fanweeklymod: (Default)
FandomWeekly Mod ([personal profile] fanweeklymod) wrote in [community profile] fandomweekly2025-12-10 10:22 pm

[#282 | Catharsis] Results Post

Here are this week's votes tallied, and below the cut are our winners for Challenge #282 – Catharsis!

This week's finalists are... )

Total Challenge Words Written: 2533

Congratulations to both of you, and thank you to everyone who took the time to cast their votes! [personal profile] autobotscoutriella will be making this week’s banners, so keep an eye out for those next week.

You may now post your Challenge 282 entries to any additional communities, blogs, archives or sites as you'd like! We also have a FandomWeekly AO3 Collection if you'd like to add your stories there!
fancyflautist: (Editor 3)
fancyflautist ([personal profile] fancyflautist) wrote in [community profile] su_herald2025-12-10 09:47 pm

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, December 10

Buffy: They have cheerleading coaches?
Amy: Oh, yeah! Don't you have? I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night.
Buffy: Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide.

~~The Witch~~




[Drabbles & Short Fiction]


[Chaptered Fiction]

  • AO3 Logo
    • Claimed Beyond Mercy, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike/Angelus, E) by DianeRose2016
    • This Cheer's Girl, Chapter 12 (Crossover with Bring It On, M) by QuillBard
    • Through the Rift, Chapter 16 (Cordelia/Oz, M) by LittleRayOfPureBlack
    • A Hellmouth Christmas, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Giles, E) by The_Crazy_Knight
    • Girl's Girl, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, E) by LadyInQuest
    • Red Xandra: Season Two, Chapter 38 (Ensemble, T) by Kickaha
    • HeartstringsChapter 8 (Andrew/Warren, E) by Mishafer
  • EF Logo
    • In the Dark, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by NotYourGrave
    • Who Watches the Watchers, Chapter 34 (Buffy/Spike, R) by blue_sweater_weather
    • The Reaping Stone, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Sorilkad
    • 19, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Melme1325
  • TTH Logo
    • Middle Son, Chapter 32 (Crossover with NCIS and the OC, FR18) by Angelfirenze
    • Store Brand Jimmies, Chapter 17 (Multiple crossings, FR15) by jarinmyheartinmyjar
  • Sunnydale After Dark Logo
    • Lights, Camera, Kiss - Chapter 3, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Dusty

[Images, Audio & Video]


[Reviews & Recaps]


[Fandom Discussions]


Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

soc_puppet: A calendar page for January 2024 with emojis on various dates (Mood Theme in a Year)
Socchan ([personal profile] soc_puppet) wrote in [community profile] fictional_fans2025-12-11 01:57 am

Mood Theme in a Year Returns!

[community profile] moodthemeinayear is coming back in 2026 with a new twist: Creating a custom mood theme can now earn you Dreamwidth points!

Mood Theme in a Year is a community that takes a laid-back approach to creating a custom mood theme. If you've always wanted to create your own mood theme (those little images that pop up when you select something from the drop-down "Mood" menu when posting), this is a great place to do it! Take your time creating graphics for anywhere between 15 and 132 moods, either following the community's suggested schedule or going at your own pace. (Though you need to make a minimum of 18 graphics to earn any paid time.)

The "official" schedule starts again from the beginning on January 1st, but you can jump in at any time during the year; feel free to challenge yourself as well with Bingo cards or the Mood Theme in a Month calendars! Learn more in the community pinned post or profile.

I hope to see you there!
flareonfury: (Jessica Jones)
Stephanie ([personal profile] flareonfury) wrote in [community profile] 100fandoms2025-12-10 08:21 pm

Prompt edge | Daredevil: Born Again | Rooftop

Title: Rooftop
Fandom: Daredevil: Born Again
Pairing: implied Jessica Jones/Matt Murdock (could be read as gen)
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: Language. Hints to Born Again Season 1, but no real spoilers
Summary: Matt & Jessica meet up on a rooftop.
Notes: Written for [community profile] mcu100 prompt Lights and the monthly pairing challenge Jessica/Matt. Also written for [community profile] 100fandoms prompt edge.
[...Table...]


Rooftop....
Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books ([syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed) wrote2025-12-10 07:00 pm

Links: Excel, Sophie Kinsella, & More

Posted by Amanda

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.Welcome back!

