small celebrations update

Dec. 22nd, 2025 10:01 am
marcicat: keep calm it's christmas (keep calm it's christmas)
[personal profile] marcicat
*I found a candle yesterday! AND I found a candle warmer in the same box -- one of those things where there's no flame, you just melt wax using the heat of a tiny light bulb to get the nice candle smell. I had completely forgotten I owned such a thing, so it was like a little extra gift just for me!

*Today's advent craft project is finishing the woobles hedgehog kit that I started back in... (okay, I had to go check my email to see when I even purchased it, and it turns out it was August 2024, which is a LOT longer ago than I thought) WHO KNOWS, obviously sometime between August 2024 and December 2025. It's about halfway done? I think? Again, WHO KNOWS. But it's gonna GET DONE today!

*Scone for breakfast!
[syndicated profile] aqueductpress_feed

Posted by Timmi Duchamp

 


The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2025

 by Cheryl Morgan

The trouble with running a publishing company is that you end up reading lots of books that you can’t review. Not to mention a whole bunch of books that may never get published. This has been cutting down the amount of reading for review that I can do a lot.

Having said that, I’d like to start this year by heaping praise on something we did publish. I am truly honored to have Chaz Brenchley’s Of the Emperor’s Kindness in our catalogue. It is an amazing piece of work.


Chaz, of course, has been around a long time. One of the dreams for a small press is to discover someone brilliant at the start of their career. My friend, Francesca Barbini, who runs Luna Press Publishing, did that with Lorraine Wilson. Raine, as she prefers to be called, has now made the step up to working with Solaris, and she has produced two fabulous novels for them. We Are All Ghosts in the Forest and The Salt Road are set in a post-collapse world which is haunted by the ghosts of things on the internet. Quite how that can be is never explained, but I think that just adds to the atmosphere.

This has been a year in which there is a new novel by Guy Gavriel Kay. That’s always a cause for celebration. Written on the Dark lives up to the very high standards that Kay sets for himself. Novels by Nalo Hopkinson are rather less frequent, but Blackheart Man has finally seen print and is well worth the many years I have been waiting for it.


I am trying to read more books by trans people because I worry that, in the current political environment, they will be finding it very difficult to sell new work. Charlie Jane Anders is perhaps the highest profile trans writer these days, and I think that Lessons in Magic & Disaster is the best thing she has done. M M Olivas is at the start of her career, but Sundown in San Ojuela is a very promising piece of horror that I think should appeal to fans of Liz Hand.

 

Other novels that have stood out for me over the past year are The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield, Alien Clay by the amazingly prolific Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear, and Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison.

I have been reading a lot of novellas because they are short and that enables me to up my review count. I had to do some catch up for award season, and very much enjoyed The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark. However, it is my personal opinion that The Practice, The Horizon and the Chain by Sophia Samatar should have won all the awards.


For this year I am continuing to enjoy various ongoing novella series including The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older, The Gnomes of Lychford by Paul Cornell, What Stalks the Deep by T Kingfisher and A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo.

I have been reading a lot of Welsh folklore of late, primarily because of an anthology we will be publishing next year. Most of these tales are at best short story length, and often mere vignettes, but there is plenty of potential in them. To experience the true weirdness (and queerness) of Welsh myth, however, you need to read The Mabinogion. It is seriously strange and has some amazing gender explorations.

 


Most of my non-fiction reading has been about the ancient world, and feminist. Immaculate Forms by Helen King is a history of medical views of women’s bodies from Classical Greece forward. Honestly, men, what were you thinking? Mythica, by Emily Hauser, is a wonderful history of Bronze Age Europe told through the lens of the women of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. And Carthage by Eve MacDonald asks what we can know about this famous ancient civilisation (founded by a woman) given that the Romans utterly destroyed its written culture.

More generally I enjoyed Queer as Folklore by my friend and sometime colleague, Sacha Coward, which won the non-fiction prize in this year’s British Fantasy Awards. I also liked Patriarchy Inc. by Cordelia Fine, despite the unfortunate fact that a book that points out the shortcomings of DEI initiatives is now rather redundant.

The standout TV series of the year was Kaos. All of my Classicist friends absolutely loved it, and I can see why. I am distraught that it got cancelled because it robbed us of a resolution of the storylines. Ari & Dion 4 Ever!

The TV version of Murderbot seemed to work well, though I will always prefer the books. Somewhat to my surprise, the TV version of Foundation (to which I am late, and of which I have only seen season 1 so far) is not a hot mess, and is much better than the books.


There have been various Marvel TV shows and movies released this year, but the only one I would recommend is Thunderbolts. Here’s hoping that, after all the build-up, the new Avengers films work well. Personally I am looking forward to Young Avengers. We have seen a lot of the cast now, and anything with Kamala Khan in it is going to be good.

