Fanfic Minis – January 2026

Posted on February 2, 2026 by Thistle

This month was a mixed bag for stories. I tried to read too much. I tried to read a ton from my TBR, regardless of whether or not the stories were working out for me. I read some out of obligation, and I read too fast. It took me almost until the end of January to realize I was only hurting myself. It was similar to my early years of blogging, when I had to break out of the cycle of reading for obligation and because something had once been put on my list. After that, I spent a lot of time culling my TBR, and that was immediately followed by beginning stories I enjoy again. I’m still working to get the balance right, but I think I’m further along than I was a month ago.

First: Petrichor & Parchment by Mrs Noggin. This story is an Aziracrow classic, with an insane stat count. Thus, while I’ve been told over and over that this is a great story, I’ve been intimidated to try it. I decided to take the plunge as my first fanfic in 2026, and yeeeeah all those recs were right. This was amazing. It’s S1-era, so the personalities are different from what comes in AUs these days, and that was refreshing in a lot of ways. There’s one moment that stood out to me for its simplicity: a semi-nonverbal version of Crowley, curled under a blanket and leaning against Az on a couch, and Az is trying to entice him to eat by naming out a dozen possibilities. At one point, Crowley’s arm shoots out of the blanket, hand up. Az stops, asked if he wants the item that was just named, and the response is grabby-hand motions. It was such a cute moment, and so grounded in something real that might happen. Domestic fluff at its finest.

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January 2026 in Review

Posted on February 1, 2026 by Thistle

I’m not 100% sure I’ll do monthly reviews all year, but so much has been going on that I thought it might be good to wrap it all up at least for now! Not in so much detail as I used to do, though.

  • Tarot of the month (full year, month by month, drawn Dec 2025): Temperance – Moderation, balance, doing things but not doing too much – in context of January, this card is telling me to ease into things, as I tend to go overboard in January // This version of Temperance comes from the Divine Feminine Tarot Deck. (not an affiliate link)
  • Song(s) of the month: Atlantic (Sleep Token); Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)

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The Man in Black, by Elly Griffiths (audio)

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Thistle

This is a collection short stories relating to Griffiths’ various series, and some that I think are standalone (or at least are unrelated to books that I’ve read). I listened to this on audio, read by many different narrators, who all did a good job. Obviously, as the Ruth Galloway series is my favorite, I was most interested in the stories that centered on that one. But almost all of them were interesting, and unlike most short story collections, I was able to listen to these back-to-back without ever feeling the need to stop and decompress between stories. That made it a really effective collection for me.

There was only one story that I originally skipped: The Stranger by RM Holland. I thought it was a real ghost story included in the collection, but on second pass, I realized it was actually a fictional short story from The Stranger Diaries, which is where my journey with Elly Griffiths began! So I went back and read this one after all the others.

My favorite story in the series by far was “The Valley of the Queens.” It was near the end of the collection and while it wasn’t necessarily the most interesting story, plot-wise, it was the only one that came after the Ruth Galloway series ended, so it provided a glimpse into the lives of these characters several years on. Since I miss that series immensely, it was lovely to see how everyone is doing. But I also really loved “The Man in Black,” “Articulation,” and “Flint’s Fireside Tale” to round out my top picks.

I know this isn’t much of a review, but how does one really review a short story collection related to other books anyway? I enjoyed it. A comfort read.

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Barcelona – Apr 2025

Posted on January 28, 2026 by Thistle

So back in the post about my 2024 travels, I mentioned a trip that didn’t happen re: medical emergency. The refunds that I managed to get for that trip involved a roundtrip ticket to Barcelona that needed to be used before June 2025 and had to be on a specific airline, despite booking/getting the refund through Expedia. (Y’all, I had so much trouble with Expedia that I will never, ever trust them again. I even bought insurance for my hotel rooms and such, and they still refused to give me any money back!) In the late fall, when Rainstorm and I were just starting to flirt and almost-date, we talked about possibly meeting up in Barcelona. Then our friend Roxy, who is from Italy, said that she and her family would be in Barcelona for one day in late April – literally the day after Rainstorm’s birthday.

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Strange New World, by Vivian Shaw (audio)

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Thistle

As this is the 4th (ish**) book in a series, I’m not going to go into plot details. Instead, I’m going to talk y’all through my experience of reading this book.

1) I began this book not really knowing if I would read on. I’d read most of the series many years ago, and my memories of book 3.5** were sketchy. I said in the review of that novella that I was more inclined to read on now than I had been before, but nine months later, I just didn’t know if I had the interest any longer. The only reason I even had the audiobook was because it was free on a deal in Oct/Nov. I figured I might start it, then cull it from my list.