I’ll be on vacation in about a week and it doesn’t feel real. Like I know it’s on the calendar, but I have so many things to get down between now and then that it hasn’t hit me yet. You know what I mean?

What are your holiday plans looking like?

Content warning for the discussion of cancer and death below.

Author Sophie Kinsella has died at age 55. In 2022, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. She was such a powerhouse and really shaped the chick-lit genre. Do you have a favorite book of hers?

Heather M. let us know that Tallahassee, FL is getting a romance bookstore! Love Story Book Co. will have its grand opening this weekend. Right now, they have an Instagram and Facebook page. I lived in Tally for my undergrad and am interested in seeing how the store will do in a college town.

If you live in Minneapolis, did you see the giant pencil sharpening over the summer? If so, tell us everything!

Did you now that Excel is an esport now?

Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books ([syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed) wrote2025-12-10 04:30 pm

Alyssa Cole, Holiday Romance, & More

Posted by Amanda

Promise Me Sunshine

RECOMMENDED: Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone is $1.99! Fingers crossed this isn’t a leftover KDD from yesterday. I loved this book and it was my first Bastone. It’s on my list for the best releases of 2025.

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of… a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Looking for Group

Looking for Group by Alexis Hall is $1.99! I believe this skews more toward New Adult, and features characters who fall in love through their gaming identities. Have you read this one?

From the USA Today bestselling author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL and HUSBAND MATERIAL comes a charming New Adult LGBTQIA+ romance perfect for fans of Heartstopper.

Drew’s always prided himself on being the “right” kind of nerd. He plays sports, has a solid group of friends, and never had any problem talking to girls. Sure, he spends time playing Heroes of Legend, the biggest MMORPG on the planet, but it’s just a fun hobby, not his identity. Falling for someone in a video game? Not his style.

Until it is.

Enter witty, kind, razor-sharp, and a healer who’s saved Drew’s virtual skin more times than he can count. She’s also, turns out, a boy in real life. The realization knocks Drew off-balance, but it doesn’t take long for him to figure out the simple truth—he likes Kit, no matter Kit’s gender.

The real challenge? Kit’s reality is leagues apart from Drew’s. Being online is his life, and while he’s willing to come out of his shell an inch at a time, there’s such a wide gulf between them that Drew’s left can love truly bridge the distance…or are they fated to remain in separate worlds forever?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

How to Catch a Queen

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole is 99c! This is the first book in Cole’s Runaway Royals spin-off series. It has a new cover design for a trade paperback release. I don’t mind illustrated covers as much as the community does (daresay I even like them!), but this one feels soulless.

An arranged marriage leads to unexpected desire, in the first book of Alyssa Cole’s Runaway Royals series…

When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong.

A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love. Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her.

By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion. When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Make the Season Bright

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake is $1.99! This came out October of last year. This is a Kindle Daily Deal, so grab this one immediately if you’re interested.

Two exes find themselves stuck at the same house for Christmas in this holiday romance by Ashley Herring Blake, USA Today bestselling author of Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date.

It’s been five years since Charlotte Donovan was ditched at the altar by her ex-fiancée, and she’s doing more than okay. Sure, her single mother never checks in, but she has her strings ensemble, the Rosalind Quartet, and her life in New York is a dream come true. As the holidays draw near, her ensemble mate Sloane persuades Charlotte and the rest of the quartet to spend Christmas with her family in Colorado—it is much cozier and quieter than Manhattan, and it would guarantee more practice time for the quartet’s upcoming tour. But when Charlotte arrives, she discovers that Sloane’s sister Adele also brought a friend home—and that friend is none other than her ex, Brighton.

All Brighton Fairbrook wanted was to have the holliest, jolliest Christmas—and try to forget that her band kicked her out. But instead, she’s stuck pretending like she and her ex are strangers—which proves to be difficult when Sloane and Adele’s mom signs them all up for a series of Christmas dating events. Charlotte and Brighton are soon entrenched in horseback riding and cookie decorating, but Charlotte still won’t talk to her. Brighton can hardly blame her after what she did.

After a few days, however, things start to slip through. Memories. Music. The way they used to play together—Brighton on guitar, Charlotte on her violin—and it all feels painfully familiar. But it’s all in the past and nothing can melt the ice in their hearts…right?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

forestofglory: E. H. Shepard drawing of Christopher Robin reading a book to Pooh (Default)
forestofglory ([personal profile] forestofglory) wrote2025-12-10 11:35 am

DecRecs 2025 days 6-10

Here's the last several days of DecRecs!

