I haven't filled all my slots yet; but I have started nominating fandoms and characters for the newly renamed rarelywritten.

So far, this is what I've got:

The Charioteer - Mary Renault
- Lucy Odell Straike
- Mrs Timmings (The Charioteer)
- Nurse Adrian
- Matron (The Charioteer)
- ???

Forever Knight
- Amanda Cohen
- Natalie Lambert
- Norma Alves
- Myra Schanke
- Jenny Schanke

Hellspark - Janet Kagan
- Tocohl Susumo
- Maggy | Lord Lynn Margaret
- Alfvaen Tinling
- Buntecreih
- Nevelen Darragh

Jean Robertson Series - Janet Sandison
- Doris | Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lindsay
- Jean Robertson
- Isabel Adair
- Jessie Simpson
- ???

I've left an open character slot in two of these so that, if there's someone you want, you can let me know. If no one does, I'll fill someone in before the deadline. (Well, that's the intention, anyway.)

Also, I've only nominated four fandoms so far. I'm still pondering the final one.

Yes, yes: a bit late to be talking about my Yuletide stories, I know; however, there's been quite a bit going on in my tiny corner of fandom in the past few weeks. Despite this, I have finally managed to squeeze out time to put up webpages for the four stories that I wrote. In due course, one by one, I shall describe these in my usual (no doubt desperately boring) style. First, though, I'm going to ramble a bit about my assignment. ( Read more... )

David McCabe, the boyfriend of Lora Haines, has informed subscribers to the Forever Knight mailing list that she died on the 18th of January, aged 63, of complications from pneumonia. Funeral arrangements have not been determined.

Lora was the president of the Forever Knight Fan Club in the 1990s. She was instrumental in arranging the first of the two Dead of Winter conventions, held in Boston in 1994 and 1995. Later, she was honoured by having a character named after her in one of the episodes: "Laura Haynes", the friend of Natalie's who commits suicide in "Last Knight".

Those who were active in FK fandom in its heyday will surely remember Lora and her contribution. Sadly, we have lost too many.


(Please pass this news along to all who might be concerned to know.)

The mods at maryrenaultfics have just announced that it is going on "hiatus". Meaning (since the gap is clearly intended to be open-ended) that it is closing down. On the one hand, this is not really news, since they gave some of us the heads up a short time ago. On the other hand, it's a shock: like being wakened at dawn to be told that your father has just died when, the previous evening when you visited him in hospital, it was obvious that he only had hours to live. Not a surprise, therefore; but a horrible, unbelievable, unwanted finality.

Actually, at the moment, I believe it is still possible for a few of the members to post at the mods' discretion. As my sister and I have just got back to working on the final tenth anniversary (10YO) celebration posts, I'm glad of that. We got so depressed this past summer that we never got them finished; and recently, of course, we've been frantically writing for Yuletide. We do want to finish 10YO—and in the original venue, too, where the posts belong.

(I was meaning to post tonight about Yuletide. Now that Flo has gone home after Christmas and things here are less hectic, I had intended over the next week or so to make webpages for my own stories, post about them here, do wiki articles about the Forever Knight and Renault Yulefic, and then either get back to work on sundry Fanlore articles or revise a pair of FK stories that have been waiting for a long, long time for me to fix the holes in them. This announcement about maryrenaultfics has kind of got in the way.)

I joined the comm in 2007, having lurked for a while reading the archive and current posts. It was lorie945 who persuaded me to join. I had just read two of her stories in a row, loved both, and belatedly realized they had the same author; so I e-mailed her to tell her how much I'd enjoyed them. We got to talking; and, when she realized that I was aware that there were two very different editions of The Charioteer, she told me that the comm was just about to start a long chapter-by-chapter (CBC) discussion of the book focusing on the effects of the changes, and that I should join in order to participate.

I could have come across like the newbie-from-hell: pushing into every discussion and talking at length as if I knew the book word for word from cover to cover. (Well, I pretty well did.) In fact, everyone was incredibly welcoming. And the mods were so helpful: showing me, on my first long post, how to make an lj-cut, for instance. Later, when I persuaded my sister to join, they helped her even more: she didn't seem able to figure out how to join, how to comment, how to post, or ... well pretty well anything. I had never been on LJ before. Flo had never been in fandom, as far as I know. (At least I had mailing-list experience.)

