Ramblings of an Australian Writer

Thirteen articles / blog posts that wowed me. These are articles/posts I've read that have stayed with me, long after I read them. They prove that humanity can be both amazing and awful, hopeful and hopeless, but never, ever dull. I hope you find some of these as interesting as I did.

1. A Trove Of 1920S Report Cards and the Stories They Tell.
This is an article about a man who found a collection of report cards from a 1920's girl's trade school. It is truly an amazing story, peppered with photographs, and it was the first ever article I read on Slate. (Which I now follow.) I think I found the link to this originally on Random_Lounge on journalfen.net.

2. The Paris Time Capsule Apartment.
My friend Spook first linked me to this. In an amazing discovery, the heirs of a Parisian socialite who were her beneficiaries when she passed away, found a locked apartment in the heart of Paris that hadn't been touched in decades, making it a museum of society from when it was last lived in - in World War Two. The owner locked it up, went to the south of France, and never returned.

3. The True Story of M. Butterfly; The Spy Who Fell in Love With a Shadow.
This is one of those epic reports that sucks you in like a good thriller novel and keeps you hooked up until the very last line. A mixture of tragedy and history, this is the true story that inspired the play M. Butterfly.

4. Paris Catacombs.
My love of abandoned places and urbex (urban exploration) began with learning about the catacombs beneath Paris - not the state sanctioned museum that is a reliquary, but the catacombs that date back to Roman times. This is one of the best and most engaging articles about those catacombs.

5. Varosha, the Forgotten Part of Famagusta
Varosha was, once upon a time, once of the most popular resorts in the Mediteranean. Then Turkey invaded Cyprus and this part of the island has been closed to everyone except the military since 1974.

6. Of Tombs, Traps and the Intrepid.
A look at the murky world of Chinese grave robbers - stealing historical artefacts to sell on the black market.

7. Battleship Island: Japan's Rotting Metropolis.
Hashima Island was a place I first encountered on Vimeo, when I was looking for something entirely unrelated to urbex or abandonment, and then I was fascinated. The island is a former coal mining facility owned by Mitsubishi Motors, it was once the most densely populated place on earth, packing over 13,000 people into each square kilometre of its residential high-risers. It operated from 1887 until 1974. This is an amazing article with fantastic photos about the place.

8. The Haunted Pod Village of San-Zhi and San-Zhi UFO Houses Are Destroyed.
These houses have always gotten the "OMG COOL" reaction from me. I think they're awesome, and it's such a shame they were demolished in 2009. These two articles are wonderful, one before and one after the demolition, capturing the mythology and the history of the place.

9. The Kogen Hotel.
Reputedly haunted, the Kogen Hotel is one of the largest Haikyo in Japan. Haikyo are abandoned places and this blog has so many awesome pages, with photographs, travel stories and histories, you can easily lose a day reading. If you're interested in Japan's history and culture or abandoned places and urbex, you'll find this a fascinating collection of writing. Includes such locations as love hotels, Nara Dreamland, Russia Land, Gulliver's Travels Land, and other wonders.

10. 36 Hours in North Korea Without a Guide.
So two young men from Austria hop on a train and take a route not usually used by Western travellers to enter North Korea. This blog is their trip report. And it is *fascinating*. Full of photos, detailed stories and impressions, it's hard not to be impressed (and amazed they didn't get into trouble!).

11. Afghan Cameleers in Australia.
This is the story of the first cameleers in Australia - Afghanis and their animals and the long distances they travelled across the Australian Desert.


12. One Year in Asia.
The blog of one guy and his bicycle as he rides across Asia. Fascinating tales and beautiful photographs.

13. Roman Jewellry Found in Ancient Japan.
I love this little post simply because it shows that a/ the Romans really did go everywhere, man, and b/ that there was contact between east and west long before Marco Polo did his thing.

I'm working on a novella at the moment, set in 1920 in my city, Adelaide. It's a murder mystery, based loosely on a real unsolved murder case here in Adelaide (The Taman Shud case). In the course of my researches, I have found some amazing, amazing newspaper reports and photographs about parts of Adelaide that today haven't seem to have changed a lot at all.