 

Viewing also includes museum exhibitions. This year the British Library put on Mediaeval Women. There was an amazing collection of original documents on show, including those pertaining to the 14th Century English trans woman, Eleanor Rykener. Much of the exhibition did take a rather stereotypical view of what a woman is, and what her role in society should be, but the stand-out exhibit for me was the letter signed by Joan of Arc herself.

I also got to visit Copenhagen. The Danish National Museum is worth a look just for the Gundestrup Cauldron. It is an astonishing piece of metalwork.


The highlight of my music year has been Solas, a new double album from our local heroes here in Carmarthenshire. Adwaith is a female rock trio who have built up a stellar reputation in Wales. Their lyrics are all in Welsh, but the music can be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good guitar and drum band.

If you must have lyrics in English, you will be pleased that the new album from Gwenno has a lot of that – a marked departure from her previous song writing in Welsh and Cornish. Utopia is her poppiest album yet. Here’s hoping that it wins her some fans outside of the Celtic countries.

 

 Cheryl Morgan blogs, reviews and podcasts regularly at Cheryl’s Mewsings and Salon Futura. She is the owner of Wizard’s Tower Press. She also lectures regularly on topics of SF&F literature, and on queer history.

Day 21 Summary Post

Dec. 22nd, 2025 09:07 am
torino10154: Colored holidays lights (Xmas_Lights)
[personal profile] torino10154 in [community profile] adventdrabbles
Here's the summary of entries we got for December 21st. Do check them out and then give the creators some love. ♥

Harry Potter
[personal profile] digthewriter wrote Yule Feast - Luna/Ginny. Neville/Charlie
[personal profile] enchanted_jae wrote All the Fun We Had Last Year - Harry/Draco, other HP characters, ocs
[personal profile] torino10154 wrote The Potions Master's Apprentice [AO3] - Severus, Harry

Miss Marple
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi wrote Bilious

Let us know if there are any omissions or errors. Thanks!
vriddy: Hawks hand sign to wait (pst pst)
[personal profile] vriddy
For hmmm reasons that I might get into in another post, I'm reading a lot more in Japanese lately, which is great, except for the part where it means that I, of course, again, am getting into fandoms that don't exist on AO3 or anywhere in English-speaking land orz

Although I gotta say I don't get it! This manga -- "K-9: Public Security Bureau – Division 9 – Special Abilities Countermeasure" -- has a simulpub in English and leans so hard on the Rule Of Cool, and the art is so pretty, AND it leans way hard into maxi-wonderful would-die-for-you OT4 moments too if that's your cup of tea and BOY BOY b o y is it my bucket of tea XD Anyway I will probably do an attempt at a promo post at a later time.

In the meantime I had to create aaall the AO3 tags... no fandom, no ships, no character tags orz I'm a bit nervous about it but I decided I'd rather have this exist than be perfect 😤 Also I'm not too sure if it actually matters, but I'd like to nominate the fandom and ship for [personal profile] candyheartsex, and I'm sort of assuming it helps if it's actually somewhere in the archive already, if only to make the mod's job easier...?

Meanwhile I'm working hard in the background to get people hooked onto the translation, so hopefully it won't stay a fandom of one for too long XD 😤😤😂



Inevitable | K-9: Public Security Bureau – Division 9 – Special Abilities Countermeasure | Fujimaru Jin/Hizuki Ren/Kagari Yukito/Oboro Yuushirou | 1.2k words | rated M

Summary: They were always going to end up like this. Though there's still a few surprises — two of them, to be precise.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
[personal profile] yhlee


Orchestral mockup WIP featuring a "drunken" viola (Amati Viola). Because sometimes violas want to /burn longer/ have fun too. [1]

Trailure = "failure trailer." This is, fortunately, personal work at this point :) but my last composition summative assignment involved converging incrementally toward trailer format by getting all the errors out of the way one by one. I think the only thing I DIDN'T do was a cappella kazoo ensemble. :p

Meanwhile, back to Candle Arc 2D animation shenanigans: I have vocals recorded for one character, which means I can start nailing down timing on the animatic for lip sync. Still (joyfully) buried under composition/orchestration schoolwork! :3

[1] I was a student violist many a moon ago. :)

https://deuceofgears.bandcamp.com/

for the morbidly curious. :3
cimorene: The words "EGG AND SPOON RACE" in bright turquoise hand-drawn letters (egg and spoon race)
[personal profile] cimorene
I'm not a stranger to cramps in the arch of my feet! That's part of the reason that I stopped wearing high heels. I wore some knee-high leather boots that came to just below the knee as a young woman, shortly after the year 2000, usually in the fall and winter (purchased in the US, before moving to Finland was on my radar, so they were kind of for warmth but in a climate that wasn't cold enough to necessitate purchasing actual winter boots). They only had like a 2-3" heel, a chunky one, as was fashionable at the turn of the millennium, so they weren't a challenge to balance or particularly uncomfortable for ordinary walking around. But I soon noticed the pattern of cramps in the arch of my foot after days when I wore them, and that made me want to stop.