So, for several years, all seemed well. More than well: things were grrrrrreat!!!!! Insert Tony the Tiger here: things were thoroughly enjoyable. The comm went from high to high: CBCs, ficlet challenges, poetry challenges, bookcover contests, and character interviews. People often posted new stories and art, or links to them. We celebrated the fifth anniversary of the comm in style (though I certainly hadn't been there that long). We compiled glossaries of the characters and indexed all the stories. Basically, there always seemed to be something new going on, often two things concurrently. I popped by every day to see if there had been a fresh post—and there so often was!—and check out what comments had been made, and add my own.

Oh, there were the occasional spats and flurries; but these mostly came in reponse to events outside. (Surely, I can't be the only person to recall the Russian bots?) It is true that gradually the comm changed; but these seemed the sort of shifts in response to altered environmental conditions that any living organism makes. People drifted in and out, as they do; but there always seemed to be new faces icons popping by.

It was gradual, that's what I'm saying. And to those who were already members of the comm, a lot of things that were supposed to be temporary were still taken to be so even when they continued indefinitely. Gradually, there were fewer people around, and fewer posts being made. But all communities go through busy and idle times—or so we told ourselves.

Then, of course, it became obvious that the comm was in serious difficulties and had a bad reputation. The reasons for this were far less obvious, though, when one knew the place from the inside. We were all ... oh, I suppose, living in the halcyon Golden Age of past joys.

It's been obvious for at least three years that the mods have been less interested than they used to be. It's been obvious for a couple of years that they are, for some reason, not merely going through a bad patch—busy in RL or that sort of thing. (Nor drifted off to other fandoms, as far as I know.) It's been sadly obvious for about a year that things were dire. So, in that sense, we've all been on a deathwatch. And in denial.

De Nile is for de Sphinx. It's no place for a comm.

Riddle me this: what could we have done? Where did we go wrong? I don't mean the mods: the decisions were theirs, of course; but I'm not privy to the truly behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm talking about the people who loved maryrenaultfics. (In its day it was lovable.) What could we have done, more than we did? At what point, if we had had crystal balls, might we have turned things to a better course?

Write me an AU someone, please.

Meanwhile, I mourn. This is not what I wanted for Christmas.

This has been a curious Yuletide for me. First, I found myself writing a story without a recipient (though, in the end, I did find someone to gift it to), then I had an absurd amount of difficulty with my assignment (though I did finally manage to find the Missing Middle), and then—after successfully uploading one treat—I got hit by a tummy bug when I was working on a second. As a result, it was uploaded unpolished at 11:15 p.m. UTC on Christmas Eve, shortly before the deadline; and, when I then quickly spent an hour getting a bit more shine on it, I found when I had done that the recipient had already left a comment. (Eep.)

Leaving aside my embarrassing shortcomings....

I got three stories.

Two full length, and one in Madness. And all of them good'uns, too. May their authors be justly proud of themselves, for I am certainly delighted. Two of the stories, including my main gift, were written for Mary Renault's The Charioteer, and the third for Forever Knight.

It's clear from the upload dates that "The Thousandth Man" is my main gift. A lovely fat 6569 words, it needs all that to delve into the character of Hugh Treviss, a mere throwaway character in the book, here fleshed into a man with a new-fledged career in British India. Just when he thinks he's beginning to get the hang of the job, he is confounded when his old schoolfriend Ralph Lanyon turns up in Bombay. The author knows a hell of a lot about the country; and I have a suspicion who s/he is—though I shan't say so, of course. (Hey, I might be wrong.) The treatment of Treviss's reaction to Ralph's sudden reappearance in his life rings as true as the setting.

"Boy Blue" I'm discussing out of order, really, since full length stories ought to take precedence, and it's a mere 400 well-chosen words. However, it is not only another Charioteer story, it is also about Hugh Treviss. Well, I suppose when one takes pains to include an extremely minor character in the tag set, it is not unreasonable for a writer to conclude that one has an interest. This story is set much earlier, just after the appalling scandal that led to Ralph's expulsion. As he and Treviss were friends, it is not surprising that the latter took it badly. The result is short but sweet. (Though I doubt if their housemaster would agree.)

