I've been an avid Narnia fan since my 5th grade teacher read us the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe one rainy afternoon when she had no lesson planned. In fact, at the time (the stone age before the internet, it was) I was spinning stories about the Pevensies and Caspian who intrigued me so much. Silly me - I thought I was the only one! Of course this is not the case, and when I had a Narnia renaissance when the movie came out I was thrilled to find ff.net.

A little bit about me and my stories. I've spent a lot of time developing a Narnia universe with my best friend and other half, rooty-boots. Stories on my account that reflect that work are "The Hundred Day Winter," "Life Among the Stars," "The Artist's Tale," and "Peter's Dreams." This world contains some slash, though the slash content does not appear in every story (and for those of you who are a bit more sensitive to such things, I'll always warn you, so please read the non slash stuff). I'm thinking of writing a story set in Prince Caspian which explains this epic in story format, but in the meantime I think each story explains itself, either through the content or the author's notes. This work is particularly close to my heart; I love to hear feedback on it.

The rest of the stories are stand alone works. Some go hand in hand with others, and I think the most important of these connections is "All the Dreams that Might Have Been," which is a direct sequel to "Caspian's Queen." Also, you'll notice if you've read all my stories that there are some inconsistencies. For example, in "Children Do Grow Up" the kids' mother is not Helen but Julia (and no one tell me her name is Helen! Her name is Helen in the movie only) but in "How to Keep Well in Wartime" and "Conception" she's Helen. That explains the difference in character. Julia is one version of the Pevensies' mother, Helen is a more developed one, and I like her for that reason.

On Updating

I update sporadically, in case you haven't noticed. Once upon a time I was extremely diligent about updating stories, but I have a lot of things on the burner at the moment, and I don't have the luxury anymore. Some stories it's been so long I've kind of lost the thread of where I was going. So as not to disappoint, here are updates on my current stories in progress:

"All the Dreams that Might Have Been" was on mega hiatus for a long time, but Prince Caspian the movie revved me up again. As I just wrote a chapter, I'm going to leave this one for a very short while as I update my other stories, but never fear. This is not a hiatus! As a little preview, the next chapter will be narrated by Caspian.

"Conception" - Newly finished! I can't believe people liked Helen and the baby Pevensies so much. It was a lot of fun to write this story, and I'm definitely thinking of doing another in Helen's voice about her children. Thanks for all the great reviews.

"The Hundred Day Winter" is a story I'd really like to return to. I got inspired today while rewatching Prince Caspian, but I need to dig out my notes for where I wanted this one to go. I don't have any immediate plans for updating this one, but I by no means want to forget it.

"The Artist's Tale" has stalled because I need to do a major overhaul to the most recent chapter because rooty-boots and I changed the storyline a bit. I hate overhauls. Hence why I'm procrastinating. Like "The Hundred Day Winter" though, this story has never entirely left my brain.

"The Emperor and the Diplomat" - Sadly, this one is on indefinite hiatus as I forgot where I was going with it and can't seem to get re-inspired for a new storyline.

"A Reversal of Roles" - Every so often I get a review asking me to please continue. I'm so flattered, but this one is on hiatus for a bit too, though not quite as far down on the stack as "The Emperor and the Diplomat." I sort of vaguely remember where I was going with this one, but it would take a lot of recollecting my thoughts to get there. Don't count out the possibility of an update, but that would come in the distance, after I've finished the other works in progress I have on here.

"One Hundred Days, One Hundred Years" is not as shiny and new as it once was. It is far from dead though as I remember quite clearly where I was going with it. I just need to clear some of the steam from "All the Dreams...Redux" and I should get going on this again.

What I'm working on now

In case for some reason you find yourself curious about what to expect next (perhaps I am flattering myself a bit here), I've put up this bit to let you know.

June 22nd - I noticed the last time I posted a note was in January. Despite this, I actually have quite a lot done on "All the Dreams that Might Have Been - Redux." I just have to type it. Mass transit commutes are lovely because they give me time to write, but that means that I then have to play my own secretary and type. Now that the schoolyear is over and I'm done teaching, I'll happily have the time to do that! Stay tuned for more chapters. If you're new to my stories, please read the Redux! It's got a much clearer vision and direction. I dearly love the idea of Caspian and Lucy, but the old one was just...directionless. That's what happens when you try to update it sporadically over two years. Vanity prevents me from taking it down though--it's easily my most reviewed and most favorited story.

