From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG9803E" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 14:53:15 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Mills Subject: Kerth Awards Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Well guys Although I was only able to stay on-line for part of the Award Ceremony (phone bills and change-of-clocks), it was a great evening, and many thanks to all arrangers/writers/presenters etc. I have had such a good time reading and re-reading the nominations, some of which were old favoutites, and others that became instant new favourites. It was so nice to meet again some of my LAFFPals in the chat room, and to hear their presentation/acceptance speeches (some coming so fast it was difficult to see the seams) - Zoomie, ChrisP, ChrisM, Sheila, Julie, PatH and soooo many others - you were all so busy you probably missed this lurker, but I 'felt all your presences'!! One question: What happened to the rest of the UK? Were you all on-line *after* I left?? I will be looking for the full list of winners in the next few days - Leanne and her gang will need plenty of time to recover - but for now, thanks again for this idea and please make it an Annual event Jenny ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jenny Mills j.mills@netcom.co.uk jmills@ccta.gov.uk Lois: In one lousy second, I lost my partner and my best friend. He died without knowing. I never told him. - ToGoM Wells: Destiny has blessed you both with each other. No small gift indeed. There's many people who travel alone through, well, their whole lives and envy what you two have together . . . greatly. - Soul Mates ------------------------------------------------------------------ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 10:44:37 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Thank you:D Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all:) I hear that I'm a winner:) I wasn't online last night, but I hear through the grapevine that *all* of my nominated fanfic won a Kerth Award:) Since I didn't get to do this live, last night. I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me in writing my fanfic. As they can all testify (having seen my stories from initial draft through "final" execution), the stories would not be what they are today without their input, support, criticism and guidance. There are so many people I owe thanks to, if I named them here it would read like the end credits to a multi-million dollar sci-fi movie I want to also thank Debby for nagging me into co-writing SwapMeet:) If she hadn't done that we couldn't have won, eh? (Although, I *still* think shorter is better [/me ducks for cover;)]) Thanks are also due to everyone who has written to me expressing their appreciation for my stories:) I work for just that kind of feedback:) I hear that music playing now, so I'll just say one final thanks to everyone who helped me create these award-winning stories:) Margaret Exiting stage right...er, left...statues held high:) ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 11:30:28 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: JCWimmer Subject: Fanfic: Full Circle: Chapter 11 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit *********************** Chapter 11 *********************** It had been four months since the baby's birth when Lois opened her eyes. Her brain activity indicated responses to sound and sight, but she did not react to it. Clark was the first to notice the big brown eyes of his wife begin to follow him. When he moved across the room her head would vaguely move to follow his movement, and her eyes began to fixate on him. The link appeared to only be with Clark, as she did not react when other people entered her room. Clark continued to care for as many of her needs as possible, and the nurses were relieved to have one less patient to bathe and turn. Nearly a month later, Lois left the ICU for a step-down unit on another floor. Dr. Klein continued his daily visits, although there was rarely any change in her condition. Dr. Klein feared that Lois had experienced brain damage as a result of the continued exposure to the pregnancy, and he felt responsible because he had both initiated the pregnancy and allowed it to continue against his better judgment. He was unable to look Clark in the eye, and he sensed a subdued rage when he was in the other man's presence. Once Lois was moved to the new floor, she was allowed to have visitors. CJ was able to visit his mother, and he was finally able to feel a part of a family again. He brought copies of the Daily Planet and read the stories to her one by one. Lois began to respond to more of her visitors, and especially to CJ. She vaguely imitated a smile, and followed him consistently with her eyes. Even the other physicians and the nursing staff remarked about her improvement. She was not talking, or caring for herself, but just the fact that she appeared aware of her surroundings was encouragement to those around her. Martha and Jonathan brought her pictures of the baby, and while Clark refused to look at them Lois stared at them for hours. The Metropolis General Hospital became a member of the Kent family. They lived there, slept there, and revolved their lives around it's schedule. Clark was there first thing in the morning, and last thing each night. More than once he slept next to Lois on the tiny hospital bed, his arms wrapped around her still form. The nurses knew that his happened, just as they knew it was against all the rules, but the most acknowledgment it ever received was when an extra blanket was left for him, or a reminder given to put Lois' rail up so he would not fall. Even the staff realized that something special was going on in the room, and they were loath to disturb it. ******************** "Can I go with you to the hospital today?" Kat asked as she sat down on CJ's bed. She had dropped by for a ride to school, and he was almost ready. "Sure. I wanted to take mom my new column. I finally got the farm piece edited, and I think she'll like it." CJ finished buttoning his flannel shirt, and turned around to tuck it into his pants. "What time did you want to leave?" Kat swallowed heavily and looked anywhere except for at her friend. Friends were not supposed to feel like this about friends. CJ thought about it for a moment. "Let's leave around four. Dad wants me to pick up some chow mein for mom. The doctor said she's ready for solid foods, and Dad doesn't want her starting with that nasty hospital stuff." "Leave it to your dad to think of everything," Kat commented. "Yeah, I guess." CJ didn't sound so sure. "I just wish, sometimes, he thought about someone besides mom." "You know she needs him, now." "I know. Forget I said that. We need to get to school." "CJ, talk to me," Kat pleaded. CJ had been quieter this week than he had since his brother's birth. She knew he was worried about his mom, and even his brother for that matter, but this felt different. "I'd rather not." "CJ!" With a sigh, CJ gave in to the inevitable. "Sometimes I just wonder why I'm even here. I feel like I'm just in the way. They give me these little jobs to keep me busy, but it's not like they really want me here." CJ sat on the bed with a miserable look on his face. "I just want stuff to be like it used to. I'm sick of living in that place, or living here alone. Even my grandparents spend most of their time with the baby, and they don't care about me now." CJ quietly began to cry. Kat was immediately by his side, with her arms around him. She hugged him as the small cries turned into wracking sobs, and cried with him when he began to shake. She was vaguely aware that he was hurting her with his grip, but she didn't feel it was a good time to mention it. After awhile, CJ loosed his grip on her and relaxed somewhat. "Sorry about that," CJ mumbled as he wiped his face on his sleeve. "That's what friend's are for," she replied as she wiped her face in a similar manner. They looked at each other briefly before breaking down into a laugh. "We're pretty pitiful," CJ commented. "Oh, well," Kat smiled. She sobered quickly and her eyes met CJ's. "You know your dad loves you. He'd do anything for you. He's just really having a hard time with this." "I know. Sometimes, it feels like I'm loosing both of them, and I'm sort of afraid of being left all alone." You'll never be alone, CJ. You'll always have me." CJ smiled and kissed Kat on the cheek in thanks. Then he took her hand in his and reached for their backpacks with his other hand. If they didn't leave now, they'd be late for school. Baby Boy Kent was moved into a regular baby isolette on the first Tuesday in May. He was no longer in need of oxygen, and he was eating more than two ounces of formula every two hours. Martha nagged the baby's doctor incessantly until he consented to allow the baby off the floor. With her husband and a nosy nurse following behind, Martha pushed the isolette to the elevator, went down three floors, then pushed the baby out of the elevator towards Lois's room. Martha had a bottle tucked in her pocket and was intent on allowing Lois the privilege of feeding her own son. When Martha saw Lois sitting up in bed, she smiled. She rolled the baby into the room and right up to Lois' bed. Her attention was so focused on Lois, that she did not see her son begin backing away from the bed with an alarming speed. "I've brought someone to see his mommy," Martha told her. She picked up the tiny infant, now just over four and a half pounds, and placed him on the bed next to his mother. Lois focused on the tiny infant and smiled. She wished she had the strength to hold him, but she couldn't lift her hand. She wanted to tell them how beautiful she thought he was, but her voice wouldn't make any sound. She stared at the beautiful child for several moments before she became so frustrated with her limitations that she began to cry. Martha, seeing Lois's tears, smiled at her daughter. She took the bottle from her pocket and placed it in Lois' hand. Holding her own hand around Lois's, she helped Lois guide the nipple into the baby's open mouth. The little boy latched on to the food source immediately, and within a few minutes had drained the bottle dry. Lois watched the boy eat with fascination, grateful that Martha had understood her need to be with the baby. Martha lifted the child into her arms, and patted gently until a large burp was heard. Then she sat next to Lois on the bed and laid the baby carefully into the crook of Lois's arm, supporting it with her hand. Lois smiled down at her son, then focused on her mother in law. Her lips moved to form the words "thank you", but no sound came out. Martha had been watching. "You're welcome." Lois smiled once more at her mother in law before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. When Martha took the baby back into her arms and placed the baby in the isolette, she was surprised to see that Clark and Jonathan had disappeared and the nurse that had followed her was wiping suspiciously moist eyes on a tissue. ******************** Jonathan had found Clark downstairs in the hospital cafeteria. He alone had noticed his son's hasty departure, and was concerned that he was quite upset. Clark was getting a candy bar from a rather uncooperative vending machine when he lost control of his temper. When the candy caught behind the spiral dispensing arm, Clark brought his hand down on the machine with a frustrated sigh. Unfortunately, the material that the machine was made of was not designed to tolerate such abuse. The aluminum crumpled beneath his strength, and would be quite useless to others in the future. Jonathan could see that Clark was at the end of his frustration threshold, and suggested a walk outside. Reluctantly, Clark followed his father into the May sunshine. It was a rare, clear day, that seemed filled with such possibility. Clark was momentarily stunned that the world was going on outside the hospital. His life had been reduced to the enormous cement structure standing behind him, and the metal and glass structure of the Daily Planet Newsroom. He saw little in between, whether flying or driving, and occasionally he began to feel that the world had ceased to exist. "Do you want to talk about it, Son?" Clark glanced back at this father and sighed. He really should talk to someone, but he had no clue how to put his feelings into words. It seemed impossible that anyone could understand the pain that he felt each time he looked at his wife and could feel that she was reaching for him but not able to get there. It was so frustrating to look into those brown eyes that he loved and not be able to communicate on any level more complex than awareness. It was tearing him apart to feel as if touching his wife, his privilege and joy in the past, was being observed beneath a microscope. "I guess I'm just tired," he finally answered. That didn't begin to address his pain, but it was all that he thought he could share. "Is there a reason you don't want to see your son?" Jonathan addressed his primary area of concern. He had watched Clark avoid the baby for months, usually under the pretense of caring for Lois, but he had never seen him actively turn his back on the child. He was becoming concerned that this ran more deeply than a matter of not having time for the infant, and might even boarder on disliking the tiny person. Clark leaned his back against a tree. They had walked to a small park that was located a block or so from the hospital. He could see children on swings and playing in a sandbox, boys chasing balls and Frisbees with their fathers, and various families taking advantage of the unusually pretty day. He wanted to feel a part of that. He remembered sharing similar activities with Lois and CJ in years past, and he longed for the feeling that he had lost. He just wanted to go back to the way things had been before. He wanted to take back the pregnancy and the illness that had followed. He wanted his wife back. "I guess it's not really the baby," he finally told his father. "I feel like I've lost Lois, and I just can't seem to care about the baby. I know how much we wanted him, but it doesn't feel right without Lois." Clark sighed. He knew his father couldn't understand. Jonathan had always loved Clark unconditionally, and it seemed unlikely that he had ever had doubts. Clark felt like a traitor. If he loved the baby, he was loving the one thing that had cost him his wife. If he hated the baby, he was betraying what Lois had wanted the most. He had stayed between the two extremes by ignoring the existence of the child, and this was becoming more difficult to do. The child wasn't a medical definition