Last, but far from least, is "Chasing Prey", which, at 8392 words, is a monster of a treat (and was uploaded on Christmas Eve, having no doubt left its author sweating about deadlines). Many fans are terrified at the thought of being faced with a request for casefic; but clearly this is an author who knows how to handle the genre. "Chasing Prey" is long and plotty, just as I love it. There has been a series of disappearances in Toronto, ending with the discovery of the remains of one of the victims; Nick and his partner have caught the case: so far, so good. However, the autopsy makes it obvious that a vampire is to blame, which brings a whole new set of complications. Throughout, we get the feel we are seeing real policework, from chit-chat at the station between Nick and Schanke, through their examination of the crime scene, to interviews with witnesses and suspects. And, of course, there is a nicely exciting denouement.

All three stories are gratefully received and thoroughly recommended!

FKFIC-L has been very quiet this year. Even the people who, in the past, have crossposted their fkficfest stories have mostly not done so yet. So I've just posted a challenge to the Forever Knight mailing list. I decided to cross-post here as well, since I know that there are people on LJ/DW who were on list once, or still lurk but seldom post anything.

Here's the challenge:

It's been a long time since we've had a Christmas Challenge on list. Seems to me about time we had one again. The list could use a little love so ... let's all give it a present for the holidays.

Here's the challenge:
Write a seasonal drabble: Christmas and FK in 100 words. No more; no less.

(You will have noticed that, in the true tradition of FK challenges, I've gone first. Not to mention second, and third.)

Have fun!

It's tradition, when posting a challenge, to fulfil it oneself first, which is why I've already done so. (Speed over quality, I dare say. The big day is coming fast.)

By all means put your drabbles on AO3, or on your journal or website. But do please crosspost to FKFIC-L, too. And, if you're no longer on that list, you can always rejoin, you know.

In the back room of the Raven, Nick and Janette were opening the day's mail. Cardinals and snow, fir trees and poinsettias all passed muster, more or less, depending on the quality of the art. Occasionally, a vampire finger was snatched back hastily from a sizzling star-and-manger or Three Wise Men.

"Bah, humbug!" said Lacroix. He left the club--knowing precisely the effect those words had--and flew to CERK, where he gave a Nightcrawler broadcast that was scathing on the subject of tawdry sentimentality.

His own mantel still was empty of cards from his Cousins, and he wondered why.

The disadvantage of winter in Canada is the temperature. Not that Feliks Twist was personally troubled by the cold: it would have to get very much icier than southern Ontario before the anti-freeze in his vampire blood was unable to cope. No his problem was floral.

Or, more accurately, bracteal. Poinsettias cannot bear so much as a touch of frost. Still, by now he had more than a century's experience in the potting shed. Out of the light-controlled room, he wheeled the plant he had cherished for years, now coaxed into cladding itself in brilliant scarlet

A veritable poinsettia *tree*.

Nick looked incredulously at Natalie as she plonked the big plant on the table.

"It's Christmas," she said stubbornly. "It's the human thing to do."

"Well, it can't stay *there*!"

But she simply shifted the antique centrepiece to the top of the piano, and then spent a good minute carefully positioning her gift. "Just remember to water it," she admonished him. "Isn't it lovely?"

"I suppose," came the unenthusiastic reply.

"Oh, come on," she chided. "As soon as I saw it I thought of you."

"Well, at least it's my favourite colour," he said, with a wicked little smile. "Red."

How to procrastinate profitably: write a ficlet instead of the Yuletide story one is supposed to be working on. (Though, in some faint defence, I have got it started. Nowhere near finished; but at least started.)

"Contemplations on a Portrait of a Lady" came to me over breakfast, loud and clear with the words forming themselves in my mind. I stopped, went straight to the computer, and wrote it down. Oh, I did go through and tweak it a bit before posting; but it came that quickly.

So it's gone to FKFIC-L.

