"Although they are only breath, words which I hold are immortal."
-Sappho

If you want to check up on a piece of fiction you've been stalking, you can skip down to Fanfiction News or Pending Fanfictions.

It's fun to see where my reviewers are from so I'll tell you where I'm currently living. I was born in Bombay but lived in the Middle East for a bit (Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia and Muscat in Oman) and then moved back to India, then moved to the United States, and now I live on the east coast.

News:

Currently I'm in Saitama, Japan for the summer doing research in Shibaura Institute of Technology (Omiya campus) in their computer and e-learning lab. On the weekends I go into Tokyo, which is really fun. We're also thinking about going to Nikko and Kyoto sometime.

Education:

Yes, I'm still in the engineering school. My classes keep me busy. (really busy), and if I suddenly stop sending emails (or replying in grouchy monosyllables) and posting new chapters, you know why.

On that note, please do not exhort me to 'update soon,' since it would be horrible for me to make this kind of promise to you. I'll post what I can when the inspiration and time present themselves.

"Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity."
-G. K. Chesterton, Defendant (1901)

Fanfiction News

Crown Duel

Jerrol, if it Pleases You, My Lady
Status: Complete
is done and finished. I'm happy with this fic and I hope I'll be able to add onto my Crown Duel fic repertoire soon.

Letter by Courier
Status: Complete
was also received with enthusiasm! I'm in the process of revamping this since it's actually really old and I can pick out the weird things in my writing style.

Juvenile Orion

The Angel
Status: Perm. Hiatus
Going nowhere. If anyone wants to take it over and just finish it collaboratively, that is completely fine. I'm trying to tie off the Angel and go on to my other JO fics. The Angel has sentimental value for me but it makes me cringe in embarrassment sometimes. Like, there's no real plot. It's just fluff-angst. Ah well. Closets must have skeleton garnish.

Arc of the Zodiac
Status: In Progress
Next chapter is almost done. Need that last burst of inspiration and half cup of coffee, and it will be set. I have at least a little bit written on each major conflict. (It's called Arc of the Zodiac- how many do you think there are?) I'm still forming the shape of Gabriel's Erasi culture, though. It's taking a little while longer than I thought. I don't want them based off a culture I'm already familiar with, so I'm doing a LOT of research/bothering the anthropology majors.

Courageous Fire
Status: In Progress
Still working on this, people! I am NOT dead! I do NOT want to go on the cart! I've managed to get tripped up by my OCs. (Katsuragi and Caius say hello) So I'm probably going to just delete that chapter and try to move on. THIS is what happens when you focus too much on a side plot. Take notes, Brian Jacques.

Dark Priest
Status: In Progress
Man, this story really has a knack for being mysterious and shady; I almost forgot I wrote and posted it. I'm still considering working on this if I have time. As usual, I devise too many ideas and plots that end up taking me forever to finish.

Muse
Status: In Progress
This is a supplement to Courageous Fire. I hope you are enjoying it. This fic came along fairly well; I have most all my major ideas written out already. I just need to fill in the gaps and make chapters. I've actually written out a lot of Muse, and after taking all incriminating fanfiction evidence with me to college, I'll probably manage to get it all sorted out somehow.

Stranger Caught in Amber
Status: In Progress
A Mizunagi/Itsuki fic, fulfilling one of NF's dreams of strange pairings. This fanfiction is more realistic and addresses the Aquarian Age itself.
They don't really show much about the Aquarian Age in the character-driven Juvenile Orion series so I'm writing what I can. Second chapter is nonexistant. Third chapter is going well. End of story is done. I write like swiss cheese.

Symbiotic Organisms in 50 words
Status: Complete
This spawns from too much LiveJournal (are you all horrendously disappointed?), and a creative drain, which I am currently in the process of jumping from right now. My pending fic, Table 5, seems to be helping. Why do I always feel like writing when I have homework to do?