Day 6
I am sick to day but I don't want to miss #DecRecs so you are getting an old favorite "Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

It's a delightful short story featuring fandom, friendship and robot pals!

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/

Day 7
I'm still not feeling great today so another old favorite for #decRecs "The Witches of Athens" by Lara Elena Donnelly is one of my comfort reads. It's everything that I want cozy SFF to be. Featuring sisterhood, coffee shops, and queer romance

http://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/the-witches-of-athens/

And since I mentioned cozy SFF this seems like a good time to link back to the piece I wrote about cozy SFF earlier this year -- "Domestic Labor and Community Building Rec List"

https://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2025/05/29/domestic-labor-and-community-building-rec-list.html

Day 8
Doing a little better today so I want to talk about my favorite drama I watched this year for #DecRecs
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung! It's a historical kdrama about a young woman who becomes a historian -- one of the people charged with writing down everything that happens in court for the historical record. It's so so good!

Things I love about Rookie Historian:
*It's thematically about history and why it matters!
*Young women succeeding at traditionally masculine jobs
*female friendship!
*it depicts but doesn't endorse monarchy
*The ML is a princess coded chaos mupet and I love him

Day 9
Since I just posted and annotated bibliography todays #DecRecs has to be Zotero!
Zotero is a free citation manager! It's great! I'm not an academic and am not writing papers for publication but I love it!
I have a lot of PDFs and they aren't always easy to sort through, but Zotero make it easy for me to find things! I can tag them and search.
I also love that I can drag and drop and Zotero will pick up any meta data!

Zotero is a great tool for fic research. I've used it to create bibliographies for several fics now (including an annotated bibliography for my most recent fic)
I generally create tag for each fic as go along and it makes it easy to find stuff again.

Day 10
Today for #DecRecs I want to rec Intergalactic Mixtape! This a SFF newsletter that my friend Renay started this year! It's got links to interesting articles and reviews, smart thoughts and recs! It's joy to get it in my inbox every week!

https://buttondown.com/intergalacticmixtape
A Humble Peddler of Weres ([syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed) wrote2025-12-10 11:20 am

I am finally catching up with all the comments I got while I was in Scotland/recovering and just&hel

thenightetc:

Scene from the fic Batmuppet by @thebibliosphere. Go read it!

I am finally catching up with all the comments I got while I was in Scotland/recovering and just found this one (and a bunch of others) with fanart of this scene and I have been losing it. I love that he’s very much 90s Kevin Conroy Batman (aka the best Batman) Thank you so much 😂

spikedluv: (winter: mittens by raynedanser)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-12-10 10:36 am

Wednesday Reading Meme

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: And to All a Good Bite (Andy Carpenter Series) by David Rosenfelt and Framed in Death (In Death Series) by J.D. Robb.


What I am Currently Reading: The Serpent on the Crown (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have a library book out, so hopefully that.




Book 108 of 2025: And to All a Good Bite (Andy Carpenter Series) (David Rosenfelt)

I enjoyed this book! spoilers )

I don't know why, but I have a soft spot for the Christmas-themed stories in this series. This one was very good; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥




Book 109 of 2025: Framed in Death (In Death Series) (J.D. Robb)

I enjoyed this! spoilers )

This was a good story and I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥
3am: (ornaments)
Graphics by 3am ([personal profile] 3am) wrote in [community profile] icons2025-12-10 08:53 am
Entry tags:

Christmas Cartoon Icons!

❄️🎁🎄 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌 🎄🎁❄️


9 Christmas Cartoon Icons
devinwolfi: (BaG)
devinwolfi ([personal profile] devinwolfi) wrote in [community profile] fictional_fans2025-12-10 09:42 am

EVENT: Be A Goldfish: A Multifandom Multimedia Microbang

Be A Goldfish 2026: 1 Jan to 28 Feb 2026
Description: A multifandom, multimedia, make-a-thon! Contributors are encouraged to share multiple works throughout (though not required!), as well as leave many comments on any and all fanworks shared throughout.

There are no sign-ups, check-ins, or discord servers. This is all very low-stakes, go-at-your-own-pace fun. For anyone interested in a bit of structure, there will be a completely optional punch card that you can mark off weekly if you leave a comment on a work or share one of your own. Additionally, we have provided an optional series of weekly prompts in the hopes of inspiring you to experiment creatively and find new fannish heights!


