duniazade

I never had the pleasure of meeting Leni in person, but she was a kind and helpful friend on Livejournal and a fine writer with a very distinctive voice.

I will always remember the description of an ecstatic field of blue poppies in her story The Flower of Cities. Wherever you are, Leni, I hope there are fields of blue poppies.

I'll miss you very much.

I have become your client many years ago because your product was convenient: any untrained employee could slip a coffee pod into a slot. No need for exact dosage and brewing procedure.

The quality of your product is correct, without ever reaching that of the marvelous freshly ground coffee I get from the coffee merchant round the corner. Your prices are excessively high, both in absolute terms and by comparison with similar products. So the deciding factor in buying from you is, I repeat, convenience, which includes speedy delivery and reliable customer service.

However, when you lose my payment cheque, block my account without any warning, subsequently lose the letter in which I provided proof that I had payed more than two months ago, and fail to offer any apology, I feel the convenience factor has taken a sharp dive.

Nor does your website improve matters. Having to waddle through two slow-loading pages of steaming cups, soft-blurred orchids and twenty-years-ago George Clooneys before accessing the order or contact area doesn’t make me feel special; it makes me feel like a hapless patient leafing through worn magazines in the waiting room of a third-rate dentist.

I’m fed up with your bloated ilk slapping a glossy image on a perfectly mundane but overpriced product and trying to convince us that by buying said product we access a privileged elite.

No love and no respect,

Your former customer

This story was written for the 2012 run of snapecase.

Title: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
Author: duniazade
Beta Reader: melusin_79
Length: 5900
Rating: R
Summary: "We are only interested in willing cooperation, Mr. Snape."


( Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree )

And I'm reposting them here, with likes and dislikes, for the greater convenience of whoever gets them.

( my prompts for the sshg_exchange )

At long last I have resumed reading and reviewing at snapecase. As I didn't quite remember where I had stopped (the hullabaloo of these last months has pretty much reduced my brain to mush) I took it backwards, and the very first story - that is the last one of the fest - made me fall on my knees.

The story is The Lost World.

The author is perverse_idyll, and I worship her.

It's also the first time that I really understand the why of Snarry, more specifically why Snape would need Harry - and not just as an echo of Lily.

I want to die human.

This fic is too beautiful for my words. Just go read.

Congratulations to all my friends who won hpfanficfanpoll awards for the Spring 2012 round: albalark, atdelphi, bethbethbeth, kellychambliss, shefa, miss_morland, perverse_idyll, shiv5468, tetleythesecond and therealsnape.

I want to thank those of you who voted for my story: I’m very happy and flattered that SSESSTINA won Best Comedy, and I also want to thank again melusin_79, beta-of-dreams, for her invaluable help and the lovely opaljade for the fantastic prompt. ♥

( banner under the cut )

*wipes tears of mirth*

I had prompted iulia_linnea with: Millicent Bulstrode, Hermione, Severus; code, cats, victory.

She has promptly delivered 600 words of pure delight: The Society for the Protection of Feline Beings.

The three characters are just perfect. Go read, don't miss the fun!

I'm on the Living like a Muggle quiz!

Thank you mollyssister, thank you morethansirius!



*stares*

*drools*

Severus is telling it as it is:

If you are interested in participating, either as an author or as an artist, please answer THIS POLL before the 15 January.

The two previous rounds of the Snuna Exchange have yielded exquisite, wildly creative fic and art, and I'm sure this round would be just as exciting.

Come join us in the moonlight!



(I promise to write smut)