For example, I found this gorgeous photo of the south-east corner of Hindley/Morphett Streets in the city, from 1926. This is where the Chinese community in Adelaide were centered. Today, it hasn't changed much at all. Nowadays, looking up Hindley St (the left of the Google Map street view photo), that building has a Hog's Breath Cafe and the Crazy Horse Strip Revue in it, among other things. But back in the twenties and thirties, it had residences, a furniture factory and other stores, and was the office of the Kuo Min Tang in Adelaide.

Now, my story will be set in Adelaide, mostly on Hindley Street, with the murder victim being discovered at Brighton Beach. I chose Brighton for a few reasons, one, it's one of my favourite beaches, two, it's gorgeous for swimming, three, the op shops (thrift shops) there are always good value, four, I lived not too further down the south coast and Brighton was where the best shops and public library was. Plus? Fish and chips. Mmm. I went to do some research on what Brighton was like in 1920, and was amazed to learn that this currently popular, beautiful, quiet beach was once upon a time, coastal murder central! And smuggling! And drownings! And suicides! And a cow finding a body! And a horse and trap (wagon) drowning! And shark attacks! I'd had NO IDEA that the beach I'd chosen, out of fond memories and aesthetics, had such a bloody and violent history.

I was talking about this with a good friend, and we were boggling over some of the newscuttings of the reports of things there. We grew up in an Adelaide where Brighton was considered a good beach for families, you didn't go down Hindley Street at night if you knew what was good for you (and yeah, she and I broke that one quite a fair few times! XD), and that you were more likely to be murdered in the parklands that surround the city center than anywhere else. (Adelaide is known for its bizarre murders, after all.)

Brighton hasn't changed a lot, either. Here's how it is now. And here's approximately the same view, the photo was taken in 1919.

Some of the photos I've found have been wonderful for other reasons, like this shot of women working a stall in Glenelg, from 1922. Research tells me that there quite a few interracial marriages between white Australians and Chinese immigrants. To me, this just illustrates the beauty of our wonderful multicultural history, present and future of the city of Adelaide and all of Australia.

ETA: Here's another view of the women at the stall, a bit clearer of their outfits. And I love this one from 1943 of Chinese ladies of Adelaide society, who retained their family names and clothes, but took (very) Australian first names. (The description identifies them: left to right, Darwina Chin, Bessie Chong, Gertie Shang, Heather Tang, Noreen Wong and Lucy Que Noy.)

Today, I'm going to blog about plagiarism.


NB: I am not including Fanfic in this. I personally have no problem with it. Professional Fanfic sells very well (just look at the amount of Star Trek, Supernatural, and Doctor Who TV tie-in novels there are for example!) and I have no problem with that, either. I even - *gasp* - own a couple of these tie-in novels. I know, fetch the smelling salts, post haste! Quelle horreur! Etcetera. So no, this post is not a beef with Fanfic. It's a beef with theft. Which I go into detail about below.

I'm a graduated academic. The rules and university policies regarding plagiarism where I studied were/are very stringent. In fact, I would hazard a guess that they are equally stringent in tertiary institutions everywhere. From day one of uni, it was pounded into our heads: plagiarism is bad. In academia, plagiarism will get you expelled. It will get your papers trashed, your academic credibility destroyed. It could well impact on your future career path. In research and writing fields, plagiarism is a big no-no. Plagiarism is defined thus:

Word Origin & History

plagiarism
1621, from L. plagiarius "kidnapper, seducer, plunderer," used in the sense of "literary thief" by Martial, from plagium "kidnapping," from plaga "snare, net," from PIE base *p(e)lag- "flat, spread out." Plagiary is attested from 1597.
- Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

I love etymology, don't you?

plagiarism definition

Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writer's language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own. Copyright laws protect writers' words as their legal property. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, writers take care to credit those from whom they borrow and quote.

Note : Similar theft in music or other arts is also called plagiarism.
- The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

ANYHOODLE. Why am I pontificating about plagiarism? Well, it's not what you might think.