I then got down to the seriously procrastinatory business of making it a webpage. Since Leonardo's portrait of Janette features in the story, I used that to illustrate the top of the page. (I had already clipped it from the screencap; I still needed to trim over her hands. You see how one passes the time?) The background and frame around the story have been done in shades of gold, picking out the tones of the picture frame.

All up and done.

No excuses left: it's nose to the grindstone. Or fingers to keyboard, which right now feels much the same.

The final section of my Applefic has now been completed. It has been a long time coming.

At this point, it's almost hard to remember the puzzled despair of the summer of 2012, when—for the second year in a row—the moderators of maryrenaultfics were mysteriously nowhere, there were sadly few posts to the community, and the usual time for the Summer Prompt came and went. The previous year, a few sharp nudges had brought them back to their duties, and the prompt had been posted, albeit belatedly. In 2012, they were nowhere to be found. As in the previous year, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek ITOWverse ficlet to try to draw them out; but to no avail.

Finally, on the 1st of September, I took it upon myself to post an Autumn prompt, "apple". It was well received by those members still round. (Indeed, it even flushed the mods from cover!) Yet, although I immediately told people that I myself had an idea, it was not until the 8th of October that I actually posted anything.

In the meantime (to prod myself on, as much as anything), I referred more than once to my "applefic"—at the time, no more than a cute shorthand for "the fic I do—honestly!—intend to write for the 'apple' prompt". By the time anything was actually ready to post, though, I had called it that so many times that, when I cast around for a title, I could come up with nothing else. In my mind, it had become "my applefic" so certainly that "Applefic" was the only possible title.
( Read more... )

So here we are, a week after getting assignments; and have I started to write mine? No, I've been thoroughly sidetracked writing something else entirely.

I hasten to add that this is not because there's anything the matter with my match. If it's not the fandom I'd hoped for, that's only because I'd also offered a teeny tiny fandom-with-no-fic that I have always loved, which was also requested last year. At that time, I made the decision to focus on other treats first; and, when these turned out to be unexpectedly time-consuming, I never got back to it. Nor did I finish it as a New Year's Resolution. So I was delighted to find that the same person requested it again this year.

Still, that's a minor point. I still intend—fingers crossed—to write it as a treat this year. And, as for the fandom in which I did match, I was thinking of treating someone in it anyway; so matching simply means a longer story.

However, there is another book (which I shall not name) which is the latest/last in a series. I read it recently, and was immediately enthused with an idea for a paper, for which I wrote a proposal, which—if accepted—will be given at a conference next year. That, of course, has nothing to do with Yuletide. However, I was intrigued to see that the series turned up in the tagset; so I decided to include it among my offers.

I then found myself possessed of a plot bunny involving two of the characters in the tagset. (This might or might not have been suitable for a Yuletide story, of course, depending on the prompt.)

Then, as far as I can tell (and I've been through the summary closely), the fandom was never requested!

The plot bunny didn't care.

It simply kicked me with its long hind legs until I wrote it.

So ... there it is. A perfectly nice little story, of a shortish but adequate length.

Unrequested.

Clearly, therefore, not anything to do with Yuletide. But try telling it that. It knows perfectly well that, if it hadn't been for the Yuletide tagset I'd never have come up with the plot, for which reason it is firmly convinced that it is a Yuletide treat.

Now, how do I explain to it that it's wrong?

Dear Author, let me thank you right up front for the story you are going to write. Although you've seen the requests on my sign-up, I know that many people like a bit more to go on than just the prompt. If so, I hope this letter will prove helpful. All these fandoms are dear to my heart. Whatever you write, I'm sure I will love it!


General Guidelines:

As far as general guidelines are concerned, I seem to say pretty much the same thing for every gift exchange. (Which makes sense, I guess.)

What I Like:
* Plot and/or character (both being the ideal, of course!)
* A sense of humour and being able to recognize the ridiculous when it pops up; also wit and wordplay, if the story calls for them. (Having said that, I totally leave it up to you whether you write a serious or comic story—or a serious story with comic interludes.)
* Stories that are true to canon (though I've certainly enjoyed some flat-out AUs)
* Background research, esp. for stories with an historical setting
* Rating: no higher than PG13, please.

