1 - 20 of 25 Works by TheAstronomyMod
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A clapped out old Cloudmining Station beyond Alliance Space, with a slightly unsavoury past. A hot-shot Zero-Restrictions Level-13 tech from the Tokyo Cluster, named Imai Hisashi, arrives on a supply ship to do repairs, and finds the station has only one, very lonely inhabitant with a hole in their mind.
As he starts to repair the station - and the inhabitant - the truth slowly emerges about what and who he was running from, and the secret history of his lover, Acchan-92, whom he was forced to leave behind in the Tokyo Cluster.
See notes on the first chapter for general Content Notes. Individual chapters will have content warnings.
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Near-future London riven by climate change, plague riots and vast social inequality driven by surveillance capitalist algorithms depends on The Grid, a green energy system that enables the city to survive twice-daily tidal deluges since the Thames Barrier failed.
During a routine monitoring exercise, an eccentric team of data scientists and white-hat hackers record a mysterious electronic fungus attacking users before disappearing into The Grid's infrastructure. Soon, the distinctive algorithmic data signature of the fungus begins to appear all over the internet: trading turbulence in global financial markets; anonymous cyberattacks in Russia's ongoing proxy wars; and the micropayment trails of a dodgy diet app called Eat Light.
Forensics implicate two rival billionaires: Maverick electric car tycoon Billy Barbel, infamous for supporting the 'blood and soil' eco-terrorists eMerge, and his ex-business partner, Eris Bianjie, the elusive Chinese super-programmer behind The Grid’s technology. After years of NDA-enforced silence, she appears to be active again, releasing clever Grid hacks on CodeHub.
IPRA has only one week to stop the fungus - or is the fungus trying to warn them of something worse to come?
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Historical fantasy involving BUCK-TICK, but set in the universe of RF Kuang's The Poppy War.
At an obscure old inn, in a backwater village of Mugen's Northern Island, a teenage girl dreams of escaping from the drudgery of daily life.
Her life is turned upside-down when the poetry-loving playboy princeling, Sakurai Atsushi, is plucked out of his decadent life of wine, women and song amidst the Floating World of Mugen's Eastern Capital and forced to go on the run by vast political forces outside of his control. He is supported by his personal bodyguard, the Nikan-trained Shaman, General Imai of Sloth Clan; the Southern Islands' leader, Lord Hide of the Gorilla Clan; and the heirs to the Crow Clan of the Northern Island, the Higuchi Brothers, Toll and Yuta.
This is set about a century before Kuang's books, during Nikan's Warring States period. Generations after the death of the Red Emperor, while the 12 feuding warlords of Nikan are at each others throats, the Mugen Federation break away from the Nikaran Union. As two massive empires slide ever closer to war, can Sakurai and the Inkeeper's beautiful daughter prevent the inevitable outbreak of the First Poppy War, or will they rush headlong into it?
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In the darkest depths of 2020's Lockdown, Atsushi is worried about the guitarist he's been in unrequited love with for nearly 40 years. An unexpected text message prompts him to dig through old memories, from the first time they met, to the sexy games they once played onstage.
But it turns out, Imai has been worrying about him, too.
(This is mostly fluff. I was going to say there was no sex at all in it, but actually there are a few brief sexual references because: Atsushi.)
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It’s 1994, and the hottest nightspot in New York City is the Limelight, a sprawling super-club in a labyrinthine church on the edge of downtown, known for its drug-fuelled debauchery as much as the music of its legendary dancefloors.
DJ Alice (of Clockwork Sky, London) is the resident DJ in the Groovie Ghoolies lounge, playing Ethereal Goth / Psychedelia / Shoegaze / Trip Hop.
An old friend of a friend, Raymond, turns up with his new band – featuring two ultra-cool Japanese rockstars, Imai and Maki – shopping for a record deal. Together, DJ Alice and Imai Hisashi embark on a DMT-fuelled rocket trip of sex, dissolution and cosmic love through the seamy underground of 90s NYC club culture.