Whittling Wood
Status: In Progress
Well, watching The Brothers Grimm certainly made me go back and write more of this fic. I left my copy of Grimms' Fairytales at home, so I guess I'll find an online version. This story is progressing, and I finally finished chapter three and have a lot of four done, so this might be updated faster than expected? Ending and epilogue are done. You see how this is a recurring pattern, yeah?

Jurassic Park

Objects of a Class
Status: Complete
Done for the smallfandomfest prompt "Grant watches Billy Teach." This story is snapshots at different moments from a larger story I'm working on for my geek!Billy universe where Billy went into IT instead of paleontology.

Penelope
Status: Complete
My GODS, the research I did for Penelope. I can't believe it's finally finished- I used to dream about finishing it, and now it actually happened. It's like finally going up in space. This is also my first double post on Livejournal and . I'm glad so many people liked it.

The Icing on the Cake
Status: Complete
Great, another story actually completed in a timely fashion because of smallfandomfest. I don't know if they're being funny, but most people review and call this story 'sweet.' I sometimes get tired of people just going back and rehashing the canon (and the creativity of the mckay_sheppard community has spoiled me) so I think I'm turning into the 'AU and future!fic authour- every fandom's got one' weirdo for Jurassic Park 3. T_T

The Space Between
Status: Complete
One-shot looking at where Alan and Billy might be in the long run. Had this idea at 4 in the morning or some such. Got it down in one go.

Witch Hunter Robin

When Hacker Met Sakaki
Status: Permanent Hiatus
Sorry, friends; this fanfiction is going nowhere. And I deleted it.

xxxHolic

Cat's Cradle
Status: Complete
I seem to get xxxHolic fics done so much sooner, probably linked into the fact that I don't feel the need to write epic epic stories when just one-shots will do fine. This was also my first crack!fic, something I thought I'd never be able to do.

The Lighthouse
Status: Complete
This is actually my first yuri fic. (completely coincidentally, the character for this episode was named Yuri in the canon) A little short, but it was just what I dashed down after watching the episode.

The Terminal
Status: Complete
So this is part of a series about what happens afterwards. I love the tragedies of time.

ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)
Status: Complete
Another time tragedy bit of the series. I'm dealing more with reincarnation here and regrets. This series of shorts is called the Trainspotting series and is going to be further exploring Watanuki's interactions with reincarnated Yuuko as well as others.

The Patissier
Status: Complete
I spent pretty much zero time and braincells on this, for which I apologise. It was just supposed to be a little throw-away drabble, but it grew as most of my stories are wont to do. On that note, I find it completely strange that this is one of the most-favourited of my stories in the xxxHolic fandom. ???

Midnight Trains in Empty Stations
Status: Complete
Another story in the spirit of the trainspotting series (it even has a transportation name, haha) examining what exactly time means to Watanuki and the people he's made connections with throughout the series.

Baron Saturday
Status: In Progress
It's nice to finally get this thing off the ground after months of letting it rot on my computer. I'm hoping it goes somewhere interesting.

Pending Fanfictions
(oh, this is new, eh?)

Juvenile Orion

Cygne
Diplomat (and prince-in-training) Kuro delves into a strange dark mystery surrounding the cursed politician Gabriel Merethi.

Foreign Exchange
Tracer and Nakaura discuss the events following the Joshua Zodiac project.

Table Five
Kuro meets strange and interesting customers on his part-time job as a waiter for the Popina restaurant.

The Pedestrian Life
I thought Whittling Wood was going to be it, but my brain said "I want MORE" even though I wanted to leave the story where it was. So this is about life after Whittling, if a person can go back to their normal lives after such grand adventures.

Jurassic Park

The A-Team
Eric Kirby spends a summer at the dig with Billy Brennan and Dr. Grant. Kind of a 'what could have been' for Obituaries.

The Isla Sorna Strain
Sequel to The Treehouse Club. The scientific expedition returns, but finds out the dinosaurs and plants aren't the only organisms that have evolved. Homage to Crichton's The Andromeda Strain.

