Hiding fandom in the underwear drawer since 1977

I know. I know. Work continues to be off the rails and I won't be back until regular writing until retirement. I did sign up for the Narnia Fic Exchange, so watch this space. I spend a month in Yellowstone and between wishing I was still back there and my bout with Covid in March, whatever brain cells I had left are not firing in full.

Thorin, my beloved Corgi, has degenerative myelopathy; his last days are coming very, very soon.
In the meantime, we have a new addition, Kili -- which should be pronounced as something other than how I heard it in the Hobbit movies, but whatever. Kee-lee. She's a tiny Pembroke Welsh Corgi and adorable in the way that only puppies can be. Our 6th dog, second Corgi, and first puppy. LOL. Kili is a menace and, to my regret, appears to be smarter than all our previous dogs combined.


Tiny Kili in a pasta bowl weighing out on a kitchen scale at 9 lbs 8 ounces.


Kili sharing a dog bed with a very unenthusiastic Thorin Corgishield.


Kili lying on her back and being so adorable she would stop traffic.




I'm on Blue Sky, not threads or insta. Still lurking on Tumblr but really bad at it (still) and on Discord. I'm rthstewart everywhere including gmail.

So drop a line with your own proof of life, let me know how you're feeling about the 2024 US presidential election, Gaiman, antis, and your latest focus.
I am vaguely hoping that a Harris presidency may inspire me as the Obama presidency did. It launched my return to fandom and, in this case, Narnia fic. I was so full of hope and optimism then -- foolishly assuming we had transcended gender and racial differences. I know, I know. Don't laugh.
But I've not felt hope in a long time. I'll also leave you with this brilliant reminder of November 5, 2020.

snacky is the best and it is her birthday

I did a crackfic gift for Be-themoon, Snacky, Animus_wymris and WingedFlight. Leverage/Narnia xover. yes, really. Complete crack but with a return to the Evil Bankers and a bunch of dangling threads from Harold and Morgan Not A Romance. I was going to finish it up and get the second, concluding chapter done because The Big Thing I've Been Expecting Since November 2015 finally was released. Based on some sleuthing, we thought we weren't going to see it until March but, eh, so that's where I'll be the next 3 months. We got a 120 days to work on it.

I had tons of fun working on this and I'm really looking forward to the actual heist.  Because damn, trying to steal a lot of money from an island stronghold isn't easy when you have to use a rowboat.  There are a zillion spin offs here that are possible and I want to write all of them.  Morgan and Parker discussing exchange rates and being autistic; Parker talking to Rabbits; Hardison determining that Narnians use the imperial system of distance measurement but measure weight by "stone" that does not correspond to any known weight because Helen didn't bring a one pound anything in her pocket, Eliot and Lucy swordfighting (yeah, I lowkey ship it), Eliot and Cook discussing the introduction of precursors to baking soda and baking powder; and so on.

If you would like are looking for new friends and follows, here's a place! I cut and pasted a box before but eh, just copy and paste below what you want to add about yourself -- you don't have to use that format.

<strong>DW username and pronouns</strong>:<br /><strong>Other platforms (DW, Twitter, AO3, Tumblr, etc.)</strong>:<br /><strong>Active/primary interests or fandoms</strong>: (keep this fairly short, so people will read it!)<br /><strong>If you've seen me around, it's probably because</strong>: (how might people have seen you online / in fandom?)<br /><strong>I post about</strong>: (fandom, real life, combination - do for each platform, if you want)<br /><strong>I post/check my feed</strong>: (daily, weekly, twice a year, etc) <br /><strong>I want to find people that post about</strong>: (specific fandoms, fandom in general, books, RL, SJ, etc)<br /><strong>I am most interested in interacting with people on:</strong> (DW, Twitter, Tumblr, etc)<br /><strong>My blog is</strong>: (public, selectively public, friends-only)

I reposted this from Twitter so apologies if you see it there or on Tumblr but I'm kinda all over the place.  Very much at sixes and sevens as this monstrous birthday has me in real disarray. I’ll be in a better place for a thrilling Event later in the month!
But for now, welp, anyone follows me here knows me through fandom going back to mid-90s and especially fanfic (approx 2 mil words over 27 years)  and/or the 3 sentence ficathon. 
To mark this horrific milestone, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear from you, somewhere, anywhere, about something I wrote, did, said, or sponsored that you liked, remember, or that helped. I'm rthstewart everywhere. 

