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?

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. ;-)

This is the little story I posted to fkfic-l on the thirteenth anniversary of "Last Knight," written just because I wanted to post something new that day.  (The story has nothing to do with LK.)

My thanks to much_madness for the prompt of Tracy and Schanke discussing Nick, and to leela_cat and amilyn for the eleventh-hour scrutiny and scrubbing that let me post on time.  (tv_elf? Happy Easter.)

	•	Title:	"When Donut Met Button"
	•	Length:	~1,600 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L May 18, 2009
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Tracy receives advice from Schanke on partnering with Nick.
	•	Setting:	Shortly after "Outside the Lines"
	•	Characters:	Tracy, Schanke
	•	Quotation:	"Trust me: he's not so generous with his pats on the back that you can afford to brush them off."

The femme_fic queue is released!  This is the "We Love Female Characters" ficathon, with a wide mix of fandoms and genres.  There are unfortunately no FK stories this time (only falcon_horus and I submitted FK prompts), but there are over fifty stories celebrating female characters!  Take a glance at the catalogue post, and you're likely to see something in one of your fandoms.

I received a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Jenny Calendar prompt imagined by havocthecat, and wrote "Fortune Prove" in response.  Of the prompts I submitted, pervyficgirl picked my Marvel Comics Scarlet Witch prompt, and wrote "Magic Mirrors Looking at People Who Belong to Us," which indulges me by crawling into the canon space after issue #12 of the second V&SW limited series (which they should reissue now).

It will take me weeks to read my way through the ficathon, but I want to note up front that there are new stories by havocthecat, amilyn and falcon_horus from my LJ F-List (did I miss anyone?), and that I had the privilege of beta-reading for amilyn and seshat_maat.  I'd also like to thank my own generous beta-readers: amilyn, batdina, much_madness and wiliqueen.

Needing a place for the results of multi-fandom ficathon events in which I don't happen to get FK assignments, I finally bit the bullet and put up my non-FK fanfiction, linked off my FK fanfiction.  There isn't much.  (To keep down the volume on the non-FK side, I invite everyone to submit lots of FK prompts in all future ficathon events. ~g~)

I'm afraid I'm behind on everything again.  My apologies to anyone to whom I owe responses.  (endcredits, this includes the essay on why FK and SGA fanfiction are more than mere worlds and time apart.  Delayed, not forgotten!)

This set of three flashbacks was my submission to the "Claire Rankin Characters Mini-Ficathon."  They're set in my "Fireweed" AU, in which Janette brought Fleur across, accelerating Nick's rejection of vampirism.  (No need to read the original. That's all the context.)

I have a soft spot for Nick's sister.  My 1998 "Fireweed" vampire Fleur differs from my 2008 "Starwort" human Fleur, I noticed as I revisited her.  Different lives made different women from the same origin.  Yoked to Lacroix, "Fireweed" Fleur's development was constrained.  "Starwort" Fleur grew further faster, living human.  One of these days, I will finish "Amaranth" Fleur, who goes farthest of all.

	•	Title:	"Three Fireweed Seeds"
	•	Length:	~3,300 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L March 5, 2009
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	"Reconnection:" Nick watches over Fleur.  "Responses:" Fleur tries to comfort Erica.  "Recoil:" Lacroix  has driven Fleur away.
	•	Setting:	1229 Paris, 1700 London, 1966 Bonn
	•	Characters:	Fleur, Nick, Erica, Lacroix
	•	Quotation:	"So then why, why, why had he burned the Abbarratt without letting her read it first?"

"Responses," the second of the two ficlets, replied to an f/f prompt.  It is my first try at such, and I suspect I failed the prompt's intention.  One lesson I'm taking is that a fully successful run at that prompt would require its own custom AU.

The oldschoolfic Holiday Ficathon released on the evening of 01/04.  There is one FK story!  "A Time for Families" by malinaldarose, a first-season Christmas with Natalie, Nick, Janette, lots of angst, and a happy ending (written for a prompt by amilyn).