I've been reading a lot of articles and blog posts about the plagiarism going on in Amazon's self-publishing arm, Createspace. I've been absolutely stunned by it, the sheer level of gall some of these people have, including emails with strings of 'HAHAHAHA' and worse when confronted about the situation; and an example of one of the plagiarised titles, Bram Stoker's Dracula repurposed with a new title and author name. It was sold with the title/author of Dracula Amazing Adventure by Maria Cruz. (And the bad grammar in the title alone makes my teeth hurt.)

The NPR article there (link again) is really eye opening. There seems to be some sort of online course whereby someone wanting to make big bucks quick can learn how to do so - as a plagiarist. A lot of the books being sold through Createspace that are plagiarised are stories that have come from the Literotica site, which is free - so the plagiarists are taking these free stories, plonking them in a file, having it kindle formatted and selling it. Other people's words and effort are being exploited by someone else for their own gain. From the article, I quote:

"You can get on some forums, one is called WarriorForum, where they discuss all sorts of marketing things," Penenberg says. "How to make money on the Internet is the idea behind it. The guy that I heard was pirating [...] got onto these forums where they sell you a collection, a zip file full of stories that have been ripped off the Internet and repackaged."

Fast Company has a thorough article about this, here, where they talk to the individual who set up the above. I'm astounded at the amount of 'get rich' schemes that seem to focus on stealing other people's writing. Most of it, too, seems to be erotica. Another article on FC goes more in depth, with side-by-side screengrabs to show the level of the plagiarism. And, it's breathtaking in its audacity, as you can see.

Plagiarism Today has an excellent article on the subject, too.

Then there's this fellow. A David Boyer who, according to this fascinating, thorough blog, has plagiarised over sixty authors, including George R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, William S. Burroughs and musicians such as Sade and Shania Twain, to name a few. The evidence presented is damning. It's appalling. It made me :O for several minutes. Does the perpetrator care? Not even a little.

I'd never heard of this guy until I went link hopping from the cut-and-paste-and-resell stories about Createspace. But boy howdy, he does get around. Prepare to lose a lot of hours reading about this dude - there is SO much stuff. I'm boggled he's still tripping merrily along his plagiarising way.

It's been said that plagiarists are unhappy people. I think that's disingenuous. Plagiarists don't care. That neither requires happiness or sadness. Though you honestly think a plagiarist is unhappy if they're making good money off someone else's work? Um. I'd say that was a big fat NO.

After all, original creators sweat and tears went into the work, and they reap the benefits by pinching and selling it as theirs. And that, for want of a much better word, SUCKS.

I'm at Whipped Cream today/tomorrow (depending on your time zone!), talking about history, history reenacting and research. Do drop in and say hi!




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Thirteen periods in history that fascinate me.

1. Late Byzantium.
This is the period between 850AD to the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottomans. It covers a lot of dynasties in terms of the Emperors and their families and saw the boundaries of the Empire fluctuate wildly. It's also the period that Constantinople was seen by some Crusaders as a jewel in the crown of plunder as part of the overall Crusade. The periods between wars and Crusades saw some of the most amazing creations in art, architecutre, literature and music and also the construction of Istanbul's most famous icon, the Haggia Sophia.
There's just something about this period in the history of the Byzantine Empire that I love and I can't quite put my finger on the exact what. Socially, the Empire was more conservative than the Early Empire or the Roman Empire which preceeded it (it's not called the Eastern Empire for nothing after all - Constantine shifted the capital from Rome to Constantinople and the court and society went with him, leaving Rome a sort of red haired stepchild of its own Empire). Constantinople was also enormously cosmopolitan, due to it's location as being the end stop for the Silk Route in the middle ages and being a port of call for Western merchants who were travelling east, so it definitely had a hugely fascinating and fluid population. Orthodoxy was the religion du jour, prior to the Ottoman conquest, and it was pretty strict. There's a lot of stuff written about Late Byzantium that's really fascinating, and the architecture and art definitely appeal. Plus I like military history and some of the most fascinating battles of the Middle Ages fall in the boundaries of the Empire. Plus, Varangian Guards, yay!