To provide contemporary atmosphere, I have made a Spotify Playlist of all of the songs Alice namechecks in her DJ set.
(Eagle-eyed readers may spot that this fic takes place in the same cinematic universe, and has some of the same background characters as Der Himmel Über Brooklyn
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The Asphalt World was a song about a bisexual love triangle, written from the point of view of the jilted man. This story is a creative re-imagining of its narrative, written from the point of view of the queer women.
Back in 1993, Margaret MacConnor (yes, of My Friends Told Me About YouTube) played in a minor Camden scene band. Her best friend Suni's little sister turns up to a gig, and introduces them to her boyfriend, Brett Surbiton, the singer of Swayed - currently the biggest band in Britain. An unstable and shifting love triangle unfolds around the couple, and the bands are torn apart by bitter rivalries, both between Swayed and their arch-nemeses, Slur - and between singer Brett Surbiton and his own gifted but troubled guitarist, Bernard Barnet.
As Margaret's life becomes entangled with Swayed, she has to navigate the difficult currents of both the cut-throat British Music Press, and the difficult Queer Politics of early 90s London.
(Yes, this is part of the Deep Field Universe, so comedy names for famous bands are all part of the fun.)
To be updated every Friday night...
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Pulse by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Erol Alkan - Fandom, Electronic Dance Music RPF, Aphex Twin
18 Jun 2021
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A chance encounter brings a superstar DJ / record producer into contact with a legendary musician who abruptly disappeared from the music scene a decade previously.
What is he willing to risk - his reputation, his career, even his marriage - to get her working and releasing records again?
(It's been a decade since I read last read this, so I can't remember what any of the other themes are.)
Series
- Part 1 of Pulse Universe
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Expert Knob Twiddlers by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Aphex Twin, Electronic Dance Music RPF
05 Jun 2021
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At an illegal rave in the early 90s, experimental electronic musician Sandy Percy finds her set interrupted by "some ginger wanker who thinks he's Jesus" - Richard D. James, otherwise known as iconoclastic techno god, the Aphex Twin.
Impressed by each others' music, the pair decide to work together, only to be caught up in a dangerous affair.
This is an old story from decades ago which I am transferring over from a dead LiveJournal - it was originally written as the sequel / prequel to Pulse (which I will upload in a bit) but can equally stand on its own.
Content notes for: mild but fairly pervasive drug use; mildly kinky sex (light bondage), the usual crossdressing and gender confusion typical of all of my stories, lovers who (it is very strongly implied) may be related in some way, but it is not explicitly written as an inc3stu0s relationship.
This work contains themes of an adult nature, it may contain sex, drug-taking, illegal raves and beats of a repetitive nature as defined by Section 63 of the Criminal Justice Act of 1994.
Series
- Part 2 of Pulse Universe
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From Herr To Eternity by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Einstürzende Neubauten, Blixa Bargeld (Musician)
11 Jan 2019
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Berlin, on the cusp of the 90s, the Wall has only just fallen and no one knows what will come next.
The narrator (English-speaking, the singer in a band, that's as much as you're getting - it's up to your own imaginations to decide for yourselves who he might be) takes a wrong turn in Kreuzberg, and slips through time, to encounter Walter Benjamin's Angel of History - who may or may not be Blixa Bargeld.
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Nihil oder Alle Zeit der Welt by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Einstürzende Neubauten, Blixa Bargeld (Musician)
29 Jun 2018
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In an obscure Institute run by an evil Professor (the personification of all that is unwholesome in society, who ingeniously controls the ruins of civilisation) a mysterious one-armed Visionary, chained like a madman in the cellar, holds the key to The Island which will save the world.
Inspired by repeated watching of the Uli M Schueppel film (available online here). I found myself absolutely captivated by the mysterious and otherworldly atmosphere of the film to the point of obsession. (Not to mention, Blixa Bargeld chained half-naked in a cellar.) I found myself trying to write in and around the events of the film. A mistranslation (my German is not the greatest) of a character insisting that there is "no time" spiralled out into a science-fiction fantasy of what would happen in a world that was literally without time?
