Thanksgiving for the flist: G-L

I was trying to parcel these out slowly and then I realized that today is the last day of November. How's that for slowly?

glossing is someone whose writing I have always admired. We are currently in different fandoms, so it's been quite some time since I've read any of her new fic, but if I were to dip my toes into comic fandom, her journal would be the first place I'd look for fic and for recs. My favorite fic of hers (perhaps my favorite in all of Buffydom) remains Nice Shirt for reasons that I have outlined here and elsewhere. But I also love Gloss for her Buffy/Oz/Angel. In fact, when I think of conduit fic in the Buffyverse, she's the first writer that comes to mind. Be No Flower is a particularly fine example of her fic in that genre. I haven't talked to Gloss in a while; she doesn't appear to be using her lj much anymore, but I hope she's doing well.

I only recently met havocthecat, but we have a great deal in common and I'm very much enjoying getting to know her better. What I appreciate most about Havoc (besides the good fic (like this one) and the random Star Trek post*g*) is her focus on female characters and her committment to seeing that they are represented, and represented well, in fandom. She maintains a Kate Heightmeyer fic list (het, slash and gen) that is a great place to find fic to read and I know she mods other communities devoted to female characters. I am glad to have met her and thankful for her involvement in the infrastructure of fandom.

I met hermionesviolin toward the beginning of my foray into fandom and I am so grateful for her friendship. I think that knowing Elizabeth makes me a better person. Elizabeth awakens in me a desire to not to let my spiritual side completely atrophy; she reminds me that questions of faith are difficult for a reason and she inspires me to not to give up on that part of my life. She is also my go-to gal for lj questions; if it can be asked, Elizabeth can answer it (and generously and good-naturedly). Elizabeth and I have had a great time over the years reading The Year's Best Lesbian Erotica anthology and posting our thoughts about the stories (it's about time for that again, yes?). I am very fortunate to have met Elizabeth in real life at Writercon and look forward to seeing her again this summer. I can't think of a better person to dance the night away with.

iamstealthyone is one of the best SPN gen writers. Period. She is also one of the few people in fandom keeping the drabble alive. For example, this right here is 100 words of absolute, unadulterated SPN love. As someone else who frequently writes drabbles, I really appreciate the way that Stealthy uses that form to its best advantage; I think the economy of the drabble allows for a very powerful piece of writing and she definitely delivers. Stealthy is also one of the most thoughtful and sincere givers of feedback in fandom. I am always overjoyed to get feedback from her because she takes her time to tell you exactly what she likes and why. It's such a nice thing to find in the inbox.

imaginaryimages and I met in the way back of my Spander craze and hit it off instantly. She and I have engaged in many meta discussions over the years and II always has such interesting character and plot insights. She was a regular contributor to club_joss discussions and our conversations were always enlivened by her input. II isn't really using her journal much anymore and it's been awhile since we've talked, but I'm still thinking of her and wishing we could get her shiny brain over in sga_talk for some discussion.

jjjean65 is pretty much the definition of generous. If you go to the dictionary and look up the word, there she is. When I was just a newbie fan and still floundering over netiquette and how to go about introducing myself to folks and using cut tags, Jean took me in hand and made fandom a much more glorious place for me. She made me a website and she has over the years made me many beautiful icons that I treasure. In fact, check out her journal because she is one spiffy icon maker. She has mailed me CDs and DVDs all the way from Australia. But more than these tangible and physical things, Jean has given me the gift of her friendship. She's been around through the ups and downs of the past four years of my life and I can never thank her enough for the love and support.

kaleecat is another flist member I've had the joy of meeting in real life. We had a lovely lunch in Hattiesburg several years ago and it was so nice to chat about SG-1 and Buffy face to face. Kalee gave my daughter a wonderful Easter book about a Mother Rabbit who longs to be the Easter Bunny that has become a perennial favorite for the holidays. I think the book is now out of print, but it is a glorious feminist tale. If anybody's interested in the title, I'll go scour the bookshelves. :) Kalee is working on her Ph.D. right now and I wish her all the success in the world in that endeavor.

