Exchange reminder, and a WIP teaser

[vulgarweed]

Just a reminder to everyone that the Good Omens Holiday Exchange opened for signups yesterday, and will remain open until the 30th. We have ten people's prompts/requests already in our List (anonymized for your perusal). Lots of really cool ideas already this year, I'm very excited.

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Meanwhile, htebazytook and I are having so much fun it should be illegal, working on our collaborative story. Yes, the Appalachian!Sherlock AU, the one we call "The Bone Fiddle" to its face and "A Study in Redneck" behind its back. We're at about the 20k-word mark now, which means it's okay to talk about it a little now. It's definitely a real thing that is happening. There will be murder ballads, square dancing, evil coal companies, the Greenbrier resort and its government secret, deer hunting, tobacco-chewing, a serial killer, and definitely slash.

Here, have an Easter egg:



PRESS RELEASE FROM RCA RECORDS NASHVILLE, APRIL 1974
The controversial new queen of country music, Irene Adler, who has scandalized and delighted audiences with her suggestive hits such as "I Misbehave" and "The Woman Who Beat You," is taking an old-fashioned turn for her next record. She'll be returning to her roots in the Kentucky hills, where as a little girl she fell in love with the ballad tradition and its sad and suspenseful tales of love and death.


Voice of the Hillside Graves, Irene Adler, RCA 1974

It's not that I'm not proud of the challenging, daring modern country sound I've helped to forge, but we all know how important it is to remember our roots. None of us would be where we are if not for the traditions of our ancestors, and this is a very personal album for me. When I was a little girl in the hills of eastern Kentucky, the songs I always loved best were the ones that told stories. I've included some of my favorites here for you. Now, the stories they tell aren't always happy ones, and some are downright heartbreaking—but that's life for you, and death. We take the good with the bad, and we can't be afraid of the dark. I hope there's a little message of hope for you here, though, and I certainly hope y'all enjoy my little versions of these great old songs (and some newer ones too). -I.A.

Side 1

1. “Rose Conley” (trad)
2. “Would You Lay With Me (In A Field of Stone)” (D.A. Coe)
3. “Knoxville Girl” (trad)
4. “Young Hunting” (trad)
5. “Poor Ellen Smith” (trad)
6. “My Life's in a Picture” (I.Adler)

Side 2

7. “Long Black Veil” (D.Dill, M. Wilkin)
8. “The Dream of the Miner's Child” (trad)
9. “Mattie Groves” (trad)
10. “Child Owlet” (trad)
11. “Two Sisters/The Wind and the Rain” (trad)
12. “Peace in the Valley” (T. Dorsey)

Musicians: Roy Milton Huskey (bass), Larrie Londin (drums), Harold Bradley (guitar), Shot Jackson (Dobro, pedal steel), Ray Edenton (mandolin), Tommy Jackson (fiddle except track 11), S.H. (fiddle on “Two Sisters/Wind and Rain”)

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(authors' note: those are the names of real Nashville session players from the '70s. Mostly.)



For me, one of the very best parts of AUs is the worldbuilding. Those little explosions of epiphany you get when you're recasting a character's role or figuring out how a certain detail would fit in this universe. htebazytook and I really like the way each other thinks! Bouncing ideas off each other is the engine that's fueling this whole crazy coal train, I could never have gotten this far by myself.

We've created a fictional county and town (and we apologize to the real West Virginia counties of Raleigh, Mercer, and Wyoming, which I think are the ones that lose territory to make room for it) but it's very much like some very real places.

I haven't enjoyed writing this much in a long time.

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad! I am too.