the deep moans round with many voices

I kept forgetting to post about this, which is a shame because it's a GREAT story, but better late than never. Anyway, a rec! ...And, I suppose, something of a memorial for Le Guin. :(

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Sisterhood (17126 words) by Transposable_Element
Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin, Hainish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Pilun (The Dispossessed), Sadik (The Dispossessed)
Additional Tags: Sisters, Epistolary, Culture Shock, Utopia, Feminist Themes, POV Outsider

Summary: Pilun goes to Urras to study biology. Set 18 years after The Dispossessed.

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This is an absolutely wonderful story about a young woman attempting to navigate a foreign and painful culture, while simultaneously dealing with some family stress and reevaluating her own culture and world. transposable_element shows sides of Urras and A-Io that Shevek never saw (because he's male, because he was considered "high status," because he's a relatively self-contained personality and didn't ask or look) and draws a realistic and sympathetic portrait of Pilun coming of age and learning who she wants to be and what she wants to do in her worlds.

Go read it and tell the writer what you think!

A couple days late, but let me point you toward my four (!!!) lovely and wonderful Yuletide gifts! You should go read them and shower love upon the writers!

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First, three beautifully clear, understated, and painful stories about Rulag and Palat (Shevek's parents) from The Dispossessed, which I am going to chew over for a long time and which will vastly enrich my experience of the book on my next reread:

Letters From Abbenay (1601 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rulag/Palat
Characters: Rulag, Palat

Summary: "She only knows denial. How to deny the possibility of coming home." - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

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Serving Truth A Little At A Time (1480 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rulag/Palat
Characters: Rulag, Palat

Summary: "She [Rulag] had the engineer's clarity and pragmatism of mind as well as the mechanist's hate of complexity and irregularity." - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

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The Joys of Solidarity (190 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rulag, Palat

Summary: Denial and learning it.

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Second, somebody finally wrote me a Lions of Al-Rassan fic, and it is the bittersweet foursome canon-divergence AU of my heart:

Moon, Sun, Stars over Sorenica (5641 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Jehane bet Ishak/Ammar ibn Khairan, Miranda Belmonte/Rodrigo Belmonte, others
Characters: Jehane bet Ishak
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon Divergence, Turn-left canon-based AU, Polyamory, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical mentions of war, Canon-typical religiosity, Canon-typical race and religious issues, Canon-typical medical procedures, Unconventional marriages, Disability

Summary: They're celebrating Jehane bet Ishak's birth day when they hear the news about Al-Rassan the Beloved.

Bears bears bears bears bears.

Bears bears.

Bears? Bears! Bears bears bears!

Bears bears bears bears -- bears bears -- bears bears bears bears, bears bears.

And in conclusion, BEARS.

1. Yuletide nominations close in 6 hours. Get yours in!

I nominated the following fandoms:

-The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay - Ammar ibn Khairan, Jehane bet Ishak, Rodrigo Belmonte, Miranda Belmonte (this is my perennial request that never gets filled, dammit)

-Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire - Rocalisa Qox-Skolia, Jaibriol Qox III, Kelricson Garlin Valdoria Skolia, Dyhianna "Dehya" Selei (because I still want a story about Lisi)

-Daredevil (Comics) - Karen Page, Elektra Natchios, Kirsten McDuffie, Rebecca Blake (because even though I got two awesome stories about ladies in a previous Yuletide, I always want more)

I'm sure I will be able to find some other fandoms of my heart if I feel like making additional prompts, but those were the three I wanted to make absolutely sure were there, and contained the characters I want to request.

2. I have completed the hiring process for Not the IRS. Yay! (Also my base pay-rate is up from last year. Double yay!) Now I just need to complete my continuing education requirements, and take the test to jump up a level in the internal skill classification scheme. I mean, I have been doing level two and three returns since my first year -- they are not especially hard -- but the computer's auto-matching system doesn't suggest me as an option for anyone over level one, and also level two employees get a minor bonus per completed return in the totally-not-a-commission compensation scheme whereas level one employees get nothing. Hence test.

3. The rental company's renewal and switch period ended on Wednesday, and open rentals began Thursday morning. This week has been kind of crazy with tours -- I have not talked so much per day in months -- and we had people start lining up outside the office at 8:45am Wednesday morning. (We rent on a first-come first-serve basis, and lease commitments/payments must be completed in person.)

My paycheck this week was almost literally twice the usual, because I got a huge commission fee -- this happens when somebody I took on a tour rents an apartment I showed them, so opening day presumably went well. :D I also got an unspecified supplemental payment which may be a general "congrats on working here for a full year" bonus. Or maybe not; there was no explanation on the paystub. *hands* I was very surprised when I checked my bank balance this morning, but pleasantly so, and my budget will now be much less stressful over the next couple months. I might even be able to donate a little to charity!