Recently in FK on my LJ Friends List and DW Reading Page:

On the Air!

On 11/22, abby82 alerted us to Chiller's exciting US Thanksgiving marathon events, in which Geraint Wyn Davies will host "his favorite episodes" of FK!  These air 11/24-11/25 and again 11/28-11/29!  And what are GWD's favorite episodes?  Season one: 5. Season two: 11. Season three: 0.  [I expected BM, which he directed, but I was surprised to see BMV on his list.  Interesting!]

In the News!

• On 11/24, abby82 shared her Google News alert that the New York Times mentioned the Chiller FK marathon as something all those Twilight and True Blood fans should clue into.
• On 11/06, gnosticdiva transcribed an article titled "Nick Knight, Vampire Cop" from the book Vampires (Fangoria, 1998).

Cast and Crew!

• On 11/23, abby82 pointed out another new interview with GWD, this time on Chiller's blog.  Among other fun things, there's currently a bulletin-board graphic with the text of a Ribena label on it.
• On 11/23, abby82 let us know that Sci-Fi TV Zone has a twelve-minute audio interview with Geraint Wyn Davies, in which he talks about the Chiller marathon, his current one-man play in New York, and other fun, current things.
• On 11/19, pj1228 created a collage in honor of Nigel Bennett's birthday, and is running a contest for us: win the original collage file by naming all the non-FK roles shown.

Fanfiction!

• On 11/25, pj1228 announced that she has cleaned up "PJ's Forever Knight FanFiction Archive" after the move to Google Sites.  If you've re-linked since the move from GooglePages, the URL is still the same.  If, like me, you're still catching up...  [Note to self: Update links!]
• On 11/15, Leela-cat announced that she has begun posting her long-unavailable-online old FK stories on her Archive Of Our Own account.  [She's right; she made me very happy. :-)] [Update: She has finished posting all her FK work, except one unfinished novel, and including "Broken Promises" -- last seen online in 1996.]
• On 11/12, pj1228 posted her well-conceived UF story "The Relapse," which I had the privilege of beta-reading.  Even if you're not inclined to the UF, she has a new approach to a specific canonical moment.
• On 11/06, gnosticdiva posted a piece called "The Letter," Nick to Natalie.
• On 11/05, elycia offered: "For every $5 you contribute to Fiver's Team (ALS Association of Georgia), I will write you 500 words of fiction, with the characters of your choice, on the topic of your choice," including in FK.
• On 11/03, ithildyn reposted her 1998 Lacroix story "In His Image."

Fests and Ficathons!

• On 11/07, abby82 noted that it was the last day of nominations for festivids, a vid exchange inspired by Yuletide for small and rarely vidded fandoms.  FK is nominated.
• On 11/03, oldschoolfic opened sign-ups for the December event.  Assignments went out on 11/17.  [I got an FK prompt!]
• On 11/02, gen_ficathon posted their round one master list, including two FK stories previously mentioned here when they released.

Miscellaneous

• On 11/08, pj1228 discussed her FK site's issues with the GoogleSites move, and her FK projects in progress.
• On 11/07, abby82 detailed lowered prices for the FK DVDs at many retailers.
• On 11/03, gnosticdiva mused on her NaNoWriMo project, based on a long-ago unfinished FK fanfic.

My apologies to anyone I confused with my previous post!  I do plan a "Ficathons 101" for fkficfest; please consider this an installment on that future orientation.

What is a ficathon?  A ficathon (or fest) is a game in which people write stories, usually with some common element (e.g. fandom).  ( common types )

What is a prompt?  A prompt is a seed for a story.  It is the request that the writer fulfills.  Four examples:  ( 2 by Me, 2 by You )

The rules of play for fkficfest will be very similar to those used successfully in the femme_fic and oldschoolfic fanfiction story exchange events.  However, there's one big difference.  Those are multifandom; this will be FK-only.  Similarly, we can't quite parallel the rules for the single-fandom Harry Potter games that leela_cat plays, because those are single-genre -- even single character -- and we'll be playing across all factions.

