From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0106A" ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 09:45:54 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: NEW: Imbalance Part 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Short but sweet (?) to start with, gang. After meeting AltClark in the Prologue, people wondered what AltAltLois (well, let's just call her Lois -- less complicated) was like... don't say we don't try to please. Read on... ***** Another Time, Another Place... ------------------------------ "...and I suggest you *never* partner me with that excuse for a human being, ever again!" Lois Lane's words were audible to the entire newsroom as she stalked out of the Editor-in-Chief's office and marched towards her desk. A very few seconds later, she had collected her belongings and was heading for the elevator. Collective breaths were held until the doors slid to behind her and the elevator travelled downwards with the still-fuming woman on board. Several sighs were expelled simultaneously. One voice was heard to remark scathingly, "What that... *excuse* for a woman needs is a real man to teach her a few lessons!" "Well, why don't *you* try, Ralphie-baby?" Cat Grant enquired cuttingly. Whatever her feelings about Lois, she liked Ralph even less. The man called Ralph flushed and pretended to concentrate on his work. His ego, never mind parts of his anatomy, hadn't yet recovered from the one occasion on which he had made a move on Lois. Cat was aware of this, and she smiled triumphantly as she strolled back to her desk. "So you didn't get on with the Ice Maiden, then, Tom?" Eduardo Friaz observed sympathetically, glancing at Perry White's newest appointee, an experienced reporter who had been with the Planet a little over a month. Tom Everett shrugged. "Professional differences. If she wants to dangle herself over the jaws of death every chance she gets, that's fine. I just told her she couldn't expect *me* to dangle there with her." He paused, gauging the interest of his audience. "I also suggested to her that maybe if she had a boyfriend, or maybe even a *life*, she wouldn't have to take out all her frustrations on what's just a *job*." "Uh-oh... no wonder she freaked out to the Chief," Cat drawled. "What's her problem, anyway?" Tom demanded, his expression suggesting that he wasn't remotely concerned about anything Lois might have said about him, even if she was the Chief's blue-eyed girl... well, brown-eyed, actually, but the concept was the same. "Who knows? No-one's ever got near enough to find out," Cat said with an exaggerated shrug. "'Course, it probably doesn't help that she's all work and no personality -- and even her *sister* once said she didn't have dates, she had appointments. They were fighting at the time, but..." Cat's expression suggested that the statement would have been true regardless. "Yeah, well, you want to watch yourself with Lane, Everett," Ralph mumbled. "Has anyone told you about that guy she got fired...?" ***** Lois inserted one key after another into the locks on her apartment door, recalling as she did so that Lucy had once pointed out that if she was ever trying to escape an attacker, she would be raped or mugged long before she managed to get into the safety of her apartment. But the locks were necessary in a modern city, especially one with a crime rate as high as that of Metropolis. It occurred to her now to wonder, briefly, whether the locks were her answer to the threat of real physical danger, or a metaphorical reflection of her own emotional state. Still, it was the end to yet another frustrating day at work. The sooner Perry White realised that she did *not* need a partner, the better it would be for all concerned, Lois mused angrily as she crossed to fill her coffee machine. She used to work solo, and her record during that time was hugely impressive. Single-handedly, she had unmasked Lex Luthor, exposed him to the world not as the millionaire philanthropist he pretended to be, but as a cold-hearted, evil criminal mastermind. Thanks to her, he was now serving several life sentences in the maximum-security wing of Metropolis Prison. One of her five Kerth Awards had been for that investigation, and the Planet's sales and earnings from syndication had rocketed. Other successes had included solving several murders which had stumped the police -- in passing, allowing Lois further opportunities to sound off in print about the inefficiencies of the Metropolis Police Department *and* the City Council's unwillingness to do anything about it. One of those murder victims had been an Assistant District Attorney, who had stumbled onto an Intergang plot and had been eliminated for her carelessness. It was still a matter of intense chagrin to Lois that she hadn't been able to prove that the guilt for Mayson Drake's murder went all the way up to the Churches, but she had resolved to come back for them another time. Which, of course, was why Perry now insisted that she work with a partner. On that occasion, she'd got too close and had raised the suspicions of the "big bosses", and had barely survived a serious assassination attempt. Three months' convalescence after that should have taught her to be more careful, anyway; at least, so people had told her -- and told her, and *told* her -- but words like "careful" were not in Lois Lane's vocabulary. There was a job to be done; the job involved risks; and those risks had to be taken if the job was to be done properly. But Perry kept saddling her with incompetents, people who thought that being an investigative reporter meant that they waited until the story came to them. That was not the way Lois worked, nor would it ever be. The latest attempt to constrain Lois' activities had come in the guise of Tom Everett, the new reporter in the City Room, someone who, as far as Lois was concerned, had a very inflated view of his own importance. Okay, so he'd held a senior position at his old paper in Chicago, but he still had to prove himself in Metropolis. And he would not do that by refusing to check out *reliable* information, from a proven source, just because it might be dangerous! And he had certainly not endeared himself to her by his offensive and intrusive comments about her private life. Oh, she was well aware of what her colleagues said about her behind her back -- even in front of her, sometimes. "The Ice Maiden" was the least offensive of the names they called her, intended as a sexual innuendo as much as a comment on her unfriendly manner. Though why should she be friendly with them? They were all out for their careers as much as she was; they would steal her stories in a second if she gave them the opportunity. And some of them -- 'Be honest, Lois. Some of the *men*!' -- seemed to feel they had something else to prove where she was concerned, as well. She suspected, and one of these days she would make Jimmy Olsen admit to her, that there was a book running on who would manage to get her into bed first -- or anywhere else; she was well aware that some of her colleagues would be none too choosy about the venue. But, although some had tried, several of them had lived to regret it; Lois smiled humourlessly as she remembered the injury she had inflicted on Ralph Naylor, the day he had "trapped" her in the storeroom. He'd been off sick for almost a week, she recalled with a sense of triumph... ...which quickly turned into a feeling of emptiness. Would her life always be like this? She was twenty-nine, and still... Well, she didn't have a man in her life. Not that she needed one, she pointed out to herself swiftly; men were not necessary to a happy and fulfilling life. Especially not parasites like Ralph and... But, she had to admit, *something* was missing. She enjoyed her job, of course -- well, she would enjoy it more if Perry didn't insist on inflicting unsuitable and unwanted partners on her -- but she still came home, on the evenings when she *did* go home, to an empty apartment. Oh, she had friends she could call, if she wanted... but, on the other hand, they weren't really friends. They were acquaintances, people she knew, but not people she would hang out with. She had never kept in touch with her college friends and, after that last major fight with Lucy, they hadn't spoken in... what? Over a year now. She didn't *want* a man in her life, Lois insisted to herself. Her parents' marriage and Lucy's disastrous love-life were more than sufficient evidence that love was not all it was cracked up to be. Men were more trouble than they were worth, she had decided a long time ago. They only wanted a limited number of things: a compliant body in bed, a competent cook, and an adoring feather-head without an opinion of her own to listen to their petty boasts and complaints and tell them how wonderful they were. No man of her acquaintance would be interested in a woman who had her own successful career, as Lois did. She would be too much competition for him, and she would have interests which didn't revolve around him, so, of course, her career would be seen as a threat. And if the man happened to be in journalism as well, so much the worse! Men, she had decided while still in high school, were not to be trusted, and weren't worth wasting time on. So, while her contemporaries at school and at college had been doing their best to catch the eyes of the most sought-after boys, Lois had been working hard, getting good grades and planning her career. All of which, of course, had not endeared her to the male students of her acquaintance, who variously referred to her as a geek, a nerd, a teachers' pet and a lesbian. A lesbian... once or twice, Lois had actually pondered the possibility. She had very good reasons for not wanting to trust men, and yet, there were times when she found her independent, solitary life to be a very lonely existence, and she had wondered what it would be like to have a partner; someone to be with, someone to share things with, someone to... love. But the idea of doing *that* with a woman did not appeal at all. And yet, the idea of reaching fifty, or even sixty, and still being a spinster, still living alone, didn't appeal much, either. She sighed heavily as she carried her coffee-cup across to the window and stood gazing out into the dark night sky. Out there, across the city, thousands of people were settling into their homes for the evening, just as she was, but most of them were with partners -- husbands, wives... children. They would be talking, laughing, sharing, comforting each other. Were their lives happy, fulfilled? Or were many of them trapped in loveless relationships with partners they despised? *Was* there such a thing as a happy relationship between two people who regarded each other as equals? Was there any chance that she could ever meet someone who would treat her that way -- someone she could love? ***** All things come to she who waits, Lois... and you won't have to wait much longer... but that's for another time. Phil -------------------------------------------------------------- "If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!" -- a forgotten comedian, quoted by me: Phil Atcliffe (Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 10:55:53 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Where do you like to read fanfic? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Where's your favourite place for reading fanfic? This list? The Fanfic Archive? Annesplace? Zoom's message boards? Demi's boards? Or an individual's personal fanfic site? Well, any or all of these places are eligible for nomination for an Alt-Kerth! :) It's come to our attention that a lot of people haven't been nominating for the Alt-Kerths because they think they're all to do with music videos and technical stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth! So, what's your favourite Lois and Clark site/email list? Did you enjoy the Silly Revelations and Tank Endings posted on Zoomway's message boards last year? The Musicals and Reader's Digest versions of fanfics? Tell us which you liked most, and help your favourites make it onto the ballot paper. Information about the Alt-Kerths can be found here: http://www.annesplace.net/altkerths.html The categories, and links to eligible entries, can be found here: http://www.annesplace.net/altkcategories.html For the websites/mailing lists, we will accept write-in entries. We have lots of nominations in some categories, but very few in others, so if you want your favourites to be recognised, send us your votes - to altkerths@annesplace.net or use the automated nomination form on the site, at http://www.nfanfic.net/mailform/altnoms.html Thank you! Pam, Wendy and Anne The Management -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 18:15:07 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 1 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed S P O I L E R S P A C E Phil, Wendy, that was absolutely amazing. Your description of Lois and her thoughts is so accurate and vivid, it makes one really feel for her. It aches me to see her so desperately lonely. HG Wells was right, Clark is needed here. And I for one can't wait for his arrival. :) Natascha (who found the beginning and Phil's end message quite amusing ) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:12:43 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Norman Mayes Subject: An Early Edition / L&C Crossover MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Found an Early Edition -L&C Crossover on the web. "In Strange Visitor from Chicago" Gary Hobson gets a copy of tomorrow's Daily Planet where Clark Kent is = exposed as Superman and goes to Metropolis to..... http://hobsonmetcalf87.homestead.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 18:12:46 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: An Early Edition / L&C Crossover In-Reply-To: <000d01c0eb11$e43abd00$925d8d0a@Default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Norman wrote: > Found an Early Edition -L&C Crossover on the web. > > "In Strange Visitor from Chicago" > Gary Hobson gets a copy of tomorrow's Daily Planet where Clark Kent is exposed > as Superman and goes to Metropolis to..... > > http://hobsonmetcalf87.homestead.com/ Hey! What a great sounding premise!! Is the author anyone we know? I'll have to go check it out! Thanks for the heads-up, Norman. :) Erin (hoping to get her own latest fanfic finished this weekend :)) __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:46:58 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Repost w/Changes: Hearts Divided, pt 6 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I posted this here earlier, but some comments made me realize I needed to add about a page and a half of new material. This picks up shortly after Sev lures & locks the dancers into a strange room. Hearts Divided part 6/? by Pam Jernigan The room they were being held in was dimly lit, with four padded benches that seemed intended to be beds, and a small pile of women's clothing in various sizes. After prowling the edges of the room in vain hopes of finding an escape route, Lois joined the other women sitting on the benches. "I'm sorry. I can't find any way out." Francine opened weary eyes long enough to say, "Don't apologize, Lola. We all looked. And it isn't your fault we're in this mess." Lois couldn't accept absolution that easily. Here she was, a trained and competent officer in the United States Army, the world's finest fighting force -- in the Intelligence Division for pete's sake! -- and she had meekly walked right into a trap. Sev was going to pay for that, next time she got close to him. "I should have done something," she muttered glumly. "Like what?" Brenda demanded. "They had us surrounded. No, it's not your fault." She squeezed her eyes shut. "It's mine -- isn't that what you meant, Francine? Yeah, I fell for their line, but I wasn't the only one, honey. You were right there with me -- we all fell for it." "Lola didn't," Melanie said quietly, watching Lois closely. Brenda glared at Melanie. "Oh thank you so much, that makes me feel so much better. Okay, so I was desperate enough to buy their story, and I wanted you guys to come too, but if you hadn't been so busy making eyes at that Zak guy--" Lois winced at the rising tone of anger. "Maybe I should make a confession here," she interrupted. "I'm not really Lola Dane." That got Brenda's puzzled attention, and Francine opened one eye. Melanie continued to study her. "My name is Lois Lane, and I'm an Army officer investigating the Toasters. There were rumors that they were connected to the Metro Club, so I wanted to get inside. I'm sorry to have deceived you all." Francine closed her eyes again, seeming to lose interest, while Brenda looked annoyed. "I lost a gig to you and you're not even a pro? Man, that bites. I could just *kill* Johnny." Melanie nodded. "I knew there was something about you. That explains the gun, too." "A gun?" Brenda yelped. "Girlfriend, if you were packing, why the hell are we here?" Lois winced, fighting her own guilt. "I could have taken Sev -- probably -- but I didn't know if Zak was armed, and I thought I'd get a better chance if I waited. I'm sorry." Of course, so far nothing irrevocable had happened; Sev and Zak undoubtedly had some sort of plan, but if they thought Lois Lane was going to tamely play along, well, they obviously hadn't read enough Superman comics in their misspent young lives. "But it means we're not defenseless. We'll probably be able to get away in the morning. I can't do anything until they come back, but they must have something planned for us, so when they make their move, I'll --" Frowning, she stopped talking in order to listen. The strange distant hum she'd noticed when first entering the stairwell had abruptly intensified, and she was feeling a gentle vibration in the floor. Brenda was looking around, too, and gently touched the wall. "There's some powerful machinery in this building ... are they running the air conditioning?" The vibration and hum increased again, this time accompanied by a high-pitched whine, and Lois suddenly felt herself pressed against the floor. A quick look told her the others were feeling something, too. Francine opened her eyes, looking around fearfully. "I don't suppose this is just a really big elevator." Melanie shook her head solemnly. "I thought something was strange when we came onboard, but I wasn't sure, and--" "Onboard?" Brenda asked sharply. "I think we're on a spaceship," Melanie replied simply. Abruptly, the downward pressure ceased. "And we've just achieved lift-off." "No way," Lois said flatly. Every logical thought she'd ever had rebelled at the idea of spaceships, let alone her presence on one. Francine echoed the sentiment in blunter language, and went on to say, "You've been to too many crystal parties, girl." Melanie looked mulish. "You guys have a better explanation? Go ahead, I'd like to hear it." "Come on, guys," Brenda coaxed. "This is just a cargo elevator, right? I mean, it's kinda big, but..." her voice trailed off as it became evident that no one, including her, believed this theory. "There aren't any buttons," Melanie pointed out stubbornly. "And why would you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to an elevator?" Lois was silent for a moment, ignoring the elevator digression. "There are aircraft that do vertical takeoffs." Melanie just looked at her in silent challenge. "But I don't know of any that are this big," Lois admitted. "It's not exactly my field -- I'm Army -- but we usually hear about them sooner or later, 'cause anything this big would probably be a troop carrier." "The space program have any breakthroughs lately?" Brenda asked belligerently. "Not since Space Station Luthor went up." Lois frowned, trying to remember any scraps of insider gossip to come her way. It wasn't really her field of interest, but some of the guys on base were space nuts, and it generally took threats of violence to shut them up when they got excited over something new. Even the slightest rumor of a spacecraft this large would have whipped them into a positive frenzy. "They're still chasing their own tails to figure out what went wrong with the Messenger." They looked at each other for a moment before Francine asked the obvious question. "Are these guys from outer space or something?" Brenda looked pained. "They look human enough." "And Kal's been hanging around the Metro Club for a couple of years, you said, right?" asked Melanie. Francine frowned at her. "What's Kal got to do with it?" Lois took another look at Melanie; she hadn't realized the younger woman had made the same connections she had. "Sev and Zak wore uniforms," Melanie explained. She shot an inquiring glance towards Lois. "I didn't recognize them." "Me neither." Lois said. "And I'd recognize most of the world's major uniform styles. I just figured they were making up their own." "But it was the same sort of uniform as Kal's friend was wearing." "Yeah, I saw them come in together," Brenda reluctantly added. "When I was waitressing earlier. They sat at two tables, but they were all chummy. So are you guys telling me that Sev and Zak are *aliens*? That *Kal Lewis*, who's been a regular at the Metro Club for at least three years, is an alien?" For a moment, Francine looked inexpressibly sad. "I always liked Kal; he was a gentleman..." she murmured softly. Lois squeezed her eyes shut. Sometimes she hated logic, and it was far too late at night for world-altering revelations. "Maybe," she replied, firmly postponing the debate for later. "We don't know. Although I don't know of anybody on Earth that could build or fly this ship." With an inner groan, she realized that she'd already accepted the premise that they were on a spaceship. From here it was only a short step to the loony bin. She couldn't quite decide whether that would be better or worse than aliens intruding on her reality. "I guess we'll find out when they come back." The thought chilled her. If Melanie were at all correct, then this situation was more serious than she had thought. In a building in the West River district, it would be a relatively simple matter to overpower their captors and go blithely home. On an enclosed craft, far *far* from home, the situation was vastly more complicated. And how did Kal Lewis fit into this? His intent scrutiny of her earlier began to take on a sinister interpretation. Had he sent those two...? She hated to think so, irrationally sure he was above such tactics. But there was no way to find the truth from here; she would have to wait until someone came to get them. She kicked herself for ever letting them get into that alley. She had thought she could protect them -- it was no less than her duty as an officer. Well, she still would, as much as she could. Spaceship or not, Lois Lane was not going to play by their rules any longer. She watched her companions to see how they were handling themselves; they were silent at the moment but looked scared. "Well, there's one good thing," she made herself say, keeping her voice as steady as she could. Brenda laughed, a half-hysterical giggle. She clasped a hand over her mouth to contain the sound, but still looked on the edge. "What's that, Lola -- I mean, Lois?" demanded Francine, wavering between anger and despair. "Well, it's just, with all of us here..." Lois swallowed, hoping this would distract them. "The Metro Club's not gonna have much of a floor show tomorrow." Francine stared at her for a moment, then a corner of her mouth began to twitch. "Yeah, Johnny's gonna have a tough time finding four or five new kids in half a day, isn't he?" Brenda's eyes lost some of their wildness and began to dance. "Hoo-boy, that boy is in trouble." "Maybe he'll have to fill in, himself," Melanie suggested wickedly. "He could use my chicken outfit," Lois suggested with a grin. Apparently the news of Johnny's demotion had been kept secret; Lois would tell them later, but right now they needed the comic relief. "Oh, no, Lola!" Brenda corrected, "that white dress would be more his style." In a gravelly voice, she imitated Johnny's accent and began singing "I've Got a Crush On You." The other three laughed harder, until Brenda was laughing with them, unable to keep singing. If the laughter was a little on the shrill side, no one mentioned it, glad to have temporarily escaped the intolerable tension. **** Kal sat in his command chair, watching the cloudy blue globe of Earth in a secondary monitor. The planet was already far behind them, and he was never likely to see it again. He should just put it out of his mind -- the mission, as Lt. Ching had so emphatically reminded him, was the important thing. He was just as glad when Sev entered the control room, shuffling his feet apologetically at the intrusion. After they had safely cleared the planet's airspace, Ching had set the ship to auto-pilot, and Kal had sent the three Kryptonians off to their rest period. Kal had rested too, but as long as the advantages of his stay on Earth lingered, he found he didn't need much sleep. "Yes, crewman?" "Sir," Sev began, then paused, seeming uncertain of himself. "Well, m'lord, I have a confession to make." This sounded mildly interesting, and possibly alarming. "What sort of confession?" "Well, m'lord, I know you gave us lists of supplies -- and we obtained everything on the lists -- but I thought ... well, for a long journey I thought we might need another sort of supplies. For morale purposes." Kal watched, intrigued by this stumbling explanation. So Crewman Sev was showing initiative, was he? That could be good, but it was more likely disastrous. "So what did you do about this oversight?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral, and sent out a tentative mental probe. He was out of practice, of course, but he found himself emphatically blocked. Either Sev had an excellent natural shield, or he'd had some training. Sev looked up, seeming to gain confidence. "I planned it all carefully, m'lord. Took everything into account. I wasn't sure I'd have a chance to manage it, but fortune favors the bold." This was surely going to be disastrous, Kal mused, as the other man carefully talked around the subject. "What did you do, Sev?" Sev faltered at that level question, then looked sly. "Perhaps you'd best see for yourself, m'lord. It's the secondary storage room." Kal gave him a pained glance, but perhaps a first-hand look would be worth more than a thousand words. He stood, and passed Sev on his way out the corridor, leaving the crewman to the difficult task of leading the way while remaining the proscribed foot behind his commanding officer. As they reached the section of wall where subtle markings betrayed a closed door, Kal stopped, turning with an ironic flourish to allow Sev first access to the opening. Sev flushed and looked flustered, but stepped forward. Faintly, Kal thought he heard voices within the cargo hold. Had Sev brought televisions or something?? He'd have had a difficult time hooking them up to power, if so. "We needed some recreation," Sev said, as if that explained everything, then opened the door. It was only due to his enhanced senses that Kal could make sense of the ensuing chaos. As soon as the door opened, a diminutive female figure appeared in the opening. With deliberate movements, the woman swept a kick at Sev that brought the unsuspecting crewman to his knees. From there, he was in easy reach of an overhand blow that crumpled him to the floor. Before Kal could do more than gasp in startlement, he was face to face with the last person he ever expected to see again. And she was now holding a pistol, aimed right at him. "You!" he gasped, and heard her echo him a half-second later, her brown eyes going wide. Her grasp of the pistol wavered for only a fraction of a second, however, he noted. "Brenda, tie this guy up," she ordered, kicking Sev lightly. One of the other dancers then approached, make-shift rope in hand, and set to work, none too gently. "I am Lieutenant Lois Lane of the United States Army," his dancer announced crisply, "and you are in big trouble." "You're in the army?" he asked. He had heard that Earth allowed women into some of their military units. He would not have guessed that his dancer was actually a soldier, but it certainly explained a lot. She scowled at him. "You have a problem with that?" Kal gave her his best innocent shrug. "Not at all. Thank you, by the way." Lois -- he savored the name in his mind; it was somehow much nicer than Lola -- narrowed her eyes in suspicious puzzlement. "For what?" "Showing Sev here the error of his ways." As the shock of Lois's presence wore off, the enormity of Sev's crime was starting to make itself known, and Kal sobered. "I must apologize to you -- to all of you," he added, peering around Lois to see who else was there. Good God, Sev had grabbed the whole floor show, he realized; there were four of them altogether. Sev must have been trying to be fair -- four Kryptonians, four concubines, including the one Kal had been so openly admiring. He flushed in shame. If he had controlled his reactions, Sev might never have gone through with this horrible scheme. "Forget the apology," Brenda grumbled. "Just put us *back* and we're cool." "Sev should never have treated you like this," Kal said slowly, "And we will take you back." "I don't want to go back," the youngest dancer announced, fixing Kal with an entreating stare. He'd never spoken to her, but he was almost certain her name was Melanie. "At least, not yet -- you're aliens, aren't you? I mean, you're not from Earth, right?" Kal stared at her as he frantically tried to calculate how much he could reveal without earning the Council's wrath. How much did they already know? Perhaps he could still hide the full truth ... turning, he caught Lois's eye, held cold and steady above the pistol, and something within him rebelled at the thought of keeping any secrets. "Yes, you will take us back," Lois said, waggling the pistol slightly for emphasis, her accelerated heart rate at odds with her calm appearance. "So turn this space ship of yours around right now, mister." Very well then. "You deserve the truth. I am Lord Kal-El, of the house of El, of the planet New Krypton." He bowed to all of them, enjoying the look of delight on Melanie's face. Which stood in stark contrast to the hostility emanating in waves from Lois. "And if you know it's a space ship," he told her mildly, "you should realize it wouldn't be a good idea to fire that. Projectile weapons and pressurized craft just don't mix." She just smiled back. "You're assuming I'd miss." Assessing her familiarity with the weapon in her hand, Kal decided that it was far more likely that she'd hit him, especially at this short range. The impact likely wouldn't hurt him, but with his luck, the bullet would ricochet, possibly hitting one of the women. "Lois," he began, then at her raised eyebrow forced himself to use her stated rank, "Lieutenant. I am not your enemy here. Sev was acting against explicit orders, and he *will* be disciplined. I give you my word that you will be returned to Metropolis in perfect health, unharassed. However, we're in the middle of an urgent mission, and we simply cannot delay--" She was looking entirely unconvinced. "About a week ago," he explained rapidly, "the Lady Zara was kidnapped. She's the last of the royal family, and if she is harmed, it's almost certain that our world will slide into civil war. Besides, she and I -- " Kal hesitated, unwilling to mention marriage while looking into Lois's eyes. "We are friends. I don't want her to be hurt. I have to go after her, and get her back." He ran out of words, and simply let her read the truth from his eyes, holding nothing back. She stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine," she snapped, finally lowering the pistol. "Fine?" protested the older blond dancer. "Hey, I've got to get back to Earth before I lose my job! Without that paycheck I lose my apartment, and my rent is due soon. I don't have time for a joy ride around the galaxy!" "Um, Kal?" Turning, Kal saw that the younger dancer -- Melanie, he thought her name was -- was looking at him bashfully. "You won't be too hard on Zak, will you? I mean, he didn't really do much..." "Melanie!" Brenda scolded, "Just because you think the boy is cute does *not* mean he gets off the hook, here!" "Oh come on, it was obvious he had no idea what was going on." "He knew enough to herd us into this room, Mel; how innocent could he be? And quit your caterwauling, Francine; at least you've got a paycheck to go back to!" "That's what you think -- Johnny's not gonna like being left high and dry like this." "And the high heels will make his feet hurt, so he's bound to be pretty grumpy," Lois murmured, to Kal's complete confusion. The others grinned at the comment. "But actually ladies ... I was eavesdropping yesterday, and Toni's taken over the whole Metro Gang -- she escorted Johnny out under armed guard, and I don't think he was gonna be coming back." That statement impressed the women into stunned silence for a moment. Kal let himself smile. Good for Toni. "She was keeping it under wraps," Lois added, at their questioning looks, "but you know he wasn't there last night." "True enough," Brenda nodded. "Hmm... I guess it doesn't make any difference to me now, but..." "Serves the bastard right," Francine spat out, looking as if she'd bitten into something nasty. "And forced out by his sister, too. Hah. Good for her." "So, um, Kal..." Melanie approached him cautiously. "Do we get a tour of your space ship?" *** -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:48:27 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: New: Hearts Divided, part 7/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit All comments welcomed. Hearts Divided part 7 by Pam Jernigan "So explain this to me again," Lois said to Kal, taking advantage of a relatively quiet moment. Kal had led them all on a tour of the ship, ending up in a room clearly designed for eating. The furnishings were subtly different than the cafeterias Lois was familiar with, but the purpose was plain. Kal had somehow produced food for everyone, then sat at one of the two tables. Brenda, Francine and Melanie had clustered at the other, speaking in low tones. Lois had seized the opportunity to approach him. Kal looked up. "I thought you'd want to eat with your friends," he said carefully. Lois took that as tacit permission and sat down across the table from him. "I'm the ranking officer -- sort of -- and I wanted to clarify a few things. Like, you say you're off to rescue a woman who's been kidnapped ... except you seem to be carrying along a few kidnapped women of your own." Despite her resolve to not antagonize him, a note of derision crept into her voice. "Does this happen a lot on your planet?" Kal winced. "No, definitely not, and I apologize again. Sev was acting against direct orders--" "What, you felt the need to tell him *not* to kidnap anyone?" "I told him not to have contact with the locals," Kal explained, a touch of annoyance interfering with his apologetic tone. "And obviously that worked real well," Lois commented acidly. "For that matter, how do I know he wasn't following orders? I saw the way you were looking at me." Kal flushed, his eyes narrowing. "Lieutenant, I apologize for the circumstances of your arrival on this ship. And I admit I underestimated Sev's audacity, but I have never--" Lois held up a hand to ward off his apology, her momentary doubt and anger fading, washed away by the hurt in Kal's eyes. Nothing in his actions had earned him that accusation, and on some level she had known that. "I'm sorry; I'm angry right now and I got carried away. I know this wasn't your fault. It's just that I'm supposed to be on my way to a beach right now." She took a deep breath, calling on years of discipline to reign in her temper. This was not how she had planned to spend her leave time, but at least it was leave time. If they got back to Earth quickly enough, she might yet avoid a court-martial for going AWOL. Kal took a deep breath as well, composing himself. "Your irritation is understandable. And I sincerely regret not being able to return you immediately, but that would delay us another day, possibly two, and I cannot be sure Lady Zara has that time to spare." "What do you think her situation is, exactly?" Lois asked, forcing herself to concentrate on tactical analysis rather than spend any time wondering exactly how close Kal was to his 'friend' Zara. Kal didn't strike her as the type to have platonic friendships with women, not after the way he'd been so intensely focused on her during her song. Not that it mattered. At all. "Are they on another ship, a planet, what?" He shrugged. "We don't exactly know yet. Nor took her away from New Krypton in his personal ship, but we don't know where they went. He owns several installations that we can search." "And how long will all this take?" Kal hesitated. "If we find her quickly, only a few days. If Nor is better hidden ..." He sighed. "If it takes much longer, I will return you and your friends to Earth." "You hate the idea of it taking that long, don't you?" Lois asked gently. It was clear that he worried about his friend. "I won't be satisfied until Zara is free and safe," he admitted, "but that doesn't justify further disrupting your lives. This week, right now ... there's an urgency. If we can find her quickly, she should be fine. Lord Nor is an evil man, but in a lazy way, if you see what I mean. