From:  "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
To:    "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil"
File:  "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L
LOG9807D"

=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 07:57:39 -0400
Reply-To:     NightSky@erols.com
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Genevieve <NightSky@EROLS.COM>
Subject:      Re: "Full Circle: a New Day" -- Where to find it.
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Sharon L. Gilbert wrote:
>
> I've read Full Circle but I don't think I know Full Circle: A New Day.  Is
> that a different story and, if it is, where can I get it?

"Full Circle : A New Day" by the TUFS writers *is* a different story
from J.C. Wimmer's "Full Circle."

Currently, it's available at my website <http://www.erols.com/nightsky>
as a text file; at the TUFS website
<http://members.aol.com/thenando/tufs.htm> as two html files, and from
the archives of this mailing list
<http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/loiscla-general-l.html> as fifteen
little parts.

Let me take this opportunity to warn anyone who downloaded it from the
TUFS website that you may not have the full text of the story.  Somehow
a draft version was put up there for a couple of weeks.  If you don't
have the "authors' notes" at the end, you didn't get the final version.
We fixed up some typos for the final version, as well as including a
short (but great!) scene about Star by Beth Washington.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Genevieve  (NightSky@erols.com) ; <http://www.erols.com/nightsky>

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.  (GBS -- Man and Superman)
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 12:53:20 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Angee Chaudhry <angee.chaudhry@FASTC.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
In-Reply-To:  <000201bdb506$0821b560$939f6420@oemcomputer>
MIME-Version: 1.0

Hey y'all!!

 salymc <salymc@GATEWAY.NET> writes

>
>Unless we are all on the East coast, what I suggest we do is decide on a
day
>and a time (of course) that incorporates all the time zones within a
>reasonable range.

That's a good point because I am in the UK which is 5 hours ahead of you
on the East Cost .. or something like that .. I'm not too good at time
differences myself either :-) .. I don't know how many others are from
the UK but I know that it probably would prove to be difficult to try
and jugle all of us .. some from the East Coast and others from the UK
as well as trying not to interfer with normal L&C chat .. therefore, I
am perfectly happy to have a log of what happened but would like to be
there in person (so to speak) .. but if this DOES prove to be difficult
then I guess it will have to be centred around the US time (or won't
it?)

>Laurie will be away from the 29th to the 5th, so we could try the weekend
of
>the July 25th, the weekend of the August 8th, or a weeknight in between --
>No weekdays, please.  Can't do.  (How's that for narrowing it down; okay
I'm
>hopelessly indecisive. ; )
>

So far the July 25th and August 8th are good for me .. anyone else?
Weekdays are out for me too :-) .. but then again when aren't they ..
life stops for no man!!! Or woman!!! :-D

>Once the logistics are ironed out (I forsee many wrinkles<g>), we should
>probably come prepared with questions so we don't waste our time,
>spitballing or passing love notes. (None of you ladies are my type anyway.)
>I also suggest that we ask the simplest of questions as well as the more
>difficult ones -- even if we already know the answers -- so that this
>session will be all inclusive.  In other words, I want to *re*-ask the
>questions I posed to Beppo when I first jumped in without checking the
water
>line.<g>.  I'm sure she got a real chuckle out of this classic:
>
>"Um ... how do I leave?"

Ha ha .. ah bless ya!!!! But the questions thing is also a good iea ...
I'll certainly come prepared should I be able to make it .. Finger's
crossed!!!

Hope to hear more at a later date ...

C'ya!!

Angee
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:40:50 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
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From:         Linzy Hill <spjwlah@IOP.BPMF.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
In-Reply-To:  <t38lR8AwKdt1IwLc@fastc.demon.co.uk>
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Hi all

I know we're not supposed to do 'me too' posts, but..... me too!!  I've
been on IRC a few times, but sounds are beyond me!  July 25th is good for
me.. anytime!

