I thought I might just give people a bit of an update on how things are going.

At the end of last week, I finally figured out a way to tell the people at FanLore Wiki about the disappearance of FortuneCity; and, as it turned out, no one there had realized it was gone. They immediately put together a spreadsheet with a long list of fandoms, posted an urgent call for help (as did the OTW), and told me that—as I'd brought it to their attention—they were putting me in charge of the project.

Eep.

Fortunately for my sanity, it didn't actually work like that. (In fact, I think it was MorganDawn who did a lot of the organizing.) What did happen, though, was that quite a large number of people rallied to the call. They buzzed around, busily googling "FortuneCity" and their favourite fandoms to find what sites had existed, and then adding them to the ever-growing list. So, of course, I had to pitch in and help too.

However, now that the list of lost fan sites is getting fat (though people are still finding things to add), I've finally had a chance to catch my breath. And that means that I've finally signed up for fkficfest. (I think brightknightie's been getting rather worried. So far, very few people have signed up, and the deadline is this Friday.)

Of course, the truth is that I've had it in mind for the last couple of weeks, and simply been too busy to even think about what sort of story I want. Nevertheless, although I did give a couple of prompts that were pretty close to ones I asked for last year, I did also toss in something new.

Anyone else who's thinking of taking part this year, please don't forget that sign-ups close Friday!

Having participated in rarewomen (and got my story, "Cliffs of Fall" in with fifteen minutes to spare!), I found it immensely frustrating that the reveal didn't come for almost a week. Of course, I totally understood why this was done: there were pinch hits still outstanding; and naturally the mod wanted all recipients to get their stories simultaneously.

Because of the delay, I'd thought I might add a treat or two; but, in the end, I found myself extremely busy last week with another project—of which more elsewhere, because this post is about rarewomen. So I just posted the icons I'd been saving for less frequent female Forever Knight characters...and waited for the reveal.

Which produced an absolutely gorgeous gift for me from skieswideopen.

"Midnight Shakes the Memory" is a Forever Knight story. It opens during the events of the Season Three premiere, as Myra Schanke gets the ring at the door that is so dreaded by every police officer's spouse; and then follows her over the next few days and months, showing us the impact of Don's death. The pattern of her grieving shifts subtly with time, as it would. I was reminded, in fact, of the months after my own father's death; and Myra's response in this story rings very true to me.

We are also treated to a very different perspective on Nick. Usually, if fans decide to see him from another's point of view, they employ the principal supporting cast. LaCroix on Nick is easy to find! Myra on Nick...rather less so. Here, too, we see a shift in her response: the two interact rather more after her husband's death than they ever had before, precisely because he is the focus for both of them.

The story ends before the events of "Last Knight". This was, I think, a wise decision. For a fan, that would have shifted attention to Nick; and this is not his story. It is Don and Myra's—and then just Myra's, poor woman. A cop's wife's life is not a happy one.

You can find "Midnight Shakes the Memory" here.

On FORKNI-L recently there has been some...shall we call it "factioneering"? (We need a name.) Lest anyone imagine this is a modern amusement, let me point you to Olden Tymes, when Forever Knight was bright and shiny and new.

The first few factions appeared semi-spontaneously, though their names did not. (Go and re-read War One some time. It's quite enlightening.) By the time of the second war, however, people seem to have been tossing around ideas for names of new affiliations for minor characters. That was the era of the Scorpions, the Graces, the Myras...some of which stuck, but none of which was ever exactly large. ( War Two also saw some factioneering.... )

When I was looking over the icons I've already made in order to decide which ones merited enlarging, I was struck again by something that had bothered me about the icons for the Twilight Knighties and Knights de Soir—namely the transition between sunset and night sky in relation to the CN Tower. In making the icons originally, I had vacillated between placing the latter down the transition (which looks best at the top) or clear of the glinting sun (which looks best lower down).

It occurred to me that, in cleaving strictly to a vertical division between the two skies at the top of the icon, I was limiting the options. If, instead, I shifted diagonally, I could have both.

So here are the revised icons:

I'm debating whether or not to post icons for some factions that...well that don't exist. But should. (Maybe!!)

If hearts_blood is reading this, she knows exactly what I mean, having created the Andreivitchs (and others?)—though, admittedly, that is not one of the "factions" for which I have made an icon. Yet.