You don't need to have seen the film to understand the story - readers have said it stands on its own.
Content notes: false imprisonment, murder and passing reference to torture, (consensual) sex with someone in chains, childbirth and pregnancy, bathing.
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Sehnsucht by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Einstürzende Neubauten, Blixa Bargeld - Fandom, German Pop Music RPF, Blixa Bargeld (Musician), Music RPF, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
01 Jun 2018
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1981. You've been kicked out of your school, your home, your country, for being queer; and your family have banished you to live with a distant relation in West Berlin in disgrace. But in the shelter of The Wall: rent is cheap and squatting is free; drugs are plentiful; sex of every kind is readily available; and everyone you know is forming absolutely amazing experimental bands, making Super-8 films and creating fantastic art.
This story is basically fan fiction of 'B-Movie: Lust and Sound in Berlin' universe. Featuring appearances from: Einstürzende Neubauten, Mania D / Malaria!, Die Tödliche Doris, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Die Haut, The Birthday Party and many more.
Relationship notes: This story is not intended as Slash and if you're just looking for Nixa, you will be sorely disappointed. The primary relationship involves two complex genderqueer artists, and I am deliberately centring the women and the historically queer people in the West Berlin scene.
Content notes: story contains no AO3 warning content, but does contain heavy drug abuse, sex work, homophobic violence, violence against women, and other content I will CN for on relevant chapters.
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Jan DeLay, a young English art student with an intense interest in early computing, arrives in Düsseldorf in 1970 for a year's study abroad. A chance meeting in the computer lab of her school introduces her to the exciting new experimental electronic band known as Power Station. Quickly, Jan and her friends are drawn into the vibrant cultural scene of Kosmische music, art, architecture and design swirling around the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, the Robert Schumann Conservatory, and Joseph Beuys' Creamcheese Club in the early 70s. Many of these people would go on to change the world, but this is their (highly imagined) adventures as art students.
Features guest appearances from not just Kraftwerk, but NEU!, Cluster, Can and many other "Krautrock" bands of the period.
Note: I have put a non-con warning on this because of some highly dubious dub-con that appears in the story, because sexual mores which were common in the 70s and 80s have very much changed. The bulk of this story is not sexual, it is focused mostly on characters and relationships, musical and romantic. I will put warnings on individual chapters.
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Der Himmel Über Brooklyn by TheAstronomyMod
Fandoms: Einstürzende Neubauten, Blixa Bargeld (Musician)
11 Aug 2017
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Blixa Bargeld sneaks four teenage punks into Einstürzende Neubauten's 1985 gig at The Ritz, in exchange for facilitating a drug deal for him. Heavy drug use and teenage lust lead to a rather sweet but very sexy encounter.
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This is Part 2 of a multi-part story. You really should read Part 1 first, which is here.
A middle-aged music journalist, having gone to Germany to ghost-write Ralf Hütter's biography, finds herself drawn into the internal intrigues of Klingklang Studios. As creative intimacy turns to emotional intimacy, finally she embarks on an affair with the reclusive Kraftwerk founder.
As the pair become more and more closely involved, it becomes harder to hide their infidelity from colleagues, and eventually from his family. Desperate matters ensue.
Major content warning for Stalking and Online Harassment on this story. These incidents are based on real-life events, and may be intensely triggering for some readers.
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If you're looking for Part 2, it has temporarily gone here.
A middle-aged music journalist and life-long Kraftwerk fan writes a series of essays which attract the attention of the band's reclusive founder, Ralf Hütter. A meeting leads to interviews, which lead to an invitation to ghostwrite the autobiography that Hütter has been trying to write since 1989. The writer is drawn first into the workings of the band, on tour and at the new Klingklang studios, then, slowly, as creative and emotional intimacy deepen, a more personal relationship.
