Just for reference -- there have been no changes -- here are the current list rules.  As you know, I personally feel that the two main email lists are still the heart of Forever Knight fandom, and they still feel like my own fannish home, even though I don't visit nearly as much as I used to.  If we transplant the fandom's heart someday, I'll deal.  Until then, the fact that the lists still exist at all makes me happy.  (There were 273 recipients of my last fkfic-l post, the acknowledgement said.) 

The rules are numbered more-or-less in the order they accumulated.

( Introduction: The Listowners )

( Rules for ForKni-L: The Discussion List )

( Rules for FKFic-L: The Fiction List )

Recently, in FK on my Friends List:

• On August 11, graphiteslog sketched out a Forever Knight/Sapphire & Steel crossover that sounds quite sensible and intriguing.  (And if any of you have ever heard of Sapphire & Steel before, she would probably be gratified to learn of your existence.)
  
  
• On August 8, ithildyn pondered an FK/HL story she wrote in March, called "Shattered," which, to her surprise, ended up featuring Nick.  She mentioned an eventual sequel.
  
  
• On August 5, someone posted something noteworthy, under a lock.
  
  
• On August 2, abby82 recapped aspects of a recent "Curiouser & Curiouser" discussion on forkni-l.
  
  
• On July 20, abby82 recommended two FK f/f stories: Havoc's untitled Fleur/Kate piece, and also "What Makes a Mortal Interesting," a Janette/Natalie story I'd never seen before.

[Cross-posted from forkni-l.]

There have been a few posts lately asking for the names of middling-to-minor characters, like Amy Lambert from "I Will Repay" and Cynthia Lambert Luce from "Undue Process."  I thought I'd mention the FK Character Directory that I've been working on for a few years now.  It's alphabetical by first name, and includes every character ever named aloud, or in the credits after first season (if the credit can be confidently matched to a person on screen).  I believe it's easy to search, using a browser's "Find" function.  It's complete up to "Night in Question" so far.  I will finish it, but have not just yet for the typical reason that third season can be an emotional slog; still, I'm getting there.

In parallel to that list of people, I've been working on a list of the places and things unique to the FK universe.  It is also complete up to NiQ, so far, and it's my favorite.  These are tidbits that can really make a story pop.  I find them tremendously fun.

And of course there are the character FAQs that I originally made in '97.

They are all intended to be of use to people writing FK fanfiction.

[Crossposted from forkni-l.  In Saturday's digest, a long-time listmember reminisced about running dual VCRs to discover the differences between the Canadian and US cuts long ago, and pondered doing it again now to pin down what's missing from the DVDs, in response to what wiliqueen and I discovered missing from "I Will Repay" on the DVD.]

That would be a great favor to the fandom!  I would follow your progress eagerly.  But I'm afraid it might even take three TVs this time: US cut, Canadian cut and the DVDs.  Four if we can circulate the first-run German cut.  (Is it lucky or unlucky that only first season comes in quite so many flavors?)

When the first-season DVDs came out, I checked "Last Act" to reassure myself that no footage was missing, even though the run-times clearly indicated the first-run Canadian cuts.  I picked "Last Act" because it's peculiar in having some footage that aired only in the US as well as some that aired only in Canada (and, besides, it's so good! ~g~).  ( Read more... ) I should have checked more episodes, obviously. :-)  Why, why, why would anyone cut Nick and Lacroix's exchange about souls from the flashbacks of "False Witness"?  Madness!

Golly, but I love first season.  I rewatched "Fatal Mistake" recently, and kept thinking that while it was perhaps the least admired episode of first season, and surely suffers two painful script burbles as well as arguably one of the worst necks-of-the-week ever, it is nevertheless smart, well-constructed and satisfying.

Addendum 07/26/08:  Apparently, FanHistory.com is a problem on two fronts. First, aggressive inclusion of people's real-life information against their wishes, and second, it's a money-making scheme.  Susan posted to forkni-l to withdraw her support, and in her usual gracious manner of list-posting, included no details.  A nice initial summary here with follow-up here was recommended to me by a trusted friend.  Bad stuff.
--- End Addendum

Original Post:
Susan G. posted to forkni-l today.  That's an unusual event, worth noting!  And I'm way behind on digests, as usual, so it's coincidence that I saw it so quickly.  So what is she up to in FK?  FanHistory.com, it appears, with the FK Fanfiction Awards page, and perhaps thoughts of creating "something on the FKFic-L challenges."

