Date: 2012-05-14 20:34 Subject: Guuuuys guys LOOKIT! My Kickstarter is Funded!! Security: Public Tags: daron's guitar chronicles, kickstarter, writing news

We did ti! We did it! You did it. MY KICKSTARTER IS FULLY FUNDED. I went off to work at my taekwondo school tonight at 5:30 only $63 short of the goal. By the time I got home at 7:30, one magical backer (number 101!) splurged to top it up! Wooooooo! THANK YOUUUUU!!!

There are seven days left in the campaign, so you have only a week to get your autographed printed copy of the Daron’s Guitar Chronicles omnibus book or other time-limited swag. (Deets as usual here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458565937/darons-guitar-chronicles-omnibus-book)

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-05-14 15:18 Subject: FanFiction Documentary Film! Security: Public Tags: documentary

So… filmmaker Hansi Oppenheimer, the creator of the Replacements fan documentary Color Me Obsessed, is now working on another fan-energy based documentary, this one on fan fiction and fanworks.

Hansi will be in Cambridge, MA this coming Saturday May 19 to film interviews with fanfiction writers and other fan artists. I’ve offered her my living room as a location for the filming, so if you’re interested in being interviewed, contact her to set up a time slot! Email her at TroubledGirlFilms@yahoo.com. 

She’ll be interviewing Flourish Klink (Ascendio’s Minister of Magic) and me and hopefully lots of other folks. I live between Porter Square and Harvard Square and am easy to get to. If you get an interview slot and need directions to get here, email me at ravenna_c_tan (at) yahoo.com and I’ll send them.

Hansi is also launching an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign to get to Ascendio in Orlando in July and film interviews there, too. She’s trying to raise $1,800 by June 22. If you want your name listed in the credits of the film or to order a DVD, here’s the link! http://www.indiegogo.com/p/104624

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-05-11 19:18 Subject: NLA Writing Award Winners! (The Prince’s Boy got honorable mention!) Security: Public Tags: awards, daron's guitar chronicles, kickstarter, the prince's boy, writing news

Seriously, this one was just an honor to be nominated. I was up against some very good writers and some very fine books for this year’s NLA-I Writing Awards. I was concerned that perhaps the way The Prince’s Boy skirts non-consensuality and dubious consent might be a problem for some judges. But they saw fit to give it honorable mention. (And congrats to Jeff for winning!)

Laura Antoniou won a short story award, Mollena for essay, and tireless anthologist Rachel Kramer Bussel bagged both the win and the honorable mention in the anthology category. Gayle Rubin won the non-fiction book award.

Circlet Press is running a congratulations special for 50% off the ebooks of The Prince’s Boy to celebrate, both volumes 1 & 2 (catalog: http://www.circlet.com/?page_id=3), and of course the whole serial is still free to read on circlet.com.

In other news, the Kickstarter for Daron’s Guitar Chronicles is only about $550 from the goal with 10 days left! I’ll post more about that separately, but full deets here: http://kck.st/IlE7Bi

Here’s the full NLA-I press release:

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-05-05 20:41 Subject: Hogwarts Alumni Parties at Wiscon and CON.TXT Security: Public

I’m getting psyched for two more cons coming up before Ascendio where I’ll be throwing “Hogwarts Alumni Reunion” Parties. I’ll even have some Ascendio swag to give away to those who attend in wizarding costume!

Please drop me a note or a comment if you’ll be attending either of these cons! I could also use a little help throwing the parties, so if you have it in mind to decorate, bring food or drink, donate door prizes, or otherwise chip in somehow, send an owl!

WISCON: The Feminist Science Fiction Convention
May 25-28, Madison, Wisconsin
I’ve started a Facebook vent for the part, so RSVP there if you can: http://www.facebook.com/events/230102747090335/

CON.TXT: for slashers!
June 15-17, Silver Spring, Maryland
Surely some folks on my friends’ lists must be going to this one, eh? It’s an entire con devoted to slash!

