I love good guys

Today is Memorial Day in the US, the holiday commemorating those who have died while active in the armed forces, serving and protecting the rest of us. It began as "Decoration Day" after the Civil War, in which the "decoration" was of the graves of the war's dead. These days, sometimes, sentiment extends it also to those who have died as first-responders — police, firefighters, paramedics.

I hope that I do not in any way trivialize the holiday's solemn due by saying that its timing this year, as we gear up fkficfest/fkficfest, connected in my mind with some elements of FK's story. skieswideopen made an observation this weekend that reminded me that, whatever happened later, conquistador Vachon died, a young soldier, on a battlefield far, far from his home. Though gravely wounded, crusader Nick survived his battlefields in body, and yet, as melissatreglia noted a week or so ago, the "deutero-canon" from that venerable Jim Parriot interview is that Nick was a prisoner of war — enduring captivity in the Levant before eventually, somehow, making his way back to France — incomparably changed from Gwyneth's blithe lover into Lacroix's disillusioned prey. Lacroix, of course, as a general (probably "legate," properly) of Roman legions, perpetrated what we today recognize as war crimes.

Of course the late Susan G.'s 1995 FK poem "Old Soldiers," inspired by the Raven scene in "My Boyfriend is a Vampire," came to mind. If you haven't read it yet, don't miss it. (If you don't usually like poetry, try reading it aloud; give it a chance.)

These seven miniature stories were my contribution to the "door prizes" for on-time players in the May 2010 fkficfest game.  (You can read the whole slate here, with seven more drabbles by amilyn and one by leela_cat.)

I'd written a drabble -- a 100-word story -- once before, but just the once.  People often compare the discipline of a 100-word story to a haiku.  The goal is to fit an entire, self-sufficient tale into the few words, not just an excerpt of a larger piece; I found it very challenging, and I know that my success varies across these selections.

	•	Title:	"Party Favors" (also on AO3)
	•	Length:	7 x 100 words
	•	Date:	Posted to fkficfest on May 30, 2010; not yet posted to FKFic-L
	•	Rating:	Assorted
	•	Quotation:	"The little camera on the patrol car's dashboard ensured that Vachon had to take it like a human."

What's Good?  Thanks to hearts_blood, I did get August's recommendation-of-the-month up this past Tuesday, setting a new lateness record.  (Sorry! My blunder!)  So what do I think is so much worth the time in the little bit of August left?  Her Vachon character sketch "Nocturnal Pleasure" (2003).

        Which meant that if he skipped town, Nick would kill him, and if he brought Tracy across, Nick would kill him, and if he didn't bring Tracy across, the Enforcers would kill them both.

What's New?  In July, fkfic-l saw two authors posting three new stories.  ( List with Links )

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!

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 (m/f)
	•	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..."