Amal Nahurriyeh

I picked up a book at the library, pretty much at random; it had a cool cover (observe) and a cover quote by Charles Yu, so I figured it was readable.

It is more than readable. The Weirdness is a giggle-fit-inducing book, the kind where you end up giving fist-pumps in the middle of chapters because something awesome happens, the kind where you pass it to the other people in the room so they can read a particularly good bit. (I would have read it aloud, but it was about the possibility of renting a Zipcar to have a private space to have sex, and my kids were in the room.) It's funny, and manages to keep the tension and--dare I say it--the weirdness running until the end.

The protagonist, Billy Ridgeway, is a walking Brooklyn hipster stereotype--the earnest young man holding down a menial job and barely managing to navigate his relationship with his girlfriend while trying to write A Great Novel. And it is, very much, a 'guy' novel--Billy has trouble connecting with women, his thoughts on sexuality are not terribly enlightened, he lives in a cloud of unexamined privilege--but, luckily, the novel doesn't have these problems. Female and non-white characters are as roundly portrayed as others, and, in fact, get to save the day at several key points.

The novel kicks off with Billy, clueless and hungover, getting a visit from one Lucifer Morningstar, who wants to make a deal with him (he has a PowerPoint and everything). The twists and turns that Billy goes through in trying to figure out whether to make a deal with the Devil, how to make said deal, and what to do when it all goes tits up at various points are incredibly satisfying to watch. What's particularly good is that the novel manages to pick up on all the threads that it drops at various points--all of the various elements that could just be the random detritus of Billy's life end up having some kind of meaning in the end, usually at least a little bit hilarious.

I loved this novel as two kinds of person--one, someone who spent my twenties living in Brooklyn, hanging out with hipsters and struggling artists, and so therefore recognizes Billy and his crowd--a slightly exaggerated version of what life is really like for folks like that, as absurd as it is and worthy of mocking. Second, I loved it as someone who loves very, very realistic supernatural AUs in (fan)fiction--yes, we're in the service of Satan and having to go fight a powerful warlock, but why did we decide to drive? Traffic this time of day is awful on the west side. It's a very satisfying read, nicely twisted together, genre savvy (even though its protagonist isn't, not really), and very funny.

Leigh: How's it going?
Me: A thousand words tonight. On the new thing. Here, read.
Me: *highlights first two paragraphs*
Leigh: *reads* Nice.
Me: There's a loaded gun on the mantlepiece. Did you catch it?
Leigh: Let me look. *reads again* Where is it?
Me: *highlights relevant text*
Leigh: Oh, that. I thought that was too obvious, I thought you meant something subtle.

2600 words tonight. The first chapter of Truth May Vary. \0/

Now, the rough draft deadline for queer_bigbang is August 1. Can I write ten thousand words between now and then? Absolutely. Can I write the entirety of this story? Ha ha ha the odds are not in my favor, not if I want to accomplish anything else, like, you know, my job. Plus, the posting deadline is in the first month of the school year. Yeah, let's not write a novel-length for for the first month of my new job, that's a bad idea.

I'm wondering if maybe I should dig around and see if I've got another 10K story that's about queer stuff in me that I could knock out. I mean, I know 10K sounds like a lot, but Ravish Me is 10K, you know?

Like, could I stretch the Sherlock/John story that totally steals its plot from the Fountains of Wayne song The Girl I Can't Forget to 10K? (key tag: ffs sherlock that is not what grindr is for)

It's Blogging for LGBT Families Day today on the internet. I posted something not-that-long, but I did it on Tumblr, so people might see it. It's here: The Same and Not-The-Same, and it basically runs through the past four weeks in our life with an emphasis on what's the same for us as queer family and what's not quite the same. I should mention that it includes discussion of miscarriage, since we/Leigh [how do you quantify that?] had one last week. People on Tumblr/Twitter probably know this already...but I'm probably going to have to process some on here at some point soon. When I have the energy to write words.

If you're an LGBT parent--and I think I have some--think about posting something today on Tumblr or elsewhere about your parenting life! And then you can share it at Mombian here!

Again, too lazy to do a proper repost, so have the link to the AO3 version:

Doubt Looms Over The Mind (2124 words) by amalnahurriyeh
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson
Additional Tags: Suicidal Thoughts, Doctor Who References, Sherlock Is A Bit Not Good, Murder, Paranoia
Series: Part 6 of Truth May Vary (Post-Reichenbach series)
Summary:

He does not see things. But sometimes he remembers.

Getting close to the part where I actually have to start writing the long version...

Thing I just said in a fb chat with a friend who is deal with extended family drama:

it is REALLY FUCKING HARD to interact with people who are being heinous towards you with a clear rememberance that they have that of god within them.

because they are working VERY HARD to cover that shit up

Quakerism for people who swear a lot.

I am too lazy to repost this today. So, here, go find it on the AO3:

These Things They Go Away (738 words) by amalnahurriyeh
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson, Mary Morstan/John Watson
Characters: John Watson, Mary Morstan, OMC
Additional Tags: Kid Fic, parenting, Not series 3 compliant
Series: Part 5 of Truth May Vary (Post-Reichenbach series)
Summary:

Here was someone who felt he had full right to take over his life, ordered him to do ridiculous things at all hours of the night, expected him to respond immediately when summoned, and couldn't be arsed to say thank you at the end of it half the time.

Title: The Birds All Left
Author: Amal Nahurriyeh (amalnahurriyeh/amalnahurriyeh)
Summary: Molly says good-bye a little later than everyone else.
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper friendship fic
Rating: PG
Warnings: just some sad.
Angst-level: sad but not crushingly
Timeline: Takes place somewhere between five and six years after the events of The Reichenbach Fall, in the Truth May Vary universe.
Disclaimer: Intellectual property is a capitalist fiction designed to oppress the working fic-writer. That said, I don't own them either.

You can also read it on the AO3.

A/N: Written for louisebrealey's birthday. I am kind of ashamed of this fact, but, well. No shame in fandom, and I think we can all agree Loo's a badass. Unbeta'd, because leighnahurriyeh fell asleep on the couch before I could hand her the computer. Let me know if you see typos, etc.

Returning to type: the title is from Your Bones, by Of Monsters and Men. I included a link in the text to give a visual reference for one of the objects mentioned in the fic.

( She kneels down and pulls the weeds, letting the soil fall back to the ground from around their roots. )

1. Fall in the driveway and bruise the shit outta your hand, two days before a Brief But Very Important Business Trip involving international travel.
2. Write moody poem about aging.
3. ????
4. Profit?



(For newcomers, pathological_needlepoint is my non-fanfic writing journal. Someday, it will be home to things other than my poems. Maybe. I hope.)

Today, when we went to Walmart to buy ink cartridges, Leigh discovered that The Hobbit was out on DVD. So we went to the movie rental store and borrowed it for the night. (Yes, we have a meatspace movie store we can drive to where they hand us physical DVDs. Also we rent movies from there. It really is the dark ages up here.)

Anyway, Leigh and I watched it tonight. We liveblogged it as we watched on our tumblrs. You can read all of my posts here and hers are here.

I don't think we said anything interesting. I displayed an unfortunate affection for Smaug's eyeball and the specter of fire-roasted kale, though.