I didn't receive an FK prompt this round, so I did my very best to fulfill an HL prompt: "So This is Home," first-season Christmas, starring Richie, Angie, Duncan and Tessa.  My ficathon match, dragonsinger, similarly picked the HL prompt out of the three submitted, and kindly gifted me with "One Good Christmas," starring Richie and Tessa.  (Yes, I love HL, and Duncan, Tessa and Darius are my favorite characters. Anyone here who couldn't have guessed that? ~g~)

As you know, oldschoolfic is a community for out-of-production series fanfiction.  Fandoms written this round were: BatB, BtVS, FK, Firefly, HL, Joan of Arcadia, K:tE, Nancy Drew, ST:TOS, VM, and West Wing.  Next time, more FK, right?  :-)

It doesn't look like much next to the breathtaking productivity of some fanfiction authors who have shared this meme, but my 2008 was unprecedently prolific.  This was also the year I discovered ficathons.  (I suspect a connection, oh yes.   How did Bill Watterson have Calvin and Hobbes put it?  "I work best under pressure." / "You work only under pressure.")

2008 is the last year for which tv_elf will appear in beta credits.  I miss her.  I am grateful to her and much_madness, batdina, leela_cat, wiliqueen, abby82, and a few people from the list, who generously gave their time and thought to make my stories worth reading -- and, in many cases, to midwife them into existence in the first place by asking questions and waiting out the answers.

And I am so grateful to everyone who read the stories -- especially those who told me they did. :-)

( The 2008 Story List ) ( The Rest of the Meme )

I posted my galpalficathon story from November to fkfic-l (272 recipients) in the closing hours of New Year's Eve, hoping to tidy up and close out the old year for a better start on the new.  One spellcheck-immune typo has been corrected since the ficathon, but the piece is otherwise unchanged.  My thanks to wiliqueen for the prompt, and much_madness for the beta-read.  (Credits are in the end-note, as always.)

I put Tracy and Natalie together twice in 2008, both times for prompts, and both times really challenged me.  I rewatched all the scenes with them together, and they simply never clicked -- which is certainly common enough with coworkers, but they are additionally separated by their respective secrets.  Natalie knows Tracy knows, but Tracy thinks she is all alone -- as Natalie used to think she was.

In any case, that's the end of 2008.  Here's wishing us all a happier, healthier 2009!

	•	Title:	"Milepost"
	•	Length:	~2,400 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L December 31, 2008
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	Tracy receives advice from Natalie on facing difficult crime scenes.
	•	Setting:	After "My Boyfriend is a Vampire," before "Fever"
	•	Characters:	Tracy, Natalie, Nick
	•	Quotation:	"She had tried to become friends with the curly-haired coroner when she first got this assignment, but they just hadn't clicked."

The galpalficathon was due on November 16, but stories continue to trickle in.  (As a reminder, this was the "female friendship" ficathon.)  The prompts offered a wide variety of fandoms and characters, but it seems to me that relatively few people finally participated; the timing may not have been good, as those who play in ficathons may all already have had their eyes on the big holiday fiction games.

So far, two Forever Knight stories have appeared there:

• "Rogue Vampire" by abby82, featuring Janette and Alyce Hunter, before and after the tag scene of "Dark Knight, the Second Chapter."  (~3K words)
• "Milepost" by me, featuring Tracy and Natalie, after "My Boyfriend is a Vampire" and before "Fever."  (~2K words)

If anyone feels like chiming in, this ficathon community gives all signs of being ongoing and deadline-free.  The single-fandom and crossover prompts all remain available.

I posted my second oldschoolfic story to fkfic-l this weekend.  A few scenes have been rewritten since the ficathon, but it's largely the same.  I'm grateful to abby82 for the ficathon prompt!  And I'm obliged to my beta-readers (see the story's endnote, as always).

"Fearful Symmetry" is entirely from Nick's perspective.  I don't often narrate from Nick's point of view, and that's curious to me.  I've been wondering from where that comes (among what the series presents, what I'm any good at writing, and what people seem to like to read).

	•	Title:	"Fearful Symmetry"
	•	Length:	~9,900 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L November 1-2, 2008
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	As the asteroid panic gets a second wind, Nick revisits his experiences during the 1950s Red Scare.
	•	Setting:	Flashbacks to 1954 ("Spin Doctor").  Present after "A More Permanent Hell."
	•	Characters:	Nick, Natalie, Lacroix, Janette, Others.
	•	Quotation:	"He had been so proud to be awarded tenure last year, to be recognized as a worthy and wanted permanent member of the faculty."

 

The final forsaken_fandom Awards (Round 2) went up today!  The official List of Winners and Runners-Up is as good as a list of recommendations by consensus, as is the original List of Nominees.  Congratulations to all the Forever Knight winners and nominees!  Thank you so much for writing and sharing.  And congratulations to all the nominators, readers, voters, judges and the project moderators!  No story is complete until it is read.