Linzy

l.hill@iop.bpmf.ac.uk
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 10:59:08 EST
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         goldengrove unleaving <kubitc@KENYON.EDU>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial

<< Unless we are all on the East coast, what I suggest we do is decide on a
day
and a time (of course) that incorporates all the time zones within a
reasonable
range. >>

I am on the East coast, but it seems that there are at least a few UK folcs
who
want to take part, too. I'm not sure the time difference- but someone
suggested
it might be 5 hrs, and, as long as we start early enough at night, that
should
be okay.

<< Laurie will be away from the 29th to the 5th, so we could try the weekend
of
the July 25th, the weekend of the August 8th, or a weeknight in between --
No
weekdays, please.  Can't do.  (How's that for narrowing it down; okay I'm
hopelessly indecisive. ; ) >>

July 25th would be best for me, though I could probably do August 5th as
well.

Also, after collecting everyone who wants to be involved, we should probably
move our Learning to IRC plans to private e-mail. Probably all of the
old-time
IRCers will soon be getting a little tired of our plans, if they're not
already. :)

-Christy
 kubitc@kenyon.edu
 Attalanta on IRC
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 11:28:29 -0400
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Sandra McDermin <SMcDermi@NAS.EDU>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
Mime-Version: 1.0
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<< Unless we are all on the East coast, what I suggest we do is decide on a
day
and a time (of course) that incorporates all the time zones within a
reasonable
range. >>

>>I am on the East coast, but it seems that there are at least a few UK
folcs who
want to take part, too. I'm not sure the time difference- but someone
suggested
it might be 5 hrs, and, as long as we start early enough at night, that
should
be okay.<<

We could even start in the afternoon -- a Sunday, if the roundrobin writers
work on Saturday.

<< Laurie will be away from the 29th to the 5th, so we could try the
weekend of
the July 25th, the weekend of the August 8th, or a weeknight in between --
No
weekdays, please.  Can't do.  (How's that for narrowing it down; okay I'm
hopelessly indecisive. ; ) >>

>>July 25th would be best for me, though I could probably do August 5th as
well.

Also, after collecting everyone who wants to be involved, we should
probably
move our Learning to IRC plans to private e-mail. Probably all of the
old-time
IRCers will soon be getting a little tired of our plans, if they're not
already. :)<<

I agree with you wholeheartedly.  I just wanted to leave this out there for
a little bit longer so that -- at least -- people on this list will know
about it and join in.  As for the old-timers, I would love it if one or two
more would e-mail me and offer to help.  I don't know if Annie wants to be
barraged with questions all by her lonesome.  (I haven't heard back from
her -- maybe I've scared her off ; )  In any case, I'm keeping my eyes
peeled for those who have expressed an interest and will move this to
private e-mail very shortly.

Anyway, I'm happy for the company.  I thought I was the only one who needed
help here, and I was really reluctant to ask for it under the
circumstances.

Sandy
salymc@gateway.net
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:27:33 -0700
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
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From:         Christopher Kiraly <dane_spellbinder@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
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I would definitely be interested in learning... Inform me as to when
to be there, and I shall be!!!

==
Christopher Kiraly - Da Krazman - Dane Spellbinder

"Smoke me a kippur, boys.  I'll be back in time for breakfast!"
        - Arnold "Ace" Rimmer *Red Dwarf*
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:16:15 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
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From:         No Name Available <Larus2407@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
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In a message dated 98-07-22 08:34:58 EDT, angee.chaudhry@FASTC.DEMON.CO.UK
writes:

<< So far the July 25th and August 8th are good for me .. anyone else? >>

Well, my trip is likely to be extended. :( So I'd prefer July 25 just in
case... (I can probably put off leaving till after that since my car is
getting a major repair Friday morning that I can't take this trip without.)

--Laurie
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 17:38:22 -0500
Reply-To:     ginachar@horizon.hit.net
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Gina and Charlie Jones <ginachar@HORIZON.HIT.NET>
Subject:      New Fanfic: Together
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Hi gang!

Well, I'm finally ready to take the fanfic plunge.  Below is a recently
completed Lois and Clark short story that I wrote.  It's entitled Together
and deals with infertility in a realistic manner.  Anyone who feels
uncomfortable with the subject matter probably should not read this.