What is a “Hogwarts Alumni Reunion”? It’s a party for all wizarding folk of age to have graduated from Hogwarts. i.e. Adults Only. Expect slashy, X-rated fanart to be on display. (If you have children who love Harry Potter, that is wonderful! However this party is not for them.) Cosplay encouraged.

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-05-01 20:07 Subject: Slash cast on Sex-positivity! Security: Public Tags: slash, slashcast

If you’re not a regular listener to the Slashcast podcast devoted to slashy fanfic and related topics of interested to slash fans, you might want to give the most recent episode a listen. Instead of focusing on a specific fandom, this is the “Sex-positivity” episode.

The “Insider Interview” is with Dr. Sarah Frantz, a scholar on romance literature who talks with Emma Grant about one of my favorite subjects, BDSM in romance, and I’m the guest interview on the “Pimp My Fandom” section, but since this is a non-fandom specific segment, we’re talking about PWPs as a fanfic form.

PWP, or Porn Without Plot, or Plot? What Plot? (depending on who you ask) is of course near and dear to my heart, since I read and write fanfic for the “sexytiems” in particular.

More description and links for where to download the podcast can be found on Livejournal, here: http://slashcast.livejournal.com/29726.html

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-05-01 14:53 Subject: Stormtrooper Shuffle video Security: Public Tags: general blather

Basically, I just enjoyed this too much not to share it. I know there are other Star Wars parody music vids out there, but I just really liked this one…!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-05-01 11:00 Subject: Kickstarter update! 29% funded with 20 days go! Security: Public Tags: daron's guitar chronicles, kickstarter, writing news

So a little over a week has passed on the Daron’s Guitar Chronicles Kickstarter, and it’s going great! We’ve been averaging about $100 per day, and at that pace we’ll just hit the target with maybe a day to spare? It’d be AWESOME if it sped up because I worry I don’t want to hit people over the head with it. But the one day I didn’t post, tweet, or Facebook about it was the one day donations were zero. So that seems to say I have to mention it every day to keep it going until we hit the target.

As of this writing we’ve raised $819 with $1,933 to go to make the $2,750 target. One thing I should point out is that if you’re waiting for your paycheck to clear before donating, your donation WON’T be charged until the last day of the campaign. Kickstarter waits to see if the target is successfully reached, and if it is, they charge everyone at once at the end. So you won’t be charged until May 22 at the earliest.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page, which has all the info on rewards (one of which is you just pre-order the paperback tome for $25) and where you pledge! http://kck.st/IlE7Bi Thanks! And remember, spreading the word and telling other people why you think the project is worthy of support helps, too!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-04-24 01:32 Subject: Last Call for Fanfic & Self-published writer readings at Ascendio! Security: Public Tags: ascendio

OK, folks, last call for anyone who wants to do a reading at Ascendio! The schedule is really really packed with programs, panels, Quill Track stuff, and more, so anyone who hasn’t put in a request to read by this Friday April 27th is unlikely to make it into the schedule.

If you’re interested in doing a reading, email me at ravenna_c_tan@yahoo.com and let me know:
Your name
Fannish name/Pseudonym
Email
What fandom and pairing you think you’ll read
What rating you think you’ll read (G, PG, R, X)
Whether you want a 30 or 60 minute slot (or if you want to group up with someone else you know is reading the same pairing or similar topic, and who they are)

You don’t have to make your final determination of story title just yet, but get your slot reserved by Friday, ok?

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-04-23 15:45 Subject: Trying to embed that Kickstarter video one more time… Security: Public Tags: writing news

I uploaded it to Youtube and we’ll try it with the old style embed code and see if that works. (For those who missed my earlier post: I launched a Kickstarter! Please help me put Daron’s Guitar Chronicles into a paperback edition! Full details on the Kickstarter page here: http://kck.st/IlE7Bi)

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-04-08 02:05 Subject: Um, not that I was watching porn on a Saturday night or anything but... Security: Public

In the "Twinks" section of Manhub.com I couldn't help but notice one of the thumbnails was of a blond boy in a prep school uniform. White oxford shirt and tie.