I think that certain trajectories can be plotted out in fandom and certain movements traced back to a single person. If I had to point out one individual who I think is responsible for much of the success of Buffyverse fandom, it would be kitty_poker1. Kitty has betaed for just about everyone whose written slash in the Buffyverse and she's enthusiastically recced and encouraged those whose fic she hasn't betaed. In fact, she's an inveterate encourager. She was the second person I ever had any contact with in fandom and she and Shannon and Suki and Ame are really the only reason I'm still involved right now. If I hadn't met that handful of people first--the ones who were encouraging and so full of glee and so willing to help the stupid newbie--I think fandom might have been only a passing phase for me. But I met Kitty and she introduced me around and she betaed my fic and she taught me so much about how to get the most out of fandom and I can never repay her for that generosity.

kyuuketsukirui is someone I've met fairly recently in fandom, but it feels like I've known her for much longer (probably because she is such a frequent and enthusiastic commenter in sga_talk.) I appreciate Grace for several reasons: her reviews of fic (which I find very helpful in terms of finding what I want to read and in terms of sparking discussion about fandom and writing), her interest in themes that I have not been exposed to before (or exposed very little), and her own excellent writing (Life (Sometimes it Washes Over Me) is one of my favorites.) I always enjoy talking with Grace and look forward to continuing to do so in the future.

ladycat777 is one of those people in fandom whose work I'd read and who I'd talked with occasionally over the years but whose journal I just hadn't friended. Well, I was missing out! I am very glad to have Ladycat in my life on a regular basis now. I think she is a very thoughtful writer whose willingness to dissect character (almost ruthlessly at times) makes her fic rich and layered and introspective in a spectacular way. (See No for an example of what I mean.) You could cut your fingers on her character insights at times and I LOVE that. I also appreciate Ladycat for her fierce loyalty to her friends; she is always trying to make the lives of the people she cares about better and I'm thankful to have a person like that in my corner.

lyrstzha is made entirely of awesome. She is unfailingly positive and amazingly self-aware and in tune with her surroundings and the people she loves to a degree that I've never before encountered. She is thoughtful (about society, about writing, about relationships) in a way that it never occured to me to be before I met her and she makes me want to be more thoughtful about these thing in turn. She is my co-mod for sga_talk and it is truly a joy to run the comm with her. She has a way of finding the most interesting aspects of a fic and posing questions about them that invariably spark discussion. She herself is an amazing writer; see Righteousness for an example. Lyr's attention to language, to the sheer beauty of words and the joy of putting them together in new and unexpected ways, is the hallmark of her writing to me. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but I'm hoping to at Writercon this summer.

Thanksgiving for the flist: M-S

monanotlisa is another person I've met relatively recently but whose posts have become a regular part of what I enjoy so much about fandom. Mona is a foodie and she is forever posting pictures of food or recipes or wine recommendations, and even if I don't always comment, I drink in those posts. She is an unflagging linker to all things JFlan and she is a brilliant icon maker and her willingness to slog through that secret postcard comm and post the ones of interest to her journal makes me very, very happy. She is also an excellent writer: see for what I think is one of the finest examples of gender exploration in any fandom.

oceloty is a doctor and she is a good doctor. She is overworked and underappreciated and she has to see first hand some of the most heartbreaking and nervewracking shit this world has to offer. But I am so, so glad that someone like her is out there making this world a better place for the rest of us to live in.

ponders_life is someone that I met when I first got into fandom and who I had the joy of meeting at Writercon. Hopefully I'll see her again this summer. She is a brilliant icon maker; see my userpics for evidence of that (she made my defualt icon with the kitties (not wolves, Sue!) howling at the moon) and I can't imagine ever trading it for anything else). PL doesn't use her lj much anymore, but she is a lovely person and I am grateful to know her.

shannon730 is the linchpin, y'all. The very first person I ever spoke to in fandom. I owe her a debt of gratitude that I can't even begin to repay. She introduced me to Kitty and she was forever answering newbie questions about lj and fandom. Shannon is unfailingly generous and good hearted and if I had had any other point of entry into fandom, I don't know if I'd still be plugging away at it today. Thank you so much sweetie, for making fandom seem like something I would greatly regret if I didn't take the plunge.