The subject hits very close to home for me as my husband and I are dealing
with the agony of infertility at this time in our lives.  Writing this
story has been a kind of therapy for me and I hope that it is enjoyable for
you.  Let me know what you think.

Gina
Loisrae on IRC
mailto:ginachar@hit.net

Together
By Gina Jones (Loisrae)
July 22, 1998

*****

"I don't normally do things like this." Lois thought to herself.  She sat
back in her chair and stared out at the crowded room.  The noise somehow
comforted her -- soothed her restless mind.  It was as if the craziness of
her day was somehow muted in comparison to the bustling activity of the
bar.

Lois smiled to herself, "If Clark could see me now." She mused.  "He
wouldn't believe that I was here."

Why WAS she here?  The day had started out normally enough.  She had
awakened to the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing.  Her husband had
gotten up before her, as usual.  She had never been a morning person like
he was and that was fine with her.  Lois actually liked the fact that she
could count on Clark to look after her.

The table was set when she entered the kitchen.  Clark looked up from the
sink and smiled at her.  Lois loved his smile.  It sent shivers down her
spine each time she saw it and it always gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling
inside.

"Great! You're up." Clark said.  "I was just going to call you."

"Breakfast looks great, honey."  Lois responded.  "And you don't look too
bad either." She grinned.

He smiled again and kissed her.  Lois held on to Clark's embrace as long as
she could.  Unfortunately, the telephone rang.

"Hello?" Lois answered, somewhat sheepishly.  She knew it was foolish, but
she felt like a schoolgirl that had just been caught with a boy, behind the
back yard shed.

"Oh, yes!" Lois exclaimed as she listened to the caller's voice. "Thank you
for calling, I had forgotten.  I'll be there."

Lois hung up the phone and turned to face her husband. "Who was that?"
Clark asked.

"Oh." Lois responded almost too quickly.  Clark grimaced and she knew she
had been caught.  "Just a contact I met yesterday." She lied.  "I forgot I
said I would meet him this morning."

"What about?" Clark asked.

"Just that story I am working on." Lois lied again.  "I had better be
going, though, or I'm going to be late."

Lois hated herself for lying to Clark.  She hastily grabbed some bacon and
wrapped it in toast as she walked toward the door.  "I'll see you at work
later.  Will you tell Perry I'll be late?"

"Sure, honey.  It's no problem.  Maybe we can have lunch together?" Clark
asked, hopefully.

"I'll be there." Lois grinned.  "Meet me at O'Kelley's at one o'clock
okay?"

"Okay." Clark answered, as he leaned down for a kiss.  He grinned again as
she closed the door behind her.

Lois hurriedly went to her Jeep.  Once inside she felt like crying.  She
really was upset at having to lie to Clark about the phone call.

"Oh, well." She thought to herself.  "It's done and nothing can change that
now.  I'll be able to tell him the truth later." She sighed, and pulled out
into the morning, Metropolis traffic.

*****

An hour later, Lois was sitting in her doctor's office.  She had already
been there for forty-five minutes and none of the six-month-old magazines
had interested her.  She had already memorized everything in the small
waiting area and was getting edgy.  She was just getting ready to leave out
of frustration when the nurse appeared.

"Lois Lane?"  The nurse inquired.  "We're ready for you now."

"Finally!" Lois huffed in her usual way.  Inside she was really wondering
how the woman would react if she suddenly ran out the door.

Five minutes later she was sitting in a very cool room, on a decidedly cold
table. "God! Why did they have to make me wear this backless, paper gown?"
Lois thought to herself.

Dr. Spelding entered the room with Lois' chart.  "Lois," he said, looking
at the chart. "I see you want to run some tests…"

*****

The waitress replaced Lois' empty glass with another.  Lois, lost in
thought, almost didn't notice her.  She nodded and barely acknowledged the
new drink.  She was re-living the events of earlier in the day.

"I see you and your husband are trying to have a baby." Dr. Spelding said.
"How long have you been trying?"

"About a year now," Lois responded.  "And the disappointment gets harder to
handle each month."

