In order to respect both FFN's content restrictions and our own desire to write Spike and Faye as we believe they really would have been, all chapters after "Where I End and You Begin" will be posted at our own web site: http:///thegrind/nicotine/

New chapters will be posted weekly, covering the canon time period between Episodes 6 & 26. To get new chapter notifications and information on how to get the MP3s associated with this story, which is essentially a songfic without lyrics - a tale set to the soundtrack we have assembled as accompaniment to our outline - please join the nic-fit mailing list by visiting http:///mailman/listinfo/nic-fit. We do not track real names, we do not redistribute email addresses, we do not permit viewing of the member list, and we will use it ONLY to tell you when there's a new chapter or a new MP3.

About Me:

I'm 30, female, a career geek who spent the salad days of the tech boom in Silicon Valley. I left the industry and took a mundane job to devote more time to being a parent and pursuing my first love: writing. I'm a movie buff, a video game and board game addict, a lover of indie music, and apparently, I am never going to grow up.

In addition to my day job, I'm a part-time professional writer of boring things like technical manuals and white papers. Paying the bills is good.

I'm also an as-yet-amateur film critic and screenwriter. The screenplay format is my favorite to write in. However, it's a lot harder to sell a screenplay than a book, so I have a novel in progress, hopefully for publication. Yeah, those are in addition to this stuff here. Don't ask me how I do it. I can't help but do it.

I forget who said this: "Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for yourself. Then you do it for your friends. Then you do it for money."

About "Left Eye":

"Left Eye" began as an exercise in outline and plot development, without any further plans for it. But then I couldn't let it be, and it became an exercise in stretching the prose muscles I had allowed to atrophy while working on screenplays. Before I knew it, I'd cranked out a book-length piece.

FFN's parser eats URLs in stories, I find. So if you're looking to hear the song "The Long Way Home" from Chapter 22, you can find it at http:///catrec/films.

About You:

I started Left Eye for myself, but I finished it for you. Your feedback is valuable. Even after the fact, I'm not done writing - in general, or about the Bebop universe - so I'd love to hear what you have to say. I have thick skin, though I've never turned down a compliment, either.

About Other Stuff:

I must give a nod of thanks to the mysterious netizen known only as RFBlues, proprietor (proprietess?) of the phenomenal site about all things Bebop: The Real Folk Blues, at http:///RFBlues. Every question imaginable about the series is answered there.

I have two partial outlines for sequels to "Left Eye", but I must admit they'll go much more slowly than this one did. I don't mean to be a tease. I just wanted you to know that I will, in time, give you a little more to chew on, in the form of Jet and Spike's meeting and partnership, and tales from the war on Titan. Nothing like "Left Eye" in terms of scope, but subjects I wanted to explore and didn't think fit with the tone of "Left Eye".

Also, as alluded to in the author's notes for Chapter 20, I am working on an illustrated version of "Left Eye", which will combine images from the Bebop series with some original art. I hope you will revisit http:// from time to time, to check on my progress. I have bigger plans in store for the site, including message boards and collaborative tools for co-authors and RPG writers, as well!