Up until now I was under the impression that tie!porn was only found in Harry Potter fan art. But I am happy to say I am wrong, as this free five minute clip amply shows. Also, the acting is hilarious. But the boys are cute (18+ of course) and the Draco-ish one's dick curves enticingly. So here you go:

http://www.manhub.com/watch/11558/blair-mason-discovers-anatomy-with-kayl/

You're welcome.


(Oh, and of course I actually even wrote a fic with similar theme... called "Anatomy Lesson" back when I was studying anatomy for my massage certification! Haha!)

Date: 2012-04-01 17:11 Subject: I’m an NLA Writing Award finalist! Woo!! Complete list of finalists: Security: Public Tags: writing news

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS

(Columbus, OH) — National Leather Association–International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its annual writing awards for works published in 2011. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the groundbreaking organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-03-25 16:47 Subject: More calligraphy fanart Security: Public Tags: calligraphy

So I decided to tackle house mottos, but I’m not happy with the results. I did them using “skeleton” lettering and I’m just crap at it. So I will probably do these again as my skills improve. But I thought I’d post the current results anyway.

I used skeleton because I wanted to do house colors using silver & gold. The metallic inks are very gummy (the “silver” is actually aluminum suspended in gum) and lend themselves to fine lines like you see in skeleton style lettering moreso than the wide strokes used in blackletter.

So I jumped in to try Gryffindor first. Since this was the longest of the mottos I was going to do, I decided to do it on two sheets, one using red letters on gold (well, yellow) paper, and one using gold letters on red paper. Since the red I could do with regular ink, I used blackletter for that, and skeleton for the gold.

It reads:

In Gryffindor
where dwell the
brave at heart,

Daring, nerve
and chivalry,
set Gryffindors
apart

(artspam below the cut)

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-03-22 15:39 Subject: Seeking dominant woman/submissive man artwork… Security: Public Tags: general blather

Help me find cover art for a gorgeous book about a dominant woman and her male submissive!

So, Circlet Press will be publishing a book very soon called The Viscountess Investigates by Cameron Quintain. It’s an erotic mystery in a BDSM fantasy world which intersects our own, in which a dominant woman (the Viscountess) and her submissive (the aptly named Severin) are a detective team who must move through the various BDSM “dominions” (alternate universes reached through a kind of S/M-based magic) to search for a killer.

It’s a smart book, very sexy, with touches of victoriana, leather culture, and many many sf/fantasy references. Most importantly, its main characters are not young fluffy porn models.

The search for a cover photograph or image has so far proved fruitless. Most of the stuff out there with any kind of BDSM theme is of 18-year-old girls with teased hair and blue eyeshadow in collars and PVC. Um, no.

What I would love is something like:
- a tasteful image of a woman’s boot-clad leg, being kissed by a worshipful male submissive
- a shot of her leather gloved hands, one holding a whip/flogger and one a Sherlock-Holmes-style magnifying glass
- A woman in Victorian dress with a man (clothed or no) kneeling at her feet

Now, you’d think a photo of a man kissing a shoe or boot wouldn’t be too hard to find in stock photo sites, but it’s just a barren wasteland.

Our budget is not huge, but I can offer up to $50 for use of an image if someone has one to sell me the rights to. It needs to be 300 dpi and a minimum of 6×6″ in size (6×9″ is ideal, but we can deal with other aspect ratios). Suggestions, pointers, artist friends, please send them my way. Thank you!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Date: 2012-03-10 04:32 Subject: A bit more Snape-ish calligraphy Security: Public Tags: calligraphy, dark arts, snape

(First, a quick note to anyone who has been getting malware and virus warnings when visiting any of my websites or circlet.com — they’ve FINALLY killed the infection. I hired a professional team from Sucuri.net who not only eradicated all the malware code, they hardened my WordPress installs, and they will keep watch for one year! Good stuff.)

Now, on to the arty stuff.

I undertook to practice two different alphabets here. One is a form of uncial that has a sort of Celtic look to it (having been the style used in many of the church manuscripts) and the other a more formal Gothic blackletter.