2. The Third Crusade.
The Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub). It was largely successful, yet fell short of its ultimate goal—the reconquest of Jerusalem. Fascinating personalities - Saladin, Leopold V of Austria, Melisandre of Jerusalem, Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc.
I'm not a fan of Richard Coeur de Lion. I think he was an awful king and politician, but he was a damn good general. The court and culture of Westernised Jerusalem during the period is fascinating, as is the rule of Queen Melisandre, and of course, Saladin, who is one of those characters in history who is endlessly interesting.

3. 1150-1250 France.
My 'pet period' for want of a better term - years ago, I did living history reenactment in this period and it's always been a part of France's history that's fascinated me. There's intrigue, kings at war, feuds, Crusading, plotting, art, music, poetry, c'est tres bien!

4. Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Seti I and Rameses II.
Seti I and his son, Rameses II built some amazing structures in Egypt and left some gorgeous monuments: The Mortuary Temple of Seti I, Temple at Abydos, Great Hypostyle Hall, Abu Simbel, Abydos, Ramesseum, Luxor and Karnak temples.

5. Renaissance Italy.
15th - 16th centuries particularly. So much came out of this period - Christine de Pizan, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Ludovico Ariosto, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Giotto di Bondone, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Brunelleschi, Leone Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante and such works as Florence Cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.

6. Imperial Rome.
Emperors! Invasions! Conquests! Defeats! Poisonings! Intrigues! Spartacus! Gladiators! SPQR! Yeah, Rome was cool.

7. The Kievan Rus.
The Kievan Rus' was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240. Byzantium quickly became the main trading and cultural partner for Kiev, but relations were not always friendly. Rus'-Byzantine relations became closer following the marriage of the porphyrogenita Anna to Vladimir the Great, and the subsequent Christianization of the Rus': Byzantine priests, architects and artists were invited to work on numerous cathedrals and churches around Rus', expanding Byzantine cultural influence even further. Numerous Rus' served in the Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian Guard.
Kaching, Varangians! I find the Varangians to be not just fascinating but awesome. This might be helped by friends who historically reenact them, admittedly, but the history of them is really cool. They were to the Byzantine Emperor what the Praetorian Guards were to the Roman Emperor, but more loyal to the office than the person on the throne, so there was a few murders and such. Plus, they got paid in Imperial sanctioned plunder and lived on the grounds of the palace in Constantinople. Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexios I wrote The Alexiad which is full of gushing, glowing praise for them, probably helped by the fact she was married to one.

8. Medieval Russia.
The Grand Duchy of Moscow is taken to originate with Daniel I who inherited the town in 1283, eclipsing and eventually absorbing its parent duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal by the 1320s. The power of Moscow expanded further, annexing the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. It remained tributary to the Golden Horde (the "Tatar Yoke") until 1480. Ivan III, during his 43-year reign, further consolidated the state, campaigning against his major remaining rival power, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, by 1503, had tripled the territory of Muscovy, adopting the title of tsar and "Ruler of all Rus'". By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the successor state of the Roman Empire, the "Third Rome". Ivan's successor Vasili III was also militarily successful, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512, pushing Muscovy's borders to the Dniepr River. Vasili's son Ivan IV (the later Ivan the Terrible) was an infant at his father's death in 1533. He was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia.
Sort of expanding the Rus but separate in itself. Not that Muscovy as it was called really took off as the Third Rome.

9. The Gansu corridor during the Tang Dynasty.
As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military. The corridor is basically a string of oases along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To the south is the high and desolate Tibetan Plateau and to the north, the Gobi Desert and the grasslands of Outer Mongolia. At the west end the route splits in three, going either north of the Tian Shan or south on either side of the Tarim Basin. At the east end are mountains around Lanzhou before one reaches the Wei River valley and China proper.The Tang Empire fought with the Tibetan Empire for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia. There was a long string of conflicts with Tibet over territories in the Tarim Basin between 670–692 CE. In 763 the Tibetans even captured the capital of China, Chang'an, for fifteen days during the An Shi Rebellion. In fact, it was during this rebellion that the Tang withdrew its western garrisons stationed in what is now Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, which the Tibetans then occupied along with the territory of what is now Xinjiang. Hostilities between the Tang and Tibet continued until they signed a formal peace treaty in 821.
If this sounds interesting to you and you like history based film and don't mind a bit of fiction thrown into your fact, watch Warriors of Heaven and Earth, which is set right in this period of time, in this exact spot. It is awesome and shows how awesome the history is.