For fkficfest, players will submit three FK prompts.  We need to differentiate them somehow to provide some diversity of choices to the writer and aid in matching.  My co-mod and I talked about the possibilities for that, the different available categories, and we settled on: gen, ship, other.  This should, we hope, help us get compatible prompts into everyone's hands.

But do you see the challenge?  Definitions!  What should be the definition of "gen"?  Is "ship" the best collective term for that which is not "gen"?  How about "romance"?  (I have trouble accepting that we need to say "het or slash or femmeslash" every time we mean "that which is not gen.")  We need, if we can get them, definitions that help spread contentment, not contentiousness.  ( Read more... )

So I've signed up for oldschoolfic's December exchange (rules/sign-ups; sign-up deadline is November 15; minimum 500 words).  As usual, I asked for Forever Knight, Highlander or Young Blades.  I offered those plus Rurouni Kenshin, Monarch of the Glen and Original Battlestar Galactica.  I didn't offer any Buffyverse, Trek or other things this time; I hope my very short list doesn't make it difficult for the mod... but I would have restricted it to just FK, HL and YB, if that hadn't seemed very much too greedy.

I hope that all of you who are playing Yuletide are receiving inspiring prompts this weekend, and that those of you running with NaNoWriMo are surpassing all your goals!  Good luck and great fun, all around.

To those with FK fansites and fanfic archives: please consider posting your new URL to your blog as well as to forkni-l whenever you relocate.  I want to know, and I bet many others do, too.  Please help us follow you around the Web!

Seriously and sincerely.  Thank you!

Yuletide sign-ups are open (this is the annual ficathon exchange for obscure fandoms).  At this time, six people have requested FK stories, and twelve people have offered to write FK stories.  Sign-ups must be submitted by 11/12; stories are due on 12/21.  This is the biggest fanfiction game of which I know, and this is its seventh year.  I know some of you are playing it; please include FK, yeah?

I will not be playing Yuletide myself, but I will be playing oldschoolfic (for canceled fandoms).  Sign-ups are due by 11/15; stories are due on 12/25.  I need to work out what stories to request and which fandoms to offer (as I can't under the rules say "FK or HL only" ~g~).

Separately, gen_ficathon is taking a poll about holding a second round.  In my opinion, when considering future participation, it is relevant to note that the first round of this exchange ficathon had some challenges, including four writers who never received stories, and three months to release the stories that were submitted.  I would personally like to see a plan to address these issues before committing to another round.

Happy birthday, tv_elf.  I miss you.

Tuesday morning, oldschoolfic (the ficathon for canceled series) announced a December story-exchange event.  FK is eligible!  (So is HL.)  Sign-ups are open here now through Sunday, November 15.  Stories are due no later than Friday, December 25.

(On that schedule, I likely shouldn't play.  I don't get many hours outside work; something due after the two three-day weekends at the end of the year would be much better for me -- know of any?  But I admit I'm thinking about it.)

Addendum 11/05:  Yeah, yeah... I'm definitely going to play in the oldschoolfic event.  It's only a question of which prompts to submit and in which fandoms to volunteer.

Recently on my LJ Friends List:

Memes and Miscellaneous

• On 10/19, endaewen's copy of the second-season DVD set arrived. :-)
• On 10/18, gnosticdiva vented a pet peeve in fanficrants, about fanfiction spelling of FK characters' names in general, and in Janette's dialogue in particular.
• On 10/12, cousinmary played the episode title meme with FK.

Ficathons

• On 10/24, abby82 clued us in about oxoniensis's second "Fall Fandom Free-For-All."  There is one FK request so far, for Nick/Janette (that's "Immortal Beloved" or "IB," for anyone who doesn't know).
• On 10/23, havocthecat very kindly promoted the fkficfest (about which you will hear more; oh yes...).
• On 10/16, oldschoolfic opened a poll to gage interest in a "December Carnival" all-holiday exchange ficathon.  (This is the periodic ficathon celebrating out-of-production fandoms like FK.)