Anyway, this came up in a post, "Factions that don't exist", that I made to FORKNI-L on April 13th. In it, I mentioned the Feliksities and Blue Knighties, both of which I've listed when signing up for fkficfest. I then went on to say:

Who else lacks a faction? As far as I know, none of these have one:
* Jenny Schanke. In the last war, I mentioned the "Jenny-Poos" in passing; but they don't really exist.
* Nick's nephew, Andre. April called this faction the Andreivitchs; but that was another tongue-in-cheek invention. (See, I knew I wasn't the only one making up faction names.)
* Bourbon. (The "House of Bourbon", anyone?)
* Daniel, the Cockney boy from "Father's Day"
* Francesca
* Alyce Hunter
* Richard Lambert and/or his wife & daughter
* Q'ara, Divia's master
* Barbara and/or Richard Vetter, Tracy's parents. Once upon a time, the name "Vetterans" was proposed for Tracy's faction; but it would work even better for her parents, if you ask me.

Brenda B. promptly suggested the "PotM" (for "Partners of the Month") for a Nick & Schanke faction. I must admit, I always assumed it would have to be a gen faction until brightknightie (in a comment to a post on hearts_blood's blog) reminded us of James K. W.'s Nick/Schanke (ADULT!) slash story, "Unseen Scenes from Partner of the Month".

Then there was some tongue-in-cheek discussion of a faction name for Spark, as people tried to top each other's howlers: "the Sparkettes" from Andrew C., "The Plugs" from waltd, and "Sparklers" from Liz the Lucky (who added {Insert images of certain non-FK vamps.} g,d,rlhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

Now, I'm sure LJ breeds as much ingenuity as FORKNI-L. Doesn't it? Surely, among you are those with factions you wish were real?

I mean it. I'm seriously thinking of posting some of these icons. (And yes, there are a few made already.)

My conscience is relieved of one small burden: I've just posted a story to maryrenaultfics and my website, thus satisfying the Sunday Tea prompt "sap rising" which was given two weeks ago. (I'm afraid I've been so busy making icons for Forever Knight fandom that I've grossly neglected maryrenaultfics lately.)

Ah, well. Now all I have to do is fulfil my rarewomen ficathon prompt by the end of the month. (Whether I'll get inspired to add any treats is a whole other matter.)

( As for my nice new story.... )

Just one icon this time. It's one that quite thrills me, though: I've finally succeeded in making a Ravenettes icon that looks satisfactory. (After two completely different prior attempts, too.) Janette was the last major character whose faction lacked an icon; so I'm very glad to be able finally to present one.

I've made it in two slightly different versions. While most people simply call the faction the "Ravenettes", they sometimes write it "Raven/ettes" in order to include those who prefer "Ravens". Though "Ravenette" was apparently originally not intended as the feminine form (but rather was a portmanteau of Janette's name and that of her club), some people feel "Raven" is a preferable name for male members of the faction. So I've done the icon with both versions of the name.

( Anyway, here it is... )

A couple of days ago, the wiki article on LaCroix had an external link added by some anonymous contributor. I've already posted it to FORKNI-L, and I figure people here may also be interested. "Can A Villain Want To Be Evil? Case study: LaCroix" is a character analysis by Ken Hughes.

( Mind you, I did not expect this to have any bearing on my icon-making! )

Looking over the icons I've made—both the ones that I've already posted and the ones almost ready, but not quite—I realize that I've got most of the character-based factions done...albeit with a few significant exceptions...but very few of the many couple factions, in which Forever Knight fandom abounds.

This clearly must be addressed.

So here are four more icons, three of which come from true couple factions and the fourth from a "trio faction" (if there is such a term). Two of them were quite straightforward, since the dominant motif is right there in the faction name. ( For the others, things got a little more elaborate.... )

Just as the Perks and Cousins come in more than one shade, so too do the Knighties. In fact, in addition to Dark Knighties, there are fans who like a balance between Nick's human and vampire sides. They call themselves either Knights de Soir or Twilight Knighties. (These aren't quite the same in meaning: soir is better translated as evening; "twilight" is crépuscule. However, close enough.)

I've been holding off posting these because, for a while there, I wasn't sure if the Twilight Knighties and Knights de Soir were really the same thing. I asked on FORKNI-L to no avail, several times. I guess either there aren't any of them on list still, or else they sort of figured I was quite old enough to know how to google! When I used my common sense and searched, I immediately found their Yahoo!Group, which says right in its description that the two names mean the same.

In making their icons, I deliberately referenced the motifs that I'd used for the Knighties' icon. ( In fact, the three could quite reasonably be said to form a set.... )