If you see me, you can also lie and tell me I don't look a day over 50.  Or 55.  56.  ...

None of us was downtown today.  Secret Service had closed a lot of buildings starting Tuesday.  I've been so exclusively remote since March I moved out of my office. 


The trade association representing 14,000 small and midsized manufacturers and factory owners, the National Association of Maufacturers, called on the Vice President and Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

So I was trolling for prompts before the holiday and cofax7  suggested something about Star Wars, Beru Whitesun Lars, and aunts, and adventures.

So I wrote something.

A pattern and example (4171 words) by rthstewart
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Beru Whitesun, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Beru Whitesun Lives
Summary:For Cofax, for the prompt of middle aged aunts having adventures, too.

holiday love meme 2020
my thread here


I've never done it before and I've been in such a rotten place, I'm deleting lots of things. So, if you are playing along, link me, OK? I'll go through the threads but it might take a little while. I hope you all are healthy.

Work work work. The 7 days leading up to Mother's Day was 2 AM every night. I am incredibly fortunate to have a job and my privilege is immense. If anyone is interested in a discussion of supply chain logistics, the national stockpile, the Executive Order and fact sheet just released this evening on the national stockpile, "Buy American" and its implications for pharmaceuticals, drug importation, N95 masks from China, and Chloroquine Phosphate, Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate or remdesivir, leave a comment.

Instead, behold, the amazing syrena_of_the_lake has been making some covers for me for The Stone Gryphon. And they are INCREDIBLE. I can't quite figure out how to get the Palace Guard one. It's here.  You can find Syrena's lovely stories here.

Look at these.Hopefully pictures will be behind the cut.


( Gorgeous covers for TSG )

Also, Thorin Corgishield was very needy today as I was trying to pull reopening information from the CDC website.

So for those who have followed me for awhile, you know that I work in the greater DC area and in food and drug regulation and policy.  There was my life prior to March 6 where I was sending cheery emails to clients about going to lunch at the Blue Duck Tavern and getting ready for big presentations on pharmaceutical supply chain regulation and logistics, drug importation, and cannabis. 

And then it hit.  Every day is wrestling with new problems, new urgencies, and conference calls.  So many conference calls with those trying to get food, drugs, and medical products to patients and healthcare professionals.  Invoking force majeure in contracts and helping clients cancel their events and conferences and hoping that the hotels won't be dicks about it and that insurers will pay up when someone actually had the foresight to get event cancellation insurance with a pandemic disease rider.  (And really?  You really think we're going to be able to hold an event at your facility in May when the Army Corps is building a hospital there?  REALLY?) And I'm not on the healthcare delivery side -- which is as grim as you would expect for those advising hospitals and clinics. 

Masks.  So many masks and everyone trying to get them.  As I've typed this, 3 emails on masks on a Saturday morning and I've already had one conference call.  Every night, about 11 PM, I bundle up the day's COVID events and send them out. 

If any of you need information on SBA, payroll protection, and some of the other things in the most recent CARES Act, let me know via email and I can send what I've got. 

Anyway, this is to say that I'm sorry I haven't been there to read your own posts and comments.  With my inbox at over 300 unread DW notifications and about 1,000 posts to the three sentence ficathon, I've given up.  I love you all and wish you all health and safety most of all. 

There are no days anymore, just yesterday, today and tomorrow.  There are only 3 parts to my day, caffeine, workout, alcohol. 

We're fine, so far, though our county has over 500 cases so far.  Periodically, my allergies really bother me and I panic but when they disappear after 2 diphenhydramine tablets, so I know it's just trees having sex.  I got pretty hysterical last night when I couldn't get my microphone to work to play D&D.  Damn it, it works for Skype, Zoom, GoTo Meeting, and Elevate.  WHY WON'T IT WORK WHEN I WANT TO PLAY?

I have noticed a lot of guest readers to my fic and a few comments.  Thanks so much to those that are reading.  It means the world to me when I'm on my 6th conference call of the day and hearing about the dire condition of the med-surg supply chain to see a notification of a comment pop up.  Thank you.  I've found I'm reading my own fics for comfort late at night when I can't sleep because of a shipment of KN95 masks being held up in Anchorage.  Which, arrogant, sure, but that's the way it is right now.  There is yesterday, there is today, and there is tomorrow.  Time to get back to work.

Love you all,
Ruth