who gave the bird a keyboard anyway?

An Incident occurs and the Finwëan brood of Middle Earth are called to defend themselves.

The start of a charming tale of complete silliness told through letters.

@silmarillionepistolary

can i still participate even tho there will not be great advancements on the art piece during that period or should i just wait to particpaate next year

Hi there,

Of course join if you’re interested and have a draft you like. Unless you choose total free rein as a collaborative level with your author, final art drafts are not due until August. Just explain to your author the situation.

Does this ease your mind a little?

The Warhammer 40,000 Summer Fest Exchange is back for 2026!

This fandom event is a Warhammer 40,000/Horus Heresy-focused gift exchange for fanart and fanfiction, hosted on AO3 – you can see previous years' gift collections here: 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025.

Sign up to write a fanfic or create a piece of fanart, and receive a story or artwork in return!

Schedule:

May 15–May 31: Nominate your favourite characters and pairings June 1–June 14: Sign up for the exchange June 14–June 15: Matching and assignments go out August 2: Assignments due – deadline countdown August 15: Works go live (unless delayed for pinch hits) August 22: Creators are revealed; the collection will remain open for treats

All deadlines are 3:59pm GMT | 5:59pm CEST | 11:59am EDT | 8:59am PDT.

👉 You must be 18+ and have an AO3 account to participate.

For information on how to sign up and participate, see the AO3 exchange profile.

Lady Murasaki

Rating: Explicit

Fandom: Warhammer 40,000

Characters: Enkh (White Scar OC), Duilio (Blood Angel OC), Lady Murasaki (Emperor's Children OC)

Ship: Lady Murasaki (EC OC)/Enkh (WS OC)/Duilio (BA OC)

WARNINGS: Slaaneshi corruption, closeted trans character undergoes magical transition, anal, oral, & vaginal sex, light painplay, light Dom/sub, blood drinking, murder of an unnamed character

Enkh and Duilio are Primaris Marines stuck in an unenviable position: recruited to the Deathwatch under the immediate supervision of the galaxy's most incompetently cruel Inquisitor. Sent down to search out what is clearly a Drukhari plot, the two fall into a very different web. The Inquisitor should have called in the Ordo Malleus, not the Ordo Xenos. Enkh and Duilio are welcomed into Lady Murasaki's parlor, and will not be leaving unchanged

As always there would be no My Slashy Valentine without all the amazing writers, old and new, who take on this challenge. Thank you for still signing up when I changed all the deadlines this year.  

Congratulations to all our new writers who completed their first swap: daughter0fdurin, duckwhatduck, emma_and_orlando, Ethele_Feanarion, feyandferal, Flora_lass, hautdesert, InfiniteRiver, inthedarkofthenight, jauneclair, julomaiboulomai, LeetheVix, lordlyliights, luthnethril, rebornflameofthenoldor, skatesfullofsunshine, StormsBreadth, Tar_Eleniel, tombombadildo, until_the_stars_are_all_alight, whirligiguana, and whovianhiddlestoner! Please check out their stories and make them feel welcome. 

Our pinch hitters this round were so wonderful --- shout out to AdmirableMonster, elladansgirl, InfiniteRiver, LeetheVix, Lorinand_Lost, Tehhumi, tombombadildo --- they made sure no one was without a gift ficcie for reveal day. I could not have done it without them.

Thanks always to all our veteran writers who continue to participate, tell their friends and show new participants that this is a fun yearly tradition! Together you all make this swap a vibrant part of the Tolkien community.

And now, for your reading enjoyment…

My Slashy Valentine 2026: The Master List!