What I Dislike:
* Poor spelling, bad grammar and punctuation, and blatant Americanisms uttered by British characters (unless they're aware of what they're doing, which is another matter entirely)
* Explicit sex, especially if long and detailed. No objection to hints, but I'm not into plumbing.

My Own Writing
If you want to have a look at some of my own stories, you can find them on my website.

( And a bit about my requests.... )

Yuletide nominations are now open.

This year one is permitted to nominate three fandoms, and name up to four characters in each. Since my sister has now twice written me birthday presents in very dear, very rare fandoms (Time Team and Prehistoric Park), I decided not to request them this year. So that has made the fandom nominations fairly straightforward: I've decided on Forever Knight, Mary Renault's The Charioteer, and Janet Kagan's Hellspark. For the characters, though, things are still a bit up in the air.

Of the three fandoms, the one that's particularly frustrating me is Forever Knight. As far as I can tell (and I can't read the spreadsheet properly, so it's not possible for me to be sure), I think I'm the only person who has nominated it. However, I've not yet filled out my character slots. Who to pick? Nick's an obvious choice. However, does one then include LaCroix, Janette, and Natalie? I love casefic: should I nominate Schanke and Tracy, instead? Granted, for Yuletide (as opposed to fkficfest), it makes sense to nominate only major characters. Still, four is just not enough!

The Mary Renault fans have, as in previous years, done a bit of organizing; and it looks as though three people will be nominating The Charioteer, allowing for all the main characters as well as a fair number from the supporting cast. If this turns out not to be true, then I will have to change my selection, for I promised Luzula that Laurie and Andrew would be nominated. As it stands, though, I've requested Straike, Aunt Olive, Hugh Treviss, and Mrs Timmings. (And yes, I do have ideas for prompts for all of them.)

Update: All the promised nominations have indeed been made!

Hellspark still has one open slot. I've nominated Tocohl, Maggy, and Buntec; but the other is up for grabs. I'll fill it before the nomination period is over; but, at the moment, I've posted it as open in case there's someone who plans to request it and has preferences. Hellspark is a very rare fandom indeed. So far, I've requested it twice in rarewomen as well as last year's Yuletide. Others also put in requests; and it was offered last year. However, I guess no one matched on it. At any rate, there are still no fics out there at all. So I've got my fingers crossed that this year someone will get Hellspark fic, whether it's me or not.

It's that time of year again. The brainstorming post is up at the Yuletide community; and people are starting to list things they're thinking of nominating.

Is anyone else planning to nominate Forever Knight? If so, I've started a thread so that we can coordinate. With so many characters to pick from, but only four permitted per nominator, it would be good to coordinate our efforts so that we don't waste any slots through duplication.

I've been back for a week now. You'd think, in that time, I could have posted something; but it's quite astonishing how the time fills up. Especially when I was so frantically busy just before I left that I got done almost none of the things I had planned to do. Including write the conference paper I was supposed to be going to England to give.

What did I do before I left? Far too much in the way of packing boxes, plus a story for fkficfest. The final days—which I had thought would be filled with researching and writing the conference paper—were somehow conscripted by my mother, the contractor, and my doctor. (At least all the tests done for my latest physical turned out to be negative/normal, which is nice to know.)

While I was away, therefore, I did not rewrite the two FK stories I had thought I might revise. I did not write character interviews for the 10YO festivities on maryrenaultfics. I did not write the Yuletide prompt that I started a treat for back last year, which very likely means that it will never turn up as a New Year's Resolution.

( I did, on the other hand, get two wonderful stories as presents. )

For the maryrenaultfics 10YO celebrations, I made two dishes: baklava in honour of the Ancients, and this dish in honour of the Moderns. It's a traditional English dish, handed down in my father's family. Unfortunately, nowadays I only make it for two, myself and my mother; and, as it is a casserole, it really makes better for at least four. So, in the recipe, I shall give approximate amounts for you to do it yourself properly, should you wish. However, the pictures are perforce of a rather scaled down version.

Here are most of the ingredients (except that I forgot to take the bacon out of the fridge):




( Read more... )

For the maryrenaultfics 10YO celebrations, I decided to make a Greek dessert as one of my dishes for the Taste of MRF bake-off. This was to honour Renault's historical novels, which are set in ancient Greece. (To honour her modern novels, I made a traditional English dinner, shared with my mother.)

