Just your slightly-above-average college graduate, tempest in a teapot, former writing tutor and forever kid at heart, who respects your right to an intelligent opinion, with an unending thirst for fanfiction, and an undying love of reading, writing, punning, tea, Boston, London, Star Trek (in all its incarnations), Neil Gaiman, the Muppets, MST3K, RPGs, and all things nerdy, among MANY other interests.

I have a B.A. in English, an iPad called Victor, a cuddly stuffed flying bison named Appa, and an odd capacity to be genuinely enthusiastic about practically everything. Sort of like this: . (Check out my favorite stories to see for yourself!)

I'm a fan of what I like to call "Tetris writing" - that is, packing (not cramming - there's a difference) as much as you can comfortably fit into as few words as possible. ;)

I am prone to frequent and alternating bouts of snark and sweetness, and can rant and gush in equal measure with synonymous sincerity - though I much prefer the latter to the former, and seldom do either without purpose.

You can also find me on AO3, under the same username; everything posted here will be cross-posted there as well. There are also more stories published there that are not posted here for various reasons.

One important note: everything I publish is COMPLETE - as in, already fully written and being uploaded piece by piece. That doesn't mean I don't welcome feedback or suggestions, though! Bottom line: abandonment will NOT happen here.

That said, thanks for stopping by, and hope you enjoy. If you do - or even if you don't - feel free to let me know; you'll be much appreciated and acknowledged in kind. 8-)

All reviews and PMs have been and continue to be greatly appreciated. :) Many thanks to everyone who takes the time to let me know what they think! (If you want to show your appreciation anonymously, feel free to drop by my AO3 page if you prefer.)

Avatar courtesy of Shutterstock

As there is no series tagging on this site, below is the intended order of my Aeducan series, starring Anais Aeducan:

1. Liquid Crystals
2. Where Stone Meets Steel
3. Like A Mirror
4. Of Stone and Storms

Each story is stand-alone; however, if you enjoy one, why not try the others? :)

A few FF pet peeves (and PSAs), in no particular order:

- Authors who don't mark complete stories as such. I can't count the number of good stories I almost passed up because it looked like they hadn't been updated in months - and then it turned out they were finished! I know it can be hard to accept that the story is over - I've been there - but it's still important to indicate that it is. Do you really want readers to pass over your story because of a simple oversight?

- Improper use of the semicolon. Semicolons and commas are NOT interchangeable, and some people (like me, or any English major, really :P) find their misuse distracting. Here is a helpful, and colorful, illustration of when and how to use semicolons:

- Character-bashing. Love or hate a character as you will. Parody is all in good fun. However, when you only focus on a character's negative attributes and none of the positives, it never ends well - particularly if the perceived "bad" qualities really aren't. (Hint: Sinking your preferred ship does not count.) Isn't it more fun to enjoy characters you like, rather than waste energy on the ones you don't?

- Drabbles and their wildly varying word counts. They are a story told in 100 words; no more, no less (ideally with minimal use of hyphens - like the use of semicolons in 50-sentence fics). Not 150. Not 500. Certainly not 1000. You may think this one's a bit pedantic, perhaps, but it's a peeve nonetheless, so here it is. I used to think I was alone in this annoyance; it turns out I'm not:

- To quote various Mary Sue Litmus Tests around the internet: "DO NOT NAME YOUR CHARACTER AFTER YOURSELF. DO NOT NAME YOURSELF AFTER YOUR CHARACTER. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR EXCEPTION IS." (And if you must, please do us all a favor and don't make it so obvious. Some people do read author profiles!) I'm as annoyed by Sues and Stus as the average fanfic reader, but the sheer transparency of this common trait bugs me most of all.

- Authors who completely alter characters' core personalities, relationships, and established setting rules with the excuse that "it's AU!" No. To quote a certain character: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." If you're going to completely overhaul the setting and characters to suit your needs, just write your own original story. It's one thing to, for instance, tweak a character's background, or to write a story featuring the cast as the staff of a private hospital. Some of my all-time favorite fics are AUs of varying degrees, because it's fun to see my favorite characters in new situations. But if you're going to do something like conveniently forget emotions are like a foreign language to Spock, or that the bond between him, Kirk, and McCoy is unbreakable, or cloak the Enterprise with no plausible explanation besides a hand wave as to why the Federation's flagship is using illegal technology, go back to the drawing board. "What if?" is always a great starting point for a story, but not if it ends up with your audience asking, "What if we could be reading something else - something better?"

- (Somewhat related to the previous point) Changing up a character's canon sexuality for no particular reason other than cheap titillation. Look, I have no problem with smut, or with authors who create AUs where a character's sexuality is different. If done well, the results can be interesting and thought-provoking, and certainly sexuality in real life is highly mutable. But don't have a character just wake up one morning, suddenly realize xe bats for a different team, accept it without question, and go on with xir life. Think about how they would react to that revelation, how the world at large might feel about them. (It sucks that the real world is often less accepting of different sexualities than many fictional ones, but it can provide some fertile ground for discussion.) That said, that's no excuse to pad your story with "gayngst." Find a balance between your character struggling with xir newfound identity (if that's in-character) and being miserable all the bloody time because of it.

- This is more of a berserk button than a pet peeve, but it needs to be said. If you must include rape, suicide, or other sensitive subject matter in your story, give it more than ten seconds of thought. Whether it's in the plot or a character's backstory, ask yourself why it's there. If the answer is along the lines of "to add drama" or "to make [the character] more interesting", think some more. Do your research, and above all put a trigger warning at the beginning. If there's ever a time to worry about what readers will think of your story, this is it. It's certainly possible to deal with such topics tastefully and sensitively, but it does take a lot of work. If you aren't willing to put in that work, start over.

Favorites: As previously stated, take a look at my favorite stories for a small sample of some of the many things I enjoy. As you can see, there's quite a variety! ;) All of these stories are either complete, regularly updated, or leave off at a (moderately) satisfying conclusion, so please feel free to check them out. As to my favorite authors - well, I simply couldn't choose just a few of their finished stories. ;) (And to everyone who's favorited one of my stories - thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed. :)

And now, some wise words from people who are much more interesting than I am:

"We do not care about the words. We care about what the words tell us." - Alatien Teller, The Longest Journey (Ragnar Tornquist)

"It's too bad she won't live; but then again, who does?" - Gaff, Blade Runner

"A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." - Lee Segall

"Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin." - Dr. Warren, Mass Effect

"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes when you fall, you fly." - Todd Faber, Sandman: Fables & Reflections (Neil Gaiman)

"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses, there is at last one which makes the heart run over." - James Boswell

"The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender." - Emil Ludwig

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." - Edith Wharton

"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes." - Kingdom Hearts

"I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things." - Dorothy Parker

"THE MAGIC AND THE DANGER OF FICTION IS THIS: it allows us to see through other eyes. It takes us to places we have never been, allows us to care about, worry about, laugh with, and cry for people who do not, outside of the story, exist. There are people who think that things that happen in fiction do not really happen. These people are wrong." - Neil Gaiman