catness | Network

Challenge 306:
HEARTBREAK

n. crushing grief, anguish, or distress

Sometimes, things don’t work out. The romance doesn’t last, or their plans for the future fall apart. The hero doesn’t get there in time, no matter how hard they try. Sometimes, all the magic or science in the world can’t stop something bad from happening.

Not all heartbreaks are permanent! Sometimes it’s still possible to fix things. But often, there’s no way out except to just live through it.

Write a story about heartbreak.

BONUS GOAL: “You don’t know what it’s like.”

If your submission features this line, it will earn an extra point to be tallied in voting!

Challenge ends Monday, July 13 at 9:00PM EST.

• Post submissions as new entries using the template in the profile
• Tag this week's entries as: [#] submission, 306 – heartbreak
• If you have questions about this challenge, please ask them here

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fandomweekly

Here are this week's votes tallied, and below the cut are our winners for Challenge #305 – Fireworks!

( This week's finalists are... )

Total Challenge Words Written: 2200

Congratulations to both of you, and thank you to everyone who took the time to cast their votes!

autobotscoutriella will be making this week’s banners, so keep an eye out for those next week.

You may now post your Challenge 305 entries to any additional communities, blogs, archives or sites as you'd like! We also have a FandomWeekly AO3 Collection if you'd like to add your stories there!

southernmedicine

Why does time get away from me so quickly? How?

It's already been a week since my last update, and not by design.

Let's see. The 4th of July was fun, despite it being a holiday I high-key despise. We had two friends over and we made delicious homemade meatball subs. We watched two movies: Uncle Sam, which is one of those movies that is deliberately awful for the sake of entertainment, and another called The Bay which was actually pretty good, unironically.

It's been storming a lot, and I love that. Unfortunately it's also been a Biblical plague out there, because of mayflies. I knew about mayflies. I did not know they would blanket everything by the millions to the point where I literally could not get outside and once I figured out how, the only way to take the dog to pee was to load her into my car, exit the garage, and drive up the street to a place where there was no light to let her go.

The other day, while walking the dog, we found a baby bird on the ground. Above in the tree, the parent birds were very upset. We decided to go back home, get some supplies and a step ladder, and come back to try and help. We fashioned a makeshift nest out of a small box and some old shoelaces and tied it up in the tree, full of leaves, then placed the baby inside of it. It seemed to calm the parents, and we were glad that the nestling wouldn't just sit there in the grass helpless and vulnerable.

I just finished the final season of The Bear.

fandomgiftbasket is in full swing again! I'm excited to take a gander at the spreadsheet and see what I can do.

Current Mood: sleepy

vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Commented on

booknook.

Promoted

vocab_drabbles.

thawrecka

I love how much the character 酒 looks like, wow, look at this bottle of stuff, like it's putting spirit fingers around a bottle of booze

pattrose

* What month is the shortest of the year? May, it only has three letters.
* Why do we tell actors to "break a leg?" Because every play has a cast.
* What do you call it when a snowman throws a tantrum? A meltdown.
* My uncle named his dogs Timex and Rolex. They're his watch dogs.
* Did you hear about the guy whose left side was cut off? He's all right now.
* What did the left eye say to the right eye? Between you and me, something smells.
* I'm so good at sleeping I can do it with my eyes closed!
* What do you call a pudgy psychic? A four-chin teller.
* If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims.

pattrose

6. Today is the beginning of Great British Pea Week in the UK. Do you like eating peas? Have you ever grown them?

I love peas. I use them in a lot of recipes. And I crave slit pea soup often.

7. It’s the seventh day of the seventh month, and in Japan, it’s the day of the Star Festival (Tanabata). For one day only, wishes, hopes, poetry and dreams are written onto streamers and tied to trees. What would you write on a streamer today?

I would have written something about cancer. My brother is starting his second two-month aggressive chemotherapy. He can use all the prayers he can get.

8. Artemisia Gentileschi was born today in 1593. She was incredibly famous during her career, but largely forgotten until the 20th century. Have you ever seen any of her paintings?

I do know who she is. Her work is lovely but not anything I would want to own.

low_delta

I came back from April's New York trip with a lot of photos. I posted 99 of them on Flickr, which is where I put almost anything worth looking at.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14542870@N03/albums/72177720334594616

But then I actually fixed up twice that many.

By comparison, in my previous Flickr album of pictures from New York, from trips in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024, there are only 265 photos. Most years I only posted between 10 and 35 pictures. 2023 was the only one with over 100, because the purpose of that trip was to take photos.