Fanfiction

• On 10/31, ithildyn counted her Divia-flashback story "Shattered" as a Halloween story for its overall creepiness.
• On 10/25, abby82 posted a character study in the form of a five-scene story titled "five facets of a metro homicide detective," starring Tracy and Nick, which I was privilaged to beta-read.
• On 10/23, gnosticdiva posted a short piece titled "That Time of the Month," starring Natalie and Nick.
• On 09/10, merfilly posted a near-drabble titled "An Earthquake," starring Lacroix.  (I missed this one back when it was first posted.)

Should I say?

• On 10/30, under lock, someone reminisced about the long-gone days of long journeys to celebrate FK with each other.
• On 10/22, under lock, someone used FK as a theoretical example to illustrate optimal fanfiction recommendations.
• On 10/16, under lock, someone posted at length about potential FK stories she has in mind to write.

What's Good?  The poetically constrained "Lest We Forget" (just 273 words) by endaewen is October's recommendation-of-the-month.  At a Remembrance Day (Veterans' Day, Armistice Day) observation, Nick's memories pull him through time.

      A poppy. Red and black. This one pinned on Natalie's shoulder. In his mind, the one became many. Fields of the flower, growing where death had lain heavy. After both wars, he had seen them silvered by the moonlight, like drops of blood.

What's New?  In September, fkfic-l saw one story, "Reconstruction" by Walt D. (1 post, 42 KB).  However, in October so far, we've seen three stories by three authors on list.

The story written for one of my prompts in gen_ficathon turned up this week (the author generously picked it up as a pinch-hitter after someone else defaulted).  This is the ficathon for celebrating fanfiction beyond romance.  Titled "Hero," by alexajohnson, it's for my Star Trek '09 prompt.  The other prompts I submitted in that event were Forever Knight (of course), Highlander, Young Blades, and Star Trek: The Next Generation -- highest number of prompts requested/allowed in any ficathon I've played in yet.

Speaking of ficathons, oldschoolfic is running a poll about holding a "December Carnival" all-holiday exchange event.  This is the ficathon for celebrating out-of-production fandoms.  They're guaging interest, dates, and preferred minimum length, to start.  If you're interested, please drop by.  (If FK is eligible this time, and if I think I have good odds of getting an FK or HL asignment, and if Real Life keeps itself to itself, I plan to play.  A lot of "if"s, I know -- but three Buffyverse assignments in a row this year!  I'm fond of the Buffyverse, but I've got to come home to my own fandoms to recharge my hobby.)

Still speaking of ficathons, fkficfest is up.  It's not quite ready for members, insofar as we have some testing yet to do with posting from different accounts, and holding and releasing a queue -- I've never modded a community before -- and you don't need to live through that on your Friends List/Reading Page.  But if you're interested in taking a look, please let me (or co-mod amilyn) know what you think.  We plan for sign-ups to begin in February, and stories to release in May.

I've been out of touch.  I'll catch up this weekend!

Recently on my LJ Friends List:

Airings

• On 10/09, abby82, reminded us that Chiller has scheduled two more FK marathons: Saturday 10/10 ("Dark Knight" through "Cherry Blossoms"), and Thursday 10/15 ("I Will Repay" through "Only the Lonely"), both 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Likely these will be the CBS cuts, as in FK's first Chiller outing.
  
• On 09/08, abby82 uploaded the three promos for Chiller's Labor Day FK marathon.  ("Before Edward. Before Angel. There was Nick. The original vampire with a heart is back. The cult hit that drew first blood and proves that you can't have twilight without the Knight.")  And she teased those of us who do not get the Chiller channel with the observation that "Chiller edits made completely new scenes!"  (Turns out, it was the original CBS cuts, which, yep, had their own special versions of several scenes.)

Discussing Writing

• On 09/20, abby82 recapped her summer FK writing, of two short stories and an in-progress scifibigbang novella or novel -- an AU, perhaps interestingly, as I know some of you love AUs best, and FK fandom doesn't often do them.
• On 09/15, ithildyn offered to write about Lacroix/Triona (an original character) and Methos/Lacroix/Triona in the "Couples" meme.

Fanfiction

• On 10/01, cousinmary reposted her "Yellow Jonquil," a Tracy story for a "medieval floral codes" challenge.
  
