Okay, I admit it

I admit it. One of the reasons I write so slowly is that I also spend a lot of time reading fanfiction. I currently have around 288 MB saved away on my hard disk.

(If you care about breakdowns, there's about 97 MB of Ranma; 40 MB of Sailor Moon; 79 MB of crossovers (most of which, inevitably, tend to include either Ranma or Sailor Moon); 9 MB of Evangelion; and dribs and drabs of other series.)

Who are my favourite authors? Damn hard question to answer. There're hundreds of authors I wish were still writing. The Judge's story Millennials springs to mind—though admittedly it's only been a year since the last chapter, and my own last chapter took two years. Fire is another author I'd love to see more from. Brian Randall, Ken Wolfe and D B Sommer also come to mind (D B is still writing, but not so fast any more). The current writer I'm most enjoying is Aondehafka; but that could easily change tomorrow if I find a good story by someone else.

The story that's affected me most strongly, ever, is Damaged by Elizabeth Tuckwood. I've never worked up the courage to re-read it. Not sure if I'm more afraid that it would affect me that way again, or that it wouldn't.

I check the latest postings on fanfiction.net every day or two—doesn't everybody?—but it's very hard to separate the wheat from the chaff there. They could really use some kind of rating system. (I've developed my own private set of rules for cutting down the number of stories I even look at; I expect a lot of other readers have, too.) Meanwhile, if you have any recommendations for terrific stories, I'd be interesting in hearing them…

Changes today

I've posted the HTML version of chapter 11. It has a slightly different look to the earlier chapters; they will ultimately be updated to reflect the new look. I've also made a tiiiiiiiny change to the content of the chapter: "henshin stick" has become "henshin wand". This, too, will eventually be reflected in the earlier chapters as well. I think wand works a little better (and I'm really not sure why I went with stick in the first place).

Also posted a new bit of fan art: a terrific picture of Suzue, as Uranus, by Lindsay Tymon. Thanks, Lindsay.

Chapter 11 now posted

Been far too long since I updated this - I know.

Well, chapter 11 is now up. I held on for a long time waiting for one pre-reader who'd promised commentary (and whose commentary last time was very useful) to write back, but after two months I think it's time to let this thing out into the big wide world. For better or for worse - I hope, for better. :)

(Naturally, if the missing pre-reader does report back, what I've posted may undergo changes. I'd expect them to be minor. But that's why I haven't labelled it as the final release version.)

Updates to the appendices (timeline, who's who, etc) will follow when I've time. I'm also working on revisions of some of the early chapters - chapter 3 in particular is getting a facelift.

Chapter 12 is, of course, under way. It's not going nearly as fast as I'd like, alas - there's about 4200 words done. (That numbe is just a coincidence...really.) Bad show; but the pacing of the opening is causing me a lot of grief.