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty; he prefers to manipulate and bully others into doing his bidding. He must be hoping he can persuade Zara to marry him." Lois blinked. "Interesting method he's got." Kal grinned briefly. "It's a political thing. New Krypton is a very formal society; you'd probably think us terribly constrained. But for hundreds of years, we have maintained peace among us by maintaining certain traditions. One of those is hereditary leadership." Lois rolled her eyes. "I've heard of that. Whichever son is born first gets the crown, whether he's qualified or not ... that's a recipe for disaster." Kal smiled. "We're not quite that unsophisticated. The leadership passes from father to son-in-law. Zara's father was First Lord of New Krypton, and whoever she marries will be, too. It's her choice." "That's nearly as bad," she informed him. "What if she falls in love with a jerk?" "Falls in love?" Kal asked, looking surprised. "It is her duty to choose the best available ruler; she has been brought up knowing that responsibility. Traditionally, her father would help her decide; unfortunately, he went to the stars about four years ago." By the faint tinge of sadness around that last statement, Lois deduced that going to the stars was a polite term for death. She brushed that aside, annoyed by the idea of political, loveless marriages. It was beginning to look like New Krypton was a pretty cold society. At least there was some concession to merit over birth. Though perhaps not much. "So Zara's had to, um, interview all the men on New Krypton?" "Oh no," Kal replied easily. "The noble class is not that large, unfortunately, so she's known most of us her entire life." "Somehow I suspected that." Not only a patriarchy, but an oligarchy, too. She tried to remember instances in Earth history where oligarchies had been successful, but her memory failed her. "And I'll just bet that Zara's not allowed to do the job herself, is she?" Kal looked faintly scandalized by that idea, and Lois rolled her eyes. "Sexist creeps." Before she could launch into a diatribe about the evils of sexism, a motion in the corner of her eye distracted her; looking up she saw that the mess hall door had opened. Kal's companion from the previous night was standing in the opening, staring tight-lipped and disapproving at the occupants. Kal followed her gaze, and startled guiltily. "Lieutenant Ching," he greeted the man, then stood and switched over to another language to continue the conversation. **** Ching had difficulty comprehending what he was seeing. The mess hall was filled with colorful, chattering women. Accompanied by Lord Kal-El. For one confused moment, Ching suspected Kal-El of smuggling them aboard, and resentment flared. The Lord Kal-El was promised to the Lady Zara, and the least he owed her was discretion. But then saner counsel emerged; Kal had been with him, last night, and had had no opportunity to arrange any of this. Kal-El turned, alerted by his companion. "Lieutenant Ching," he said in English. Kal rose from the table and crossed the room to Ching. "We have a problem," he spoke softly in Kryptonian. "Although I trust it is manageable. These ladies were brought on board by--" "Sev," Ching finished, now regretting his decision to let the crewmen stay at the club. Kal-El had been in command, true, but Ching knew better, and it had been his duty to recommend against leaving Sev unsupervised. "I'll kill him," he muttered, shame giving way to anger. In a louder voice, he said, "I apologize, my Lord, I should not have let him out of my sight." Kal shrugged uncomfortably. "We were both at fault. And what's done is done. The ladies have -- reluctantly -- agreed to stay with us for a short period, so as not to delay our search." That worry hadn't even yet occurred to him. "Very good." Still feeling off-balance by their presence, Ching began mental calculations. "We have extra crew quarters they can use, if we all double up, and our supplies should be sufficient." He paused, as another thought struck him. "Where is Sev?" Kal's mouth twitched into a grin. "He's confined to his quarters -- he was starting to regain consciousness when I left." Ching blinked. He knew from his own practice sessions that Sev was a capable hand-to-hand fighter. "Did he resist your orders, my Lord?" "He didn't get the chance," Kal told him, still looking unaccountably amused. "Lieutenant Ching," he said, suddenly switching back to English and turning slightly towards the rest of the room's occupants, "it is my great pleasure to introduce Lieutenant Lois Lane, of the United States Army. She's the one who flattened Sev." Kal's former dining companion turned, and for the first time Ching noticed that she had been drifting in this direction all through the conversation. Not that it would have done her any good to overhear it, unless she spoke Kryptonian. "Lieutenant Ching," she greeted him in a cool voice, and Ching saw her face properly for the first time. She had changed clothes and hair style, but surely... "Aren't you the singer?" he asked, bewildered not only by her apparent shift in profession, but also by the very idea of a female officer. She made a hand motion that he assumed was a salute, but he was too confused to return it. He looked at Kal-El for assistance. Kal-El was watching the singer. "Actually, that's a good question. What were you doing at the Metro Club, Lieutenant Lane?" "Investigating the Toasters," she replied crisply. "Half of West River was burning down, and from the descriptions of their flame throwers, they could have been using stolen military technology." Kal frowned at her. "What did you find out?" "I never did find the Toasters," she admitted. "But I believe they were being directed by Toni Taylor." The name meant nothing to Ching, but it was obvious it meant something to Kal-El. His face darkened. "Toni was involved? People were getting hurt in those fires! I can't believe that she'd --" He paused, sadness stealing over his face. "Or maybe I just never wanted to believe it. I wasn't supposed to get involved, and it was easier if I didn't." The singer -- no, officer -- made an abortive movement towards Kal's hand. "There probably wasn't much you could have done," she offered in a soft voice. "I could have--" Kal stopped himself, glancing at Ching, then continued in a more controlled tone, "There is always something that can be done." Ching searched for a way to change the subject; uncomfortable with these careless displays of emotion; Kal-El had obviously been contaminated by his stay on Earth. Ching looked forward to seeing the effect wear off. "My lord, what shall we do about Sev?" Kal-El turned his attention to Ching once again, his face sobering. "He will need to be tried and punished for his crimes. Possibly Zak, as well, as he seems to have been involved. It's a pity this ship is so short-staffed." "We have enough for a trial," Ching replied, "and it should be straight-forward." The question of punishment was worrisome; they really couldn't afford to lose both crewmembers in the middle of the mission, but penalties could be delayed for later, if necessary. Kal-El nodded. "Very well. Sev is confined to his quarters for now, and the ship is already on automatic pilot for this portion of the voyage. We'll convene the trial today." **** "Abducted by aliens," Brenda said, when they reached the privacy of their makeshift quarters. Francine and Melanie would share another cabin. Lois was just as happy with her assigned roommate; when Brenda wasn't in a state of high dudgeon, she seemed the most reasonable of the three dancers. "I know," Lois said, still a little in shock when she let herself contemplate the revelations of the past few hours. "Seems unreal, doesn't it?" "Sure does." The reality of the situation was hard for Lois to grasp. She'd always been skeptical to the point of derision about the possibility of other life in the universe, and especially dismissive of the idea that this other life would be visiting Earth on the sly, observing for their own purposes. And yet that had turned out to be quite literally true, at least in one instance -- according to Melanie, Kal had been around for several years. She had known that Kal, no matter how attractive, wasn't right for her, but to find out that he was an alien was mind-boggling. Why had he been spying on Earth, anyway? Apparently the New Kryptonians weren't planning an invasion this week, but Lois couldn't feel too certain about the week after. She missed the smug assurance that her planet was alone and unnoticed by any others, and was left feeling small and vulnerable. That vulnerability, however, provoked feelings of annoyance, and she used that energy. She might not know their intentions yet, but after all, she was a trained Intelligence officer, and she was better-placed than anyone else in the Army to gather data on this potential enemy. Some small part of her protested that categorization of Kal ... but she savagely shut it down. He might seem like a decent guy, in some ways, but she didn't know him well enough to label him a friend. She would have to be on her guard. She pulled herself together and applied herself to exploring the tiny room. There were two beds, one against each side wall, with a tiny cabinet between them along the back. The bathroom facilities were communal, and located down the hall, but Kal had promised them they would have the area to themselves. "I'll say one thing," Lois commented, opening the grocery bag Kal had given her, "Sev was very thorough about this. We've got a couple of different kinds of shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste ... even toothbrushes." Brenda surveyed the collection. "Those aren't my usual brands, but I guess they're better than nothing. No make-up?" She poked through the bottles for a moment. "Oh well, he wouldn't have gotten it right anyway. At least there's deodorant." She looked up at Lois. "So tell me, what's up with you and Kal?" Lois flushed, but managed to keep her voice calm. "Absolutely nothing. I'd barely even spoken to him before this morning -- and he was pretty rude to me before." "Uh-huh," Brenda nodded, a wicked gleam in her eye. "So why did you ditch us at breakfast?" "I was trying to find out more about our situation," Lois replied, with as much dignity as she could muster. She was suddenly unsure that Brenda would take the "ranking officer" idea very calmly, as Lois really had no authority over anyone, and civilians might not understand the burden of responsibility that came with the title. "You'll have to ask one of them about their political system; talk about neo-feudalism -- not to mention their attitude toward women. This Lady Zara he's trying to rescue is sort of their Crown Princess; whoever wins her hand gets the whole kingdom -- or planet, in their case. So they trip all over each other and she's just the pawn in the middle. Sexist creeps." Brenda sighed. "As what's-his-name says -- you know, the guy that Garner beat for President -- I feel her pain." **** It was very unfair of the universe -- aided and abetted by Sev -- to dump Lois Lane in his lap, Kal decided. He'd already given her up, had steeled his heart to forget her and had determined to do his duty by his people ... and yet, here she was again, tempting him. If he had found her attractive in her role as a dancer it was nothing compared to how her professionalism was affecting him. It was funny, really. She had dropped the exaggerated femininity of her onstage persona, but her body remained as shapely, and she was so poised and self-confident that she exuded a powerful allure all her own. She was also far more intelligent than he'd suspected, which delighted him. He had recently discovered a taste for lively conversation, and Lois was anything but intimidated by him. The circumstances, of course, were just as bad as before, if not worse. One of the men under his command had kidnapped her, and the flush of shame at the thought almost extinguished his desire. He should have known, should never have left Sev alone ... should have controlled himself better. Now her life would be disrupted for at least a week, possibly with longer repercussions, and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Except proceed with the court-martial, of course. He would provide justice for Lois and her friends. And then, perhaps... the long journey to their first search area suddenly seemed fraught with opportunities. Lois would be on board for at least a week, after all. She had seemed annoyed by what he'd told her about his world, but she just didn't understand; he would have to explain the interlocking duties and privileges, the way the strong were pledged to protect the weak. She was an officer; the concept couldn't be too foreign. Perhaps he could make his way back into her good graces ... perhaps even into her bed. It would be difficult, but worth it. Kal tried to feel guilty at the thought of betraying his birth-wife, but he couldn't manage it. Zara and he were friends, true, but first and foremost they were business associates. Both dedicated to the good of New Krypton, over all. Noble wives were never jealous of concubines. Were they? He'd never really considered the matter before. Suddenly, he was convinced that if he were lucky enough to win Lois, she would be jealous... If he were lucky enough to win Lois, he told himself, leaving the fantasy behind, it would only be temporary. She had a life to return to, and honor demanded that he take all the women safely back to Earth. Still, a little voice pointed out, anything could happen in a week. **** -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:50:12 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: New: Hearts Divided, part 8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hearts Divided part 8 by Pam Jernigan "This court-martial will come to order," Kal stated clearly, in English, then quickly ran through the formalities of establishing his authority as Lord of the Court, the name of the accused, and the charges. The secondary supply room had been turned into a court, since it was the largest unused space on the ship. Sev and Zak sat on a bench at the side of the room, while Kal sat at the front, facing the makeshift courtroom floor. Lois and the dancers were present, as befit their status as victims and witnesses; they sat on the two remaining benches across the room from Sev. Ching stood, ready to perform his duty as prosecutor. "Crewmen Sev and Zak," Kal addressed them, "you are charged with disobeying direct orders, and kidnapping." Sev kept his eyes downcast, hunching his shoulders in defensively, while Zak showed signs of bewildered panic. "You are further charged with assaulting an officer." That startled Sev, and his gaze came up, disbelieving and defiant. "No, m'lord! Lieutenant Ching..." he sputtered to a halt. Kal smiled maliciously. "I was referring to Lieutenant Lane, over there." If possible, Sev's eyes got even bigger as he gazed at Lois, who very carefully saluted in Kal's direction, not at Sev. "Now, let us hear from the witnesses." One by one, he called the four women to stand before him and tell their story. There were minor variations, of the sort that were inevitable in situations like this, but overall their stories were identical. "Thank you ladies, Lieutenant." "Lieutenant Ching, have you anything to add?" As planned, Ching came forward to list the extra supplies that Sev had purchased -- supplies clearly meant for women and found nowhere on the list Kal had given him. "This establishes forethought, m'lord. His crimes were clearly premeditated." "Indeed." Kal paused. "Zak, did you take part in any of this planning?" "No, m'lord, I swear it," Zak answered in Kryptonian, better able to understand English than to speak it. "The first thing I knew Sev had anything in mind was at the club last night, when he started talking about recreation, and about the way you--" Blushing furiously, Zak stopped himself, looking down at the floor. "He said it'd be a good idea, m'lord, and that you'd like it, and well, they were just so pretty..." He trailed off in confusion. "Your orders," Kal said gently in English, "were to look, but not touch." "Yes, m'lord," Zak muttered miserably, emanating enough remorse that even the humans might be able to sense it. Kal sighed, glancing at the humans. They seemed sympathetic, and Melanie was smiling encouragingly. Zak was young, and had been away from home a long time. His main weakness was following too blindly, but Kal was honest enough to know that blind obedience to one's superiors was taught by the class system, and reinforced by the military. "I pronounce you guilty. Your punishment will be fifteen days in solitary confinement. However, punishment will be delayed, and will commence the day you return to New Krypton." Kal watched Zak's face as it sunk in that his homecoming, reunion with family, and chance to chase girls, had all been postponed, and tainted by disgrace. Perhaps that would make him think just a little harder, next time, about whose orders to blindly follow. As Zak sank back against the wall in relief from escaping the spotlight, Sev stirred, looking more hopeful. "Crewman Sev," Kal said softly. "Do you deny any of this testimony?" Sev squirmed a little, then lifted his chin. "No, my lord." "Have you any justification for your actions?" Kal glanced at Lois, who had completely lost her earlier expression of sympathy. Sev seemed to inspire only animosity. "Well, you see, m'lord, it's like this," Sev began, his body language excessively submissive, even as he attempted to get his own way. "You didn't want any of the locals to know about us ... well, no one back on Earth knows a thing. So I didn't really disobey the *spirit* of the orders. And begging your pardon, my lord, but I saw how you were looking at that singer." He glanced slyly across the room, and Kal followed his glance. Lois was looking frostier than ever, and she shot a cold look his way this time, too. "You kidnapped free individuals," Kal said, ignoring his embarrassment, and trying to bring Sev to a realization of what he'd done. "Deprived them of their liberty -- permanently, if you had your way. This is simply unacceptable." Sev blinked up at him, the picture of innocence. "But, my lord -- they are only women." That produced a babble of outraged protest from the other side of the room, and it took a moment for Kal to get the women to settle down enough to continue. He could understand their feelings, though; he was seething. "Sev--" he began, but stopped when Ching stepped forward. "My lord, if I may speak?" Ching asked. Kal took a deep breath, and decided it would be just as well to give himself time to regain control. "Yes, Lieutenant?" Ching glanced quickly at the women, then moved forward and began speaking rapidly in Kryptonian. "My lord, I do not condone Sev's actions, but I would remind you that the law is rather ... lax on this point. If they had a noble house to speak for them, it would be one thing, but in this case, well ... the law requires no more than a stiff fine." Kal stared at him, unable to believe what he was hearing. In Kryptonian, so Lois wouldn't understand, he hissed back, "In other words, they have no greater status than groceries?" Lois's words from earlier echoed in his head - 'does this happen a lot on your planet?' - and for the first time, he was ashamed of his people. He'd never paid much attention before to what happened at the lowest status rungs of the class ladder, but this was insane. "I am still the captain of this ship, Lieutenant," he finished softly. "And he disobeyed orders, no matter how he maneuvers to deny it." Ching nodded equably, and stepped away. "Indeed, my lord." Kal glanced at Lois, unsurprised to find her glaring at him. Well, perhaps he could make it up to her. "Crewman Sev, I find you guilty. You deliberately and with forethought kidnapped four people. You recruited a subordinate to assist you, subverting his training. You have endangered this mission. You disobeyed Lieutenant Ching's orders. You disobeyed my orders. Most importantly, you disobeyed the Council's orders." He paused to let that fact sink in. For the first time, Sev exhibited fear. "The Council was most specific in not wishing the people of Earth to know of our existence. These four people now know of us, and they will be returning to their planet." Kal took a deep breath. He didn't especially like the conclusion he'd been forced to, but the law was the law. He hoped at least that this would satisfy Lois and the others. "For your crimes, and for the crime of treason, I sentence you to death." **** Lois stifled a gasp as the sentence was pronounced. She was no opponent of the death penalty, but she'd never before seen the process in action, never looked a condemned man in the eye. It was unsettling, to say the least. As a trained officer, however, she understood the seriousness of the charges. Brenda, however, appeared undaunted by such rationalizations. She surged to her feet. "Hey, now wait a minute, here... I'm all for this dude getting what he deserves, but I don't want anybody killed over this." "The death penalty is immoral," Melanie declared, standing in support of her friend. "Not to mention completely uncreative," she added as an afterthought. Ching frowned at them. "Please do not disrupt the proceedings." Kal shook his head. "They're the victims, Ching; they have a right to speak." He regarded Brenda with surprised curiosity. "You disapprove of the death penalty?" "In this case I do," Brenda replied staunchly. "Think about it -- nobody got hurt. I'm not saying I like what he was planning," she shot a glare at the man she was defending, "but he never got the chance to really do anything awful." Brenda looked around her. "Francine, tell me you want this guy to die." Francine considered the matter. "What's the point?" "Deterrence?" Kal suggested, with an air of interest. "Dead men don't harass women, or disobey orders." "Probably not," Francine conceded, "but they can't obey many orders, either. And if we killed every man who ever harassed a woman, it'd be a mighty quiet world." Lois shook her head at that cynical line of reasoning, and drew attention to herself. "Come on, Lois," Brenda challenged. "You tell them!" Lois winced. "Brenda, this was more than kidnapping; he was under orders -- and not just any old orders, either; these came from high up -- or at least I'm assuming that's what this Council is--" she glanced at Kal for clarification. He nodded. "The Council is made up of the heads of all the noble houses, and in the absence of a First Lord of New Krypton, they are the government." "That'd be like me disobeying the President. I'd be lucky if I weren't shot." She stretched the truth with an only slightly guilty conscience, conscious of a need to defend Kal in particular and military discipline in general, "especially if I'd added a few felonies on the side and corrupted a junior officer. The least I'd get would be a dishonorable discharge, most likely with some serious prison time, too. Besides, this isn't our system -- we don't have any right to tell them how to run their courts." "Actually," Kal said, with a look of enlightenment spreading across his face, "you do. Have a right to determine the sentence, that is. It's an old Kryptonian custom, if I'm remembering it correctly --" he glanced at Ching, who nodded. "Once a criminal is found guilty, the victim of a crime, or the victim's nearest male relative, has the option of modifying the punishment. Subject to the approval of the Lord of the Court, but traditionally the modifications are approved. I propose we take a short break. Ching, please escort the crewmen back to their quarters, where they will remain confined until further notice. Ladies, if you could take a few moments to decide which sentence you prefer to impose? I do want him punished, but if you could see your way clear to letting him continue his duties on board for the time being, it would be appreciated. Court dismissed." **** Kal watched the dancers turn towards each other for a low-voiced discussion and allowed himself to relax somewhat. He'd never acted as Lord of the Court before; he'd been trained for it, as every noble was, but the necessity had not arisen before now. At least the case had been straight-forward. Still, it had been a difficult experience. Restless, he decided to stretch his legs a bit. On his way to the door, he glanced at the women and saw Lois watching him. After an endless moment of eye contact, he turned away, resuming his progress towards the hall. Despite the ship's excellent environmental controls, the hallway felt cooler. When Lois appeared, a moment later, he realized he'd subconsciously been expecting her to follow; almost as if they had spoken. She was eyeing him cautiously. "Hey." "Lieutenant," he greeted her gravely. "You don't really have to call me that," she offered. "I mean, if you call me by my title then I should call you by your title, except unless you have a military title that I don't know about, then the only thing you've got going is "my lord" and I've gotta tell you, I'm not about to call *anyone* that." Kal smiled. "Call me Kal. You really shouldn't say "my lord" anyway; on one level it's a courtesy, but on another, it has a specific legal meaning, which doesn't apply to you." "Good." As the conversation progressed, she was relaxing. "Because I really don't have any desire to fit into your social structure." "Are you sure?" he asked, half-teasing. "Because it's not so bad when you come in at the top." She snorted. "I'll bet it's not, but from what I can tell "Lady" of New Krypton isn't the top; that position is reserved for the Lords. And I'm afraid I'm missing some necessary equipment for that." Kal swallowed a laugh, and let his eyes wander just a little. "From what I can see, you're not missing a thing." Lois rolled her eyes, tamping down involuntary amusement. "Sexist creep. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure Brenda and the others aren't stepping on your toes too much -- I know I'd hate to have my authority challenged like that, and ... well, if I were you, I'd be pretty annoyed right now." "No, it's okay." He waved it off. "It's a good thing, really. The law was pretty plain, so it didn't leave me much choice, but..." He glanced at her, taking in the sympathetic look in her eyes, and felt himself opening up more than he'd planned. "I didn't really want to sentence him to die. I mean, all life is precious, and Sev should have the chance to learn from his mistakes." Besides, it would have been exceedingly difficult to get any cooperation out of a condemned man, and they were all stuck together on this ship for as long as it took to find and rescue Lady Zara. "Thanks for backing me up in there-- but it's okay." "Hmm." She eyed him speculatively. "A bunch of women tell you what to do, and you're okay with it. Maybe you're not irretrievable, after all." He felt strangely cheered by this tepid approval. "I have all sorts of potential," he assured her, almost at random. Anything to encourage her to see him in a new light. Before he could expand along those lines, however, Ching came around the corner, his presence putting a damper on any further intimate conversation. Lois straightened, re-assuming her professional demeanor. "Well, let's go see how my friends have decided to punish Sev." She winked at him as they re-entered the room. "They were really getting creative. Before they're done with him, he'll probably be wishing for a nice clean death sentence." **** "And I mean *hand* wash them -- don't be using any high-tech automatic cleaners or anything," Brenda instructed Sev with malicious glee. He nodded dourly, not showing the least bit of appreciation for his reprieve. Of course, now instead of looking forward to a nice peaceful execution, he was obliged to follow all orders that any of the ladies cared to give. And they planned to be very creative in their choices of chores. Sev nodded his head, and mumbled "Yes, m'lady," before bowing his way out of the room, a small clutch of dirty clothing in his arms. "And have them back here first thing in the morning," Lois yelled after him. She looked down at the lightweight sundress she was wearing and exchanged wry looks with her roommate. "Where the heck did he shop for us, anyway -- Wal-Mart?" Brenda, who had snagged a pair of shorts and a tank top, only laughed. "It could have been worse, girlfriend. Imagine if he'd discovered Victoria's Secret -- or worse, Frederick's of Hollywood! We'd have had nothing but lace and feathers to work with." Lois gave an exaggerated shudder. "Don't forget black leather." Brenda laughed again. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, hon." "Well, it'd be better than that chicken outfit, I must admit." They fell into a companionable silence, and Lois felt her mind going back to her earlier conversation with Kal. When she had seen him get up to leave the courtroom, it had occurred to her to worry about how well he was taking the situation. She could well understand that he might be irked to have his authority challenged so openly -- and she imagined it would be especially galling for a man who was used to thinking of women as inferior. She had run into a few men of that type in the US Army; if old Milligan, for instance, had been in Kal's position, he would have proceeded to make their lives miserable in any way he could manage. So she'd watched him, wondering if she should join him in the hallway ... when their eyes had met she felt that she'd received her answer. He hadn't appeared angry, only thoughtful. So she'd slipped away from the dancers gleefully plotting revenge, and met Kal in the hallway. She had been heartened to see how comfortable he was with the notion of leaving Sev's fate in the hands of mere women, but it had seemed safer to maintain a pose of amused indifference. Kal Lewis -- Kal-El of New Krypton -- was the single most attractive man she'd ever known, but it was clear that they had no future. He was domineering, misogynistic ... well, she conceded reluctantly, that was probably a bit strong. He showed signs of being a playboy, but she had no reason to assume that he *hated* women; he merely had some strange notions about their capabilities. In fact, he was probably a decent guy -- within his peculiar cultural parameters. It was just that she knew she would never be able to accept those parameters. There was a soft chime, and Lois swallowed nervously. Which was ridiculous. No doubt this was Melanie or Francine coming to visit. "Come in." There was no reason to think it would be-- The doorway slid back to reveal Kal standing to one side of the entrance, looking appealingly tousled, and Lois felt her heart flip. Oh my, this wasn't going to be easy. **** more next week :) -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 18:42:53 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 4 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Charade: Part 4 by Nan Smith Crescent Island, seen from above, was actually shaped like a rough crescent. It wasn't large, and had been landscaped carefully. Clark Kent, AKA Superman, soared above the island, masked by a thin layer of clouds as he surveyed his destination. Lois and Jimmy would be arriving in a few hours. Chef Raoul was due at Crescent Island's private dock in fifteen minutes. He changed course toward it, leaving the island behind. There was a large, sleek, black motorboat waiting for him at the dock when he strode down the weathered pier ten minutes later, clutching a modest bag and correctly attired in a grey suit. A small, neat mustache and beard adorned his upper lip and chin. The man at the wheel of the boat glanced up at him with a businesslike expression. "Raoul Desrosiers?" "Oui, m'sieu." A frown. "Do you speak English?" Clark nodded. "Yes," he said, in accented English. "I believe it is a requirement of the job." "It is. Put your bag in here and get in. I've got a schedule to keep." Friendly bunch, Clark thought, descending carefully into the craft. The other man didn't glance at him again, but set the boat in motion almost before his passenger was seated. The trip took a little over half an hour and was accomplished in silence. As they neared the island, Clark viewed it from a different perspective than he had received from his overflight a short time before. Veiled in mist from the sea, and with the overcast sky above, the island seemed somehow shadowed. A beach of white sand stretched down to the waterline. Behind it, tall pines formed a solid barrier between it and the rest of the land, except for one place where stone steps led upward to a wide, white path that disappeared into the trees. It became visible again beyond the barrier, where it wound its leisurely way up a low hill toward the big, sprawling house perched at its summit. To the right, the beach dwindled and disappeared, becoming a cliff of bare stone, and with his enhanced vision unimpeded by glasses, Clark could see white birds of some kind flying in and out of holes in the rock, halfway up the escarpment. As the motorboat approached, the silent man at the controls veered to port, and gradually the beach fell behind. Beyond a narrow promontory, a wooden pier stretched out into the water, and it became evident that this was their destination. The pilot cut the motor, and they floated gently up beside it. Without a word, he reached out with a boat hook to snag a wooden ladder that extended down the side and pulled them in close to it. Another man in battered blue jeans and a windbreaker stood waiting, and caught the line that was thrown to him. He cinched it tight around a wooden post, all without a word. Clark's pilot reached out with one hand, grasped the ladder and swarmed onto the pier without glancing at Clark. Clark tossed his bag onto the dock and followed him. He ducked involuntarily as a seagull swooped by close overhead, one foot almost brushing his hair as he stepped onto the weathered boards of the pier. The bird's harsh screech seemed to linger in the air for a long minute as he looked after it, then he stooped and picked up his bag. The sea breeze that brushed his face was heavy with the scent of salt air, and the weathered grey boards underfoot had a gritty feel; salt, he thought. The tiny white grains crunched under his feet like sand. Five or six other motorboats and a single rowboat were moored to the pier, he saw now, bobbing gently in the water, and at some distance, but clear to his better-than-human vision, he could see a boathouse and another dock, much more elaborate than this one. Tied to it were two motorboats that made the one in which he had ridden look shabby, and near the end was moored an elegant yacht with the name "Buccaneer" painted on one side in silver letters. He could see the miniature figures of men in white uniforms moving about on the deck. "Those are for Mr. de Los Rios' guests and family," the pilot said. "Nobody goes there but authorized staff. This pier is for the employees. Understand?" "Of course," Clark murmured. He followed the man in silence up the dock. In a shed that stood nearby, they found a small vehicle similar to a golf cart which took them up a narrow, paved path toward the back of the big house he had seen from the sea. They pulled up into a covered area where he saw that several more of the carts were parked and his driver cut the engine. "We're here," he said. "So, I see." Clark disembarked and reached back into the cart for his bag. "Where do I go now?" "Knock on that door," the other man said, pointing. "The housekeeper will tell you." He turned and walked away without another word. Clark looked curiously after him for a moment, then shrugged and strode toward the door. ********** Lois Lane and James Olsen, alias Kellie Davenport and James Riley, exited the car that had brought them from the airport and stood waiting while the liveried chauffeur retrieved their baggage. Moored at the end of the pier was a large, black craft with an enclosed cabin designed to hold a small convention, Lois thought. Two men, wearing matching outfits, who had been standing near the boat, hurried forward, and one of them took two of the bags from the chauffeur. The other turned respectfully to Jimmy and smiled. "Mr. Riley? I'm Robertson, your pilot. I hope you and Miss Davenport had a comfortable trip?" "It was fine," Jimmy said. "Excellent. Come this way. I'm afraid the weather is clouding up. We're expecting a slight storm this evening, but we're told it should be clear by tomorrow." He ushered them toward the boat and another man standing in the craft reached out a hand to help Lois down a short ladder onto the deck and through the door of the passenger cabin into its elegant interior. Jimmy followed her, glancing around, but he said nothing. The pilot smiled politely. "If you'll take your seats, we'll get underway. You're the last guests. Mr. de Los Rios was afraid the storm would arrive before you did." The man turned quickly and disappeared into the pilot's cabin. Lois both heard and felt the engines start up moments later, and then the rocking motion of the craft increased slightly as they eased forward away from the pier. "Would you like a cocktail?" The man who had taken their bags was speaking. "Umm--no, thank you," Jimmy said. "Kellie?" "No, thanks," Lois said. "How long until we get to the island?" "About half an hour, Miss--if the weather holds." The man glanced at the glass of the cabin's round windows--weren't they supposed to be called port holes or something? Lois wondered abstractedly. Drops of water spattered them, whether spray kicked up by the boat or raindrops she didn't know. "We're getting a little rain, but it shouldn't affect the trip." True to the prediction, they docked thirty-five minutes later. Two men standing on the pier lowered steps to the deck of the boat and gave Lois and then Jimmy a hand onto the dock. They were ushered into a small, motorized cart, and the driver piled their bags into a second conveyance. The trip to the house Lois could see above them in the fading light was up a narrow but smooth, paved road. They drew up in the concrete paved circle in front of the house's main door, and stopped. The door opened, and a man in the uniform of a butler emerged. He nodded at the driver and turned to give Jimmy and Lois a prim and correct little smile. "Miss Davenport and Mr. Riley, welcome to Crescent Island. If you'll just follow Jeffery, he will show you to your rooms." ********** "Well," Lois said, "I've got to admit, the room's nice." "And at least they put us in separate rooms," Jimmy said. "With a connecting bathroom." Lois added, dryly. "I'm going to get changed. That guy said semi-formal, so I'm taking him at his word." She glanced out the window at the scenery, only partly visible in the fading light. The house overlooked the hill and the landscaped gardens. Far to the left, she could see a swimming pool; lights reflected off the surface of the water in little rainbow shimmers. Who in his right mind would swim in this weather, she wondered, but concluded that the water must be heated. Still, it wouldn't be her first choice of recreation in October, on an island off the coast of Maine. Brrr! Over the tall pines, she could see the ocean. The surf was breaking vigorously on the beach, almost ghostly in the dusk, and she could hear the sound faintly through the closed window. The tops of the pine trees were tossing in the brisk wind, and an occasional drop of rain streaked the glass. She made a face. "What's the matter?" Jimmy asked. "I feel like I've been stuck in the middle of some cheesy gothic novel," she said. "I used to read that stuff in high school, and this looks just like I imagined all those old houses in the books to look--the isolated estate with the reclusive owner who's really an axe murderer or something. I sort of expect to go down to dinner and discover that the master's son is actually insane and his wife is plotting to kill the handsome young nephew to keep him from inheriting the family title. Not to mention, there's probably a headless family ghost that walks the halls wailing and wringing its hands and clanking its chain, and scaring visitors for the fun of it." "How can it wail if it doesn't have a head?" Jimmy asked, prosaically. "Well, they always seem to in the novels. Besides, that's not the point." Jimmy snorted. "Do women really read that stuff?" "Companies wouldn't publish them if they didn't sell," Lois said. She made shooing motions. "Scram, now, Jimmy. I need to take a bath and get dressed." "Okay." Jimmy turned toward the bathroom door. "Let me know when you're done so I can get a quick shower." The door had barely closed behind him when there was a brief gust of wind and Clark was standing in the middle of the room, clad in a chef's white garb and a tall, white hat. "Hi." Lois raised her eyebrows. "Well, that didn't take long." She ran a finger lightly across his goatee. "Good disguise." Clark grinned and pulled her into his arms. "But of course, Madame," he purred with what Lois could swear was a genuine Parisian accent. "Mmm, you Frenchmen," she murmured, and then couldn't say any more because her mouth was otherwise very pleasurably occupied. After a long, lingering kiss, Clark let her go. "I missed you," he said. "I missed you, too," she said. "How long have you been here?" "I got in about four hours ago," Clark said. "I have to be back in the kitchen in a minute. I'm making the dessert. You should enjoy it. It's chocolate mousse." "Kellie Davenport is allergic to chocolate," Lois said, glumly. "There's also apple pie a la mode," Clark suggested. "I haven't had a chance to do any snooping yet. I'm told the employees are supposed to stay away from the dock where you came in, but I don't know why. It might just be general policy. Besides, I can't see that any company records are likely to be kept in a boathouse." "You never know," Lois said. "I might be able to look around there. When do we get to meet our host?" "At dinner tonight, I guess. So far, I've only spoken to the head housekeeper and the guy's general manager. According to them, if my work pleases Mrs. de Los Rios, they might hire me on permanently." He grinned. "I understand the salary is quite generous." There was a knock on the adjoining door and Jimmy's voice said, "Kellie? Are you talking to someone?" "Come in, Jimmy," Lois called. The door to the bathroom opened and Jimmy stuck his head through. His jaw dropped for a moment, and then he closed it with a snap. "Great shades of Elvis!" Lois and Clark broke out laughing. Jimmy grinned a little shamefacedly. "Sorry," Lois said. "You sounded just like the Chief. What do you think of him?" "Wow!" Jimmy said. "I'd never have recognized you! How can you see without your glasses?" "Contacts," Lois said. "He doesn't like them, but they're useful sometimes." "Wow," Jimmy said again. "No wonder you guys are such good reporters. You really do anything you need to when you're after a story." Clark grinned. "Thanks, Jim. I have to get back to the kitchen. I just wanted to let you know where my room is, in case you need to find me. It's in the servants' quarters, Room Seven, in the back of the house." "You have your cell phone, don't you?" Jimmy asked. "You could call us--or we could call you if we need you." "They don't work on the island," Clark said. "I already tried. At least, they don't work for us. I distinctly heard the butler using a cellular phone, and it seemed to work fine." "That's a little odd," Lois said. "It sure is," Jimmy said. "I wonder if they have some kind of blocking device." "Which leads me to wonder why they might not want guests to make outside calls," Lois said. "We'll find out," Clark said. "Now, I have to go." He glanced meaningfully at Jimmy, who nodded and quickly pulled the door shut. "Be careful," Lois said. "I will," Clark said. "I'm in a lot less danger than you. Watch your step, okay?" He kissed her quickly and was gone in a swirl of air. ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2001 06:10:24 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: New Story: Yesterday Upon the Stair, part 1 of ? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks, Deb, for the vote of confidence. :) Carol ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 13:34:13 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Plagiarism - Interesting Reading and Useful Sites MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Someone mailed this to me and I thought it made interesting reading, = considering recent events. It also includes urls to a couple of sites = which have programs designed to sentence match and show up incidences of = plagiarism. No idea how effective they are, as I haven't had time to = visit them. Perhaps if anyone tries them they could let us know. :) LabRat :) ONLINE PAPER MILLS MAKE CHEATING EASIER=20 If you copy from one person, it's cheating. If you copy from two or = more,=20 it's research - or so the old saying goes. These days, both are easier = to do=20 but harder to get away with.=20 Students have been lifting information for term papers and reports for = as=20 long as teachers have been making assignments. For many, the advent of = the=20 Internet has seemed like an information free-for-all.=20 Where they once might have resorted to paying someone to write a term = paper,=20 students now find that online resources make it quicker and easier to = locate=20 the particular assignment already written - for a fee, of course.=20 According to the site Plagiarism.org, about 30 percent of all students=20 plagiarize on every term paper turned in. A state-by-state breakdown of=20 cybercheating, based on papers tested through the site's Turnitin.com=20 program, shows Texas as having a significant amount of digital = plagiarism,=20 ranking 7 on a scale of 1 to 12. Kansas and Oklahoma show "very = significant"=20 amounts of cheating. Iowa ranks among the states with the lowest number = of=20 digital plagiarism reports.=20 The site points to online paper mills as perpetrators of plagiarism, = with=20 sites such as SchoolSucks.com offering a digital library of reports for=20 students.=20 Plagiarism.org's most recent research found more than 200 sites that = cater to=20 students looking for shortcuts. Some, such as the Evil House of Cheat, = also=20 provide tips on how to cheat digitally without getting caught.=20 Some sites have proved so popular that they are expanding to overseas=20 markets, offering papers in different languages.=20 Sites such as Plasmodium.com offer "resources for students" and a stern=20 warning about plagiarism, but also provide a large stock of pre-written=20 papers for $15 - more for custom-written papers.