anymore, as his mother had just demonstrated. Martha had just forced Clark to see the child as his son, as Lois's son, and he wasn't ready to deal with the implications of this. "I'm afraid he won't go away if you ignore him," Jonathan told his son. It was hurting him to see Clark in such pain, but denial was not solving the problems. "The baby is nearly ready to be taken home, and you haven't even given him a name, yet." Clark looked up in alarm. His face blanched white, and he appeared near panic. Jonathan observed Clark sweating, a sure sign of panic, and reached out to steady his son. Clark was breathing rapidly, and thinking as quickly as he could. "You and mom can take him, right? You can take care of him for us, until Lois is better." The look of fear in Clark's eyes nearly broke Jonathan's heart. He had known the question would come, just as he knew the answer. "I just can't take him home. How could I take care of Lois and him at the same time? I just can't do it." "Son," Jonathan began, "I wish we could." He sighed and walked around the tree to lean against it, next to his son. "Your mother and I have raised our family. Martha turns seventy-five next month. I can't ask her to start over. It isn't fair to her, and it wouldn't be fair to the baby. Just the few hours she spends here during the day tire so much." Clark sighed as well. His father was right, and he knew it. The baby was his responsibility, and there was no way around it. He also knew that his father was being kind with his explanation. He had noticed how tired his mother had been looking. The older Kents had moved into the house in Claremont, and had been commuting here daily to see the baby and Lois. They had placed the farm up for sale, and were planning to move into an apartment closer to Metropolis to help with raising CJ and caring for the baby. He knew that this situation wasn't the only reason for the move. Martha had been having trouble with arthritis for the past few years, and Jonathan was just now realizing how much he had relied on Clark to get his work done on the farm. It had not been a fabrication, telling CJ that he was needed on the farm. There was too much work for the older man to do alone, and there was no reason to deny it any longer. In truth, Jonathan had looked into selling the farm long before this medical crisis had necessitated the move into Clark's house, but the final decision had not been necessary until Clark had asked for help in caring for CJ. Martha had enjoyed getting to know her grandson. Both of them, for that matter. She had spent hours talking with CJ about his concerns regarding his mother and the new baby. She had taught him a little more about cooking, and had helped him with his homework just as she used to do for Clark. She spent hours caring for the newest Kent while CJ was in school, feeding and diapering the little one, and holding him for hours on end. The experience had not been all bad, but she was tiring. She was sleeping longer at night, and beginning to feel less herself. She had shared her concerns with Jonathan when they realized that Clark was not even attempting to bond with the baby, and Jonathan needed to relay the concerns to Clark. Jonathan would do anything for Clark, but he could not commit to raising a child for him. He had hoped that Clark would start to show an interest in the baby when Lois had begun to improve, but if anything he had withdrawn from the child more. His care of CJ had not suffered, in fact he had seemed to grow continually closer to the teenager as the crisis enveloped their lives, but he would not acknowledge his newest son. Jonathan understood his fear, but he didn't know what to do about it "The nurses say the baby can go home within the next few weeks. You will need to make a decision, Son.” Jonathan knew that Clark would not face the choices without some prodding. "What decision? Can't the baby stay here until Lois is well enough to care for him?" Clark had never allowed himself to consider that Lois might not recover. They had always planned to raise the child together, and he had not dealt with any other options. Lois was strong, she was feisty, and she would get better. From the moment that she had come off the respirator, Clark had believed this, and he would not listen to the doctor's opinions to the contrary. Jonathan knew that his son was not dealing with the facts, but he didn't know how to force him to do so. "Son, we don't know when Lois will be able to come home. She may be here for some time, and even when she does come home she won't be able to take care of a baby for right away. This is something she can't do for you." Clark looked at his father sharply, ready to argue, but having no grounds to do so. Just because his father had a better grasp of reality, that was no reason to attack him. Clark took a deep breath and attempted to face a world without Lois in it. He contemplated the concept for several moments, then decided once more that it simply couldn't happen. He needed her too much. "I can't live without her, Dad." Jonathan placed his arms around his son, as Clark began to cry. Tears too long denied flowed down his face for several moments, and he was too shaken to stop them. His father held him tightly, just as he had done for CJ, and waited for the storm to pass so that he could continue with what had to be said. When Clark had calmed somewhat, Jonathan offered him a handkerchief, which Clark took gratefully. "I can't raise him alone, and you can't help. Lois isn't up to it now, and she may never be." Clark's voice was desolate as he recited the facts as he saw them. "We can't put him up for adoption, he's my son. Eventually, he'll be like CJ, and there are powers that would have to be explained. I don't want him winding up being dissected because I'm not capable of raising him." Clark turned to his father with a hopeless expression on his face, his eyes tortured, "Do you have any ideas?" "Not at the moment, son," Jonathan told him. "We'll figure this out together. I just wanted to make sure you were thinking about it. It's something we need to settle." Clark knew his father was right, just as he knew that he had a little time to make the decisions that would effect the rest of his life. At least the issues were out in the open. Where they would go from here, Clark had no clue. But at least he had a starting point. ***** to be continued tomorrow in chapter 12 ***** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 12:31:18 -0500 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: Kerth Winners! :-) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Congrats to everyone who was nominated, but each category could only have= one winner, so here they are... This list is also on my webpage, and tha= t version has some notes about how the voting went in each category (i.e., whether it was a close race or not) - if you're interested, set your browsers for= http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/kerth.html. But this i= s the short version. (Full logs of the ceremony will be available shortly)= Best Comedy - Lois's Revenge/Clark's Response by BB Medos Best Tearjerker - Heaven's Prisoners by Demi Best Dramatic Story - Love Beyond All Measure by Chris Mulder Best Fanboy Story - Faster Than a Speeding Bullet by Sheila Harper Best Alt Story - Always Something There to Remind Me by Zoomway Best Revelation/Lois - Dimensions of Loving by Chris Mulder Best Revelation/Others - Smallville Revelation by Pam Jernigan Best Wedding Story - Going to the Chapel by Pam Jernigan & Sarah Wood Best Pregnancy/Delivery Story - When You Needed Me Most by Erin Klinger Best Next Gen Story - Good Night Metropolis by peabody Best Alternate Beginnings - Meet Me in Kansas City by Chris Mulder Best Rewrite - Forget Me Not, Redux by Pam Jernigan Best Early Years Story - The One / The Rules / The Long Road by Margaret Brignell Best Series - Love Beyond All Measure / Dimensions of Loving by Chris Mulder Best Series Continuation - Season 5 (S5) (Leanne Shawler, Exec Producer) Best Fifth Season Episode - Mxysplit / All Myxed Up by Sheila Harper Best Music/Poem Adaptation - You Made Me Love You by Zoomway Best Poem - 'Twas the Day After...' poems by Sue Tremblay Best In-Betweenie - 12:01 by Zoomway Best Lex Story - Dimensions of Loving by Chris Mulder Best Tempus Story - Tempus Fugitive Revisited by Kaz from Oz Best Round Robin - Mirror Image by #nfic (Sheila Harper, Zoomway, Pam Jernigan, Chris Paterson, Annette Ciotola, Jennifer Stosser, Peace, Kathy Brown, Pat Heidkamp) Best crossover - SwapMeet by Debby Stark/Margaret Brignell Best nfic - Heaven's Prisoners by Demi Best Deathfic - Because You Loved Me by Michelle Putkoff Best Elseworld - Counter Clark-Wise by Zoomway Best WAFFy story - Camping with Clark by Kathy Brown Best Fic Overall - Meet Me in Kansas City by Chris Mulder And a suprise that wasn't on the ballot... Lifetime Achievement Award - Rhen Brink For her invaluable efforts in distributing fanfic as the fandom was just getting started, the Kerth Awards Committee (Leanne, Pam, & Erin) ar= e very pleased to recognize Renate Brink - and it should be noted that this= idea also came up in #kerth_chat before we announced it :-) so that makes= it nearly unanimous. And that's all she wrote... congratulations to all the winners, and to al= l the nominees - and remember, the real winners are the fanfic *readers* PJ (still recovering ) !^NavFont02F09180006MGHHPa2D36 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 29-Mar-1998 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ Fanfic writer, Kerth co-coordinator, busy mom :-) Kerths will be awarded March 28th, beginning at 6pm EST! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html ~~~~~ "Are you under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable?" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 13:59:05 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Donna Lehman <102262.2435@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Full Circle-Part 8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, Can someone help me? I didn't receive all of Full Circle Part 8 and I don= 't want to miss any good parts. I just started reading from Chapter 8 until today. I have been enjoying this story. Congratulations to all of you Fanfic writers, it truly has been a life ra= ft this winter without new LNC on TV. Donna ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 15:29:06 -0700 Reply-To: Erin Klingler Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Fw: from Leanne MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Leanne emailed me the following, telling me that she's having problems with her ISP, and asking if I could send this to the fanfic list. So here it is! >Talk about a case of nerves last night -- not only did I jump the gun and >present an award Zoomway was supposed to have presented -- but I forgot to >thank people!!!! > >You can check out the log for those I've already thanked (coming soon, -- I >haven't checked my mail yet today) ... but those I missed: Peace, for >putting together the ballot form on her site and collecting bios etc on all >the nominees; and Genevieve for her very special gateway to the Kerth >stories on the web. Thank you both! > >And thanks everyone! > >Leanne >(who is glad Erin's organising all of this next year!) ACK! After last night, did she *have* to remind me that I'd volunteered to do all this for next year??? :P Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 15:28:26 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:44 AM 3/29/98 -0500, Margaret B. wrote: > [big snip!] (Although, I *still* >think shorter is better [/me ducks for cover;)]) Don't duck--you might be right! To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? In 25 words or less... or more :) Debby Debby@swcp.com who won't go into shorter *what*... ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 17:42:16 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mar Brian Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Debby- Personnaly I like a story that's not too short or too long. Usually around 12 to 15 pages. I'm just starting to write fanfics...I wrote one that was very very short and a friend who edited said that it need to be longer. It's hard to fit a whole story in under 10 pages. Anyway that's just an opinion. Mariann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:10:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 03:28 PM 29/03/98 -0700, Debby wrote: >At 10:44 AM 3/29/98 -0500, Margaret B. wrote: >> [big snip!] (Although, I *still* >>think shorter is better [/me ducks for cover;)]) >Don't duck--you might be right! Really? Then Mar Brian said: >Personnaly I like a story that's not too short or too long. >Usually around 12 to 15 pages. See Debby...I *told* you shorter was better (For Mar and other's info...Debby's stories usually *start* at 50 pages and only get longer) Margaret Who's been hanging around Debby so long that *my* stories are averaging up in 50 page neighbourhood now ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:20:39 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Patric6928 Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I think it all depends on the quality of writing and story. There are fics I have read well over 100 pages, and I have loved every single page, paragraph, word and whisper-- and I have read short fics that have not been my cup of tea. What I do like, is to see an idea fully fleshed out-- and sometimes that takes alot of pages. Patricia ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:39:23 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Larus2407 Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-03-29 17:33:58 EST, Debby writes: << At 10:44 AM 3/29/98 -0500, Margaret B. wrote: > [big snip!] (Although, I *still* >think shorter is better [/me ducks for cover;)]) Don't duck--you might be right! To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? In 25 words or less... or more :) >> Nope. As both Debby and Margaret know, I like long stories! And, personally, I found this comment from Margaret particularly funny since she had just told me how long the one she's currently working on is... Oh, I was supposed to say why. SOrry, Debby. MOre time to build up plot, more in-depth characterization, just plain more of L&C. OK? --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:48:46 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: I go where the ocean is deep Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Debby wrote: < To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers < and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? I think it depends on the story. (I know, that's the easy answer :) Some stories read like episodes (a & b plots, etc), and should be that long (about the length of a S5 or TUFS episode). Other stories, especially those that deal with character development *and* a plot, need a lot more room. I'm never turned off if a fanfic is too long, but may be if it's too short because sometimes that means the plot isn't fleshed out enough. But I'm biased towards long stories- the one I'm working on now is 47 pages and still not finished. -Christy kubitc@kenyon.