On Friday, havocthecat wished for picspam of "awesome women."  In response, I made this batch of new userpic icons featuring female FK characters together.  The exercise brought home how rarely the women are on screen at the same moment, even when they are the only two characters in the scene; typically, FK's camera moves back and forth, from one character to the other, instead of showing them together.   (Cohen with Natalie was harder to run down than I expected, and of course the only recurring female character with whom Urs ever shares a shot is Divia.)

Available if you would like them:

01. Natalie and Grace	02. Natalie and Janette	03. Brianna and Janette

( 10 More )

The original screenshots for most of these come from Nancy T.'s Knight Watchman.  I tried to drop by Kristen H.'s Knight Vision, too, but it's gone!  This of course means I've let my links go way too long unchecked, and I should run backward through forkni-l digests until I learn what happened.  (If I heard of this and forgot, I shall be covered with embarrassment, but don't let that stop you from reminding me. ~g~)

I have typed "Nanette" (Natalie/Janette or Natalie&Janette affiliation, you know) three times this morning. This may be the first time in years I've used the word, and suddenly it's everywhere. :-)

I have a few little questions that have cropped up recently, but I've been too busy to catch up and take them home to forkni-l, where I'm sure the answers are known, so:

• Do you remember whether anyone ever seriously named an Aristotle affiliation?  dj_clawson wondered.  I thought one had been named, but I could so easily be confused -- of course the fancy that Susan's unforgettable Dorian has a faction called the "Archivists" could help confuse me on that (as if the confusion needs assistance).
  
  
• You remember the "Center Stage Challenge," yes?  The '95ish fkfic-l challenge in which stories were written from the perspectives of the minor characters, such as Elisabeth's Feliks and Miklos stories?  Well, I would like to track down the Grace story, but I can't remember either the author or title.  I seem to remember it making Grace a fully-rounded character, with a complete set of connections and obligations beyond Natalie and the morgue, including a date and community involvement.  Can you place it?
  
  
• And while we're on the "Center Stage Challenge," what other minor characters were written specifically for it?  I was a newbie on the lists then, and I remember only Elisabeth's stories and the Grace one.
  
  
• Finally, does anyone remember the collective term for Nick, Schanke and Natalie that is the equal and opposite of "Fang Gang" for Nick, Lacroix and Janette?

Thanks!

What's good?  I'm proud to begin the new year of the recommendation-of-the-month project with amilyn's novella "Slippery" (2003).  Undeniably harsh, the story dramatically explores what might happen if, one of the times he tells Natalie to get away and she doesn't, a blood-stoked Nick unintentionally lashes out -- with his muscles (rather than his fangs).

   "How long before someone in your department ends up with you as one of their cases -- just like you had to cut up Maggie Dwyer and God only knows how many others like her?"
   "That is enough!" Natalie interjected, her voice sharp. "That was very different. This... this was an accident. He did not mean to hurt me. I know that, and he knows that."
   "Oh, really?" Tracy caught Natalie's eyes. "Then why is he scared silly he's going to do it again?" Tracy paused, looking for a long moment at Nat, then added carefully, "And why are you?"

What's new?  In December, fkfic-l saw three new stories, a filk, and one piece identified as a repost (which is technically against the list rules without permission, so I wouldn't advise it as a trend).

• "Disclosures" (6 posts) by pj1228
• "Dashing Through the Snow (Vampire Style)" (filk) (1 post) by Kristen F.
• "Birthdays" (1 post) by Walt D.
• "Snowy Knight" (1 post) by J.L.K.
• "Milepost" (1 post) by me

There is also a six-post story that began in December, and has finished in January.  So this month so far is not empty, but not crowded.

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.

And now this retrospective comes to my first story solely from Natalie's point of view.  "Time Out for the Living" was a nominee in the 2000 FK Fanfiction Awards, an honor that still surprises and delights me.

	•	Title:	"Time Out for the Living"
	•	Length:	~6,700 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in March 2000
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Unsettling phone calls, uncanny dreams and an unexpected day off push Natalie to examine her life outside the lab.
	•	Setting:	Between first season and second
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Richard, Grace, Sidney, Sara, Amy
	•	Quotation:	"Since Richie died, she had kept herself busy, and busier, until all the times in which these thoughts might have caught up with her had been squeezed out and away."

"Fireweed" is my longest story to date.  (To my surprise, "In the Light of Day" falls short by 11,000 words!)

This alternate universe diverges during the "Be My Valentine" flashbacks with Janette bringing Fleur across, and then parallels canon, asking what would have been different had Fleur been there.  I named the story for Epilobium angustifolium, a particular flower species [Fleur] that thrives in the aftermath of wildfires ["Ashes to Ashes"] in northern climates [Toronto].

	•	Title:	"Fireweed"
	•	Length:	~64,600 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in December 1998
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	As Natalie strives to derive a cure for vampirism from Divia's lethal venom, Fleur returns to her family.
	•	Setting:	After "Ashes to Ashes," with flashbacks to 1229
	•	Characters:	Nick, Natalie, Janette, Lacroix, Fleur, Grace, Tracy, Others
	•	Quotation:	"I hope, Doctor Lambert, that you will tell my brother of my attempt last night to dissuade you.  He will be looking for a scapegoat, and I'm not eager to take on the role again so soon."

And Another Thing 10:39 PM:  I almost forgot to mention that "Fireweed" was a nominee in the 1998 FK Fanfiction Awards!  My sincere thanks to those who nominated it and voted for it.  Your kindness still matters.

Putting this fanfiction retrospective back on chronological track, the next story up is "England's Rose."  It seems peculiar now, over a decade later, on this side of 9/11 and war and all the rest, the volume of grief lavished on Princess Diana's loss.  But at that time, much of a generation saw a mirror crack, and felt their reflection shatter.  Natalie is part of that generation.

FK's timeline warps to accommodate this story.  "Nobody dies, nobody ever dies," so that the entire cast can register reactions.

	•	Title:	"England's Rose"
	•	Length:	~5,572 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in September 1997
	•	Rating:	PG
	•	Summary:	Princess Diana's death distresses Natalie and reminds Nick of Queen Caroline.
	•	Setting:	August 31 and September 6, 1997; Flashbacks 1981 and 1783
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Sara, Grace, Schanke, Nick, Janette, Lacroix, Urs, Vachon, Screed, Tracy, Cohen
	•	Quotation:	"Natalie had turned nineteen the summer of the royal wedding, and there had been something inescapably exciting about watching this girl, her own age, walk onto the world stage."

 

Fluff.  Utter, unremitting fluff.  My first fiction response to "Last Knight" was apparently thoroughgoing denial wrapped in sappiness and sprinkled with humor.  Eeep!  A few years on, this would have been satire, but at the time, I meant it just as it is.

	•	Title:	"Happiness Is"
	•	Length:	~1,700 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in June 1996
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Natalie and Nick chat about friends and family, happily ever after.
	•	Setting:	"Nobody Dies; Nobody Ever Dies"
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, references to everyone else (that's right: everyone!)
	•	Quotation:	"How about you, Natalie Lambert Knight, love of my eight hundred and four years?  Are you happy?"