Still totally gone for Dresden Files. Just in case you wanted to know.

[sholio]

So I discovered smallfandomfest yesterday and, surprise surprise, have been posting Dresden Files prompts like there's no tomorrow. :D (Mostly involving some combination of Harry, Thomas, Murphy & Justine.) The 'fest will be open for prompt claiming on the 21st; here are the rules and a link to leave your prompts. Go prompt! Or look at the prompts and see if you might like to write one! If you leave a tasty enough prompt, I just might write it ... (I know, I know. But I still have an entire month and change to write my Secret Santas and Yuletide! I can do this!)

I must say that I found smallfandomfest's prompt interface very difficult to navigate at first; it took me forever (and a lot of frustrated searching) to figure out how to look at the list of other people's prompts. Possibly that's just because I'm an idiot. But if you have the same problem, from the prompt entry window there's a link at the top left.

I've now reached Turn Coat on the re-read, and if it seems like it took me forever to get around to this one, compared to the others ... it's true; I'm finding it just as wrenching to read as I was afraid it would be. It was bad enough the first time, expecting that there would be a rescue and, if things weren't exactly made better, then at least all would be fixable at the end. But this time ... knowing where it's going; knowing that the end result of all Harry's worry and desperation is going to be the failure to save one of the people he loves most ... damn you, Butcher. How do you make me care about these people so much. :D

I miss Thomas's easy rapport with Harry so much. There's this bit in the chapter I just read where Harry mentions Thomas taking him out on the lake and teaching him to drive the boat, and thinking about how they had that and then lost it ... it's just, WAAAAHHHHHH. ;_; I'm still doggedly determined to believe that he's still Thomas under all of the darkness and creeping evil and everything, just really badly messed up, but I don't know how they're ever going to get back what they had. I don't know how Thomas is going to find his way back from the dark place he's in, now that the Hunger has taken more control of him. I just ... augh. *weebles*

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/299638.html with comments.

Comments

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

*clasps hands* Stay strong! Trust in the Butcher! It will turn out okay! I don't know precisely how, , but I know it will!

[sholio]

*clings to you* I'm trying! At heart, I believe it'll all work out ... somehow! Though I strongly suspect that Butcher is not yet done dragging my heart through an emotional cheese grater...

Re-reading the books, though, is reminding me all over again how close they were, and how they liked each other even from their first meeting, and the skinwalker effectively undid so much of that ... oh. I'm actually enjoying the suspense (in a masochistic sort of way) because I hope the payoff at the end of all of this will be worth it, but oh, I really do hope there's a big emotional payoff waiting for us, and not something even more depressing.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Hah! As if Butcher is ever going to stop dragging us through the emotional cheese grater. ;p

I really need to reread them, I think, especially the early books-- I no longer remember precisely what happened, especially when it comes to pre-Blood Rites Thomas, since he hadn't really struck me as anything more than a side character until that point (and that's not even mentioning all the *real* side characters that keep popping back up that I have to struggle to remember, haha). This may be my project once NaNo gets over. And if I happen to reread the scenes with Harry and Thomas living together a dozen times (arguably my favorite part of the entire series), well...


Oh. Question, since you've read them so recently-- *does* Murphy know Thomas is Harry's brother? I can't for the life of me remember the scene where she finds out, but I feel like she has to...

[sholio]

Yeah, I didn't even actually like Thomas much, which made re-reading the books really interesting -- I hardly remembered anything at all about any of Thomas's appearances in the series before Blood Rites, because at best, he was a minor side character I found kind of annoying.

On the re-read, of course, I'm all over the Thomas bits like a mad fanning thing. :D

I had forgotten so much of it that it's almost like reading the books again for the first time, except with the depth of affection that I've come to invest in the characters. It's been really neat, and I'm sad I'm coming to the end.

And if I happen to reread the scenes with Harry and Thomas living together a dozen times (arguably my favorite part of the entire series), well...

I HAVE NOT DONE THAT AT ALL. OF COURSE NOT. It's my favorite part of the series too. And they lived together for two years -- I'd forgotten it was that long.

*does* Murphy know Thomas is Harry's brother?

Yes. In fact, he tells her almost as soon as he finds out, in Blood Rites. Which is neat -- I've been struck all over again on the re-read at how close they are, and how much he shares with her.

Actually, I had completely forgotten about this, but Murphy is there in the finale of Blood Rites as well, through the whole scene where Lord Raith tries to sacrifice Thomas, so if she hadn't already known what was up with Thomas and Harry, that part would probably have tipped her off.

(And I think you're totally right about the emotional cheese grater. *g* I do hope these characters eventually get the happy ending they deserve -- Michael, it seems, already has -- but I hope it won't be for a long time yet!)

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Yes. In fact, he tells her almost as soon as he finds out, in Blood Rites.

Oh, good, I'm so glad there's at least one person he can share that with.

And incidentally-- I took a look at the prompts posted to smallfandomfest, and, ahahaha, the one about Murphy meeting Thomas in his hairdresser guise is BRILLIANT. *sparkles* If no one writes that I will probably cry. XD

I do hope these characters eventually get the happy ending they deserve

I really do think they will.... but I also have a sneaking suspicion it's going to get pretty dark before the end. -__-; Butcher has described this writing pattern he follows, which essentially boils down to isolating the protagonist and taking everything away from him before the final confrontation can take place. Admittedly, he was talking about individual books, but... it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up applying that pattern to the series as a whole, as well, especially judging by how dark the last few books have been... ;_____;

[sholio]

And incidentally-- I took a look at the prompts posted to smallfandomfest, and, ahahaha, the one about Murphy meeting Thomas in his hairdresser guise is BRILLIANT. *sparkles* If no one writes that I will probably cry. XD

heeeeee. :D It's allowed to pick one's own prompts, so I might have to actually write that one myself if no one else picks it up! The potential for hilarity is THROUGH THE ROOF. (And lord knows I could use some hilarity, since I'm now up to the skinwalker fight in Turn Coat, and Molly having to pop the shield to keep Thomas from killing her. OHHHH THOMAS WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU. *wails*)

I think you've got a good point about the isolating-the-main-character thing. Actually, I'd already noticed, after reading most of the series in one go, that the most recent books (Turn Coat and Changes) represent a reversal of the general trend of the previous ten. Up to Small Favor, the general trend in the books has been for Harry to become more and more firmly attached to the people around him, and them to him. Turn Coat and Changes, though, are starting to strip that away again -- especially Changes, obviously, but it started with Turn Coat. The books have always been dark, but after the first few, they've generally tended to leave Harry in a better place than he was before, in some fashion. Even when really bad things have happened, they've been balanced by the positive (like Michael's fate in Small Favor, which not only turned out for the best in the long run but led to that lovely bit in the hospital when Charity acknowledges Harry as an honorary member of the family). Turn Coat and Changes, though, both left him worse off, and while I've got my fingers crossed for some major h/c goodness in Ghost Story, I'm fully expecting it to be another emotional cheese grater of a book.

... I don't know how much of this I can taaaaaake. ;_; At least there are a few months to recover before Ghost Story.