Now, when I think of Greek desserts, I think of baklava. It doesn't go quite back to the period of which Renault wrote. However, a similar sort of pastry, called γάστριν (gastrin) was apparently made in Crete in Roman times. What I've made is a sort of bastard version of this recipe. The filling is almost authentic, but I used phyllo pastry instead of bothering to mix the gastrin dough.

Here are the ingredients I used:




( Read more... )

Of course, I was not in the least surprised when the Secretary suggested that I make another fruit cake for the festivities. My first endeavour in that direction had, after all, been undertaken in honour of the celebrations for maryrenaultfics' fifth anniversary. And it had been quite an endeavour, indeed, in the circumstances—that is to say, because I live in a Book that takes place during wartime, with its rationing. As a result, though, the entire enterprise became a crossover event involving people from more than one of the Author's Books; and this added greatly to the satisfaction of all concerned.

So I was not greatly surprised that the Secretary felt that it would be appropriate to undertake another baking event. Then, though, she suggested that we have multiple cakes, in different flavours. There was even a poll (among ourselves, that is, not one of the polls on LiveJournal) to decide what additional varieties of cake to bake. All agreed that they should be fruit cakes, in the same spirit as the original.

In the end, we came down to four variations: the original (which was my dear mother's Christmas cake recipe for many years); a variation with somewhat different fruit and no chunks of nut (for apparently there are those who like the flavour but, for some reason, don't care to bite into big bits); a plain currant Dundee (which was sandy_too's mother's usual Sunday fruit cake); and a version with a blend of fruit chosen to appeal particularly to the Ancients.

All, though, are based on my mother's recipe.

Now, I have altered the amounts. Obviously, I had to scale everything up to make the giant cakes for the festivities. On the other hand, my mother always used to make three cakes in the autumn, which were aged for at least three months, with the first one being broached just before Christmas. We thus had cake for most of the following year, though we always ran out long before the new cakes were ready. However, I understand that people nowadays prefer to make only one cake at a time; so I have reduced everything to one-third of the original recipe.

Now, first, you have to prepare the fruit. I am accustomed to stoning the dates, seeding the raisins, shelling the nuts, and chopping up quarter-rinds of candied peel. The Secretary assures me, though, that this will not be necessary.

¼ lb red candied cherries
¼ lb mixed candied peel (orange, lemon, citron)
2 candied pineapple rings
1/3 lb cooking dates
2/3 lb currants
2/3 lb muscat raisins (if you can get them; if not, Lakia raisins; if not that either, then regular raisins)
1/3 lb sultanas
1/3 lb bleached sultanas a/k/a golden raisins
1/3 lb almonds (already shelled, unsalted)
1/3 lb walnuts (already shelled, unsalted)
2 tbsp wine
2 tbsp flour

Cut the cherries in half. Stone the dates (if they need it), and cut them into chunks. Cut the pineapple into sections similar in size to diced pineapple pieces. Break the walnuts into chunks. Blanch the almonds, and dry them in a low oven. Wash and pick over the raisins, sultanas, and currants to remove any bits of stalk; and seed the muscat raisins (if they need it).

Put all the fruit into a large mixing bowl, and toss with two tablespoons of flour so the pieces don't stick together. Pour a couple of tablespoonsful of wine over the top, and toss again. Leave overnight.





The next day, you move on to the actual cake baking.

First, you put the dry ingredients into a bowl:

2/3 lb flour
1 flat tsp baking powder
pinch baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa
pinch salt (optional)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp mace
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ginger

Blend together lightly with a spoon. Then move on to the other ingredients:

3 eggs
1/3 lb butter (unsalted)
1/3 lb Demerara sugar (or dark brown sugar), the darkest available
2 tbsp black treacle a/k/a blackstrap molasses

Separate the eggs. (That means that you put the whites in one mixing bowl and the yolks in another.) Beat the whites until they are stiff, and then beat the yolks until they are pale. Be sure to do the whites first, since they must be done with very clean beaters if they are to whip properly. You can then beat the yolks without having to wash the beaters in between.

