Into a Bar and Smallfandom fest

intoabar is opening for sign-ups on Sunday 5 May.

The Ficathon Goes into a Bar involves a randomised crossover fic. You choose a favourite character from any fandom and then choose 4 other fandoms (not character) and the mod will give you a random character from one of those 4.

It's clearer from the 2023 sign-up example but you'll need to wait for the 2024 signup post to join the fun! You can write, make art, or create another kind of fanwork.

There are no penalties for not finishing anything, and no assigned posting dates, this is a low-pressure challenge.

I've completed fanworks for the community eight times :) You can see the 2023 masterpost of fanworks posted during the last event.

smallfandomfest is opening again, now the Small Fandom Bang round is closed. This is a " a prompt-based bi-annual fic/art fest for small fandoms. The fest runs May-July and Nov-Jan."

You can prompt, and submit fills for prompts, in any small fandom. You may fill your own prompts. You can create fic or art. Small fandoms are those which have fewer than 2000 works posted to AO3.

The prompt submission post has details on the rules.

Fandom 50: Babylon 5

Thanks to inspiration from kitarella_imagines I'm doing Babylon 5 this week!

Babylon 5 is a sci-fi series by J. Michael Straczynski,which began in 1994, and ran for five 22-episode seasons.

"The series follows the human military staff and alien diplomats stationed on a space station, Babylon 5, built in the aftermath of several major inter-species wars as a neutral ground for galactic diplomacy and trade... Ten years before the series is set, Earth barely escaped destruction by the technologically superior Minbari, who sought revenge after an Earth starship unwittingly killed their leader during first contact, only for them to unexpectedly surrender on the brink of victory. " wiki

I enjoyed the series, and remember the ending didn't make me hate it.

I was lucky enough to attend a B5 convention at the NEC back in the day. I've got fanzines for the show, one of which was focussed on the amazing female characters. While there were some great male characters too I'm going to include vid clips from 2 of the outstanding characters, Susan Ivanova and Delenn.

You should listen to Ivanova; starting at 3:17 is the Babylon 5 mantra

Watch on YouTube

Ivanova is Death Incarnate:

Watch on YouTube

There's also Ivanova: No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow

Don't mess with Delenn:

Watch on YouTube

From the vid description: "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else." Season 03 - Episode 10 - Severed Dreams RIP Mira Furlan 2021.

And now I'm saddened that I hadn't heard about Mira Furlan's death; she also appeared on "Lost" as Danielle Rousseau. I knew of Jeff Conaway (of 'Grease' fame), Michael O'Hare, and Andreas Katsulas. Jason Carter who portrayed the ranger Marcus Cole is still around and occasionally working. I don't have the heart to check on the rest of the cast.