Shout out to my peeps

To everyone who reviews my stories, favorites them, alerts them...thank you. Truly. It makes me want to write more and it makes me feel good about trying to do the writing thing for real. I just wanted to take the time to say that. I don't always reply to reviews, but I always appreciate them, and I wanted to take the time to say that.

Prince Caspian: The movie

A lot of Narnia purists are infuriated with Prince Caspian because it makes a lot of changes to the book. This reminds me of my friend, who swears she can't watch the Two Towers because it plays so fast and loose with Faramir's character. But I liked the Two Towers a lot, and I read the book before seeing the movie. This made me start to rethink how literal I should be about adaptations, and I used to be very literal. So when I started seeing trailers for Prince Caspian, I had a feeling it would be the Two Towers of Narnia. It was, and I still like it. Peter fighting in the train station--Well, what else would he do? I always imagined Peter would have a tough time going from being the High King of Narnia, respected the world over, to a kid who people think they can boss around. Peter v. Caspian? I actually don't think this is such a character stretch. Peter and Caspian are both quite strong willed (at least, Peter is in my brain), and this is just their wills warring. I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A with the cast at the NY Comic Con, and I specifically asked about that when it was my chance to ask a question. William Moseley actually said something quite perceptive, which was that Caspian and Peter are both alpha-males, and they're both jockeying for position. They want the same thing for Narnia, but they see different paths to get there. This seemed so astute that I haven't had an issue with it since, particularly since they end in the same place that Lewis has. A lot of people feel that Caspian should have an almost holy reverence for the Pevensies, but in all honesty, I think that makes the story less fun.

And of course the major beef: Caspian and Susan. Now, as you can probably tell from my stories, I'm a big Caspian and Lucy fan and always have been, but I really liked the way they handled the romance in the movie, very lightly and with real sweetness. The attraction is natural--Susan is beautiful and gentle, and Caspian is young and dashing and noble, some of the same qualities that a certain Prince of Calormen possesses. Is it in the book? No. Does Lewis leave huge massive holes in his stories where there could be room for such a thing? Yes, absolutely. That is after all, why I like writing Narnia fanfiction--I often feel that the story is but half written, that he glosses over parts that I always want to see more of. I usually consider this a credit to Lewis as a writer. I'm telling you though, if one more person mentions that Caspian is supposed to be younger than Susan, I am going to hurl a copy of the book at their head and make sure it falls open to the chapter "Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance," where Peter sees Caspian for the first time and notices that he is about his own age. Therefore if anything, Caspian is supposed to be older than Susan. People need to stop referencing the BBC production.

Overall, I thought the movie was wonderful, and it had a great arc. That scene where Peter is looking at the trapped soldiers in the night raid gets me every time, and there are so many other wonderful highlights. The acting is much better this go 'round too, and Ben Barnes was great as Caspian. My only real beef is that they kept taking away Edmund's lines! He was the one to recognize it was magic in the train station, and he was the one to observe "That's the trouble with girls--can't carry a map in their heads." Those lines were so Edmund I was sad they dished them out to the other characters.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: the Movie

Go Fox. My personal thanks to you. I will demonstrate it through ticket purchasing.

My Favorites

The longer I'm on this site, the pickier I get. Fanfiction is great stuff, but a lot of the work on here is highly unpolished. I try not to judge too much because when I was 14 I was writing some real crap. I laugh to think of it actually. However, that means that those stories in my favorites and those authors who I've favorited are carefully selected, stories that I found really grabbed me, that really did a good job developing the characters. If you happen to be reading this because I favorited you (I do love that alert, it always makes me happy), my hat's off to you and my thanks for simultaneously filling my need for more things Narnia and writing a worthwhile story to boot.

Which English?