The Doctor looked at her and frowned in sympathy.  "Well, then." He
exclaimed. "Let's get started."

Lois felt as if she had been abducted and tortured by aliens when she left
the doctor's office.  "So many tests." She thought.  "And now, to top it
off, I have to wait all day before I get any answers."

It was almost one-thirty when Lois parked outside of O'Kelley's Restaurant.
 She hurriedly applied some lipstick and fixed her hair in the rear view
mirror.  As soon as she had locked the Jeep, she knew he was watching her.
Lois looked up into the concerned, brown eyes of her husband.

"Sorry I'm late, honey." She said.  "My contact was late and then the
information he gave me led me on a wild goose chase all morning."  Again,
the lies appeared almost effortlessly.  Lois began to worry that she would
never be able to dig herself out of this hole she was creating.

"It's okay." Clark reassured her.  "I just worry when I don't know where
you are.  Are you hungry?  I've got Blake holding our table for us."

Lunch was uneventful.  Clark explained the latest story he was working on,
and what plans he had to play basketball with some buddies the following
weekend, while Lois tried desperately to listen to him.  Her mind kept
wandering back to the doctor's office.

After lunch, both Lois and Clark returned to the Daily Planet.  Clark was
called away a short time later on "other business" and Lois was left to
ponder how she was going to tell him about her morning.  At four o'clock
her phone rang.

"Lois Lane." She answered on the second ring. "Yes.  Now?  I'll be right
there." She hung up and quickly wrote a note to her husband.

*****

"I'm not going to sugar coat it Ms. Lane." Dr. Spelding confided.  "It
doesn't look good."

Lois felt her world falling apart.  She placed her face in her hands as she
listened to the doctor.

"It seems that you are not ovulating on your own and that there may be some
scar tissue or endometriosis around your tubes, ovaries, and uterus.  Now,
I won't know for sure until I get in there and look around, but I'm fairly
positive about it.  It is my opinion that you will never conceive on your
own, unless surgery is performed to repair the damage."

"So what are my next steps, Doctor?" Lois asked, quietly.

"I recommend what is called a laparoscopy.  It is a fairly easy procedure
that will allow us to look around in there and remove any endometriosis we
find.  After that, I suggest doing a form of artificial insemination called
IUI or intrauterine insemination.  Of course, you should discuss this with
your husband before we make any decisions." The doctor concluded.

"Yes, of course." Lois agreed.

As Lois was leaving the doctor's office she thought to herself, "Yeah,
right.  How do you tell a man that is able to do just about anything that
you can't have his children, and there is nothing HE can do to help."

*****

A crashing sound brought Lois back to the present.  She looked around the
bar and saw a waitress picking up the remnants of a glass once used by a
gentleman that should have stopped drinking long ago.  She grinned slightly
as the man wobbled toward the exit.  It was at this point that Lois
wondered how long she had been in the bar.  She looked at her watch and was
amazed to find it was well after eight o'clock in the evening.

"Clark will be worried." Lois thought.  Almost immediately she realized she
still didn't know how to tell Clark the news.  She sat for a minute and
decided to get another drink.

Again, the waitress brought her beverage and placed it in front of Lois
without receiving acknowledgement.  The day had taken its toll on Lois, not
to mention the four glasses of scotch.  Lois didn't even notice the tall,
dark haired gentleman enter the bar.  He noticed her, though.  His eyes
focused on her immediately.  And he slowly approached her with a relieved,
yet scared and concerned look on his face.

"Lois?" Clark asked softly.  "Are you okay?  What are you doing here?"

Lois slowly looked up from her drink and acknowledged her husband.  "I'm
okay Clark."  She knew she wasn't fooling him but the lies that had started
so innocently earlier in the day seemed so easy to hide behind now.

"Really." He answered not as a question, but as a statement.  "I find that
hard to believe.  You've been avoiding me all day and when we were together
it was as if we weren't.  Then, I return to the Planet and find this."
Clark fished out the note that she had written from his jacket pocket.  "Be
back soon." He recited. "New development in story." He wadded up the paper
and through it across the room. "Lois, I checked with Perry and he said you
turned in your story yesterday afternoon.  You've been gone for hours and
I've been worried sick about you."  Clark stopped talking and looked at his
wife.

