FRIDAY FAN FICTION REPORT - 9/4/98
[Previous report was for 8/31/98]

Hi all,

First of all a personal note here - my Internet Service Provider is having some SERIOUS problems with their e-mail system so my mail has been an experience lately - duplicate messages, missing messages, corrupted messages - OYYYY! If any of you have e-mailed me privately in the last couple of weeks or so and I haven't answered please resend your message. This ONLY applies to this e-mail address I'm sending the reports from. My lunacy@dc.seflin.org e-mail account is fine.

I've been adding more beta readers to the BETA READERS DIRECTORY lately so bards and would-be bards - if you're in need of some feedback or editing for that masterpiece of Xena fanfic in the making make sure to stop by: https://lunacyreviews.ausxip.com/beta.htm

The CLAN MACCONNOR recently held its Summer Arts Festival ROCSTOCK 98. The festival included a number of competitions including a BARDING one featuring filks, poetry, limericks and other fanfic efforts contributed by MacConnors. Entries and winners can be found at: http://members.ync.net/pdunn/macgab/rocstock/rocstock.htm

The largest fanfic index on the Web, the XENAVERSE CODEX has a new URL - http://xenafiction.net

Lace Priest has made available a new Xena fanfic site featuring this bard's own stories. The main page is at: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/6338/xena.html

The fanfic page is at: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/6338/stories.html

Simahoyo has also made available some of her fanfic at http://php.indiana.edu/~mlperkin/simahoyo.htm

Meanwhile, Ella Quince has added a section on the use of apostrophes and revised the section on common spelling errors in her resource page for bards, THE BLUE QUILL, available at: http://www.gabwhacker.com/xwp/bluequill/

Finally, Felioness has started adding FANFIC ART to her TALES FROM THE CHILDREN OF XENA AND GRABIELLE UBER FICTION page. Her main page is at http://www.geocities.com/~felioness/uberxena/uberxena.html

The FANFIC ART page is at: http://www.geocities.com/~felioness/uberxena/artwork.html

One new one in this report and lots of updates as several favorites come to an end.

ALTERNATIVE FICTION:

DEUS EX GABRIELLE by Chris M.
A delightfully entertaining new offering that finds the Bard of Poteidaia in a difficult predicament after Apollo kidnaps her and she unknowingly eats a little too much ambrosia. The new goddess then embarks on a quest to find someone willing to take her godhood away so she can return to the mortal who owns her heart. Some hysterical moments in this as the bard turned goddess leaves her mark all over Olympus :) Very well written and very cute! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! [unfinished] - 32 pgs.
http://whoosh.org/katrina/STO/altlib/deg_1.html

SEVEN DAYS IN POMPEII by DJWP
The concluding chapter 22 is now available. One of the most popular talents in XWP fanfic returns to once again help us deal with XWS as she did exactly one year ago with the release of the much loved classic A BARD DAY'S NIGHT. Set after the end of season three, DJ's latest finds Xena on a lonely stretch of beach, dazed after the loss of her soulmate, turning to the one place where she knows she'll feel the bard's spirit most of all - in Gabrielle's scrolls. Alone with Argo she begins reading those scrolls and reminiscing back to one of the last adventures they shared while on a fateful visit to a city named...Pompeii. With their relationship still not fully healed from the horror of the rift, this was a time full of insecurities and worries for them but also filled with a renewed sense of hope amidst the infectious joviality of a city preparing for one of its grandest festivals. They are even further drawn into the Pompeiian's excitement when they happen across an old friend well-versed in the art of FUN - the incomparable Sappho who we first me in A BARD DAY'S NIGHT and who is soon once again doing what she does best - getting them all into TROUBLE! DJ's Sappho is one of the greatest creations in fanfic while her treatment of the Xena/Gab partnership remains heartfelt and wonderfully compelling, made even more so this time around by the poignancy of seeing the warrior remember a time when they were both so stubbornly holding on to the love between them. This final chapter offers a fitting ending to a magnificent story as a desperate bard searches for her missing warrior and on another stretch of beach many moons later that warrior finds the renewed strength to go on. DJ has added to the story some fantastic pictures of Pompeii, including some very dramatic images of the aftermath of its destruction which from personal experience, having visited the ruins of the city, I can tell you are quite poignant. SEVEN DAYS is a very worthy addition to this bard's outstanding body of work - one of the best to come out this year. It receives my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!! -- 19 pgs.
https://ausxip.com/bards.html#djwp