On the other hand, I think the previous album had better photos. This time I had more photos where I discussed the subjects, rather than keeping only my best images.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14542870@N03/albums/72157624123813826

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lgbtrainbow

( link )

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lgbtrainbow

https://i.imgur.com/fVfh4gP.png

cornerofmadness

So today I went to the Honda dealer to look at another CR-V and went next door to the Hyundai dealer. Since Hyundai has made remarkable strides in reliability over the years it's now nearly as reliable as Honda and Toyota. After comparing the CR-V to the Tucson, I'm probably going to go with my first ever Korean vehicle. I mean Honda's warranty is 3 years. Hyundai has both the general car AND the electronics under warranty for 6 years/60,000 Miles and tops it with 10 year/100K miles on the driveline.

And then they offered me 0% apr for FIVE years.

It's hard to say no to that.

Came home, searched for end of life planning things that are also humorous found them (and then went to drink pickle brine so I can speed things along)

After that I saw something on Facebook that sounded so good so I went off the site to track it down in the real world so to speak. I found it. It's not some b.s. made up for FB. abruzzo sister tours and they do ancestral tourism. I will check into them more. This would be like archaeotours in Wales where I have a private tour. I am willing to pay for that. Hoping this is an option that doesn't have 1001 complaints lodged around them.

What I'm Reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading:

One of the Girls - this was good

Our Wicked Gifts - not bad, horrorish

What I am Currently Reading:

Purra-normal Activity - a cozy mystery, so far so good

The Silent Companions - for summerween

The Harvesting - Zombie apocalypse fare

What I Plan to Read Next: some of my looming arcs (carry me to the grave or the seance garden) and things for popsugar

Current Music: The Proof is Out There

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unconventionalcourtship

It's the end of another round of unconventionalcourtship! Thank you so much to everyone who participated this year. Whether you wrote fic, read fic, signed up, made banners, promoted the fest or fell down the UC Generator rabbit hole your participation was very much appreciated.

Now the fest is over here is this year's masterlist to peruse while you give yourself a pat on the back!

2026 masterlist of fic:

June 21st: The UNIT Article (Doctor Who: Kate/Sarah Jane) by

paranoidangel

June 22nd: And All the Stars Aligned [Shadow & Bone; Aleksander Kirigan/Nikolai Lantsov/Alina Starkov] by

meridian_rose

June 23rd: My Favorite Things (Hazbin Hotel, Angel Dust/Husk) by

cornerofmadness

June 24th: All the Same (Doctor Who (1963)) by

natequarter

June 25th: fare well (out here trying to feel good again) [South Park, Kenny McCormick/Heidi Turner] by

lumiosecity

June 26th: The Right Wrong Number (Stargate Atlantis, John/Rodney) by

melagan

June 27th: His Noble Nature (Blake's 7) by

vilakins

Amnesty Week:
July 5th: Beyond the Sunset (Octopath Traveler II - Agnea/Throné) by

rubylily

delphi

Fandom 50 #20

For 1996, a little roots rock from a band named for some 19th century colonial sloganeering.

Crossing a Canyon by 54-40

Watch on YouTube

flemmings

Hot again but drier than forecast and breezy as well, so I was fine getting up to physio and shopping. Because I stayed in yesterday and didn't wear a backpack, my shoulder was perfectly well-behaved. And then I put it on today and ouch. Physio acupunctured and taped shoulder so I trust it will go back to being quiet. Especially since tomorrow is supposed to be rain and thunderstorms off and on all day, so will be back to couch potatodom.

Finally got the form for my quarterly blood draw from my doctor's secretary-- who suddenly seems not to remember who I am: clearly out of sight, out of mind-- and now must get to the library to print it out and then get to the lab. I do hate the whole thing but needs must.

Finished only 100 Demons 27 last week. Had Witch King come through on an ebook library loan and am wading through that. Definitely wish I had it in paper, definitely wish there were not two narratives, find it oddly a downer for no good reason. Continue only because Kai has moments of sounding like Murderbot. And then there's the Ada Palmer that I'd like to concentrate on and can't. Perhaps I should let Witch King go to the 'two people waiting' and, well, concentrate on the nonfiction Renaissance, since nonfiction goes down so much easier in the hot weather we're forecast to have well into August.

susandennis

I was looking at the weather this morning and it looks like today may be the last cloudy day for a while, so I decided to make the Skechers trip today. It's a good 30 minutes away and I do not want to be driving that far in the sun. Fuck, I don't want to be driving that far in any weather, but my chauffeur is a no show, again.

It was a lot fiddlier of a drive than I expected but I made it. And after what seemed like half a day - it's a big store with way too many options - I finally found 2 pair of shoes and got the fuck out of there. Turns out it was only an hour. It just felt like half a day. One reason was that I was NOT going to buy any shoes that did not feel perfect from the jump. A lot came close. But I was on the hunt for perfect. I finally found a grayish loafer and a plain brown leather. It was a BOGO discount day so both pair cost me way less than I expected. And I got a cool backpack bag for free.