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 19:14:43 -0500 Reply-To: martelle@clover.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: martelle Subject: Re: Full Circle-Part 8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Donna Lehman wrote: > > Hi, > Can someone help me? I didn't receive all of Full Circle Part 8 and I don't > want to miss any good parts. I just started reading from Chapter 8 until > today. > I have been enjoying this story. > Congratulations to all of you Fanfic writers, it truly has been a life raft > this winter without new LNC on TV. > Donna There ya go!! Hope you enjoy ***************************** Chapter 8 ***************************** CJ discussed the new development with Kat the next day. They had been let out of school early, due to a teacher work day, and had a little time to talk before they would each need to attend their individual jobs. Initially, CJ had been leery of talking to Kat at all. He was still feeling pretty stupid about ruining her date, regardless of the fact that he really had helped. It had embarrassed her, and that fact alone embarrassed him. On the other hand, Andy's car was still not fixed and Kat needed a ride home. Her ankle had merely been sprained, but the walk home was uncomfortable even without the crutches. She was grateful for the offer of a ride. CJ had been surprised that she hadn't just asked him. After all, it wasn't as though it were out of his way. However, it did make him feel good to offer, and even better when she accepted with a smile. "So, what do you think?" CJ asked her as they pulled up in front of her house. Kat sighed. "I honestly don't know what to think. On the other hand, being adopted is less strange than being an alien, so I guess this isn't the biggest thing you've had to deal with lately." She smiled, and looked over at him to see if he shared the humor in the situation. What she saw was big brown eyes that were so sad that she didn't know what to do with him. "CJ, however they got you, they love you. They have been here for you, and taken care of you, and that's more than my folks have done when they did get me the ususal way." CJ closed his eyes a moment and thought about what Kat had said. She was right, despite his resistance to her answer. His parents *were* great. They had loved him, taught him, and supported him throughout all the pitfalls of growing up. They had held his hand when he was frightened and been honest with him when they could have easily lied. They did love him, and that was more important than a situation that they had no control over, and yet had made the best of. CJ had a lot of thinking to do. He would have to move a long way before he could forgive this, but he was now certain it would happen. He needed to apologize to his parents first, they must be frantic with the way he had been acting. Then he would call his grandparents. He should have listened to them in the first place. With a faint smile, he leaned over and kissed Kat lightly on the lips in thanks. It was just a peck, and it shouldn't have been any more than a thank you, but somehow it was more. Kat blushed from her neck to her hairline, and made a quick excuse to exit the truck. She nearly fell when she didn't remember her sore ankle, but she quickly recovered and hobbled into her house. CJ sat in the truck for a moment, watching Kat stumble towards the house. Why had he done that, he wondered? Why would he kiss her ... and on the lips too. He had never done that. It had just seemed the thing to do, and now he wasn't so sure. She had certainly reacted in a funny way to the little kiss. With a final shake of his head at the strange ways of females, he turned off the truck and walked across the street to his house. ***************************** The next morning, as Lois woke, she snuggled into her husband's back. She was grateful to wake up beside him for a change. Normally, early morning was a busy time for him, and she wasn't used to having someone warm to snuggle against before the alarm went off. Before she got too comfortable, or involved, she rolled away from him and reached into the drawer of her nightstand. She grabbed the glass thermometer that Dr. Klein had given her and gave it a good shake before slipping it beneath her tongue. After three minutes, she read the mercury and reached for her pen and chart. Once she had graphed the little number, she did a double-take, looking at the chart. Her temperature had risen a full four-tenths of a degree from her normal basal body temperature. This was it. She tried to contain her excitement, but was unable to do so. Unfortunately, this wasn't her cue to wake her husband up in a soft and fuzzy way, it was her signal to call Dr. Klein. She gently patted Clark on the back until he woke up a little, then she explained, "Honey, you have to wake up. My temperature is up. We need to call Dr. Klein." Clark burrowed more deeply into his pillow, hugging it tightly to his chest, and sighed. "Take some aspirin, Honey. I'll tell Perry you're sick." Lois almost laughed at this blast from the past. It had been a long time since they had worried about placating Perry White. With a wistful, remembering kind of smile she tried again. "Clark, I need you to wake up." Clark grumbled a little more. While normally he was quite the morning person, he had only been in bed for about an hour today. There had been a particularly nasty hostage situation that had required Superman's assistance, and while he was thrilled to have the headline to call in to the paper, he was also exhausted after twenty-two hours without sleep. Finally, he rolled over to see the excited face of his wife. This was odd. Normally, he was up and ready to go, and Lois was still grumbling and dragging far behind him. "What's wrong," he asked. "Nothing is wrong," she answered. "My temperature is up, and we need to call Dr. Klein so he can perform the procedure." Clark's eyes flew open as what she had said finally penetrated his mind. This could be it. After nearly seventeen years of waiting and wondering, this could really be it. He was trying not to get his hopes up, but it was really hard. They had wanted this so much, and to have the possibility here was amazing. He placed his palm against Lois's cheek, and looked into her eyes. She would be the mother of his child...he just knew it. He always had. After kissing her softly on the lips, he left the bed to give Dr. Klein a call. They agreed to meet him at Star Labs, as they had planned to do. Clark showered at superspeed, and left Lois to do the same while he prepared some breakfast. Lois was considerably slower as she showered, dressed, and put on her makeup. After doing so, she walked down the hall and knocked softly on her son's door. Once she had made sure that he was indeed up and getting ready for school, she met Clark downstairs. He handed her a travel cup of coffee and an English muffin with an egg inside. She smiled at his obvious attempt to hurry her along when she saw that he already had both her laptop case and her purse tucked under his arm. "Ready to go?" he asked as he started for the door without waiting for her answer. Lois smiled at his retreating back, "I guess I am." With that, she followed him to the car. ***************************** Lois sighed as she allowed Dr. Klein to assist her to a sitting position on the examining table and pulled the sheet more firmly around her legs to keep herself covered. This was still vaguely embarrassing, although he had been much more adept with his bedside manner than he had once thought possible. Years of caring for Clark's needs, as well as Lois's, had taught him to be slightly more tactful than he had once been while describing the demise of a snowman to a shrinking Clark. Clark stepped forward from his position at the head of the exam table and placed his hand on Lois's shoulder. "How long before we know, Dr. Klein?" The doctor considered the question for a moment before answering. "Assuming the procedure is successful, fertilization should occur in three to four days. After that, implantation could take as much as another week. The soonest it would show up on a urine test would be one week from now, but most likely it would be closer to two." Dr. Klein noted the pained expression on their faces, and took pity on them. "I'll tell you what, I'll send some test kits with you. Just follow the directions inside, and we'll know as soon as possible. You should start using them one week from today. You really can't expect a positive result prior to that." Clark thanked the doctor, and stayed with Lois while she dressed. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Lois was wondering if this time would be different, and Clark was thinking about how the morning had gone. Clark had learned long ago that the embarrassing process of providing Dr. Klein with his samples went much more smoothly when Lois was present. Her ... assistance ... made an otherwise humiliating experience not only faster, but almost enjoyable. This morning had certainly been a surprise. Lois had helped him out in producing a specimen, and then had asked him to stay while Dr. Klein performed the procedure. As promised, it had taken only a few moments, and there had gratefully been no needles necessary. Lois hadn't appeared to suffer any pain, and that in itself was a relief. Clark had always hated the infertility treatments that Lois had to endure. For years, they had dealt with medications, fertilization procedures, and other difficult and painful experiences. Of course, the worst part was always that the pain was for nothing. It simply led to more pain with the expected result wasn't achieved. The worst part for him was knowing that while the infertility was his fault, she was the one who had to endure the pain. He watched Lois pull on her blouse and begin buttoning it. He walked over to her and placed his hands over hers. She looked up and met his eyes, and he was not surprised to see tears in hers. He pulled her into his arms for a moment, comforting her. "You know," he told her, "whether this works or not I still love you. We have each other, and we have CJ. We're still very lucky." Lois sniffled slightly, resting her head against his shoulder. She hated this. She still felt silly when she cried about loosing something she never had. "I know, but I just want to feel your baby inside me." She lifted her head and looked into the depths of his big brown eyes. "I feel like I missed something by not being pregnant. I mean, I never sacrificed my figure or tossed my cookies. I feel like I never paid my dues, and someone is going to show up to collect." "I know that won't happen, Lois. If it did, I'd send them packing at super speed. CJ is ours ... we love him, we raised him, and we won't give him up to anyone." Lois put her head back on Clark's shoulder. She had known he would say that, she had just needed the reassurance. They had dealt with their fears of losing CJ, and their concerns about his origin, on many occasions through the years. Gratefully, the discussions had become less fearful and less frequent as the years progressed. There were even times now when they forgot entirely that he was not acquired in the usual way. At the very least, they almost forgot. With a sigh, Lois pulled away from Clark and finished getting dressed. Clark watched her, reminding himself that they did have to go to work today, as once again he realized how beautiful his wife was. She had her brown hair down today, and it curled softly at her shoulders as it had when he had first seen her. She was no longer self conscious about the occasional gray strand, but considered them to be awards for surviving a teenager. They were her badges of honor, as much as her Kerth Awards were. Once she was dressed, Lois and Clark linked hands and went back to Dr. Klein's office for the promised test kits and any other instructions that the doctor might have for them. **************************** Work went slowly for the Kents. While Lois sorted through possible stories to lead the headlines on the following day, Clark ran the daily staff meeting. Granted, Clark wasn't an editor, but no one on staff would consider questioning his authority. He wasn't just the boss's husband, he was an experienced journalist who had been assisting his wife in the running of the Planet since she had taken over her editorial position. He was good at it, he liked it, and if there was any question asked it was why he wasn't promoted to an editorial assistant as he should have been. Lois and Clark had considered the idea of allowing promotion to a full assistant editor, but always decided against it. The first problem was that of Superman. An editor couldn't be running off every time something newsworthy happened. The second problem was that of the job. It was bad enough to have constant demands on Lois's time, especially when CJ had been younger, but to have those same demands placed on Clark would have made a family life impossible. The entire purpose of the editorial assistants was to allow the editor time for a life, not to take away their spouse. Actually, Lois had completely rearranged the command structure within the city room, and her setup was much more effective than the one Perry had allowed. She was the day editor, she had Andrew to cover evenings and Pat to cover nights. Their salary was little more than the average reporter made, but the experience was excellent, and the benefit of working for the Planet made the jobs irresistible. Lois, of course, made all the final decisions, and had Clark to help her out during the day, but there was always enough work for everyone. Lois sighed deeply. Clark heard it, and was immediately at her side. When she glanced up and saw him she smiled. "You know, if I do get pregnant you can't stay by my side the entire time." Clark gave her a dirty look before replying, "Did you need something?" Lois lifted onto her toes, and kissed him rather soundly. "Yes, I need you. Always." She kissed him once more. Clark relaxed somewhat, and allowed himself to enjoy his wife's kisses. After a moment, he put his arms around her, and deepened his kiss slightly. As she pulled away, she asked him, "We're okay, aren't we?" She knew he would understand. "Yeah," he replied. Then he put his arms back around her and pulled her back to his embrace. "We're very okay." ***** to be continued tomorrow in chapter 9 ***** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:19:32 -0700 Reply-To: Erin Klingler Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Is shorter better? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Debby wrote: >To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers >and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? >In 25 words or less... or more :) I don't think that shorter is necessarily better, as there as tons of shorts stories that are just fabulous! A great example of this is Jennifer Baker's fanfic, Heartbeat, which is only one page long and is one of my all-time favorites. :) But I have to say that so many of my other all-time favs are the big, long fanfics... the "Powerhouse" fanfics, as I like to call them. :) For example, Meet Me in Kansas City, Heaven's Prisoners, etc. A long fanfic definitely gives the writer time to delve into the personal lives and feelings of more than one main characters (and occasionally the smaller ones, too), and I think that gives the readers time to really get settled into the story and get really personally and emotionally involved. I believe that this can be accomplished in a short story, too, but I know from experience that it's very difficult to do, and takes a very talented writer to do so. I commend Jennifer Baker on doing it, and those other authors who've done that same emotional writing in a story only a couple of pages long. I certainly haven't gotten to that writing level yet! Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 19:06:28 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Alyssa Mondelli Organization: Brought to you by the legal firm of Deceive, Inveigle, & Obfuscate Subject: S5 stuff Comments: To: loiscla@vm.ege.edu.tr MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Three things to mention: 1 - I'd like to congratulate all the S5 writers on their Kerth award. They've worked really hard on these stories, and as the lowly publisher who lives vicariously through them, I've been amazed and impressed at the continuing quality of the episodes. Take a bow, kids, you earned it. 2 - The visually-oriented graphics-geek part of me would like to direct you to the penultimate scene of Episode 15, where I've added an extremely cool animated gif that I found while surfing and couldn't resist putting up. It's lots of fun. (And squint all you want; the results of the poll - and, therefore, the ultrasound - are still inconclusive. What have we learned from this show? Patience is a virtue...) 3 - And now, what you've all been waiting for: Episode 16, Lori McElhaney's "Nightmare Over Metropolis", has been uploaded to the S5 website for your reading pleasure. It has WAFFs and WHAMs and an intriguing plot and yet another ruthless, megalomaniacal scientist (I hear the Biochemists' Anti-Defamation League is considering a lawsuit) - in short, all you've come to expect from S5. And yes, I realize this tells you absolutely nothing about the actual episode. Sorry. It was easier when the writers did these blurbs themselves; they could give away plot as they saw fit. Come play with us at http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/ or http://www.tempus.simplenet.com/season5/s5text.htm for the low-maintenance version. I'm off to plow through my mailbox - I've been on spring break so if you wrote me last week and expected an answer, or are wondering why your comments haven't appeared on the webpage, it will be coming shortly, I promise. Until next week... ==Alyssa in St. Paul== (agmondelli@stthomas.edu)(AlyssaM on the IRC) Webmistress, Tempus Expeditions - http://www.tempus.simplenet.com Home of the Fortress of Insanity and Lois & Clark Season 5 "What's less than square one? Minus zippo? Negative bupkes?" --Capt. Don Cragen, _Law & Order_ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 21:14:53 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: IS shorter better??? Here's my two cents on this one: I have only written one fanfic in my short emailing career. It was a mere 8 pages long. I consider this short in comparison to the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng stories I have recieved lately. In many cases, shorter is better. Like when I'm writing it ..... or when I am in a hurry and reading a fanfic .... or when I want to print something out .... or, well, that's all I can think of :o)! However, in just about every case I can think of, longer is better!!! It gives us more to do on lite email days.... it provides even more enjoyment than short stories .... it allows an author more time in which to add all those delightful little details .... and, of course, it's more Lois and Clark for all!!!! LONGER IS BETTER! Well, that's it for now. This is Cristin Whitley, signing off! ***Cristin Whitley :o)***CKandLL4ever@Juno.com*** I love Superman!!!!! "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." CK _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 21:18:37 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Budmayes Subject: Re: Is shorter better? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-03-29 17:34:07 EST, you write: << To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? In 25 words or less... or more :) >> I think that it depends on the story being told, the writer, the plot etc. Some stories are best told as a simple short. Witness my little piece "Doesn't anybody ever stay together anymore?" which has just been put up at the archive, hint, hint :) . Some you really want to sit down with a snack and a drink and just read and read because you can't get enough. Whiskey Galore, Heaven's prisoners SwapMet are examples. It all depends on whats being done with the story. Padding a story doesn't make it better. There is a science fiction story bt LR Hubbard. It's 10 books long. It was awful and I know that he's a better writer than that. On the other hand there are stories that should have been fleshed out a little more. I really don't enjoy stories as much when they read as more of a narrative than a detailed story. A story has to find its own lenght. Heres a way to take a poll though. Every one add to this list a short story and a long one that you really enjoyed. Let's see how many show up. No repeats please. If you only want to add to one list do so. Long Story Short Story 1.Whiskey Galore 1. Doesn't anybody ever stay... Sorry, I could't help myself budmayes@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 21:46:03 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: JCWimmer Subject: Re: Full Circle-Part 8 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit ***************************** Chapter 8 ***************************** CJ discussed the new development with Kat the next day. They had been let out of school early, due to a teacher work day, and had a little time to talk before they would each need to attend their individual jobs. Initially, CJ had been leery of talking to Kat at all. He was still feeling pretty stupid about ruining her date, regardless of the fact that he really had helped. It had embarrassed her, and that fact alone embarrassed him. On the other hand, Andy's car was still not fixed and Kat needed a ride home. Her ankle had merely been sprained, but the walk home was uncomfortable even without the crutches. She was grateful for the offer of a ride. CJ had been surprised that she hadn't just asked him. After all, it wasn't as though it were out of his way. However, it did make him feel good to offer, and even better when she accepted with a smile. "So, what do you think?" CJ asked her as they pulled up in front of her house. Kat sighed. "I honestly don't know what to think. On the other hand, being adopted is less strange than being an alien, so I guess this isn't the biggest thing you've had to deal with lately." She smiled, and looked over at him to see if he shared the humor in the situation. What she saw was big brown eyes that were so sad that she didn't know what to do with him. "CJ, however they got you, they love you. They have been here for you, and taken care of you, and that's more than my folks have done when they did get me the ususal way." CJ closed his eyes a moment and thought about what Kat had said. She was right, despite his resistance to her answer. His parents *were* great. They had loved him, taught him, and supported him throughout all the pitfalls of growing up. They had held his hand when he was frightened and been honest with him when they could have easily lied. They did love him, and that was more important than a situation that they had no control over, and yet had made the best of. CJ had a lot of thinking to do. He would have to move a long way before he could forgive this, but he was now certain it would happen. He needed to apologize to his parents first, they must be frantic with the way he had been acting. Then he would call his grandparents. He should have listened to them in the first place. With a faint smile, he leaned over and kissed Kat lightly on the lips in thanks. It was just a peck, and it shouldn't have been any more than a thank you, but somehow it was more. Kat blushed from her neck to her hairline, and made a quick excuse to exit the truck. She nearly fell when she didn't remember her sore ankle, but she quickly recovered and hobbled into her house. CJ sat in the truck for a moment, watching Kat stumble towards the house. Why had he done that, he wondered? Why would he kiss her ... and on the lips too. He had never done that. It had just seemed the thing to do, and now he wasn't so sure. She had certainly reacted in a funny way to the little kiss. With a final shake of his head at the strange ways of females, he turned off the truck and walked across the street to his house. ***************************** The next morning, as Lois woke, she snuggled into her husband's back. She was grateful to wake up beside him for a change. Normally, early morning was a busy time for him, and she wasn't used to having someone warm to snuggle against before the alarm went off. Before she got too comfortable, or involved, she rolled away from him and reached into the drawer of her nightstand. She grabbed the glass thermometer that Dr. Klein had given her and gave it a good shake before slipping it beneath her tongue. After three minutes, she read the mercury and reached for her pen and chart. Once she had graphed the little number, she did a double-take, looking at the chart. Her temperature had risen a full four-tenths of a degree from her normal basal body temperature. This was it. She tried to contain her excitement, but was unable to do so. Unfortunately, this wasn't her cue to wake her husband up in a soft and fuzzy way, it was her signal to call Dr. Klein. She gently patted Clark on the back until he woke up a little, then she explained, "Honey, you have to wake up. My temperature is up. We need to call Dr. Klein." Clark burrowed more deeply into his pillow, hugging it tightly to his chest, and sighed. "Take some aspirin, Honey. I'll tell Perry you're sick." Lois almost laughed at this blast from the past. It had been a long time since they had worried about placating Perry White. With a wistful, remembering kind of smile she tried again. "Clark, I need you to wake up." Clark grumbled a little more. While normally he was quite the morning person, he had only been in bed for about an hour today. There had been a particularly nasty hostage situation that had required Superman's assistance, and while he was thrilled to have the headline to call in to the paper, he was also exhausted after twenty-two hours without sleep. Finally, he rolled over to see the excited face of his wife. This was odd. Normally, he was up and ready to go, and Lois was still grumbling and dragging far behind him. "What's wrong," he asked. "Nothing is wrong," she answered. "My temperature is up, and we need to call Dr. Klein so he can perform the procedure." Clark's eyes flew open as what she had said finally penetrated his mind. This could be it. After nearly seventeen years of waiting and wondering, this could really be it. He was trying not to get his hopes up, but it was really hard. They had wanted this so much, and to have the possibility here was amazing. He placed his palm against Lois's cheek, and looked into her eyes. She would be the mother of his child...he just knew it. He always had. After kissing her softly on the lips, he left the bed to give Dr. Klein a call. They agreed to meet him at Star Labs, as they had planned to do. Clark showered at superspeed, and left Lois to do the same while he prepared some breakfast. Lois was considerably slower as she showered, dressed, and put on her makeup. After doing so, she walked down the hall and knocked softly on her son's door. Once she had made sure that he was indeed up and getting ready for school, she met Clark downstairs. He handed her a travel cup of coffee and an English muffin with an egg inside. She smiled at his obvious attempt to hurry her along when she saw that he already had both her laptop case and her purse tucked under his arm. "Ready to go?" he asked as he started for the door without waiting for her answer. Lois smiled at his retreating back, "I guess I am." With that, she followed him to the car. ***************************** Lois sighed as she allowed Dr. Klein to assist her to a sitting position on the examining table and pulled the sheet more firmly around her legs to keep herself covered. This was still vaguely embarrassing, although he had been much more adept with his bedside manner than he had once thought possible. Years of caring for Clark's needs, as well as Lois's, had taught him to be slightly more tactful than he had once been while describing the demise of a snowman to a shrinking Clark. Clark stepped forward from his position at the head of the exam table and placed his hand on Lois's shoulder. "How long before we know, Dr. Klein?" The doctor considered the question for a moment before answering. "Assuming the procedure is successful, fertilization should occur in three to four days. After that, implantation could take as much as another week. The soonest it would show up on a urine test would be one week from now, but most likely it would be closer to two." Dr. Klein noted the pained expression on their faces, and took pity on them. "I'll tell you what, I'll send some test kits with you. Just follow the directions inside, and we'll know as soon as possible. You should start using them one week from today. You really can't expect a positive result prior to that." Clark thanked the doctor, and stayed with Lois while she dressed. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Lois was wondering if this time would be different, and Clark was thinking about how the morning had gone. Clark had learned long ago that the embarrassing process of providing Dr. Klein with his samples went much more smoothly when Lois was present. Her ... assistance ... made an otherwise humiliating experience not only faster, but almost enjoyable. This morning had certainly been a surprise. Lois had helped him out in producing a specimen, and then had asked him to stay while Dr. Klein performed the procedure. As promised, it had taken only a few moments, and there had gratefully been no needles necessary. Lois hadn't appeared to suffer any pain, and that in itself was a relief. Clark had always hated the infertility treatments that Lois had to endure. For years, they had dealt with medications, fertilization procedures, and other difficult and painful experiences. Of course, the worst part was always that the pain was for nothing. It simply led to more pain with the expected result wasn't achieved. The worst part for him was knowing that while the infertility was his fault, she was the one who had to endure the pain. He watched Lois pull on her blouse and begin buttoning it. He walked over to her and placed his hands over hers. She looked up and met his eyes, and he was not surprised to see tears in hers. He pulled her into his arms for a moment, comforting her. "You know," he told her, "whether this works or not I still love you. We have each other, and we have CJ. We're still very lucky." Lois sniffled slightly, resting her head against his shoulder. She hated this. She still felt silly when she cried about loosing something she never had. "I know, but I just want to feel your baby inside me." She lifted her head and looked into the depths of his big brown eyes. "I feel like I missed something by not being pregnant. I mean, I never sacrificed my figure or tossed my cookies. I feel like I never paid my dues, and someone is going to show up to collect." "I know that won't happen, Lois. If it did, I'd send them packing at super speed. CJ is ours ... we love him, we raised him, and we won't give him up to anyone." Lois put her head back on Clark's shoulder. She had known he would say that, she had just needed the reassurance. They had dealt with their fears of losing CJ, and their concerns about his origin, on many occasions through the years. Gratefully, the discussions had become less fearful and less frequent as the years progressed. There were even times now when they forgot entirely that he was not acquired in the usual way. At the very least, they almost forgot. With a sigh, Lois pulled away from Clark and finished getting dressed. Clark watched her, reminding himself that they did have to go to work today, as once again he realized how beautiful his wife was. She had her brown hair down today, and it curled softly at her shoulders as it had when he had first seen her. She was no longer self conscious about the occasional gray strand, but considered them to be awards for surviving a teenager. They were her badges of honor, as much as her Kerth Awards were. Once she was dressed, Lois and Clark linked hands and went back to Dr. Klein's office for the promised test kits and any other instructions that the doctor might have for them. **************************** Work went slowly for the Kents. While Lois sorted through possible stories to lead the headlines on the following day, Clark ran the daily staff meeting. Granted, Clark wasn't an editor, but no one on staff would consider questioning his authority. He wasn't just the boss's husband, he was an experienced journalist who had been assisting his wife in the running of the Planet since she had taken over her editorial position. He was good at it, he liked it, and if there was any question asked it was why he wasn't promoted to an editorial assistant as he should have been. Lois and Clark had considered the idea of allowing promotion to a full assistant editor, but always decided against it. The first problem was that of Superman. An editor couldn't be running off every time something newsworthy happened. The second problem was that of the job. It was bad enough to have constant demands on Lois's time, especially when CJ had been younger, but to have those same demands placed on Clark would have made a family life impossible. The entire purpose of the editorial assistants was to allow the editor time for a life, not to take away their spouse. Actually, Lois had completely rearranged the command structure within the city room, and her setup was much more effective than the one Perry had allowed. She was the day editor, she had Andrew to cover evenings and Pat to cover nights. Their salary was little more than the average reporter made, but the experience was excellent, and the benefit of working for the Planet made the jobs irresistible. Lois, of course, made all the final decisions, and had Clark to help her out during the day, but there was always enough work for everyone. Lois sighed deeply. Clark heard it, and was immediately at her side. When she glanced up and saw him she smiled. "You know, if I do get pregnant you can't stay by my side the entire time." Clark gave her a dirty look before replying, "Did you need something?" Lois lifted onto her toes, and kissed him rather soundly. "Yes, I need you. Always." She kissed him once more. Clark relaxed somewhat, and allowed himself to enjoy his wife's kisses. After a moment, he put his arms around her, and deepened his kiss slightly. As she pulled away, she asked him, "We're okay, aren't we?" She knew he would understand. "Yeah," he replied. Then he put his arms back around her and pulled her back to his embrace. "We're very okay." ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:09:31 -0500 Reply-To: NightSky@erols.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Re: Is shorter better? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit First I want to congratulate all the Kerth winners, and to thank Pam and Erin and everybody else who put the ceremony together. Also, many people have asked mr to keep my web page up, and I will be. The list of nominated stories there links directly to the fanfic archives, or to alternate site if I could find the story somewhere else. > To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers > and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? > In 25 words or less... or more :) 25 words or less? Yikes! I'm glad somebody put the "or more" at the end. The glib answer, of course, is that the length should be just long enough to tell the story. Some stories are like the Energizer Bunny -- they just keep going and going and going. Never getting anywhere, but continuing ad infinitum. Some stories are too short, leaving you longing for more detail, background and description. Each story needs to have a beginning and an end. The middle should make the path from one to the other crystal clear. I read a lot of fanfic, for a variety of shows. I know when I visit a new fanfic archives I always read the long ones first. I look for the ones that are more and 100K in length. These are the stories that build on the characters, that add the depth that is often missing from the television episodes. With L&C fanfic, I've read a most of the stories; I didn't fall behind until this year when I started writing myself. I've enjoyed most of them -- long, medium or short. But I will admit it's the long ones I print out, the long ones I tend to reread, and the long ones I then to remember. Then again, I've always preferred novels to short stories too. But the short stories can be a lot of fun, too. You can read a "quickie" at work, or in a stolen five minutes somewhere. "In-betweenies" are misleading -- usually short, but they depend so heavily on the episode they are expounding on that you almost have to consider the episode script as part of the story. Has someone defined "short" and "long" yet? ------------------------------------- Genevieve (NightSky@erols.com) ; The Kerth nominated stories *and* pictures of my kids are now up on my website -- check it out. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:34:08 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LoriMcE Subject: S5: "Nightmare Over Metropolis" (part 3 of 3) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Daily Planet Clark pushed his notepad across the table in frustration. "STAR Labs seems to think that something is causing a change in brain chemistry, but they're no closer to how, or why. There's still a lot we don't know about the brain and dreams. But if this continues, it could be dangerous. When people don't get enough of REM sleep, they become more irritable, they lose the ability to perform complicated tasks, coordination suffers. The city could be in real trouble." "We've got to find this Dr. Morpheus, I just know he's involved somehow," Lois replied. "Jimmy managed to get a patient list from some of his sleep studies. We could interview some of them and see if there's a connection." "In the meantime, why don't you go home and try to take a nap, Lois. I'll do the interviews and then we can see what we've got." "C - l - a - r - k," Lois said warningly. "Look, I've got a compromise. You can fly me to your parents to sleep tonight. BUT, then you have to come and get me in the morning. That way, I'll sleep - but we still work on this TOGETHER. No arguments -" Clark's eyes brightened with relief. He hadn't looked forward to another discussion like this morning. "No arguments, Lois. I'll call Mom and tell her we're coming." **** Kent Farm, that evening Clark and Jonathan closed the barn for the evening. "You haven't said much tonight, son." Clark sighed and stared unseeing up at the night sky. "It's so hard, Dad," he said, his voice cracking a little. "It used to be a little embarrassing, the way people looked at Superman. But now, it's . . ." Jonathan waited for Clark to gather his thoughts. "You could stay here tonight, too, Clark. Get a good night's sleep, instead of rushing off half the night." "You don't know how tempting that is, Dad. The other night Lois had a nightmare. For a split second when she woke up . . . she had that same fear in her eyes." Clark took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "But, I'd just be running away, and you taught me that running away never solved anything. Maybe I can find something that will stop this." "You and Lois will find a way to fight this, Clark. The people of Metropolis don't want to feel this way about you. Once this is over, I'm sure everything will be all right." "I don't know, Dad. Nightmares touch people pretty deep. I told you about that anti-Superman group, and . . ." He paused, lowering his voice. "Don't tell Lois about this, Dad, but I think the military is following me around again. I've noticed several of the same people at rescues; I remember them from the military guard when Nor was here." "You don't think they're behind this do you?" Jonathan asked. "No. But after learning about their weapons development, I'm sure they'd love to know how this is happening." Clark said bitterly. "I'd better get back to Metropolis." Jonathan put his hand on Clark's shoulder. "See you in the morning, son. Remember your mother and I are always here for you." Going back to the house, Clark saw Lois waiting on the porch. "I'd better get back to Metropolis, Lois." He spun into the Suit. Reaching up, she drew him down to her for a long kiss. "I love you." Clark stepped back, caressed her cheek and took off into the sky. Lois remained on the porch watching the sky after Clark left. "Thank you for doing this for him, Lois." Martha Kent stood in the doorway. "He just wants to keep you both safe, but I know how hard it was for you to leave." "He's got enough to worry about right now. Tensions are beginning to run high with Superman. He doesn't know how to handle the resentment people are feeling. Several groups have canceled appearances by Superman. He might not be suffering the nightmares like everyone else, but he's hurting, too. I wish I knew how to stop this." "You'll find a way, Lois. Come on inside, I've got a few chocolate chunk cookies I've been hiding from Jonathan waiting for you." **** 5 Days later Over the next few days, the pattern remained the same. Night came and, with it, nightmares. Beds were no longer looked upon as places of cool, quiet calm, but rather as a place of dread and anxiety. Tempers flared, patience wore thin, babies cried. Metropolis had become a place of worry and fear. Gang wars escalated, traffic and workplace accidents skyrocketed as exhaustion eroded coordination. And at the center, Superman - revered as he raced from rescue to rescue - reviled as the focus of their nightmares. Clark flew away from his latest rescue, the obscenities the man shouted ringing in his ears. With a burst of speed he hurled himself across the sky. But he couldn't put distance between him and the hurt each rescue brought him. Arriving back at home, he looked for Lois. It was time to take her to the farm, his parents were expecting them for dinner. Lois was watching LNN showing coverage of his last rescue with tears running down her face. Even the commentator had a tinge of hostility in his voice when reporting about Superman. Turning off the TV, she held out her arms. "Come here," she said. He sank into her arms, shoulders shaking with the sobs he couldn't hold back any longer. *** Dr. Morpheus' Lab Tiredly, Dr. Morpheus picked up a cell phone from his bag. Dialing a familiar number, he waited for the phone to be answered. Mr. Chimera picked up the phone with a curt "Yes?" "How does it feel, Daniel?" Dr. Morpheus asked. "How does it feel to try and function on less and less sleep? Do your eyes feel like sandpaper? Do even small tasks seem difficult?" "Jacob?" "It's Jacob, now is it? Where was our friendship last week when you dismissed me?" "Have you been causing this havoc? You actually got that invention to work? Come and see me and I'm sure we can work something out." "No, Daniel, you just want to exploit this for that special project of yours. You still don't get it. I guess you never will. I'm turning the machine off, everything's over." He wearily hung up the phone. Another siren blared in the distance, and Dr. Morpheus walked over to the window. He heard voices arguing angrily in the street and his shoulders slumped. "What have I done?" Leaning against the window frame, he seemed to shrink within himself. He walked to the machine in the center of the room and reaching out with a shaking hand turned