This issue came to my attention first via my buddy Andi Horton (who, by the way is an amazing writer and you really should go check out her stories if haven't already). In her profile she thanks 'spelling conscious Americans' who try to correct her when really she's just using the British spellings of words: colour instead of color, etc. Then my friend rootyboots and I started a lot of collaborative writing. Rootyboots is English, and I'm American, and I'm constantly finding myself using words or phrases British people simply don't use when speaking or writing. For example, a slight change of preposition: the British way is "Different to" and the American was is "different from." I also just found out this very week what a rag and bone man is. And then of course the classic--what you call underwear. In England, as you probably know, 'pants' is the word, but in America that means trousers, and we'll say panties or boxers, being the gender specific bunch that we are. The question I have is this: I am an American writing stories about British people. It is necessary to be British-English conscious in everything I write? Should I endeavor (endeavour) to make the characters speak completely British? Actually, that's not even really a question because nothing annoys me more than when I'm reading a Narnia fic and Peter says "Yeah"--although that's more anachronistic than anything. Obviously I don't want my characters to sound like modern Americans, so having them say 'awesome' is out of the question, unless they mean the old version of the word, which is 'inspiring fear and amazement in a person.' But if they say pants instead of trousers? Does that really put a jarring note with the story? And what about the narration? Is it necessary to anglify that as well? I ask these questions in all earnestness. What do you think? Care to comment?

Pet Peeves

The word Suspian. It makes me want to hurl. I have no problems with Caspian and Susan as a couple, but Suspian?! Really?? Lucian is so much better as a couple name, although I'm a bit leery over all about morphing a couple into one blob-like being. It's always scary. Note: TomKat, Brangelina, etc.

Also the lack of good Susan/ Caspian stories out there. There's a lot of potential for that romance and I haven't yet found one story for them that really grabs me. They're all such cheesy, angsty romances, the kind that you might find written about Marius and Eponine in Les Mis. I want a good, real romance that does not just use Susan and Caspian as stand in romantic leads with no character development but actually takes their personalities and shows how they might fall in love. They're very different people, and it could be very interesting. Any suggestions? Let me know!

Oooh, another pet peeve, and this one makes me really mad. I hate when people are complaining about Ben Barnes (who, for the record, I really liked as Caspian. He definitely got the character, and I was able to forgive him his dark hair just as I forgave Georgie Henley) and they're like "He's too old to be Caspian! Caspian is younger than the Pevensies!" WRONG, people. Wrong. Go get your copies of Prince Caspian and open to the chapter "Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance." When Peter and Edmund storm in, Peter notices the werewolf leaping at a boy "about his own age." So Caspian could be slightly older than Peter, or perhaps slightly younger, around Susan's age, but there is no way he's younger than Lucy. That influence comes from the BBC production in the 80's which got it wrong. There. I'm glad I got that off my chest.

On Faith

I've been thinking a lot about religion lately. Part of it is because I'm working on a story with my friend who's...agnostic, I guess, and leery of religion. I'm Lutheran. It's a very interesting mix, especially when the story deals with the main character converting from Church of England to Catholicism, but the conversion makes me think a lot about faith and why we belong to different churches. For the record, I'm not pantheistic, but I am pan-Christian. I feel if you believe in Jesus, you're going to Heaven. Not that you asked.

That's actually the other thing I was thinking about--influence and sharing faith. When it comes to Narnia especially, people get very up and arms about it being a Christian book, and it's practically a sin to like it for anything other than the religious parallels. In truth, that's always kind of annoyed me about the books, because I felt for awhile I was reading a sermon hiding as an awesome story. In thinking about it a bit more, I realize that it doesn't have to be that way, but nevertheless. I like Narnia for the Pevensies and Caspian, for the stories and the descriptions that are so sparse in words and yet so rich in images. If I want to think about Jesus and God, I'll go to the Bible and do the philosophizing for myself. What's more, there's a sort of shout from the mountaintops of I'M A CHRISTIAN, YOU BE ONE TOO! which is the least effective way to spread the Word to non believers.

I work in a public high school in the inner city of New York, not the most religious of places, and two of my coworkers are devoutly Christian, far more devout than me. But they are quietly so. They are tolerant people. They don't shout out their faith, but they are quick to say that they go to Bible study and are friends with pastors. They met their respective fiances at church. And in a society which puts a lot of pressure on having sex before marriage, they are both waiting, but they don't wear t-shirts proclaiming it or shout their virginity. Their example is so quiet and yet so resonant and true that I find myself wanting to become more devout, to follow more of those rules as they do, not because they told me to, but because they showed me to. I wish more Christians who want to spread the word would learn from such an example and remember that people don't like anything forced down their throats, so aggressive faith is rarely useful.

A last random thought: I wish my user ID # was 24601.