"Clark," Lois began.  "I -- I don't know what to say."  She cried at that
point.  The wall she had put up to protect her from the day's events
started crashing down around her.

Clark simply put his arms around her and held her.  He didn't know what
else to do.  He knew she would tell him what was wrong when she was ready.

When Lois had stopped crying she withdrew from his arms and returned to her
scotch.  She was not really drinking it as much as gazing into its depths
looking for answers.  Finally, she pushed the glass away from her and took
her husband's hand.

She told him the events that had led her to this bar.  Clark listened
intently, not wanting to interrupt her for fear she wouldn't complete the
story.  Once she was done, he continued to look at her with infinite love
in his eyes.

"Lois, honey." He whispered to her.  "I love you, and nothing -- I repeat
nothing will change that.  No.  I don't like being helpless when it comes
to you, but you should never have had to do this alone.  We're married,
we're partners, and we are one.  Your pain is my pain, and we will get
through this together.  If we are meant to be parents we will be…one way or
another."

Lois cried openly again, and hugged her husband.  "How could I have been so
blind?" she thought.

Clark and Lois left the bar hand in hand; content in the knowledge that
what was ahead of them could be painful and agonizing but that they would
face it -- whatever "it" may be -- together.

Epilogue:

Lois and Clark looked down at their beautiful bundle of joy.  It had been a
hard twenty-one months but they had gotten through it together.  First,
there had been the surgery to remove the endometriosis and then the healing
process.  Next was the natural method, which, as expected, had been
unsuccessful.  After that, they had endured the mood swings of hormonal
concoctions that Dr. Spelding had prescribed to Lois.  Those months had
been the worst.  Not only did they not work; they created so much tension
in the Kent household it was almost unbearable.  Finally, after three tries
with artificial insemination, little Caroline had been conceived.

"She gorgeous, Lois" Clark whispered, his eyes moist.

"I know." Lois responded.  "Just like her daddy."

The three of them left the hospital, together.

The End.

*****

Okay…that's it.  What did you think?  Corny?  Sappy?  Should have burned it
right out of my brain before I typed the first letter?  Anything???  Let me
know. <g>
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:53:03 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Lansbury 1 <Lansbury1@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Hello,

Let me know the day and time you all want to meet at IRC and I will be
there.
If you want to talk to me privately my email address
is........Lansbury1@aol.com

Annie :)
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:01:16 -0500
Reply-To:     eed2@Ra.MsState.Edu
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Elizabeth Eve Davis <eed2@RA.MSSTATE.EDU>
Organization: Mississippi State University
Subject:      Re: New Fanfic: Together
Comments: To: ginachar@horizon.hit.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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I think it was great, and very realistic.
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:32:35 -0400
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Pam Jernigan <jernigan@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Well, I'm by no means an IRC expert, but if y'all like, I could try to
help out... just let me know when you decide to get together :-)  (Except=
 I
have other plans this Sunday afternoon...)

PJ =

!^NavFont02F009A0007MGHHG9BAA42

  E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 22-Jul-1998
  jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC
~~~~~
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html
Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics
~~~~~
"Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs =

should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein

Distribution:
  "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S
INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:13:10 -0600
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
In-Reply-To:  <01IZN28TQ8WY00ABN8@DHVX20.CSUDH.EDU>
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At 10:49 PM 7/20/98 -0700, you wrote:=20

>
> I dare someone to write a LnC fanfic using old english!!!
> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Mercedes

Look, upeth in the heavens, be it a man?

Nay, I say it is a bird!

It cannot be, it's skin is royal blue

--and it be cloaked blood red--

And a spot of... yellow?

I know--It must be an... *angel*!

[crowd falls back in awe]

[old woman approaches, looks up, squinting her one good eye at=20
the sight. In a high, screeching, very Monty Pythonesque voice=20
she says...]

.
.
.
.
.
.

wait for it...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Harold, you git roit down here roit now!
It's thyme for your suppah!