=20 As rampant as information swapping appears to be, there are numerous = ways for=20 teachers and parents to track it down.=20 In addition to Plagiarism.org's Turnitin.com, Digital Integrity offers a = tool=20 called FindSame ( www.findsame.com), which performs a similar service,=20 searching the Web for matching sentences.=20 IntegriGuard ( www.integriguard.com) provides free plagiarism checks = through=20 its HowOriginal.com tool.=20 And Glatt Plagiarism Services ( plagiarism.com) produces three programs = to=20 help detect plagiarized works.=20 **** Feeding off others Plagiarists abound in a cut-and-paste environment 05/31/2001 By PAULA FELPS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News Last September, Rosalind Mays was enjoying success as the author of the=20 e-book How You Can Make Money at Home when she learned that her work was = being sold on another Web site - under another writer's name.=20 "Several people who had read my e-book e-mailed me and told me that = someone=20 was selling a book that was exactly like the book I had written and = promoted=20 for the past two years," says Ms. Mays, who lives in the San Francisco = Bay=20 Area.=20 "That version of my e-book was being sold alongside my book at=20 Booklocker.com, as well as at the plagiarizer's Web site."=20 So began Ms. Mays' frustrating attempts to fight the newest form of = piracy:=20 online plagiarism.=20 The Internet has added infinite possibilities for writers, but it also = has=20 launched a platform for headaches and lawsuits, with copyright = violations=20 being committed both innocently and intentionally on Web sites designed = for=20 personal and business use.=20 Most recently, the University of Virginia was rocked by scandal when 122 = students were found to have plagiarized term papers for a physics class. = Physics professor Louis Bloomfield was alerted to the widespread = practice by=20 a student who received a low score on his paper and complained that = other=20 students had received their grades unfairly.=20 After searching the Internet, Dr. Bloomfield discovered about 60 papers = that=20 perfectly matched online term papers and found 62 more that had several=20 phrases that matched online resources.=20 The students, some of whom have already graduated from the university, = now=20 face the possibility of losing their degrees, and undergraduates may be=20 expelled.=20 Angela Adair-Hoy, founder of the Maine-based e-publishing house=20 Booklocker.com and publisher of the weekly newsletter Writers = Weekly.com,=20 says she has seen the scope of plagiarism broaden with the advent of the = Internet.=20 Cases such as Ms. Mays', where an author obviously copies the work of = another=20 and puts his name on it, are extreme and rare. However, less malicious=20 incidents are rampant in cyberspace.=20 "In most cases, it's obvious that people are just ignorant about the = laws=20 involved in using copyrighted information," Ms. Adair-Hoy says.=20 "In that case, you just have to perform a little tough love and educate = them.=20 In those cases, if you write to the Web site and tell them they have 24 = hours=20 to remove the content from their site, most of the time they're going to = comply."=20 For example, WritersWeekly. com, which is distributed via e-mail and = also=20 appears on her site, provides writers with updated paying markets each = week.=20 Ms. Adair-Hoy has a system for checking into each job opportunity and = writes=20 the listings herself.=20 "I've found my material on other [writers'] job markets pages and have = had to=20 tell them to remove that content from their site. There are laws and=20 guidelines all over the Internet about this type of thing," she says. = "Before=20 people put something on their Web site, they should look up the fair use = laws=20 online."=20 Even on eBay=20 Linda A. Thomas' book, How to Make & Market Gel Candles That Sell Like=20 Wildfire!, is a Booklocker.com best seller. But last year, the author=20 discovered photographs from her book on the auction site eBay being used = to=20 promote the pamphlets of another gel candle maker.=20 "Here were pictures that she had taken in her own house being used to = promote=20 someone else's work," Ms. Adair-Hoy says.=20 "There obviously was no question as to where they had gotten them, so = she=20 e-mailed them and told them they could not use those photos."=20 Although outright rip-offs are more frequent in the printed world, = cyberspace=20 has made it easier for plagiarists to cut and paste. Some sites believe = it is=20 acceptable to use someone else's work as long as they credit the author, = and=20 in some instances, that's true.=20 "One woman I know found her work online at an educational site and found = out=20 they could [legally] do that because it was a nonprofit school," Ms.=20 Adair-Hoy says.=20 "So there are instances like that where it's acceptable. Basically, = though,=20 if people are going to use someone else's work, they need to attribute = it to=20 the source. You've got to do your own research and, obviously, don't = steal=20 someone else's book."=20 Big names affected=20 It's not just small companies and authors who are having trouble keeping = track of who's selling - or using - their words.=20 Earlier this year, Random House filed suit against e-publisher Rosetta = Books,=20 claiming the smaller company violated copyrights when it published = electronic=20 versions of several Random House titles.=20 Rosetta Books, meanwhile, maintains that the copyrights belong to the=20 authors, not Random House. The case is currently pending.=20 An even bigger online headache occurred last year when Stephen King's = e-book=20 Riding the Bullet was hacked and posted on several Web sites. That = prompted=20 many e-book publishers to look at encryption and other anti-hacking=20 strategies.=20 "Writers need to be better educated on situations like this and what = they can=20 do to prevent them," says Ms. Mays, who still is having disputes over = the=20 rights to her book with the author who pilfered it. "[They need to know] = what=20 they can do to protect and win their case and alternatives to going to = court=20 - and there are alternatives."=20 In the case of her book, the other author, Cheryline Lawson, originally = said=20 that it was a mistake and that she was unaware of Ms. Mays' book.=20 "[I thought] this must be someone who is new to writing and publishing, = and=20 is not well-versed in copyright laws or the ethics of plagiarism," Ms. = Mays=20 recalls.=20 "I was so sure she would have been just plain embarrassed and apologetic = and=20 humiliated. I was worried that I had humiliated this person, and I = didn't=20 want to do something like that, not to someone who made a mistake and = just=20 didn't know what she was doing."=20 But when Ms. Mays' publishing company produced receipts indicating Ms. = Lawson=20 had purchased the plagiarized book, Ms. Mays went from sympathetic to = angry.=20 "I then knew she had done this on purpose," she says. "I no longer felt = that=20 I was humiliating someone. I felt like a victim."=20 Ms. Lawson did not respond to requests for an interview.=20 Although the Internet makes it easier to swipe someone else's work, it = also=20 makes retaliation easier and swifter.=20 In the case of the pilfered e-book, Ms. Mays reacted by sending out = notices=20 to people who had bought the plagiarized version and sites that sold the = book=20 and explained the situation in the Writers Weekly.com newsletter. Other = sites=20 stopped selling Ms. Lawson's version of the book, and some readers sent=20 e-mail to Ms. Lawson expressing their disapproval and disappointment.=20 Ms. Mays says she is not the first person to have her words lifted from=20 cyberspace nor will she be the last. The new media will continue raising = new=20 questions about plagiarism and copyrights, while at the same time making = plagiarism easier to commit - but also easier to detect.=20 Students caught=20 That is evidenced in the University of Virginia case, where Dr. = Bloomfield=20 was able to go online and find examples of plagiarism simply by typing = in a=20 few phrases.=20 Today, there are a number of Web sites designed to help teachers catch=20 cybercheaters, and many of them also can be accessed by the public.=20 For example, Plagiarism.org is a Web site originally designed so that = college=20 professors could enter questionable portions of students' term papers = into=20 the system, which then would search the Internet for matching phrases or = sentences.=20 Ms. Adair-Hoy says she has used the site to find her own articles being = used=20 online without her permission, and Ms. Mays believes that more = technology=20 will be developed to protect writers against plagiarism.=20 "I'm sure we'll see lots of cases," Ms. Mays says.=20 "Wherever money or profit is involved, there will always be disputes. = Since=20 we are venturing into a new realm, new mistakes will be made. As with = any new=20 commodity, one must find the boundaries, and the laws must be laid = down."=20 Paula Felps is a free-lance writer from Lewisville.=20 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 15:43:56 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Hey, FoLCs! Long time no post. :) Since I have gone into lurkdom so often of late, I will briefly recap the purpose behind these reviews: I became a FoLC some two years before I saw my first ep. In fact, I wrote six fics before I saw my first ep. Thanks to a *very* kind FoLC out there, I am now getting my first opportunity to see some of the original eps. Since I'm seeing them now for the first time, it's interesting to see the twist that my pre-expectations have put on my reactions to the episodes. "Tempus, Anyone?" was of particular interest, since I've written two stories based on it. I was very, very excited to see it, and I was looking forward to reviewing it. How ironic that I am so disappointed in the episode that inspired me to rewrite it -- twice! Don't get me wrong: the storyline is still marvelous. But execution wasn't what I expected. The alt-world is fascinating, and the introduction of the concept is delightful (think of all the alt-world Kerth winning stories we've had!), but the visual presentation was less than it could have been. It seems that the inspiration came more from the storyline than anything else. I am reminded of a comment Tank once made; he observed that I might have found it harder to write CPOV if I'd actually seen the actress who played Lana in action. He was right! Let me put it this way: "Honey, what happened to your hair?" "Herb, who writes your dialogue? You sound like the Prisoner of Zenda!" Two quotes with which I agree entirely. Somehow, I don't think that's what the ep's writers intended. ;) As with TOGOM, I don't think there's any point in recapping the storyline; I imagine I can safely assume that we all know it. So I will just touch on those points that interested me most from my admittedly exceedingly strange certain point of view. ;) Be warned that I will be comparing the ep to my own rewrites -- not because of any egoistical opinion that mine was better, but because the rewrites were essentially the way I envisioned the ep actually was. (Does that make sense? Um. Probably not.) THE COLOR OF THAT OUTFIT. ARGH! What color *was* Lois' suit? In some scenes, it was obviously powder blue; in others, it was just as obviously white. The teaser had it switching from blue to white with every step she took. No wonder I got so many conflicting replies when I asked about it! Carol referred to Lois as "The Woman in White" in her marvelous Connections; I think I had her outfit as white in Mirror and powder blue in CPOV. But my goodness, was it just the lighting from the soundstage, or were there several alternate Loises mugging for the camera? :) LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER. Why is she such a wimp in this ep? She meekly does what Tempus wants in the beginning, relying only on Superman to get her out of it. Where's the famous Lane ire and fire? Why doesn't she kick the gun out of his hand, or even try? Why doesn't she twist his arm behind his back or something? Why does she even walk into the alley in the first place? And that's only in the teaser! Okay, okay, maybe I'm sensitive to this because of the way I rewrote that scene in Mirror; but I rewrote it to reflect *Lois* as I understood the character. This meekness continues throughout the ep. She accepts Wells' patronizing attitude, closing her eyes at his command when he might concievably be just as much a baddie as Tempus; she follows Wells' lead instead of coming up with any theories of her own, despite his admission that he's just as much in the dark as she is; when confronted with Perry's questions (she *is* a hard-hitting reporter, isn't she? Since when can't she handle questions?), she relies on Wells to talk their way out of it. (I will readily confess that the "Herbie, take me to the Planet" line was much funnier in reality than it was on the quotes pages. OTOH, he asserts that it's the first thing she said to him when she came out of her coma, so how would she know his name?) In the scene with Tempus and his thugs (that of the "Prisoner of Zenda" line), I will concede that maybe there wasn't much else to do but go quietly; they were pretty much surrounded. OTOH, they were also *stupid*. They know this Metropolis is darker and grimmer, yet they don't seem wary of little minor details like cars tailing them or approaching them. Why didn't they back away instead of gawping? Okay, next scene with Clark: Lois finally shows a bit of backbone. Pity it's only to bully alt-Clark, isn't it? :) (Uh oh, Lana of CPOV is poking at my keyboard! ) It was fun, though -- a *lot* of fun -- to watch the scene with LnC flying. (Those of you who have read Mirror will remember that I conveniently skipped it. ) Please educate this innocent, though: Is there *really* a song with those lyrics, or did someone write that exclusively for the show? I was LOL at the "I can do anything." Either way, they did fit marvelously. And I loved Clark's panic before the cop tells him it's a "cool" name. :) Showdown with Lana: prolly *the* most disappointing scene for me. Lana's not angry, she's pouty; Lois postures; and Clark just kinda hovers in the background and wrings his hands, until he takes the cue from Lois to fold his arms instead. *Ugh*. [Can't the actress playing Lana come up with something other to do than put her hands on her hips? And the blond hair! Whoa, where did that come from? It felt sooo wrong. Then again, LnC canon does portray Clark as having a weakness for blondes. :)] But since this section is the "Lois is a wimp" section, I will simply retiterate that Lois, to me, was not being forceful at all. It came across more as a symbolical hair-pulling session than a determination to give Superman to the world. In that same scene, we have Lois being embarrasingly bamboozled by Tempus. The script, IIRC, has a henchman calling, not Tempus himself. The voice was sooo obviously fake, and she didn't seem even the slightest bit suspicious? The worst scene, from the "Lois is a wimp" POV, was the showdown one at the television station. Lois didn't do *anything*. She didn't argue, she didn't struggle, she just stood there, protested once or twice, then dropped to her knees to apologize. Again, the fire and verve was missing. I quite frankly don't understand why alt-Clark was inspired by her, because she was a very pale version of her regular marvelous self. And final frustrating "Lois as wimp" scene: Not just Lois, but Clark. "Our" Clark. He's convinced she's dead, but what do they do when they meet? No kiss (can you believe *I'm* complaining about that? ) or hug or any close physical contact -- just "Hey, Clark, let's invite Lana to the wedding." Okay, one very perfunctory kiss, but no emotion behind it, and not immediately. That was just plain *stupid*. *That* was the first thing on Lois' mind on her return? Lana? She couldn't kiss him until after that, and then back to normal routine? Bleah! WELLS. Okay, you all knew I was going to have a field day with this one. :) For those of you tuning in late (later than me, I mean, which is *really* something ), let me make it clear up front: I despise the character of H.G. Wells. I have nothing against the *real* H.G. Wells, mind you -- the one that died quite peacefully some decades back, I mean -- but I cannot stand the Wells of LnC. Mind you, he's much worse in Tempus Fugitive. I'm going to have to review *that* one in the near future. :) Am I correct in assuming, BTW, that the "seventeen years older" explanation is a copout for using two different actors? The man is ponderous, bumbling, ridiculously unprepared for jaunting through time yet smugly convinced that he can do so. He serves as a foil and straight man for Tempus, true. But does the contrast have to be *so* obvious? All he's good for is exposition, and any writer will tell you that narrators are boring. Why did they go tracking the flux whatever when they supposedly needed super help? If they recognized the need for Clark, why risk going alone? No surprise they met Tempus, is it? And speaking of needing superhelp... "It doesn't matter. We don't belong here and the only way we're getting back is with super help." -- Well. If I'd heard this line and seen Lois' face, maybe I *would* have been able to write CPOV after all. What an *incredibly* callous attitude. It seems that it's only the reflected Soulmates thingy that pulled Lois through this ep, and frankly, I don't think she deserved it. You see the same callousness when she looks at the pic of Lana and Clark (she *doesn't* turn it over, wah! I loved that idea), says, "I've gotta get out of here," and then proceeds to turn Clark into Superman. Over his wishes, really. Mind you, it's what he wants, even if he doesn't know it; but who died and made her in charge? She's pulling a Wells here. Hm, maybe that's why I added it to this section. :) Little irritants: Lana's name. I always thought of it as "Lah-na," with a soft a like Clark, not a-as-in-apple. Somehow, the way it's pronounced makes her seem even worse. Are we supposed to believe that Herb was strapped into that chair the *entire* night? Didn't he get bathroom breaks? :) (Yes, I know, this should prolly fall under the same category as the cells in DToSC.) It might just be my copy, but the action fuzzed a bit during the drive-by shooting. We see Lois duck away; we see Clark dart away; but are we supposed to see him use his heat vision on the tires? Because I didn't. :( If our only knowledge of that action is from Lana's chiding, than I'm even *more* disappointed. I thought Lois deserved every bit of the slap-in-the-face re "I'm Lana Lang, Mr. Kent's fiancee." Come on, woman, you *saw* the tombstone, you've *just* been told that you disappeared in the Congo -- and you *still* expect Clark to expect a kiss from you? Another mark in the Lois-as-an-idiot column. Way too many of them in this ep. :( Tempus can build a multi-dimensional transport, but he can't get a color television? :) I find it annoying that they'd stuck Lois on a ledge, tied her hands, handcuffed her... and considerately looped her pocketbook over her neck and shoulder like that. I would've liked to see her have to apply for a new driver's license and credit cards when she got back to the Metropolis. I know, expecting realism is too much... Lois almost kissing alt-Clark. Ooookay, when I was working on Mirror, Sheila and I discussed the idea of Lois' bad habit of making goo-goo eyes at anyone who saved her, even if it wasn't "her" Clark. There's Lex in RfaS, and now alt-Clark. There's sposed to be this real connection between LnC; why is she almost kissing alt-Clark? It doesn't cheapen alt-Clark, but it sure does cheapen Lois. What Lois tells Clark was not actually what Tempus said to her on the phone. Is this typical of television? One thing I noticed on my second viewing: Lois and Lana both walk around carrying wedding folders. Hmmmm. ;p Things I liked: (yes they did exist ) "Let me get this straight. You're Superman, and your high school girlfriend can push you around?" You have to understand that when I read this on quote pages, I always assumed this was Lois talking to ALT-Clark. To discover that she was actually talking to "our" Clark was hysterically funny. The sirens in the background when Lois first finds herself in the cemetery. Much more evocative than Tempus' snigger. In fact, I noticed sirens in the background of almost every scene in alt-Metropolis, and I thought it was a great touch. Perry's glasses. Don't ask me why, but I loved him in those glasses. It fit alt-Perry perfectly somehow. I was less enamored of Jimmy's hairstyle, but I *did* very much enjoy having Lois witness him as a take-charge, capable guy. Mind you, she doesn't seem to think any better of her own Jimmy, does she? The more eps I see, the more I think of Jimmy as a verrry unappreciated character. Maybe my ep elf could get me AKAS next. :) :) I really, really liked "James Olsen." The flying scene, as I mentioned earlier. Loved Clark's initial hesitation -- the way he gawked more than Lois did as they flew, and then the way she had to nudge him forward to face the baddie. Looking at Lois -- "Hey, I did it! Neat!" Then backing away from the cop - "Ah, we'll just be going now..." Delicious. Of course, he was a little *too* good at catching the bullets and destroying the gun, but... ah well. :) Tempus. Oh, my, he is a *fun* character! That little ficlet that's been simmering in my brain regarding the twisting of Utopia just turned up the burner a notch... you never know. :) Seriously, the actor has a marvelous range of facial expressions and does a *superb* deadpan delivery. No wonder he's such a popular character in fics! "Oh, boy. I wish I'd taken Lamaze." ROTFL!! *Why* isn't this line on any quotes page out there? :) I *loved* Clark's face when he repeated, "Secret identity." It reeked of, "Okay, this woman just fell off a building, but do I have to humor her *that* much?" Actually, I loved alt-Clark altogether. Dean Cain did an excellent job of giving us a less-confident Clark. "Lana said I shouldn't blame myself." Again, I think I got an impression other than what the writers intended. In the context - their facial expressions and the discussion - it seems that Clark is very naturally seguing from the anguish of his parents' death to the comfort he had from Lana. But we're not supposed to be sympathetic, are we? :) I'm not sure why, but I liked that anyway. "I knew it, I looked stupid." Awww. What a great scene. This was one bit where the visual really *did* match up to my expectations. All right, all right, I admit it. Wells did have one good line -- his final one to Clark. Doesn't make up for the rest of it, though. ;) And I would have preferred Lois to give him the "giving hope to your world" line -- she really just left him hanging, and alt-Clark deserved better than that. Sorry, this is a bit disorderly. Much like my feelings on the episode. I admit I'm disappointed, but I'm still delighted that I finally got a chance to *see* the ep. And no, I have no plans to rewrite it a third time at the moment. :) :) Next up... Um, Ordinary People, I think. As soon as I get a chance to see it. :) Hazel ____ "To me, the eps are merely fanfics that are *exactly* in canon." ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 15:42:56 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey guys :) Hazel, your reviews of the episodes keep being fascinating. :) It's been some time since I actually saw TA, but reading your review made me reflect on the episode and see things that I'd never noticed before - I'm gonna have to rewatch this one soon. :) > LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER. Why is she such a wimp in this ep? She meekly does > what Tempus wants in the beginning, relying only on Superman to get her out > of it. Where's the famous Lane ire and fire? Why doesn't she kick the gun > out of his hand, or even try? Why doesn't she twist his arm behind his back > or something? Why does she even walk into the alley in the first place? And > that's only in the teaser! Okay, okay, maybe I'm sensitive to this because > of the way I rewrote that scene in Mirror; but I rewrote it to reflect > *Lois* as I understood the character. You have a point here; it's not like Lois to follow someone in an alley and obey to their orders, even if the someone in question is holding a gun. However, maybe she was still in a state of shock after Tempus's little private joke with the glasses. I mean, she must have realised that this man, whoever he was, *did* know about Clark's secret identity, and maybe thought it might be best to do as she was told rather than risk her fiance's secret. But yes, I could have seen some more struggle on her part, or at least some venom. > This meekness continues throughout the ep. She accepts Wells' patronizing > attitude, closing her eyes at his command when he might concievably be just > as much a baddie as Tempus; she follows Wells' lead instead of coming up > with any theories of her own, despite his admission that he's just as much > in the dark as she is; when confronted with Perry's questions (she *is* a > hard-hitting reporter, isn't she? Since when can't she handle questions?), > she relies on Wells to talk their way out of it. Here it's just my humble opinion, but I think she was so confused by the whole situation that her reporter's habits were the farthest thing from her mind. I mean, she'd just been dumped in front of her tombstone, in a Metropolis that sort of looked like the one she knew, but was very different and much gloomier at the same time, and Clark hadn't recognised her (and he'd even looked completely floored and not very willing when she kissed him). So I guess that must have destabilised her. She was more like the Lois we know in the conference room scene, where she confronts Clark with his powers. > It was fun, though -- a *lot* of fun -- to watch the > scene with LnC flying. (Those of you who have read Mirror will remember > that I conveniently skipped it. ) Please educate this innocent, though: > Is there *really* a song with those lyrics, or did someone write that > exclusively for the show? I was LOL at the "I can do anything." Either way, > they did fit marvelously. The song really does exist, yes, and it wasn't written for the show. It's called 'Superman', and it's performed by REM (available on their CD 'Life's Rich Pageant' or the compilation of songs called 'Singles Collected', btw). I'm not sure that REM *wrote* that song - actually, I think it's another band that would be the real author, but I couldn't tell you which one. However, REM's version (which is the one we hear in the show) got released in the mid 1980s, so Lois & Clark didn't have anything to do with it. Lack of time unfortunately prevents me from commenting on the rest of your review, Hazel, but it's very interesting to read your view on the show as you see it; it brings a new perspective into light, and it often points out things that I hadn't thought about. :) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr "The trouble with life is there's no background music." - anon. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 08:01:47 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: lcfic Subject: Message Board Index Update through June 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi FoLCs! Zoom's old boards officially closed this week. Lots of activity to see it out with a bang! Quite a few new stories, a group series, lots of new story parts, and a completed story! Links at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7378/lnc.html New stories this week: AFTERMATH: AERM1 ALIEN GIFT: BETHY FEAR OF DISCOVERY IV: YVONNE CONNELL MAKE A WISH CHALLENGE SERIES OF STORY ENDINGS VARIOUS T&W CHALLENGE NO. 8: GETTING EVEN: WENDY RICHARDS & TANK WILSON YESTERDAY, UPON THE STAIR: CAROL MALO New part(s) posted: CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING CLARK, THE: CAROLM CHARADE: NAN SMITH GREEN CARD: WENDY RICHARDS HAND THAT ROCKS, THE: PINTOFOLC HEARTS DIVIDED: PAM JERNIGAN IMBALANCE: PHIL ATCLIFFE AND WENDY RICHARDS JUST LIKE CLARK: KESHANDRA PERSISTANCE OF MEMORY, THE: ZOOMWAY QUESTION OF TRUST, A: RACONTEUR27 SURVIVAL OF THE SIGNIFICANT: MANOFSTEEL30 UNIVERSAL UNION: JENNI DEBBAGE Completed stories this week: PENFRIEND, THE: THE EARLY YEARS: JOY SOWELL New TOC's none Added to the Archive this week: Popular Demand by Christy Landrum Sex, Truth and Revelation by Adam Labotka Enjoy! Dawn & the Index Crew __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 11:33:33 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gerry Anklewicz Subject: Re: Plagiarism - Interesting Reading and Useful Sites Comments: To: labrat@blueyonder.co.uk In-Reply-To: <005a01c0ec29$7f0dd0c0$897f1f3e@land> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Thanks for posting the plagiarism material. We've been plagued at school by students from grade 9 and up who are plagiarizing. We've found some inventive ways and some punitive ways to get around the problem. Assignments will definitely not be the same as they have been in the past. The search addy's that the article provided will be of great help. Also, an awareness of the problem helps those of us who write on the internet and read as well. Once again, thanks for keeping us posted. Gerry ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 17:42:32 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hazel wrote: > Let me put it this way: > > "Honey, what happened to your hair?" [LOL. During a recent discussion on this one on irc it came up more or less 50/50 between those who thought Lois' hair was great in this episode and those who loathed it. I have to admit that it has always spoiled this episode for me. I think she looks dreadful throughout, it's too severe for her face, and in this particular scene with Perry I always think Teri looks washed out and ill. Mind you, she was supposed to have just woken up from a lengthy coma, so I guess it fit. ] > > LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER. Why is she such a wimp in this ep? She meekly does > what Tempus wants in the beginning, relying only on Superman to get her out > of it. Where's the famous Lane ire and fire? Why doesn't she kick the gun > out of his hand, or even try? [You ought to have seen it on the BBC! Thanks to a directive handed down from on high which outlawed any weapons being shown on screen we never even got to see the *gun*. I didn't even know there *was* a gun until I saw the episode some months later on SKY. I spent all that time wondering why on earth Lois went so meekly with Tempus when he didn't seem to be much of a threat. On SKY things became much more clear. Though, after reading this review, not by much. ;)] > > Am I correct in assuming, BTW, that the "seventeen years older" explanation > is a copout for using two different actors? [I would imagine so.] > > "Lana said I shouldn't blame myself." Again, I think I got an impression > other than what the writers intended. In the context - their facial > expressions and the discussion - it seems that Clark is very naturally > seguing from the anguish of his parents' death to the comfort he had from > Lana. But we're not supposed to be sympathetic, are we? :) I'm not sure > why, but I liked that anyway. [I know it's just my peverse mind but during this scene I always expect Clark to break down yelling, "You're right! OMG, I let my parents die!" since Lois takes Lana's attempt to convince Clark that he couldn't have saved them with 'one man can't make a difference' and twists it completely around to the opposite pov to convince him that he can. Sure, her meaning isn't the same, but bit of a body blow for Clark all the same you would have thought. ;)] > LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 10:35:57 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 5/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Charade: Part 5 by Nan Smith There were four other couples waiting in the lounge, none of them older than thirty-five. Lois automatically identified them from the pictures Jimmy had given her. Gerald Brown was accompanied by his wife. He was, according to the bio Lois had read, the founder of Northstar Chemicals, a small, but growing company. June Hampton, who had brought her new husband, was the owner and CEO of Practicality, a business journal for the working woman. Horace Blumenthal had founded a small, but locally successful electronics supply chain, and was considering expanding his business nationally. He and his fiancee were due to be married next year. Finally, there was Andrew Filberg, accompanied by his partner, a young man with a studious air. Filberg was the owner of Westwind Horizons, a growing bioengineering firm. The only thing any of them had in common, as far as Lois could tell, was that they were all owners of small, but successful businesses, just as James Riley was. There was the possibility, of course, that the interest in them displayed by the owner of Caribbean Imports was perfectly legitimate, but Lois was willing to bet her pension that it wasn't. The company was having cocktails when Lois and Jimmy arrived, and they found themselves being scrutinized by the entire group. A tall, well-dressed woman whom Lois didn't recognize came forward to greet them. "Mr. Riley and Miss Davenport? I'm Mr. de Los Rios' social director. Let me introduce you to everyone here..." The woman proceeded to make introductions, and a young man appeared from nowhere, to offer them a tray of drinks. Lois immediately picked up a small glass, with no intention of drinking any of it. She didn't want anything to cloud her attention to detail this evening. Jimmy hesitated a moment, than chose a glass of what looked like Scotch. Lois saw Mrs. Brown eyeing her curiously and smiled at her. She was well aware that most of them would guess what she was supposed to be in short order, if they hadn't already, but that was all to the good. "James Riley?" It was Blumenthal. The man was tall and dark-haired, with the shoulders of a football player and a wide, infectious grin. "Harry Blumenthal." He thrust out a hand. "I'm glad to meet you." "Call me Jim," Jimmy said, shaking his hand. "This is Kellie." "Glad to meet you, Kellie." Harry clearly knew what her position was, but he only smiled. "I hear you're the founder of Futurevision?" At Jimmy's nod, he continued, "I've always been interested in the possibility of online business opportunities. I was wondering if you had any advice for someone in my line of business for expanding onto the Internet--" Within two minutes, the conversation had drifted completely away from any English Lois knew. She stood surveying the room, although what she might be looking for she didn't know. People stood about in small groups, talking. Behind them, a tall mirror reflected the room, and she studied herself in it. With her blond hair and completely different makeup style, she really looked like another person, which, of course, had been the intent. That, coupled with the report of her death, should make it unlikely anyone would recognize her, even someone she knew, unless they looked quite closely. Jimmy, too, looked more mature with his new haircut and clothing. Someone who knew the Planet's young photographer would have to look closely to see him in the poised, young businessman. The kid was growing up, Lois realized all at once. Her youthful friend had become a man right before her eyes and she hadn't even noticed. The social director had left the room for some minutes, but now she returned to stand in the doorway. "Ladies and gentlemen, shall we go in to dinner?" Jimmy gave Lois his arm and the two followed in the tail end of the party as they entered the dining room. A man was standing near the head of the table, smiling a greeting to his guests, as they appeared one by one. Lois glanced curiously at the mysterious head of Caribbean Imports. The man seemed somehow familiar. Then recognition struck like a bolt of lightning, and she felt slightly dizzy. A lot of things were suddenly explained, and she moved forward with Jimmy, careful not to do anything to draw the man's attention. How it might be she had no idea, but Alejandro de Los Rios was a dead ringer for Lex Luthor. ********** Lois paced restlessly in her room. She had slipped away at the conclusion of dinner, as soon as the opportunity presented itself to do so in an unobtrusive way. She didn't think she had been recognized. She had watched de Los Rios, or whatever his name was, but let Jimmy carry the brunt of the conversation at dinner while she smiled and nodded a lot. In the beginning, when she had first known Lex Luthor, and even during that horrible time just prior to her disastrous near-wedding to him, his acquaintance with Jimmy had been just that: an acquaintance and not a very important one, at that. Jimmy had changed a good deal since then. He'd put on nearly another inch in height, his shoulders had broadened and he had acquired an air of self-confidence that had been absent a few years earlier. Coupled with his new haircut, the hated perm and hair color, Lois was pretty sure he wouldn't be recognized unless someone was actively looking for him. It was possible that Lex, in the impossible circumstance that it was actually Lex, might not recognize her either, unless he got up close, but she wasn't willing to risk it. He had known her a lot better than he'd known Jimmy. But it couldn't be. Lex Luthor was *dead*. Clark had seen him crushed in that cave-in. He had retrieved Lex's lifeless body himself, identified it and been there when it was cremated. He was as sure as anyone could be that their old Nemesis was gone for good, and she trusted his judgement. Lex Luthor was like his company. You thought it was gone and it turned up somewhere else, but even Lex couldn't rise from the dead...at least, not again, not after that. Once was enough for any man. So, who was Alejandro de Los Rios? If he had been the head of Caribbean Imports all along, it couldn't be Lex...could it? Could it possibly be the Luthor clone? The last she had heard of him, he'd been sitting in prison, facing twenty-to-life. If he'd gotten out, surely she would have known. Besides, up until a little over a year ago, the clone had been in stasis or whatever it was Dr. Klein called it. De Los Rios, according to his very sketchy biography, had been the owner of Caribbean Imports for ten years. So, it wasn't the clone. Could it be another son of Lex's? She considered that possibility and finally rejected it. This man had his every mannerism, and Lois knew them well. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn the man was Lex. His hairstyle was different, his tightly curling locks tamed with a short, modern cut, which was why it had taken her a second look to realize what she was seeing, but in all other ways he was Lex Luthor. Only, Lex Luthor was dead. She repeated the phrase in her mind like a mantra--or a prayer. Lex Luthor was dead and he couldn't harm Clark or her ever again. Her thoughts churned in circles, but in the end, she was no closer to a solution than before. Whatever the answer to this puzzle might be, she didn't have it--at least, not yet. Nothing she came up with seemed to make sense, but there had to be some kind of explanation, somewhere. They just had to find it. And where was Mrs. de Los Rios? Clark had said they'd told him that if Mrs. de Los Rios was pleased with his work they might want to hire him on a permanent basis, so there was a wife somewhere--unless she was this man's mother or something. And, of course, there was always the possibility the woman didn't exist. At this point, Lois was willing to believe just about anything. The situation was weird, no matter how you looked at it, but one thing remained unchanged. Caribbean Imports was connected with far too many kinds of criminal activity for it to be a coincidence--including three attempts to kill Clark and her. Come to think of it, that was completely consistent with LexCorp, as it had been, except for the last. Lex wouldn't have tried to kill her. So, where did this line of reasoning leave her? Back at the beginning, she admitted ruefully. It just meant that their instincts had been right. There was something very odd going on here on Crescent Island. ********** By the time Jimmy returned to their rooms, Lois was as close to climbing the walls as she had ever come. She wouldn't be able to contact Clark while he was still on duty in the kitchen, and snooping around while the staff was still so active seemed unwise, especially since her excuse for leaving early--in case anyone asked Jimmy about her--was that she had developed a migraine as a result of the weather. When she heard him enter his room, she hurried through the connecting bathroom and knocked on his door. He must have been expecting her, for he opened it almost at once. "Come on in." She did so, closing the door quickly behind her. He looked at her in a little concern. "Lois, are you okay?" "Of course I'm okay!" She paused and took a deep breath, trying to force her voice under control. "Sorry, Jimmy. I'm a little upset." "I don't blame you." Jimmy pulled off his tie. "Lois, that couldn't actually *be* Luthor, could it?" "I don't see how," Lois said, trying to sound certain. "But he came back before." "Yeah, but Superman saw him die, Jimmy. He was *cremated*! There was nothing left to regenerate!" "Yeah. It does seem pretty unlikely, and if it were anyone but Luthor, I'd be certain. Does CK know?" "Not yet." Lois started to pace again and reminded herself to relax. It just couldn't be Luthor. It was a physical impossibility. "I'd like to know what he thinks about it." Jimmy sat down on his bed and ran a hand through his hair exactly like Clark did when he was worried about something. "Lois, did it occur to you that it might be another clone?" It hadn't, which told her how upset she'd really been. She shook her head. "How could someone have produced another one?" Jimmy began to unfasten his jacket. "Well, maybe Luthor did it, for some reason." He got up slowly and went over to the closet to hang up the item. "Look, I'm reaching here, okay? He made the Lois clone--or his people did--and the one of himself, and the two he was going to shift both of you into, and the baby clone of Superman that the other Luthor clone thought was CJ, and that no one ever found. Why couldn't he have made a spare?" Lois found herself staring at her younger colleague in astonishment. "Wow, you get almost as complicated as I sometimes do when I talk. You might be right. But de Los Rios has been the head of Caribbean Imports for ten years. How could he take the guy's place and not get caught?" "Maybe that's why he never leaves the island," Jimmy hazarded. "And, that there aren't any pictures of him that I could find. If none of the company's old employees ever see him--" Lois frowned thoughtfully. "Well, if he's a clone of Lex, with Lex's memories, he'd be smart enough to do it, so I guess something like that could have happened. If it did, we're going to have to prove it--and that the company is up to its collective neck in crime!" "Just like LexCorp," Jimmy said. "Yeah," Lois said. "Just like LexCorp." Her eyes widened. "Oh, God, that's what he's trying to do!" "What?" "He's trying to bring back LexCorp--or something just like it." They stared at each other in horror for several seconds, then Jimmy said, "Remember, this is all just a guess, Lois." "Yeah, it is," Lois agreed. "I hope we're wrong." "So do I," Jimmy said. He grinned slightly. "I guess none of us are very rational where Luthor is concerned." "There's a reason for that," Lois pointed out, dryly. She took a deep breath. "You know, I feel a little better--now that I know there might be a rational explanation for all this. The thought that he might have come back from the dead again--not that I really believed it--kind of makes my skin crawl." "Yeah, but now we have to figure out what did happen," Jimmy said. "I'll do whatever you tell me to, Lois. I don't want to see LexCorp come back--or Luthor, either--any more than you do. The guy was a monster, no matter how great he seemed on the outside." "You don't have to tell me that, Jimmy," Lois said. "Did you know that while I was walking down the aisle, he had Superman trapped in his wine cellar, in a cage with Kryptonite-coated bars?" "He *did*?" "He sure did. He told Clark and me about it later--that was why he couldn't save Lex when he dived off Lex Tower." Jimmy shook his head. "Man! I'm just glad Superman got away." "So am I." She jumped when someone knocked discreetly on Jimmy's door. "Who is it?" Jimmy called. "Rogan, sir. I'm led to understand Miss Davenport retired early. Is everything all right?" Jimmy gestured Lois back into the bathroom, waited until she was out of sight and opened the door. "Oh, hello, Rogan. Yes, she's all right. She has a headache and is lying down. This kind of weather always gives her one." "Very good, sir. If anyone can be of help, please let us know." "Thank you," Jimmy said. "I will." "Good night, sir." "Good night." Lois heard the door close and poked her head out of the bathroom. Jimmy glanced at her and put a finger to his lips. Lois nodded. After a long moment, Jimmy relaxed. "He's gone." "Who's Rogan?" Lois asked. "The butler." "Oh. Well, I better get back to my room and get changed. I hope I can find Clark, later. He needs to know about this development." Jimmy looked at her oddly. "You're not going down there." "That all depends on whether he comes up here or not. I hope he does. I don't really want to go looking for him." ********** Clark returned to his room in the servants' quarters and changed out of his chef's gear. He hadn't had a chance to look around the island yet, but he planned to do that as soon as things quieted down a little, which might be awhile. Until then, he put on a pair of casual, dark slacks and a dark shirt, and made sure his mustache and goatee were still secure. A check of the weather through the window told him that it was still windy and cloudy, with a light sprinkle falling, but there was no rule of which he was aware that said he couldn't take a stroll in the rain if he felt like it. He slipped on a light, water-repellant coat and pulled on a dark cap. Anyone who saw him outside might be surprised, but there was no reason he shouldn't take a look around. On his way toward the servants' exit, he encountered one of the groundskeepers on his way to his quarters. The man glanced at his clothing without surprise. "Going outside?" "I thought I would take a short stroll before I go to bed," Clark said. He didn't have to think about his French accent; as long as he was in the persona of Raoul Desrosiers, he would stay in Raoul's character, which included an accent. "I need a little fresh air after an evening in the kitchen." "Don't go too far," the man warned him. "It's easy to get lost in the dark around here." "I will take care," Clark promised him. "Thank you for your concern." The man nodded and went on down the hallway. Clark continued toward the exit. Outside, in the rear of the mansion--it couldn't really be called anything else, Clark thought--floodlights illuminated the immediate grounds, and the faint haze of the falling mist blurred the harsh brilliance of the lamps. Clark strolled casually across the lighted area, hands in the pockets of his coat, clearly making no attempt to avoid being seen. He paused squarely in the center of the lighted area and looked back at the house for a moment, then continued at a leisurely pace until he had left the lighted area behind. Even then, he didn't abandon his open, unhurried attitude. He was already aware that things were not as they seemed on this island. It was quite possible that there might be other methods of monitoring his progress of which he was unaware, at least so far, and so he sauntered down the driveway, still with his hands in his pockets, glancing around with an air of interest. It was very dark here in the open. Above, clouds covered the sky and the mist continued to drift downward, neither intensifying nor decreasing. Clark stayed on the driveway, but moved steadily away from the house. Finally he stopped and stood still. The noise made by the other occupants of the house was far enough away now that he was able to tune his hearing to more distant sounds and he slowly became aware of something. So unobtrusive that it had been masked by the chatter and activities of those in the mansion, and only barely audible over the sounds of the wind and surf, was a vibration. Too faint to be called a sound, it scraped softly on the edge of his awareness. He strained even his super-hearing trying to locate the source, but he couldn't pinpoint it. It was as if it came from all directions at once, a steady, very, very faint, muffled hum. It wasn't the house's generator. He'd been aware of that since he'd arrived this afternoon. This was something else, and his curiosity was aroused. He pivoted slowly, trying to tell if there was a direction in which it was slightly stronger, but even for him it was impossible to be sure. The normal sounds of the island almost entirely drowned it out. He was listening so hard that he almost missed the sounds of approaching footsteps in time not to seem startled when a dark shape rounded the turn of the driveway. A flashlight came on, and after a moment of erratic searching, came to rest on him. A male voice said, "Mr. Desrosiers?" "Oui," Clark said. "You really shouldn't be out here at this time of night." The voice belonged to a man wearing a raincoat with "Security" emblazoned on the left breast. "If you were to get hurt, Mr. de Los Rios would consider it our fault. Will you please go back to the house?" The sentence was phrased like a polite request, but Clark could hear the command underlying the courteous words. He nodded. "I needed fresh air after all evening in the kitchen," he said, calmly. "I was just about to return." "Good," the other man said. "I'll come with you, to be sure you make it all right." "There is no need," Clark replied, "but you are welcome to--how do you Americans say it?--'come along' if you wish." Unhurriedly, he turned around and started uphill toward the mansion, all its windows alight and welcoming in the darkness. How deceptive that might be, he thought to himself. They certainly didn't want people walking about unsupervised around here. After things got a little more settled for the evening, he intended to go see Lois. Now that they had both seen a little of the lay of the land, they needed to make a few plans. ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 14:29:36 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cindy Leuch Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hazel - thanks for posting these reviews. They're really great - it's so nice to see the episode through a set of fresh eyes. To comment on a few of your points: LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER: This was something I always had a problem with in this ep, tho it wasn't necessarily the points you mentioned (tho, subconsciously, I'm sure it did enter into it). One part that seriously bugged me was at the very beginning, when she acted completely jealous when Clark mentioned that he had invited Lana to the wedding. I don't think I recall any other ep with Lois showing jealousy, and it seemes so unwarranted. The kiss of Clark in Planet also made me shake my head. You've seen difinite proof that there IS no Lois in this world, that he's never even met her, but still you go up to him and act like everything is OK. To quote Tempus, "Hello! Duh!" LOIS'S CLOTHES/HAIR: I think this is a third season thing in general. Yes that outfit/hair was bad in this ep, but what about that bright orange dress with the white "laces" where the sleeves meet the body she wears not once but twice that season. Ugh. THE SONG: I love that "I Am Superman" song. I remember hearing it a LONG time before it was used in the ep, and I wondered when it was going to show up in the series. ETC: I agree with you that Alt-Clark was done well in this episode. Tho certain things might be out of charachter (and the tension between Lana and Lois seems a little...contrived to me), alt-Clark's initial run as Superman, and the ending part of the alt-universe make it worthwhile. Thanks again for doing this review. I can't wait to see your next one! -Cindy Leuch isuleuch@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 23:32:17 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? In-Reply-To: <004201c0ec33$480135e0$3d19fac1@oemcomputer> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Helene and Cindy, I'm glad you're enjoying these reviews. :) Helene wrote: > > LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER. Why is she such a wimp in this ep? >You have a point here; it's not like Lois to follow someone in an alley and >obey to their orders, even if the someone in question is holding a gun. >However, maybe she was still in a state of shock after Tempus's little >private joke with the glasses. I mean, she must have realised that this man, >whoever he was, *did* know about Clark's secret identity, and maybe thought >it might be best to do as she was told rather than risk her fiance's secret. >But yes, I could have seen some more struggle on her part, or at least some >venom. Y'know, Helene, that's an excellent point. I agree with it -- in principle. ;) But that doesn't explain her calmly sitting there in her comfy armchair on the machine while Tempus is paying more attention to manipulating dials than his gun hand. > > This meekness continues throughout the ep. > >Here it's just my humble opinion, but I think she was so confused by the >whole situation that her reporter's habits were the farthest thing from her >mind. I mean, she'd just been dumped in front of her tombstone, in a >Metropolis that sort of looked like the one she knew, but was very different >and much gloomier at the same time, and Clark hadn't recognised her (and >he'd even looked completely floored and not very willing when she kissed >him). So I guess that must have destabilised her. She was more like the Lois >we know in the conference room scene, where she confronts Clark with his >powers. Well. Taking your second point first :) I will point out that the things I complained about (following Wells' lead, stammering in her confrontation with Perry) came *before* she met Clark. And while I conede that she might have been shaken by the tombstone et al, I will also point out something Sheila (I think) mentioned when I was writing Mirror: this ep takes place shortly (immediately?) after Virtually Destroyed. Lois is well-adjusted to the concept of warped realities, and she's used to the bizarre. This isn't any less wacky than many other situations she's encountered. She says it herself: "I'm getting married next week. Why is this always happening to me?" I do agree about her being more herself in the conference room scene, but I already complained about the Wells-like manipulation tendencies there. :) Cindy wrote: >>>One part that seriously bugged me was at the very beginning, when she acted completely jealous when Clark mentioned that he had invited Lana to the wedding. I don't think I recall any other ep with Lois showing jealousy, and it seemes so unwarranted.>>>> An interesting observation, Cindy; except that Clark seems to find it almost -- well -- normal. The claw line (pfft pfft pfft!) also translated much better on screen than on a quotes page, and Lois' cheerful "Meow" makes it seem a typical exchange between the two of them. Of course, that might just be the writers of this particular ep; but as I understand it, Cindy, Lois *does* quite often exhibit jealousy of other women's attention to Clark. To name just a few: Cat, Mayson, Toni Taylor, Linda King... :) Regarding my quote of Perry's "What happened to your hair?" Labrat wrote: [I have to admit that it has always spoiled this episode for me. I think she looks dreadful throughout, it's too severe for her face, and in this particular scene with Perry I always think Teri looks washed out and ill. Mind you, she was supposed to have just woken up from a lengthy coma, so I guess it fit. ] LOL at the coma bit. :) Well, we all know Tank likes Lois in short hair, since he always manages to have her cut it in fics. ;) I admit I don't care for the short hair version either; then again, the really long hair makes her look too young and a bit unprofessional. I liked the short bob of S1 best, I think. On the same note, Cindy wrote: >>>Yes that outfit/hair was bad in this ep, but what about that bright orange dress with the white "laces" where the sleeves meet the body she wears not once but twice that season. Ugh.<<< Um. No idea what you're talking about, frankly. :) Could you enlighten me as to which eps she wore this outfit in, and does anyone have screen caps to show me? I remarked on the kindness of Lana's assertion to Clark that he shouldn't blame himself for his parents' deaths, and Labrat added: [I know it's just my peverse mind but during this scene I always expect Clark to break down yelling, "You're right! OMG, I let my parents die!" since Lois takes Lana's attempt to convince Clark that he couldn't have saved them with 'one man can't make a difference' and twists it completely around to the opposite pov to convince him that he can. Sure, her meaning isn't the same, but bit of a body blow for Clark all the same you would have thought. ;)] What a very frightening twist, Rat. It fits into my Lois-as-callous-manipulator complaint quite neatly, doesn't it? Maybe CPOV wasn't that far off after all...? ;p Thanks to the three of you for your response. :) Hazel ____ "To me, the eps are merely fanfics that are *exactly* in canon." ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 18:26:18 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laurie Dunn Subject: Re: Charade: Part 5/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nan, this is great, and up to the quality we've come to expect of you. I'm loving seeing Lois and Clark in a totally new environment, investigating. Your characters are true. Your A plot is complex and leaves me wanting ... more please. LaurieD ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 00:24:37 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hazel, I enjoyed the review, but this gave me pause: > Lana's name. I always thought of it as "Lah-na," with a soft a like Clark, > not a-as-in-apple. Somehow, the way it's pronounced makes her seem even worse. After repeating the two out loud several times (and thank goodness I'm alone ), I detect no difference in my 'a's. This reminds me of learning shorthand (which operates phonetically, in case people didn't know) - there were supposed to be three different 'a' sounds, but we in my Scottish college of further education could only distinguish two ;) Too bad the shorthand system we were learning was designed by a Sassenach . Yvonne (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 20:05:24 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Charade: Part 5/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/03/2001 6:26:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time, DUNNFOUR@AOL.COM writes: << Your A plot is complex and leaves me wanting ... >> What I'd expect from Nan. But what i NEED is the rest of the story before I read it! I'm getting impatient for the rest of all the unfinished stories that are being posted to this list! --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:06:26 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit -----Original Message----- From: Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic [mailto:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU] On Behalf Of Cindy Leuch Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 5:30 AM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? Hazel - thanks for posting these reviews. They're really great - it's so nice to see the episode through a set of fresh eyes. To comment on a few of your points: LOIS OUT OF CHARACTER: This was something I always had a problem with in this ep, tho it wasn't necessarily the points you mentioned (tho, subconsciously, I'm sure it did enter into it). One part that seriously bugged me was at the very beginning, when she acted completely jealous when Clark mentioned that he had invited Lana to the wedding. I don't think I recall any other ep with Lois showing jealousy, and it seemes so unwarranted. The kiss of Clark in Planet also made me shake my head. You've seen difinite proof that there IS no Lois in this world, that he's never even met her, but still you go up to him and act like everything is OK. To quote Tempus, "Hello! Duh!" I always got the impression, in this scene, that Lois somehow assumed that *her* Clark had followed her here to this alt-universe, and that this was why she kissed him. LOIS'S CLOTHES/HAIR: I think this is a third season thing in general. Yes that outfit/hair was bad in this ep, but what about that bright orange dress with the white "laces" where the sleeves meet the body she wears not once but twice that season. Ugh. Hey! I happen to like that orange suit! (I was thinking of making one like it at one stage!) (Don't I remember reading somewhere that Teri liked it too, which is why it appeared twice on the show, unlike many of Lois' clothes?) Thanks again for doing this review. I can't wait to see your next one! Ditto! Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (8) and Megan (5) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 09:49:59 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: OT - JTF Sponsoring Dean MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Everyone, I know that this doesn't have anything to do with fanfiction, but I want to be able to reach all of Dean's fans. A month ago I sent an announcement about collecting money to donate to The Joe Torry Foundation in a effort to Sponsor Dean Cain at the their Celebrity Baseball Game being held in St. Louis on July 14, 2001. I want to thank anyone on this list who has donated to this worthy cause and to say that we are still trying to reach our goal of $2,000. Unfortunately, we are only about half way there and we only have about a week yet to go in order to make the deadline for publication of an Ad in the Pogram Book. The Ad will mention that Dean is being sponsored by his on-line fans. I also have some news. I was told that Dean has given a verbal OK to attending the game, provided work doesn't interfere, but he has not completely confirmed. Of course, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, because with Dean you never know. If you want to donate to sponsor Dean please email me at melrayJTF@aol.com and let me know how much you will be sending so that I can count it in the total and then send the check to the address below. If you want to know more about this whole thing my original announcement follows: ATTENTION ALL DEAN CAIN FANS: I am starting a campaign to raise money from Dean's on-line fans to donate to the Joe Torry Foundation in Dean's name and to sponsor Dean at the 4th Annual Celebrity Basketball Game. My goal is to raise at least $2,000. With this donation, Dean's on-line fans would be a Diamond Host Patron Sponsor and we would get a 1/8 page ad in the Program Book. However, I will need to raise the $2,000 before June 10, in order to get the ad in before it is printed. If anyone has any ideas for this ad let me know. The basketball game is scheduled for July 14th in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Savvis Center (formerly the Kiel Center). Dean has been invited. If anyone is planning on going to St. Louis for the game, please let me know. For those of you not familiar with the JTF: The Joe Torry "Giving Back the Love" Foundation is a spiritually based, non-profit, charitable organization in St. Louis founded in 1996, whose mission is to assist individuals from all walks of life. Dedicated to assisting needy families, organizations and youths; their focus is to enhance the educational, emotional, cultural and social needs of community, reflecting sound belief systems and values based on a belief in God's principles... "and the greatest of these is love". 1 Corinthians 13:13 The Foundation is the result of Joe Torry's vision of giving back to the community that supported him since his departure for Los Angeles more than 10 years ago. It is a vision he embraced the moment he was in a position to make a difference. Joe's commitment to providing stimulating and healthy programs that encourages young children of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area is directly addressed through the foundation. Please see their wedsite at www.joetorryfoundation.com for more information. For those of you that don't know me personally, I am the lady that, two years ago, arranged for 50+ of Dean's fans to come to St. Louis and also helped in arranging and conducting a meeting with Dean and his fans. You can see pictures from this event by following favorite links from the TCC website (www.thecainconnection.com). I am not planning to do anything like that this year, I want only to do something to help Joe's efforts in helping the kids. I really like what Joe is doing and how he is doing it, and I want to be a part of it. Since I don't live in St. Louis and can't volunteer on committees for the foundation, raising money for the foundation is one way I can help. So, if you are a fan of Dean's and want to help sponsor him at this basketball game, and, thereby, be helping a very worthy cause, I know that Dean would appreciate it very much. I will see that Dean receives a listing of everyone who donates money and that everyone receives a thank you note from me. If Dean does happen to participate in the game, and I get some good pictures, I will pick the best one and send a copy of it to everyone who donates $10.00 or more. All donations must be in US dollars. All checks must be paid to the order of: THE JOE TORRY FOUNDATION. I have set up a special email box for correspondence for this campaign. Please contact me privately at melrayJTF@aol.com Send donations to: The Joe Torry Foundation PO Box 10966 St. Louis, MO 63135 Thank you. Melody Raymond AKA melraymond/MRlovesDC/Addalia ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 06:52:01 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Re: Charade: Part 5/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Laurie Dunn wrote: > Nan, this is great, and up to the quality we've come to expect of you. I'm > loving seeing Lois and Clark in a totally new environment, investigating. > Your characters are true. Your A plot is complex and leaves me wanting ... > more please. > > LaurieD << Your A plot is complex and leaves me wanting ... >> What I'd expect from Nan. But what i NEED is the rest of the story before I read it! I'm getting impatient for the rest of all the unfinished stories that are being posted to this list! --Laurie Thank you, Laurie. It gets more complicated before it starts to straighten out. I'm posting every two days, so you don't have too long to wait for the next one. Nan ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 08:13:31 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Vicki Krell Subject: Re: An Early Edition / L&C Crossover MIME-version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I'm so excited!! Early Edition was one of my other favorite shows!! Vicki (who will now ignore the work on her desk to read this story...) -----Original Message----- From: Erin Klingler [mailto:erink@IDA.NET] Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 5:13 PM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: An Early Edition / L&C Crossover Norman wrote: > Found an Early Edition -L&C Crossover on the web. > > "In Strange Visitor from Chicago" > Gary Hobson gets a copy of tomorrow's Daily Planet where Clark Kent is exposed > as Superman and goes to Metropolis to..... > > http://hobsonmetcalf87.homestead.com/ Hey! What a great sounding premise!! Is the author anyone we know? I'll have to go check it out! Thanks for the heads-up, Norman. :) Erin (hoping to get her own latest fanfic finished this weekend :)) __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 12:01:35 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Searching for a story Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Alright, I give up. I've been trying to find a certain conversation which I remember reading and I'm beginning to think I made it up and have just finally lost my mind! * * * Warning!! Spoiler alert for anyone who has not yet read the whole "Firestorm" series by Irene Dutchak: * * * OK, in one of Irene's "Starfire and Sunstorm" stories, I distinctly remember reading a conversation between Jon and Vicky. They are walking along the street, I think at nighttime, looking into storefront windows. They come to a bookstore and see Vicky's first book on display, and this is when Vicky hits Jon with the bombshell that SHE is Vicky El. They go on to reminisce about the public's reaction to Jon and Sam's super-persona's first appearances, etc, etc. I have searched through the series of stories and can't find this conversation anywhere!!! So, have I really lost my mind or does it exist - and if so, WHERE??? Can someone help me, please? Terry ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 12:04:57 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Anita Hook Subject: Re: Searching for a story In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Terry, I think the story you're looking for is Starfire and Sunstorm. It was at the end of that story that Vicky and Jon had a conversation while they were walking back to her apartment. That whole series of stories are among my favorites:) Hope this helps. Regards Anita At 12:01 PM 6/4/01 -0400, you wrote: >Alright, I give up. I've been trying to find a certain conversation >which I remember reading and I'm beginning to think I made it up and >have just finally lost my mind! > >* >* >* >Warning!! Spoiler alert for anyone who has not yet read the whole >"Firestorm" series by Irene Dutchak: >* >* >* > > >OK, in one of Irene's "Starfire and Sunstorm" stories, I distinctly >remember reading a conversation between Jon and Vicky. They are >walking along the street, I think at nighttime, looking into >storefront windows. They come to a bookstore and see Vicky's first >book on display, and this is when Vicky hits Jon with the bombshell >that SHE is Vicky El. They go on to reminisce about the public's >reaction to Jon and Sam's super-persona's first appearances, etc, etc. > >I have searched through the series of stories and can't find this >conversation anywhere!!! So, have I really lost my mind or does it >exist - and if so, WHERE??? > >Can someone help me, please? >Terry > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:21:05 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Re: Searching for a story In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.20010604120457.007a4260@earthlink.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Hi Terry, > >I think the story you're looking for is Starfire and Sunstorm. It was at >the end of that story that Vicky and Jon had a conversation while they were >walking back to her apartment. That whole series of stories are among my >favorites:) > >Hope this helps. > >Regards >Anita > Thanks, Anita. I thought I'd checked that and decided that this part of the story ended with the kids still too young to have careers yet - but I'm going to go back to it and check again right now! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:37:46 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Question for fic: divorce Looking for some help here, and counting on FoLCs for your usual breadth of knowledge: Does a divorce have to be obtained in the same state where the couple married? And if so, does California have no-fault divorce? Thanks! Wendy --------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:43:48 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Searching for a story Terry, that conversation takes place at the beginning of Solar Eclipse, Jon's story. Jon and Vicky are being followed by FBI agents at the time, including one Larissa Lewis. ;) Wendy ---------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 12:51:44 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Bain Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Wendy said: >Does a divorce have to be obtained in the same state where the couple >married? No. I'm sure someone else will confirm (or deny!) this, but I think the divorce has to be obtained in the state of residence (IOW, where you live =now=). The trick to the old Nevada quickie divorces was that Nevada had a really short time period that you had to live there before you were a "resident", so people would go there and stay for a month or six weeks or whatever it was, get their divorce, and go home! Most states don't have the extremely long waiting periods or stringent requirements any more, so most people just get divorced where they live! >And if so, does California have no-fault divorce? I think so, but I'm not a Californian or a divorce expert. Didn't someone give a divorce laws link a few weeks ago when Alexis was asking divorce questions? Becky rbain@qwest.net "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any proof of." - Rosa Parks, from her autobiography Stride Toward Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 15:32:09 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/4/01 2:38:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK writes: > Does a divorce have to be obtained in the same state where the couple > married? > No ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 15:48:12 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Terry S. Horowit" Subject: Re: Searching for a story In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Terry, that conversation takes place at the beginning of Solar Eclipse, >Jon's story. Jon and Vicky are being followed by FBI agents at the time, >including one Larissa Lewis. ;) > > >Wendy Actually, Wendy, the conversation takes place at the very end of Starfire and Sunstorm (thank you again, Anita, for pointing me in the right direction!). I also thought the conversation was early in Solar Eclipse, and kept skimming through the story trying to find it there... I thought I was going nuts!! Terry ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 15:11:33 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce Thanks, Becky and Kate, for your prompt answers to my questions. That's a great help. Wendy -------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:32:40 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit No, it can be whatever state you're living in. California has no fault divorce, but the last I heard, it takes about a year to complete the process. Of course, that may have changed. Does anyone know? Nan Wendy Richards wrote: > Looking for some help here, and counting on FoLCs for your usual breadth of > knowledge: > > Does a divorce have to be obtained in the same state where the couple > married? > > And if so, does California have no-fault divorce? > > Thanks! > > Wendy > --------- > Wendy Richards > wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:58:58 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Not sure if anyone's reading this, but I'm keeping a promise I made to post this story here, so I'm soldiering on... ;) Previously on FoDIV: --------------------- "Sexy?" Her hand began smoothing over his warm skin. "Very." "Good." She gave his chest a brief pat and straightened up abruptly. "Then let's get this mess cleared up and go to bed," she said, replacing her seductive tone with a pragmatic one. "I'm tired, and so are you." "Lois?" He was frowning at her warily. "It's OK, I think I've forgiven you, as long as you never do it again." "I hope I never do." "Come on, then - you tidy, and I'll lock up the house." ********** Now read on... ********** The Other Universe Clark flew over the dark countryside, looking for the landmarks which would tell him he was nearly there. Lois was silent in his arms, their conversation having withered soon after leaving the lights of Metropolis behind. He had told her he was stopping the madness, but that was all. He hadn't felt like saying any more. A familiar shape loomed out of the darkness, and he began to descend. In front of the farmhouse, he lowered Lois to the ground. "What are we doing here?" she asked, at last breaking the long silence between them. "Escaping." He saw her frown in the darkness and peer at the building before her. "Is this your parents' farmhouse?" "Yes. Come on." He reached down, clasped her hand in hers, and led her inside. To his regret, the house felt chilly and unwelcoming, and the stark central light he switched on did little to enhance its appearance. "It's not how I pictured it," she commented, hugging herself and looking around the cold living room. Clark glanced around quickly, noticing how it must look to a stranger. He and CK had cleaned it up a lot when they were last here together, but to Lois it had to look rather stark and spartan. "It'll be better once we've got a fire going," he said. She rubbed her arms vigorously against the cold. "But why are we here at all? What's wrong with your apartment - your *warm* apartment?" she added pointedly. He crossed to the fireplace and began building the fire. Everything he needed was still there from his last visit. "The place was swarming with reporters when we flew over it earlier," he said over his shoulder. "Here, at least, we get some peace and quiet." He switched into superspeed to finish the job, and soon had a small fire burning in the grate. Lois came over and held her hands out to warm them. He straightened up and slid an arm around her shoulders. "I just want us to have space, Lois. It was getting hard to breathe back in Metropolis," he told her softly. She was silent, watching the fire as it grew and blossomed into a healthy roar. He watched it with her, mesmerised by the dancing flames and crackle of burning wood. He felt curiously numb; the result of too many emotions crammed into too short a period of time, perhaps. "OK," she said eventually. "That sounds good." He turned to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, glad when she hugged him closely in return. This had been one of the worst days in his life, and he knew she felt the same. Talk would come later, but for now all he wanted was to be held by her. A long time later, they separated and went about the prosaic task of making up a bed upstairs. They searched out towels and toilet things, and finally, after Clark had warmed up the bed with a burst of heat vision, they crawled under the covers and drifted off into sleep. ******** Our Metropolis Lois sat curled up on the sofa, watching TV footage of Clark doing his best to deal with an oil tanker spillage off the coast of Alaska. It wasn't an easy task even for a superhero to accomplish, because even though he'd sealed the breach in the oil tanks, there was still a lot of escaped oil floating on the surface of the sea. He was scooping it up with an old hulk of a ship he'd found and was pouring it back into the tanker, but it was slow work, and he was running out of time. Every minute longer he took, the nearer the oil slick drifted to the Alaskan shore. In the midst of her intent viewing, the doorbell rang. She unfolded herself reluctantly from the sofa and crossed to the door, keeping one eye on the TV screen. He was just going back to scoop up some more oil when she tore her eyes away and opened the door. "Oh, no," she said with a sinking heart. "What now?" The small, dapper man before her doffed his hat to her. "So sorry to disturb you, Lois. May I come in?" She sighed and stood aside to let him in. "Our home is yours," she answered sardonically. Shutting the door quickly, she hurried back to the TV, ignoring her guest. Clark was scooping again. She narrowed her eyes and tried to catch a glimpse of his face. He was probably concentrating too hard on the task at hand to show anything other than intelligent determination, but she still preferred to see his expression if possible. "What a dreadful mess," commented H G Wells, coming to stand beside her in front of the TV. "I hope Clark manages to clear it up." Her lip curled cynically. "You mean you don't know if he does?" "Lois," he said in his cultivated English accent, "I may be a time-traveller, but I haven't visited every single moment in time from here to eternity. Many things are still as much a mystery to me as they are to you." "Like why most of the good things in life aren't good for your health?" "Well, that, too, I suppose." The TV coverage was interrupted for a commercial break. Lois turned to Wells. "So are you going to tell my why you're here, or is this just a social call?" Wells smiled apologetically. "It's always nice to see you, Lois, of course." "I hear a 'but' coming," said Lois dryly. "I'm here to ask for your help - yours and Clark's, as a matter of fact." He glanced behind them at sofa. "May I sit down?" "Sure...sit, make yourself at home, why don't you?" answered Lois heavily, waving her arms expansively at the sofa. "Can I offer you a drink as well, perhaps?" Wells sat gingerly on the edge of the sofa. "Lois, I can understand why you're not especially pleased to see me, but I assure you that I wouldn't ask your help unless I thought it was very important." Lois rolled her eyes. "Yes, but what you think is important may not be what I or Clark think is important." He grimaced. "You have a point. However, will you allow me to make my case, and then you can decide for yourself?" She looked back at the TV. The commercials were just finishing and the news program was starting again. The announcer conducted a brief interview with an environmental expert about the potential impact if the oil slick reached the Alaskan shore. The expert also offered his opinion on Superman's efforts to clean up the slick, which he said were well-intentioned, but misguided. Lois bristled immediately. "How does he know? He's not there; Clark is." The expert said that the correct approach was to drench the area in detergent, to disperse the slick. Trying to skim the oil off the water would only result in a proliferation of smaller slicks which would be even harder to control. "Perhaps they should try both," commented Wells. "Exactly," agreed Lois. "Someone should be sending up vessels to spray the slick while Clark does his work. But no - instead, they just sit back and let him handle the whole thing, and then snipe from the sidelines. Sometimes I think the authorities use him as an excuse not to get involved. That way they can't be criticised for going about the clean-up operation the wrong way." The announcer wrapped up the interview and said they'd return to the situation at the end of the program. Lois picked up the remote control and pressed the mute button. "And when Clark finishes the job, all he'll get is a quick handshake and a thank you," she added acerbically. "Not that he'd ever want any more than that, but it makes it too easy for them." "Yes, I suppose it does," agreed Wells politely, running his fingers around the rim of his hat absently. She looked at him, and realised she hadn't answered his question. "So what is it that you want from him?" she asked pointedly. Wells looked uncomfortable. "Perhaps this was a bad idea. This doesn't seem like an appropriate time for me to barge in asking for favours." She shook her head impatiently, irritated by his apologetic manner. "Now that you're here you may as well tell me why. Is it to do with Clark2?" "Yes," replied Wells in a relieved voice, obviously glad to have been given an easy opening. "I think he needs your help." He then embarked on a longish tale, recounting what he knew of Clark2's life since Clark had left him. The very good news was that he had at last found his