hlh_shortcuts

"Bag of Bolts" by [currently Anonymous]
G, gen, 7K words
Natalie, Tessa, Duncan, OCs
Summary: Natalie attends an ME convention at a hotel where Tessa is installing a sculpture. Danger. Bonding. Pie.

fkficfest

fkficfest

• A book about Natalie. I read an engaging, intriguing excerpt on Slate from the new memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek, MD, and immediately added the book to my Amazon cart, visions of better-informed Natalie fanfic dancing in my head.


• An analysis about Nick. Also on Slate, I read a Quora answer: "Could Modern Troops Defeat Medieval Knights in Hand-to-Hand Combat?" by Jon Davis, Marine sergeant, Iraq vet, weapons instructor. If I may spoil the ending, he concludes that, all else being equal, a medieval knight would surely defeat a modern Marine in solo hand-to-hand combat; his reasoning covers both culture and technology.


• An essay about all of us. Over in the NYT, columnist Timothy Egan wrote a reflection on Robin Williams's death, and concluded: "My plea here is for people to give the needed space to artists and performers to fail every now and then, and to understand how exposed someone feels when trying something new." That's a profound consideration for everyone, and I'm trying to take it to heart and become better, myself. With my mind full of FKFicFest this week, though, I couldn't help also hearing it specifically in terms of this year's players; with only 9 writers and all FK's diverse perspectives, some of the matches invited bold moves outside of comfort zones. That's hard! And everyone rose to the occasion! There's a lot of "trying something new" in this year's game. I hope we can give each author just the right space.

• Highlander: "Lazarus Heart" (Methos/Alexa, 918 words, G) (beta-read by celli!) for beccadg's wish
  I'd never tried Methos/Alexa before, but the attempt turned out surprisingly satisfying for me. I hope that it works as well for readers, and doesn't bog down when I poke around inside Methos's head for a bit in the middle.


• Forever Knight: "In Pursuit of the Paladin" (Lacroix & Natalie with Nick implied, 991 words, PG) (beta-read by skieswideopen!) for pj1228's wish
  This led me to a new approach to the ever-vexing problem of how to write for fellow FK fans who personally prefer "dark" takes that I can't support, myself. Here, I imagined a "bright" scenario that I'd love, but told it from Lacroix's perspective. It worked better for me than some past, straining attempts to approach "dark" prompts, but I don't know whether it really bridges the problem of sufficient respect for preferences I can't share. Maybe it's better not to try? There are so few of us! Are mismatches better than no matches, or not?


• A handful of fanfiction "gift certificates" in FK and HL for stories to be posted to the AO3 sometime in 2014
  (Four have been redeemed/accepted so far. Coincidentally, that's the same number I still owe from the last time I tried this — you know who you are. ~grin~)

This is the fandom_stocking story that I wrote for amilyn this year.  She said that she likes "strong women," "aftermath," and "fic that... fits into canon" (and, naturally, Forever Knight).  It's a light piece, with a few passing serious reflections.

My thanks to Malinaldarose for her speedy beta-reading!  My thanks to Celli for her precise beta-recommendations!

	Available:	My Fansite | The AO3
	Length:	1,336 words
	Date:	Fandom Stocking 01/06/12, FKFic-L 01/23/12
	Rating:	G
	Characters:	Natalie, Sharon
	Summary:	On her thirty-first birthday, Natalie dyes her hair for the first time.
	Quotation:	"But what could she say if Nick... envied her?  Worse, what if this change in her pushed him to notice time passing, to see the day coming when department ribbing about his appetite would turn instead to his youth?"

When celli kindly beta-read "A Hunt by Any Other Name," my fandom_stocking Janette and Natalie stuck-in-an-elevator story, we chatted about the challenge of bringing those characters together.

The nature of Forever Knight keeps Janette and Natalie apart.  Whether we diagram the characters as a linear continuum, or overlapping circles, or atomic shells, the story structure puts Nick in the middle and Janette and Natalie to either side (with Lacroix and Schanke a step beyond them), representing Nick's different worlds, his dual nature.  Canon embodies some themes by physically anchoring Janette in her club and Natalie in her lab, while moving Nick between them (how much the club and the lab are respectively full of life and of death, and the thematic questions and reversals in that, is a fascinating topic of its own).

If I'm counting correctly, canon puts Janette and Natalie in the same scene in just 9 episodes (out of 70), for a total of 10-12 separate scenes (depending how you count scene interruptions).  They're together in the Raven 6 times, the loft 2, and once each at the morgue and a crime scene.  In aired order — which, in second season, is not production order, and not the order on the DVDs; grateful as I am for the DVDs, their order still irritates me — they are: ( list )

Did I forget any?

[Addendum: Per pj1228, I forgot "Close Call." It's now listed. Thanks!]

What's Good?  On FKFic-L, August used to be "Susan's Birthday Month," honoring Susan G.'s immense contributions to the fandom with an abundance of new fanfic for everyone to enjoy.  (Her email signature at that time: "For my birthday, I want fiction. Lots and lots of fiction. Tons of the stuff.")  This August, in memory, the recommendations project features one participant in that happy tradition: "Strays" by amilyn (1997, G, ~2K words).  It's a straightforward relation of how Sydney (and Nick) settled into Natalie's life.

As the door closed behind them, Sydney meowed once, then walked with some dignity to the new furniture he wasn't supposed to sit on, and made himself at home.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  July saw two new pieces on the fanfiction email list: "Flying Sparks" by greerwatson (short story) and "Problem Child" by 1_mad_squirrel (haiku).  August saw six!  (All came from FKFicFest. I'll list them next month, as usual.)

I wrote "Malicious Mischief" for sholio's prompt in FKFicFest 2011.  This is the one in which a murder at the Raven defies Janette's cover-up skills, Nick is away pursuing the Abarrat, and Schanke and Janette are both quitting smoking.

Thanks to batdina and lastscorpion for beta-reading!  Thanks to wiliqueen and leela_cat for brainstorming!

	Available:	The Ficathon | My Fansite | The AO3
	Length:	~9,100 words
	Date:	FKFicFest 07/16/11
	Rating:	PG
	Summary:	While Nick is out of town, Schanke and Janette must cooperate to solve a crime at the Raven.
	Characters:	Schanke, Janette, Nick, Natalie, Miklos, Alma, Grace
	Quotation:	"The woman herself was ebony-and-ivory gorgeous as always, pale skin revealed by a black evening dress in all the right places as she leaned back in her chair, shining dark hair twisted up behind her head. But her eyes were tight, and her fingers twitched toward the crystal ashtray that was no longer there."

What's Good?  "Happy Anniversary" (1996, ~4K words, PG) by butterflykiki is June's installment in the recommendation-of-the-month project.  In this sharp confrontation, written while third season was still in progress, Natalie drops all her defenses in a bid to save Nick from Lacroix... and himself.  On this side of "Last Knight," the story combines the energy of live canon with a shivery consciousness of last chances.

"Forgive me, doctor."  A smile tugged at the edges of Lacroix's mouth.  "Many women have desired Nicholas.  Some have even cared about him.  Quite a few thought they loved him... but I can't recall the last one who was willing to take such risks for him, knowing all that he is.  No, wait— I do remember.  What a long time ago that was..."

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What's New on FKFic-L?  One new story, "Cuts Deep" (~11K words, PG-13), and one new poem, "Solace" (~300 words, PG), posted to the list in May.  (Both were by me, sorry.)  No new fanfiction has yet posted to the list in June.