Debby
Debby@swcp.com

okay, okay...=20

this is why I'm currently
stuck and unable to write ;)
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 22:40:21 -0400
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         salymc <salymc@GATEWAY.NET>
Subject:      An IRC Tutorial
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Okay, guys, I'm about to take the plans for this little tutorial off of the
fanfic list and into private e-mail.  Before I do that, however, I want to
mention a few things publicly:

1)  Could Christopher Kiraly (isn't that the name of a volley ball player?)
and Bobbett Jascor please send me their e-mail addresses, or if someone has
their addresses, can they pass them along to me.  They are going to be out
of the loop, otherwise and I really don't want to leave anyone out who took
the time to e-mail.

2)  From the few that have mentioned it, it looks like this weekend wouldn't
be a bad time for this.  We could either shoot for Sunday afternoon at 2:00
or 3:00.  *Or*, we could, perhaps, try it on Saturday *before* the fanfic
people get started -- either at 1:00 or 1:30?    These times should make it
fairly easy for everyone.

3)  I perused a lot of information before I took the plunge and went on the
IRC.  I remember reading on an L&C website that there is someone -- Julie
perhaps? -- who has held these type of "tutorial sessions" in the past.  Is
this so?  If it is, I would love to hear from her and have her participate
(or take over <g>) as I'm sure this idea is not original to me.

4)  I want to thank Pam (an old time<wink>) for offering to help.  If we do
it on the day your available, I would love to have you there.  Frankly, I
feel a little bit like I'm inviting people to their own home. Very
presumptuous!

5)  I want to thank Annie once again as well.

Finally, if there's anyone else who wants to lend a hand, please feel free.
This is more "your" IRC channel then "mine" -- so to speak.  What I mean by
that is I am very new to this and I wanted to participate fully in my small
way, but this is the IRC channel that you've been interacting on for years.
This is another chance to teach fellow folcs how to communicate with you and
enrich your discussion -- or send sounds to you<g>.  Don't hang back,
please.... Eileen, Leanne, Beppo, Zoomway, Cerise, Kal-El, Teca, etc. (I
can't remember everyone I "saw" there the two times I tried it.)

Sandy
salymc@gateway.net
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:06:04 -0800
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Leanne Shawler <volterra@SD.ZNET.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
In-Reply-To:  <199807230215.UAA14402@kitsune.swcp.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>At 10:49 PM 7/20/98 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>
>> I dare someone to write a LnC fanfic using old english!!!
>>         Mercedes
>
>
>Look, upeth in the heavens, be it a man?
>
>Nay, I say it is a bird!
>
>It cannot be, it's skin is royal blue
>
>--and it be cloaked blood red--
>
>And a spot of... yellow?
>
>I know--It must be an... *angel*!
>
>[crowd falls back in awe]
>
>[old woman approaches, looks up, squinting her one good eye at
>the sight. In a high, screeching, very Monty Pythonesque voice
>she says...]
>
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>
>wait for it...
>
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>
>Harold, you git roit down here roit now!
>It's thyme for your suppah!
>
>
>Debby
>Debby@swcp.com
>
>okay, okay...
>
>this is why I'm currently
>stuck and unable to write ;)

ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!

Leanne

(sorry, it was just worth repeating :))

Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com)
Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html
Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html
Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page:
http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 23:29:52 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Kate Crane <KCrane1865@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Oh Debby, that was priceless!!!

Kate (the Maryland one)
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 23:40:33 -0400
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Donna Lehman <102262.2435@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      Dean on AH
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi,
I have been away for 2 weeks and came back to an overloaded mailbox. In m=
y
haste to delete some things I didn't want I deleted the info on Dean on A=
H.
Could someone please repost or send me some information. I have been
reading some dissappointing things about him promising to be some place a=
nd
then cancelling...this doesn't sound like the Dean we used to know.

Thanks,
Donna
=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1998 23:51:54 -0400
Reply-To:     Karen Ward u <ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Karen Ward u <ward8120@MACH1.WLU.CA>
Subject:      Volleyball remark in "Re: An IRC Tutorial"
In-Reply-To:  <00e901bdb5e3$3da885a0$284a48a6@oemcomputer>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

> 1)  Could Christopher Kiraly (isn't that the name of a volley ball
player?)