I’m better with the formal ones right now because I’m very stiff as a beginner. I have a bit more control and my inaccuracy and untrained muscle memory are minimized with the very formal letters. Whereas the uncials seem — to me, anyway — to want a bit more expressiveness in the stroke and I don’t yet have the fineness of technique to be able to be more expressive without just plain getting things wrong, letters too big, too small, strokes not matching as they should, etc.

Anyway, first “The Half Blood Prince” in uncial:

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-03-03 04:01 Subject: Calligraphy fanart, Snape-ish Security: Public Tags: calligraphy

So, I am not an artist. Art class was always one of my favorites in school, but I’ve never had any talent at drawing or really in transferring either what I see or what I imagine onto paper. As the de facto art director for Circlet Press over the past 20 years, I’ve become a decent designer, though, and as a writer by trade, the one form of visual art that has continually drawn my interest since I was a teenager is calligraphy.

So, I’ve dabbled in it here and there. But when a creative pursuit (such as writing) is one’s livelihood, that often doesn’t leave a lot of time for other creative hobbies. Acting, playing music, and lettering have all taken back seats so far back they may as well be in a different bus from me. (Writing fanfic is by far my favorite hobby… and it’s indistinguishable from what I do for a living, except for the non-commercial part.)

But on February 20th I decided I wanted to spend about 15 minutes a day practicing my lettering and learning/inventing some alphabets. About five years ago I actually set up a calligraphy work desk and now, five years later, I’m finally USING it!! So, under the cut, picspam of the letterings I’ve been doing!

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-02-29 21:01 Subject: Fic: “Marked” (Lucius/Harry, NC-17) Security: Public Tags: bottom!harry, canon-compliant, darkfic, pairing: harry/lucius, postwar, rating: nc-17, slash

Title: Marked
Author/Artist: Ravenna C. Tan
Prompt: 32. “When you think night and day and every moment only of pleasing me, things will be very easy for you.”
Prompt submitted by: scarletladyy in the Harry_Submits Fest on Livejournal
Pairing(s): Lucius/Harry
Word Count: 10,109
Rating: NC-17
Warning(s) (Highlight to view): *Scarletladyy said “I absolutely adore dark!fics and I’d prefer this to be non-con.” This is about equal in darkness as my last Lucius/Harry. Sexualized torture. Mind games.*
Disclaimer:Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks to my beta-readers, Slashpervert and Amanuensis! Postwar, pre-epilogue, canon-compliant.
Summary: Three years after the end of the war, Lucius Malfoy kidnaps Harry. He keeps him captive and uses and abuses him. Harry is desperate to escape, but does Malfoy have some motive for kidnapping the savior of the Wizarding World besides perverse revenge?

The Harry Submits fest reveal has taken place! So now you can all tell I’m the one who wrote this twisted, hot, wrong Harry/Lucius. *grin*

Comment here or visit the original fest post!
On Livejournal: http://harry-submits.livejournal.com/140758.html

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-02-26 20:11 Subject: Harry Potter and Calligraphy... Security: Public

A friend pointed me at the Goulet Pen Company site today, specifically the De Atramentis inks they sell, many of which are scented. Not only that, but they have a "magic" line of inks.

The magic scented inks include ones with names like:
Magic Boarding School. Hmmm.

And one that caught my eye in particular:
Magic Alchemist. (Here: http://www.gouletpens.com/De_Atramentis_Magic_Alchemist_Ink_p/da1336.htm)

What, I wondered, does a magic alchemist smell like? I Googled around a bit and found another site selling it (ExoticBlanks.com) that described it as:
"Somewhat masculine, astringent and mysterious." And of course it is "Night black ink."

That sure sounds like Snape to me!

Goulet Pens sells tiny samples of the inks for under $2 each... so I ordered some. Will report.

Update: Upon checkout, they ask (like many companies do) "how did you hear of us?" One of the choices in their list was "Harry Potter Fan Fiction"!!

So which of you out there are pen/calligraphy geeks? Calligraphy has been my on again/off again hobby since I was in junior high and got into writing scrolls for my Dungeons & Dragons game. (Not coincidentally I dragged the pens and stuff out again in 2006 when I got into Harry Potter RPGs on LJ...) and I've been dabbling in it since!