I'm not familiar with this site, so it was probably as foolish as it was impulsive of me to go in and start adding links.  She invited, "Please feel free to go in and edit the wiki as need be - most of the stories on the award nom section need links," but I should have left it to others wiser in the ways of wikis in general and this site in particular.  I fervently hope I didn't fail to follow a format and mess up how it was supposed to be; if I did, please tell me how to put it right, and I will.  At any rate, the links I added are to story files on the authors' own sites -- except yours, wiliqueen, which is to the file to which you link from your own site; and Sarah B.'s, which she authorized me to archive for her years ago -- and I can perhaps link in most of the rest come the weekend if no one minds.  There are a handful that I know I absolutely cannot link -- lost stories, lost authors -- and I will be delighted if someone can show they are still available with their authors' permission.

I worry a little about some of the names in the list, as I always worry about such things when they pop up.  I edited mine, per my current custom.  All those years ago, most of us had no idea what the Net would become (there was no Google, no DSL, no IE!) and perhaps those same people today would rather go by other identifiers?  It's thorny. 

I'm two weeks behind on reading forkni-l digests.  This is ordinary, and nothing at all compared to how far behind I am on fkfic-l.  The thing is, I've finally learned that I don't need to reply on forkni-l; I can lurk.  (No, really, I can! This isn't fkspoilr days. ~g~)  But on fkfic-l, I feel very responsible to offer some sort of minimum feedback on every piece I read, no matter what, so I put off reading until I know I can make time for feedback as well.  It's a vicious circle, spiraling nastily from an attempt to create a virtuous circle.  Letters-of-comment can be infinitely frustrating to write in ways acceptable to fandom, but they're also the indispensable fuel for the fire of more stories in an out-of-production fandom.  If you don't tell someone you're reading her stories, she may not know anyone is reading her stories, and she may therefore not write any more stories.

And we must have more stories.

While chatting with wiliqueen on a previous post, it occurred to me to remark on my current relationship with forkni-l digests, as I know most of you reading this blog don't subscribe to forkni or even fkfic-l anymore (repent! return to the lists! ~g~).

I've been set digest on forkni-l for ... ever.  Okay, years and years.  (I've never left fkfic-l, but I did go through a "nomail" period on forkni-l.)  In this century, I often go months at a time barely skimming the digests, opening several weeks' worth all at once long after the fact and just seeing if something catches my eye.  I happen to be in a "reading it" phase right now, however, opening each digest within a day or two.  This week, anyway.  We'll see how it lasts.

The discussion list is going through the series in order, one episode every two or three weeks, led by Tim P., bless him.  He reminds us of the next episode scheduled for discussion, and makes the first discussion post each time.  ("Capitol Offense" was up last week.)  The digests are infinitesimal compared to once-upon-a-time, usually just one to four posts per day, and nothing some days.  But this is good, in a way, because at this volume, I can keep up when I get in the mood to do so.  The old three-digests-per-day, 40KB-per-digest would be well beyond me now!

And Another Thing (9:13 AM):  By the way, I've added most of my 2007 forkni posts to this LJ (backdated to their original posting dates, quotations belonging to other listmembers omitted).  The "chat" tag will pull them up, if you're interested.  If this seems like a good idea, I can roll on back in time, adding more until I run out of old posts...

[Crossposted from forkni-l.  In reply to remarks on the second-season episode "Capitol Offense."]

Nick getting away with breaking lots of procedures and perhaps contributing negligently to homicide is just a "little bit"?

Well, yes, in "Capitol Offense," it is, because, as we know, the even bigger reality-defying problem in this episode is that Canada would never extradite someone who faces the death penalty.  It's against the law.  If "Capitol Offense" had happened in the real Toronto, the Laura Garfield character would probably be behind bars in a Canadian prison to this day, as I understand it.  They wouldn't ship her home until Texas gave up the death penalty -- which is to say, never.

But despite that infamous blunder nomination for the wall of shame, I really do love two things about "Capitol Offense."  ( Read more... )

Very unusually, possibly bending all laws of time, space and reality, I posted to forkni-l twice on Sunday, both times in reply to a post from a digest only ten days old.  Omitting the quoted remarks that belong to someone else, here's my text for those of you who have wandered off into the wilderness of not being on list ;-) but may yet be interested.  (In this particular case, havocthecat and tv_elf, this means you; see post one below.)

( Upcoming New FK Fanfic -- Chat )
( Forever Net Before Christmas Zine -- Recommendations )

[Crossposted from forkni-l. Backdated. In reply to discussion of how FK might fare in today's television market, especially given its low production costs.]

Cost always carries weight, and with cheaply-produced "non-scripted" shows as competition these days, perhaps the expense factor is even more pivotal than before.  This made me start thinking: what if FK were up for this season?  What if this were the year in which the same ideas had been pitched to the same major network with the same hole in its late-night schedule?  If we were looking at Crimetime after Primetime for the very first time, I think the question might be not whether it would be picked up -- after all, Moonlight -- but at what in FK's execution would be different in today's environment?

The biggest difference, I suspect, might be forensics.  ( Read more... )