For brevity, here is a very condensed -- teaser! -- list of winners in selected categories only.  (Please check out the full list.)  By the by, if you're looking to compliment a nominated FK author on her story but she doesn't have an LJ and you don't have her email address, contact me privately; in most cases here, I can share it.

Short Story	The Art Of Deception	pj1228
Long Story	Starwort	brightknightie
Series	FK4	greerwatson
Angst	Full Circle	Amanda B.
Dark	Anno Horribilis, Anno Mirabilis	Nancy K.
Ensemble	Could They Choose Between	havocthecat
Fluff	Faire Things	Elena G.
Friendship	Carpe Noctem	hearts_blood
Holiday	Valentine Ghosts	Ell H.
Missing Scene	Damages	tolakasa

Under "own horn, tooting of," as wiliqueen posted earlier today, y'all were very, very generous to my stories, and recognized "Starwort" (winner, long story), "Steamer Trunk Space" (winner, past; runner-up, missing scene), "A Delicate Balance" (winner, best characterization), and "Last Minutes" (winner, original plot).  Thank you so much!  I am honored.

For those seeking fresh, exciting, new flavors, the winning and runner-up stories that have never yet appeared on fkfic-l include: greerwatson's, dknightshade's, ithildyn's, havocthecat's and tv_elf's.  (If anyone wants any advice I can offer on posting to the list, please just speak up!  I'd be happy to see your story there, and many others would, too.)

Again, thank you, all.

I began posting my oldschoolfic ficathon story to fkfic-l today.  I'm grateful to amilyn for the ficathon prompt, and her enthusiastic reception of the story!  And I'm obliged to my generous beta-readers (see the story's end note) as always.  This is the longest piece I've yet written solely from Natalie's perspective.

	•	Title:	"A Delicate Balance"
	•	Length:	~9,900 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L July 27-29, 2008
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Natalie takes a break from a murder investigation to attend an unusual memorial for her brother, while considering a new approach to Nick's condition.
	•	Setting:	After "1966."  Flashbacks to Natalie's childhood.
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, Schanke, Richard, Sara, Nana, Janette, Grace, Stonetree, Tracy and others.
	•	Quotation:	"The mesmerism-enforced lie that had covered Richie's vampirism curdled on Natalie's tongue."

Addendum:  By the way, the fkfic-l "ACK" states that the posts are reaching 279 recipients.  (I presume that is "mail" and "digest," not "nomail," but I don't know for sure.)  Those of you who have FK fanfic you've posted on LJ but not the list, please do consider sharing with the biggest FK audience still assembled.  We miss you.

The oldschoolfic ficathon has been released from its moderated queue!  It looks as if my "A Delicate Balance," written for amilyn's Natalie prompt, is the only Forever Knight story in the batch, unfortunately.  But there's BtVS, ST:TNG, HL, B5, VM, Farscape, original Battlestar Galactica, and more out-of-production series.  (As usual, it will take me a while to read my way through.)

Next round, we really must muster more FK prompts and players!  (Yes, I'm looking at you!)  I did submit one, but butterflykiki wrote my HL Methos and Tessa prompt instead, and as her "Fly Away Home" turned out so marvelously, I can't even wish she'd chosen otherwise.  Both, sure.  Otherwise, no. ;-)

By my calendar, today (May 18, 2008) is the twelfth anniversary of the first broadcast of "Last Knight."  Your syndication may have varied.  I considered marking the day by digging up my original 2006 fkspoilr post responding to that airing.  Instead, I sent "Clearing the Air" (my entry in Medie's drabble-a-thon) to fkfic-l and archived it on my site.

On this twelfth anniversary/memorial, I just wanted to say, hey, we're still here, and I'm so glad.  Thank you, all!

	•	Title:	"Clearing the Air"
	•	Length:	100 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L May 18, 2008
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Tracy asks Natalie why things are so strained between them.
	•	Setting:	During "My Boyfriend is a Vampire"
	•	Characters:	Tracy, Natalie
	•	Quotation:	"Do you blame me for Detective Schanke and Captain Cohen's deaths?"

