed my boss that whatever else happened, it made my day 'sparkles and badass' to be able to tell our coworker 'yes, and here's the test!' instead of 'uh, I have no idea...', and all it took was a half hour of internet research and a little trial and error. :)

In other news: I am 18,600 words into a mid-season 3 Falling Skies canon divergence story that seems headed in a distinctly Tom Mason/John Pope direction. Plus, you know, a garnish of Mason Family Love including Dan Weaver and Maggie. I am not quite to the Tom/Anne fallout part yet-- not going to fridge her, I swear, despite being peeved with her role that season-- as the story seems liable to go another 10K or so words minimum before all my metacommentary on Season 3 is sufficiently vented. Don't ask me where it came from; except maybe that I rewatched all 30 episodes last week in prep for the new season, and got clubbed across the face with "BUT IF THEY HAD ONLY...."

Back to "Never Look Back" next week, I swear. I know just what Buffy's up to in that chapter. But Tom and Pope really want their say first, and I don't argue with steamrolling plot bunnies this large. And to give you an idea of just how seriously I mean that 'steamrolling' bit, even beyond the unusual wordcount: I actually went to the bookstore, hunted down a translation of Popol Vuh, and read it just to find an appropriate enough tagline for this thing.

... I don't suppose anyone is actually interested in reading this monster? Even just to read; not beta. Is there actually an audience for a "what if they actually talked to each other instead of randomly breaking into a fistfight in enemy controlled territory, and things snowballed from there" kind of thing? The fandom is still seriously teeny on AO3. And even on ff.net the number of adult-centric non-OC-romance stories is pretty microscopic, never mind slash of any kind.

Comments

[jedibuttercup]

I grabbed the translation by Dennis Tedlock; he's the one that consulted an actual 'father-mother' of an existing Quiché lineage for cultural information to enlighten his work and flesh out the footnotes. It's an interesting read, the framing info as much as the myths themselves.

So far there are excerpts of a Grimm fairy tale and the Gettysburg Address cropping up in the story as well. I see connections: I want to share them, it always bemuses me that people find the method of doing so remarkable. But I guess from a critical level, it's all the same as songfic. *shrug* But if one other person smiles, I consider it worth my while, and the critics can go hang.

It's at 27,400 words at the moment, in three chapters... I think there'll be one more. Tomorrow or Tuesday, I should think. I already have header art for it as well.

Maybe it's something about the time of year I find inspiring? The last time I was seized by a story this hard it was last May, with Olympus Has Fallen; I remember reading several books about fictional Presidents and real-life Secret Service agents for that one. :)

[sulien.livejournal.com]

I found a .pdf of Dennis Tedlock's translation online, but I bought the Nook book and will in all likelihood buy a paperback copy of the book as well at a future date (it's easier for me to read in electronic format, but I do love the feel of a book in my hands). Thanks for the info!

Also, right on to telling the critics to go hang!

[jedibuttercup]

Awesome. I kind of prefer paper books for the experience, too, though Nook/Kindles do have their convenience.

*stifles yawn* I'm, um. At 37,500 thousand words or so? Four chapters. Epilogue yet to add tomorrow.

Will you want it in its constituent bits, or all at a lump? :)

Holy Buckets...

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Preferably all in one lump. Though, it will definitely take me more than three days to go through that large a story for a beta! I'll go ahead and break it down into 'bite size' chunks as I read it and send the saved beta as separate documents to send in separate emails, if that's okay.

*bounces in anticipation* Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Colin Cunningham running through my brain for that long a story. *g*

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Nooks & Kindles? Not me, I use my laptop for ease of reading to get the book to just the right distance for my trifocal lenses while not killing my neck and shoulders. I also love being able to use my phone as an e-reader and carry it in my back pocket. :)