• On 09/21, genficathon released another batch of stories, including an FK one: "When Your Blood is Gone, How Will You Survive?" by abby82, which stars Nick and Lacroix through several flashbacks.

Miscellaneous

• On 10/04, endaewen noted that Amazon has dropped the price on FK's second season, and that she's ordered a set at last.
  
• On 09/27, abby82 shared many Lisa Ryder screenshots from her four-episode run on The Newsroom in 1996, following FK's cancellation.  Very PhotoShop-able into Tracy.
  
• On 09/23, abby82 uploaded a snippet to share from her DVDs of season two of The Border, a funny anecdote by Catherine Disher.  She also posted a still screenshot of CD.

I don't get the Chiller channel, so everything I've learned about their Labor Day FK marathon has been second-hand, mostly from abby82.  However, I've learned some very interesting things, and I've been longing to share!

First up, the promos.  One went: "Before Edward... before Angel... there was Nick.  The original vampire with a heart is back.  The cult hit that drew first blood and proves that you can't have twilight without the Knight."  This makes me laugh with amused delight.  Yes, okay, lots to quibble with, but it's just fun for the show to be acknowledged with some perspective.  (When they were promoting Moonlight at cons, CBS representatives said they had never heard of FK.)  abby82 uploaded all three commercials for those of us beyond the channel's reach.

Next, the sequel.  Chiller will air FK again in October!  Their schedule is a bit hard to read, with the dates crimped between lines on my screen, but it looks like they're planning 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday 10/10 and Thursday 10/15.

Finally, and most excitingly, the version.  They aired the original CBS US cuts.  abby82 describes them in detail, and though I haven't seen them, I'm confident that's what they are.  In brief, all opened with the CBS surround-sound logo (like DK does on the DVDs), and they had the key scenes known to be characteristic of the original US airing.  This means that the CBS cuts survived!  If only they will release a nice new, DVD "slim set" with the differences packaged as extras, I can finally get rid of the last VHS tapes in the closet...  ( Read more... )

I actually posted September's recommendation-of-the-month to my site days ago, so it's not quite as late as it looks from here. :-)

What's Good?  Sweet-by-bittersweet, Mary Co.'s "Last Things" runs happily-ever-after all the way into heaven.  It's unapologetically sentimental, and exemplifies a distinct and popular subgenre of N&N romance that, intriguingly, is almost never applied to any other FK characters.

        Any illusions that they might keep the change in their relationship a secret were quickly shattered. It took Don Schanke exactly seventy-two hours to figure it out, and he confided to Nick that if Myra hadn't been off at a Skin Pretty convention, and therefore unavailable for consultation, he would probably have tumbled to it sooner. So they gave up the pretense and she moved -- lock, stock and Sidney -- into the loft.

What's New?  In August, fkfic-l saw three new stories by two authors: ( List )

Natalie:	Six years ago, April 14.
Nick:	What's that?
Natalie:	Day they brought you in.
	-- "Last Knight"

When "Last Knight" first aired in May 1996, the exchange above was controversial for the date.  The night they wheeled Nick into the morgue in the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" was Natalie's twenty-eighth birthday, of course, as the present was her thirtieth, and people like amilyn had worked long and hard to determine Natalie's birthday from the prop calendars on the morgue wall, the weather in the episode, the air date and, for some, astrology.  The date on which they had painstakingly settled was not April 14.  In the years since, we've mostly shrugged our shoulders and accepted the date Natalie said aloud in LK, presuming that she knows her own birthday.

Today, this same exchange presents a new controversy of sorts.  hearts_blood reminded me recently that people who discover the show after cancellation naturally have no memory of the hiatus.  They logically plunge straight from season one to season two to befuddlement when they finally reach this line buried in the finale at the end of season three.  What's the math?