But I haven't had much of that problem since then. Read more... ) However, just in the last few years I've occasionally noticed a twinge or mini-cramp that goes away after a few seconds specifically in the arch of my left foot. It's never lasted beyond a moment or two until like... last week once when I was walking up the stairs and then yesterday in the grocery store, when it suddenly twinged so hard into a cramp that I spent a minute and a half limping and whispering "Ow, ow, ow!" until it subsided.

It doesn't have to be caused by age, of course, but I don't know what else could have caused it, unless it is protesting the fact that I have not been walking enough in the last year. I used to have a tennis-sized hard rubber ball to roll on the arch of my feet, when I was working on my feet a lot in retail. But I can't remember where I put it.

On the Tail Road

Dec. 22nd, 2025 12:29 pm
steepholm: (Default)
[personal profile] steepholm
This is my second and last day in Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture. I'm writing about it now even though my last entry was so recent, because I don't know when I last visited a town I liked so well. (Sorry if a bit of Regency diction creeps in from time to time - I'm also transcribing some letters from that period in my spare moments, a subject for a later occasion.)

Onomichi (尾道 = "tail road") is not devoid of tourists, but most of the Western ones pass straight through. They get out at the station and immediately transfer to the little ferry that takes them over to the island of Mukaishima (a five-minute hop), and thence to the Shimanami Kaido cycle route across the Seto Inland Sea, a justly celebrated journey (though the only time I did it was on a rainy day and in a bus). I don't think many explore the town, which remains a bit of a hidden gem (or 穴場 - "hole place", in Japanese, as Mami informed me the other day). They should though, because it's really wonderful, at least if you share my tastes. Allow me to expatiate upon its charms under three broad heads.

First, physical geography. Onomichi is a town with a thin strip of flat land along the coast, where most of the shops are, then behind that a steeply rising hinterland. In this it resembles (on a much smaller scale) Kobe, where I'm going tomorrow, but the effect is more like that of a West country town - I was reminded oddly of Dartmouth. Mukaishima, though actually an island, feels like the far side of a river channel with a ferry connecting the two banks. Meanwhile, the narrow lanes and alleys above the town have more of a Cornish feel, with steps faced with granite in a more St Ives-ey manner. I got to know those steep lanes very well, because my hotel was at the very top of them, and it was not an easy climb on any of the three occasions I made it. (Luckily I'd forwarded my suitcase using the takkyubin, or it would have been impossible.) On the other hand, the view from my room is pretty damned good.

20251222_09065520251222_170604
Yep, that's my hotel right at the top.

When I arrived yesterday I was told that, because it was the winter solstice, the public bath would have yuzu floating in it - something I've long wanted to experience, though I didn't have the body confidence to do so, sadly.

On the other hand, I did have the confidence to order the celebrated Onomichi ramen at an establishment in the town. An amazing meal at 900 Yen, which is (I'm almost embarrassed to write) about £4.50 at current exchange rates:
20251221_172347

The second thing is cats. Onomichi is town of cats (which is presumably where the tails come from). Many of the cats are real, feral ones, lovingly fostered by the human population, but many are the inhabitants of stocks and stones, shrines and signs, and the twisty paths in the hills lead to many cat-haunted nooks, as you can see...

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Clearly a lot of these displays are old and/or in relative disrepair, but that is far from detracting from their charm, at least to me. Rather, it helps create what one of the signs I saw described as "cat Ihatov" - a word borrowed from Kenji Miyazawa, who made his home of Iwate into a kind of palimpsestic enchantment, Ihatov, overlaying the quotidian. Onomichi is that, too, for those with eyes to see - which are, needless to say, cat's eyes. I ate lunch in a rather hidden restaurant called 'Owl's House' on one of these little paths, naturally choosing the 'Meow Pizza' with its sardines and bonito flakes. Two of the local feral cats sat inside watching me as I ate.

All of which brings me to the third charm of Onomichi - and actually my initial reason for wanting to visit - which is that it was the setting for the 2005 anime series, Kamichu! - a truly charming story of a middle-school girl, Yurie, who awakes one morning to discover that she has become a Shinto kami. This is not, however, a chunibyou story - i.e. the tale of a middle-schooler with delusions of divine power. Yurie, a shy and unassertive girl, doesn't really know what to do with her new status, or even what she might represent as a divine being.

Anyway, I learned from various web sources that not only was Onomichi the setting, but that its geography was adhered to particularly closely - which indeed I found to be the case, from the ferry that takes Yurie between home and school, to the shrine where her friend Matsuri lives and the many other places featured in the series.