10. Ur.
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah. The city's patron deity was Nanna, the Sumerian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name. The site is marked by the ruins of the Great Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC.
Ur and Petra are two of the most amazing places of the ancient, ancient world. I'd love to see them both, but I think a good chunk of Ur's been destroyed during the two Iraqi wars.

11. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as Vrah Vishnulok after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometres to the north. It is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples, the later plan of concentric galleries, and influences from Orissa and the Chola of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods.
Very little known tidbit - Crusaders made it to Cambodia during the Second Crusade era and Third Cruade, and there are carvings on part of Angkor Wat that commemorate this. Cambodia in general is somewhere I'd love to visit, but particularly Angkor Wat.

12. Mongol Invasion.
The Mongol military tactics and organization helped the Mongol Empire to conquer nearly all of continental Asia, the Middle East and parts of eastern Europe. In many ways, it can be regarded as the first "modern" military system. The original foundation of that sysem was an extension of the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols. Other elements were invented by Genghis Khan, his generals, and his successors. Technologies useful to attack fortifications were adapted from other cultures, and foreign technical experts integrated into the command structures. For the larger part of the 13th century, the Mongols lost only a few battles using that system, but always returned to turn the result around in their favor. In many cases, they won against significantly larger opponent armies. Their first real defeat came in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, against the first army which had been specifically trained to use their own tactics against them. That battle ended the western expansion of the Mongol Empire, and within the next 20 years, the Mongols also suffered defeats in attempted invasions of Vietnam and Japan. But while the empire became divided around the same time, its combined size and influence remained largely intact for more than another hundred years.
Another film rec here, Mongol, which is about the early life of Genghis Khan and is shot in Mongolia, stars Mongolian actors, was directed by a Mongolian and Chinese joint venture and really is an amazing film. Plus, Mongolia. Beautiful.

13. Babylon.
It was an Akkadian city-state (founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty) of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. Babylon, along with Assyria to the north, was one of the two Akkadian nations that evolved after the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, although it was rarely ruled by native Akkadians. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
A few relics survived, like the Gate of Ishtar, which is *gorgeous*, all lapis lazuli and gold. I idly wonder if archaeologists could use depth photography or whatever it's called and see what lies beneath the tell that's the remains of Babylon today. Like x-ray photography of the earth. There's a name for that and I can't think of it!

Today's Thursday Thirteen is thirteen things I can't do without. In a general sense certainly but definitely in a writing sense. So here we go, in no particular order.

1. MS Word.
Sad but true. If there was no Word with its nifty track changes feature, I'd be flailing trying to find a program that did everything that I wanted it to.

2. Dropbox.
This is an awesome tool to back up your files. Having had the blue screen of death and panic over losing works in progress, Dropbox is that extra insurance to ensure peace of mind for backing stuff up. I wish I'd had this years ago too when I accidentally deleted a 50K word novel and nothing I tried could recover it. Sad face.

3. The internet.
Oh man, the internet. The internet has made researching so much easier. No more getting a headache trawling through microfiche in tiny, stuffy little rooms. No more hunting for books only to find they've been stolen or 'lost'. No more going through periodicals and discovering the article I really need has been torn out. The internet has also made social networking so much easier, made the whole publishing and promotions part of writing more accessible and easier to understand. Sure, the internet can be a great time waster but it's also a tool and an awesome one at that.