All fandoms are allowed: From megafandoms like Star Trek and Tolkien to that one canceled-too-soon series from the 80s that only you and your closest mutual know about because you're the one who told them about it in the first place, everything that has ever given you that fannish itch is both allowed and highly encouraged (RPF included).

All mediums are allowed: fic, art, meta, web weaves, gifs, playlists, food, fiber or paper crafts, etc. Very multi, very media, very wow!

All text-based entries must be 1,000 words or less, hence the micro aspect of this “bang.” We’re especially encouraging things like drabbles, poetry, ficlets, and of course, non-fic fanworks.

Schedule: 1 January - 28 February 2026
Links: [community profile] beagoldfish, [tumblr.com profile] bag-bang, our 2026 AO3 Collection, and our FAQ

Come join our community and/or drop us a follow on tumblr and, if you feel so inspired, ring in the new year with your fellow fans!

Our poster! )
osprey_archer: (yuletide)
osprey_archer ([personal profile] osprey_archer) wrote2025-12-10 08:13 am

Wednesday Reading Meme

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Ngaio Marsh’s Tied Up in Tinsel, which is actually a reread, which I realized fairly early on when the foppish country house owner explains that he’s staffed the place with murderers who have served their time. Just oncers, no more dangerous than the average man on the street, and anyway how else is he supposed to staff a country house given the servant problem in 1970s Britain? But I kept going, because Ngaio Marsh is always a good time, and also this book prominently features Troy who just happens to be at the country house to paint said foppish owner when the murder occurs… A Troy book is always especially a good time.

Maud Hart Lovelace’s The Trees Kneel at Christmas is set in Park Slope, where one of my friends lives, so every few pages I was shrieking “I know that place! I’ve crossed that street!” So naturally I loved the book, haha. Our heroine Afifi hears a story from her grandmother about how the trees kneel at Christmas back home in Lebanon, and becomes determined to walk to Prospect Park at midnight on Christmas Eve to see if the trees kneel in America, too.

I checked out Ruth Crawford Seeger’s 1953 American Folksongs for Christmas purely because it was illustrated by Barbara Cooney, but found it unexpectedly fascinating. Seeger (stepmother of Pete Seeger) was, among other things, a collector of folk music, and this book is full of songs I’ve never even heard of, from the tradition of all-night Christmas Eve church singalongs, often in the South, where people would gather and sing till dawn.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve started Tasha Tudor’s Take Joy, which is a compilation of Christmas stories/poems/carols etc illustrated by Tudor. The second story is Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the world’s saddest pine tree. In the woods, the pine is too entirely focused on growing bigger (big enough to be a Christmas tree!) to ever feel happy. Then it’s cut down to be a Christmas tree, and it’s taken to a house and covered with ornaments and candles, and it’s all very strange and confusing, but the pine tree thinks that it will be able to enjoy these celebrations once it gets used to them… except of course its life as a Christmas tree lasts for just one night, and then it’s tossed in the attic and dried out for firewood.

What I Plan to Read Next

As I feared, I’m already running low on Christmas chapter books. However, Christie has a Poirot Christmas book and a Miss Marple that’s set at Christmas (although not perhaps a Christmas Book), and I have been meaning to to a Miss Marple, so…

If you have any other classic mystery Christmas recs, let me know!
cimorene: Spock with his hands on his hips, looking extremely put out (frowny face)
Cimorene ([personal profile] cimorene) wrote2025-12-10 02:43 pm
Entry tags:

Sandnes skeins are definitely designed to pull from the outside and it's inconvenient!

I was just getting really annoyed thinking about how it is not hard at all to wind your own center-pull yarn cake, so why can't mass-produced yarn balls pull from the center? (They can - there are some brands that do - but most of them don't work very well.) I got annoyed enough to just try a websearch for my question and found this forum discussion:

This is a very basic question, but

"...do you prefer pulling yarn from the inside of a skein or the outside? And why? I usually pull from the inside, but the other day I decided to try the outside for a swatch. I have been used to “untwisting” yarn as I knit, but this time it was ridiculous. I ended up winding the skein into a ball from the inside before trying again. (I have a ball winder, but don’t usually use it for hand knitting projects.) [...]"