2) The book opens with an angel getting hit by a poisoned dart. He’s an angel who has been on earth for a long time and enjoys his time there, though he feels a bit guilty for it. He has a counterpart, a demon from hell who is a surface operative, that he meets with periodically and is friends with. Sound familiar? Yeah, this was me immediately saying what the hell, is this suddenly Good Omens fanfic?? I don’t remember ANY of this from Bitter Waters!

3) I went back to check my reviews of the previous 3.5 books, specifically book 3 (Grave Importance). While Bitter Waters was about vampires and such, Grave Importance – and presumably the previous two volumes, though I didn’t look into them specifically – involved angels and demons and armageddon. The whole series was published prior to the GO TV series, and def wasn’t fanfiction. Well, I couldn’t say how the book may have acted as an influence. I’m not the author, obviously (heh). But in any case, angels and demons working together on earth was apparently a big part of the series prior to Bitter Waters.

4) Intrigued by both the opening premise and by the extremely stellar review that I gave Grave Importance in 2019, I kept listening. And this turned out to be a phenomenal book. It was well-crafted and intriguing, pulling together so many different threads before the climax. Additionally, it was so funny in places. I wasn’t expecting the humor in places, like the conversation between the devil and his admin/right-hand-man, where the devil says he wishes he could show up to the diplomatic meeting with the angels in his giant snake form, and the admin says that it wouldn’t be very nice. It would be especially not nice if he showed up in normal form, turned into a snake halfway through without a word, and all the other demons/monsters continued talking as if all was normal while the angels freaked out. Corporate/bible humor at its best, honestly.

5) At the end of the third book, I thought this series was complete, and given that it took ages for another book to release, perhaps maybe it was intended to be. I’m really glad that it came back and that I gave it a chance by whatever combination of circumstances. I’m tempted to go back and reread the first three books of the series.

6) The audio is read by Catrin Walker-Booth, who did a really good job, especially with all the different accents.

**Technically, it’s the 4th book of the series, however, there is a novella that is considered book 3.5, a kind of side plot called Bitter Waters that I read in March last year.

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Tattoo Tour: 16-20

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Thistle

Here’s the next roundup of tattoos, these being the five that I got in 2025. These were mostly tiny tattoos, because of finances.

— Ghosties 1/2 (16)
As mentioned in my recent post about the Feb 2025 Germany trip, Rainstorm and I got complementary tattoos. This was a silly little thing planned prior to when we began dating, and basically it came about like this: First, we became beta partners for Good Omens fanfic. Then, I wrote a silly ghost story AU fanfic in the summer of 2024. Then, I decided to put together the idea of Good Omens and silly ghosties and my love of all things spooky! Mix all that up, and you get one happy ghost with a bowtie and button-down shirt, and one grumpy ghost in sunglasses and a smirk. When I was in Germany, Rainstorm and I got these tattooed on our calves so that they could stand next to each other when we did. They’re kinda at the perfect height, too, because they peek over the top of socks!

— Possum 1/2 (17)
Speaking of complementary tattoos, my friend Stephanie and I decided to get a similar matching set for Christmas. We booked with an artist she knew, and unfortunately, the appointment got pushed back a few times, which meant that instead of Dec 2024, we got the tattoos in late Feb 2025. It took us a bit to figure out what we wanted to play with, but eventually, we put together the idea of having a raccoon (her) and possum (me) posed in a Creation of Adam style. We both got them on our calves – my other calf, so I have a complementary tattoo on both calves, ha!

— 8 of Swords Mirror (18)
I’d long wanted an 8 of Swords tarot tattoo, and I chose my primary tattoo artist to put it together with all the various inspo I sent to her (broken victorian mirror, multiple faces, the mirror handle as one of the eight swords). This is the same artist who did my big cat and the moth on my arm. We went with a mostly black tattoo because I was still unsure if I was allergic to the second skin or the colored ink. I’d had a reaction after the ghost tattoo, which was only in black, though, so I chanced a bit of color for the shading of the face in this one. We did it in two sections. I might have a bit more of it shaded in the future, but at the time, I couldn’t do more because the second session was right after my divorce started and I couldn’t afford anything extra. It feels a bit unfinished because of that, but I’ve worked with this artist for a number of years now so I feel like I can go back again later for extra detailing.

— Gherkin (19)
I hadn’t planned to get this tattoo, not after the divorce started, but then my regular artist (same one) was talking about having a small time slot for small tattoos, and I had the itch, and I thought it would be nice for her to do one of the cats for my back. My back tattoo has nine frames for the nine cats that I’ve had in my adult life, and I want each cat to get its portrait from a different artist. My first happened to be done for Atticus, my baby who passed away in fall 2024. I sent this artist the names/pics/personality details for my other cats, and she chose two to play with, Ash and Gherkin. I had a hard time choosing which one to go with, but in the end, I couldn’t pass up Gherkin. This cat likes to lay with her back feet propped up on cat beds, so that she looks like she walked halfway out of bed and fell asleep. When she was a skinny kitten, the pose became known as the Gherkinoodle. Now, she’s spayed and very tubby, as many spayed cats become, and my artist took a photo of her on her back and turned her into a fat macaroni noodle. It’s the best!!

