I love good guys

What's Good?  For March, I am bittersweetly pleased to spotlight Diane E.'s "The Last Vampire" (1995, PG-13, ~5K words) in the recommendation-of-the-month project.  After Diane's death last month, I reread all her FK fanfiction.  While she is justly known for her comedy, this, her one drama, is my own favorite of hers.  This Nick goes public with his vampirism under the pretense that he is the last of his kind; he becomes the sole focus of media attention, scientific scrutiny, back taxes...

        The day after his first dinner at Schanke's, the lawsuits started arriving at the precinct. First, from people he'd arrested last week, last month, last year—all suddenly claiming "the vampire" had hypnotized them into confessing to crimes they hadn't committed. Then, every suspect he arrested, even the ones he caught red-handed, filed a police-brutality and wrongful-arrest complaint.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  February saw one story: "Diamonds...and a Girl's Best Friend" (1 post, 6KB) by greerwatson.  In March so far, one story has appeared, and lisamcdavid has posted an invitation for FKFic-L War proposals.

What's Good?  Opening a new year, I'm pleased to get to spotlight lastscorpion's "Full of Grace" (2011, PG, ~7K words) in the recommendation-of-the-month project.  I try not to plunder fkficfest/fkficfest for recommendations; we've all just recently read those!  But last week, I chatted with someone who had never read a rich Grace Balthazar story, and this fantastically canonical epistolary tale from FKFicFest '11 not only shapes a rounded life for Grace, it builds an arc of her relationship with Natalie, and explodes into its climax.

Dear Mom,
        Something terrible has happened, something unbelievable. I'm going to need to tell you the whole story in writing, so I can get it clear in my head. Then I'll call you in a couple of days, when Natalie's well enough to travel, and ask you if I can please take her home to you and the family for a while.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  December saw no stories on the email list.  January so far has seen one (the shorter of the two FK Yuletide pieces).

What's Good?  I'm glad to get to point out havocthecat's amusing vignette "Could They Choose Between" (2008, G, ~1K) as November's story in the recommendation-of-the-month project.  The characters spar via banter here in mid-first-season, lightly feeling out their places in each other's lives.

     "You already met Schanke," said Natalie. She chuckled and leaned back on her desk as the beat of her heart began to echo more slowly. "I figured he'd be enough to last you at least a century."
     "Perhaps longer," agreed Janette. She made a little pout of distaste, though truly, if one could look beyond his boorishness, Schanke was not quite so bad as all that. She might even call him admirable, though certainly not aloud.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  October saw two stories by one author.  November so far has seen three pieces by three authors.  ( list with links )

Manual Cross-post to LJ

What's Good?  This month, I am thrilled to get to spotlight annlarimer's landmark "Knighty-Knight, Nick" (1996, G, ~1K) in the recommendations project.  Read it aloud (really).  This sparkling retelling of the cancellation experience in the style of a children's picture book is silly and snide, nostalgic and grieved, rousing and defiant.  It may make you cry; it may make you write.

     They all lived in a television show, and even though a whole lot of real people loved them enough to make them real as well, Nick and Nat and Don and LaCroix and Janette belonged -- lock, stake, and barrel -- to a whole lot of people in suits and neckties.
     Now, as everyone knows, every time you put on a suit and a necktie, the necktie chokes away a little bit of your soul. And the people who owned Nick and Nat and Don and LaCroix and Janette had been wearing neckties for years and years and years, and hardly had any souls left.

By the way, the "Amy" mentioned is amilyn, not me, and yes, this is the second "Susan's Birthday Story" recommendation in a row, extending that memorial.

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What's New on FKFic-L?  August brought six stories by four authors to the list, all from fkficfest/fkficfest.  September so far has seen three posts by one author.  ( list with links )

What's Good?  Nostalgia in the just-concluded FKFicFest 2011 moves me to point out "Brown Paper Packages" by Susan G. (1995, PG, ~2K words) as July's recommendation-of-the-month.  This amusing, slightly sly, "meta" story recalls when new FK tales of all descriptions arrived on the email lists every day.

    The superior look on Janette's face was irritating. Just to prove her wrong, Natalie slid onto a barstool and began reading where Janette indicated. Almost immediately, her stomach dropped to the level of her toes—it was about her and... LaCroix? ... Horrified, she watched Janette briskly staple and stack set after set... "How long has this been going on?"
    "... It used to be Alma's chore, but the silly thing got the piles mixed up and Nicola received LaCroix's set in error." Janette sighed... "There was such a scene."

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What's New on FKFic-L?  Nothing posted to the fiction list in June.  However, two new pieces have posted in July so far, and I imagine that August will see many of the FKFicFest stories.