CHICAGO 5AM by L.N. James
The concluding chapter 33 is now available. Teenagers are disappearing from the streets of Chicago, casualties of a dark subculture based on drugs, sex and rock and roll. Assigned to investigate is Mariel Potidean, a brilliant young FBI agent who soon finds herself teamed with a mysterious and decidedly fascinating partner - an ex-cop by the name of Tina Amphipoli with a dangerous reputation, a mysterious past and electric blue eyes. In this final chapter, Tina and Mariel look forward to further exploring the magic they've found together while some crafty new enemies promise to keep things lively for the pair. L.N.'s newest delivers an engaging premise with two very strong heroines, lots of suspense, drama and some thoroughly engaging romantic sparks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! [Note: Story features rough language] -- 6 pgs.
http://www.squonk.net/users/lnjames/webdoc2.htm

THE DANGEROUS TRUTH by Curiositee
Chapter 17 is now available. Set in the present day, this FANTASTIC new uber-Xena story gets off to a rousing start as it follows a gutsy young reporter named Bridget Stone on a fateful excursion into the Chicago slums. In search of a lead, she'll find more than she ever bargained for when an assassin tries to end her investigation and a mysterious stranger interferes, one of the many homeless that frequent the slums, only in the blue depths of that stranger's eyes Bridget will sense a connection as old as time. Soon enough the reporter finds herself with two mysteries on her hands as she considers who may be trying to kill her while trying to solve the puzzle that is the woman who saved her...a woman whose tortured past holds secrets only Bridget may be able to uncover. In this latest chapter Bridget begins to wonder whether a friend is really the most dangerous of enemies. Terrific characterizations make the reporter and her indigent savior immediately endearing. Combining suspense, mystery and a sense of pathos this wonderfully written tale is going to leave you anxiously awaiting that next chapter. A great uber drama in the making folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! [unfinished] -- 6 pgs.
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/7228/tdt1.htm

LEGENDS: AN UBER-XENA STORY by Shadowbard
Part two is now being posted. This tale begins in the present day and follows the story of three very different women as their lives take on very different directions. At eighteen, Cat Thornwell embarks on a career as a master assassin, deadly and ruthless; at fifteen, Angie Cartwright has to go live with her uncle, a well-meaning but often drunk anthropologist; while at twelve Barbara Ann Evans suffers the loss of her entire family - killed in a senseless drive-by shooting. Nine years later, the lives of all three women will once again change, along with that of everyone on the planet, when the prophecies of old become reality and Armageddon is visited upon the earth. From the ruins that remain a very different world will emerge - a world once again plagued by cruelty and greed - a world where the strong prey on the weak and human beings once again look to the gods for hope and protection. Into this world the Olympians will be reborn and from this world heroes will once again emerge to champion the people and in time...to become legends. In this latest section Cat and Angie prepare to battle an old enemy while the God of War prepares a surprise of his own . Well-written story with a fascinating premise. [unfinished] -- 5 pgs.
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/9268/legends1.html

CYBEREPIC by Redhawk
The conclusion is now available. This talented bard's second uber-Xena story is a Cyberpunk tale set in the 21st century in a North America torn by war. As the conflict rages on between the government and the power-hungry corporations, the last surviving members of the Red Wolves Clan struggle to survive, seeking vengeance on those who've harmed them and placing all their hopes on the shoulders of their enigmatic, fearless leader. Not suspecting the danger she's about to head into, Canadian Shannon Elias accepts a job as a courier - embarking on a mission that will take her into the heart of the conflict...and to a meeting with destiny. In these final chapters the Red Wolves battle for their survival as the computer virus wrecks havoc. Redhawk's fiction is well-written, with an intriguing plot that successfully merges cyberpunk with uber-Xena. The uber-characters are original while recalling familiar elements of Xena and Gabrielle. Entertaining read. -- 19 pgs.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/2385/CyberEpic/CyberEpic1.html

For those of you reading this post who are not familiar with the term alternative (alt.), it refers to ADULT stories that add a romantic element to the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, depicting them as more than just friends.

Happy reading!

Lunacy 8-)