Then home. Then I cleared out every shoe that was not perfect. I took them all to the elbow and put a 'free' sign on them. (They took less than an hour to disappear.)

My closet looks NICE!

On to Food and Beverage Meeting which was excruciating. I kept my mouth shut except for at the end when the chairman asked me to read back the list I had gathered for the agenda. She did this last month and it led to another 45 minutes of meeting. I was ready this time and said 'I'll send it to you after the meeting.' She backed right off and we got the fuck out of there. The committee members each believe in their heart of hearts that every person in the world has the same taste, desires and food motivation that they do. It's just painful to listen to. And fucking pointless.

So then I got home and checked my phone and had a message from Costco about my Wegovy prescription. They need to reject my prescription so my doctor can finish my application to the Bridge program. But she insisted she needed my Medicare number before she could do that. They need to reject it on the basis of my lack of insurance coverage but I'm not sure that's what she's doing. Reddit is chock full of Bridge reject stories - and some good success stories - time will tell. I do not want to spend another $350 for a month BUT I can if I have to and I will so I really need to not stress over any of this.

The Mariners are now losing in the 2nd. I'd better concentrate.

pauraque

In this sequel to A Memory Called Empire, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare and her imperial liaison/maybe-kinda-girlfriend Three Seagrass travel to the front lines of an interstellar war on a mission to try to decipher the alien enemy's language and establish diplomatic relations. What Three Seagrass doesn't know is that Mahit is also on a covert mission to sabotage diplomacy and keep the Teixcalaan Empire mired in an endless, unwinnable war.

I was so-so on A Memory Called Empire. I would say I had a stronger reaction to the sequel, both positive and negative.

First, the positive: I loved Nine Hibiscus and Twenty Cicada, new characters in this installment. She's the passionate, brilliant captain of the flagship, he's her loyal, cerebral first officer who adheres to a stoic alien philosophy. They deal with high-stakes ethical quandaries as the lives of millions hang in the balance, and they love each other with an intensity that goes largely unspoken. Is this aspect of the book pandering to people who love Kirk and Spock? Perhaps, but I had a great time being pandered to. I wanted the entire book to be about these two.

I mostly liked the stuff about establishing communication with the aliens too, which is also classically Star Trek in tone and approach. (It bugged me a little that the linguistics wasn't more realistic, but you rarely get that in SF and it isn't really the point here.)

Unfortunately, the things I liked were pretty definitively outweighed by all the half-baked themes, garbled political messaging, and many characters' infuriatingly stupid choices and baffling cluelessness. It wasn't quite throw-the-book-across-the-room level, but at certain moments it got close.

Ranting and spoilers

- How can it possibly take SO LONG for the characters to figure out that the aliens are a hivemind???? It's not just that it's a basic SF trope and obvious to the reader from literally the first page of the book. It's also that all the prompting the characters need to make the leap is right there in front of them the whole time! Mahit herself has Yskandr's mind in her head, there are the Sunlit guards and the Shard pilots who share their perceptions through technology... To these characters, the existence of a species with a shared consciousness shouldn't even be surprising. But it still takes them 400 fucking pages to figure it out, and they act like it's a galaxy-shattering shock. This makes no sense whatsoever and it makes most of the characters look inexcusably dumb.

- I don't get the way the Mahit/Three Seagrass relationship is written at all. In the first book, they liked each other from the start and then nothing happened with it until suddenly they kissed at the end. In this one, they have a stupid fight at the beginning and feel weird and uncomfortable around each other for hundreds of pages until suddenly they fuck. This didn't work for me. It especially didn't work because I felt like I was supposed to side with Mahit in their argument, but I didn't, because Three Seagrass doesn't know what Mahit is mad about and Mahit refuses to tell her. Mahit's narration is explicit that she wants Three Seagrass to know what's bothering her without being told, so basically she's punishing Three Seagrass for not being fucking psychic. Am I the only one who thinks it would have been more interesting if they'd actually ever talked about any of the issues between them, rather than just winding themselves up about it in their heads?? By the end I wasn't rooting for them to get/stay together at all, so when Mahit ran away from the relationship (again) I didn't even care.

- I felt the lack of gender stuff in the first book was a missed opportunity. In this book, the author seems to be strenuously trying to miss that opportunity as hard as she can. There is one scene where Mahit (in their shared consciousness) accuses Yskandr of not understanding fashion for "female-bodied people." It's brushed off. There's another scene where Three Seagrass says she wasn't sure if Mahit liked people of her "gender and sex," and several where Three Seagrass silently wonders if she had sex with Mahit, or with Mahit and Yskandr, or just Yskandr. No further discussion of these points. I truly don't understand what Martine is going for here. She chose to create a protagonist who is a woman sharing a mind and body with a man. She seems dimly aware that there might be interesting things one could say about this. She apparently doesn't want to say any of them.

