We're grateful to all our pinch hitters! 5,000 words or 5 pages is a big commitment without any guarantee of a gift in return.

A number of people are writing pinch hits but didn’t sign up for the exchange, and we’d like to give them the opportunity to leave prompts for treats. Treats for pinch hitters go in the same location as treats for anyone else, in the main collection.

If you picked up a pinch hit, aren’t signed up for the exchange, and would appreciate treats, please leave your AO3 name in a comment here along with the fandoms you’re interested in. You can specify characters/relationships, fic or comics, genres, prompts, and DNWs--as much detail as you'd like. Linking to past letters is also fine.

Title: “Daylight”
Author: Nicholas_Lucien
Length: 1,853 words
Rating/Warnings: Teen and up audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “Through multiple points in Nick's life, he is trying to change, but maybe he is not changing as much as he thinks.”

“Daylight”

Here are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!

Spotlight: With strict scrutiny and nervous caution, wary that perhaps it was only nostalgia and rose-tinted goggles after all, Overly Sarcastic Productions brilliantly examined "The Lost Art of Marvel's Phase 1." ( Spoiler: Phase 1 really is as good as we thought it was! Yes, even that one! )

Ficathons, fests & communities

• Create & engage
  • fkficfest, the Forever Knight challenge, is in progress revealing its stories (one per day).
  • justmarriedexchange is an exchange for marriage tropes. Nominations through June 10; sign-ups through June 22; due August 17.
  • epidemfic is an exchange for illness themes and depictions. Sign-ups through June 8; due July 6.
  • beauty-beast-week is a week-long open celebration of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Posting is August 18-24.
  • trope_of_the_month's June theme is "time loops."
  • pinchhits is a forum for pinch-hits in exchanges. For example, whumpex is seeking pinch hitters.
  • whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
• Enjoy & share
  • fancake (themed fanfic recs); June theme: "female relationships"
  • gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
  • het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
  • fanart_recs (fanart recs)
  • recthething (fanwork recs)

Sidelight: This spring, I posted one recommendation in recthething (for "the gears of time turn on" by LadyHoneydee (TLOZ:BOTW)). I used to have a recommendation-of-the-month project for FK fanfiction, long, long ago. I've been thinking of getting back into recommendations, via such communities, perhaps with mirroring in my AO3 account, definitely no longer limited by fandom. I'm wondering whether and how people really use recs these days. Would it be a good use of my time for others?

Thank you all for your patience as we secured the last pinch hits. Works have now been revealed!!

Title: “Oh, Captain, my Captain”
Author: WaltD
Length: 875 words
Rating/Warnings: Teen and up audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “Stonetree and Reese have another discussion.”

“Oh, Captain, my Captain”

We're at the halfway point of fkficfest 2025. Six stories are available to read; six remain to be revealed. You may have noticed that the cadence is (very roughly) short-short-long this year.

I've posted promos to fandomcalendar and fandom_on_dw. I'm posting a promo with the new reveals to forkni-l every third day.

Please feel free to promote the event in any appropriate forum! Or of course on your own journal.

Today's fkficfest release is my story!

Grief has a way of resurfacing when you're not expecting it.

In the aftermath of "Sons of Belial" and the arrival of a new homicide case, Natalie finds herself confronting long-avoided feelings about what happened to her brother, feelings that have haunted her for years.

Natalie's grief and guilt intertwine with growing worry for and uncertainty about Nick. But she finds that she is not alone, and that for both of them, the only way forward is through.

Check it out on AO3:

Unpacking

And as I am wont to do from time-to-time...

( Some navel-gazing meta about the story. )

Title: “Unpacking”
Author: SwitchbladeEyes
Beta-reader: TheFruitBat
Length: 11,107 words
Rating/Warnings: Teen and up audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “Natalie Lambert has kept her grief and guilt neatly packed away for years, only for recent events to bring everything back.”

“Unpacking”

Title: “Missed”
Author: TheFruitBat
Beta-reader: Switchbladeeyes
Length: 1,493 words
Rating/Warnings: General audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “The pain of losing her still feels fresh, even after all these centuries.”

“Missed”

Title: “Housekeeping”
Author: Greerwatson
Length: 1,005 words
Rating/Warnings: General audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “LaCroix tidies up.”

“Housekeeping”

Updated pinch hits here! Thanks very much to everyone who has claimed one. If you can claim one of these, please comment with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you want. All comments are screened.