4. Google Earth.
Google Earth is... amazing. The clever clogs who invented it have made plotting destinations and the like so much easier. Plus, clever clogs who know how to code such things have made overlays that you can load up in Google Earth and learn all sorts of things. For "City of Jade" that I'm working on, I was pulling my hair out trying to find a good map of the Silk Road in 1131AD. I stumbled on a Google Earth board where a very clever gentleman had made an overlay that covered the Silk Road and it's offshoots with notes and photographs for each point that a traveller or merchant would stop at. The overlay covers the Silk Road up to 1500AD and the data on this overlay is truly amazing. In short, when writing something that you need to know destinations, locations, surroundings, Google Earth is irreplacable.

5. Music.
Music is my life. I have so many playlists for pairings, stories and the like, it's not funny. I find writing to music incredibly rewarding and I'm more productive with music playing in the background while I'm writing.

6. Notebooks.
For all that I use Word, Google, the internet, etc, I have several notebooks with scribbled notes and details that come to mind. I also use them for things that I might otherwise forget. My notebooks are fairly illegible as my handwriting is atrocious!

7. Sleep.
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Generally, yeah. I have problems with sleep schedules based on medications for things I don't like talking about (how's that for nice and cryptic?) so my sleep is always broken. I don't remember the last time I had an uninterupted eight hour sleep. On a good night, I get five hours then it's up and medication time. On a bad night, it's up every second hour. I tend to try and write a bit in these periods, but writing definitely works better after I've had a good amount of sleep, even if it is broken sleep.

8. Books.
Someone once said that writers are readers and it's so true. I love my books and I love reading. All being well, my birthday present to myself this year will be an e-book reader. Reading broadens everything, I think.

9. Roleplaying.
I know this isn't something that works for everyone, but I've found roleplaying a character I've created and am not 100% confident with to be really helpful. It puts the character in situations that I don't necessarily think of, talking to other characters that I don't have any control over. Figuring out how my character reacts and interacts in these situations is enormously helpful to me.

10. Editors.
A good editor is worth their weight in gold. I've been very lucky to have some amazing editors and my writing has improved so much because of their assistance. So, thank you to the wonderful women who have edited my work. You're awesome.

11. Coke.
My beverage of choice! With green tea a second.

12. The bathroom.
You're probably reading this and wondering what the bathroom has to do with anything. The bathroom has come to be nicknamed the Room of Wisdom, aka the RoW. And why? Because whenever I'm in the bathroom (and I'm not the only one who has discovered this inexplicable phenomena,) no matter what I'm doing - brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, changing cat litter, whatever - I have an idea for something. Or I think of a way to write myself out of a corner if I've written myself into one. I do not know what the esoteric power of the bathroom is that it has this effect, but it does and consistently. Cue eerie music!

13. Writer Friends.
People to bounce your ideas off, who bounce ideas back, who can give suggestions and help you out when you can't see out of the box of your own ideas. Invaluable. And you guys who've done this for me - thank you. You're awesome.

Today's Thursday Thirteen is brought to you by cold, having a cold and being in pain, so I fear it's not anything terribly earthshattering. Still and all, it's something I've been thinking about for a little while, so I thought this would be a good time to have at it. Without further ado, today's Thursday Thirteen is LJ communities that are awesome/interesting/great resources.


LJ Communities: Thirteen of My Recs.

1. little_details.
Little Details is one of the greatest resources I've ever come across. Got a research problem? Need some information for that story you're writing and Google is failing you? Ask here and get some amazing and helpful answers. From the userinfo:

Welcome to little_details, a community that helps writers with their research and fact-checking. We have a large, diverse membership that can answer questions such as:

"If I hit my character on the head like so, what will happen?"
"Will this destroy the Earth?"
"Can guys have freckles on their penises?"

All types of fiction writers--professional, amateur, fanfiction, original--are welcome to post questions. Our focus is on factual accuracy rather than general writing advice. If you're still not sure what we're about, reading our recent entries page should give you a better idea.

(The answer to the last question, by the way, is "yes.")

Subjects range from history, language, culture, and small details like, "How would a receptionist for a CEO answer the telephone at his office?" This is a fascinating community, and I can't recommend it enough.

