I love good guys

I've tended to picture Natalie's lab as a simple rectangle, but of course it's not.  Varying a little season to season and episode to episode, it's usually arranged about like this: ( Map of Natalie's Lab )

What caught my attention is that it's not the walls jogging in and out that my memory had oversimplified.  Instead, in conversation with celli about her femme_fic story, I realized that I have habitually, mistakenly, imagined the exam table as parallel to the counter (with the desk thus on the same wall as the counter)!  I went back through many screenshots (most courtesy of Knight Watchman) and worked out the map above, pushing and pulling at my longstanding mistaken impression.  Why had I pictured the exam table sideways?

Wide shots of the lab are rare, of course, but that's not the key.  I concluded that it really comes down to FK's tete-a-tete filming style, in which conversations between two characters do not usually show both on screen at the same time when that would require the camera to back up to capture both.  Instead, the camera more often flips from framing one character's torso to framing the other's, showing each against his/her own background throughout the conversation.  Of all the scenes in Natalie's lab, so many frame Natalie against her desk and Nick (or Schanke, Grace, Tracy) against the counter, with no hint of the wall space between.  My imagination had discarded the "missing" wall, the one with the chalkboard on it.

What's Good?  I'm happy to get to feature kirbyfest's post-LK Natalie vignette, "Begin Again" (PG), as July's installment in the recommendation-of-the-month project.  (Yes, it's still July! Barely. My apologies for any inconvenience.)  This Natalie is looking forward to a new life, at peace with herself, but is also looking back on an unusual, but entirely plausible and convincing, aftermath of "Last Knight" that argues for the gravest interpretation of canon's accumulated traumas.

     Luckily, she'd been sent here.  A good doctor, the continued affection of her friends, and some time and distance had helped her to start asking hard questions of herself, and helped her to start finding some peace with the answers.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  In June, fkfic-l saw eleven stories by five authors!  All eleven happen to have originated with fkficfest; some were revised, reformatted or illustrated after the game.  ( List with Links )

What's Good?  As we head into summer, I recommend james's "In the Beginning, James Created..." (1995, rated R), the first complete-AU fanfiction I ever read.  This story makes Natalie the vampire cop, and shuffles all the other characters by matching rarely-observed affinities.  But while different characters fill the roles, the relationships stay with the roles.  I see a serious interpretive argument underneath the funhouse ride of this AU; I enjoy that.

I don't want to spoil the story's biggest mind-bender, but I'll hazard that no one but james could have imagined it for us.  It's weird.  And it's worth a thought.

What's New on FKFic-L?  The fiction email list did not see a single new story in May.  But nine have dropped in June to date!  So there will be a list here next month.

What's Good?  I've recommended very large stories for the past four months, so let's turn April's recommendation spotlight on a medium-sized story: Nancy T.'s "First Knight" (2000, PG).  Set during Toronto's public New Year's celebration, this story called to me in this Easter season for striving to match the spiritual questions asked in "Last Knight" with the answers Nick fails to grasp in "Near Death."  It also boasts a surprisingly unresolved ending that tickles me.  (As a caution, this is very explicitly religious Christian fanfiction. Mileage will vary.)

What's New on FKFic-L?  In March, the fiction list did not see any new stories.  I hope this sad dearth lifts soon!

What's Good?  For February, I am excited to finally get to recommend leela_cat's novel "Broken Promises" (1996, NC-17)!  My recommendations project's rules require that I get the author's permission before spotlighting a story; I first asked after this one in '00.  "Broken Promises" links Nick and Vachon's pasts to produce fully-integrated present-day action.  Many minor canonical characters turn up along the way, including the rarely-seen Larry Merlin.

     "Damn it, Javier!" Laine began to retort, but stopped when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Just great. Now she'd never persuade Javier. She glared at the vampire who entered the attic.
     "Vachon..." Nick's voice faltered as he caught sight of Vachon's guest. "Who...?" Doubt, hope, denial. All of them were visible on his face. "I know you. Don't I?"

What's New?  In January, fkfic-l saw three new stories by three authors.  ( list with links )