it off. It just didn't seem to matter anymore, any of it. Although he could modify the instrument back to its original design, he'd come to realize over the past week the awful potential of his invention. He'd had blinders on before, just wanting a semblance of a normal life. And it had seemed within his grasp when his funding and career were yanked away from him. He didn't feel he could trust anyone, not even Daniel, not to exploit this. **** Daily Planet Perry said, "Let's get this meeting started, people - where's Clark?" Clark ran into the conference room, adjusting his tie. "Sorry Chief - my ehh . . . appointment ran late. " Lois said, "When Jimmy posed as a potential patient, he was able to find some patient lists for us. We interviewed the patients in Dr. Morpheus' last sleep treatment. They were receiving an experimental treatment that was to try to extend REM sleep. They each were told to focus on an image they found peaceful: a child, a beach. He had some kind of instrument that he told them would keep them in REM sleep longer. These researchers were looking for a nonchemical way to treat depression. Studies have shown that the longer people are in REM sleep the more likely they to wake up feeling positive and upbeat." "All of these people told of their dreams being more vivid and real," Clark continued. "I don't know how he did it, but I think he's modified the instrument to actually change people's dreams. But I can't figure out why. There's been no demand for anything. Superman says he's never met this Morpheus, so why Superman is figuring in everyone's dreams is still a mystery." "Unless . . . " Lois thought out loud. "Unless what?" asked Jimmy. "Well, the patients said that this was the third trial. Until he gave them an image to focus on while falling asleep, they didn't feel as rested. Superman's known to everyone in Metropolis. If he could transmit a suggestion with this machine . . ." "Well, if that's true, than this is worse than we thought," said Clark. "If he can do that, then this thing could actually be used to control people's thoughts. Who could stop you, if you can attack people in their dreams? We've got to find this guy. If someone truly evil got their hands on this machine, the problems we've got now will seem like nothing." "Yes!" Jimmy exclaimed from the end of the table. "It works!" "What is it Jimmy?" "I think I've got something here," Jimmy offered. He turned his laptop to face Lois and Clark. "Ever since this started, the Daily Planet has been running a hotline for people to tell about their dreams, right? I've been working on a program to try to find a pattern. Well, one of the questions people have to answer when they call is what part of Metropolis they're calling from. This map shows Metropolis; the dots are where people called from." Lois interrupted, "That's citywide, Jimmy." "Wait, Lois. Now this is the number of nightmares they had each night. Black is five or more, down to white for one. See the pattern? The frequency of the nightmares declines in concentric circles around this area. It's got to be where the machine is." "Great work, Jimmy," Clark exclaimed. "Perry?" At Perry's nod, Lois said excitedly, "We're on it, Chief. Let's go, Clark." She was out the door in record time, with Clark following close behind. "Good work, son." Perry slapped Jimmy on the shoulder. "Okay, people, let's get ready for a front page scoop!" *** A Metropolis City Street Lois stopped the car and Clark opened the door. "Wait, Lois." He cocked his head to the side, listening. "It sounds bad." He sighed. "I've got to check it out. Stay here." With a quick look around he spun into the Suit and took off into the sky. Lois waited impatiently, scanning the skies to see if Clark was returning. Finally, she got out of the car and looked at the warehouse building surrounding them. Thinking to herself, 'He'd have to be high up, otherwise there would probably be interference with the beam. He'd have to have access to some high voltage to give it the power to broadcast city wide . . .' She looked over the buildings and noticed one building that stood out over the rest. "I'll just take a quick look and check it out." Waking around the building, she noticed a side door slightly ajar. Peering inside, the building looked deserted, the only sounds coming from the street outside. Stepping inside the building, she picked her way over dust-covered boxes and equipment until she noticed one area that was different. This area had obviously been disturbed recently, with trails in the dust indicating something had been dragged along the hallway. Opening a door, she found a room lined with electronic equipment. One large machine dominated the center of the room, with power cables snaking out of it on all sides. The room appeared empty, and she approached the machine cautiously. "Not much to look at, is it?" a man said quietly from the doorway of an adjoining room. Lois took a few quick steps backward in surprise. "Don't worry," the man slurred his words. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Dr. Morpheus, and this is my creation. My salvation . . . and my undoing." Sparing a quick look outside the window, she took a deep breath, saying, "I'm Lois Lane for the Daily Planet. Tell me why you've done this." She took a few steps closer to Dr. Morpheus. He held up a hand to stop her. "I just wanted people to understand . . . to show some compassion. . . . Feel how it is for people like me. . . . You have a cold . . . you get sympathy. . . . You have a fever, people tell you to take it easy . . . but you can't sleep? People tell you to drink coffee and get back to work. . . . This machine was going to be my cure. But it's too late for that now. Now that *they've* seen what it can do." Lois broke in excitedly, "Who are they? Tell me and we can stop them." Obviously having trouble concentrating, Morpheus spoke disjointedly. "Special projects section . . . why not take the money? . . . just a means to an end . . . Daniel said . . . ." Pushing himself away from the door, he took a determined step toward the machine. "There is only one way to stop them. I've burned my notes, and I must destroy the machine. And what's in here . . . ," patting his head," . . . will be gone soon." Lois rushed forward as he slumped to the floor. He grabbed her hand. "Promise me you'll destroy it, Ms Lane . . . please." His head lolled to one side, as he slipped into unconsciousness. Just then there was a whoosh of wind and Superman arrived through the window. "Lois," he began. "Clark, I think he's taken an overdose of pills. We've got to get him to a hospital." As Superman picked the doctor up to carry him, Lois placed her hand on his arm. "I promised him I'd destroy the machine." When Clark hesitated, she said quietly, "He knew that there were people out there waiting to misuse it. He was willing to die for that." Clark nodded and focusing his heat vision on the machine, melted it. "Maybe he kept a diary or something," Clark suggested. "I'll be right back." Shifting Morpheus in his arms, he flew off toward the hospital. Returning a short time later, Clark landed in the alley behind the building. Seeing no one around he spun out of the Suit and joined Lois in Morpheus' lab. "Find anything useful?" He tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, but didn't quite succeed. "I don't think so, but most of these notes don't make sense to me. Maybe STAR Labs can tell us more. He said he burned his notes on his invention. How is Dr. Morpheus?" Lois didn't miss the strain in Clark's voice. "They were working on him when I left, we can call the hospital later." He couldn't hold back any longer. "Lois why didn't you wait for me? Traipsing around an abandoned building, confronting a possible madman by yourself; is this how you define partnership? Being 'careful'? What if things had gone wrong, and I hadn't been able to get here in time? Just because everything worked out fine this time doesn't make it okay." "Maybe I should have waited for you, Clark," Lois replied defensively. "In fact, I did wait for a while. I *am* more cautious because of the baby. But this is who I am. I can't just sit on the sidelines. This is who you fell in love with, Clark, remember?" As Lois spoke, Clark felt most of his anger draining away. "When I flew back to the car and saw you were gone, I was so worried, Lois . . ." "We'll work it out, Clark. Both of us, together. She held out her hand. Partner?" Clark reached out to take her hand. "Forever." *** Daily Planet METROPOLIS SLEEPS screamed the headline from the afternoon edition of the Daily Planet. "Good work, everyone." Perry proclaimed. "Now get out of here so we can do it again tomorrow." Clark turned off his computer, and shrugged into his suitcoat, preparing to leave after their long day. "Wait, Clark," Lois said. "I just want to check with the hospital about Dr. Morpheus before we leave. You know, he wasn't really evil; he just wanted some compassion and understanding." She spoke into the phone. "Admitting, please." Her eyes were troubled when she hung up the phone. "They say that he's in a deep coma and they don't hold out much hope for recovery. They are going to monitor him there for a time, but if he doesn't improve, he'll be moved to the Happy Hollow Rest Home, the Sleep Centre is taking care of it." "I just feel Lex is involved in this somehow." Lois pushed back her chair and stood up to leave. "And we don't have any proof - again." Clark put a comforting arm around Lois, saying, "Let's go home. Time for some sweet dreams." *** Happy Hollow Rest Home Administrator's Office Voices drifted out of the office into the hall . . . "Yes, sir - we'll do our best. If the information's there we'll get it . . ." End ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:31:50 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LoriMcE Subject: S5: "Nightmare Over Metropolis" (part 2 of 3) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Metropolis Sleep Centre Lois and Clark waited for Mr. Chimera in his office. " Clark, I can't believe that woman stopped me on the street." Shifting impatiently in her chair, she continued. "It's like once a woman's pregnant, everyone thinks they can pat her stomach and give her advice. I was just stretching, Clark, and she tells me if I reach above my head for any reason, the baby could become tangled in the umbilical cord. I can't believe people believe that kind of folktale, much less pass it along." Her voice rose with irritation. Clark grinned. "You didn't mind the one that said you're having a boy since you look so beautiful, because girls steal their mother's looks." "Clark, you know what I mean, even Mother's been sending me clippings in the mail." Clark just smiled. He stood up and looked at the awards and certificates that lined the walls of the office. "Did Jimmy have any information about this place?" "Actually, this is one of the premiere sleep clinics in the country. They have people from all over come here for treatment. Mr. Chimera is the clinic director. Maybe he can give us some insight into these dreams." The door opened and Mr. Chimera walked in. "Lois Lane and Clark Kent, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please sit down, how can I help you?" "Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Chimera," Clark replied shaking his hand. "We wanted to talk to you about a story we're researching. Are you aware that a large portion of Metropolis experienced nightmares last night?" "We've had some reports, yes. But I'm not aware of anything that could cause a large population to do this. Perhaps the experience was not as widespread as you think. Most people don't remember much of their dreams, and they may be feeding off each other's experiences." "Well, what makes these dreams unusual," Lois interrupted, "is that in everyone we've talked to, Superman has been at the center of the dream. And in these dreams, he's not a force for good, but the instigator of death or evil." "That is unusual, but I'm afraid I can't help you further. I'm an administrator here, not a doctor. Perhaps one of our researchers can give you some insights. I'll get my secretary to page one of them for you." "Thank you, Mr. Chimera," Lois replied. "There was a Dr. Morpheus --" "Dr. Morpheus is no longer employed with us," Mr. Chimera replied smoothly. "But we have many other respected researchers here, Ms Lane. If you'll wait here, I'm sure one of them can assist you." *** Outside Metropolis Sleep Centre Clark looked through Lois' notes. "We've got a lot of interesting stuff in here. I never knew so many people's health was threatened by sleep disorders. But nothing in here gets us any closer to what happened last night." Lois yawned and rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. "That Mr. Chimera's hiding something. Did you see his face when I mentioned Dr. Morpheus? I think there's more to this place than warm milk and counting sheep." "You ought to go home and get some rest, I can coordinate with Jimmy and Perry this afternoon. I promise I'll come and get you if something breaks." "I'm fine, Clark, let's keep digging. We ought to try to get in touch with this Dr. Morpheus. If he no longer works there, maybe he can tell us more about the place." **** Daily Planet Lois and Clark made their way through the busy newsroom to their desks. Lois waved at Jimmy to get his attention. "Jimmy, I don't think Mr. Chimera was completely honest with us. Maybe this thing is an experiment that got out of control. I want to know who's paying for their research. Do you think you can get a list of major donors for the past year? " "Sure thing, Lois," Jimmy yawned, and turned to walk away. "Wait, Jimmy," Clark stopped him from going. "Are you still interested in doing some investigating? We might need you to really help us out on this one. Since they know Lois and I at the clinic, we could need you to pose as a possible patient and nose around a little. How about it?" "Are you kidding? You can count on me! I'll get on that research right away!" Jimmy bounded across the newsroom, stopping only for a 'Yes!' gesture. Lois grinned at Clark. "Well, THAT woke him up." Perry stopped at Lois' desk, a clipboard in his hand. "Did you find anything out at the Sleep Centre?" Clark shook his head. "We've got some information, but no really solid leads yet, Perry." "Okay, get the stories about the nightmares, and apartment fire on my desk. Maybe that hotline idea of Jimmy's will turn up something." Clark turned to Lois. "Let's split this up. How about I take the apartment fire, then I'll check with Dr. Klein and see if he has any ideas." "All right, Clark. After I finish the story on the nightmares, I'll