I love good guys

What's Good?  February's recommendation-of-the-month is Susan G.'s "Lost and Found" (1999, PG, ~5K words), written for the charity fanzine A Taste of Forever and never posted to fkfic-l.  I was delighted to discover that she had placed it on her site!  This post-series story grants Nick and Natalie a human future together, but sprouts a new tragedy from the roots of Nick's original vampiric sin.

        "There's always hope. There has to be hope. You're a lot less pig-headed than I am--at least, your mother thinks you are. Maybe it won't take you eight hundred years to find your answer. Be smart. Have hope. Survive," added Nick, the last in a harsh whisper, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. "And remember that we'll always be there for you. We'll always love you."
        Richie's head turned, his expression doubtful--the weight of guilt in his eyes for the deeds of the past year adding instantly to the burden on Nick's soul.
        "We'll always love you," repeated Nick.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  January saw four stories by two authors on the email list.  February so far has seen none.  ( list with links )

I wrote this vignette for Andveryginger in the 2010/2011 fandom_stocking event.  My thanks to Natmerc for beta-reading.

On her wish list, Andverginger wrote that she likes N&N and "mild-to-moderate angst."

	•  Title:	"Metamorphosis" (also on AO3)
	•  Length:	~1,000 words
	•  Date:	Fandom Stocking 01/06/11, FKFic-L 03/20/11
	•  Rating:	PG
	•  Summary:	It's time for Natalie to move on ... without Nick.
	•  Characters:	Nick, Natalie
	•  Quotation:	"He could admit, now, that he had been expecting this almost from the moment she woke up in the hospital, her blood in his veins, a human donor's in hers."

I wrote these three tiny stories ("Sky," "Roof," "Bus") as a birthday present for leela_cat earlier this year.  She lives fannishly in Harry Potter these days, and so to gift her something close to her joys, I made this small first venture there.  The ficlets are gen with background slash implied.  My thanks to much_madness for discussing the idea, and to eeyore9990 for beta-reading.  

leela_cat: fervent and fond good wishes, at your birthday and always!

[Back-posted]

This is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story that I contributed to the Fall 2009 Oldschoolfic event.  Thanks to Mikki for her prompt ("Xander/Willow.  The cause is hidden.  The effect is visible to all. - Ovid."), to Elisabeth for suggesting the frame, and to Lara for beta-reading.

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 (m/f)
	•	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."