universe's Lois Lane, but the bad news was that until very recently, she had been suffering from amnesia following her accident in the Congo. Lois couldn't believe her ears when Wells told her the identity the other Lois had assumed. "Wanda Detroit?! You're kidding!" Lois wondered bemusedly if there were Lois Lanes in multiple universes, all going through a period of amnesia where they believed themselves to be a femme fatale from their own novel. It seemed, however, that Clark2's Lois Lane had had a different experience to her own. Wells didn't have very much detail, but was able to tell her that the amnesia appeared to have lasted a lot longer than her own, and with dire consequences. Somehow, she had ended up in that universe's Lex Luthor's clutches, as a nightclub singer. The prospect of ending up as Lex Luthor's woman made Lois's skin crawl. She'd spent a long time dealing with the fact of her near-marriage to Luthor, so hearing of another version of herself who had lived that particular nightmare was unsettling. However, Wells assured her that Lois had escaped from Luthor and was now living with Clark2. "So what's the problem?" asked Lois. "Sounds like he's finally got what he wanted." The problem, Wells told her, was that he and Lois had recently appeared on a TV current affairs programme and accused Lex Luthor of trying to murder both of them. Lois was shocked, but not altogether surprised. In a world where everyone knew that Clark was Superman, it made sense that Luthor would attempt murder; after all, he had done the same in her own universe, and knowing Superman's identity would just make the job easier. She was surprised by their tactics, however. "Why go public - surely they weren't fishing for a confession? Luthor would never fall for that." "I'm afraid I don't know the reason why," replied Wells. "What I can tell you, however, is that shortly after the end of the TV show, I saw Clark fly Lois past his apartment, heading in the unmistakable direction of Smallville, Kansas." She frowned. "And...?" "I rather suspect Clark is...how shall I put this?" He paused. "Opting out, I think. Much as he did when his second girlfriend, Mayson, was murdered." "What makes you think that? Maybe he's just showing Lois where he grew up." "Would your Clark do that just after he'd made an accusation such as this on TV? Or would he stay to follow through the investigation?" "Stay, I guess. But is that it? That's your basis for thinking he's doing a runner again?" "I suppose I also have a strong feeling - you would call it a hunch, I believe - that I'm right. I don't think life has treated Clark too well since your husband left." Lois shook her head sadly. "Life never seems to treat him very well." The list of misfortunes just seemed to get longer and longer; his parents died when he was ten, leaving him to bounce around a series of foster homes. Later, his first girlfriend, Lana, left him when he went public with his alien identity and began work as Superman. His anonimity disappeared, he became a celebrity overnight, but then just when things were at last beginning to settle down, his second girlfriend was murdered in a car-bomb attack. His boss, Clark told her, had meanwhile been harrassing him because he was an alien, and in the end, the strain of all that, plus his rescue work as Superman, had taken his toll and he had cracked. He had bolted to the farmhouse in Smallville, and Clark had later found him in the attic, hunched over his mother's old wedding gown, just a hair's breadth away from a complete breakdown. Remembering all this, Lois reflected that perhaps Wells was correct. Clark2 was not a stable person; not like her own Clark. He had deep-seated insecurities, and a strong tendency to bottle things up until they reached boiling point. She had managed to get him to open up to her a little when he'd visited this universe, and she knew Clark had done the same, but without their input, she suspected he would revert to well-trod methods of coping. He wasn't a quitter, but when faced an emotional crisis and no outlet for it, his reaction would be to shut down; to pretend it wasn't happening. "So you want us to go over there and talk him out of it?" she asked. "I doubt he'll want us there telling him what to do." "You're probably right. But perhaps you can help him consider his options more carefully." She frowned; Wells seemed to have a completely blinkered approach to problem solving at times. "If he doesn't want to be Superman, there's no way I or Clark can persuade him otherwise. You may have to just accept that in that particular universe, there will be no Utopia." "Ah, but you see, that's just it - I've visited Utopia in that universe, so I know that he does choose the right path eventually." "How do you know that's not due to his descendents, and not him? Maybe one of his great-grandchildren decided to become a superhero and found the moral code you say Utopia is built on - or maybe it's someone not related to Clark2 at all." Wells shook his head. "I've seen his statue." She was about to answer him when she noticed the news coverage had returned to Clark. She picked up the remote and thumbed the mute button. "We've just heard that the slick has been cleared up and Superman is towing the stricken tanker to safety," said the announcer. There was a brief shot of Clark pulling the tanker to the nearest port. The news programme finished, and Lois put the TV on standby. "He'll be home soon," she remarked. She wasn't too sure how he'd react to Wells's invitation, and she wasn't looking forward to discussing the subject of Clark2 with him again. They'd pretty much patched things up between them since the day he'd come back, but it was still a sensitive topic. On a personal level, and leaving aside Wells' misguided infatuation with Superman and Utopia, she was very tempted by his offer to take them over for a visit. She was curious to meet this other Lois Lane, and it would be nice to see her and Clark2 together at last. He had been such a lonely soul when she had spoken to him last. Perhaps she and Clark2 could lay some old ghosts to rest at the same time. "Might I ask if I've managed to convince at least you, Lois, to come over and talk to Clark2?" asked Wells. "You can ask, but you won't get an answer," she said dryly. "This is something Clark and I need to discuss together." "Ah. Fair enough." Wells subsided into nervous silence, still perched on the edge of the sofa and fiddling with his hat. Lois found herself irritated again, especially when he started making little clicking noises. "Relax, can't you?" she said. "How about some tea? We've got normal, Earl Grey, Oolong, and some weird fruit stuff that Clark's Mom likes." "Earl Grey, I think. Thank you." She made a quick exit to the kitchen, grateful to be out of his presence for a while. Hopefully, Clark would be home soon to share the job of dealing with the hyperactive Wells. ********** The Other Universe Lois chopped a few more baby plum tomatoes in half, chucked them in the bowl with the others, and carried the tray through to the lounge. "Lunch is served," she announced. Clark looked up from the photo album he'd been flicking through and smiled. "See? I told you you could cook." She dumped the tray on the coffee table in front of him and joined him on the sofa. "If cooking means slicing a loaf and chopping a few tomatoes, then yes, I can cook." He popped half a tomato in his mouth. "Mmmm - I love these. They're so sweet." Lois began assembling an open sandwich from the ingredients on the tray, glancing at the photo album on his knees. "When do I get to see the embarrassing baby photos?" He flicked her a sideways look. "Would you believe me if I said there aren't any?" "Nope. Here - give." She yanked the book off his knees before he could stop her and turned back a few pages. A complete double page spread of baby pictures opened up: baby Clark with a shock of dark brown hair lying swathed in white blankets, baby Clark crying while being washed in the bathtub, baby Clark with a big stupid grin in a baby bouncer, and many more. As she had expected, he had been an incredibly cute baby. She put a hand on his back. "Want me to burp you when you've finished your lunch?" He laughed. "I think not." She looked back at the photos with a small sigh. They'd been carrying on this superficial banter since getting up this morning, and it was beginning to get her down. Oh, it had been very nice to wake up in a sunny bedroom, with only the sound of birdsong and Clark whistling tunelessly to himself downstairs. The peaceful surroundings had soon banished the ghosts of the previous evening, and she had got up with a surprisingly light heart. It had been even nicer to share the breakfast he'd flown in from various parts of the world, and the walk they had taken around the farm afterwards had been fun, with Clark showing her where he used to play as a kid. But they hadn't said a word about the TV show yesterday, or the fight with Lex afterwards. Clark seemed to be pretending it hadn't happened. She closed the photo book and put it aside. "Clark, can we talk?" He gave her a wide-eyed, open look. "Sure." "No, I mean *really* talk. About yesterday - about what we're going to do when we go back." His gaze slid away from her. "Do we have to?" he muttered. "Of course we have to! Clark, this was a really good idea of yours, getting us away from it all for a while. I really feel as though I've had a chance to unwind and put things in perspective." She paused, laying her hand on his shoulder. "But now we have to go back and sort out the mess. We have to follow through with our accusation and make it stick this time - we can't let Lex get away with it." "I know, but..." "But what?" He seemed about to answer, but then he pulled a face. "Can't we talk about this later?" "No. I want to talk about it now. What were you going to say?" He shrugged. "I just wonder..." "What?!" "What it would be like to leave all that behind." His gaze swung back to hers again briefly. "Permanently." "Perm..." She stared at him. "You're kidding, right? You don't mean what I think you mean." He waved a hand in the air vaguely. "Just think how nice it would be to start over. We wouldn't have to worry about the past any more, there'd just be you and me and the future. No Lex Luthor, no investigation, no murder trial, no-" "Responsibilities?" she interrupted. "Is that what you want? You just want to drift, is that it?" "Not exactly dr-" "I suppose you'd give up Superman too, right?" she interrupted again, her anger rising sharply. "Because he comes with a whole bunch of responsibilities, doesn't he?" He didn't answer her immediately. He picked up the photo album and turned to the last page. Looking down at one of the pictures, he said, "Yes. Yes, he does." She looked across at the album and saw to her surprise that he was staring down at a picture of a woman who could have been her twin. ******** (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 23:14:32 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit S p o i l e r S p a c e I'm reading this, and enjoying the ride very much, Yvonne! I just keep wanting more of this awesome story - you're setting up a very interesting premise for this fourth chapter of the series, and I'm very intrigued as for what'll happen once both Loises and both Clarks will meet. And I'm also intrigued at a technical detail: how will both Loises be differenciated? Will you make an alternate name for one of them, like you did for both Clarks? MORE! (pretty please?) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 16:23:48 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Subject: OT: Only testing, so please ignore Line One Line Two Line Three ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 23:32:11 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nene Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Not sure if anyone's reading this, but I'm keeping a promise I made to post > this story here, so I'm soldiering on... ;) Well, I'm not reading it since I want to read it only when it's finished :P, but please, Yvonne, keep posting it here too! Each time I see a new post I'm so happy! Actually just seeing something with "Fear of Discovery IV" in it is pure bliss. :)) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Elena :) (member of the FoD Addicts Anonymous) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 22:56:57 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: Kaethel To: Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 10:14 PM Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? > S > p > o > i > l > e > r > > S > p > a > c > e > > I'm reading this, and enjoying the ride very much, Yvonne! I just keep > wanting more of this awesome story - you're setting up a very interesting > premise for this fourth chapter of the series, and I'm very intrigued as for > what'll happen once both Loises and both Clarks will meet. And I'm also > intrigued at a technical detail: how will both Loises be differenciated? > Will you make an alternate name for one of them, like you did for both > Clarks? Helene, you're so thoughtful :) As to differentiating Loises, that's all getting a bit tricky, as Wendy will attest ;) Hopefully, once the dust has settled between the four of them, they'll get around to agreeing a sensible naming convention! Yvonne ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 16:28:58 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit No - my dad and stepmom got married in AZ and recently divorced in KY. CM (wondering what story this might be for - CA? Hmmm... *BG*) On Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:37:46 -0500 Wendy Richards writes: > Looking for some help here, and counting on FoLCs for your usual > breadth of > knowledge: > > Does a divorce have to be obtained in the same state where the > couple > married? > > And if so, does California have no-fault divorce? > > > Thanks! > > > Wendy > --------- > Wendy Richards > wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 23:01:01 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Interestingly, Elene is the second person to tell me they're waiting for me to finish posting the complete story here before they'll read it. Is that a general feeling for stories posted here? You'd rather get the whole story in one go, split into several posts - as we used to do in the old days? Yvonne (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 00:02:02 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > You'd rather get the whole story > in one go, split into several posts - as we used to do in the old days? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! If I don't get my FoD fix every monday, I'll go crazy! Helene :) (having palpitations just at the thought of that!) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 17:22:58 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Dennis Arendt Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy, Back when I got my divorce you not only had to file in the state you were married but also the county. But of course, that was when the buffalo and the Indians roamed free. Brenda ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Richards" To: Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 1:11 PM Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce > Thanks, Becky and Kate, for your prompt answers to my questions. That's a > great help. > > Wendy > -------- > Wendy Richards > wendy@lcfanfic.com > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 20:09:53 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/04/2001 6:06:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, yvonne@YCONNELL.FSNET.CO.UK writes: << You'd rather get the whole story in one go, split into several posts - as we used to do in the old days? >> That's my vote . --Laurie (who remembered to make this go to the list and not just to Yvonne) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 20:24:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jacalyn Sue Newman Subject: Re: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 2/? In-Reply-To: <105.45bedee.284d7d51@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" ><< You'd rather get the whole story > in one go, split into several posts - as we used to do in the old days? >> NO!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait that long. I'm the impatient sort.... Keep 'em coming as fast as you can. Besides- posting a work in progress is the ONLY way an author can guarantee I'll read the ending last, not first like I usually do! Jackie -- Jacalyn S. Newman jacalynsue@earthlink.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 13:15:48 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: Melbourne BHC times In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit For Melbourne (Australia, not Florida!) FoLCs and fans of Dean... I've just spoken to the George Cinema in St Kilda, and learned that they have "advanced preview screenings" of The Broken Hearts Club on Friday, Sat, Sun & Monday at 1pm, 3pm, 7pm and I think she said one later session. It suits me to plan to go on the Sunday or Monday afternoon. Anyone interested in joining me? Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (8) and Megan (5) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 23:27:23 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Tank Wilson Subject: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sorry, I have to vehemently disagree with the practice of posting a story to the list or to Zoom's message boards all at once in several consecutive posts all at once. That is one of the major functions of the archives. In my opinion, if you wish to read a story in one sitting, (or download the whole thing to read at your leisure) you can easily wait until it comes to the archives to do that. Posting in instalments serves a couple of purposes for the writer and one very important one for the reader. First, for the writer, it's often nice to have some ongoing critique as a sort of massive beta read to help the writer with some rough parts, or to help point out little things that may not work quite as well as the writer hoped. This allows the writer to make these changes before they submit their 'final' version to the archives. Also, it is often absolutely necessary to get the continued encouragement of comments (and nagging) as the story progresses just to keep the writer's enthusiasm up for the story (this is especially true of longer stories). Of course, once a writer commits to posting their story in instalments, they are obligated to post on a reasonable schedule and not leave their audience hanging for extremely long extended periods of time between posts. As for the reader. I know, personally, that if most stories weren't posted in instalments I've never get the chance to read them. It's nice to be able to check out and read a new part of a story or three everyday and not have to tie up too much time to do it. With the length that many stories go these days I find I just don't have time to read them off the archives like I use to. In the past I had the option of printing off those long stories and taking them with me to read like I would a paperback. This was possible because I could use the printers at my former job to do this. This is no longer possible since I don't have a job that would allow me that luxury. I do have my own printer at home, but I don't know of many people who would burn up several ink cartridges to print off one of the typical epics being presented now days. I know I sure can't. And doing all sorts of small print, double sided, printing tricks is not the answer either. My eyes aren't that good, and I need to be able to read the dang thing. Nope, for this gentle reader, the instalment plan is by far the best way to sample the wide variety of tasty L&C morsels that are offered to us via the list and the boards. Don't get me wrong, the archives are a wonderful (and necessary) repository of all fic Lois and Clark, and I do still check them every week. But since I read online, it's hard to be able to read a longer fic from that source. Although it is nice to know that they are there and someday I will go back and read some of the ones I know I've missed when they first came out. Tank (who will shut up now) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:39:29 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debbie Coleman Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce In-Reply-To: <002c01c0ed55$ad5c8a20$60512581@k4x6e3> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Coming in way late on this, and agreeing to what others have said, you don't have to be in the same state to marry and divorce! I got married in CA and divorced in Minnesota. No problem at all. And about a month between the court appearance and the final decree. I made him go to court and take time off work. Deb, (married in '86, divorced in '90) two states, two totally different states of mind. Thank ghod I found the right one! Still looking for the right guy... on 6/4/01 5:22 PM, Dennis Arendt at d.arendt@WORLDNET.ATT.NET wrote: > Wendy, > > Back when I got my divorce you not only had to file in the state you were > married but also the county. But of course, that was when the buffalo and > the Indians roamed free. > > Brenda > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Wendy Richards" > To: > Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 1:11 PM > Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce > > >> Thanks, Becky and Kate, for your prompt answers to my questions. That's a >> great help. >> >> Wendy >> -------- >> Wendy Richards >> wendy@lcfanfic.com >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once in a while, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right. R. Hunter Scarlet Begonias Deb Coleman debolah@pacbell.net -- ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 09:03:31 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicole Wolke Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folcs :-) Tank Wilson wrote: > Sorry, I have to vehemently disagree with the practice of posting a story to > the list or to Zoom's message boards all at once in several consecutive posts > all at once. That is one of the major functions of the archives. In my > opinion, if you wish to read a story in one sitting, (or download the whole > thing to read at your leisure) you can easily wait until it comes to the > archives to do that. And I have to disagree wit your disagreement, Tank ;-P. You're right, you *could* wait till it it posted to the archive, but posting it to the list or to the MB serves two purposes you don't have in the archive no matter if you post instalments or the whole story. 1. You get feedback. Be honest, guys, how many of you send feedback for stories in the archive? I know, I do, but so much more seldom than just a quick "nice story" on the MBs or here on the list. Not everyone is a Wendy, Labrat, Sheila, Zoomie or Tank ;-P and gets feedback no matter where you post your story. For example, a story has to be *really* good if I send feedback for a story that I read only on the archive. But not all stories are *really* good. Some are just nice and IMO authors deserve a little encouragement for a "just nice" story, too. So counting the feedback I got for my stories on the archive and here on the list or on the MBs, I'd be starving without posting them to all appropriate places. 2. If there're major goofs in the story, you can still fix them. For example I always forget to delete all my editor's comments. I don't know how it happens, because I really *try* to, but there's always something in the story that doesn't belong there. By posting it to the MBs or to the list someone will point it out to me and I can send it to the archive without fear :-) > Posting in instalments serves a couple of purposes for the writer and one > very important one for the reader. First, for the writer, it's often nice to > have some ongoing critique as a sort of massive beta read to help the writer > with some rough parts, or to help point out little things that may not work > quite as well as the writer hoped. This allows the writer to make these > changes before they submit their 'final' version to the archives. Yes, that's good in theory, but what about writers like me, who don't write in their native language? If I post a story to the MB, I want it to be at least "readable", so it's always edited for grammar and spelling and therefor finished. Everything I have to correct brings a lot effort. I can't just insert a few sentences. I never know if they're correct or not. So it has to go back to my editor and so on. A lot of effort for a few sentences! Also I must admit, I sometimes don't feel that the purpose of being able to correct things is always true for authors. I feel that most writers are confident about what they post. They have already sent it to their beta readers and they're not really ready to change something. My own impression is, that their main purpose for posting in instalments is that they enjoy getting so much feedback. It's a legitime reason for posting in instalments, don't get me wrong. I just want to say that I don't really buy the "posting in instalments allows writers to make changes" reason. It may be true if the posted story is *really* a work in progress, but how many are? Most writers have a solid cushion before they start posting. And when they start posting they have already talked about the plot with their beta readers. Are they really ready to make big changes? > Of course, once a writer commits to posting their story in instalments, they are obligated to > post on a reasonable schedule and not leave their audience hanging for > extremely long extended periods of time between posts. You know, that's what made me stop reading stories in instalments recently. No matter how reasonable the schedule, as a reader I just get out of the story too often and it was startin to get on my nerves. So now I've decided to read stories only when they're finished. Yvonne's "Purity" was the first one and what a wonderful reading that was! > I do have my own printer at home, but I don't know of many people who would > burn up several ink cartridges to print off one of the typical epics being > presented now days. I know I sure can't. I do, I do! And I recommend it to everyone :-) Reading a nice story on paper curled on the sofa is still the best way to do it! It takes some cartridges and paper, yes, but buying a book costs money, too. Nicole (a brand new firm believer in finished stories) -- AKA CKgroupie on IRC/AIM NKWolke@t-online.de "The Dean Cain News Page" http://members.tripod.de/CKgroupie/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 09:58:20 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. I think I've worked out the mechanisms of our two heroes' divorce now... ;) Wendy -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 10:16:48 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nicole wrote (in semi-disagreement with Tank ): > > 1. You get feedback. Be honest, guys, how many of you send feedback for > stories in the archive? I know, I do, but so much more seldom than just > a quick "nice story" on the MBs or here on the list. Not everyone is a > Wendy, Labrat, Sheila, Zoomie or Tank ;-P and gets feedback no matter > where you post your story. Actually, though I appreciate the compliment [:))], that's not strictly true. These days, the only place feedback is virtually guaranteed for *any* writer is Zoom's message boards. Posting stories on the fic list seems not to generate much feedback lately; perhaps a flurry of replies welcoming the first post, but not much, if at all, beyond that. While I don't primarily post for feedback, I do begin to feel that I'm simply filling up people's mailboxes with spam when I post a story to no response (and Laurie, you were a real gem when I was posting When Lightning Strikes Twice on this list! Had it not been for you, I might not have finished posting it here). As for the Archive, it's very unusual for me, personally, to get feedback on new stories there now. Admittedly, that may largely be because many people have already commented on the MBs, and I can understand that. But I still used to get a trickle of comments from those who hadn't. Every so often, I'm tempted to send a story (eg a short one like Only Superman) straight to the Archive, but then I don't in case it disappears into empty space too! Nicky also said: > Also I must admit, I sometimes don't feel that the purpose of being able > to correct things is always true for authors. I feel that most writers > are confident about what they post. They have already sent it to their > beta readers and they're not really ready to change something. My own > impression is, that their main purpose for posting in instalments is > that they enjoy getting so much feedback. It's a legitime reason for > posting in instalments, don't get me wrong. I just want to say that I > don't really buy the "posting in instalments allows writers to make > changes" reason. It may be true if the posted story is *really* a work > in progress, but how many are? Most writers have a solid cushion before > they start posting. And when they start posting they have already talked > about the plot with their beta readers. Are they really ready to make > big changes? Speaking personally: yes, absolutely, if something really doesn't work! And yes, sure, my wips are seen by beta-readers before I post, and I have a cushion (though the story is almost never finished before I start posting), but you guys on the MBs are my final test audience. If things really don't work for you, I make changes. There are times when I tell my beta-readers, in response to a query they've raised, that I'll wait to see what the readers on the boards say, if I'm not sure how best to respond. In many of my wips, some people's comments on the boards spark off ideas with me, which I later incorporate into the story - Elisabeth gave me a lovely idea for the L&C 'connection' in Faux Pas, for example, and Sherry made a comment which was highly instrumental in the way I dealt with Lois's fears of alcoholism. In other stories, I've rewritten sections when it's clear that I didn't explain something very well, or missed an opportunity - I can remember doing that with FTGG in relation to L&C's children, and more recently I rewrote several chunks of a scene in Green Card thanks to comments from Sheila and one or two more. And, actually, I'm getting the impression that more and more writers are virtually writing as they post. I couldn't do that now; my writing time and energy seems to get more sporadic, so I couldn't see myself doing a Shattered Illusions again (write six pages a day, post same day). No chance! But I know that several people who would normally build up a large cushion haven't done that with their current stories. In some cases that may mean long gaps between posts (as Tank alluded to), but then, once-a-week posts are becoming more common. And when people post as they write, it has to be easier to accommodate changes in direction. Anyway, I'm not sure where, if anywhere, this is going now, so I'll stop rambling and get back to my exam board preparation! Wendy -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 18:46:23 +0930 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jill Kaye Subject: Re: Searching for a story In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Terry, that conversation takes place at the beginning of Solar Eclipse, >Jon's story. Jon and Vicky are being followed by FBI agents at the time, >including one Larissa Lewis. ;) > > >Wendy >---------- >Wendy Richards >wendy@lcfanfic.com Tee hee ;) ~Larissa~ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 11:50:11 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey guys :) Nicole wrote: > Yes, that's good in theory, but what about writers like me, who don't > write in their native language? If I post a story to the MB, I want it > to be at least "readable", so it's always edited for grammar and > spelling and therefor finished. Everything I have to correct brings a > lot effort. I can't just insert a few sentences. I never know if they're > correct or not. So it has to go back to my editor and so on. A lot of > effort for a few sentences! Actually, even if it's true that it requires an effort and that the paragraphs you added have to go back to your beta-readers almost every time you change a sentence, you can still change things in the story when you post. *Even* if the story is mostly wrapped up when you're posting it - personally, I haven't had the guts to post without having almost finished the story (yet), but it's not because I'm writing in a second language: my reason for waiting is that I write slowly and very irregularly, so it would be a risk not to have a buffer. But if while posting, a reader points out something that your beta-readers missed (either an unconsistancy or a suggestion to add a scene or an element) and you see that you could add something to your story to make it better, what's stopping you from doing so? If you need just a bit more time, you take one day more than your planned schedule and apologise to the boards and list readers for the delay. > Also I must admit, I sometimes don't feel that the purpose of being able > to correct things is always true for authors. I feel that most writers > are confident about what they post. I don't think I've ever talked to any writer who is confident about what they post. I know I'm not (just ask my BRs how I freak out before hitting send when I post a new section ), and I know many other authors who feel just the same. > They have already sent it to their > beta readers and they're not really ready to change something. Here again, I have to disagree. I'm just talking for myself here (although I suspect other authors will agree), but even if beta-readers generally do a more detailed inspection of the story (and it does happen that they suggest you change a major scene), readers' comments are just as essential. Very often, they see something that neither you nor your BRs saw, or they bring a new perspective. They see the scene as a whole entity, and this is how they can come up with suggestions to add a new element to an introspection part, or correct a detail that was missed until then. Then, if the writer wishes to take it on board, they can do it either while they're posting, or wait until they send the final version to the archive. Besides, I know that some writers don't have regular BRs and use boards readers as such: Tank, if I remember well, does that. And I'm pretty sure other writers do just the same. :) If they posted their stories in one big chunk, I doubt they'd get as much comments. :/ > My ow > impression is, that their main purpose for posting in instalments is > that they enjoy getting so much feedback. It's true that posting in instalments allows the writers to get more feedback - and believe me, this is *essential*, too. Like Tank explained, it's really an important part of the writing process, because it gives us encouragements to keep writing, and it makes us more secure regarding the story we're posting. That's why *any* comment, even a short 'liked it, post more' is so important. > It's a legitime reason for > posting in instalments, don't get me wrong. I just want to say that I > don't really buy the "posting in instalments allows writers to make > changes" reason. It may be true if the posted story is *really* a work > in progress, but how many are? Most writers have a solid cushion before > they start posting. And when they start posting they have already talked > about the plot with their beta readers. Are they really ready to make > big changes? Imho, comments on the boards don't have the purpose of making the author change *big* things (especially if one or several beta-readers have already seen the story). But big changes aren't the only thing that can improve a fanfic. Adding a few paragraphs, or even a few sentences to a scene can be just as useful, just as important. It's a different purpose: a BR will agree to read the same scene several times until it's ready to be posted, so the writer can make drastic changes and have it checked over as many times as they want. Readers, on the other hand, will read it once (sometimes twice), because what they see is a version which is *close* to final draft, but it doesn't mean it's a *final* draft, and they will give you a general opinion and sometimes little elements to add in (generally not major things - because these have already been dealt with by the BRs, but little details that have their importance just as well). I personally think that both aspects are essential to completing a final draft before sending it to the archives. I agree with Tank regarding the lack of time. For example, right now I don't have time to read an entire story in one sitting. Actually, I barely have time to read anything. But the fact that Yvonne is posting one part of FoDIV each week allows me to have my fanfic fix, even if I don't have time to read anything else. I also won't read a story posted on the boards or list if the whole fanfic is posted at once. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't have an illimited flat rate, and downloading all the parts take a lot of time, which is why I prefer waiting for the story to hit the archive if I'm reading it in one sitting, for technical reasons. So personally, I really prefer it when authors post their stories in sections, and I hope they'll continue to post it that way. :) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 06:52:24 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/05/2001 4:59:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time, w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK writes: << I think I've worked out the mechanisms of our two heroes' divorce now... ;) >> This is WENDY writing this story? Hmmm.... --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 07:01:16 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Your episode reviews are terrific, Hazel. I've enjoyed the replies, too. So a bit of a belated response ... The colour of Lois's suit in the ep was very confusing -- at one point I even thought it was grey, then I concluded it was my TV's fault. I never thought Lois's kissing (should it be 'Lois kissing' instead?) Clark when she first saw him at the Planet was out of place. I just figured it was a combination automatic response plus relief in a stressful situation to see Clark. If 'she' was 'her' than why wouldn't 'he' be her Clark? But now I'm convinced that Lois was being dim -- consequence of a bad hair day. But the most shocking thing in this ep was Lois sewing. Where did she learn that?? Right after she failed cooking 101? And dying boots!!! Was she channeling Martha (Kent/Stewart?) Hazel, you've almost convinced me that Herb needs to be restrained. Wonder what would happen if he and Bernie Klein ever got together? The universe would never be the same. But I loved Tempus, Anyone -- mostly because of the darkness of the opening scene and, of course, Alt Clark. Hazel, considering you had never seen this ep, aCPOV is all the more amazing for its feel for both the characters and the atmosphere of the actual episode. Looking forward to your next review. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 12:04:53 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nicky wrote: > > 1. You get feedback. Be honest, guys, how many of you send feedback for > stories in the archive? I know, I do, but so much more seldom than just > a quick "nice story" on the MBs or here on the list. Not everyone is a > Wendy, Labrat, Sheila, Zoomie or Tank ;-P and gets feedback no matter > where you post your story. Thanks for the compliment, Nicky :) but I can't remember the last time I got fdk from a story posted on the Archive. And I've certainly posted to the list and received nothing at all. Actually I never really expect fdk from the Archive because it's usually my final stop and I figure most who are interested in reading it will already have done so by that point. But, for whatever reason, it's never wise to assume that any author automatically receives fdk, wherever they post. You'd probably be surprised. Sheila has mentioned in the past the irony of not receiving fdk on her stories because people have assumed that she is already getting tons of it and so their fdk won't be missed. > Also I must admit, I sometimes don't feel that the purpose of being able > to correct things is always true for authors. I feel that most writers > are confident about what they post. They have already sent it to their > beta readers and they're not really ready to change something. My own > impression is, that their main purpose for posting in instalments is > that they enjoy getting so much feedback. It's a legitime reason for > posting in instalments, don't get me wrong. I just want to say that I > don't really buy the "posting in instalments allows writers to make > changes" reason. It may be true if the posted story is *really* a work > in progress, but how many are? Most writers have a solid cushion before > they start posting. And when they start posting they have already talked > about the plot with their beta readers. Are they really ready to make > big changes? > ***I can only speak for myself, but absolutely. Actually I love the process of editing almost as much as the writing and I always look forward to comments from my betas/editors/fdk on the mbs because I know they'll come up with some idea or viewpoint that I hadn't considered that will make the story better. That isn't to say that I'll agree with everything said or make every change suggested however. ;) And sometimes conflicting advice makes life very interesting. For example when I was writing Lonesome I had a scene with a baseball bat. I wrote it not breaking when it hit Clark. One of my betas persuaded me it should break, so I changed it. When that segment was posted to the mbs someone posted fdk to say that there was no way a bat would break in those circumstances. Now I would have taken their advice and sat down and changed it back before sending the story elsewhere, because they were very persausive in their argument and I know zip about baseball bats, but that evening when I entered #lanekent four people pounced on me to disagree and one of them said they'd actually seen a bat break under similar circumstances (interesting life they must lead ), so I decided to leave it as it was. ***I think confidence in what you've written is a different thing to being aware that you can't cover all bases and that a fresh eye will almost always see something you missed because you were too focused on the detail to see the overview clearly. ***You're right in respect of this particular author that by the time I post a story I more or less consider it finished rather than a wip. Mostly because I have a complete story when I begin to post, rather than a buffer of a few posts ahead and writing it as I go, the method most of the other authors on the mbs work to. And it will have gone through 2 betas and 4 editors by that point and I'll feel pretty confident that between us we've hunted out most glitches. But I'm also aware that being human we can't catch everything and certainly for me at least it's never a question of it being extra work. If a change is suggested that I agree with I'll do what's necessary to get it right. And certainly if a major plot hole is pointed out - one that I don't have a good excu...uh, reason for - I'll be fixing it soon as I can. ;) > Tank wrote: Sorry, I have to vehemently disagree with the practice of posting a story to the list or to Zoom's message boards all at once in several consecutive posts all at once. That is one of the major functions of the archives. ***My opinion would have to be that it's entirely up to the author whether they do or don't. Course, these days I would have to say that they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did as they'd undoubtedly get less fdk, but if that was what they wanted to do that would be their choice. In fact it used to be the norm to post stories completely on the mbs and posting in segments only really started to become the tradition when the new mbs were set up by Zoom. The old mbs now that is. As a result, being out of the loop for a time and not really aware of the change, I posted Caped Fear to the mbs complete. That *is* something I regret because I would have liked to have seen reaction to various segments and more in depth fdk than it got because I did. Ah well...live and learn. :) LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 07:48:55 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Also I must admit, I sometimes don't feel that the purpose of being able > to correct things is always true for authors. I feel that most writers > are confident about what they post. They have already sent it to their > beta readers and they're not really ready to change something. Well, I admit I don't *want* to change anything at that point, but it is still an option. Just recently, I got a comment that convinced me I'd missed an important bit, so I went back and inserted it, and posted the revised version. Of course, that was more than a page of material; I've also done smaller changes (again, due to reader comments) that I didn't bother reposting. If I had posted the entire thing at once, it would probably have been much *less* appealing to make changes. When I got a comment on part 3, I could fix it immediately, and take that change into account when writing parts 6 and onwards... if I'd had to make changes throughout the entire story, it would have been much more daunting. This does, of course, differ from author to author. Some people have much more of a cushion than I have (probably not many, though). Some people don't even want to make changes based on what their beta readers tell them > My own > impression is, that their main purpose for posting in instalments is > that they enjoy getting so much feedback. Yeah, that's a big factor too It is a lot of fun to get people's reactions to each plot twist, and even when you do get feedback from a story posted on the archive, it tends to be more of an overview (great plot, great characters -- but it's harder to get examples of *what* they thought was great). Sometimes when I'm writing, I'll picture the reactions I'm likely to get, and chortle to myself -- it's definitely motivating And for me, that motivation is very important. I remember the days when stories were posted in full or not at all, and it wasn't too difficult for me to finish a story before sending it out ... but I wrote a lot shorter stories back then! I think we all did. My current w-i-p is up to 180k, and I'm *maybe* halfway through, so this looks to be my longest story yet. Honestly, if I weren't getting steady doses of feedback, it'd take me forever to finish the thing. But having a posting schedule to keep up helps to keep me focused, and getting my FDK fix keeps me enthused. > Reading a nice story on > paper curled on the sofa is still the best way to do it! It takes some > cartridges and paper, yes, but buying a book costs money, too. I've tried that but somehow it doesn't work that way ... I don't trust my printer not to mess up, so I have to stand nearby and supervise, and I always end up reading the story as it prints, which kind of ruins the whole point. Impatience has always been my downfall, fanfic-wise... As a reader, I agree with Tank's point about time ... I don't usually have large chunks of time anymore, and when I do get them, I want to be writing. But I can manage twenty minutes here and there while the kids are distracted, and keep up with installments. There are exceptions; intense stories drive me nuts on the installment plan, so there are some that I'll postpone -- Purity, for instance. But I really like having the option :) -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 14:17:46 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Me again I wanted to add something regarding feedback that we get on the boards if we post one part at a time, namely, comments that deal with one scene or one section. I don't know about other authors, but what I enjoy very much about this (apart from what I've already developed in my other email) is the relationship it generates, between the writer and the readers. For example, you post a new section to the boards, and for example, end it with a cliffhanger. Of course, it makes the readers scream (but I know I enjoy just as much reading a cliffhanger as posting one ), and actually, I think their threats are generally hilarious (as well as very encouraging), and make the comments folders very lively and enjoyable both for readers and writer. But it's also a way to see the readers speculate about possible ways out of the situation that you put your characters in, which is, imho, fascinating. I think that the comments folders on the boards, where readers and writer *talk* to each other, create a real link, a real relationship between the author and those who receive the story, and that's yet another purpose (although not the only one) of posting the story in section. Helene :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 14:55:15 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicole Wolke Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey, guys, a lot of interesting answers to my post, but I want to clear up, that I the purpose of my email was NOT to hinder authors posting their stories in instalements. I know that there are many good reasons for posting in instalements, all of I accept very much :-). Tank wrote though that somebody who posts a story at once to the MB doesn't really need to do that and he or she could wait for posting it to the archive as well. So all I wanted to show is, that there're indeed reasons for authors to post a story to the MB (or to this list) even though they have it finished already. I, for example have always done that and was grateful for the responses I got there. Without it I'd probably would have gotten none at all or just very, very few. :-) Nicole -- AKA CKgroupie on IRC/AIM NKWolke@t-online.de "The Dean Cain News Page" http://members.tripod.de/CKgroupie/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 08:15:07 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: James Tull Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once Wendy Said: >In many of my wips, some people's comments on the boards spark off ideas >with me, which I later incorporate into the story - Elisabeth gave me a >lovely idea for the L&C 'connection' in Faux Pas, for example, and Sherry >made a comment which was highly instrumental in the way I dealt with Lois's >fears of alcoholism. In other stories, I've rewritten sections when it's >clear that I didn't explain something very well, or missed an opportunity - >I can remember doing that with FTGG in relation to L&C's children, and more >recently I rewrote several chunks of a scene in Green Card thanks to >comments from Sheila and one or two more. I agree. When I wrote Clark causing major destruction in 7 Days of Superman the 'gentle' readers of the Board let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they didn't think Clark would do that. So I re-wrote that section. Also, some of us don't use Beta readers and instead use the Board as the acid test. James ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 11:20:35 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy wrote: << And when people post as they write, it has to be easier to accommodate changes in direction. >> Actually, I've had the opposite experience. The latest fic I posted on the MBs wasn't finished when I began posting, though I did have a large cushion. However, I hadn't competely figured out the ending yet. When I did, I realized that I needed to change something (a single word) from the beginning of the story. Unfortunately, I'd already posted that part of the story... Rather than reposting that section to change just one word, I ended up just going with my new ending and hoping that no one would remember that single word. They did, and I felt rather foolish. Although the feedback on the MBs kept me going when I was blocked, I now realize that I let readers' comments influence my story too much. Maybe I'm just too impressionable, but instead of working out what needed to be explained on my own, I relied on readers' comments to root out the problems in the fic, and maybe even to suggest solutions. I'll never know how the story would have gone if I had relied more on my feelings than my readers', but I do wonder. Usually I have this great sense of accomplishment and completion when I know I've finished a fic. But when I finished this last one, I didn't. I'm still a little disappointed in how it turned out, though I can't exactly put my finger on what's wrong with it. I guess the good news is that I haven't yet submitted it to the archive, so I can still rework it. I do know that I won't be posting any works in progress again. From now on, I'm definitely going to finish a fic before beginning to post. I figure I can always change something based on readers' comments, but I can nevregain that unaffected state when it was just me and the story, if that makes any sense. Christy attalanta@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 10:42:15 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Irene Dutchak Subject: Re: Trading Places (Great Story! ) Shadowfax, I was away and am just getting caught up and I read your email re my story Trading Places. Thank you so much for the high praise! It has lifted my jet-lagged spirits! I very much appreciate your feedback. Thank you again, Irene ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 08:46:13 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Vicki Krell Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" What an interesting topic! And since the replies I've seen so far have all been from writers (not that you aren't also readers, but you know what I mean. ;-)), I thought I'd chime in as someone who is only a reader. When I discovered LnC fanfic, I found the archive first, and I LOVED it!! I couldn't wait to plow through as many stories as I could, and I enjoyed myself immensely. I liked the fact that there were so many marvelous fics to read, which were complete and finished stories. However, I wasn't aware at this point that there was any other way to post fanfic, until I discovered the fanfic listserv (and for the most part, at that time, all of those posts too consisted of completed stories), and finally Zoom's MB's. I liked having the fanfic show up in my mail inbox, and I continued to enjoy the opportunity to read a completed story without having to get online to do so. Now those of you who know me (okay, virtually know me) are aware that aside from being a voracious reader, I really enjoy giving feedback on the MB's. It's a wonderful way to show appreciation for a well written, enjoyable fic, as well as an opportunity to comment on specific plot points, character development, and possible inconsistencies. However, it was a big shock for me to have to actually WAIT for installments, when I had been so accustomed to only reading finished work. WIP was a completely foreign concept to me, and it took some getting used to!! Unlike most who have posted on this topic, I never print out fanfic to read; I only read it on my computer. I can just picture the stacks of paper that would accumulate all over my office (and I have enough non-fic related stacks in here already, believe me!) and at home if I started printing out everything I wanted to read. Therefore, that's not something I ever visualize myself doing. And I've found that there's nothing that relieves a stressful time at work like taking a break to read some fanfic. Well, maybe relaxing in a Jacuzzi, but I can't get them to install one in my office. Back to the feedback. I love getting feedback to MY feedback. That shows me that my comments are being acknowledged, and hopefully appreciated, which is the big reason, IMO, for posting feedback in the first place, and it's made me feel great when someone has replied to my comment by taking my advice and making a small change; I feel that my input is valued. I do give feedback to some of the authors whose fic I've read on the archive, but as many others have mentioned, it's much harder to go into detail, and easier to write a "I thought this was a wonderful story, and I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it" e-mail, than to give an in-depth analysis of specific plot points or questions. I suppose I used to look at the listserv as a forum for people to post their completed stories in segments, in a format that was easy to read and receive via e-mail, and not really as a place to give feedback. In other words, I was looking at it from a reader's perspective, and not from a writer's, who may want, need, and enjoy getting feedback on wip's. I've also experienced too many instances when I have sent feedback to writer's after reading their stories on the archive or on the listserv, only to receive an echoing silence. As Wendy commented that she has felt that she's filling peoples' mailboxes with spam if she keeps posting and gets no response, I have felt exactly the same way, as if I am bothering the author with my comments (even if it's just a "hey, this was great. Thanks for writing it.") when it seems to disappear into a black hole. Why should I bother?? Do I have a preference for installments vs. a finished product? Not really. As frustrated as I get sometimes when a very engrossing story breaks off and leaves me hanging for a few days (and those of you who do that know who you are!), I scream, and wait as patiently as I can for the next part. I still love being able to read a completed story at one sitting (rather than 47), but I also really enjoy the process of being a small part of a work in progress. As Pam said, I like having the option of both, and I love the fanfic so much. It's a pleasure to be a reader. :) Vicki ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 16:49:50 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Christy wrote: > I do know that I won't be posting any works in progress again. From now on, > I'm definitely going to finish a fic before beginning to post. I figure I can > always change something based on readers' comments, but I can nevregain that > unaffected state when it was just me and the story, if that makes any sense. > I'm sorry you had such a negative experience with wips and fdk, but yes this makes perfect sense. The writing method that's become habitual for me means that I am more likely to go back changing things at the start of the story once I've written the middle or end of it. In fact the process of editing and redrafting continues right up until the last period is written. Which is why I never start posting until the story is complete. With Caped Fear I hit problems after being foolish enough to discount my better judgement on this one and post the first half of it first. Which meant that when I completed it some time later I had to repost the entire thing from scratch because I'd made so many changes. Not all of them major - sometimes it's nothing more than a word here and there. Sometimes it's more than that too. I've never experienced the feeling of 'Who wrote this - them or me?' personally, but I did have a friend once who ditched a story she'd written after asking for input from the group because she felt that although the suggestions made made the story work more logically than she had framed it, it just didn't seem like her story any more. So it's not that uncommon and perfectly understandable I think. It's just a part of each author's makeup. For some a method works and for some it doesn't. LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 16:01:09 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Missy Gallant Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed >Wendy wrote: ><< And when people post as they write, it has to be easier to accommodate > changes in direction. >> > Christy wrote: >I do know that I won't be posting any works in progress again. From now >on, >I'm definitely going to finish a fic before beginning to post. I figure I >can >always change something based on readers' comments, but I can nevregain >that >unaffected state when it was just me and the story, if that makes any >sense. Sorry you feel that way Christy - I know how you feel about having a vision for your story and having it be completely yours. I hope when you do submit your story to the archives that you are completely satisfied and happy with it. But I've recently had the opposite happen to me. I responded to the readers request asking for more B-plot and although it wasn't in my plans to do so quite so soon, I found a way to make it work with the future scenes and outline for the rest of the story. It has helped me fill in some plot gaps that I wasn't sure about although I had to be very careful not to let it spoil my vision. There are many ways this story can go from here, and even though it may be tempting to visit another direction, I'll have to be cautious when listening to the readers suggestions. But it sure is fun hearing the readers' ideas about where they think your story should go! The changes I made were great fun to write! Missy > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 18:13:48 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: ChiaraP Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit HI ALL!!!!!! I'm not very used to answer, usually, but This time I couldn't avoid. I Write as Writer and Reader. I can say I had almost the comment I had about the fics I wrote on Zoom's MB.... So I Found myself very happy about all the people let me know they were reading... But I have to have an ended fic, in order to start post, overall because I'm not writing in a natural languages, and I'm not so good with English as Helene... So I need a lot of help with everything I send. But even if this wasn't the biggest problem I guess I wouldn't post an not ended fic, I still wonder how people can keep to write so regularly... Ok. I have an item with fanfic posted in section: I'm ok if the fic is made by 3 /4 or even 10/15 part... But When thy are too long (and I hope people will forgive me fot this "too") I prefer to wait. Now I know when Wendy is writing I have to resist until she'll end (I use Wendy's just because she is very good and very prolific and she write quite long wonderful Fanfics). And for how much I love her jobs(and she knows) I miss something reading in installment. I was speaking about that days ago... It's like if you break the emotions... and after 20/25 posts I forgot what I read, not about the story, but about I was feeling reading that. And Wendy is very "constant" but not all the writer are in this way... I have to wait days and days waiting.... Ok, maybe it's an egotistical stuff but I really am sorry when I loose interest in a fanfic, especially a good one... because I need months to see the end... So as I said earlier, and as Helene pointed to post in section usually it's the only way author less known than Wendy can have FDKs...And also I agree about how funny is to see "people speculate about possible ways out of the situation that you put your characters in" , ( very funny and very true!!!) So That's probably it's why I'll keep to do it... But if I really have to choice... I want all at once! ^____^ Ohh My!!! How much I spoke!!!!! /me is scared about the amount of mistake I surely made.... so Please Forgive me ^_______^ A big kiss for everyone ^_^ Chiara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kaethel" To: Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 2:17 PM Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once > Me again > > I wanted to add something regarding feedback that we get on the boards if we > post one part at a time, namely, comments that deal with one scene or one > section. > > I don't know about other authors, but what I enjoy very much about this > (apart from what I've already developed in my other email) is the > relationship it generates, between the writer and the readers. > > For example, you post a new section to the boards, and for example, end it > with a cliffhanger. > > Of course, it makes the readers scream (but I know I enjoy just as much > reading a cliffhanger as posting one ), and actually, I think their > threats are generally hilarious (as well as very encouraging), and make the > comments folders very lively and enjoyable both for readers and writer. But > it's also a way to see the readers speculate about possible ways out of the > situation that you put your characters in, which is, imho, fascinating. > > I think that the comments folders on the boards, where readers and writer > *talk* to each other, create a real link, a real relationship between the > author and those who receive the story, and that's yet another purpose > (although not the only one) of posting the story in section. > > Helene :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 10:29:46 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 6 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Charade: Part 6 by Nan Smith Lois shifted around uncomfortably in the big bed, adjusted her pillows for the third time and finally put down her romance novel with a sigh of impatience. She just couldn't concentrate on the escapades of the heroine and her black-sheep boyfriend. The vision of Lex's handsome face kept rising up between her and the print. She glanced at her little traveling alarm clock. The hands said it was eleven thirty-nine. If Clark didn't show up pretty soon, she was going to have to go out and try to find him. It was just as well that she couldn't have slept if she'd tried, in spite of the incredibly comfortable mattress and the mound of large, fluffy pillows. She couldn't go hunting for Clark until most of the staff was abed, and she was pretty sure they would still be up and around for awhile yet. She glanced at the elegant little bedside lamp and sighed again. How was she going to get any sleep at all, tonight? The dinner with Alejandro de Los Rios had thoroughly spooked her. Just the thought of Lex sent chills up her spine. There were only two persons in the world of which she was truly afraid, she admitted reluctantly to herself, and Lex was one of them. Considering everything he and his sons had done to Clark and her, even the possibility of his return--or, more probably, that of his clone--was enough to cost her a night's sleep. She wished, frankly, that Clark could spend the night in the room with her. Sleeping next to him would chase away the ghosts. There was a faint tapping at her window. Looking up, she could see the silhouette of a tall man floating just beyond the glass. Instantly, she switched off her reading lamp and scrambled out of bed to open it. The little night-light on the opposite wall shed a pale glow, giving her just enough illumination to avoid bumping into things. She fumbled with the catch and pushed up the glass pane. The screen presented a little more difficulty, but at last, she had it loose and Clark, clad in dark clothing, stepped over the sill. He took the screen from her and replaced it carefully in the window, closed the curtains then turned and pulled her into his arms. Lois kissed him back almost frantically, burrowing tightly against him, almost surprised at herself. It certainly surprised him. After a long moment, he drew back and looked down at her in some concern, his face shadowed in the dimness. "Honey, are you all right?" Lois drew a shaky breath and nodded. "Yes. I don't know why I'm acting like this." His eyes narrowed, and he reached out to snap on a table lamp. "Lois, I can hear your pulse beating like a drum, twice as fast as it should be. What's wrong?" She laughed a little shakily. "I can't fool you, can I? Clark--are you absolutely sure Lex died? It couldn't have been a mistake, could it?" He shook his head. "It wasn't a mistake, Lois. He died. What's this all about?" "De Los Rios," she said. "If he isn't Lex, then he's a clone of Lex, Clark." She felt him go completely still for an instant, and then his arms tightened around her. "No wonder you're upset. Tell me what happened." There was a knock on the connecting door. Clark turned his head. "Come in, Jim." The door opened and Jimmy entered. "Did Lois tell you?" Clark nodded. "What happened?" "Clark, he looked just like Lex." Lois made no move to extricate herself from her husband's embrace. In a way, her own actions amazed her. Here she was, an independent, liberated, modern woman, depending on her husband for comfort when she was frightened. "He even *acted* like him." "He did," Jimmy said. "I don't know how to describe it, CK, but if I didn't know it was impossible, I'd have sworn it was him." "Okay, I believe you," Clark said. "What did you do?" "Well, as soon as I could after dinner, I came up here," Lois said. "I was afraid he'd recognize me. Jimmy stayed with the others." "What happened after Lois left?" Clark asked. "We went into the sitting room," Jimmy said. "They served us after dinner drinks--it was somewhere about then that Lois left. De Los Rios sort of circulated around, just socializing, but I kind of got the impression he was feeling us out." "Feeling you out? About what?" "I'm not sure," Jimmy said. "He was talking about Caribbean Imports branching out, and diversifying into other areas." "That makes sense," Clark said. "He wasn't talking about partnerships or anything, was he?" "No...not exactly. I think he was trying to find out, without saying so, who might go along with something like that." "What did you do?" Clark asked. Jimmy grinned. "I kind of made semi-favorable noises, just to see what would happen." "Good idea," Clark said. "See where he goes with it." Jimmy nodded. "And if that doesn't produce anything, I'll back out at the last minute and see what he does." "Just make sure you give us fair warning," Clark said. "If de Los Rios is a clone of Luthor, you can bet he won't take it well." "No," Jimmy admitted. "But we're here to find out what's going on. I have this creepy feeling that there's more to this than just business partnerships." "So do I," Clark said. "I took a walk outside a little while ago. I hadn't been out there ten minutes when a security guard showed up to take me back. They definitely don't want people running around outside without a chaperone." "Then whatever they're trying to hide might not be that hard to find," Lois speculated. "Do you think all the employees are in on it?" "I doubt it," Clark said. "We can't assume anything, though. What we need to do is get out--without being spotted--and do some looking around." "Do you have any idea where to look?" Lois asked. "Not yet. I told you I'm not supposed to go near the boathouse where the yacht's tied up, but that might not mean anything." "Well, it's a start," Jimmy said. "What do you want me to do?" "Just do what you would do if you were a real businessman who's been invited here," Clark said. "We're depending on you to give the two of us cover. But keep your eyes and ears open." Jimmy gave them the trace of a grin. "I can do that." He added, "I probably better go to bed now. If anyone checks, I want to be where I'm supposed to be." "In that case, you better put up the 'do not disturb' sign," Lois said with a trace of humor. It was amazing how much better she felt with Clark's arm around her. "They think they know why I'm here, after all." Not surprisingly, Jimmy turned pink. "Lois!" Lois found herself giggling. "Sorry, Jimmy, I couldn't help it." Clark laughed, too. "Just think how many of those guys down there envy you, Jim," he suggested. "CK!" Clark slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Sorry. I'll quit kidding you. You did a good job tonight." "Thanks." Jimmy accepted the praise with a deprecating grin. "I better go. G'night, guys." When the door had closed behind him, Clark put both arms around Lois again. "Are you going to be all right, honey?" She nodded, aware that her heart was starting to beat fast again at the thought that he was leaving. Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "No, you're not." She made a face. "I will be. This isn't the first bad situation I've been in." "I know that," Clark said. "You've got more courage than any two other people I know." "Except your mom and dad," Lois interjected. "Well, yes. But this situation is different." He was frowning, and abruptly seemed to make up his mind. "I don't have to be up until five. I apparently impressed the head chef because I've been put in charge of breakfast for everybody, tomorrow. Would you prefer it if I stayed here?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "After all, the servants are going to expect that one of these beds is going to have two people in it tonight--at least for awhile." "Well--" She pretended to hesitate. "If it would make *you* feel better--" "Don't let me twist your arm," he said. Lois smiled, recalling a very similar conversation some years before in his apartment. She had arrived there late one night seeking his protection from Kyle Griffen, not knowing then that she had come to Superman for help. Instinct had sent her running to her partner, knowing that Clark would die before he'd let anyone or anything harm her. Now, she simply slid both arms up around his neck. "Well, if you don't mind sleeping with a 'kept' woman," she began. A wide smile crossed Clark's face. "Just as long as *I'm* the one doing the keeping," he drawled. Lois cut him off by standing on tiptoe to kiss him. It looked as if she would be able to sleep tonight, after all. ********** Clark woke suddenly and completely. He glanced at Lois's traveling alarm, noting that it was barely after two. He had been sleeping for just under an hour. Lois was sound asleep, curled up against him within the curve of his arm, and the room was completely silent except for the soft whisper of her breathing. What had awakened him? Slowly he became aware of another sound, outside the house. It was the steady downpour of rain. The storm had finally broken. That must have been what woke him up. Clark adjusted his position in the bed, bringing a slight mumble of protest from Lois, but she settled back into his arms with a little sigh, never waking. He relaxed once more, sliding down toward sleep. Lightning flashed suddenly, visible even through the curtains, and thunder crashed like a kettledrum almost before the flash had died away. Wow! That one must have been close! Lois lifted her head, her eyes wide. "What was that?" "Thunder," he said. "Lightning must have hit nearby." "Oh." She put her head down on his shoulder again. Somewhere in the house a telephone trilled. Clark was instantly alert. There was a second ring and a third, and suddenly there was the sound of someone fumbling for the receiver. "Hello?" The voice was Rogan's. In spite of the hour, the man didn't sound in the least sleepy. "De Los Rios residence." "I need to speak to Mr. D," a voice said, urgently. "We have an emergency. This is Higgins, sir." "What is it?" Lois asked. "Sh. It's a phone call." "Oh." Lois fell silent. "Mr. de Los Rios is in bed," Rogan informed the voice, curtly. "Then wake him up! We've lost power. Everything's on emergency backup, but if we don't get our power back in four hours, we'll lose the whole lot!" "One moment," Rogan's voice said. There was a click. Clark strained his ears. Somewhere in the house there was a soft beeping noise. A woman's voice said, "Yes?" "Madame, I'm sorry to awaken you," Rogan's voice said. "Dr. Higgins is on the line." "Put him through." The female voice had a distinct English accent. Clark wrinkled his brow, striving to remember where he had heard that voice before. "Dr. Higgins?" the voice said, "this is Mrs. de Los Rios. What's the problem?" Lightning flashed again, illuminating the room, followed by an instant explosion of thunder. Unprepared, Clark clapped his hands to both ringing ears. "Ow!" "Are you all right?" Lois asked, at once. "Clark?" He felt as if every Swiss bell-ringer that had ever attended a wedding had gathered together to hold a concert in his head. Faintly, some distance away, he could hear a voice speaking from the telephone receiver, and the reply of a female voice, but the ringing in his ears blurred the sound. Then there was a click. The caller had hung up. ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 13:32:07 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce On Tue, 5 Jun 2001 06:52:24 EDT, No Name Available wrote: >>>I think I've worked out the mechanisms of our two heroes' divorce now... ;) <<< >This is WENDY writing this story? Hmmm.... LOL Laurie! Patience... things may not be all they seem! ;) Oh, and by the way, Green Card - the story I'm talking about - is almost finished. :) Wendy --------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 14:50:47 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Marnie Rowe Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Wendy wrote: > ><< And when people post as they write, it has to be easier to accommodate > > changes in direction. >> > > > Christy wrote: > > >I do know that I won't be posting any works in progress again. From now > >on, > >I'm definitely going to finish a fic before beginning to post. I figure I > >can > >always change something based on readers' comments, but I can nevregain > >that > >unaffected state when it was just me and the story, if that makes any > >sense. > > >Missy said: But it sure is fun hearing the readers' ideas about where they think your story should go! The changes I made were great fun to write! > I think that reader suggestions are like the ultimate buffet, or the most complete smorgeshboard in the universe, and stories that we write are the finicky eaters. only take itty bitty nibbles of what they don't know but for the main meal sticking to the same fare that they would cook for themselves at home. And that is what authors should do, stick with what they know. Its when we try and go over those bounds that we get into trouble. But every so often a reader's comment will pierce thru the veil and will spark an answer inside of the writer, maybe not the way it was intended or exactally in the way that it was intended. But that spark is still just the author responding to an outside stimulus, some get inspiration from songs, some from something that happens in their own lives, or from another book that they have read. The list could go on, and when it comes down to it I think that if the author makes up their mind to use anything then they should realize that the story is theirs. Ppl should not write to keep the masses happy, they should write to get the stories inside their head out. But this is where the Msg Boards and the List come in, there are times that the story in your head gets stuck, you write down the general gist of what you want but you are not happy. Well, in example, I posted a story a while back specifically asking for help, and I did not get that help until Labrat read it thru later privately after it had already been posted to the archive. The ideas were there but I was very unhappy with the presentation and i had no idea how to fix it. So I attempted to use the boards as a teaching medium but it did not work. I had a specific reason to use the boards just as others do, mine might have been different, but it could be simular too. So mainly its a question of personal choice, for both the authors and the readers. Myself I think that I would do both, but it would depend on the story. (with that said I think that I will get my butt off this drafty old soapbox) Marns ~Pobody's Nerfect ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 17:07:55 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Question for fic: divorce MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/05/2001 2:32:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK writes: << Oh, and by the way, Green Card - the story I'm talking about - is almost finished. :) >> hurrah!! --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 16:11:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: The Exodus II: Earthboung (Part 1/4) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This is the sequel to my first story The Exodus. I'm reposting part one = since it's been so long since it was posted, and that way all the parts = will be on the new boards. I'm not possitive it will be 4 parts but it = should be about that. Hopefully I can post at least once a week this = time, I already have part 2 written and hope to write part 3 and 4 soon. = Feedback greatly appreciated either publicly or privatly at = alabot1@hotmail.com, it will help me finish I hope. =20 You can find the first story on the archive or by clicking this: = http://www.lcfanfic.com/stories/2001/exodus.txt ******=20 Many millennia passed. On their former home, their existence was all but = forgotten. The civilization eventually recovered and developed. Legends = and myths were all the knowledge that remained of their removed = brethren.=20 On Krypton, their fledgling civilization flourished. Development was = quick for the now Kryptonians. They were able to quickly adapt much of = their technology for uses that had previously been unnecessary. = Knowledge of their previous home was lost when the last of the original = colonists died. Kal-El became a legend, the great leader who led them = from chaos and destruction to a better place.=20 As the years passed, Kal-El and Liera's descendents continued to reign = as lords of Krypton. Under their leadership, they spread throughout the = globe and reached new heights. Kal-El's vision was realized as they = prospered peacefully on Krypton.=20 ******=20 Lara looked up as Jor-El stormed into the room. He was obviously = incensed. Groaning from the effort, she tried to get up, but her swollen = belly prevented it. Attempting to sooth him she said, "Things didn't go = well?" At his nod she continued. "Poor baby come tell me about it."=20 Jor-El sighed and went to join his wife on the sofa. She leaned into him = and rested her head on his chest, as he held her and began to describe = what happened.=20 "Well, I went to tell my brother, Sar, about my findings in relation to = the recent quakes. So I arrived at the throne room, and the guards admit = me." He sighed dejectedly. "It was obvious by the expression on his face = that he still hadn't forgiven me. He never understood why I would = disobey our father's wishes and abdicate the throne to spend my life = with you, as well as pursue my research." Jor-El paused briefly again.=20 He continued in a sad heavy voice, stroking Lara's hair as he related = the story. "Things did not start well. He obviously wasn't very open to = anything I was gonna say. He just glared at me as if he wanted to say = 'Get on with it, stop wasting my time.' So I presented my case that = these quakes were caused by a growing instability in the planet's = infrastructure." Sighing, he shifted his position before continuing.=20 "He sat there completely impassive as I told him how my preliminary = research showed the planet was beginning to shake itself apart. I = couldn't even tell if he was really listening to my words. When I = finished and offered to hand over my data for other scientists to = review, he called me a 'delusional scientist with intent to spread = panic.' He then dismissed me without another word, ignoring what I had = presented."=20 "He makes me so mad," Jor-El growled through gritted teeth. "Just = because of our falling out he refuses to listen to reason. I'm afraid = he's not gonna realize something should be done until it's too late." = Having finished relating the tale, Jor-El slumped back dejectedly. "I = pray that, upon review, I have made some error, or our entire race may = be doomed."=20 Lara looked at her husband and said soothingly. "Surely if you confirm = your data, even he will listen and we'll be able to put the best minds = on this planet to finding a solution. You've done what you could; = besides, maybe this is all premature."