2. abandonedplaces.
Abandoned Places is a remarkable, fascinating community for the posting ofphotographs of places that are abandoned. Everything from abandoned buildings (factories, hospitals, prisons, etc) to homes and houses, to military sites to vehicles, to cemetaries, anything abandoned is welcomed. I have learned so much from this community and the posts are always fascinating. I've never been bored browsing here. Posts come from all over the world and give a remarkable insight into how quickly nature reclaims humans empty spaces and how beautiful urban decay can be in its own right. Some of my favourite posts:
Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California.
Near Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK.
Grebno, Moscow, Russia.
Fort near St. Petersburg, Russia.
Beelitz Military Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
Peter III's Palace, Russia.
Home in Portugal. - Which I would love to own and live in!
Trona, California.
Fancy Cat House, New Jersey.
House of Wills (Funeral Home), Cleveland.
Home in Portugal. - Another one I'd happily have - furnishings and left behinds included!
Revolving restaurant, Moscow, Russia.
Belchite, Spain. - This town is just stunning.
Pripyat, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. - A perfect example of nature reclaiming the landscape.
Church, Detroit.
Veteran's Hospital, Baltimore.
Renaissance Fair, Virginia.
The Fairytale Forest, Oak Ridge, New Jersey.
Estate homes, Portugal.
Church, Russia.
Raratonga Hilton, Cook Islands.
Labor Party Headquarters, DMZ, Korea.
Castle, north of Moscow, Russia.
Okpo Park, South Korea.
Pioneer Camp, Russia.
Castle, Kubinka, Russian Federation. - I would live here in a heartbeat. Some paint, power, and you're golden.
Gunkanjima Island, Nagasaki, Japan.
Centralia, Pennsylvania. - I love this place. I'd love to go back.
Nile Pub, Nile, Tasmania, Australia.
Giralong Shops, Canberra, Australia.

3. inclusive_geeks.
This is a good fun community with some great discussion. From the userinfo:

inclusive_geeks is a community for people who support anti-oppression ideologies. We are "inclusive" in the sense that this community serves as a positive space for groups that are typically marginalized by geek communities, such as women, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBT individuals, etc. If you are averse to political correctness, this likely isn't the community for you.

All content in this community relates to the various facets of geek culture (with the exception of a Friday open topic post made by one of the mods). This includes gaming, science-fiction, fantasy, tech stuff and comic books/graphic novels. One can post articles and blog posts from places like The Border House or Kotaku, snark racist, sexist, ableist, etc. stuff on other geek communities (on LJ and off), provide thoughtful analysis about cultural texts, ask questions, or submit anything else that's relevant to geek culture. Posts do not necessarily have to deal with anti-oppression ideologies, and general discussion questions are more than welcome.

Sometimes there can be spirited discussion, but trolling is generally stomped on quickly by the mods.

4. sinful_graphics.
A comm devoted to icons, headers, banners and wallpapers of a 'sinful' nature. This is a very NSFW comm and very explicit. It's entirely GBLT and het friendly and no flaming or trolling is tolerated. I've found it a great resource for m/m icons.

5. fanmix.
If you're like me, you make a playlist for your novel/novella/short story and have it end up as your unofficial soundtrack for your work. This comm takes it one step further and compilers of mixes make up cover art as well as give tracklistings and other things. The comm is members only locked, however, but it's a great place to see what others are listening to as their own playlist for a story.

6. art_nouveau.
Dedicated to everything related to Art Nouveau. Art, sculpture, architecture, writing, fashion, you name it, it's here. And so many beautiful things!

7. fatshionista.
A size-positive community for plus size men and women to discuss all elements of fat politics and fat fashion. From the userinfo:

Welcome, fatshionistas! We are a diverse fat-positive, anti-racist, disabled-friendly, trans-inclusive, queer-flavored, non-gender-specific community, open to everyone. Here we will discuss the ins and outs of fat fashions, seriously and stupidly--but above all--standing tall, and with panache. We fatshionistas are self-accepting despite The Man's Saipan-made boot at our chubby, elegant throats. We are silly, and serious, and want shit to fit.

This comm has been a godsend for me. If you're in any way overweight, this is definitely the comm for you.

