I am a Mediævalist and Art Historian (mid-1960s vintage), and Aspie, working in academia and academic admin. History, literature, art, politics & c & c are my main passions. I'm a published non-fiction author under my real name: I've written a historical biography, edited 18C letters (Scottish and Russian) for publication, and numerous articles on a range of subjects. I now regard myself as a stateless person as part of my identity has been taken from me against my will. Civis romana sum: I regard myself as a citizen of the Empire in the "one brief shining moment" of 361-63 CE.

I have written fic on a wide range of themes and fandoms. Many of the fandoms for which I write are ones where I do not share the original narrative's/author's values and viewpoint. I suspect it's because they anger me sufficiently to make me want to rework the characters and stories from another perspective. This is especially the case with historical fiction/film or historically-inspired fantasy based on time-periods on which I've worked. Killing characters to avoid dealing with the consequences of difficult scenarios (Hugo, Hardy, Tolkien, & al.) strikes me as a cop-out; ditto the use of fantasy 'curses' to explain traumatised characters having breakdowns (Bird & Tolkien, and also the Tolkien-based Jackson films). And yes, I can get quite tetchy in the fora (hell hath no fury like an Aspie on a mission!), because I don't like people, including the original authors, sticking the boot gratuitously into characters I love.

Hurt/comfort is a recurrent theme of mine, rooted in repeated early exposure to a Baroque St Sebastian in the art gallery I used to visit as a child, and to old-fashioned swashbuckling films on TV, where the hero nearly always got his shirt off to be tended by the heroine at some point in the story. Doomed, damaged, but beautiful young men or women (or, for that matter, middle-aged Dwarves) in need of rescue and nursing back to health are guaranteed to inspire me…

To the 'unco' guid': sometimes characters behave badly or do stupid or nasty things. This doesn't mean a writer (original one or me) endorses it. So don't get on your high horse about it. I laid my NDdP fic aside (though I intend to return to it), partly because I was sick of people whinging about a character being 'immoral', when one of the points of the story is that this character is going to learn about serious relationships. Uncomplicated 'feel-good' romance isn't my scene, so if you want that, look elsewhere. I like characters to have happy endings, but they have to earn them.

In the case of Tolkien, I don't feel I need to respect his moralising, given that he failed what is, for me, one of the great moral 'litmus tests' of his time (Spain) because of his reactionary religious and social views (and yes, he was highly reactionary even for his generation – my under-educated grandparents were far more forward-looking). If a writer sympathises with those who killed people like me, well – I may enjoy using his world-building, but I don't have to share his moral vision. The films still further dodged moral complexity and ambiguity, culminating in a Hobbitwash that would have upset me at 6, and upsets me even more over 40 years later.

A few other bugbears:

I just find I need more time to finish everything: real life can be busy, untidy, and of late, has involved too many people close to me dying.