Of This and Other Worlds

So where are the cool kids submitting HP fics these days?

I've done my duty by Fiction Alley, of course, and eventually I'll probably get around to putting this fic up at the Pit of Voles, just for the sake of those who have me on Author Alert. The Sugar Quill is no longer an option, alas, but I'm open to other suggestions as to where I should put this "Secrets and Lies" thing so that people who've read and liked the Darkness and Light trilogy (and hey, even some who haven't) would be likely to see it...

I just watched this again to see if it was as eyebuggingly, earwormingly horrific as I remembered, and yes, yes it was. I think the cracked-out dancing girls may actually be the worst bit, because dude, the choreography. Anyway, the only way I could make the pain go away was to share it, once more, with the rest of you:

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.

In other and completely unrelated news (unless you think that Leonard Nimoy reminds you of Snape, which is possible in a random sort of way), I have actually started writing a post-HBP Snape/Maud fic, to serve as a more canonical alternative to the now-AU If We Survive.

I've been moving toward a less romanticized portrayal of Snape for a while -- you can see it in "Cold Water" and "Bewitching the Mind, Ensnaring the Senses", both of which were written after OotP. But the "Spinner's End" chapter of HBP was, in a strange way, comforting and confirming to me: it showed that I hadn't been that far off the mark in guessing what Snape might be like, how he might converse, in a situation where he was on reasonably civil terms with the others present and his hatred of James Potter & Co. wasn't uppermost on his mind. (Plus, so totally Snape pulling the wool over Bellatrix's eyes and manipulating the situation to play out with his and Dumbledore's planned endgame, but I digress.) So while Snape is certainly not any normal person's idea of a good date, and I can no longer imagine him in a situation like the one I wrote in IWS Ch. 3 (pity, as I rather liked that crimson turtleneck), I still don't think he is hopelessly screwed up when it comes to all human relationships.

Anyway, the fic. Don't worry, it's short -- I have not completely parted ways with sanity. But the challenge of writing Snape again, given what we now know of his personality, was too tempting to resist. lizbee and cesario have seen the little bits I've written so far and seem to think they're all right, so I shall continue as time and responsibilities permit, and hope to have something to post here soon.

Yes, it really does. I wrote a good couple of pages' worth last night, and am having great fun, even if nothing has really happened yet. But trapdoors and tunnels are always fun if you ask me.

In other HP-related news, I have just seen the new EW cover and all I can say is, please will someone take a weed-whacker to Daniel Radcliffe's hair? And his eyebrows too. No, make that especially the eyebrows. I'm not sure I can sit through a whole movie where Harry keeps reminding me of Groucho Marx.

And finally, I have a cold. Blech, ack, ptooie.

First, these Alias/HP icons are sheer brilliance. And I agree with most of the House assignments, too... though Jack has decided Slytherin tendencies. Slytherclaw?

Second, GIP! If you are wondering what inspired this particular bit of weirdness, you can find the relevant comment, and my frivolous reply, here. I finally managed to get my own icon concept -- the one that was driving me nuts yesterday -- working, but I still welcome other people's takes on the same theme. And thanks to penwiper26 for her lovely (and fast!) effort. Lisa, what characters/fandom did you want me to write that drabble for?

Just for the record, the illustration that appears on the icon is not mine, but was taken from a pencil sketch by Anneth Lagamo entitled "The Potions Master and the Protege". Although it was labelled as Snape/Hermione, chresimos thought it looked amazingly like an illustration for chapter six of If We Survive, and I had to agree.

Now I'm off to run some errands...

ETA: Thanks to sinick for reminding me of the artist's name and pointing me to her gallery so I could give her proper credit, here and in the icon keywords.

Here we go again...

( What church do you attend? Who else should play Snape? How do you avoid Mary Sue? )

( Your real-life heroes? What draws you to a character? Your greatest accomplishment in life? )

( How would you rule the world? How did you become a Christian? Which fictional character would you make real? )

( Which country would you visit? Favorite poet? Lunch for LRK? )

( What does hubby think of your HP fandom? Why did Snape and Maud wait? Best lesson from HP? )

Shorter answers this time -- mercifully. :)

Since I've had a bunch of requests for this now, and since I've decided it really isn't terminally spoilery but more a general indication of The Shape of Things To Come, I'm going to post the fic that I wrote lizbee for her birthday last year. This is not part of the main Snapelets story; it's more of a sideshow. But it does mention some upcoming incidents in the Snapelets fic, so... be forewarned.

( HP: Golden Boy, PG-13 )

Because I stumbled across a Maudalike the other day while image-browsing, and it was too cool not to make an icon out of...

This took me forever, but I'm pretty pleased with it now. Hopefully as I get more adept at using Photoshop Elements and my new graphics tablet, future drawings will be a little less time-consuming. But anyway, here it is...

"In The Forest" (D&Lverse illustration, Snape/Maud)

description and preview

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Or go here if deviantART is too slow or otherwise misbehaving.

And now I have to run like crazy, because I'm still in my jammies and we have to leave the house by 8 a.m....

Courtesy of Em:

A beautiful portrait of Maud, taken from a larger pic of Maud and Snape together which I also like very much (especially the trippy look on Snape's face -- I mean, clearly that Hair Thing has become a serious addiction).

Then there's my secondary OC's, Jennet Peachtree and the irrepressible Imogen Crump.

And finally, appropriately enough considering my previous post, it's the Snapelets. I never thought of giving Margot this particular hairstyle, but now that I've seen it... it's awfully tempting.

Check out more by the same artist -- if you're into Tonks/Remus, for instance, it's a positive feast.

And just when I thought my week couldn't get any better, I got an e-mail alerting me to a new gallery of D&L illustrations by sannalim:

Trilogy cover

The Potions Master's Apprentice cover

Personal Risks cover

If We Survive cover

aaand it's the Snapelets all over again! Snape Family Portrait

Seriously, I am overwhelmed. Thank you both very, very much. Wow!

This seems to have been a day for finding wonderful pieces of online art.

First, this amusing entry by ursulav, presenting her new digital illustration Mortimer was a very bad egg. Come on, what could be better than a goth version of Humpty Dumpty?

Then I noticed that somebody else had linked to a rather lovely drawing of the Trio, movie-style (by someone whose art I had never seen before, possibly because she seems to favour H/Hr -- but, you know, even those are pretty enough I almost didn't mind looking at them).

And finally, I just got an e-mail from Teri, telling me that a friend of a friend had done a piece of AU fan art for D&L. Well, as you can imagine, I was blown away by that as well... so here it is, "Meeting Maud". I love Maud's robes, and her hair, and the length of her nose, though how she persuaded Snape to go to a formal ball, I cannot imagine. :)

There are so many good artists out there! And they all know how to use Photoshop a great deal better than I do! Of course, I suspect they also have graphic tablets, which is an investment I've yet to make...