— Christabel (20)
This last tattoo was from this past November, when I was on my last vacation. It was a transatlantic cruise (more on this in a future post) on Virgin Voyages. VV has a tattoo/piercing salon on each ship, and I’ve gotten a tattoo on every cruise I’ve done with them. I wouldn’t have on this last one, due to the money issue, except that my voyage came with a built in $200 spending money. The Halloween flash tattoo sheets were out, and there was a perfect cat silhouette that fit right into the tiny frame on my back. The tattoo, with the colored tips, cost exactly $200 (they’re overpriced tattoos, but never mind), so it was a perfect match. Christabel, one of my first cats as an adult, only lived for a few months before succumbing to lymphoma, and so I barely knew her. She was sick the whole time, and I didn’t really have a personality to draw on for tattoo inspo. In that way, this Halloween flash was perfect for her, too. It came out beautifully.

[Note: The rainbow tips are only for cats that have passed away. Gherkin is still alive and kicking, so hers is currently without rainbow. Assuming that the cats aren’t rehomed in the divorce 😭, the rainbow tips will be added at a later date after she crosses the rainbow bridge.]

So now I’m up to 20 tattoos, and def slowing down re: money issue. I also want to make sure I keep plenty of real estate for larger sleeves and such down the line. So far, no tattoos in 2026 (yes, I know it’s only January!!). None planned either, at least as of this writing. You never know when something fun and reasonable might come up, though…

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I Think They Love You, by Julian Winters

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Thistle

When Kenneth Carter decides to retire, his son Denz steps up as a candidate for the position. No one trusts that he can be serious or dedicated enough for this kind of job, so he makes up a fake boyfriend. In walks Braylon, ex-boyfriend, once breaker-of-his-heart, who has a favor of his own that only Denz can provide. Now the two are fake-dating for the next few months… only Denz is struggling with how blurry the line between fake and real can be.

Classic ex-lovers, fake-dating story, with the added bonus of family drama, sibling rivalry/friendship, and sorting out the difference between who you are and who you think you’re meant to be. Weirdly, I thought I’d tried to read this story once a few years ago, and I spent most of the read thinking this was by the same author as the first book I read in 2024 (A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson). I finally figured out that this was not, in fact, the same book. I’d instead started and chose not to continue with Jackson’s I’m So (Not) Over You, which has a similar exes-to-fake-dating premise. Heh.

Anyway, I like the fake dating trope, and I liked the way this one featured strong family and individual growth and really good support systems outside of romance. I liked that it talked a lot about the importance of work-life balance (something that is woefully skewed in the US). I liked that none of the characters were wholly good or wholly bad. And I’m really excited that the next book by this author, coming out soon, will feature two of the side characters from this one. It’s already on my virtual TBR.

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Germany – Feb 2025

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Thistle

Last February, I traveled to Germany for a week to spend some time with my theyfriend, the one I call Rainstorm online. We had met in person once before, long before we started dating, but this was our first time meeting in person as partners. The nerves and excitement were equally out in full force! And once we were together, it was all giddiness and shyness and can’t-get-my-fill-of-seeing-you-or-holding-your-hand. I’m very limited in what photos I can post online, but for that first trip, the two of us were very good to take plenty of photos that didn’t include Rainstorm’s face.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever talked on the blog about how the two of us met and began to date. We both wrote fanfiction, and their first longfic was one I was reading. At one point, we began to talk in the comments about something I can’t even remember, and it prompted me to talk about my own fics (something related to characters deciding to rebel against you, maybe?). They checked my list of fics, and found the one I was currently posting was already on their list to read. So we began exchanging comments in both places.

Then in late January 2024, I started working on the trauma-dump fic I mentioned in my last writing post. When I put up the first chapter, I gave it a tag that said, “No beta how do people get betas anyway?” and Rainstorm commented “extensive talking in the comment section.” We started chatting on tumblr and decided to exchange beta services as they were starting a new fic then. We didn’t start dating for another 9-10 months, but we were fast friends long before that. And that friendship was the thing that has been the most important to us to maintain, far more than the relationship.