FK was canceled after season one.  Filming ended, sets were stuck, "Love You to Death" aired in May 1993, GWD did a guest shot on Highlander, and many wonderful fans -- special wave to wiliqueen among you all -- wrote letters upon letters to convince TPTB to revive the series.  Honor and glory to those who wrote those letters, because TPTB relented and the series returned with "Killer Instinct" sixteen months after first season ended.  That's Natalie's "six years ago:" the year of the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" (1990-1991), another year (1991-1992), season one (1992-1993), the hiatus (1993-1994), season two (1994-1995), season three (1995-1996).  ( Read more... )

Strangely, perhaps, it's my favorite time in FK: the year we shared, but didn't see.

I like to tell myself -- and sometimes other people, so stop me if you've heard this one -- that what I'm looking for in fanfiction is a good story.  Not necessarily gen or romance, straight or slash, just good storytelling however it comes.  Of course it's more complicated than that.  I'm a canon junkie, for starters.  (Mmmmmm, canon.)  I prefer G and PG tales to R and NC-17 ones.  I fall all over accurate historical fiction.  (Mmmmmm, history.)  I won't touch RPF with a twenty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.  And then let's define "good," never forget. ;-)  But generally?  A good story in any genre.

Other people, wonderful people I know and love, must have one particular subgenre or another to fully engage their fannish hearts.  And yes, they're correct that FK doesn't overwhelm with canonical possibilities those who love slash best, but who are not UFers.  I submit that FK is not a wasteland for them, either, though.  Bring your own scenarios.  Elisabeth, this is for you: ( Lists )

The Fall 2009 oldschoolfic fest (the one for canceled series) released this weekend, with a total of eight stories in six fandoms.  One of them, "The Fall Rolled in on the Back of Summer" by abby82, is FK!  Written for a prompt by me!  (My entry, "What Remains has Always Been," was written for a BtVS request.)

The inaugural gen_ficathon fest (the one for other-than-romance) is still waiting for the final entries to be submitted.  They've released twenty-two (about half of their total) in fifteen fandoms so far.  One of them, "The Code of Friendship" by foxy11814, is FK!  (My entry, "From Now On," as previously mentioned, was written for a BtVS request.)

With my co-moderator, I am planning to soon begin setting up that little FK-only event, with stories to be due May 18 (the LK anniversary).  I'm figuring we'll want about two months to write, so assignments would be distributed no later than March 23 (hopefully sooner), sign-ups due by March 18, sign-ups open on February 18.  Sound about right?

What I've been up to is: work eats my life and health and I would like a different job.  What you all have been up to is the following lovely FK-ness on my LJ Friends List:

Labor Day Marathon on Chiller!
On 09/04, abby82 shared the great news that the Chiller channel is marathoning the first fifteen FK episodes (that's "Dark Knight" through "Dying for Fame") on Monday 09/07.  There may be a better way to observe the Labor Day holiday than with our favorite civil servants, club owner and temporarily dead DJ... but I'm giddy that FK is on TV in the US again!

Vids and Graphics.

• On 08/24, pj1228 marked Lacroix's 1930th Conversion Day with a collage.
  
• On 08/20, abby82 shared her Nick Knight 20th Anniversary fanvid (that's right, the original Rick Springfield vehicle from which sprang the FK we know and love).

Cast and Crew.

• On 08/25, the Gemini Nominations were announced, and abby82 let us know that Catherine Disher is nominated for The Border!
  
• On 08/16, abby82 noted the twentieth anniversary of Nick Knight is August 20.

Fanfiction.

• On 09/05, the oldschoolfic fest released "The Fall Rolled in on the Back of Summer" by abby82, set the summer after first season and featuring Nick and Rebecca (from "Dying for Fame").
  
• On 08/24, falcon_horus asked for recommendations of stories starring Fleur (she's already read all of mine).  If you recommend any to her, please clue me in, too!
  
• On 08/24, the gen_ficathon released "The Code of Friendship" by foxy11814, set after second season's "The Code" and featuring Nick, Natalie and Schanke.

Last week was the twentieth anniversary of the original broadcast airing of Nick Knight, the pilot starring Rick Springfield that did not get picked up, but provided the basis for "Dark Knight" and "Dark Knight, the Second Chapter" when Forever Knight got its turn a few years later.  Those of you who watched the made-for-TV-movie incarnation that very first time: care to share any memories?