Obituaries
For the LJ smallfandomfest prompt: Billy regrets how they parted ways, “Just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to be involved with them. Love is not a bandage to cover wounds.” (Future!fic)

The Treehouse Club
Based on the original idea Steven Spielberg had for Jurassic Park III, which featured “Alan Grant living in a tree on one of the islands and studying the dinosaur population for eight years.”

Two Factor Theory
Inspired by Paul and Amanda but focuses on Alan, Billy, and Eric Kirby. The story delves into Dutton and Aron's real findings on how dangerous situations can bring people together from high stress.

Stargate Atlantis

Ghost in the Machine
Phantom of the Opera: Dr. Rodney Mckay of Mckay Industries sponsors the Atlantis Tech Station and meets its star pilot, his old friend John Sheppard, who claims he is being coached by an Ancient rumored to still live in the facility.

MIB: Men in BDUs
Men in Black: Detective John Sheppard gets an offer from a mysterious organisation after he tracks down an alien in the middle of Vegas.

The Science Corner
You've Got Mail: Independent science & mathematics bookseller John Sheppard "goes to the mattresses" after Mckay Industries and its obnoxious head Rodney Mckay set up a superstore across the street.

xxxHolic

Nine Lives
An afterward to Cat's Cradle looking back at Doumeki Tomoko's history and how it has played a part in the series from the beginning.

The Teashop Emperor
Dune: Fremen Doumeki Shizuka is determined to find out why the sandworms seem to be attracted to the foreign man keeping the teashop in the city.

Urashima Taro
Decades go by, yet they both remain the same in the most comforting ways

Misc

The Great Gatsby: The Ghosts of Gatsby
Nick moves away from the east coast back to his old life, but the ghosts of Gatsby are not finished with him yet.

In and Out: Phonies
Howard Brackett must deal with the aftermath of having his former life destroyed by the television camera.

Noir: Intoccabile
It had never been a question of skill: Mirelle would never be able to kill Silvana.

Gakuen Heaven: Le Beau au Bois Dormant
Sleeping Beauty: Yoshizumi only has ten more years until he gets pricked by a syringe, gets the X7 virus, and falls into a deep coma. At least, that's what she says.

Gundam Wing: Savitri and Satyavan
A reimagining of an Indian folktale with the familiar cast.

"If you don't read poetry, how the hell can you solve equations?"

-Harvey Jackins

Forums:

Books-Good Omens- Nife and Accurate Prophefies: Thanks to everyone who is involved in this forum. Everyone is so awesome.

Books-The Black Magician Trilogy- The Allied Lands: Yes, people have posted. There are Black Mag. fans amongst us!

Books-Misc.-The Nightrunner Series-Daggers and Intrigue- YES! Here there be Nightrunner fans! Joy-ness.

"Are you sure the electricity is off?"

-From "Famous Last Words"

Syndicates:

TWOPEMSCI: A non-profit unofficial fanfiction.net constructive pseudo-beta group that actually tries to help out authors who are having trouble with symptoms such as:

Chop Suey- fics that have fallen victim to lack of punctuation

Kat- fics that have been diagnosed with poor spelling disorders

Pucker Up- fics that have frightening romance (includes "5 Minute Cupids Arrow" "Love-You Lemon" "Seahorse Syndrome" and more)

Wall o' Words- fics whose authors have not figured out how to use the Enter key, which makes the fic into nice readable paragraphs.

And etc. Please let us help you with your problems today. Look for us in the Anime Misc. forums: Twitch and TWOPEMSCI.

GEEK Faction/JOman Triumverate- A Juvenile Orion fangroup that has come together in a new faction to rival all others. (look for us in the Anime Juvenile Orion forums: Mindbreakers Anonymous) Look for us at Mindbreakers Anonymous or at the JO fandom.

SPATTER is the Supporters of the Protectionary Agency for Troubled Teens with Evolutionary Regrets ("It's all fun and games until someone grows an extra eye...") All Erasers are automatic lifetime members and Kaname donates generously in the hope there will one day be a cure. From the phrase "Tsukasa or Lafayel in drag is a given. Erasers should have anticipated this before evolving into pretty-boys. Evolutionary regret, it's a hard thing to deal with. No wonder Tsuka is emo and Lafay is angry all the time." All those who wish to become members, inquire within! (-taken from neurofeces's profile, because I couldn't find a way to put it better)

“What if you’re a mythological bird? What then?”