[Responder B]: "You're correct, it all has to do with the twist of your yarn. Most commercial yarns are meant to be pulled from the inside, but there are so many yarns out there, that is not a rule set in stone. You obviously added more twist when you tried using your yarn from the outside. A yarn butler would help that problem because it allow the skein to roll off the skein rather than it unrolling and slipping off the end which adds a twist. Some low twist yarns or singles yarn you have to be very careful with otherwise you will completely untwist it and it will pull apart while working. Yarn bowls can be helpful with controlling twist as well."


Oh, what. Oh, UGH, that's so annoying! That makes sense, I guess. It just annoys me.

  • Pulling from the center seems more convenient in every respect to me, so why would you design it deliberately the other way? Obviously this isn't self-evident and there must be a lot of people who think it makes more sense or is more convenient to pull from the outside. I hate when my strong preferences are outliers like this because everything is working against me.


  • what the hell is a 'yarn butler'? What an annoying term. I could google it but I didn't.


  • I know about yarn bowls and I always found the concept a little annoying too, because I carry my knitting around in a bag and the bowl is hard, larger than my bag usually, and also frequently breakable. I typically put the skein in my knitting bag and that usually prevents it from rolling all over the place, although obviously it doesn't have the little loop to catch the working yarn and so isn't as effective as the yarn bowl concept.
spikedluv: (winter: mittens by raynedanser)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-12-10 07:21 am

The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, Dec 9)

I hit Walmart while I was downtown. (I got to see Baby A – should I change that to Toddler A now?!! *g* – again when I was at BK and Sister S was going through the drive-thru with her. Apparently she loves the hash browns. *g* They were on their way to PT, then school.)

I drove mom to her appointments, did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a walk with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I also hit the post office and the bank.

I ended up making a crustless broccoli and cheese quiche for supper. I'll put the ziti together for tomorrow instead.

I read the Amelia Peabody book and watched an HGTV program.

Temps started out at -3.3(F) (why so freaking cold already?!!) and reached 25.9 (that I saw). BRR!


Mom Update:

Mom was not feeling great today. more back here )
cimorene: Abstract painting with squiggles and blobs on a field of lavender (deconstructed)
Cimorene ([personal profile] cimorene) wrote2025-12-10 02:13 pm

SAD whining

It happens every year at this season that when the sun never comes up properly all day it feels like I have never woken up properly either, but it's always just as frustrating and I'm never prepared. Sigh. Time just comes unglued, because it's overcast all the time and it's only daylight (wan gray daylight) between 9 and 4 at best. A week could be a day long or a month long. It's like I'm dreaming, but not as pleasant, because my hands or feet are usually cold during the day.

Sunlamps have never been very noticeably useful for me, which is extremely depressing, but also not bad enough for me to completely give up on them. The worst part is that regular outdoor exercise probably would help but it's completely unattainable. You might as well tell me that a hundred pushups is the cure.
sabotabby: (books!)
sabotabby ([personal profile] sabotabby) wrote2025-12-10 07:06 am
Entry tags:

Reading Wednesday

 Just finished: You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson. I never had the privilege of seeing Gibson perform, other than on YouTube, so this is as close as I'm ever going to get. They really were a brilliant poet. Some of the poems lose a bit in print—they tend towards the storytelling and autobiographical, and that reads much less powerfully on the page than in speech—but this is a fairly minor critique. Gibson writes powerfully about queerness, gender, disability, and the climate crisis, and their furious energy is made all the more poignant by their premature death earlier this year.

Currently reading: Censorship & Information Control: From Printing Press to Internet by Ada Palmer. This is an exhibit based on a course that Palmer taught and it just makes me wish I could take the course. I'm screenshotting bits to text to people. Her central argument is that the total state censorship we see depicted in 1984 is the exception rather than the norm; more often censorship is incomplete, self-enforced, or carried out by non-state entities like the church or marketplace. This is obviously important when we talk about issues like free speech, which tends to be very narrowly defined when most of the threats to it have traditionally not come directly from the government (I mean, present-day US excepted, but it took a lot of informal censorship to get to that point).

The bit about fig leafs, complete with illustrations, is particularly good, as is the bit on Pierre Bayle, who hid his radical ideas in the footnotes to his Historical and Critical Dictionary in lengthy footnotes that he knew no one would read.

You can get this for free if you want to read it btw.