8. kittypix.
Pictures. Of cats. All cats, any cats. All adorable.

9. vintage_sex.
This is a comm for images of vintage sexuality, that is, photographs/art/lithographs from before the 1950s. Predominantely het, but there are a good collection of GBLT images as well.

10. what_a_crock.
I love my crock pot. I love this comm because it has amazingly awesome recipes for the crock pot. So if you have a crock pot/slow cooker, this is the comm for you!

11. ihearttattoos.
Exactly what it says on the tin. Posts about tattoos, tattoo care, advice, art suggestions, tattooists, everything.

12. medievalcooking.
Although this is aimed primarily at those of us who live in the Southern Hemisphere who love history and historical recipes and cooking, I highly recommend it for anyone who loves to cook and is curious about what was eaten in the middle ages. Great recipes, hints, suggestions and advice for anyone with a love of cooking and the history of food.

13. danielcraig.
What? Mr. Craig is a perfectly valid interest! XD


And that filled up quicker than I thought it would. There were a good half a dozen more I could link, but oh well. Thirteen is thirteen!

My short story, City of Gold, which is a historical m/m romance set in Byzantium, has been accepted for the Dreamspinner Press anthology, A First Time For Everything. I am delighted to say the least, I have a lot of love for this piece (even if it's taken me a while to find a name for one of the two main characters!) and am currently in the research stages for a sequel which I hope to be of novel length, rather than a nap-size daydream line length. This is my happy face :D.

Now all I need to do in terms of not so fun research is figure out the tax thing. ATO, you are my only hope. /Star Wars. (And deal with blood tests and other tests this week, but those aren't related to writing and I'm trying not to dwell on them overly much.)

I've submitted two stories this month, one to Dreamspinner Press and the other to Noble Romance. Now, while I try not to think about them (this never goes well, I am a talented worrywart!), I turn my attention towards the Freaky Fountain Press Heavenly Bodies anthology.

I had an idea for what to do for my story for this late last night, around 3a.m., which led to getting out of my comfortable, warm bed and surfing the net looking for the specifics to see if my idea would actually be feasible. It is, which fills me with glee, and I found lots of awesome stuff in my quest for Biblical archaelogy sites and got sidetracked quite a bit. (Gate of Ishtar, I'm looking at you.) Anyway, I'm doing a quick refresher on the destruction of Sodom and Gormorrah story then, after a good night's sleep tonight, writing will begin tomorrow. Huzzah!

Unrelated to writing, I can't recommend the following movie enough. I bought it on dvd, sight unseen, based entirely on a recomendation from jerusalemorbust and the fact that it is a/historical and b/stars an actor/singer I particularly like (Yoo Seung Jun aka Steve Yoo.) The film is Jackie Chan's latest, his 99th film, and is called Little Big Soldier. If you like Jackie Chan films, history films and foreign films, this is for you. It's brilliant and the best $10AU I've spent in a while.

It's nearly Christmas now, three more sleeps! So to everyone, a very merry Christmas and holiday season.

Day Twelve: In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?

You know, I've been thinking on this all day and I still don't have an answer. Everything I write is set in the real world. If I can find it on Google Maps and Google Earth, I'll use it. I've set my stories all over the world and in the known universe: Rome, Italy; Sydney, Australia; Vatican City, Italy; Duneedan, Scotland; Cambridge, England; Mt Brocken, Germany; Russia; Paris, France; the planets of Saturn and Jupiter.

So I haven't really created a world per se, but I've used everything I could find through researching about existing locations to fill out my stories. I think the place I've fallen in love with the most has been the catacombs underneath Paris. Some sites with information and photos of this incredible place are below.

Flickr set with some excellent background information.
Val de Grace room photos.
Cataphiles in the catacombs.
Urbains de la ville de Paris et alentours. (In French.)
Les salles. (Photo galleries in French of some of the rooms in the catacombs.)
Port Mahon in the catacombs.
Thirty Hours Under Paris - weblog report with photos.
Catas.
Paris Underground.

Oh dear. That's rather a lot of links. Oops! I think you can tell how much I love this place and how fascinated I am by it.