 

I posted two contributions to medie's week-long "Because We're Awesome"/"About the Girls" comment-fic fete today:

• "La Ville-lumière," a graphic for the prompt "Janette : Paris"
• "Clearing the Air," a traditional drabble (100 words) for the prompt "Natalie and Tracy : Talk"

I spent all my spare moments this week chewing over the MBIAV drabble; by contrast, the Paris graphic came smoothly and quickly on Friday night.  I'm not sure whether I should send the drabble to fkfic-l, or compile a cycle of drabbles or something else to make it worth the list's time.

There are two hours yet to midnight Saturday (the end of the event) here in the Pacific time zone, and more yet in Alaska, and Hawaii, and west to the dateline.  So more FK contributions may appear.  At the moment, however, it seems that abby82's "Cutthroat Business" (for the prompt "Janette : Business") is the only other FK posting.

Please bear with me through one last post here about this story.  I sent "Starwort" to fkfic-l early this week, then archived it on my own site.  It's my longest fanfiction in almost five years, and my first starring Fleur in almost seven.  My sincere thanks to those who helped it come into being, and those who have let me know that they read it!

	•	Title:	"Starwort"
	•	Length:	~14,000 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L April 20-22, 2008
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	While Fleur is pregnant with Andre, a stranger named Lacroix arrives uninvited at a hunting party.
	•	Setting:	1236, Artois
	•	Characters:	Fleur, Lacroix, Original Characters
	•	Quotation:	"How my ladies would laugh, to hear I had a successful flirtation and don't even remember it."

I mentioned that the retrospective was over, so yes, indeed, this is a new one!  The idea crept up as I was getting ready for church on Good Friday; I wrote it that night.  This is the second-to-shortest FK piece I have ever posted, so perhaps much_madness will consider it another reply to her nudge for "ficlets."

	•	Title:	"Pro Terra Sancta"
	•	Length:	~1,200 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L March 23, 2008
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	On Good Friday, Schanke inadvertently reminds Nick of the Crusades, and Natalie notices.
	•	Setting:	1993 Toronto, Stonetree's Precinct
	•	Characters:	Nick, Natalie, Schanke
	•	Quotation:	"I pointed out that we indispensable public servants don't all get the four-day weekend that schoolgirls and saleswomen do, but did they listen to me?"

Happy Easter!  With this installment, we come to the end of my little fanfiction retrospective.  From now on, it's new or nothing!  (Unless I retype two or three dusty 'zine properties, perhaps.)

In December, much_madness challenged me to produce something short on a deadline, noting that she enjoys vignettes and "ficlets," and that I rarely write them.  She's right.  I have a tough time letting FK scenarios go when they're still small.  In reply to her, and inspired by something wiliqueen said while analyzing Blood Ties, I managed this:

	•	Title:	"Steamer Trunk Space"
	•	Length:	~1,400 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L February 7, 2008
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Between the scenes of "Father's Day," Janette packs for the trip in pursuit of Nick.
	•	Setting:	1925 Paris
	•	Characters:	Janette, Lacroix
	•	Quotation:	"Prudence often dimmed and drifted, when it came to Nicolas."

I began the first draft of this story from Nick's perspective, and then started over again from Natalie's to find it worked better, though entirely differently.  The coda from Lacroix's perspective wasn't on my outline; it just appeared, as Lacroixian things sometimes do.

If this weren't a retrospective, I wouldn't have identified the voices like that, because my hope was for the reader to speculate, for the first few paragraphs, that it is Janette.  But of course the character list below shows that Janette isn't here.  I'm wary of detailed headers for that very reason (spoilers) and I'm glad fkfic-l still does not require them.  That preference seems to be my old-fashioned oddity, though, doubtless because there is ever so much more fanfiction than there used to be -- which is a good thing; don't get me wrong! -- and people in more active fandoms need more ways of sorting through it all.

	•	Title:	"Last Minutes"
	•	Length:	~3,100 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L October 24, 2007
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	At a wedding reception, Natalie ensures Nick's secret is kept.
	•	Setting:	c.2011
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, Lacroix, Urs, Serena, Lily Toeffler, Catherine Barrington, Others
	•	Quotation:	"If most vampires persist in thinking of psychokinetic hypnotism as a magic spell, it's no wonder they don't use it to its full potential."

This is not a crossover.  It's a parody.  But it has a smattering of parallel spoilers for the third season of the revived Doctor Who, because I inflicted on Nick and his Professor When show all the spoilers I was unable to duck in real life.

Our beloved brick is so good for this kind of humor, isn't he?  I had almost forgotten!

