sorry, you used to be able to dance here

Happy Monday!

Now that Blue Castle Book Club is over we are excited to announce TWO upcoming fan challenges:

Fic challenge: @mollywog has set up a collection on Ao3. During the month of August interested authors can upload to the collection here. Deadline to submit is August 31st, 11pm, eastern time. Fics will become visible on Sept 1 and remain anonymous for 2 weeks. Read, comment, and try to guess who wrote each! Names will be revealed on Sept 14th.

100 Fanworks challenge: 2026 is the 100th anniversary of The Blue Castle and we want to see if we can get 100 new* fanworks! Send works or links to works via the ask box on this blog ( @dustpileofherown ).

(All fics submitted to the fic challenge automatically count towards the 100 count.)

We only have two “rules”:

Please no ai. Look we aren’t gonna enforce this but just don’t be a dick. It’s literally fandom - why feed that to AI? (I’ve never seen this community use ai for fanworks so this almost didn’t have to be said.)

*Fanwork must be newly shared to tumblr/ao3 in calendar year 2026. New additions to previously shared works DO count as well (ex: publishing an update to an old fic). You can also post something you made years ago but have never shared before with the Maudience. Please repost things you shared earlier this year too! We were not keeping count during book club.

What counts as fanwork? Almost anything! A playlist, a painting, a craft, a fic, a photo of a billboard that reminded you of the book, a recipe collection, a sewing project, etc.

Angst Dealer: If it doesn’t emotionally destroy their readers, did they even write it?

Slow-Burn Specialist: 100k words and they haven’t even touched hands

Smut Goblin: Plot? What plot?

Chaos Conductor: No one asked for a cross over between The Hunger Games and Divergent, but here we are

Canon Wizard: “What if this one tiny thing changed and everything was different?”

The Procrastinator: Has a playlist, Pinterest board, and outline for their fic but never actually writes

Lord Crow

‘He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.’

- A Clash of Kings (George R. R. Martin)

Everyone wants Jon to be their son. That may well be the most frequently recurring motif in his storyline. Benjen makes it explicit in Jon’s very first POV chapter…

“If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son.”

Jon felt anger rise inside him. “I’m not your son!”

Benjen Stark stood up. “More’s the pity.“ 

…Jeor Mormont all but makes it explicit later in that first book…

“This is Valyrian steel, my lord,” he said wonderingly. His father had let him handle Ice often enough; he knew the look, the feel.

“It is,” the Old Bear told him. “It was my father’s sword, and his father’s before him. The Mormonts have carried it for five centuries. I wielded it in my day and passed it on to my son when I took the black.”

He is giving me his son’s sword. 

…and Donal Noye, Maester Aemon, Qhorin Halfhand, Mance Rayder, and Tormund Giantsbane all have their own versions of this. They’re mentors, of course, probing and challenging and teaching (yes, even Tormund) but beyond that, there’s always a definite fatherly and generational tone to the dynamic; they’re all trying to pass something on to Jon before it’s too late. All the Halfhand’s lessons lead to him trusting Jon to kill him and carry on the mission. Mance clearly sees himself in Jon (and Jon deliberately leans into that) and Jon in a sense takes on his mission of bringing the wildlings south of the Wall. Tormund…well, Tormund likes Jon, and wants him to be happy, so much so that he doesn’t even pretend to be angry about Jon flying back to his fellow crows. 

But none of these relationships are quite what Jon needs and is looking for. Again, Jon has to kill Qhorin, and turn on his wildling Dads, etc. Morever, Jon’s always comparing them all to Ned, who failed to pass on something very, very important to Jon before he died. It’s an open wound, and its influence is visible in how Jon feels about every other father figure he encounters. 

So: does Stannis count among this number of almost-fathers, the not-quite-Neds? You tell me.

“Qhorin Halfhand commanded me to join the wildlings. He knew they would make mekill him to prove myself, and told me to do whatever they asked of me. The woman was namedYgritte. I broke my vows with her, but I swear to you on my father’s name that I never turned mycloak.” 

“I believe you,” the king said. 

That startled him. “Why?” 

Stannis snorted. “I know Janos Slynt. And I knew Ned Stark as well. Your father was no friendof mine, but only a fool would doubt his honor or his honesty. You have his look.” 

“Why do you think I abandoned Dragonstone and sailed to the Wall,Lord Snow?” 

“I am no lord, sire. You came because we sent for you, I hope. Though I could not say why youtook so long about it.” 

Surprisingly, Stannis smiled at that. “You’re bold enough to be a Stark.” 

“His Grace is growing fond of you.”

“I can tell. He only threatened to behead me twice.”

He glanced at the letter again. I will save your sister if I can. A surprisingly tender sentiment from Stannis…

- Had zero stations for water on the 26 mile (42 km) course

- Accidentally gave North American competitor Tom Hicks a cocktail made of egg whites, brandy, and actual fucking rat poison

- Had a guy come into the race late wearing a beret and cutoff slacks, sneak into an apple orchard during the race because no food had been given to him for 40 hours, eat rotten apples, projectile vomit onto the track, fall asleep for hours, and finish in fourth place OVERALL because most of the other runners collapsed of exhaustion or injuries

- Conducted the race on a dusty road, which caused so much dust to be kicked into the air that an American runner somehow inhaled enough to tear his STOMACH LINING open

- Accidentally released feral dogs onto the track