-the odd evesdropping

What I'm crazy about right now:

Books: I don't get time to read much anymore. Bah. I used to LOVE to read. Right now I'm re-reading Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrel and Song of Fire and Ice.

Anime/Manga: Durarara!! is pretty popular in Japan right now, so I'm watching that and Black Lagoon

Song in the Internal Phonograph: "Friday I'm in Love" by the Cure- because they featured this in Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which is the best comedy show EVER

My fav. anime/manga: Azumanga Daioh, xxxHolic, Mirage of Blaze, Samurai Champloo, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam, Trigun, Gurren Lagann, Kuroshitsuji, Noir...oh, I can't remember them all; I've read/watched so many.

Theatre: Went to my first Rocky Horror a couple of weeks ago.

Movies: I just recently watched Ghajini in the Mumbai theatre, and even though they added song-dance and fight scenes for padding, the main concept was nice. And for once I didn't totally hate the woman love interest, played by the very pretty and talented South Indian actress Asin. The film is about a guy trying to solve a case for a murder he witnessed. He experienced trauma to the head from the murderer, so he doesn't remember the incident and has short term memory loss, meaning he has to take notes and pictures of everyday life, not to mention the clues he finds, because he forgets them soon after. The movie had this great steely industrial grit look, and also allowed one of my favorite actors, Aamir Khan, to stomp around shirtless, angry, and artistic- another set of adjectives that are not mutally exclusive.

TV: My suite got me into Leverage, and I'm excited for the new season beginning Jan. 13th. And Warehouse 13 will be having Kaylee and Simon guest star!

These are my Ten Commandments that I will try to follow.

1) Thou shalt update as much as possible.

2) Thou shalt not be a slacker, even when burdened down with other work.

3)And yea, shall ye read every review, may they be flames or foolish, stupid or superfluous.

4) Thou shalt not shoot down BL-phobiacs, as much as thou wantest to. Thou knowest thou wantest to...go on, I dare thee!

5) Worship the Muses and the Lord of Literature for there are no other gods but they and the great god of Sushi, whose Chopsticks of Death bring swift and white-rice justice whenever he doest smite the unrighteous unconstructive flamers.

6) Thou shalt not make fun of any man or woman's manga or anime, except for perhaps Astroboy.

7) Thou shalt religiously shun writing NC-17 but wholeheartedly devote thyself to adding profanity whenever thou doest find it artistically possible.

8) Love thy neighbor like thy literature.

9) Love thy reviewers like thy neighbor.

10) Love thy flamers, for they are wise in their constructive criticisms. And yea are they the shining messengers bearing grave tidings, announcing that thy story doth suck.

11) Prompt thy reviewers to check out thine forums, for ye dost know that it needeth members desperately. Thou shameless self-pimper.

12) Thou shalt hate that ridiculous little thingy that keeps thee from putting spaces between thy paragraphs. Just trying to get this bio looking decent and organised and where does it get thee? For the love of Pete!

13) Who is this Pete, and why should we love him? Hmm. Hate him for the sake of principle.

14) Bless updated websites, for now the bio looketh alright.

15) May the deities or outside forces bless thy reviewers, for they have pulled thee through thy worst and best times in life.

16) Curse and bless thy fanfictions, for they shall give you a reason to go on but shall distract thee from doing thy studywork.

17) Thou thinkest I knoweth not that I have surpass-ed ten commandments. Yea verily, I knoweth. I care not.

18) Thou knowest thou art a fanfiction authour when thou end even thy school papers and journals with: "Please R&R."

19) Feh. Anime/Manga authour, do not thinke thou art getting off the hooke; thou do end thy papers and journals with "Owari" and "Ja ne." Tske tsketh.