20251222_13121720251222_12542120251221_17154420251222_143025

By far the most moving thing to me, though, was seeing the school Yurie and her friends attended. I first saw it from above, coming down one of the steep slopes, so I had a good view of the roof:

20251222_095745

It was all there! The roof where Yurie first exercised her powers as a god! The raised part where Kenji held his solo calligraphy club! Even the ladder connecting the two!

Now, because I write about the motivations for literary and anime pilgrimages in my academic work you mustn't imagine that I'm immune to such things myself. On the contrary, I found the sight profoundly moving, and all the more so when, as I got closer, I realised that Yurie's school was no longer a school. The building had clearly not been used in some years. The gate to the playground was open, so I was able to get a good look.

20251221_16253720251221_162508

Note the least affecting was the set of swings, now consisting of the frame only, the swings themselves having been removed.

20251221_162635

I don't know why the school closed, but as we are all aware, Japan's birthrate has been declining steadily and Onomichi's own population has begun to shrink. It's all a long way from 2005, still more from the 1980s, when the anime is actually set. (I did not find anybody in the town who remembered the anime, for that matter - not that I asked everyone.) I hope that Yurie can keep the poverty god away, as she did in the series.

Having visited Onomichi, I also now understand why they made an episode based on Fight Club, but with cats. Or at least, I understand the cats bit.

Anyway, Onomichi is great, and you should visit it - tomorrow if possible, but at any rate very soon.

2025 short stuff rec list

Dec. 22nd, 2025 05:51 am
mrissa: (Default)
[personal profile] mrissa
 

Of course I hope you've enjoyed my short fiction and poetry (and nonfiction!) this year. But other people have been absolutely lighting the place up as well, and here are my recommendations for speculative short fiction and poetry for 2025. Even I can't read everything, so please do not take this as a comprehensive list! I'm sure there's great stuff out there I've missed, and if you want to comment with it, that's great. Spread the joy.

Heritage/Speaker | Hablante/Herencia, Angela Acosta (Samovar)

The Witch and the Wyrm, Elizabeth Bear (Reactor)

Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights From the Arms & Armory Collection, Sharang Biswas (Strange Horizons)

Biologists say it will take at least a generation for the river to recover (Klamath River Hymn), Leah Bobet (Reckoning)

Watching Migrations, Keyan Bowes (Strange Horizons)

Bestla, James Joseph Brown (Kaleidotrope)

Mail Order Magic, Stephanie Burgis (Sunday Morning Transport)

With Only a Razor Between, Martin Cahill (Reactor)

As Safe As Fear, Beth Cato (Daikajuzine)

And the Planet Loved Him, L. Chan (Clarkesworld)

“To Reap, to Sow,” Lyndsey Croal (Analog Mar/Apr 25)

Atomic, Jennifer Crow (Kaleidotrope)

Flower and Root, J. R. Dawson (Sunday Morning Transport)

Six People to Revise You, J. R. Dawson (Uncanny)

The Place I Came To, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko (Lightspeed)

Understudies, Greg Egan (Clarkesworld)

All That Means or Mourns, Ruthanna Emrys (Reactor)

Holly on the Mantel, Blood on the Hearth, Kate Francia (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

The Jacarandas Are Unimpressed By Your Show of Force, Gwynne Garfinkle (Strange Horizons)

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Gorgon, Gwynne Garfinkle (Penumbric)

The Otter Woman’s Daughter, Eleanor Glewwe (Cast of Wonders)

In the Shells of Broken Things, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld)

In Connorville, Kathleen Jennings (Reactor)

Michelle C. Jin, Imperfect Simulations (Clarkesworld)

What I Saw Before the War, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Reactor)

The Name Ziya, Wen-yi Lee (Reactor)

Barbershops of the Floating City, Angela Liu (Uncanny)

Kaiju Agonistes, Scott Lynch (Uncanny)

The Loaf in the Woods, David Marino (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

One by One, Lindz McLeod (Apex)

10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days, Samantha Mills (Uncanny)

Everyone Keeps Saying Probably, Premee Mohamed (Psychopomp)

Liecraft, Anita Moskát (trans. Austin Wagner) (Apex)

The Orchard Village Catalog, Parker Peevyhouse (Strange Horizons)

Lies From a Roadside Vagabond, Aaron Perry (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

Last Tuesday, for Eternity, Vinny Rose Pinto (Imagine 2200)

The Horrible Conceit of Night and Death, J. A. Prentice (Apex)

The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For, Cameron Reed (Reactor)

Ghost Rock Posers F**k Off, Margaret Ronald (Sunday Morning Transport)

Regarding the Childhood of Morrigan, Who Was Chosen to Open the Way, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Reactor)

No One Dies of Longing, Anjali Sachdeva (Strange Horizons)

Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything, Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots)

Orders, Grace Seybold (Augur)

Unbeaten, Grace Seybold (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens, Rachel Swirsky (Reactor)

“Holy Fools,” Adrian Tchaikovsky (Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers)