Since I had some concerns about the themes of this work, I have decided to split it into two. Part One is a cute, slightly fluffy tale of fandom and being a little starstruck turning into something more. It can be read as a simple romance, two imperfect older people falling in love. If you wish, you can leave the characters to live happily ever after. Or, if you have grown interested in the characters and wish to know what happens to them, you can continue on to Part Two, which will continue on and delve into darker territory.
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In 1968, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben were just two young kids, barely out of their teens, meeting for the first time at a summer course in improvisation at the Akademie Remscheid.
All great partnerships have to start somewhere, but this one started with two shy outsiders who found one another, and fell in love through music.
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Ralf Hütter shares an anonymous encounter with a mysterious woman on a sleeper train hurtling through Eastern Europe.
Inspired by this tiny smile from the Trans Europe Express video...
...and Tangerine Dream, of course.
This was a challenge to write some pure Ralf Hütter smut. If you just want the sex, skip to Chapter 2. If you want the characters and the situation set-up, read Chapter 1 first.
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I guess this is known as "The Room" of Cheesecake? OK, it was written as a weekly serial. It was never meant to be digested in one go!
Radiohead's Loophole competition brings together a disparate group of fans online, to form a close community, united by friendship, relationships, sex, bands, collaborations and connections both musical and personal - mostly with each other, but also sometimes with Radiohead themselves.
This is primarily a story about fandom, and internet communities. Although Radiohead do appear throughout the story (as well as guest appearances from Nigel, Four Tet, and thinly veiled ciphers for various artists mostly on the Hyperdub and Brainfeeder labels) the main focus of the story, and the main characters are all fans. At least, until until the second half, when Radiohead go on tour, and real life and internet fandom collide head on, and members of Radiohead join the cast properly.
Given that the action takes place mostly in cyberspace, there's not much to have to warn for. Just the usual flaming, trolling and occasional internet bullying, much of which has racist and sexist overtones. Also, warning: MAY CONTAIN DUBSTEP.
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"Imagine your Tumblr icon reading your fan fiction about them." Now imagine your icon reading it, getting really, really angry about it, and it spiralling out into a massive argument. Imagine subverting common fan fiction tropes by meeting your icon and discovering that actually you LOATHE one another.
Margaret MacConnor lives an ordinary fannish life, obsessing about pop stars, writing fan fiction on AO3, watching movies and Box Sets of popular television programmes, and doing podcasts and vlogs with her equally geeky and pop culture-obsessed friends. Until one day the man she has been writing fan fiction about discovers her fan fiction, and turns her life upside down.
Carlos Dengler, reclusive "reformed" rock star, destroyed the cult of his own celebrity, and retired from playing bass for Interpol to go back to school, and become a stage actor. But he becomes obsessed with a fan fiction serial, and is slowly drawn into an intrigue with its creator.
A story about fandom and fannish life, into which a rock star crashes. It is deliberately written within the form of a 'City Girl Novel'. Oh, and it also features Benedict Cumberbatch in his pants.
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So I wrote a novel. It's fiction but also sort of fan-fiction, though not about a specific artist. It's fan fiction about being-in-a-band, about the Music Industry itself, from skeevy toilet clubs on the Lower East Side to the glittering heights of The Charts and, of course, a semi-romanticised view of NYC in the 90s, from 2 decades' perspective.
Daniel J. Asheton Jr of Metropolis, and Merry Wythenshawe of Deltawave: two bands, a five-year relationship. One of them takes the major label route to international rock stardom, the other the long, hard slog of being an indie cult band. But the real romance is with pop music itself, and what it's like to love music so much that you are prepared to sacrifice your whole life (and everyone in it) to be able to play it. Can they balance the pressures of success (and the pressures of failure) to keep their musical dreams - and their love - alive?
Not great literature; a soap opera (with guitars).
Series
- Part 4 of The Deep Field Universe