	•	Title:	"Professor When"
	•	Length:	~3,700 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on August 30, 2007
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	It seems everyone has seen the new season of Nick's favorite show -- except him.
	•	Setting:	Second season
	•	Characters:	Nick, Lacroix, Schanke, Janette, Merlin, Natalie, Others
	•	Quotation:	"Nick sighed. Putting away killers to atone for his sordid past was all fine and good, but no one should have to work on premiere night."

This retrospective is rapidly catching up with me, as we come to "Better Late," written just last summer.  I have only three more stories from then to now to list.  Good thing I have a new one underway!

In fact, "Better Late" is not, in all ways, quite as new as last summer.  I first drafted a version of it in 2002; it was from Nick's perspective, shorter, and more conventional.  My perceptive beta-readers didn't like it.  So I set it aside, and did not seriously pick it up again until spring 2007.  In addition to being from Natalie's perspective, the final version has flashbacks, and a presence by Lacroix, that were nowhere in the original.  I believe it's stronger for the changes.  I'm bemused that it took me so long to grow into a capacity for those improvements.

	•	Title:	"Better Late"
	•	Length:	~6,100 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on July 30, 2007
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Natalie suspects more behind a change in their daughter's custody arrangements than her ex-husband Nick has said.
	•	Setting:	2012 Toronto
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, Lacroix, Others
	•	Quotation:	"One reason of many for not telling Joanie had been to keep her innocent by the Enforcers' code if they ever came for Natalie and Nick.  Silence was safety."

I wrote this story as a gift for tv_elf, who once wished for fanfiction featuring Schanke and Janette (as in scenes from "For I Have Sinned," "Hunters," "Partners of the Month" and "Close Call").  I don't know that I achieved the rhythm of the great canonical banter she had in mind, but I did my best.  The characters attend The Fantasticks because tv_elf likes musicals, and wiliqueen suggested that this was the musical of the Schankes' generation.

The narrative perspective is Myra's, and Bernice Applebaum from "If Looks Could Kill" makes an appearance (plus references to Norma Dean, Bernice's friend who died in the ILCK teaser).

	•	Title:	"Nice to Remember"
	•	Length:	~4,850 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L November 22, 2006
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Myra and Don Schanke's anniversary celebration proves more exciting than planned.
	•	Setting:	Between first and second season
	•	Characters:	Schanke, Myra, Janette, Others
	•	Quotation:	"You two had a date tonight?  I had no idea.  It's our anniversary, and he volunteered.  Oh, man.  Nick didn't stand you up, did he?  I mean, not that anyone would stand you up!"

And now the retrospective comes to my first (and still only) story from Schanke's perspective, and my first (and still only) through-and-through "cop plot" scenario.  I can't imagine why it took so long!  This genre is a ventricle of the heart of Forever Knight.  I'm still very pleased with this story, all in all.

The title comes from "Dark Knight," of course, where Schanke mocks what he perceives as Nick's weak stomach.

	•	Title:	"A Little Salsa Picante"
	•	Length:	~3,300 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on October 23, 2006
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Schanke's stomach rumbles through an early case with Nick.
	•	Setting:	First season
	•	Characters:	Schanke, Nick, Natalie, Others
	•	Quotation:	"And once again, the sight of some salsa picante lays low the mighty Detective Knight.  Do you realize, Natalie, that Mr. Pride of the Metro PD here cannot cope with a little ketchup on his crime scenes?"

Inserted 04/27/08: As part of the "DVD Commentary" meme, at wiliqueen's request, I've written a commentary on "A Little Salsa Picante."

The original idea-flash for this vignette came in the form of a comic-book storyboard with no speech balloons -- no words at all except the message on the answering machine and the date on the newspaper, something very like the silent "The Phoenix and the Carpet" interlude in the back of that issue of Classic X-Men -- you know the one, right? ;-)  But I don't have the drawing skills to execute that vision, so I wrestled the inspiration into prose instead.

The piece includes my best use of Miklos to date.  Re-reading it, I felt I should try to do more with his character.

	•	Title:	"By Expectation Beguiled"
	•	Length:	~1,900 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on July 28, 2006
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	A shift at the Raven hinges on personal intangibles that have nothing to do with work.
	•	Setting:	Second season
	•	Characters:	Janette, Alma, Brianna, Miklos, Nick, Other
	•	Quotation:	"At first, she looked up each time the door opened.  But Janette soon shook her head and settled down to her paperwork.  ...  This was one of the nights when she felt how very good she was at what she did, and how much it was worth the doing."