A Random Walk Through the Goblin Library, Chris Willrich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

“An Asexual Succubus,” John Wiswell (Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers)

Phantom View, John Wiswell (Reactor)

Brooklyn Beijing, Hannah Yang (Uncanny)

Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War, Caroline Yoachim (Uncanny)

Advent calendar 22

Dec. 22nd, 2025 11:09 am
antisoppist: (Christmas)
[personal profile] antisoppist
That night Mr Muller brought home a Christmas tree. Even though the Mullers were to spend Christmas Eve at Grosspapa Muller's and Christmas Day at Grosspapa Hornik's there had to be a tree in their own home. Unlike Santa Claus, Christmas trees seemed to be very important in Milwaukee. The older people were as excited as the children when Mr Muller carried in his huge fragrant bundle.

The next afternoon, which was Christmas Eve day, all of them trimmed it. They put on candles and carved wooden toys and cookies hung on ribbons, and little socks with candles in them, as well as the usual bright balls. They draped the strings of cranberries around the spiraling branches and placed a star angel on the top.

Tib and Fred were very artistic and it was a beautiful tree. They had fun trimming it too, but it seemed strange to Betsy to be hanging the Mullers' balls and angels and to think that at home a tree was being trimmed with the dear familiar ornaments... some that she and Tacy had bough on their Christmas shopping trips.

Monday Storytime- The Professionals

Dec. 22nd, 2025 11:07 am
kitarella_imagines: Profile photo (Default)
[personal profile] kitarella_imagines
So today we have the final chapter AND a missing scene from Chapter 4! As a Christmas treat.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! 🎅🎁🎄


Too Many Of You Fellas Are Bent


Chapter 7 – The Unprofessionals


A revelation of truth.


***

It was no good keeping secrets from Doyle, though, he always knew when Bodie was hiding something from him. The next day in the car, he barked, “come on. Out with it.” He was driving and looking at the road, so Bodie couldn’t really see his expression.

“Okay then…erm—well—turns out the operators have got money riding on when Lucas, McCabe and us two are going to be found out.” Bodie watched him carefully for signs of an impending explosion of rage.

When they stopped at a traffic light, Doyle stared at him for a long moment, then burst out laughing.

Bodie stared at him in surprise. “Glad you’re taking it so calmly.”

“Well, you know…for some reason…I feel more relaxed these days.” He patted Bodie’s thigh.

“Aww…But…shall we tell Lucas and McCabe about the betting?”

“Erm…yeah. Wouldn’t be any fun playing against them if they don’t even know the game.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Ray?”

They both laughed this time.

So after telling their friends the situation, for the next week both couples competed with each other as to who could be the least affectionate and most business-like with their partner. They were growling and snapping or ignoring each other at every possible opportunity, and then of course making up when they thought they were alone.

***

Then one day Cowley called all four of them into his office. “Gentlemen,” he said, as they sat there looking like schoolboys who had been hauled in to see the headmaster. “Your behaviour with your work colleagues is going beyond the limits of professionalism.”

The agents exchanged glances, wondering if he meant they'd been too surly with each other? Or the opposite and they’d been caught canoodling too much?

Read more... )
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Spotlight on Tag Wrangling

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.

In this round of updates, we continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

In Conclusion

While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you're intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you've never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here's a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month's new canonical tags:

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Lastly, we're still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Posted by an

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don’t belong to any particular fandom (also known as “No Fandom” tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.

In this round of updates, we continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic “No Fandom” tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3’s auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

In Conclusion

While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you’re intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you’ve never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here’s a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month’s new canonical tags:

While we won’t be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you’re interested in the changes we’ll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on “No Fandom” tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:

For more information about AO3’s tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Lastly, we’re still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.

(no subject)

Dec. 22nd, 2025 02:07 am
kalloway: (GW Zechs)
[personal profile] kalloway
Back at the beginning of the month, I decided for (Actual-not-Accidental) Advent to read something with 24 volumes... and I came up with Hikaru no Go, which has 23. But then I realized Whistle! has 24 and I can probably read and let go of that... While I started Whistle!... I have instead stuck with HikaGo. (Whoops?) And while my first time through HikaGo to completion was only a couple of years ago, I feel kind of different about it? Certain things really are telegraphed quite well and it's very clear the series ends with vol. 17, which is a little awkward considering it's a 23 volume series. (vol. 18 gets a pass as it's bonus/short stories) I feel like 19-23 is trying to set up something that just isn't strong enough to keep going, and while it should have ended sooner, ending where it did is fine.

I'll keep working my way through Whistle! as well. I know I haven't read it since I moved, and all I really remember is "soccer manga".

I'm also watching Gundam Wing, in earnest, in order to watch Endless Waltz on Xmas. It probably won't come as a surprise if I say the pacing is a bit different than I remember through the first bits. Somewhere between or after Whistle!, I should probably do all the Wing manga but especially Glory.