AdmirableMonster wrote Our Hands Clasped So Tight for EclecticKefi ♥ AdmirableMonster wrote The crownless again shall be queen for until_the_stars_are_all_alight Aglarien wrote A Most Eventful Journey for Melusine6619 Aprilmoon08 wrote Power of Love for Ignoblebard a_world_of_whimsy wrote The Price Of Defeat - The Price For Life for Harp_of_Gold BaccaratBlack wrote Before They Were Kings for HewerOfCaves below daughter0fdurin wrote And so the Mountain Thawed for Lucigoo89 duckwhatduck wrote the hind at the green altar for whirligiguana EclecticKefi wrote Elegy for StormsBreadth elennalore wrote The Mole and the Serpent for Lanthanum12 elfscribe wrote Lost and Found for Aglarien elladansgirl wrote Songs of the Nightingale for inthedarkofthenight ♥ elladansgirl wrote Days remembered for emma_and_orlando Elleth wrote That Perches in the Soul for ingenious_spark Elronds_Library wrote a riot of shadow and shine for NiennaWept emma_and_orlando wrote The Art of Stating Intention for elladansgirl Ethele_Feanarion wrote It only took two Ages of the World for aprilmoon08 FakeCirilla9 wrote The Shadow of the Oath for hautdesert feyandferal wrote The salt on your lips and the hands that God gave you for InfiniteRiver Flora_lass wrote His Clear Bright Eyes for lordlyliights Harp_of_Gold wrote cut yourself open and let me inside for reindeer_pizza hautdesert wrote The course of our journey here, here where we part for ohboromir HewerOfCaves wrote Rules, Unspoken or Otherwise for luthnethril I_did_not_mean_to wrote I have questions for you for elfscribe IgnobleBard wrote Healing Wound for daughter0fdurin ingenious_spark wrote Slow-Forged for starlightwalking InfiniteRiver wrote Interterrās for mangacrack

♥ InfiniteRiver wrote Where Babies Go To for kitkatkaylie inthedarkofthenight wrote if thine is glory for lynndyre jauneclair wrote that each shall take his freedom for Rian JazTheBard wrote The Two Fairy Princesses for maglor_my_beloved julomaiboulomai wrote Dawn, Daylight, Delight for JazTheBard kitkatkaylie wrote The Peculiarities of Peredhil for Tabru LadyWithaQuill wrote Reunited At Last for Phyncke Lanthanum12 wrote Love's Bitterness for maitimiel LeetheVix wrote Recognition for Tar_Eleniel ♥ LeetheVix wrote No Law Nor Love for jauneclair Lost_inMiddleearth wrote the darkest night will end and the sun will rise for mouse lordlyliights wrote river to bath, hands to hold for tombombadildo Lorinand_Lost wrote Virago for FakeCirilla9 ♥ Lorinand_Lost wrote Kingmaker for jauneclair LuciGoo89 wrote Even in the shadow of the mountain, none are lost for skatesfullofsunshine luthnethril wrote love you with my eyes closed for feyandferal lynndyre wrote Tirolach a Turon for LadyWithaQuill maglor_my_beloved wrote Lady Fair for julomaiboulomai maitimiel wrote Waves of Devotion for Elronds_Library mangacrack wrote The Door Swings Wide for LeetheVix Melusine6619 wrote When It's Love for Ethele_Feanorian mouse wrote Long and Delicate Labour for duckwhatduck NiennaWept wrote the river-gift for Elleth ohboromir wrote Warrior's Bond for Lorinand_Lost phyncke wrote The Wanderer's Lament by the Sea for whovianhiddlestoner rebornflameofthenoldor wrote Pride Goeth Before a Fall for cytryne ♥ red_lasbelin wrote you should take this heart of mine for Flora_lass reindeer_pizza wrote All His Evil Deeds for rebornflameofthenoldor Rian wrote The Descent for Melesta sallysavestheday wrote Atonement for tomefaired skatesfullofsunshine wrote A Love Worth Waiting For starlightwalking wrote An Unexpected Union for I_did_not_mean_to StormsBreadth wrote Intreat me not to leave thee for sallysavestheday tabru wrote Driftwood for ulmondil Tar_Eleniel wrote With a wreath of flowers crowning her head for a_world_of_whimsy ♥ Tehhumi wrote Gone Beyond My Years for elennalore Thinwhitedutchess wrote The flight of a bird has no wings for below_et_almost tomefaired wrote summon forth the wounded night for Thinwhitedutchess tombombadildo wrote Through the Shadows, Through the Swirl for undercat ♥ tombombadildo wrote Though It Touched Him the Nearest for jauneclair until_the_stars_are_all_alight wrote she's calling my name (again) for AdmirableMonster whirligiguana wrote hidden fruits for Lost_inMiddleearth whovianhiddlestoner wrote Carved Antler for BaccaratBlack

—————

♥ denotes a pinch hit!

If you need a link to the entire collection, it is right here: 2026 My Slashy Valentine

Happy (belated) Valentine’s day! Please be sure to thank your writers.  