My Nick Knight moments came later.  My favorite may always be a passage from FKFic-L War 8 ("Cinderella's War"), in which a N&NPacker hesitantly explains to a baffled time-and-reality-displaced Nick Knight Nick that: "In your world, we would be Nick&JackPackers..."  Still makes me laugh.  (Sorry that I can't remember who wrote it!)  Another memory is the first time I read a zine that mixed NK and FK stories; I didn't at first understand which were which.  They do look so alike on the page, until you bump into Jack or Natalie, or call for "Jean-Pierre" instead of "Nicholas."

abby82 made a fun anniversary vid to the song "Los Angeles" by Sugarcult.  Inspired by her, I got out my Nick Knight DVD and actually watched it all the way through for the first time (the last time I watched NK, it was on VHS, and on a smaller screen).  It's long been my opinion that NK's Alyce "Junk Food" Hunter is superior to FK's Alyce "Hold Me" Hunter, as NK's Janette and Lacroix cannot hold candles to FK's Janette and Lacroix, and that the NK Schanke is not just a younger incarnation, but actually a completely different character, from FK's Schanke, and those haven't changed.  But several elements caught my attention for new-to-me comparisons:  ( Read more... )

What's Good?  Thanks to hearts_blood, I did get August's recommendation-of-the-month up this past Tuesday, setting a new lateness record.  (Sorry! My blunder!)  So what do I think is so much worth the time in the little bit of August left?  Her Vachon character sketch "Nocturnal Pleasure" (2003).

        Which meant that if he skipped town, Nick would kill him, and if he brought Tracy across, Nick would kill him, and if he didn't bring Tracy across, the Enforcers would kill them both.

What's New?  In July, fkfic-l saw two authors posting three new stories.  ( List with Links )

The first ten stories in the gen_ficathon queue have been released.  None are FK so far, but one happens to be my AtS/BtVS story "From Now On," starring Faith and Wesley, written to tielan's prompt.  (Thanks to leela_cat and much_madness for beta-reading!)

This is my second Buffyverse story.  My first was "Fortune Prove" (written for femme_fic), and my third comes due on September 1 for oldschoolfic.  It's a Buffyverse year!  :-)

Next year, we're having that FK event. ;-)

Okay, that's as caught up as I'm going to get!  :-)  Recently, in FK on my LJ Friends List and DW Equivalent:

Vids.
On 08/02, abby82 shared her new FK vid "Vampire," which she describes as "copious amounts of big, scary vampire fangs" from throughout FK.

Memes.
On 08/07, havocthecat played the Massive Top-5 Meme, and listed Janette as the second of her "Top 5 Bad Guys/Girls." And when ithildyn played the same meme, she listed FK as the second of her "Top 5 Fandoms."

Cast and Crew.

• On 08/02, pj1228 recommended and reviewed Passage, a historical documentary featuring Nigel Bennett, filmed on location in London, the Orkney Islands and Nunavut.
  
• On 07/19, abby82 shared a photo-spread on John Kapelos's appearance on Lois and Clark.
  
• On 07/01, abby82 let us know that Jim Parriot's new show, Defying Gravity, airs on ABC this summer.  It stars Christina Cox, who starred in Lifetime's BloodTies, but is much more importantly known for her Joan of Arc in FK's "For I Have Sinned" and her traffic cop in FK's "Close Call." ;-)
  
• On 06/28, ithildyn posted a link to YouTube footage of the famous Green Eggs and Ham reading by Nigel Bennett and John Kapelos at Syndicon '97.  Natsuko Ohama is with them.  (I was actually at that con!  You will not be surprised that the "Unsuited" affiliation was invented following this event.)
  
• On 06/26, pj1228 let us know that Nick Knight has at last been released on DVD in Germany (titled Twilight Vampire Cop), and she reviewed all the interesting peculiarities of the voice-over casting as well as the titling.
  
• On 06/03 (I missed it the first time around), abby82 shared that Nigel Bennett is reportedly up for a lead in Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Ficathons.