I need to get to the main library to pick up a 3D print. IDK if I mentioned my last one, but I fully intend to take advantage of this print-on-demand service. (x amount free, very cheap after) Aside from various Gundam add-ons and conversions, there are people just making original model kits and putting them out there for free. Amazing.

(You wouldn't download a Gundam?! Yeah it turns out we all would, I think. Someone made the conversion piece I've always wanted and holy shit, yeah. Yeah.)
vriddy: Endeavor deep in thoughts (thinking)
[personal profile] vriddy in [community profile] getting_started
The FAQ entry about renaming a journal is very helpful to understand what happens and the options when renaming, but I'm not sure what happens to the image links?

Do image links also get redirected automatically ? Or do you need to update your old posts referencing those images, since the username is in the URL too??

PHs #226-227

Dec. 22nd, 2025 11:00 pm
yuletidemods: A hippo lounges with laptop in hand, peering at the screen through a pair of pince-nez and smiling. A text bubble with a heart emerges from the screen. The hippo dangles a computer mouse from one toe. By Oro. (Default)
[personal profile] yuletidemods in [community profile] yuletide_pinch_hits
These pinch hits are due at Tuesday 23 December at 9pm UTC.

Comments are turned off for this community. To claim a pinch hit, please email the mods at yuletideadmin@gmail.com and:
  • Include the pinch hit number in the subject line
  • Include the recipient's AO3 name in the subject line
  • Include your AO3 username in the body of the email

For example, if your AO3 username is yuletidehippo and you want to claim Pinch Hit #42 for AwsomRecip, you might email us with the subject line "PH 42 for AwsomRecip" and "I'm yuletidehippo on AO3" in the body of the email. As was the case previously, if you don't receive a reply you did not get the pinch hit.

Also, remember our pinch hitters' prompts post! If you weren't signed up and you're pinch hitting, your rare fandom prompts are very welcome!

If the pinch hit you're interested in has been claimed, you are still welcome to post treats!


claimed - PH #226: Lancer (Roleplaying Game), 蟲師 | Mushishi (Anime & Manga), とんがり帽子のアトリエ | Tongari Boushi no Atelier | Witch Hat Atelier (Manga), Mystery Flesh Pit National Park - Trevor Roberts, Pressure (Roblox), 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Request 1 by SailorSpellcheck
Lancer (Roleplaying Game)
Characters: Terror (Lancer RPG), Mirth (Lancer RPG), Endeavor (Lancer RPG), Worldbuilding (Lancer RPG)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts and likes!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Union-bashing (pointing out Union's flaws is fine, such as the unethical material foundation of the post-capital purported utopia, but just please don't bash Union)
- Corpro apologia. It's fine to write from corpro POVs so long as this is not presented as a genuine attempt to absolve any corpros of wrongdoing
- Machine apologia (as in, the Machine, from Wallflower)

Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89

Request 2 by SailorSpellcheck
蟲師 | Mushishi (Anime & Manga)
Characters: Ginko (Mushishi), Worldbuilding (Mushishi)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts and likes!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Ginko dying
- Modern-day worldbuilding

Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89?theme=ultraDark

Request 3 by SailorSpellcheck
とんがり帽子のアトリエ | Tongari Boushi no Atelier | Witch Hat Atelier (Manga)
Characters: Coco (Tongari Boushi no Atelier), Euini (Tongari Boushi no Atelier), Olruggio (Tongari Boushi no Atelier)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts and likes!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Coco joining the Brim Hats
- Character death of any of the main girls (Coco, Agott, Tetia, Richeh), but injury is fine

Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89?theme=ultraDark

Request 4 by SailorSpellcheck
Mystery Flesh Pit National Park - Trevor Roberts
Characters: Worldbuilding (Mystery Flesh Pit), Permian Basin Superorganism (Mystery Flesh Pit)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Insinuating that the pit has some evil eldritch higher purpose and wants to end the world or something
- Anything related to the aphrodisiac properties of ballast (usage or mention of ballast for its other properties is fine, though)

Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89?theme=ultraDark

Request 5 by SailorSpellcheck
Pressure (Roblox)
Characters: Sebastian Solace (Pressure), Worldbuilding (Pressure)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Postcanon human Seb
- Painter, if you choose to write him as receiving/having a motile body, with a body that has guns
- I'm fine with mentioning Seb has a wife but please don't mention Zerum as that wife. Otherwise, please no shipping Seb with anyone.

Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89?theme=ultraDark

Request 6 by SailorSpellcheck
悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Characters: Alucard (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)

Treats OK!
Please see my letter for more canon-specific prompts!
General DNWs- Sexual or explicit content (however, violence and gore and body horror are A-OK)
- Excessive or gratuitous violence and gore for no narrative reason
- Major themes regarding the heat-death or otherwise non-supernatural end of the universe
- Major homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, arophobia, or racism (canon typical, if present, is fine)
- Major real-world religious themes (canon-typical is okay though)
- Death or violence to pets, especially cats
- Crushing of snails or crabs or other small creatures
- Very major plot points centered around protagonists infighting/misunderstanding each other. Basically just please go light on misunderstanding-based conflict. Should be fine as long as it doesn't last too long and it gets resolved. (Please contact the mod if you need clarification from me on what's okay or not!)
- Permanent Major Character Death
- Characters losing their powers permanently, if relevant
- Unrequested gender and/or sexuality headcanons
- Unrequested AUs or major setting changes
General Likes- angst
- fluff
- missionfic/casefic
- gore
- body horror (especially of the fishy variety)
- the ""fucked up escaped lab experiment"" trope
- mermaids
- aliens
- psychics
- political intrigue
- strong platonic bonds and nonsexual intimacy
- detailed imagery and scene-painting
- asexual/aromantic headcanons
Canon-Specific DNWs:
- Alucard with no baggage about his vampire lineage
- Shipping Alucard with anyone (I know this is games canon but I will nonetheless make an exception for background/implied/mentioned trephacard)
- Dracula as an entirely perfect father, or conversely, Dracula as a completely awful father
Letter:
https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/860c76c2-b82b-40c6-8a5b-7102a224fe89?theme=ultraDark


PH #227: Nana (Anime & Manga), Lamb - Christopher Moore, Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne, The Godfather (1972 1974 1990), Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Movie 2022)
Request 1 by 1candyangle
Nana (Anime & Manga)
Characters: Oosaki Nana, Komatsu Nana | Hachi
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Nana likes: devotion, support, consequences to addiction, multiple types of love, good or bad relationships. Make up, break ups, opening/closing relationships to new partners.
General likes: when characters are given a reason to cry, possessiveness, feral behaviour, action,
fucky/toxic relationships, power dynamics, food, music, loving each other too much to function, and humor (puns, ridiculous situations, dark irony)
Smut is welcomed. No preference in dynamics or omegaverse designations.
Go wild, go unhinged, have fun.
General soft dislikes: sissification, non-canon age differences, pet-like animal-human hybrids (werewolves, cursed creatures and monsters do not count as hybrids)
DNW: heavy recreational drug or alcohol use in a positive light (non-con drugging is fine, same with a passing glass of wine, just no drunk or high shenanigans please. Dealing with the aftermath of a binge session is more than okay in the context of addiction), cheating, sexual content under age 13, graphic eye trauma

No letter

Request 2 by 1candyangle
Lamb - Christopher Moore
Characters: Biff (Lamb), Maggie (Lamb), Josh (Lamb)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Lamb likes: theology (insane and standard), world building, the Implications, unconditional love, conditional love, AUs of all flavours
General likes: when characters are given a reason to cry, possessiveness, feral behaviour, action, fucky/toxic relationships, power dynamics, food, music, loving each other too much to function, and humor (puns, ridiculous situations, dark irony)
Smut is welcomed. No preference in dynamics or omegaverse designations.
Go wild, go unhinged, have fun.
General soft dislikes: sissification, non-canon age differences, pet-like animal-human hybrids (werewolves, cursed creatures and monsters do not count as hybrids)
DNW: heavy recreational drug or alcohol use in a positive light (non-con drugging is fine, same with a passing glass of wine, just no drunk or high shenanigans please. Dealing with the aftermath of a binge session is more than okay in the context of addiction), cheating, sexual content under age 13, graphic eye trauma

No letter

Request 3 by 1candyangle
Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Characters: Van Fanel, Kanzaki Hitomi, Dilandau Albatou


Escaflowne likes: Van and Hitomi saving each other, or little quiet moments when their guards are down and they show their genuine affection. Mecha battles are always fun, same with world building. For Dilandau, his brain and crazy intrigue me, I love him.
General likes: when characters are given a reason to cry, possessiveness, feral behaviour, action,
fucky/toxic relationships, power dynamics, food, music, loving each other too much to function, and humor (puns, ridiculous situations, dark irony)
Smut is welcomed. No preference in dynamics or omegaverse designations.
Go wild, go unhinged, have fun.
General soft dislikes: sissification, non-canon age differences, pet-like animal-human hybrids (werewolves, cursed creatures and monsters do not count as hybrids)
DNW: heavy recreational drug or alcohol use in a positive light (non-con drugging is fine, same with a passing glass of wine, just no drunk or high shenanigans please. Dealing with the aftermath of a binge session is more than okay in the context of addiction), cheating, sexual content under age 13, graphic eye trauma

No letter

Request 4 by 1candyangle
The Godfather (1972 1974 1990)
Characters: Any
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)