- Even leaving aside the gender issues, I think there's a lot more that could have been done to explore the mindsharing scenario. Yskandr often reads like an invisible sidekick who just pipes up now and then to give Mahit some information, advice, or a snarky comment. What is his experience/consciousness/sense of embodiment like? We don't get his own internal monologue, just the things he "says" to Mahit. It doesn't feel as weird and alien as it seems like it should.

- Mahit and Twenty Cicada should have talked! He's assimilated to Teixcalaan in some ways but maintained his cultural distinctiveness in others; doesn't that seem like an extremely relevant perspective for Mahit to hear? The books act like Mahit is the only one in the galaxy who has mixed feelings about Teixcalaan, but surely she can't be.

- On a larger level, these books are about an absolutist expansionist empire and the vulnerable republic it threatens, and nothing about any of that is resolved or even really explored all that much. The child heir Eight Antidote is an interesting character and he's trying to do the right thing, but there's so much more going on here that can't and won't be resolved by a kid with some moral fiber taking the throne. Having a relatively nice emperor does not solve the problems of imperialism. In this book we learn more about how systemically fucked up Lsel is too, and nothing happens with that either. The plot doesn't even make it hard for Mahit to decide whether to stay loyal to Lsel, since there are power-mad authorities on Lsel who want to KILL HER. No wonder people were expecting a trilogy here; this book does not wrap up a single loose end.

Okay, that's probably more than enough of a rant. TL;DR: Book dances around a lot of interesting speculative and interpersonal possibilities and solidly lands on very few of them.

isis

Hello from Colorado, which is on fire :( We are not actually near any of the big fires, but we are getting smoke in the mornings from two of them, which means that several times in the past few weeks we've had to get up at 3 am and close the windows and turn on the air purifier. Anyway:

What I've recently read:

The Astrobiology Immersion Program by

startingatmidnight, short-novel-length (~50K) Project Hail Mary gen, I think

petra recommended it. AU in which on the way back to Erid, Rocky and Ryland Grace bodyswap. I love bodyswap as a trope and it's especially rich when the bodies are alien to each other. I thought it was a little long, and the handwaving a little handwavy, though the ultimate "why" resolution was super interesting, and I really liked that the story continues through to the consequences on Erid.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, which is a sort of literary dark-humor western, with a really fun narrative voice. Charlie and Eli Sisters are Bad Men With Guns who wield them for a mysterious mogul called the Commodore. Except Eli's got a sensitive side, and he's starting to wonder why he's killing people for money when he could just settle down and run a trading post somewhere. My favorite part, oddly, was the throughline of Eli being completely unable to hold onto any money; if he doesn't give it away out of soft-heartedness as soon as he gets it, it's stolen, and I was delighted every time it happened.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which was a recommendation from

merit - I couldn't resist the premise of a woman waking up with amnesia and learning, through letters written from her former self, that she's a high-up bureaucrat in a secret organization of people with supernatural powers who deal with supernatural crimes and threats to the country. Sort of like Rivers of London but with Ghostbusters-level humor. ETA: and now I am reminded of another reason I really liked this: the main character, Myfanwy Thomas, discovers (somewhat to her surprise) that she is frighteningly competent at her job. Also there is a fantastic female character with whom I ship her (and there is fic). Anyway, lots of fun, and I'm now reading the second book in this series, Stiletto.

What I've recently watched:

S4 of Dark Winds, which unfortunately had quite a bit of action in LA - not that I have anything against LA, it's just it's not the familiar Four Corners scenery. As soon as they (metaphorically) hung a German on the wall I was expecting it to fire (metaphorically) Karl May, and I was not disappointed.

We've just watched the first episode of S2 of the live-action One Piece. I love how goofy it is!

g_uava posting in

fictional_fans

I wrote about the different effects of creating a GIF (moving image) or a collage (compilation of multiple images into one static image out of frames from the same scene, which I thought might interest other photo editors. While writing it, I came across the Fanlore entry on the picspam that likens picspams to fanart. It's a first for me to see picspams described that way!

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Dream time

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[#306 | Heartbreak] Challenge Post

[#305 | Fireworks] Results Post

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Community Thursday

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July questions.

New York photos

Green; Poison Ivy | Harley Quinn

Yellow; Sandalphon | Granblue Fantasy: Relink

Choices

259 HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (1x01).

Fake (Challenge # 508 - good reason) Passion Flower 53

Unconventional Courtship Masterlist 2026

Post and Jam: Crossing a Canyon by 54-40 [1996]

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Weird Day

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (2021)

wednesday reads and things

Creating a GIF or a collage

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