My new goal is to spend 15 minutes a day practicing either western calligraphy or chinese brush style. Honestly I'm terrible at both because I need practice...

P.S. NEW FICS: Something went wonky with my cross-posting this weekend and so my posts were not showing up in people's f-lists? So if you missed it, I wrote TWO new fics, in thanks for all the virtual dragons people have been sending me!
Playing with Fire, a Harry/Draco/Charlie postwar, NC-17, bondage fic: LJ • DW • InsJ • Ravenna's Quill
and
Framed, a Harry/Draco postwar, NC-17, with a side of portrait!snape: LJ • DW • InsJ • Ravenna's Quill

Date: 2012-02-26 07:24 Subject: More dragons?? How about MOAR FIC! New H/D, NC-17 Security: Public Tags: bottom!draco, pairing: h/d, portrait!snape, rating: nc-17

Haha! The dragons keep coming in! Thanks everyone who sent me one last night/today!
zedmeister, lijahlover, missingkeys, sugareey, r_grayjoy, painless_j, scarletladyy, chentefable, nursedarry, yggdrasilian, dracavia, synn , roma_fics

You inspired me again. Draco felt he didn’t get enough screen time in the Charlie/Harry/Draco fic I posted yesterday. So here’s one that focuses on Draco more!

Title: Framed
Author: Ravenna C. Tan
Pairing: H/D with a side of portrait!snape
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: none other than this isn’t beta-read…
Summary: After the war, Draco’s still not right.

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-02-25 09:26 Subject: You gave me dragons. I give you Charlie/Draco/Harry fic. :-) (NC-17, NSFW) Security: Public Tags: charlie weasley, pairing: h/d, postwar, rating: nc-17, slash, threesome

OMG you guys, a flock of blue dragons landed in my LJ userinfo! Love and kisses to everyone who sent them! They’re sooo cute!

And I feel like I owe you guys some fic ever since the last flurry of LJ gifts from Valentine’s Day! Hm, wow, I’m looking at all of you trying to decide which pairing to write. H/D would hit a lot of you, but not everyone… hmm….

OK. But it is dragons. So how about Charlie/Draco?

Or even… Charlie/Harry/Draco?

Here you go. A gift fic for everyone who gifted me v-gifts! femmequixotic, ariannagray, faithwood, paean_sf, carolinelamb, golden_snitch12, alisanne, ldydark1, optasia, sesheta_66, kitty_fic, valinorean, noeon, nenne, drarryrocks, ura_hd, celandineb, scarletladyy, accioslash, yggdrasilian, sra_danvers, melusinahp, floradelaney…

Why not? Let’s call it: PLAYING WITH FIRE.

Title: Playing With Fire
Author: Ravenna C. Tan
Pairing: Harry/Draco/Charlie
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Some bondage and rough sex
Summary: A few years after the war, Harry enlists Charlie Weasley’s help in curing Draco Malfoy’s fear of fire.
Disclaimer: Not beta-read. I stayed up way too late writing this for you guys!

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.

Date: 2012-02-22 11:59 Subject: Ascendio Prep: Costume Ideas! Security: Public Tags: ascendio, cosplay

So, I’m going to Ascendio. (Reminder: the deadline for panel and presentation proposals is February 29! Details & discussion over here.)

I’m contemplating doing more costuming than I usually do at a con. Normally I just run around in my Hogwarts regalia, but there are two costumes in particular I’m wanting to make/put together.

One the idea was inspired by the fact that it’s going to probably be very hot in Florida in July, and for Night of a Thousand Wizards I really don’t want to be in full robes/Hogwarts regalia. What would be something special but possibly cooler?

How about I make a summer Quidditch outfit? was my first thought. Then I thought I could go one step further, and combine two of my fandoms, and make a New York Yankees Quidditch outfit? (Because, let’s face it, the Yankees are the Slytherins of the baseball world. We’re the elite, the most ambitious, we’ll do anything to win, and everyone else loves it when we lose.)

Archived at Ravenna's Quill.