see if I can get a line on Dr. Morpheus. If I can get an interview with him, I can insert it into the story for the late edition. I just hope there's not another anti-Superman group funding some research." "Okay, Lois, just don't try to sneak out without me," Clark warned. "Me, sneak?" Lois said in her best 'who, me?' voice. "Besides, like anyone could sneak past you. I don't envy this child, she won't be able to sneak out to meet boys with you around." "She?" Clark asked. "Until you tell me otherwise, 'Mr. I Won't Peek' -" "Lois, the doctor couldn't tell on the ultrasound; let's just leave it at that. It's like Christmas, the anticipation is half the fun." "I can't believe you're so relaxed - wait a minute, you haven't peeked without telling me have you?" "No." Clark reached out, smoothing her hair behind her ear. "Let's get this done so we can go home. You've got to get some sleep after last night." "Boy scout," Lois murmured under her breath. "And just so you know - I noticed you changed the subject. This discussion isn't over, Clark." *** Later that afternoon - Still at the Daily Planet Clark rolled his chair up to Lois' desk. "Perry okayed the stories. Did you get a line on Dr. Morpheus?" "Not really," Lois said in frustration. "Dr. Morpheus' phone number has been disconnected. I've got an address, we could check it out on the way home." "Sounds like a plan, let's go. Dr. Klein didn't have anything. He doesn't know of any hallucinogen that could cause everyone to see the same illusion." They were almost to the elevator when Jimmy stopped them. "Lois, C.K. - wait - I think I've got something on the Sleep Centre. One of the major corporate donors this year is Lex Luthor." "Great work, Jimmy. This time we're going to find something to nail him with." Lois's voice was filled with determination. *** Dr. Morpheus' Apartment Complex Lois pulled the car into the apartment parking lot. "I would have expected an important doctor to live in better surroundings," Lois said, looking around at the ramshackle complex. They walked up to the doctor's apartment, knocking on the door. Looking around quickly, Lois whispered, "Clark, check inside." Lowering his glasses slightly, Clark focused on the apartment. "It's empty," he said. "Stand in front of me, Clark, so no one can see me. Locks in this place should be a snap." "Lois! We can't just . . ." "Got it!" Lois whispered excitedly. "Come on, Clark, we'll just take a quick look around." "We don't even know this man is involved with anything, Lois." Clark said as he followed Lois inside. "Clark, why has he disappeared if he's not involved? We'll be careful, he'll never know we were here." Except for the bare essentials, the apartment was devoid of any personality. There were no pictures on the walls, no books in the bookshelves. "Lois, look at this," Clark called from the bathroom. He held a medicine bottle in his hand. "The medicine cabinet is full of these things. A few of the drug names I recognize from our interview this morning. They are all sleep aids given to people fighting insomnia. It looks like Dr. Morpheus needed help himself." "It still doesn't give us any clues to the nightmares last night, Clark. First thing tomorrow, we work on the Lex connection. I know he's involved somehow." *** Later that evening Superman was out, patrolling the city when he heard Lois cry out "No!!!" Racing back to the townhouse, he was relieved to see her thrashing about still asleep. "Not again," he thought, as he reached out to comfort her. "Lois, wake up honey." She blinked, her eyes trying to focus on him, her breathing erratic. She shrank away from his touch and he flinched. "Honey, it's me Clark, it's okay, you had another nightmare." She relaxed and sagged into his arms. "Oh, Clark, I'm sorry, it was just so real. I . . . Stay with me, please, Clark." Clark eased Lois back on the pillows and spun out of the Suit. Metropolis could survive the night without him. He slid under the covers and gathered Lois into his arms again. He felt helpless against this new threat to their happiness. "I've got to keep them safe," he thought, unconsciously caressing Lois' rounded stomach. *** Next morning Lois walked into the kitchen and Clark jumped guiltily. "I'll call you back in a minute, Mom." "What are you up to, Clark?", Lois asked warily. "I . . I was just talking to Mom, Lois. Why would you think I was up to something?" Clark replied defensively. "Clark, you look like a child trying to hide a cookie behind his back. What's going on?" "I think you should go to stay with Mom and Dad, until this situation is settled. You need your rest. Babies dream too; how is all this affecting the baby? This isn't something I can protect you from here." "So you just decided, without even talking to me, to ship me off to your parent's house? You really need to work on this partner angle, buddy!" Lois paced around the kitchen waving her arms. "You don't think I understand I need to be careful? Can't we ever discuss things together first, before you rush off trying to fix it?" "What's to discuss, Lois? Just how much sleep did you get last night? How many times did you wake up, sweating, heart racing? I can't just stand by and watch you suffer without trying to do something!" Seeing the almost desperate look in his eyes, Lois tried to calm down. Taking a deep breath, she said in a more normal voice, "Let's see what we can find out today, Clark. If this continues, I'll consider going to the farm, okay?" "I'm sorry, Lois. He reached out to hold her close to him. "I just can't seem to help myself, sometimes. All of my life I've dreamed of this: a normal life, a wife, a child. I never thought I'd have it. Every time I start to relax and enjoy it, something happens to threaten to take it all away. Lois, if anything ever happened to you, to our child . . ." Lois gave Clark a hug. "I'm fine, Clark. After this baby is born, we'll probably consider last night a full night's sleep. Let's get to work, we're going to solve this." *** Daily Planet They made their way to their desks through a subdued newsroom. The ususal chatter and activity were missing. The most active part of the room seemed to be the area around the coffeepot, as bleary-eyed reporters tried to wake up for the day's work. Clark picked up his phone. "I'll check with STAR Labs again, Lois. Why don't you see if Jimmy found out anything more on the Lex connection?" Lois sat at her desk. She sipped her coffee, turned on her computer monitor. Picking up a pencil, she absently doodled on her notepad. Coming to a decision, she checked her Rolodex and dialed the phone. Trying to hide the nervousness in her voice, she spoke into the receiver. "I'd like to speak with Lex Luthor, please. Lois Lane, Daily Planet." Almost instantly, Clark was at her desk. "What are you doing?" "Investigating, Clark - that's what investigative reporters do, remember? I thought we'd get an interview, nose around a little. We can't just sit here and hope the story comes to us." She sat up a little straighter, as the smooth voice came over the phone, "Luthor here." "Lex, Clark and I are investigating the recent rash of nightmares in Metropolis. One of the things that we noticed is that you are a big donor to the Metropolis Sleep Centre." "They do good work there, Lois. After my captivity I often had trouble sleeping; some of their techniques helped me. I can't see how they'd have anything to do with this. They *help* people sleep, not the other way around." Lex, paused, heaving an audible, and impatient, sigh. "And I'm tired of your insinuations that I'm a threat to Metropolis, Lois. If that's all, I'm very busy here." ** Lex hung up the phone with a thoughtful expression. Immediately he regretted snapping at Lois. "These last few sleepless nights have affected me too," he thought. He picked up the phone again and dialed a number. "Mr. Chimera, please." He listened to the annoying 'on hold music' while he waited. "Chimera, have you found him yet? Lane and Kent are nosing around. Be careful, but find him. Together, we can save Metropolis from this madman. The publicity for the Centre would be a side benefit, of course. Were any of his notes left at the clinic? Keep me informed. Lex rubbed his temples tiredly as he hung up the phone. "This could be the key to Superman's downfall," he muttered to himself. "If he can modify the machine to do this to a city, then it can be used to control minds." Pouring himself a stiff drink he lifted his glass in toasting gesture. Picking up the receiver again, he punched in a number. "General Moreland, please. Lex Luthor calling. General, I wanted to talk to you about this Superman problem. . . . Yes, I know you still consider him a threat. . . . Well, of course I understand. . . . Do you think any of these nightmares are a leftover from the Lord Nor problem? . . . They all did leave didn't they? . . . The military saved the day that time, I understand . . . I'm sure you keep an eye on Superman, correct? . . . I think that may be wise . . . Good day general. I'm glad you're keeping an eye on a potentially dangerous situation." *** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:30:12 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LoriMcE Subject: S5: "Nightmare Over Metropolis" (part 1 of 3) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Nightmare Over Metropolis by Lori McElhaney edited by Laurie As the clock behind him chimed three a.m., Dr. Morpheus looked out over the city lights. Striding to the cabinet, he pulled out several medicine bottles. He shook out several pills and swallowed them angrily. Laying down on the rumpled bed, he waited for the drugs to work, inwardly seething at his continued failure to sleep. **** Early morning, Metropolis Sleep Centre - Director's Office "Chimera," the voice said, curtly and authoritatively. "You guaranteed results, yet all I hear are more promises. I hear your top researcher can't even help himself -- not exactly a ringing endorsement." "Mr. Luthor, wait . . . Dr. Morpheus has an assistant who is brilliant, eager, hungry for glory. I think he can be persuaded to continue your research. The use of dream states to modify behavior or control attitude is possible, I believe. I'll get rid of Morpheus - if you'll fund us a little longer." "Six months," the line hissed as the connection was broken. Mr. Chimera let out his breath in a long sigh. He had an unpleasant duty to perform. But corporate donors were getting harder to find. Especially with the deep pockets Lex Luthor provided. *** Later that morning, Metropolis Sleep Centre Striding through the corridor of the Metropolis Sleep Centre, Dr. Morpheus nodded to the staff as he passed by. He was acutely aware of their scrutiny of his appearance. It was the ultimate irony: the head of the sleep disorder section was a chronic insomniac himself. The redness of this eyes and haggard looks were clear signals to his colleagues of another restless night. He sat at his desk and reviewed his technician's notes on last night's sleep lab. 'YES', he thought. 'It worked. Now I've just got to adjust the equipment, and . . . ' The intercom buzzed. "Dr. Morpheus," the secretary's voice chimed, "Mr. Chimera would like to see you in his office right away." **** "What is it Daniel? I think we've made a breakthrough last night, I need more time to review this data. . . ." "Doctor," Mr. Chimera interrupted formally, "I've just met with the rest of the board and I have some unpleasant news. They have chosen not to renew your contract with us. At the end of the day, I'm going to have to ask you to turn over your case files and research notes and seek employment elsewhere." "What?" thundered Morpheus, slapping his hand on the table. "Why?" "This is a respected institute for research, but what pays for that research are the people who come here for treatment. I'm sorry, your physical condition conflicts with your work here. How can we market successful treatment when one of our directors, no less, has been unsuccessful in treatment himself?" "No treatment is 100%, and my new line of research has shown promise . . ." "Not again, Morpheus -- sleep rays?" Mr. Chimera snapped impatiently. "We need facts here, not science fiction. And I am well aware that every case is different, and that there are no guarantees. This is not about any of that, although continuing that line of research against the Board's advice did not help your case any. This is about money and the public's perception of us. There are other places, other cities they could choose -- but they come here because they think we're the best. We can't have any perceived weakness. This decision is final." "Is this about those special projects you were trying to get me interested in? What have you gotten into, that you can let an outsider make research decisions?" "That's really none of your concern." Mr. Chimera's voice was cold and distant. "Sometimes funding comes with certain expectations. That's true anywhere. But, the decisions about your tenure here were made by the Board and myself. Good-bye, Dr. Morpheus." *** Midnight. Dr. Morpheus' private laboratory Later that evening, Dr. Morpheus was determined to continue his work despite the earlier confrontation with Mr. Chimera. Electronic equipment filled the room. Boxes overflowed with tools and circuit boards. A small television, set to the all-news channel, droned in the corner. Looking over the machine in the middle of the room, he adjusted several settings. He talked aloud as he worked, "Science fiction, he says. No one wants to take chances. Wait until I show them. They'll regret letting me go." He rummaged through a box filled with electronic parts. "The last patients in the sleep lab reported, long happy dreams. The data logs showed that even after the ray was turned off, REM sleep was extended by more than two hours. With this new power source, I should be able to extend the range to cover the city. After the city has a few nights of nightmares, they'll see it's not science fiction." Morpheus paced, thinking furiously. "All I need now is an image for the people to focus on. The lab tests showed the ray worked best when the subject had something to build their dream on. I just have to encode the image in the beam, and . . ." As he mulled over the problem, an LNN news report interrupted him. "Superman," the reporter asked, "How do you manage to help so many people?" "Well, I try to help as much as I can. I guess it's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep." Superman smiled. "Lucky you," Dr. Morpheus sneered. A stillness came over his face, as he considered the screen. "Everyone knows Superman - he'll make the perfect focal point for my little demonstration. You may find your 'help' a little less welcome this week, Superman." ***** Lois and Clark's home, 348 Hyperion Ave Lois woke up as Clark slipped into bed beside her. Stretching sleepily, she snuggled into Clark's embrace as they lay spooned against each other in the bed. "Everything ok, Clark?" Clark nodded as he held her close to him, her presence always comforting to him after a long night patrolling. "I had the best dream," Lois murmured sleepily, turning in his arms to look in his dark eyes. She reached up and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. "Was I in your dream?" Clark asked, nuzzling her neck. Lois smiled, entwining her legs with his as she replied against his lips, "You're always in my 'best' dreams, Clark." *** Meanwhile back at Dr. Morpheus' lab Morpheus took one last look at the settings of the machine. Taking a deep breath, he flipped the switch. "Sweet dreams, Metropolis, Mr. Sandman is on his way . . ." **** Back at Lois and Clark's home Lois dreamed . . . She was flying . . . Superman was cradling her in his arms . . . the day was beautiful, bright and sunny with a warm breeze. Superman smiled down at her and suddenly everything changed. . . . It was dark with an ominous thunder in the distance and she was falling. She screamed for help and suddenly Superman was there, but just as he reached her he stopped and watched her fall . . . Lois jolted awake with a start, and found her staring into Clark's worried eyes. "Lois, are you okay?" Lois said, "I had a nightmare, Clark. I'm fine. It was just a dream." She glanced over at the clock. "It's two a.m., let's get some sleep." **** Next morning "Honey, wake up," Clark cajoled. Lois opened her eyes a slit, and saw Clark sitting on the side of the bed holding her coffee. 