What's good?  I'm happy to get to present lizbetann's "Night in Hell" as June's recommendation-of-the-month.  Written shortly after "The Human Factor" first aired, this story fits one scenario neatly into the infamous gap -- once a subject of fervent debate -- between Nick's agonized cry and Reese's phone call.  Unusually, this story addresses that key lacuna from Natalie's perspective.

     The house was crawling with police and the fire department when she got there.  She didn't even bother trying to fight her way through the crowds.  If Nick had gotten out, but was hurt, he would be nearby.  He would need her.  She refused to consider the thought that he hadn't gotten out.

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What's new?  In May, fkfic-l saw six stories by two authors.  ( List with Links )

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

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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~)

What's good?  Enthused about alternate universes, coming off the new Star Trek movie?  For May, I'm excited to get to recommend a story set in FK's one canonical AU.  "Perchance to Dream: Ghost Song" (2009, rated R) by abby82 plunges beautifully, wretchedly into the "Curiouser & Curiouser" inversion.

Slowly, Janette's perfume surrounds him like a comfortable blanket and for a few precious moments Nick pretends this is exactly what he wants--the trappings of domestic bliss. ... Nick sneaks a look at his watch. If he leaves now, he can make it.

Happy tenth anniversary to the recommendation-of-the-month project!  In May 1999, the very first recommendation was of susanmgarrett's "Peerless Pressure."

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What's new?  In April, fkfic-l saw three stories by three authors.  ( List )

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.

leela_cat wrote, and batdina beta-read, several ficlets as personal holiday gifts this year, three of them FK, and one of them for me!

This is the first time leela_cat has written FK in, oh, vampire's years.  She was good then, but she's even better now.  Please consider reading these and lavishing her with thoughtful comments to encourage her to indulge FK again someday.

• FK: "Even a Fine Line Has Two Sides" for Natpacker amilyn. 300 words. G. Natalie, Sidney, Nick.
  
• FK: "A Strange Comfort" for Knightie me. ~1,090 words. G. Nick, Schanke, Natalie, Janette.
  
• FK/HL: "The Night Was Dark, and She Was the Owner" for Ravenette loreleif. ~1,200 words. G. Janette, Methos, Natalie.

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.

What's good?  I'm running late on the recommendations project this month; my apologies.  Now that we're here, I am so pleased to get to highlight the energetic, enthusiastic, insightful, 1995 novel "Protect and Serve" by butterflykiki!  This unique angle on the Enforcers focuses on the human characters.

Natalie:	"Do you ever think that our lives would be a lot simpler if we just gave up on the secrecy and published the truth in the Enquirer, Nick?"
Nick:	"I don't need my life simplified that much."

What's new?  In October, fkfic-l saw one new story, a one-parter titled "Hallowe'en" by Walt D.  (Yea, Walt!)  November, by comparison, has gotten off to a sprinter's start, with three stories by three authors already!

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."

 

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?"

 

Some time back, wiliqueen mentioned in passing that she would like a Natpacker icon.  I made a batch, and promised to put up for grabs those she didn't choose for herself.  Here they are!   If you pick one up, please let me know, and credit as appropriate.  Constructive criticism is also welcome.

1. (Transparent)	2.	3.	4. (Transparent)

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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.

wiliqueen revived the "DVD Commentary" meme, sharing her thoughts on her 2008 BT fanfiction "Five Times Coreen..." (story / with commentary) and her 1993 FK fanfiction "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" (story / with commentary).  She asked for mine on my 2006 FK story "A Little Salsa Picante."

I put my commentary on my site this morning (story / with commentary).  Thank you, Wiliqueen, for reading the story, and for being curious for more!

batdina posted an icon meme on Friday, and agreed to play it with me.  Would you like to join in?

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick up to four of your icons.
2. Make a post of your own (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts, in a spreading spiral of icon squee!

( Batdina selected my Tracy, Natalie and IB icons. )

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?"

So the first thing I did after submitting my "We Love Female Characters" ficathon entry to the happy limbo of the moderated queue over at femme_fic was to switch out the image on my home desktop.  For two months, I've been looking at the characters who star in that particular story -- screenshots and manipulations at home, a symbol at work -- and it's time for a change!  I popped up a favorite from the tag of "Feeding the Beast" (image via NT's esteemed Knightwatchman), with Nick, Natalie and Schanke looking at his canvas -- Schanke pontificating, Nick credulous, and Natalie skeptical.

Didn't we use to have a term for the three of them together, an equivalent to the "Fang Gang" for the other character triad?  I can't seem to remember it.

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."

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."

Someday, I may write a sequel to this novella, and it may be called "Under a Long Shadow."  Someday.  If I figure out the theme.  I know what happens next, you see, but I'm not sure it matters, because "In the Light of Day" fulfills its whole original purpose.  To write, I must have purpose.

"In the Light of Day" is a parallel-reality tale.  The break with canon comes after "Fever," and the story then progresses through "Dead of Night," "The Games Vampires Play" and "The Human Factor," reworking each episode given Nick's new mortality, until things are so different that the parallel snaps, and the alternate reality floats free.

One tidbit of which I'm fond here is Natalie's on-the-fly psychoanalysis of Lacroix, in which she concludes that no one will ever love another person as much as he has, over eight centuries, convinced himself he loved Fleur.  I also like the garden I built for Feliks Twist (but I really owe him a nice story of his own for his fate here).  And the flashbacks!  I did more research for them than any before or since (so far).  For this story, I became queen of a certain slice of Trivial Pursuit questions.  :-)

	•	Title:	"In the Light of Day"
	•	Length:	~53,000 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in October 2003
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	Nick regains his humanity, but he's not the only one.  And no one is prepared for all the consequences.
	•	Setting:	After "Fever," with flashbacks 1226-1228
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, Norma, Stonetree, Urs, Tracy, Reese, Vachon, Feliks Twist, Lacroix, Myra Schanke, Janette, Others
	•	Quotation:	"Nick strolled back to his loft in the crisp morning light, feeling everything was right with his world. Granted, his arm was in a sling, his shoulder throbbed like thunder, he remained on enforced medical leave, his partner might never again pass a police physical, and the Enforcers could well be coming to get him and the woman he loved..."

What's good?  For February, the recommendation-of-the-month project features tv_elf's inventive, amusing "Things Unsaid" (2007), set circa 2011, in a reality unlike any other I've ever seen trying to cope with the aftermath of third season.

(For those playing along at home, this is not the story I originally requested for February, with no slight to either author, as I would be happy to recommend either story in any month.  I was simply unable to reach the other author, and by the project rules in force since 1999, recommendations are by permission only.  Thus, late recommending this month.  Apologies all around!)

What's new?  In January 2008, fkfic-l unfortunately did not see any stories posted.

I wrote "What It's Like" during one of those phases when I identified very strongly with Nick.  Given that, I'm not sure why it's from Natalie's perspective, but there it is, in that delightful canonical gap between the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" and the present of "Dark Knight."

This little story winds up with an origin for Natalie and Nick's "movie nights," as seen on screen only in "False Witness," but famed in fanfic through every faction and fad.

	•	Title:	"What It's Like"
	•	Length:	~2,400 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on May 3, 2003
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	Natalie attempts to understand Nick's struggle, as he grapples with his third shift as a homicide detective.
	•	Setting:	1991 Toronto
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick
	•	Quotation:	"That's exactly the kind of thing I need to know, if we're going to cure your condition, not just treat its symptoms.  And that is our mission statement, isn't it?  Find a cure?"