Anyway, back to Germany! That week of vacation, we visited several nearby cities, saw the most amazing cathedral I’ve ever seen (seriously – nothing compares to the Cologne cathedral!!), went to a farmer’s market where we got flowers (more on this in a minute), had a day-long celebration for our three-month anniversary (including a trip to a cafe that we “visited” together – me remotely – on our first date), visited a queer bookshop, watched But I’m a Cheerleader together, took a long walk along the river, kissed in the rain, found a random cat cafe and went in to pet all the cats, visited the gay district of Cologne, got coordinating tattoos (that had been planned well before we were dating), drank coffee in bed with angel/demon wing mugs, went to a wine bar, sampled local beer, visited the craziest lock bridge I’ve ever seen (Paris has nothing on Cologne’s!), saw David Tennant’s MacBeth in (movie) theatre, crammed ourselves into a photo booth for ridiculous photos, and cried when we had to separate at the end of the week. Was it the most lesbian of lesbian vacations? Yes. Yes it was.

And to cap all that off, I have to tell y’all about the farmer’s market. Again, in true lesbian fashion, we both planned to surprise each other with flowers. Only neither of us are very good at keeping secrets, so we ended up revealing the surprise at the same time (prior to any flower-purchasing), and decided instead that I would choose the flowers for them and they would gift them to me. In the end, that didn’t work either. We were at one booth and I saw what I suspected were purple thistles, but they weren’t labeled. Rainstorm asked (I barely spoke any German at this point) and confirmed that they were, indeed, thistles. Considering my chosen name, we agreed that these were perfect. Then the proprietor, when asked how much, gave them to us for free since they were the last bundle of thistles. It was kinda straight out of a fanfic/rom-com, tbh. Just perfect.

You know, I’d forgotten just how much we did together in that first visit! It was lovely to go back down memory lane and through all those photos, to see the giddiness and excitement of new love almost a year later. I’m glad I decided to write this up in full rather than cram all of my 2025 trips into a single travel post!

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Pride

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Thistle

Last summer, I wrote about going to Cologne Pride. I briefly mentioned that I’d attended my first Pride event the previous summer, that time in Texas. I went with my friend Stephanie, and unfortunately, it was an extremely hot day (over 100), so we didn’t get to stay for long. However, the bit that we stayed for was lovely!

It was a park event with a bunch of booths that were selling/giving things out. By that point, I’d come out with my chosen name, started embracing the nonbinary label more fully, and begun learning about comphet (compulsory heterosexuality) on the way to realizing that I was never bi/pan but 100% a lesbian. There’s not much really to write, but considering it was my first Pride, I wanted to mark it on the blog. 🥰

 

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The Librarians, by Sherry Thomas (audio)

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Thistle

A series of murders all seem to tie back to a small branch library and their first-ever game night. The four members of staff all have secrets, but are any of them the culprit, or are they all potentially the next victim?

I’m not sure how this book came onto my radar. I’ve read Thomas’ Lady Sherlock series in the past and this sounded new and interesting, so I decided to give it a chance. I was sucked in immediately. This story is fast-paced and told from multiple points of view. Secrets are peeled away slowly. I never had a clue who would end up being revealed at the end of the mystery. The characters were delightful, from the primary narrators to the insane library patrons (that were all too real!).

On the negative side, some of the mystery ended up quite convoluted, especially as so many characters had their backstories wrapped up at the end. I wasn’t particularly sold on the reveal, either. However, I liked the story well enough not to let those things tarnish my experience of the book as a whole.

My last point is on setting. The book takes place in Austin, TX, which is just up the road from where I live. The author is also from the area, and took pains to make the setting an integral part of the book. There is a particular vibe when Texan authors set their fictional books in Texas that I don’t sense when other authors write about their own locations. I’m not sure if it’s just something I recognize more, having lived a big chunk of my life in Texas, or if it’s something about the culture of the state itself. It comes over in an “oh hey btw did I mention this book is in Texas? Look at this neat thing about Texas!” in places, but is that only because I know the area so well? I have lived in other states, and I don’t feel this when those states are written about by local-to-them authors – however, I have never lived anywhere as long as I’ve lived here, so this might entirely be due to familiarity/proximity.

This is not a criticism of the book. Thomas writes Austin exactly as Austin is, and it is very much an in-Austin book. The setting is practically its own character, and I appreciate that. But I’m curious if other people (not from TX) would see it the same way, or if they would see it the way I might see a book set very firmly in Los Angeles, or Savannah, or Provo. Or is this a product of the way Texans view themselves and their state? Because I’ve never read a Texas-set book written by a Texas-local author that didn’t have this quality. I’d love to know how much is me and how much is sociological!

Anyway, tangent aside, I enjoyed the book despite a few of those minor things I mentioned. I was quite annoyed when my spotify audio time ran out halfway through the book and I had to wait a whole two days (ha!) before I could continue. The narrator (Louisa Zhu) did a great job with the narration, and I spent hours finding reasons to listen even when I should have been doing other things.

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