Reading

Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!

3 for the Memories' 2025 session will be open for posts on January 3, 2026 and will run for 3 weeks until January 24. Event participation is as follows:

1) Three photos only per person during each annual session. Members are encouraged to discuss the reason for their choices.

2) Photos can be hosted at Dreamwidth or elsewhere, and should not be larger than 800 px width or height.

3) All three photos should be in the same post. Cut tags should be placed after the first photo.

3 for the Memories is not a competition, and entries are not being judged. Rather, participants are encouraged to share photos they took in 2025 that they find meaningful in some way or which represent how they experienced the year.

Questions? Visit the announcement post at

threeforthememories

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Many presentation slots still open for Shining Hearth; general registration begins soon

The words Shining Hearth in a calligraphic font. Between the two words there is a hearthfire with rainbow-colored flames and a seven-pointed star.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 27-29, 2026). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information, see our website.

We're now about halfway through the sign-up period to present at Shining Hearth. About 40% of the timeslots aimed at the Americas have been taken and we've had one signup from Australasia so far (yay!), so there's plenty more still available, especially in the Europe block. Applications will be accepted through January 16th (one more month), or while space is available. Presenter application form

General registration will begin in a little over two weeks, on January 1st!

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icons

icon community promo: retro_icontest

retro_icontest - Blast From The Past Icontests - is once more embarking on

Are you ready to ride? Pack your satchel of art supplies and join us in another round of the Icon Quest!

Looking for more places to make icons? Here is the list of currently active iconmaking communities on dw: https://icontalking.dreamwidth.org/46317.html

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Do I Know You?, by Omicron Seti III (filk folk song, 1979)

(words by Martha Bonds, music by Marcia McCombe)

Do I know you?
Are you dreaming of tomorrow?
If so, it seems you're a starchild, just like me.
The night's alive,
And we travel 'cross the light years,
TV screens and books of dreams can set us free.

Blurb: A fan (filk) song about how fans find meaning, joy, and other worlds through Star Trek.

Why is it worth your time?: It's an old fandom song about finding home and new worlds in the fictional. Definitely worth a listen to, for any fiction folk around!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, otherworld, fictioneers

Content Warnings: None

Accessibility Notes: I will post the lyrics in the comments! Otherwise, it is only available in The Complete Omicron Ceti III Lyric Book (not screenreadable) and the record album Only Stars Can Last.

Current Mood: chipper

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Mood Theme in a Year Returns!

moodthemeinayear is coming back in 2026 with a new twist: Creating a custom mood theme can now earn you Dreamwidth points!

Mood Theme in a Year is a community that takes a laid-back approach to creating a custom mood theme. If you've always wanted to create your own mood theme (those little images that pop up when you select something from the drop-down "Mood" menu when posting), this is a great place to do it! Take your time creating graphics for anywhere between 15 and 132 moods, either following the community's suggested schedule or going at your own pace. (Though you need to make a minimum of 18 graphics to earn any paid time.)

The "official" schedule starts again from the beginning on January 1st, but you can jump in at any time during the year; feel free to challenge yourself as well with Bingo cards or the Mood Theme in a Month calendars! Learn more in the community pinned post or profile.

I hope to see you there!

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Going Home, by Omicron Ceti III (Star Trek fan song, 1979)

(words by Martha Bonds, music by Kathy Burns)

I know a place so far away, a place I long to see,
There's no way to travel there, I must reach it in a dream,
The dreams they are so special, they take me there again,
A thousand conquered dangers, heroes, lovers, friends.

Blurb: A song about "Fans' feelings about [Star] Trek."

Why is it worth your time?: It's an old fandom song about finding home and new worlds in the fictional. Definitely worth a listen to, for any fiction folk around!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, otherworld, dreamfolk, fictioneers

Content Warnings: None

Accessibility Notes: I will post the lyrics in the comments; you can also listen to it on YouTube! Otherwise, it is only available in The Complete Omicron Ceti III Lyric Book (not screenreadable) and on the album Only Stars Can Last.

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New community > comicsfanfiction

comicsfanfiction

Community Description:

comicsfanfiction is for any comic book fanfiction including comic strips, webcomics, and graphic novels. Any rating is accepted. Feel free to post your old or new works!

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The Guy in the Glass, by Dale Wimbrow (poem, 1934)

(Learned of this poem thanks to

rybbot. Thanks,

rybbot!)

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

Blurb: A poem about the importance of honesty and being able to make peace with yourself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a good poem! Probably not intended to be plural, but hey, if it's about making friends with yourself, who's to say it ain't? It's free, online, and almost a hundred years old, what more could one want out of life?

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, friendship

Content Warnings: None

Access Notes: Free, online, and screenreadable at https://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm thanks to Wimbrow's children! Back-up link here: https://web.archive.org/web/19990428030413/https://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm

Misc Notes: Wimbrow's kids list the context and copyright information of this poem here: https://web.archive.org/web/19991008172354/http://www.theguyintheglass.com/copyright.htm

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The Girlfriend Experience by C.Z. Tacks (sci-fi short story, 2025)

Submitted by

quailfence! Thank you,

quailfence!

Something—not a thought, but almost—flickered across her gray matter. The Smoulder, walking; looking at the faded wallpaper; feeling the flexion in her feet. And then it was a thought:

[This again?]

(Wait, were costumes supposed to remember—)

Blurb: In the future, sex worker Evie uses a technological 'costume' to help her with her job, and in particular a client of hers known as 'the company man'. But the costume has been starting to act strange recently...

Why is it worth your time?: It's good! I like how sex work is presented as just A Job in the story - not something uniquely awful but not exactly Great either. I also found the high-tech costumes to be an interesting piece of tech, and the story uses them very well

Plural/1+ Tags: bodyhopping, type:setting-specific, type:switching. Not really sure how to rate the abuse in this one??

Content Warnings: include spoilers; see comments

Accessibility Notes: Online, free, screenreadable here: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-girlfriend-experience/ Back-up link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20250922133223/https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-girlfriend-experience/

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Location: Bed
Current Music: The chickens wot want to be let out but I'm busy chillin'

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New community: Voice in my ear

voiceinmyear, a community to share any kind of audio-based narrative entertainment. Here you can recommend, critique, signal boost or otherwise enthuse about:
- podcasts, both fiction and non-fiction
- audiobooks
- podfics
- audio essays - YouTube or other video formats are fine as long as it can be enjoyed without visuals
- apps, platforms or websites to access or discover any of the above.

Just created and I'm keen to post some content soon, but also thrilled if anyone else wants to jump in and share some aural joy.