=20 "I guess you're right; I mean I'm not even sure that my experiments are = correct. Maybe it is nothing and I'm blowing it all out of proportion. = Until I do further research, nothing is certain. But if my findings are = true, we won't have time to do anything." Jor-El lightly kissed his = wife's forehead. "Thank you dear, I needed to rant."=20 "Anytime my love." Lara replied.=20 Suddenly the room began to shake. Jor-El held onto Lara protectively, = trying to cushion and protect her from being thrown around. After a = moment, it subsided, but many of the room's contents had been strewn = about. Suddenly Lara cried out. Jor-El turned to her concerned and = hurriedly asked, "Are you ok?" His voice filled with concern.=20 "I'm fine." Lara replied a bit breathlessly. "It's just that our child = suddenly began kicking and it surprised me. He's very active all of a = sudden, think he's protesting all the shaking around." Lara finished = with a chuckle, putting Jor-El's hand on her abdomen so he could feel = the baby move.=20 Jor-El smiled proudly. "That quake was worst than the last one, I was = just worried something might have happened to you or the baby. Boy, = you're right! He is kicking up a storm. He sure is a strong one." = Suddenly Jor-El frowned, remembering the situation.=20 Sadly, he said, "If only we weren't bringing him into such a world. He = may not even have a chance at life." Suddenly, Jor-El sat up very = straight and said in an authoritative voice, "I swear to you right now, = I will do whatever I can to insure our son survives and has a chance to = live his life. Whatever I have to do, I will insure he lives, instead of = perishing with the rest of us."=20 Lara replied, "You aren't in this alone, I'll help you out along the = way. Together we'll find a way to save our child. For now though let's = just rest, besides I'm hungry."=20 "How can you think of food at a time like this?" Jor-EL asked = incredulously.=20 "Because your son wants food, that's how," Lara replied sternly, but her = eyes told Jor-El she was joking.=20 "Not even born and he's my son already?" Jor-El asked teasingly. "Uh = oh."=20 She saw her husband smiling and thought mission accomplished as she went = in search of sustenance.=20 ******=20 Over the next few weeks, Jor-El poured over and over his findings = repeatedly. Each time, he reached the same inevitable conclusion; = Krypton was going to explode. He slammed his fist on the table in = frustration, knocking down several glass containers. He cursed as one of = them shattered, spilling a clear liquid all over.=20 Grumbling, Jor-El carefully cleaned up the mess. The stress was really = beginning to get to him. The quakes had continued to grow stronger, yet = his brother still refused to accept that Krypton was in trouble. Sar-El = insisted that it was a natural shift in the planet and would die down = eventually. Lara was also getting close to term, and he was worried = something would go wrong. Even if they were to die with the planet, he = wasn't sure he could handle anything happening sooner. Besides, he was = still hopeful that something could be done to save them.=20 He had been unable to find a way to save Krypton, it seemed inevitable = that the planet would destroy itself. Nothing could be done to prevent = it. The only obvious solution was to leave the planet and find residence = elsewhere.=20 Jor-El sighed. Finding another habitable planet would take time, but = even that daunting task fell short in comparison to how they'd get = there. So far, no Kryptonian in recorded history had left the surface of = the planet. Not only did they have to develop a way to survive in space; = a way to quickly travel the vast distance would be needed.=20 He rubbed his temples, trying to banish the growing headache; this was = getting him nowhere. The long hours spent researching were taking their = toll on him. Taking a few days rest would probably be a good idea, = besides Lara might need him. Looking around his lab one last time, = Jor-El stepped out and headed home.=20 ******=20 A few days later, Lara went into labor. Jor-El was grateful for his = decision to take some time off because it allowed him to be there for = the miraculous event. Despite all that was happening, he was happy. The = feeling of holding his newborn son in his arms for the first time was = indescribable.=20 As he looked down at his son, all the troubles of the world were = momentarily forgotten as he looked in awe at the wonder of nature. Lara = was resting from her ordeal, but Jor-El couldn't tear himself away. He = stayed with them for hours just sitting and watching them. Jor-El was = still getting used to the idea of being a father.=20 After a while, Lara sleepily opened her eyes and smiled at Jor-El. "Hi," = she mumbled. "You're still here?"=20 Jor-El chuckled. "Of course I'm still here. I couldn't tear myself away = from you two," he grinned. "So how are you feeling?"=20 Lara sighed. "Wiped out. I never realized how tiring this all was."=20 "Well, if you're up to it, we need to decide on a name for this little = guy," He said, indicating their baby. "We can't put it off much longer." = Jor-El took on a melancholy look and continued sadly. "There might not = be much longer."=20 "You're right. It might be pointless to name him, but we should. At = first I thought we'd have all this time, but then in light of your = findings, it just didn't seem like there was a point." Lara sighed = again. "Still I guess we should. Do you have any ideas?"=20 "Yeah, well I've been thinking a lot lately as I've done research, and = here sitting watching you two. I was thinking, how about Kal-El?"=20 "Kal-El? As in *The Kal-El*? The man of myth who brought us from chaos = into order? The supposed first lord of Krypton?" Lara said, sounding = somewhat surprised.=20 "Exactly," Jor-El replied. "He was the hope of our people, as our son = will be if we manage to spare him the fate of our world. I think the = name is very fitting."=20 She pondered for a moment, considering Jor-El's words, before = responding, "I like it. It seems fitting." Looking at their son she = said, "Kal-El," as if testing it out. "Yes. definitely fits. Kal-El," = she repeated.=20 "Kal-El, our son." Jor-El said, leaning over their son. "You are = destined to be the savior of our race. I swear I will find you a new = home where you can survive and prosper. Where you can find someone to = spend your life with as I have your mother. One whom you will be able to = have children with as well, so you can know the joy you've brought us, = however briefly."=20 Jor-El and Lara sat watching Kal-El in silence for a while.=20 ******=20 It was several days before Jor-El was able to return to his work. He had = been afraid to leave Lara and Kal-El alone while they were adjusting to = their new routine. Kal-El was still so small and helpless, it was hard = for Jor-El to leave, but he had to work. There wasn't much time left, = and so much planning to do.=20 First though, Jor-El needed to figure out how long they had left. By now = he should have enough data on the rate of increase of the intensity of = the quakes to make a reasonably accurate estimation.=20 As he made his calculations, he couldn't believe the results. He checked = them over and over again, but each time he reached the same inescapable = conclusion. In about two months, Krypton was going to explode.=20 ****** ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 16:54:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Shadow Fax Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? On Tue, 5 Jun 2001 07:01:16 EDT, C.C. Malo wrote: > >But the most shocking thing in this ep was Lois sewing. Where did she learn >that?? Right after she failed cooking 101? And dying boots!!! Was she >channeling Martha (Kent/Stewart?) > LOL!!! My thoughts, too! And she actually *knew how* to "straighten the line of his cape"??? No way! Another example of how Lois was out of character in this ep. (Although I agree with Hazel that Lois's jealousy was very much in character.) Hazel, I liked your Mirror Crack'd so much better than this ep! Your story was poignant but it didn't leave me with the same hopeless feeling that TA engendered. I felt so sorry for the alternate Clark in the television show and how Lois left him, in many ways, worse off than when she found him. This ep was so heart-rending that I taped over it again the first time I saw it - I thought that I would *never* want to see it again. At one point (when Clark was lying on the stage in agony from the Kryptonite; his relationship with his fiance on the rocks, his hopes for a private life gone, and in actual danger of losing his life) the whole thing struck me as representative of the "no good deed goes unpunished" syndrome so common on television (and in real life??). Lois had only been trying to help - to help Clark to fulfill his potential and to help the world by giving it the Superman it needed - but her efforts almost cost Clark his life. And they did cost him the anonymity he craved. I am so happy when fanfic writers give Clark a happy ending . . . so keep those alternate universe stories coming, guys! Shadowfax ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 01:46:49 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: NEW: Alien Gift (2/?) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Well, I was going to post this earlier, but my sister's prom is tonight, and the 'after-prom party' is at our house -- which means I spent the day running errands, cleaning, and cooking. ;) Anyway, here it is. I hope y'all liked it. Comments of all kinds greatly appreciated. Oh, one more thing. In the first part I said that *xxx* was emphasis and thoughts. Change in plans. ;) *xxx* is emphasis and is thoughts. Bethy Previously: It lay crumpled on the ground, blood streaming from wounds all over its body. Jet black hair, cropped short (though messily), fanned out, blending in with the black of the parking lot, except where it was wet with blood. The blood was similar in color to humans, but a few shades lighter than normal. Clark brushed a lock aside to reveal a swollen, battered face. It was unmistakably a girl's though. She was fine boned, very thin, and appeared about seven years old. At least, about seven human years. Part Two: Suddenly, she moaned again and her pale blood bubbled from her cracked lips. Her eyes fluttered open and Clark was shocked by the depths of pain and beauty he saw there. Such eyes...Clear, deep green, they contained understanding and wisdom no child should possess. "Shh," Clark soothed instinctively, irrationally. Of course she couldn’t understand him. His language, his culture, his attitudes. All were more foreign to her than those of different cultures on earth are to humans. "You’ll be okay." He felt Lois’s comforting touch on his shoulder. He had no idea how long she’d stood there, so lost was he in his reverie. She whispered a question, as though afraid of disturbing the prone child, but her words had virtually no effect on the alien’s state. The child. The alien. The girl. She must have a name, even though she was from another culture, another planet. Right? "Is she okay?" Lois repeated her question more forcefully. "Huh?" Clark’s head jolted up. "Oh. Yeah." He stammered a bit, trying to focus. "I don’t know. She’s badly injured, and I don’t know her normal biological processes, so I can’t determine what, exactly, is out of whack. Other than the obvious cuts and bruises, of course." "She’s definitely not human," Lois responded. "Why don’t we take her to Dr. Klein?" "Great idea, except that a, it's not even four in the morning, and b, I’m not sure I want to move her. I don’t want to aggravate anything unnecessarily. I suppose I could go as Superman and borrow a stretcher or something." He mused aloud, knowing that keeping their ideas in the open was the way he and Lois worked best together. "Why don’t you do that, and I’ll wait here with her?" Lois agreed, and stepped forward to kneel beside the girl. Without warning, she shuddered and tried to move away from Lois. Soft keening sounds emanated from her mouth and her eyes were filled with sheer terror. Lois hurriedly backed away, confused and hurt by the child’s reaction. She knew she wasn’t the best when it came to handling children, but surely she hadn’t done anything to cause any to fear her. Prepared to stalk off and nurse her pain, a sudden realization hit her. Perhaps it wasn’t her! More than likely, whoever had beaten and tormented this child bore some resemblance to Lois. Or, perhaps, they were merely female and now the child associated all females with pain. Maybe females were just the gender associated with cruelty on this foreign world. These thoughts calming her quickly, Lois turned back towards Clark. "Well, I guess that plan isn’t going to work." After a pause during which they both futilely searched for options, Lois asked if he’d x-rayed her for broken bones. "Yeah, she’s got a couple of cracked ribs, one fully broken, a broken fibula, collarbone, wrist, and what looks like a hairline fracture in her ankle." Horrified at the list of broken bones, which by no means was the extent of the injuries, Lois still managed to focus on the problem at hand. "So, no problems with her spinal cord? I don’t see why, if you’re careful, you can’t just carry her to Dr. Klein." "I could," Clark acquiesced, "but I’m afraid I might shift the ribs and end up puncturing a lung. But it looks like that’s just a risk I’ll have to take." He took Lois a little further away and spoke in conspiratorial tones. "I can’t tell if she’s lucid or not, or if she’ll even remember any of this, so I’m going to leave and change into Superman. You’ll only be alone with her for a second, and hopefully she’ll respond okay to me as Superman." Lois nodded and he disappeared. * * * Superman flew over StarLabs, only to be disappointed by the lack of light from Dr. Klein’s lab. he berated himself. But what was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t exactly wait until morning to get Dr. Klein (or, at least, *a* doctor), this girl needed medical attention ASAP. He tried to calm his thoughts, noticing that every time they got out of control, the girl tensed. He repeated the three words in his head, almost as a mantra, hoping that they would calm him enough to prevent agitating the child any more than she already was. And, hey, there was the off chance that it might produce some flash of brilliance. He debated whether to put her health over her secret and take her to the emergency room, but discarded the thought rather quickly. After all, her physiology was obviously somewhat different than that of a human, and, other than stopping external bleeding (which was slowing already), there was little any regular doctor could do. No, Dr. Klein was his best hope for getting her any real medical assistance. Private weekend time notwithstanding, he was going to have to intrude on Dr. Klein’s sleep. Having made his decision, for better or for worse, he felt better and immediately began flying towards the Klein residence. He noticed that the girl seemed to calm a bit in reaction to his resolution. Was she that sensitive to his tenseness? Or was it something else? No matter, he could worry about that later, right now he had some medical attention to seek. * * * "Dr. Klein?" Superman called hesitantly after opening the unlocked front door. He had knocked first, of course, but knocking appeared to have been insufficient to waken the slumbering scientist. Was he really so trusting as to not bother with locks? Or just so absentminded that he completely forgot about them? Either way, it didn't matter now. Superman stepped into a short, sparse hallway with absolutely no lights. He looked for a place to lay down the girl in order to have both hands free when attempting to wake Dr. Klein. The kitchen was obviously out, all it had was a flimsy card table and some rickety folding chairs. And a counter covered with open containers of food, all in various stages of mold and decay. Was this a symbol of a lazy bachelor, or a scientist who was so obsessed with his work that he turned everything into an experiment? A look into the living room seemed to indicate the latter -- there was a couch covered with papers, journals, empty bowls, and what looked like half-eaten sandwiches. The couch itself, an old, battered sofa bed style, looked like a relic of Klein's college days. Come to think of it, it probably was. All this was taken in with a glance, and Superman quickly cleaned off the couch as best he could, gently laying the girl down without aggravating her injuries. Despite his best efforts in transporting her, she had still passed out from pain. Actually, it was amazing she had maintained consciousness for as long as she had. Still detecting no signs of life from Dr. Klein, Superman gritted his teeth and headed towards the bedroom. He just hoped Dr. Klein didn't sleep in the nude, or anything scary like that. He knocked on the half-closed bedroom door. He really hoped he wouldn't have to go in there. Already breaking and entering, not to mention invading this poor man's privacy, Superman didn't want any more obstacles to getting the doctor's help. "Dr. Klein?" He spoke a little louder than a whisper; when that didn't work, he repeated himself more urgently at a normal speaking level. "Wha...what?!?!" Dr. Klein sat straight up in bed, his eyes searching the darkness. "Who's there? What's going on? Don’t come any closer! I’ve... I’ve...” He rummaged around on the floor and grabbed a discarded (and very misplaced) pancake flipper. "I’ve got a weapon!" "Dr. Klein, relax! It’s me...Superman." "Superman?" Dr. Klein frowned, trying to assimilate this new information. "You’re not a burglar." Superman let out a nervous laugh. "No. Um, your front door was unlocked, and it was a bit of an emergency, so I...just came in." "Oh. Okay." Dr. Klein was still too sleepy to fully understand what Superman was saying, but it seemed to make sense. "Wait a minute, you said emergency? What kind of emergency? Are you hurt? You’d better sit down. Now!" Dr. Klein jumped out of bed, displaying the ragged sweatpants and t-shirt that he obviously used as sleepwear. Superman felt some measure of relief that at least he didn’t sleep in the nude. "Calm down, Dr. Klein. I’m fine. It’s this little girl..." Dr. Klein looked thoroughly confused now. "A little girl? Why didn’t you take her to a hospital? Superman, I’m not really qualified as a pediatrician. Heck, I’m not even supposed to be practicing as a medical doctor, I just do it to help you out, but…Why didn’t you just take her to a hospital?" "Well, you see..." Superman hesitated. He didn’t want to spring another shock on the poor man, but couldn’t see any way around it. "She’s an alien." "Oh. An alien." Dr. Klein stopped, as though trying to understand this point, then simply gave up. "I see. Well, where is she? Let’s go." * * * "Hmm...Broken rib, probably a couple more fractured, can’t really tell without an x-ray. Looks like a couple more broken bones, definitely a broken fibula -- you know it’s broken when there’re two knees. Internal bleeding. Probably a concussion, eyes don’t seem to be focusing. Course, that could be because she’s unconscious. I never could get that stuff straight." Dr. Klein muttered to himself as he examined the child. He didn’t totally understand what was going on, and wasn’t sure he wanted to. If he could just help this girl and send her back wherever she came from, he could get back to his normal life of mad-scientist experiments and treating his usual extra-terrestrial. "Yeah, that’s about what I found." Superman’s voice cut into his thoughts. He’d almost forgotten about the superhero. "I found a couple of cracked ribs, with one fully broken on the right side, broken right fibula, left collarbone and wrist, and what looks like a hairline fracture in the right ankle. I can’t verify the concussion, though, but I’d agree with you there." "Wow, Superman, I didn’t realize you had such extensive medical knowledge." He knew that Superman was intelligent, but hadn’t realized the extent to which his knowledge ranged. "I don’t really. I’ve learned how to recognize wounds, and stop immediate bleeding when necessary, but I usually leave the medical treatment up to the professionals. Which is why I brought her here. What are you going to do?" He sounded really worried about the girl, adding to Dr. Klein’s confusion. Did he have some attachment to her? Maybe she was another Kryptonian...no, then she’d be invulnerable. Besides, her physiology bore subtle differences from Superman’s and from that of humans, which explained why Superman didn’t want to bring her to a hospital. But as to her origins... Klein guessed this was just another mystery he’d have to file away and wait for answers later. Noticing the relative lack of blood from the wounds, combined with the tall, thin skelstructure, Klein surmised that the alien was from a lower gravity planet from Earth. In the long run, that would pose some problems. The higher gravity of Earth would place added pressure on her heart, forcing it to work harder that it was capable. "Superman, can you run, er, fly over to StarLabs and get me some medial equipment? I don’t have anything here to treat her with, other than a regular first aid kit." Noting the surprised expression on the other man’s face, Klein retorted, "I may be absent-minded but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of taking care of myself!" "Sorry." Superman looked contrite. Probably hadn’t realized his thoughts showed so clearly on his face. "What do you need?" * * * After Superman returned from StarLabs, Dr. Klein treated the child’s injuries as well as he could. Superman turned out to be a great help, x-raying as they went, alerting Dr. Klein to potential problems and letting him know when bones were in line. "Okay, I think we’ve done all we can. Now it’s up to her." "Shouldn’t we wake her up now? I know that you aren’t supposed to let people sleep very long with a concussion." Dr. Klein considered this. "Well, that is a good point. But sleep is also a healing device. If we wake her up now, she will most likely panic, and then even if she does sleep again, it will be uneasy. But if she reacts the same as humans to a concussion, letting her sleep could be very dangerous. I don’t know!" "I’m not completely sure, but I think she can sense emotions. Every time I tensed up while carrying her, she got restless. But she was more calm with me than with...anyone else." He sounded like he was going to say a person’s name, but caught himself in time. Naturally, this aroused Dr. Klein’s curiosity -- who was Superman with in the middle of the night? Or was he speaking of generic bystanders, ones he happened to know? "Why don’t I leave the room and you wake her up? Then, if she seems calm, I can come back in." Dr. Klein hoped his reasoning was sound. In truth, he wasn’t sure if he *wanted* to be there when the girl woke up. He didn’t have very good people skills, nor was he talented when it came to bedside manner. He was even worse with children. Even when he was a child, he just seemed to have a hard time understanding the intricacies of the immature mind. "Okay," he heard Superman say, not without some relief. "Fine, why don’t I go change then, maybe get some breakfast, and you call when you’re ready, okay?" Klein cut himself off before he could truly babble. "Right. I’ll just go, then." * * * "CLARK!" Lois’s voice rang out, slicing through the early morning silence. "Where *is* he?" she muttered, shivering in the cool night air. He’d only left a few minutes ago, but it seemed an eternity to Lois. What exactly did he expect her to do? Sit on her duff while he had all the fun? She instantly revoked the thought -- of course he wasn’t having *fun.* But still... "Clark! I wish you would hurry up, it’s freezing out here." The thought never even crossed her mind that she might appear a little bit crazy -- standing in the middle of a motel parking lot, at four in the morning, wearing nothing but a baggy pair of cotton shorts and a tee-shirt, talking to her non-existent husband. Nope, not crazy at all. Though it was still early fall, and the colder weather hadn’t set in yet, night air remained cool. Rubbing her arms to restore circulation, Lois began pacing in circles. She rationalized her aversion to logic by remembering her favorite quote about assumptions. A sudden light interrupted Lois's thoughts, and she realized that people in the motel were beginning to get up and prepare for the new day. Just then noticing her situation, she decided that maybe it was time to return to the room. Not that she *cared* if people saw her...in her pajamas...in the parking lot...pacing in circles...No! She was just getting cold, and wanted to warm up a bit. Having completely justified her decision, she resolutely headed back to her room to wait for Clark...under the covers. * * * Pain. Pain so great it was coming out of her ears. She tried to move, but it hurt. She tried to open her eyes, but it hurt. She tried to breathe, but it hurt. What didn't hurt? She couldn't tell anymore. There was no longer any difference between consciousness and pain. With one came the other. The only relief came when she (mercifully) passed out. Which was where she *was,* but now there was this annoying sound intruding on her relatively painless peace. G'way. She wanted to get rid of the noise, but it just wouldn't go away, and she couldn't make herself actually *do* anything about it. * * * TBC... Comments welcome on the list or at bethyem@yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 22:12:10 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: NEW: Alien Gift (2/?) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bethy - I am enjoying this and would like to see more soon! CM (who really needs to finish her own story instead of reading others!) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 20:55:32 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all: This has been a most interesting topic, and we've seen that every Folc has a different 'take' on how to use the MBs for both reading and posting. Just emphasizes the many differences within our group. We have to use the Boards in the way that is best for us. Whatever I read I have to save to Word, convert to 22 point type, print it out and read it with a magnifier. I can manage reading the message posts from the screen with a magnifier, but long things just aren't possible. I think there are probably others who prefer to print and then read. The problem with wips is that there is just too much time in between the posts to keep up with them. Another point that I don't think anyone has brought up is that often when someone is looking for a story, they are pointed at Zoom's Boards, but if the story that is posted there was just a wip and has since been changed, then the reader is really not getting the best effort of the writer. I've just finished "Secrets", a sequel to "The Circle Game", and my beta readers are now on it. I'll post it on Zoom's boards over a period of several days when they've finished. I could never post a wip because I don't write in sequence. In the case of the aforementioned stories, I wrtote the end when I was about half way through and then wrote backwards from there. What I post will be a story completed to my satisfaction, but then I'll make changes according to the feedback I get before I send it on to the archives. I heartily agree with the person who said that the feedback dialogue that takes place on the Boards produces some great friendships. (I'm sure this is more than you ever wanted to know about my persoanl reading, writing and posting habits.) :) Jude ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 23:54:12 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Bain Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once In-Reply-To: <002501c0ee3c$8a52bb20$06fdfd3f@v1t9j4> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed I know I've said before that I generally don't read a story in progress. I wait for the final version to hit the archive! Long stories I print out, shorter ones I read on screen. There are a couple of reasons for this - first of all, there are often two or more stories in progress at any one time, and after a while I have trouble keeping track of what's going on in which story! Especially when I usually have at least one book going, too. Also, I know I won't have time to read the story twice (once here, once on the archive), so I'd rather wait for the finished, polished version. As far as posting goes - nobody sees my first drafts! I frequently go back and change things in the early part of the story to make them fit in with what happens later, anyway, and I do lots of rewriting! By the time I've done all that, and it's been through my trusty beta-readers, I just want to get rid of it! Sending it to the archive is the easiest way to do that. I do seem to get plenty of feedback, and the archive's the only place I've posted my L&C fic, so maybe it's true that if people comment on a story posted here, they won't comment again when it hits the archive. Becky rbain@qwest.net "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any proof of." - Rosa Parks, from her autobiography Stride Toward Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 01:25:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Well I guess I'll throw in my two cents. As a new author and reader, = though i've been reading longer then writing, I can say that it never = really occured to me to give feedback until i found zoom's boards. I = was not used to giving people feedback on there work before now unless = they were friends and asked, or when I edited things for school = projects. Even now my habit of feedback is slim for the archive. Now I'm one who reads as soon as possible on a story, and I've begun = to realize stories don't seem as long when posted in segments so it's = easier to read a really long story. I haven't read Caped Fear because = of it's length and had trouble with Burnout (sorry Lab but yours are = just so long ;) ) even though I thought it was great. OTH I read Faux = Pas as it was being posted and I'm not sure I could sit through reading = it, I read on my computer so as not to use up paper and I don't like = stopping in progress but I can't really shift positions as I do when I = read a book on paper. I also give feedback much more on the boards it's = easier. Now that I'm done with my experiences as a reader I'll go into them as a = writer. I started posting on zoom's boards to get the drive to finish, = as I typically start and never finish stories but knowing people were = reading and wanting more helped. In addition it changed my focus and = added elements I'm glad were added, that never occured to me but in = retrospetc really made sense. Also, since I've gotten two of my fics on = the archive I've gotten one and only one feedbakc mail about a week = after my second story went up, it was on the second one. If I had say = posted my first one to the archive and gotten as little feedbakc I'd = probably never have written again. I know it's not really what majority = of people read and that probably influences the lack of feedback, but I = was surprised to get none for my first fic in about a month of it being = on the archive. So I see much more feedback going on the boards then = through the archive, both from my own habbits as well as my experience = of dfeedback for my own stories. From where I stand posting in segments = seems very beneficial. Now to give a slightly contradictory view going back to being a reader = is that it's really annoying and frustrating sometimes to read in = segments as cliffhangers and long time between posts are hard, I hate = waiting and like reading all at once ;). Basically it all boils down to personal preference I guess, authors = should handle it how they want and readers can either avoid reading the = segments and wait for the finished product, or choose to read the = segments in a case of posting in segments. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 01:26:42 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Oops I should have said I enjoyed Faux Pas as well, both Wendy and Lab = are great authors along with many others but that was the example to = compare that came to my mind when I was writing. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 12:44:51 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Shadowfax wrote: >On Tue, 5 Jun 2001 07:01:16 EDT, C.C. Malo wrote: > > >But the most shocking thing in this ep was Lois sewing. Where did she >learn > >that?? Right after she failed cooking 101? And dying boots!!! Was she > >channeling Martha (Kent/Stewart?) > > >LOL!!! My thoughts, too! And she actually *knew how* to "straighten the >line of his cape"??? No way! Another example of how Lois was out of >character in this ep. (Although I agree with Hazel that Lois's jealousy >was very much in character.) I, too, found that line of Carol's to be very funny. I always assumed that's why the cape needed straightening. :) >Hazel, I liked your Mirror Crack'd so much better than this ep! Your story >was poignant but it didn't leave me with the same hopeless feeling that TA >engendered. I felt so sorry for the alternate Clark in the television show >and how Lois left him, in many ways, worse off than when she found him. Wow, Shadowfax, thank you! :) You're making me blush. And may I add how much I like your nick? There are a number of LotR fans among the FoLCs. Ask Irene about the uproar she had when she tried to name a villain "Strider"! ;) Carol also wrote: >>>But now I'm convinced that Lois was being dim -- consequence of a bad hair day.>>> LOL! I think we can safely put you in the "What happened to your hair?" camp, then? ;) >>>Hazel, you've almost convinced me that Herb needs to be restrained. Wonder what would happen if he and Bernie Klein ever got together? The universe would never be the same.>>> Perhaps the universe *isn't* the same any more, thanks to Herb's meddling... But I like Bernie KIein immensely. His biggest fault, perhaps, is his overtrusting nature; he seems to take people at face value. That trait, coupled with Herb's tendencies to play diety, could indeed cause a great deal of trouble! More fuel for that fanfic, hmm... :) And thanks for your words re CPOV. As Tank said, though, I prolly couldn't have written it if I *had* seen the ep first. Hazel, who also thanks Yvonne and Jen for their responses _______ "Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 10:51:51 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Adam wrote: Now I'm one who reads as soon as possible on a story, and I've begun to realize stories don't seem as long when posted in segments so it's easier to read a really long story. I haven't read Caped Fear because of it's length and had trouble with Burnout (sorry Lab but yours are just so long ;) ) even though I thought it was great. OTH I read Faux Pas as it was being posted and I'm not sure I could sit through reading it, I read on my computer so as not to use up paper and I don't like stopping in progress but I can't really shift positions as I do when I read a book on paper. I also give feedback much more on the boards it's easier. I understand the comparison you're making isn't between Faux Pas/Burnout re. length, but between FP/Burnout as opposed to one being posted in manageable segments and the other posted as a complete entity on the Archive, Adam - but have to admit you took me aback a little with that one. Caped Fear I'll give you but I hadn't considered Burnout to be of any spectacular length until now. Actually it's 512k on the Archive and Faux Pas is 813k. Lonesome is just a smidgen less than that at 496k and I know you read that one in segments on the mbs (thanks for the fdk. ). Is it really that long? Don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with you not having read Burnout , it's just that the reason took me by surprise. I'd considered Burnout to be of pretty average length up till now. Isn't it? Course, on comparisons such as these, I'm not to be trusted. For 30 years I've been writing for fandoms, prior to FoLCdom, where a long story was 400 A4 pages (no idea what that would be in k!) and 50 A4 pages was considered to be pretty short. ;) So I may just be out of step here. LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 06:32:16 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I wrote: >>>Hazel, you've almost convinced me that Herb needs to be restrained. Wonder what would happen if he and Bernie Klein ever got together? The universe would never be the same.>>> Hazel replied: <> Oh, I get a kick out of Bernie, too. He's sort of endearing -- but he has a capacity to screw up (out of the best of intentions) that could make him inadvertently dangerous were he and Herb to team up. Definitely more fuel for your fic, Hazel -- the motorbike, & Bernie and Herb's intergalactic road trip. Think of the chaos they could create. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 13:16:40 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicole Wolke Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There were a lot of responses, stating from both the writer's and the reader's view that it is nice to read in instalments. My question however is, are there also readers who like having the story posted at once to the MB or to the list, if the story is already finished? I always posted my stories at once to the MB since I wanted feedback and I got it. Due to my little language problem, the story was always finished when I posted it there, so I thought it would have been cheating posting it in instalments, since it was all done and why people tease unnecessarily? But now I get the impression that the readers on the MB *want* to be teased and that some readers even skip a story if it is posted it all at once to the MBs. Also some readers state that they can't keep up with the archive, so does that mean, those readers won't possibly read any story that is not posted in instalments? A lot of readers said, that they don't have the time to read a story from the archive, especially if it is a big one. I must say though, that reading a finished story doesn't necessarily mean that you have to read it in one row. Even I don't have enough time to read a story like Faux Pas in one row . What I prefer though, is that I can follow my own rhythm. I don't want the writer to let me hanging when I really need to know how it is going to turn out :-). That's why I prefer reading full stories. Nicole -- AKA CKgroupie on IRC/AIM NKWolke@t-online.de "The Dean Cain News Page" http://members.tripod.de/CKgroupie/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 08:01:25 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Definitely more fuel > for your fic, Hazel -- the motorbike, & Bernie and Herb's intergalactic road > trip. Think of the chaos they could create. Anyone who wants to see the Herb & Bernie road show should get on over to the message boards and find Zoomway's "Persistence of Memory", though I should warn you that it's not finished yet. There are definitely some priceless scenes in there, though! -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 08:21:50 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Pam wrote: <> Ah, but Zoom's Bernie and Herb are relatively benign, aren't they? But, you're right that Zoom has written some wonderful scenes. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 15:27:02 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? In-Reply-To: <65.15719704.284f60b0@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Carol wrote: >Oh, I get a kick out of Bernie, too. He's sort of endearing -- but he has a >capacity to screw up (out of the best of intentions) that could make him >inadvertently dangerous were he and Herb to team up. Definitely more fuel >for your fic, Hazel -- the motorbike, & Bernie and Herb's intergalactic road >trip. Think of the chaos they could create. Carol, I cannot begin to tell you what a bizarre picture you just put in your mind. Bernie and Herb on an intergalactic road trip on Bernie's motorbike... Oh, my! :) A definitely upgrade on the usual time machine, wouldn't you say? :) BTW, Pam mentioned Zoom's story on the boards. I tried to read it, I really did, but... TWO Herbs? One is barely tolerable! :) It does, though, have the usual Zoomway flair, so anyone without a Herb obsession (that is, everyone else but me ) will probably enjoy it tremendously. Hazel ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 08:35:29 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would guess, based on the diversity of opinion here, that it's probably best for a writer to post both in installments and to the archive in order to appeal to all types of readers. Still, I would prefer just to post to the archive because I do a lot of revising and it's that revised version that I would prefer people to consider reading. As a reader, it's different. I really enjoy reading a story that's complete -- that way I get a real feeling of the atmosphere of that particular story, something I lose when I jump from one story to another on the mbs. It may take me a while with those longer stories -- but it does with books too. And when a story is really good and it's a rainy weekend, it's a luxurious way to spend a couple of hours. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 07:39:56 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Chris Carr Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once I've enjoyed reading the comments in this thread very much, and they have certainly given me a lot to think about. I have posted stories to the mbs, and I have been heartily grateful for the feedback I've received as a result. I also think that, by posting individual scenes, the author does get to see precisely which bits of a story work and which don't in a way that isn't possible with feedback from the archived versions. Plus, as others have mentioned, precious little feedback is forthcoming from archive readers anyway. However... I have to say that I probably won't try to post a wip to the mbs again, at least not until I am positive I will get it finished in short order. Why? Because of my experiences with Extraordinary Man. The feedback I got from that story was great, and I got a real buzz from it. But Real Life got in the way while I was writing. (Semester One was tough, teaching wise, and my father was terminally ill.) I just didn't have the time, or, perhaps more truthfully, the inclination to write. The result is that I feel very guilty for the way I treated the readers of the mbs. I promised to deliver a story, and I didn't. *I* hate unfinished stories, and I'm very disappointed that that is what I gave them. I didn't live up to my responsibilities as an author, and I don't like that feeling. I *do* believe that authors have a responsibility to their readers to finish what they start. I have, finally, started working Extraordinary Man again, but I'm fearful that, if I start posting again, I'll let people down. Again. And I don't want to do that. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here. Maybe that it is a question of doing what works best for you as a writer *or* as a reader. I haven't frequented the boards since before Easter. There were a couple of stories there that I promised myself that I would follow through until their conclusion. And did I? No. Because I had two weeks without my computer over Easter, they got away from me. With luck I'll read them when the final versions get to the archive. What can I say? I'm not a "good" user of the mbs. I can't finish as story that I've begun, either as a writer or as a reader! :( Chris ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 08:37:16 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once Hey, Chris, I really don't think you should feel as if you're letting your readers down because you were unable to continue posting EM. I'm sure that the vast majority of readers are simply grateful to receive installments of a story whenever they can get them. Yes, ideally, they'd like to get regular installments, as has been indicated here, but they're a pretty tolerant lot at heart . I say post as much as you can, whenever you can. If you can provide a link back to the previous sections when you've been absent for a while, so much the better. While I'm on, can I say I'm amazed at the response my brief query prompted. It's nice to see some lively discussion going on here again :) Yvonne ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 08:46:05 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once Sorry, me again! Nicky said: But now I get the impression that the readers on the MB *want* to be teased and that some readers even skip a story if it is posted it all at once to the MBs. Also some readers state that they can't keep up with the archive, so does that mean, those readers won't possibly read any story that is not posted in instalments? I think you're probably right on both counts, Nicky. MB readers, in my experience, prefer things in instalments, and may find a whole story posted in one fell swoop too overwhelming. As a writer, and speaking entirely selfishly, I can also say that you're guaranteed a better feedback response if you post in instalments than if you post all at once. Sheila, amongst others, experienced this when she posted a story which everyone had been clamouring for - having done as requested, and put the story onto the message boards, the reader response was tiny. She was left wondering whether anyone actually read it and/or liked it. Yvonne ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 09:07:32 -0500 Reply-To: truitt22@flash.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: timothy truitt Organization: tnt technical services Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Thought I'd put my 2 cents worth here as an avid reader of L & C fanfic. It doesn't matter which to me. I enjoy the installments on the boards. However - when a new story appears on the archives that hasn't been on the boards, I enjoy that too. When I first started reading L & C fanfic, it was from the archives - and I did not know to respond. I learned quickly, although I did not go back and respond to every story, I did make a general response at the time. Now I try to respond to every story I read. If it is brand new on the archives I respond. If the story has been on the boards, and I have read it in segments that don't have major changes, I generally don't respond to the archive version. I appreciate all of the authors and their creativity. I enjoy the fanfic. Thank you. merry ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 17:01:44 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Chris Carr wrote: >However... I have to say that I probably won't try to post a wip to the mbs >again, at least not until I am positive I will get it finished in short >order. Why? Because of my experiences with Extraordinary Man. > I just didn't have the >time, or, perhaps more truthfully, the inclination to write. The result is >that I feel very guilty for the way I treated the readers of the mbs. I >promised to deliver a story, and I didn't. As someone who loved Extraordinary Man (esp. for the way you had LnC tear into Wells ), I will tell you most emphatically that I never felt cheated. Most of us can understand and appreciate that fandom often needs to take a back seat to RL. I love your writing for its lyrical tone and your ability to show us emotion; it doesn't matter if I get that only one bit at a time. And don't think you're the only author that has ever left readers hanging! I wrote CPOV over the course of seven or eight months, with at least two two-month breaks. And for those On the Run fans... Well, they're still waiting. ;) Take your time, Chris. And post to the mbs if you want to. I think you'll find that your cheerleading section hasn't thrown in the pompoms yet. :) Hazel _______ "Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 11:48:01 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jude wrote: << I could never post a wip because I don't write in sequence. In the case of the aforementioned stories, I wrtote the end when I was about half way through and then wrote backwards from there. >> Maybe this is at the root of my problem with posting WIPs on the MBs. I don't typically write in order either. I had a small problem with this when posting Metanoia, since I started posting sections out of order, which I now realize was quite annoying for readers. When I started posting Hysteron Proteron without having finished it, I thought I knew where it was going to end, so I didn't think posting a WIP would be a big deal for me (wrong, wrong, wrong...) Like Chris, I felt guilty because near the end I had to increase the time between posts when real life intervened. After reading my previous post (and the responses to it), I wanted to make sure it was clear that I do enjoy the comments posted to the MBs about my stories; I just didn't know the proper way to use them, and let my ideas for my story get out of control. I think I've learned my lesson, and will better use them next time, as an addition to a completed fic rather than relying on them to complete my fic. I *do* appreciate all the faithful MB readers and their helpful comments. Christy attalanta@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 12:22:49 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable LabRat wrote: I understand the comparison you're making isn't between Faux Pas/Burnout = re. length, but between FP/Burnout as opposed to one being posted in = manageable segments and the other posted as a complete entity on the Archive, Adam = - but have to admit you took me aback a little with that one. Caped Fear = I'll give you but I hadn't considered Burnout to be of any spectacular = length until now. Actually it's 512k on the Archive and Faux Pas is 813k. = Lonesome is just a smidgen less than that at 496k and I know you read that one in segments on the mbs (thanks for the fdk. ). Is it really that long? = Don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with you not having read Burnout = , it's just that the reason took me by surprise. I'd considered Burnout to = be of pretty average length up till now. Isn't it? Course, on comparisons such as these, I'm not to be trusted. For 30 = years I've been writing for fandoms, prior to FoLCdom, where a long story was 400 A4 pages (no idea what that would be in k!) and 50 A4 pages was considered to be pretty short. ;) So I may just be out of step here. LabRat :) LabRat I have read Burnout and I really liked it, why do you think I = hounded you about SDB, it was just hard for me to get through cause of = the length ;) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 11:03:26 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Vicki Krell Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Chris, as someone who REALLY enjoyed your posts on Extraordinary Man, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't feel let down by the fact that you weren't able to finish it as you may have originally envisioned. I missed it, but I had heard that you were having some things going on in RL that precluded you from writing and posting and I understood that, and sympathized! I hadn't realized that your father was terminally ill, and I'm so sorry to hear that. I guess the point that I wanted to make was that I'm thrilled that you will be finishing Extraordinary Man, and I will eagerly await its arrival on either the MB's or as a finished product someday on the archive. I am definitely still interested in it, and I didn't want you to feel that you were letting your readers down as a writer at all (now it sounds like I'm trying to tell you how to feel - argh. ;-)). Okay, what I'm trying to say [badly] is that I don't feel let down, I hope that RL is a little less hectic for you, and I will patiently wait for Extraordinary Man in whatever format you are able to post it, and for as long as it takes. I think I'll shut up now, because I'm babbling. :) Vicki -----Original Message----- From: Chris Carr [mailto:chris@CARR55.FSNET.CO.UK] Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 5:40 AM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once I've enjoyed reading the comments in this thread very much, and they have certainly given me a lot to think about. I have posted stories to the mbs, and I have been heartily grateful for the feedback I've received as a result. I also think that, by posting individual scenes, the author does get to see precisely which bits of a story work and which don't in a way that isn't possible with feedback from the archived versions. Plus, as others have mentioned, precious little feedback is forthcoming from archive readers anyway. However... I have to say that I probably won't try to post a wip to the mbs again, at least not until I am positive I will get it finished in short order. Why? Because of my experiences with Extraordinary Man. The feedback I got from that story was great, and I got a real buzz from it. But Real Life got in the way while I was writing. (Semester One was tough, teaching wise, and my father was terminally ill.) I just didn't have the time, or, perhaps more truthfully, the inclination to write. The result is that I feel very guilty for the way I treated the readers of the mbs. I promised to deliver a story, and I didn't. *I* hate unfinished stories, and I'm very disappointed that that is what I gave them. I didn't live up to my responsibilities as an author, and I don't like that feeling. I *do* believe that authors have a responsibility to their readers to finish what they start. I have, finally, started working Extraordinary Man again, but I'm fearful that, if I start posting again, I'll let people down. Again. And I don't want to do that. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here. Maybe that it is a question of doing what works best for you as a writer *or* as a reader. I haven't frequented the boards since before Easter. There were a couple of stories there that I promised myself that I would follow through until their conclusion. And did I? No. Because I had two weeks without my computer over Easter, they got away from me. With luck I'll read them when the final versions get to the archive. What can I say? I'm not a "good" user of the mbs. I can't finish as story that I've begun, either as a writer or as a reader! :( Chris ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 16:21:22 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Elizabeth Rowe(Juliet)" Subject: Another divorce/annulment question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If you're trying to dissolve a 20 year marriage, would you be able to annul it? Especially if it was unconsummated and you have proof that you didn't enter into it willingly? The state I'm looking for is Connecticut and it's for a fic. Juliet ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 17:08:06 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Another divorce/annulment question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/06/2001 4:31:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, SWEETVALLEY99@AOL.COM writes: << If you're trying to dissolve a 20 year marriage, would you be able to annul it? Especially if it was unconsummated and you have proof that you didn't enter into it willingly? >> an unconsummated 20 year marriage? Hmm, that must be a darned unusual situation! Why suddenly all these questions about divorce? Is this the next trend in fanfic? (you know, early on before the series ended there were tons of marriage fics, then later baby fics, then alt-Clark fics....) --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 17:20:32 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Elizabeth Rowe(Juliet)" Subject: Re: Another divorce/annulment question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/6/01 5:14:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Larus2407@AOL.COM writes: << In a message dated 06/06/2001 4:31:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, SWEETVALLEY99@AOL.COM writes: << If you're trying to dissolve a 20 year marriage, would you be able to annul it? Especially if it was unconsummated and you have proof that you didn't enter into it willingly? >> An unconsummated 20 year marriage? Hmm, that must be a darned unusual situation! Why suddenly all these questions about divorce? Is this the next trend in fanfic? (you know, early on before the series ended there were tons of marriage fics, then later baby fics, then alt-Clark fics....) --Laurie >> It's for a fic I'm writing that deals with somebody being in a 20 year marriage against her will. She's finally fed up and decides she wants out. And no it's never been consummated. There are other factors but that's the gist of it for the question I need answered. Juliet ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 17:35:00 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Tank Wilson Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm coming back to this topic to bring out one more point that I don't think has been brought up yet. I may get crucified for mentioning it, but because I post everything I write to the boards and in instalments I'm very aware of the format. I will consciously write my stories in an episodic nature to accomidate the posting in instalments (or chapters if you prefer). I usually have a scene or two that I want to get through in each instalment and I plan my action around such a schedule. This also includes the appearance of cliffhangers and tension building devices. One of the reasons I prefer the instalment plan is because by their very nature, teases and cliffhangers work soooooo much better if you can't imediately move on to the next scene. I've often felt that my stories in particular don't work as well if they are read all at once. If I have any cliffhanging action, it's impact is lost if you can imediately read on that everything turned out okay. But then, I like cliffhanging action. It builds anticipation for the next part of the story and builds character in the gentle readers . Tank (who doesn't think that he'll get into the habit of making his normal after post comments on the list, but will save it only for the message boards) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 23:19:12 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Adam wrote: LabRat I have read Burnout and I really liked it, why do you think I hounded you about SDB, it was just hard for me to get through cause of the length ;) Which, it appears, is very long, Adam. I'm definitely out of step. I might have to readjust my thinking here. ;) Glad you'd read Burnout and enjoyed it - but I wouldn't have minded if you hadn't, for whatever reason. It was just I was still wallowing in the nostalgia of 50page vignettes and way behind the times when I read your post earlier. LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 23:02:18 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/06/2001 6:20:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, labrat@BLUEYONDER.CO.UK writes: << It was just I was still wallowing in the nostalgia of 50page vignettes >> huh? I like long stories. :) --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 22:56:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Liz S Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once In my humble opinion, I think it's at the writer's discretion. Some only feel comfortable posting a finished work to the archives, or, alternately to the MB's or Anne's Archives, because it would be too distressing to get their story too torn apart. And, I can see that point. I might feel the same way. However, the other side of the coin has merit too. It's great if you're a writer that can fairly consistently keep up with writing and real life. Some obviously can, but, others just can't. So, which is preferred? Well, it also goes back to reading habits. Some readers won't read a story from Zoom's boards until it's done, thinking, maybe it never will get done. But, myself, I enjoy a work in progress, and taking the time whenever possible to write to the reader with my comments. However, I also try to write to those writers who post complete stories. One big difference with feedback: Often, those posting complete stories end up waiting longer for feedback, since the reader will most likely take longer to finish. So, either way I'm happy since I also love being surprised with a long fic to look forward to reading over the next week when maybe I've caught up on everything else. But, then again, I just so happy that so many of you keep writing, and Chris C., please know that whenever you are ready to write again, I'll be a willing reader, I've experienced very similar RL experiences to yours--it's never easy. But, it's nice to know that you have so many friends (FoLCs) that are out there and are thinking of you. Liz S. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 01:55:26 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Chris Carr Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once On Wed, 6 Jun 2001 22:56:39 -0500, Liz S wrote: > and Chris C., please know that whenever you are ready to write >again, I'll be a willing reader, I've experienced very similar RL >experiences to yours--it's never easy. But, it's nice to know that you >have so many friends (FoLCs) that are out there and are thinking of you. > I certainly agree wholeheartedly about the friendliness of FoLCs! :) For those people who have said nice things about EM, and for showing patience beyond expectations with regard to my posting schedule (or lack of) -- thank you. You've all made me smile. A lot! Chris ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 10:24:47 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > huh? I like long stories. :) > > --Laurie LOL. And there's some reason you think I don't, Laurie? I was working on including the long stories by implication, sorry for the confusion. Perhaps I should have finished the thought more clearly. The nostalgia of 50 page vignettes and since vignettes were 50 pages by implication the nostalgia of 400 page long stories. ;) LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 11:32:31 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Posting in instalments or all at once MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit LabRat wrote, in response to Laurie, re long stories: > The nostalgia of 50 > page vignettes and since vignettes were 50 pages by implication the > nostalgia of 400 page long stories. ;) Well, I *could* always take on board Pam's suggestions about the ending of Green Card, which would probably push its length up by the 100 pages necessary to meet Rat's target... ;) Wendy -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 08:32:41 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 7/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit charade: Part 7 by Nan Smith Lois woke late after a disturbed night. Clark, of course, had disappeared, but the excellent breakfast delivered to her by the little, uniformed maid bore the unmistakable stamp of his handiwork. She breakfasted in a leisurely way, enjoying his cooking, even if she couldn't enjoy his company, all the while mulling over the events of the previous night. His hearing had recovered quickly, but the telephone conversation was over by that time, and a quick flight around the island uncovered nothing he could identify as unusual. Whatever Dr. Higgins had been talking about wasn't obvious, even to Superman, assuming it was even on the island. In the end, he had returned and they'd slept soundly the last couple of hours before he had to report for work in the kitchen. Lois didn't know what plans their host had for them today, but she intended to stay as far away from de Los Rios as she could. Clone of Lex or not, it was likely he had the original Lex's memories, and those almost certainly included her. She took great care with her hair and makeup that morning, making certain that they were as different as she could make them from the hair and makeup of Lois Lane. She chose clothing that she and Clark had selected to be chic, but utterly unlike her usual style, and now she was grateful that they had made the effort. No one must even dream that Kellie Davenport might be anything else but what she seemed to be. A knock on Jimmy's door established that her junior colleague had already left. She returned to her room, glancing at her bed. It would be obvious to anyone that she had not been in it alone last night. That was just what she wanted, and reinforced the picture she was trying to portray. With a last glance at herself in the mirror, she opened the door of her room and exited into the thickly carpeted hallway. Another maid was vacuuming, and switched off the machine as Lois paused to speak to her. "Yes ma'am?" "I'm Kellie," Lois said. "Is there any place I should be this morning?" "No, ma'am. Mr. de Los Rios went out to check on storm damage from last night, and Mrs. de Los Rios is occupied in her office this morning. We have the big-screen television in the sitting room, and if you wish, there's the swimming pool and the tennis courts and we have a well-stocked library--and, of course, Mrs. de Los Rios is particularly proud of her gardens, although the summer flowers aren't in bloom anymore. We even have stables, if you'd like to ride!" "Would anyone mind if I walked around a little outside?" Lois inquired casually. "Of course, I'd stick to the paths. I don't want to get lost!" She giggled. "I need to work off a little of that dinner last night." "Of course! Just tell Rogan, so he can send someone after you if you *do* get lost. It's awfully easy when you don't know the way around well." "Thanks. I'll do that," Lois said. Jimmy was nowhere to be seen when she descended the stairs, but Rogan, the butler, was just emerging from the sitting room. He glanced at her, and paused when she called his name. "Yes, Miss, may I be of service?" "I was wondering if it would be all right if I went for a walk, just to stretch my legs," Lois said. "I usually walk in the morning to keep in shape." She smiled brightly at him. "I won't get lost if I stay on the paths, will I?" Rogan didn't smile. His face remained bland and expressionless. "If you stay on the paths, there should be no difficulty, Miss, but it's easy to become lost if you leave them." "Oh, no, I wouldn't do that," Lois assured him blithely. "This place is so big I'd get turned around in minutes. I have absolutely *no* sense of direction." Rogan allowed himself a prim, little smile. "In that case, I'm sure there will be no problem. Mr. de Los Rios is understandably concerned that his guests be safe. Parts of the island are quite untamed and it would be unfortunate if you were to have an accident." Lois gave a realistic shudder. "I'll stay in the civilized part. Roughing it isn't my style." The butler nodded. "Enjoy your walk, Miss." "Thank you. I won't be gone long." Lois headed for the main doors, and Rogan hurried to open them for her. True to her promise, Lois stayed strictly on the system of paths that networked the area around the house. As she walked, she took pains to appear to any observer, to simply be enjoying the sunny, clear day that had succeeded the rain of last night, but she was mentally mapping the area around her. The main path led through a stand of trees, mainly impressively tall pines with peaked tops swaying in the brisk wind. When she cleared the immediate area of the house, she could see that part of the area to the right and rear of the mansion was also heavily wooded. After a moment's indecision, she made up her mind to explore the more open land in front of her first. That should convince anyone who might be keeping track of her that her intentions were entirely innocent. Without further delay, she made her way through the pines to the steps that led down to the white, sandy beach that she had seen from her window the night before. She stood for a moment, apparently enjoying the view, and then removed her shoes to stroll barefooted through the powdery sand. Today the ocean was a deep blue, and little whitecaps dotted the waves. The sun shone down brilliantly out of a cloudless sky, and a lively wind whipped a light salty spray into her face. Low on the horizon, she could see the indistinct line of the mainland. Off to her left, the beach extended for some distance and then dwindled away to nothing. A sheer cliff rose from the waterline, and she could hear the cries of sea birds as they wheeled and dove in the air about it. There seemed to be quite a colony of them, flying into and out of holes some halfway up the side of the stone edifice. She squinted at them for a few minutes, then turned her attention in the opposite direction. A low promontory extended some distance into the sea, and she recalled that Clark had said that the piers were beyond that. She wanted to get over there as soon as she could and explore them. While it was possible that stray employees were forbidden to roam around the owner's dock for totally innocuous reasons, she wanted to verify that before she gave up on it. Clark had given it a cursory check last night, and reported that a good deal of lead seemed to be incorporated into the structure, but whether that was a coincidence, he couldn't say. Locked doors and the presence of two night watchmen and a German shepherd had precluded a more thorough examination, at least at that point. Still, the precautions taken to guard an ordinary boathouse seemed to Lois to be a little excessive. Slowly, she turned and retraced her way to the stone steps, where she sat for a moment, replacing her shoes, then ascended to the path that ran from the steps up to the house. Another footpath branched off from the main one toward the right, and after a short pause, she followed it. It led toward the cliff that overlooked the sea, and wound around the base of the rising land. Green grass gave way to rock some distance up the slope and the angle became abruptly steeper. It looked as if it would be a very stiff climb to reach the summit. A glint of reflected light from a spot among the rocks above caught her attention. She almost disregarded it for a second, then paused, careful not to look up again. She glanced around, and finally settled for taking a seat on a section of grass that seemed fairly dry. Meticulously, she removed her shoe and shook it vigorously, all the while peering upward through her lashes, trying to spot the source of the reflection. Movement caught her eye. There was a man seated on a rock, almost invisible to the casual observer, watching her through a pair of field glasses. Lois replaced her shoe and tied the laces, eyes fixed on her task. It wouldn't do for the watcher to realize she'd seen him. Without another look, she continued on her way, following the little dirt track in the grass. The land was rising slightly as it bypassed the rocky hill and within a few moments she had reached the end, a spot where she could stand and view the ocean from a sheltered, but slightly elevated, position. She stood still for several minutes, watching the play of the sunlight flashing from the waves, and thinking. Clark had said they hadn't let him walk around unsupervised last night. It was clear that they hadn't let her do so, either. The surveillance was simply less obvious. She wondered how many other persons that she hadn't seen had been keeping track of her progress, and if she would have been intercepted if she had ventured somewhere she shouldn't. What could it be that de Los Rios was hiding? And why, if he had something to hide, would he invite visitors here? She had hoped to find records and possibly other proof of the criminal activity of Caribbean Imports at the man's home base. Obviously, there was something more as well. That phone call last night suggested that something was being manufactured, but what might it be, and where? The fact that the man was most likely a clone of Lex Luthor had already confirmed in her mind the probability that something both illegal and very dangerous was going on, and the care with which he apparently monitored the whereabouts of his visitors told her clearly that there was something more concrete to find, if they could figure out where to look. It had to be pretty well concealed, though, or Clark would have seen some indication of it last night. After a time, she turned around to make her way back to the main path, humming a careless little tune and remaining sharply alert for anything else that didn't belong. It wasn't likely that she would see anything obvious if Clark hadn't, but he'd been looking for signs of activity, of which there had been none. There might be other, more subtle indications that he hadn't spotted. But she saw nothing this time, not even a reflection of light from above. She was careful not to glance in that direction at all, instead striding briskly on by. If she was to be able to sneak out unseen later on, they mustn't suspect that she had noticed anything at all. By the time she reached the main walkway back toward the house, her watch informed her that it was nearly one. Lunch was supposed to be served at that time, and the last thing she needed was to draw attention to herself by being late, so she hurried. Rogan was nowhere to be seen, but one of the servants with which this place seemed to be generously supplied, opened the door for her and directed her to the patio where Mr. de Los Rios' guests were gathering for the midday meal. ********** Clark finished putting the final touches on the tray of shrimp hors d'oeuvres and turned to check the chilled tomato consomme. The head chef, a slender Frenchman in his late forties, glanced over at him and nodded his approval. "I shall certainly request that you be hired as my assistant on a permanent basis, Raoul. Your skill is almost equal to my own." Clark smiled at the little man. Rene Didier was a veteran chef, whose cooking skill and organization had impressed him greatly the night before. Clark was able to keep up with him only because of his super powers but, of course, Rene didn't know that. The head chef had been delighted to have an assistant who spoke his language on the staff, and the two had spent the previous evening conversing in rapid-fire French, to the exasperation of the rest of the kitchen workers. "No, my friend," he said, now, "I only did as you told me." "Will you two speak English?" one of the other men muttered under his breath, but Clark heard him. Rene didn't, but he gestured to one of the others to take Clark's creation to the guests, who were no doubt impatiently waiting for their lunch, and turned to oversee the removal of the souffle from the oven. "Gently, now," he cautioned. "It must not fall." Clark glanced in the direction of the patio and noted, with the aid of his x-ray vision, that Lois had arrived. He almost didn't recognize her for a moment, and gave her silent credit for the disguise. Jimmy came forward to meet her, and Clark started to turn back to his job when he saw the doors open again behind Lois and Jimmy, and a woman entered. He gulped. Arianna Carlin hadn't changed much in four years. She was still a stunningly beautiful woman, and if he hadn't known the kind of person that her beauty camouflaged he might have appreciated her appearance more. He saw Lois glance at the woman, and her whole body stiffened slightly. Then she moved quietly to a seat at one side of the long table and waited while their hostess, who must be the mysterious Mrs. de Los Rios, walked to the head of the table. There was a moment of scraping chairs as the guests sat. Clark waited for some sign of recognition on Arianna's face, but there was none, and with a silent plea to the Fates, he turned back to his job, his ears trained for the slightest suggestion that all was not well outside. ********** Lois stiffened instinctively when she saw Arianna Carlin. She had known her for a very short time four years ago, but the woman who was Lex Luthor's ex-wife had nearly destroyed her. She forced herself to relax. "You see what you expect to see," she told herself silently. As far as these people knew, Lois Lane and Clark Kent were dead. If she didn't do anything to draw the woman's attention, she probably wouldn't be recognized. After all, Clark had fooled her for two years with a pair of glasses and a little hair gel. Surely, she could do the same with Arianna Carlin, who didn't know Lois nearly as well as Lois had known Clark back then. Casually, she turned and followed the others to the table. Jimmy took a place beside her, and she saw his eyes fixed on her face. Casually, she placed a hand over his and gave it a light squeeze. He jumped slightly, then his expression relaxed. Lois winked quickly at him. He gave her the slightest of nods and reached for his napkin. Lois felt herself relaxing as well. Jimmy would be all right. Later, she couldn't have said what they had talked about at lunch. Arianna mentioned, very sweetly, that "dear Alex" was inspecting damage to the estate as a result of last night's storm, leading Lois to wonder exactly where and what that damage was. Had they managed to get their power back on in time to save whatever "the whole lot" had been? She kept quiet and let Jimmy do any talking that was required. She had to admit he'd surprised her so far; her young friend was calm and poised, and projected a professional image quite at odds with how she usually thought of him. In fact, he was showing quite an unexpected talent for subterfuge. Clark had told him it was his job to provide cover for the two of them, and that was what he was doing. When the lunch party broke up, Lois retreated to her room to change her clothing, repair her makeup and mostly to think. Jimmy disappeared with the businessmen, while the wives and significant others were temporarily left to their own devices. Lois went to look out her window at the scene before her. She had to admit the island was lovely, but what lay under the surface wasn't. If Arianna Carlin was involved, and Lex's clone, the criminal history of Caribbean Imports was explained in spades. And was it even Lex's clone? The question had been bothering her since last night. Was it possible that the Lex who had kidnapped her had been a clone, too? Lex had escaped from prison. They had always assumed he had engineered that escape and all the previous and subsequent events--but what if he hadn't? What if it had been Arianna? But, that was silly! Why would she have gone to all that trouble? It would have been to her advantage for Lois to marry Clark. Still, the disquieting thought, once established, wouldn't quite go away. If the man who had abducted her from her own wedding and who had died in that cave-in had actually been a clone, it raised a whole bushel of new questions, but it didn't really change anything, at least immediately. Clone or original, Lex would act true to type. The question that was of more urgency was who was really in charge. If Arianna somehow had the upper hand here, it would explain why the hit man had been directed to kill her as well as Clark. Arianna Carlin had no love for Lois Lane for a number of reasons, the foremost being that Lex had wanted to put Lois in Arianna's place as his wife. No, Arianna wouldn't hesitate an instant at the idea of killing her. Leaning on the windowsill, studying the scene below, Lois felt a chill pass over her scalp at the thought of what that might mean. Lex had been intelligent and thoroughly evil, but his obsession with her had always given her a slight feeling of reassurance. Arianna Carlin Luthor had all of Lex's evil intelligence, and an abiding hatred of Lois as well. She was going to have to walk very carefully, even more carefully than before. Deeply immersed in her speculations, she almost didn't notice the single figure of a man hurrying across the lawn in the direction of the beach. She frowned, squinting her eyes, then gave up and fished in her handbag for the miniature opera glasses she always carried. He had a familiar profile, she thought trying to follow him with the glasses. He was a little chubby, of average height, as far as she could estimate from her position, with greying, curly hair. He seemed familiar, and she was certain she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't quite remember the occasion. His quick stride made it difficult to keep his features in the picture, and within a few seconds, he had vanished around the corner of the hedge that separated the vast front lawn from the gardens. From her vantage point, she could see the top of his head for a moment before he disappeared from view. Slowly, she lowered the opera glasses, frowning. The sense of recognition was strong, but for the life of her, she couldn't place him. Although she continued to watch for several minutes, the man didn't reappear. After a time, she went into the luxurious bathroom and readied herself for a bath. The big, circular tub would hold six with room to spare, she thought as she slipped down into the warm, scented, bubbly water. She needed the relaxation after the last couple of hours. Lying back into the tub, Lois rested her head on the side and closed her eyes. Noises in her room beyond the half-closed door awakened her some time later. Lois opened her eyes, realizing that the temperature of the water had dropped somewhat, although it was still lukewarm. The next thing she realized was that someone was moving around in her room. There was the scrape of a foot on the carpet and a bump, followed by a soft exclamation. The temptation to call out died almost instantly. Someone was searching the room. She heard the door of the closet being opened, and closed a few minutes later. Then came the scrape of someone opening her dresser drawers, and she thanked her lucky stars that she and Clark had taken every precaution before they had set about on this investigation, even to the false identification she'd gotten from Louie. Knowing guys who knew guys had its advantages, as she'd pointed out to Clark. Still, what was she going to do if the guy came in here? As she thought of the possibility, the soft steps came toward the bathroom. Lois acted on instinct. "Honey, is that you?" she called clearly. The footsteps stopped, and she could almost feel the intruder freeze in his tracks. "Jim, is that you, baby?" she called again. The footsteps resumed, this time retreating quickly. She heard the door to the hall open, and an instant later it closed with a soft click. The searcher had departed. ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 22:23:42 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jolendine Millyan Subject: Re: NEW REVIEW: Tempus, Anyone? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hazel, First and foremost- thanks for reviewing these eps. I've seen them when they were first aired here (about 4-5 years ago), but then I wasn't part of FoLCdom. Since there are no re-runs of the show, I was left with my tapes of favorite moments and this list. you wrote: >Tempus. Oh, my, he is a *fun* character! That little ficlet that's been >simmering in my brain regarding the twisting of Utopia just turned up the >burner a notch... you never know. :) Seriously, the actor has a marvelous >range of facial expressions and does a *superb* deadpan delivery. No wonder >he's such a popular character in fics! Just wanted to say something about the actor, Lane Davies: One day while I was watching "The Bold & the Beautiful" (and yes, there was a time when I watched it, and now it's over), who was there replacing Ron Moss as the handsome, heart-breaking Ridge Forrester? You guessed right! No other than our lovely Tempus. At first I was shocked, and then I couldn't stop laughing. It reminded me of the time I went to Edward Albee's "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?", and through the entire first act I tried to forget that the lead actor once played my childhood hero, Captain Hook... Yael. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.