In a third mixing bowl (yes!) put the butter and sugar. Cream them together. (That means blending them until they are a smooth creamy texture.) Pour the yolks into the bowl, scraping them all out with a rubber spatula. Beat them in until they are fully blended. Then use the spatula to scoop the egg whites into the bowl as well. Fold them in. (This means lightly mixing them with the spatula, doing so gently but firmly until the mixture is smooth.) Add the black treacle, and beat again until smooth.

Now, gradually add the dry ingredients (i.e. the flour and spice mixture). Don't add more than a quarter at a time. At first you will be able to use your electric mixer easily; but, as it starts to labour, begin to add a little liquid:

¼ cup wine (approx)
¼ cup orange juice (approx.)

I suggest you alternate between them, since it's hard to be sure exactly how much you will need. The final texture should be a thick batter.





Stir in the fruit by hand. Add a cup or two at a time, stirring in with a spurtle or wooden spoon. (What is a spurtle, you ask? I must admit, I had never seen one before myself. I was lent one by sandy_too. Apparently, they are common in Scotland. His mother gave him one when he went to medical school so that he could use it to stir his morning porridge; but he says that he never has time to make it.)

I should add that, as the batter becomes full of fruit, stirring it will become increasingly difficult; but it is possible. Eventually, what you have will look like a big bowlful of fruit covered stickily with batter.





Now you have the fun of preparing the cake pan. For this, you need a round springform pan (i.e. one with a removable base). If possible, you want one that is relatively deep in proportion to its diameter. A good fruit cake is solid. However, if necessary, you can bake it in a loaf pan.

You are going to line the pan with oiled brown paper.

Take a large brown paper bag (or plain brown paper), and cut two pieces. First, you need a strip long enough to go round the inside sides of the pan with at least two inches to spare for overlap. This should be at least an inch or two higher than the cake tin. (If you can't do the full length with a single piece, by all means cut two, and then overlap them,) Second, you need a round piece that is at least two inches wider than the base of the cake tin.





Lay the pieces of brown paper on the kitchen counter, and pour a little cooking oil on them. Brush or rub the oil over the paper until all the paper is greased. Be sure to oil both sides of the paper. I generally use my fingers: it's a lot like fingerpainting, and rather fun. (Wash your hands after.)

Put the round piece in the cake pan, pushing it down so that it covers the base and comes a little way up the sides all round.






Then put the long strip in, winding it round the cake pan inside the sides of the round piece, so there is a good overlap.





Now, pack the batter into the cake pan. Put a few spoonsful in the bottom first, pressing it into the sides of the pan, being sure that it holds the greased brown paper firmly in place. Then add the rest of the batter, firming it down lightly as you go so there are no gaps.





When all the batter is in the pan, smooth the top over with a wet knife. Scrape any spare batter from the mixing bowl, and use it to cover exposed fruit, especially any larger pieces.





If the strip of paper around the sides is sticking more than one inch above the top of the pan (or the top of the batter, if the pan is too shallow), use a pair of scissors to cut it smoothly to size.

Bake at 300°F for at least three hours, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn off the oven, and let the cake cool in the oven overnight.

The next day (for it will truly take that long for the cake to get cold right through to the middle), gently remove the greased paper from the cake but do not throw it away.





Brush the cake all over with brandy or whiskey. Yes, that means the sides and bottom, too.





Replace the greased paper around the cake.

Cut two pieces of waxed paper, and wrap the cake in it, first one way and then the other, so there are no gaps. Then cut a large piece of aluminum foil, and wrap the cake again, pressing the foil around the cake so that the waxed paper lies flat underneath. If the foil is not wide enough to cover the cake completely, use a second piece.





Store the cake for at least one month before cutting. Three months is better; and, as I said, is the length my dear mother preferred. Indeed, it is quite traditional to make a Christmas cake as much as a year ahead of time: it just gets better with age. If you make it far in advance, check it once or twice during the year, each time brushing it over again with brandy.

Even a cut cake will store indefinitely, if well wrapped. Should it dry out, unwrap it carefully, brush it over with orange juice, twice, a day apart; and then brush it again with brandy. Rewrap it again, immediately (using new waxed paper and aluminum foil if necessary); and store for at least a fortnight before cutting.