• On 07/19, both amilyn and abby82 clued us in to the matrithon, a ficathon celebrating female characters 40+ years old (Janette is listed). Prompt claiming runs till 07/31. Art and vids as well as stories: stories must be at least 500 words. Posting 09/07-10/05.
  
• On 07/15, both havocthecat and abby82 shared news of the First Annual Femslash Kink Meme (a Nanette prompt was submitted).

Fanfiction (including Fancomics).

• On 07/29, someone under lock recommended "Support Group for Fanfic Characters, Slash Chapter, Forever Knight and Many Other Fandoms" by cousinshelley.
  
• "Forever Janette" continues (WIP) on Rich's Comix Blog.  And don't miss the the video version of the first three installments!
  
• From 07/08-07/10, cousinmary reposted in four parts her 1999 story, "That Old Black Magic," which asks, what if the plane crash hadn't happened?
  
• On 07/15, abby82 described how she left a Janette/Natalie prompt at the First Annual Femslash Kink Meme, and in less than two hours, received "AU (Very AU)" by... well, it was posted anonymously, but then merfilly accepted the thanks for it, so...

I'm three weeks behind on reading blogs.  (I've been working severely excessive hours, and it had to give.)  I will do my best to thoroughly catch up.  In the meantime, if there's something I should not miss, let me know, and I'll rush it to the top of the stack!

LiveJournal sent a birthday heads-up for susanmgarrett this morning.  This made me grin, because in addition to generally wishing her well and many more when her day comes, her birthday is properly a late-summer prompt to fill fkfic-l with stories!  :-)  The "Susan's Birthday Challenge" was a good tradition.

And speaking of fkfic-l, did you notice that Mary Ch. is back and posting?  [insert Abby's Snoopy Dance icon here]  Although she is sorely plagued by =20 disease this time out, and is working on fixing that with Hotmail standing in her way.  You must hard-wrap story posts to get through the listserv clean with all recipients.  I use 60 characters these days because of listmembers who use Yahoo Mail, which wraps even more severely than the listserv.  I know how to get Eudora to hard-wrap for me at a chosen character count; do you know other tips and tricks for other email and wordprocessing applications that we could share?

I taped the two-hour premiere of Mr. Parriot's (and Ms. Cox's) new series, Defying Gravity, last Sunday, but have not yet watched it.  The next episode is tonight at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific on ABC in the US (and those parts of Canada that get US broadcast stations).

So we're definitely doing an FK-only fest/ficathon game!  Yes!  Details remain to be worked out, but as the current date suggestion is May 2010, we've got plenty of time.

The prompts for the oldschoolfic and gen_ficathon events came through at the end of June.  While of course they're all very interesting and I'm doing my best to craft things to please my recipients, not one of the prompts I received -- 3 from one game, 4 from the other -- are FK.

I think that we should hold an FK-only ficathon/fest/game/event.  Not today, not tomorrow, but... in the not-too-distant future.  (Before Yuletide?  After?  Later in '10?)  It would doubtless be a very small game, but what I'm thinking is: if three of us played in an FK-only game, that would be three new FK stories, while when three of us play in a multi-fandom game, we're lucky to get even one new FK story.

This is not to say that I don't esteem multi-fandom games!  I love other fandoms, too.  (For example, is there anyone out there recommending HL gen? How about Duncan/Tessa? Pretty please?)  But like the bumper stickers say, I would rather be playing FK.

( Here's the idea. What do you think? )

What's good?  July's recommendation-of-the-month is wiliqueen's "Silent All These Years" (1992), an amazing early take on Janette's origins.  The many elements it shares with the episode "A Fate Worse Than Death" (1994) testify to the cohesion of Janette's character, while the differences bore perceptively into Janette's relationship with Lacroix.

     [Janette] cursed herself for her sentimental refusal to sell the thing, meaningless as she knew it to be in a world shaped by Roman hands. She could have been free by now; and though she would always be a barbarian and therefore inferior in that world, her lineage and looks might have won her a marriage into the puppet Gallic nobility. Instead she had nothing all over again.

What's new?  In June, fkfic-l saw five stories, all by one author.  ( List with Links )