Godfather likes: nitty-gritty mafia life, fun with tropes (conventionally playing it straight or turning a common mafia trope on its head), real world implications, generational trauma, violence to make statements, poor life choices
General likes: when characters are given a reason to cry, possessiveness, feral behaviour, action, fucky/toxic relationships, power dynamics, food, music, loving each other too much to function, and humor (puns, ridiculous situations, dark irony)
Smut is welcomed. No preference in dynamics or omegaverse designations.
Go wild, go unhinged, have fun.
General soft dislikes: sissification, non-canon age differences, pet-like animal-human hybrids (werewolves, cursed creatures and monsters do not count as hybrids)
DNW: heavy recreational drug or alcohol use in a positive light (non-con drugging is fine, same with a passing glass of wine, just no drunk or high shenanigans please. Dealing with the aftermath of a binge session is more than okay in the context of addiction), cheating, sexual content under age 13, graphic eye trauma

No letter

Request 5 by 1candyangle
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Movie 2022)
Characters: Any
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)

Weird Al likes: absolute insanity and crackfic would be fun, or lean into the ridiculousness of everything and play it straight. Feel free to experiment with unconventional formats if you like to (1st person pov, outsider, songfic, poetry, etc)
General likes: when characters are given a reason to cry, possessiveness, feral behaviour, action, fucky/toxic relationships, power dynamics, food, music, loving each other too much to function, and humor (puns, ridiculous situations, dark irony)
Smut is welcomed. No preference in dynamics or omegaverse designations.
Go wild, go unhinged, have fun.
General soft dislikes: sissification, non-canon age differences, pet-like animal-human hybrids (werewolves, cursed creatures and monsters do not count as hybrids)
DNW: heavy recreational drug or alcohol use in a positive light (non-con drugging is fine, same with a passing glass of wine, just no drunk or high shenanigans please. Dealing with the aftermath of a binge session is more than okay in the context of addiction), cheating, sexual content under age 13, graphic eye trauma

No letter

New Music Monday - 22 December 2025

Dec. 22nd, 2025 08:54 pm
paradisedinermod: (Default)
[personal profile] paradisedinermod in [community profile] paradisediner
The regular weekly post for us to talk about any and all of our thoughts about the week's new releases.

UmYull - Tomorrow, Promise
Joohoney - Push (feat. Rei (IVE)) (pre-release)
LNGSHOT - Saucin' (pre-debut)
Hyolyn - Standing On the Edge
ASC2NT - Replay
Wooyoung (2PM) - Reason (Japan)

New MVs are also added to an ongoing youtube playlist.

Last week's MVs: 15 December

Feel free to add new comments in the replies for songs/MVs we missed.

[ Rec Something Wednesday | WIP Wednesday | Monthly General Chat | Comment Fest ]
calimac: (Haydn)
[personal profile] calimac
I attended a piano recital in San Francisco on Sunday. It just wasn't the piano recital I'd intended to go to.

The one I'd intended would have been Sarah Cahill playing music by Terry Riley in a meeting room of the main SF Public Library at 2 p.m. The occasion was to honor Riley's 90th birthday, which was last June. Riley was one of the founding fathers of the minimalist movement in the early 1960s, though he's reinvented himself several times since then, and Cahill is an indefatigable proponent of new and unusual music; she was, among other things, one of the tag team of pianists who played Philip Glass's complete Etudes some years back.

But when I got to the library I found the building closed due to a power outage. This, I eventually learned, had begun the previous evening, but I hadn't heard about it. This was irksome, especially as I'd checked the website that morning to confirm the concert was still on. The power outage was widespread, but in spots, and this particular spot covered just a few blocks around the library. Not a concert in sight.

But! Earlier, on my way to lunch, which I had at a Chinese place nearby but well outside the outage zone, I'd walked past a pizzeria which had, taped to its front window, a small notification of a concert of Bach on the piano, to be held at a church in the Mission District at 3 p.m. "Too bad Cahill's concert won't be over by then," I thought, but when I found the library closed, I simply changed my plans.

So instead of Riley I heard Bach's seven keyboard toccata suites (BWV 910-916) played on a Baldwin baby grand in a 19th-century Lutheran church across the street from Mission Dolores. The pianist, whose name was Michiko Murata, was really good. Too bad there were only about 20 people there to hear her.

She played crisply and emphatically, with clean separation of parts and with the call-and-response patterns so basic to Bach clearly enunciated. It was 90 minutes of the master of intricate counterpoint showing his chops, and with this clarity of enunciation it was sheer pleasure to hear.

Fortunately there was a brief intermission halfway through, and I returned from the long trudge to the men's room just in time to see Murata in the sanctuary's foyer, about to make her entrance. "You're back," she said to me. "I thought you'd left." This is something you can say when your audience is so small you can count them. "Oh no," I replied, "I've got to hear how this comes out." (With one of Bach's few excursions into the major mode, as it turned out.)

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