I met spikedluv through our mutual love of Spander. I had read all her fic on UCSL and loved it and then when I finally got on lj, here she was, *talking* to me. It was so exciting. LOL I can't tell you how novel and how surprising it was to me that all these amazing writers whose works I'd been reading in archives would actually be interested in being my friend. I know that sounds silly now, but as a newbie, that was wonderfully shocking to me. I have enjoyed Mel's company for the past four years and we've even managed to keep some fandoms in common (like SGA and Die Hard). I look forward to another four years of friendship.

springwoof is a wonderful SGA writer whose excellent The Body Holographic (co-written with the inimitable Leah) is one of the most heartbreaking and amazing things I've read in any fandom. She and Leah have done several Big Bang fics that were fantastic and I always am excited when a new fic by SW pops up on the flist. Here's to many more years of wonderful fic!

suki_blue is one of the dearest people I know. For some time after I discovered fandom, I resisted getting an lj. It seemed too complicated and confusing and I wasn't particularly computer savvy. Well, she and Ame made lj impossible for me refuse. They made me a journal and got me a flist and I jumped into fandom with an audience already built in. Suki made entering fandom a truly painless and enjoyable experience for me and I will always be grateful for that. Suki has one of the best senses of humor of anyone I've ever met; she's a genuinely funny writer and that's hard to pull off on a consistent basis. Her Magic Moments mpreg (which I have sadly lost the link to!) remains one of my favorite pieces of crack ever. Thanks, sweetpea, for being such a good friend to me.

I met sweet_exile in the very beginning of my fannishness while posting my first fanfic ever to I Want a Parrot. Sweet is just that: sweet. She is such a wonderful giver of feedback and such a wonderful encourager. I always appreciate the sweet things she has to say about my writing and I am grateful for the friend she's been to me over the years.

Thanksgiving for the flist: T-Y

tabaqui is one of the most wonderful writers I've ever come in contact with. Her writing style is so lush and evocative--sensuous is the word, really. I fell in love with her Spander (like Letters and And Ice For Your Wounded Heart) and am currently adoring her SPN fic. Tabi is funny and witty and scary smart and someone I am very pleased to know. She has always been generous (astoundingly so) and welcoming and she's still the person I'd like to write like when I grow up.

I met thelastgoodname through executrix maybe, who said something like, "I think you'd get along." And how. TLGN is one of my absolute favorite people in fandom. We began reading YA fantasy lit three years ago and our bookclub style readings are one of the most fun things I've done in fandom. I love revisiting the stories I adored as a child and discovering the classics that I had missed out on. TLGN is an excellent writer; I mean, I read her Devil Wears Prada fic and I haven't even seen the movie. I don't think I've even seen the trailer for the movie. TLGN is a Faith fanatic and a sports fanatic and one of the most politically aware people I know. Talking with her makes me smarter. So thanks, TLGN, for being such a good friend to me, for being so understanding, and lending an ear when I need one.

trobadora and I have not known each other long, but, oh man, am I already influenced. LOL Thanks to Dora, I have been sucked into the Colfire triology and will probably write fanfic before the whole thing's said and done. *grins* Dora's journal is a good place to go to for fascinating meta and for links to the good things fandom has to offer. I really enjoy talking to Dora and I am excited about getting to know her better.

wisdomeagle is another person whose fic I'd read and who was a friend-of-friends, but whose journal I didn't friend until recently. I already knew that Ari was a good writer; I'd been reccing her fic on this journal as far back as 2006 (The Monster at the End of this Book Remix will always be one of my favorite pieces of fanfic. But I'm very glad that now her unique mix of spirituality, fannishness and glee pops up on my flist on a regular basis. And it's always nice to know that at least one other person out there is lamenting the tragic lack of Jack O'Neil/Harry Maybourne slash. :)

I had the pleasure of meeting yin_again at last Writercon and she was just as lovely in person as she is online. I pretty much mainlined all the Spander Yin had to offer back in the day (Coming Around Again co-written with wesleysgirl pretty much sets the Spander bar for me) and thank goodness we moved into SGA together because I love her McShep to pieces (see The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants for a good example). And let us not forget the Michael Phelps slash, because damn, that sure made the Olympics more enjoyable for me. I'm glad to have Yin in my life and I look forward to seeing her again at the next Writercon.