'Decaffeinated, of course,' she thought grumpily. 'This morning I could have really used the caffeine.' "Are you sure you want to go in this morning? I know you were up a lot last night." "I'm fine Clark, just give me a minute. Maybe if I pretend there's caffeine in here." "I've been reading, Lois. Lots of women -" "Not again, Clark," Lois replied exasperatedly. "I thought we agreed. No more books!" She noted the title in his hand: "You're Pregnant & Your Dreams Are Driving You Crazy." "It was only one little nightmare -" "Two nightmares, Lois." He reached out to hold her hand, his eyes concerned. "Please tell me about them. This book says most pregnant women have intense and strange dreams. It helps to talk about them. It's just one way of adjusting . . ." "Clark, put the book away in your 'library' and let's go. Perry wants that rewrite finished first thing this morning." Clark sighed and put the book down with the other pregnancy books he'd purchased. He looked guiltily at the piles of books in the bookcase Lois was calling his "library." He promised himself right then that she'd never see the ones he was keeping in the treehouse at the farm. Or the printouts from the Internet that he had in a file at work. **** Daily Planet Lois and Clark arrived at the Daily Planet, settling into their usual early morning routine. Jimmy stopped by Lois' desk, sighing. "Man, what a night - I kept having the craziest dreams." "What kind of dreams, Jimmy?" Lois asked, her attention on the computer screen. She continued to type, her brow furrowing in concentration. "Nightmares, weird ones. I'm just about to take this picture of this fire - and I'm balancing on this balcony to get 'the' perfect shot. Superman shows up, and I'm shooting pictures and he sees me. Great, huh? I get the picture, and the scoop from Superman. But get this, he flies up to me and pushes me off the balcony! So then I get back to sleep, but I have another one. Superman is in it again, and he's just letting people die. I'm trying to help, but I can't. I've never gotten so much sleep, but felt so tired in my life either." Lois closed the file she was working on, all her reporter's instincts on alert. "That's strange, Jimmy. I had some dreams about Superman myself last night . . ." "Dreaming about Superman, Lois? Hoo- boy, Better not let CK hear about those dreams!" Jimmy joked. "Jimmy!" Despite her growing feeling of concern, Lois smiled. Clark approached Lois' desk with a look on his face that she had come to know as 'trouble'. "Hey, Jimmy, what's up?" He absently listened to Jimmy's response while whispering in Lois' ear, "We need to talk." "Jimmy!" Perry bellowed from his office. "Gotta go. Later CK." Jimmy ran off to Perry's office. Lois followed Clark into the conference room. "It's not just Jimmy, Lois. He's about the fifth person I've talked to this morning that has had a bad dream about Superman. Was Superman in your dream, too?" Lois nodded and noted the pain that appeared in Clark's eyes. "Yes, we were flying, and then I was falling, and you didn't catch me. Clark, you know that there's got to be something behind this - let's talk to Perry and see what we can dig up." "Lois, wait. I've got to --" Clark did the hand-motion he and Lois used for his flying. "You talk to Perry, and let's see if Jimmy can find out anything useful." **** Superman flew over the city, zeroing in on the frantic screams of a mother. "Help, someone! My daughter's still in there!" Superman landed at the scene of an apartment fire. "I'll find her, don't worry." Superman found the little girl cowering in the corner of her smoky bedroom. "Don't be afraid, I'll help you." He started to wrap his cape around her when she screamed "No, you're a bad man!" and tried to run away. Caught off guard, she slipped by him through the doorway. Just then, the ceiling caved in; although he reached her in time, some debris hit her. He took her outside to the waiting paramedics, and noting the fire was under control left, feeling shaken. ********** Later that afternoon, Daily Planet Perry, Lois, Jimmy and Clark sat around the conference room table discussing possible ways to approach the story. "Okay, people tell me what you've got so far ..." Noting the dark circles under the Chief's eyes, Lois didn't have to ask about his dreams last night. Tapping her pencil impatiently on the table, she replied, "Right now, not much - just a cluster of people who all had nightmares last night. I called the hospitals - calls to the Suicide Hotline were up 10% last night." She flipped through her notes, scanning them quickly. "The phenomenon seems to be centered around Metropolis; I checked with my contacts in other cities, and there haven't been any reports." Perry turned to Clark, "Clark, can you contact Superman? It seems he was at the center of most of the nightmares. We ought to get some comment from him." "I talked to him this morning and he has no idea what could be causing it. But he's concerned, a little girl almost died this morning because she was afraid of him and tried to run away during a rescue in an apartment fire this morning." Lois reached under the table and squeezed Clark's hand. "Okay, we can run the apartment fire story as a sidebar to this one. I remember seeing some sleep doctor on T.V. lately? Jimmy?" "Yeah, a Dr. Morpheus was on Metropolis Today a couple of weeks ago. They were doing a show about dreams and sleep therapies. He's a researcher at the Metropolis Sleep Centre." Perry picked up his notes. "Lois, Clark, get over to this sleep center and see if you can get some background about what could cause this type of problem. Jimmy, check the 'Net and see what you can dig up on dreams and nightmares." Jimmy spoke up, "How about we start a hotline for people to call about their dreams? Maybe we can get a lead that way." "Good idea, Jimmy," Perry said. "Why don't you set that up?" Perry paused on his way out of the conference room, "You can also write the piece telling the public about it. We'll run it boxed on the front page, next edition." "Well, what are you waiting for?" Perry asked. "I'm on it, Chief!" Jimmy hurried from the room. **** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 13:03:01 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: angela garmaise Subject: Re: IS shorter better??? In-Reply-To: <19980329.211457.4222.0.CKandLL4ever@juno.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Just thought I'd put my two cents in here: it's far easier to write a good long story than a good short story and that's the simple reality. So I personally tend to prefer the longer ones (besides a selfish motivation that just needs something to read all the time), although I have read some very short ones that were absolutely great. Although there's always short and then there's short. 8-10 pages is a perfect length for a well-rounded short story if it's well down. And I'm so very happy that there are so very many well down ones here among the LNC fanfiction! Thanks to all of you writers out there! Angie G ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 07:22:19 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Donna Lehman <102262.2435@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Chapter 8 - Thank You MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Re: Chapter 8 of "Full Circle" Thank you to those who responed and sent me this important chapter. There are good friends here on this list. Donna ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 08:17:25 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Michelle Glenn Subject: Re: Is shorter better? In-Reply-To: <62f19022.351ed749@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I agree with Patricia. If the story is good, length doesn't matter. However, there are some stories that just should be shorter because they don't keep your attention. I think there was only one Lois and Clark story that I just never got allthe way through, but I don't remember what it's called. By the way, I like how long the Dawning series is because it's a good story and it's kind of like I feel about a new episode...I don't want it to end. Michelle "Someday we'll look back on all this and...plow into a parked car." On Sun, 29 Mar 1998, Patric6928 wrote: > I think it all depends on the quality of writing and story. There are fics I > have read well over 100 pages, and I have loved every single page, paragraph, > word and whisper-- and I have read short fics that have not been my cup of > tea. What I do like, is to see an idea fully fleshed out-- and sometimes that > takes alot of pages. > > Patricia > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 11:07:45 -0500 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: Is shorter better? Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Budmayes wrote: >> Padding a story doesn't make it better. << and >> On the other hand there are stories that should have been fleshed out a little more. I really don't enjoy stories as much when they read as more of a narrative than a detailed story. A story has to find its own lenght. << And I have to thank Bud for saying what I was thinking Some stories only need a few pages, others need to go longer - I've read stories that were way too short for what they wanted to say, and I'v= e read stories that went *way* too long, often wandering aimlessly for page= s. A good rule I've heard is that the author should edit out any word that doesn't advance the story in some way. A good long story? Anything by Phil Atcliff (Couch Potatoes is the most recent) A good short story? Hmm, Heartbeat's already been mentioned... Cyberlink= , by Zoomway PJ !^NavFont02F02B00022MGHHGVMGXHGyMG{HG~MG39HGE9MGEBHIB19A30 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 30-Mar-1998 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ Fanfic writer, Kerth co-coordinator, busy mom :-) Kerths will be awarded March 28th, beginning at 6pm EST! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html ~~~~~ "Are you under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable?" ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:44:04 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jeff Brogden Subject: Re: Is shorter better? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------D975F8F8D7FB0D88B6464184" --------------D975F8F8D7FB0D88B6464184 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit It would seem the recent Kerth nominations and awards would be a good place to look. Were more long or short stories nominated? What won more categories - long or short? ================================================================= Jeff Brogden jwbrogden@bigfoot.com http://www.bigfoot.com/~jwbrogden/ --------------D975F8F8D7FB0D88B6464184 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

It would seem the recent Kerth nominations and awards would be a
good place to look.  Were more long or short stories nominated?
What won more categories - long or short? 

=================================================================
Jeff
Brogden                    
jwbrogden@bigfoot.com         

http://www.bigfoot.com/~jwbrogden/
  --------------D975F8F8D7FB0D88B6464184-- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:29:05 -0700 Reply-To: Erin Klingler Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Is shorter better? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Debby wrote: >To get some conversation going on this list again, what do readers >and writers think? Is shorter better? If so or if not... why? >In 25 words or less... or more :) I don't think that shorter is necessarily better, as there as tons of shorts stories that are just fabulous! A great example of this is Jennifer Baker's fanfic, Heartbeat, which is only one page long and is one of my all-time favorites. :) But I have to say that so many of my other all-time favs are the big, long fanfics... the "Powerhouse" fanfics, as I like to call them. :) For example, Meet Me in Kansas City, Heaven's Prisoners, etc. A long fanfic definitely gives the writer time to delve into the personal lives and feelings of more than one main characters (and occasionally the smaller ones, too), and I think that gives the readers time to really get settled into the story and get really personally and emotionally involved. I believe that this can be accomplished in a short story, too, but I know from experience that it's very difficult to do, and takes a very talented writer to do so. I commend Jennifer Baker on doing it, and those other authors who've done that same emotional writing in a story only a couple of pages long. I certainly haven't gotten to that writing level yet! Erin :) ___________________ (aka ELK on IRC) erink@ida.net "The truth is, no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now...as they happen." CK to LL in BY ******* "You bet your sweet little chumpy I am." _________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:43:39 -0700 Reply-T