Well, now. That's my dear mother's recipe for Christmas cake; and, indeed, it is similar, I think, to most recipes for a truly dark fruit cake, which, you know, is such a popular sort of cake, especially with the gentlemen. However, there's no doubt that it is rather expensive to make, with all the best sorts of dried and candied fruit. Cherries, in particular. The candied pineapple, too. A lot of people can't afford to make their cakes with such variety, and simply use what they can.

So that brings me to the first variation: the currant Dundee. (Dundee cake is what a heavy fruit cake is called in Scotland, especially if it doesn't have any marzipan and royal icing on it.)

Well, for the currant Dundee, all you do is substitute the equivalent weight of currants. That's about 3½ or 3¾ pounds or so. Since currants are almost black in colour, this makes for a very dark cake indeed, and one that is quite saturated with their distinctive flavour.





Now, for the apricot fruit cake, I had to devise a new medley of fruits, for people wanted a blend of flavours. Because apricots have rather a delicate flavour, I decided also to alter the recipe for the batter somewhat. In the dry ingredients, I left out the cocoa, since it darkens the cake; and in the wet ingredients, I substituted golden syrup for the black treacle, and golden sugar for the Demerara.

As for the fruit, I used:

1 lb dried cooking apricots
2/3 lb currants
1/2 lb muscat raisins
1/2 lb bleached sultanas (golden raisins)
1/3 lb sultanas
2 candied pineapple rings
1/3 lb ground walnuts
1/3 lb ground almonds

Please note the cooking apricots. These should not be confused with the Turkish apricots that the Secretary enjoys so much, which (in my opinion) are rather bland and sweet. Cooking apricots are tart, and usually sold split in halves. The Interviewer says that she thinks they come from California, which may be true, though I gather she doesn't actually do much baking herself.





Finally, we come to the fourth heavy fruit cake that I made. I must admit, it does have a very distinctively different flavour. Figs (so popular with the people from the Author's historical Books) are not the sort of thing that I am accustomed to putting in fruit cakes, though I am certainly fond of them stewed.

Once again, I left out the cocoa, and substituted golden syrup and light brown sugar. As for the fruit, you can see:

1/3 lb chopped Calymyrna figs
1/3 lb currants
2/3 lb bleached sultanas (golden raisins)
1/4 lb citron peel
1/3 lb walnuts
1/3 lb almonds
1/8 lb crystallized ginger
1/8 lb pistachios

Quite different! Furthermore, I left the almonds whole. It does mean that they show up rather boldly in the bowl.





And here are the four types of cake, as they came out of the oven. As you can see, altering the fruit (and, to some degree, the batter) makes quite a difference in their appearance:

Christmas cake:



Currant Dundee:



Apricot Fruit Cake:



Fig Fruit Cake:



And here are all four of them, side by side, so you can compare them:





To serve, use a sharp heavy carving knife to cut across the cake to produce a large slice about half an inch thick. This is then cut into long narrow fingers about one to one and a half inches across. For most people, one or two of these pieces is an ample portion, for the cake is very rich. (Growing boys are another matter. So are Greek soldiers, I have discovered!)

And I'm sure you're wondering what they look like when they're cut. (Well, those of you who weren't able to come to the festivities, for—if you did—I dare say you tried a piece.) Well, here's a plateful:



Fig Fruit Cake           Christmas Cake
Currant Dundee         Apricot Fruit Cake

In honour of the 70th anniversary of D-Day (6 June 1944), I have written a Forever Knight ficlet, "D is to Dine". I posted it to FKFIC-L early this morning (and then went to bed very late, while everyone else was commuting to work). This afternoon, I made its webpage; and those who aren't on list can find it there.

I fancied topping the page with a picture of the D-Day landings, and found quite an attractive one in Wikimedia Commons. (Attractive, that is, from the artistic perspective of someone wanting to illustrate a story. It is still, after all, a picture of war.)

This, of course, dictated the colour scheme. After much searching, I found a background graphic that seemed not inappropriate. It's actually a "marble" (i.e. stone) tile; but the colours combine khaki green with the blue tones of the photo. After that, I simply looked for suitable textures to make the frame that surrounds the central panel.