Red 

Second Chances

He wakes in Valinor, and at first he thinks he is reborn. But he remembers dying fresh as his own undried blood, and he does not remember his soul flying to Mandos. And outside, the Two Trees shine. Something is wrong.

for @tolkientimewarp Day 4: Out of Time! a Finrod time travel fix-it, originally started as a gift for @oopsbirdficced for @innumerable-stars 2022, I'm really glad I had a chance to finally finish it :)

Rating: T | Creator Chose Not To Warn Relationships: Finrod/Amárië, Finrod & Turgon, Finrod/Bëor, Finrod & Maeglin, Finrod & Galadriel, Beren/Lúthien, Finrod & Thingol Characters: Finrod, Amárië, Turgon, Bëor, Maeglin, Aredhel, Galadriel, Beren, Lúthien, Thingol Word count: 2.3k

In These Streets of Blood and Bone

Sunset, Part 1

Fulgrim struggles to help Gascoigne's daughter with the deaths of her parents, and tries to keep her safe.

Rating: Mature

Fandom: Warhammer 40,000, Bloodborne

Characters: Fulgrim (wh40k), Bloodborne Cast

WARNINGS: canon-typical violence, gothic horror

Fulgrim awakens knowing only one thing: his name. An amnesiac thrust into a violent world of beasts and hunters, he must race to discover who he is before the Hunt turns him into someone else entirely, as the Hunt too often does. Great volumes of water serve as a bulwark guarding sleep, and an augur of the eldritch Truth. Overcome this hindrance, and seek what is yours.

See that bit at the bottom? Don't do that. Insert ParamedicGuy.gif going "Don't."

Other malicious spam comments I've gotten seemed designed to make an author question their writing, or outright encourage them to delete their stories from AO3. This one is different, in that it tries to get you to destroy the work on your own computer.

If you ran that command, it basically locates your Documents folder, then deletes everything in it, including all subfolders. It also does it without any prompt, so you have no chance to second guess your actions.

This is just fucking trolling.

Coincidentally, we just did training on a cyberattack similar to this, called a ClickFix attack. You can read about how that works here.

As a general rule, if ANYONE or ANY WEBSITE tells you unsolicited* to do anything in Powershell, CMD RUN, command prompt, shell command, or something similar, DON'T.

*There are legit reasons for running commands in PowerShell or the command prompt, but in those cases you are likely seeking out a solution to a problem you are already experiencing. Don't just run random commands on your computer as recommended by some unlogged-in guest on a fan fiction site.

Always think and consider before taking action, and get a second opinion from a trusted source. When I got this comment I was pretty sure what the command would do, and it took me about three seconds of googling to confirm it.

Hey everybody,

Due to Life Eventsᵀᴹ, I am not going to be able to do the standard MSV timeframe this year. For a Valentine-based swap, the intense-admin for me is December, and the amount of stuff on my plate before end of year is piled high.

But I don't want to skip a year! I look forward to this every year and I know many others do too. I have come up with a revised schedule. Instead of receiving stories on Valentine's day, you will receive your writing prompt on Valentine's day for an early April reveal.

Sign-up Period: January 17th, 2026 to February 1st, 2026 Assignments distributed: by February 14th, 2026 Deadline for first time participants: March 31st, 2026 Deadline for veteran participants: April 4th, 2026 Archive opens: April 11th, 2026

Please mark these dates on your calendar so you can join us for the next round of My Slashy Valentine.

Our goal is to make sure every prompter gets at least one fill. Currently, 10 of 27 prompts have been claimed by 10 of the 17 participating creators. (7 creators have not yet claimed anything; time's a-wasting, folks!) The remaining prompts run the gamut from The Silmarillion to The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit to The Rings of Power, so come have a look. Maybe one of them will tickle your fancy? Or tell a friend. 😉 All signal boosting is much appreciated. ❤️

You can find all the prompts HERE as the prompt meme format doesn't allow for linking to individual prompts.

Claiming a Prompt: Use the "Claim" button next to the prompt you want to claim. (You can find open prompts under "Prompts" in the sidebar.) Several people can claim the same prompt. You can also claim a prompt without having submitted any of your own.

If you are new to the format, AO3 has a helpful FAQ here.

This year's timeline (2025):

Prompt Posting: November 5th to 27th.

Claiming: November 28th to December 28th.

Collection Open for Posting: November 28th to December 28th.