Like main assignments, these pinch hits are due on 28 June, and they require a check-in during the week of 7-14 June. If you would like to claim one but know you'll need longer than a month, please let me know, and we can discus.

You may ask to exchange your assignment for an open pinch hit. If you are given that pinch hit and fulfill it, this won't count as a default. Please tell me in your comment requesting a pinch hit if you are asking to swap.

( PH 2 - Blue Lock (Manga), 終わりのセラフ | Owari no Seraph | Seraph of the End (Anime & Manga), Fairy Tail )

( PH 5 - Temeraire - Naomi Novik, The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman )

( CLAIMED - PH 7 - Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), Dial M for Murder - Hatcher )

( PH 8 - Path of Night (Podcast), Vampire: The Masquerade - Various Authors (Choice of Games), Vampire: The Masquerade Port Saga (Podcast) )

( PH 9 - 終わりのセラフ | Owari no Seraph | Seraph of the End (Anime & Manga), Blue Lock (Manga), Fairy Tail )

( PH 13 - The Elementalists (Visual Novel), Heart of Battle - Fay Ikin, Royal Affairs - Harris-Powell-Smith )

( PH 15 - Code Vein (Video Game), 神さまのいない日曜日 | Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi | Sunday Without God (Anime & Manga), Octopath Traveler II (Video Game), 刀使ノ巫女 | Toji no Miko | Katana Maidens (Anime), よるのないくに | Yoru no Nai Kuni | Nights of Azure (Video Games), Xenoblade Chronicles (Video Game) )

( PH 17 - Breaking Bad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), The Godfather (1972 1974 1990) )

( PH 18 - Ancient History RPF, Solstice (MoaCube Visual Novel), Crossover Fandom )

( PH 19 - Ace Combat (Video Games), Dishonored (Video Games), Warhammer 40k (Novels) - Various Authors )

( PH 20 - ATEEZ (Band), Blink-182 (Band), Men's Basketball RPF )

( CLAIMED - PH 24 - Biggles Series - W. E. Johns, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Original Work )

( CLAIMED - PH 25 - The Pitt (TV), The Faculty (1998), All Elite Wrestling )

I've sent out a few questions from Fandom5K creators that haven't received responses for a while, so please make sure you check the email associated with your AO3 account occasionally during this exchange. This may be especially important as we reach the deadlines.

You may also need to check your Spam folder.

Currently seeking replies from participants whose names start with:

• a
• e

Thanks for checking!

Finished since the last reading post
Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon, which was fascinating. Looking at various features and developments in human evolution from the point of view of women's bodies, such as wombs, walking upright, or brains, it wasn't quite like anything I'd read before, even on topics I knew something about before picking it up.

The next book I picked up I had high hopes for but it let me down: The Bone Chests by Cat Jarman. It wasn't bad as such, but I felt its title and blurb overpromised and underdelivered. Yes, it's about the mortuary chests in the Winchester cathedral presumed to hold bones of various early medieval royalty and clergy. No, it's not saying anything much about the relatively recent research project trying to learn more about them, nor was the author involved in it. So it's a sort of an interesting ramble into the histories of the people associated with the boxes, but that wasn't what I thought it was going to deliver.

Currently reading
Still reading Family History and Heaven on Earth—the chapter on the Winchester cathedral just came up after I'd finished The Bone Chests.

Reading next
Not sure. I've been acquiring new books at an alarming rate over the past couple of weeks, so I probably should try to read some of them.

Title: “Too Old and Powerful ”
Author: PJ1228
Beta-reader: Switchbladeeyes
Length: 8,662 words
Rating/Warnings: Teen and up audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “Nick finds a translation of the Abarat. Will he be able to take the cure this time?”

“Too Old and Powerful”

Fandom: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Title: “Night of the Lepus”
Author: LittleBlackaPony
Length: 2,683 words
Rating/Warnings: General audiences. No archive warnings apply.
Summary: “Don Schanke has an awful problem at home, and it seems there is no solution to be found anywhere. That is, until his tale of woe is heard by one of Nick's friends.”

“Night of the Lepus ”

A Duty to Serve: “A Duty to Serve”
Author: Calliope24
Beta-reader: LittleBlackaPony
Length: 1,756 words
Rating/Warnings: General audiences. No warnings apply.
Summary: “Tracy feels the call of duty during the asteroid scare.”

“A Duty to Serve”