Actually, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I believe it's Karch Kiraly,
although I'm not all that sure of the spelling.

Sorry guys, being the volleyball nut that I am, I just couldn't resist
that one! ;)

Karen :)
who thinks Mark Heese could take Karch Kiraly any day, but I'd rather
see Dean Cain play volleyball than anyone!

<ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca>
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 10:20:29 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Angee Chaudhry <angee.chaudhry@FASTC.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
In-Reply-To:  <199807230215.UAA14402@kitsune.swcp.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0

That was really good Debby, you always come up with the good ones :-)

Angee

-------

In message <199807230215.UAA14402@kitsune.swcp.com>, Debby Stark
<debby@SWCP.COM> writes
>
>Look, upeth in the heavens, be it a man?
>
>Nay, I say it is a bird!
>
>It cannot be, it's skin is royal blue
>
>--and it be cloaked blood red--
>
>And a spot of... yellow?
>
>I know--It must be an... *angel*!
>
>[crowd falls back in awe]
>
>[old woman approaches, looks up, squinting her one good eye at
>the sight. In a high, screeching, very Monty Pythonesque voice
>she says...]
>
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>
>wait for it...
>
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>
>Harold, you git roit down here roit now!
>It's thyme for your suppah!
>
>
>Debby
>Debby@swcp.com
>
>okay, okay...
>
>this is why I'm currently
>stuck and unable to write ;)

--
Angee Chaudhry
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 00:48:10 -1000
Reply-To:     shore@maui.net
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Jamee Jones <shore@MAUI.NET>
Subject:      Re: comments on "Full Circle: a New Day"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I too ment to comment on this a couple of weeks ago when I read it.  I
guess I'll be brave and post it to the list rather than do it privately
since there are so many authors to that story!

I did enjoy this very much.  Allthough, I would have like to of seen
Clark with Lois the whole time through her labor.  I realize that isn't
very likely to happen though since this is what L&C are all about, over
coming major obstacles!  And Lois is totally the type to be stubborn and
tough and stick it out as long as humanly possible- in her room---away
from her mom--until Clark could return.

I kind of got bored while reading Perry's history in the newsroom, but
maybe that was because I was sooo tired that late at nite and was
determined that Lois was going to have that baby before I went to bed!
<G>   I'm not crazy about the stories that spend a long time on other
characters either, but the sections on Jimmy didn't bother me too much
since I realized the whole thing couldn't be about Lois in labor! The
story about Jimmy being a little bit of a hero, I liked that. I like how
L&C changed the usual "geeky" image of Jimmy Olsen and instead made him
a 'pretty cool guy'!

I also enjoyed that this was a natural disaster instead of some crazy
lunatic bent on getting even with society!  It was also more
entertaining in that Supes just didn't fix it all in a matter of
seconds, but he had to really figure it out.  I could imagine his
frustration at how long this was taking him, knowing that he could very
well miss the birth of his child.  I imagine it would be very hard to
calm down and think straight in a situation like that.

The only thing that really left me feeling like something was missing,
was right after Lois had her baby.  It mentions Lois having feelings of
triumph for having actually succeeded and then her feelings of joy as
she hears the baby cry. Then she's struggling to sit up to catch a
glimpse of her baby-- but that is all.  I would have loved to have read
further about her first reaction to seeing and bonding with her new born
son, her and clarks reaction to "it's a boy!" and being with them as
they held him for the first time.  That is a very tender moment, and
being able to feel like we were in the delivery room along with them, I
just personally hated to miss this part.  I felt like all of a sudden
somebody told me to get out of the delivery room and go wait the Lane's
and the Kent's  in the waiting room! <G>

And last of all, but certainly not least, I really enjoyed Clarks
expressions to his father when he was saying how amazing he thought Lois
was bringing their child into the world. That was a very sweet moment
and I thought it was captured very well.

Welp, there's my 2 cents- hope it makes sense!!!

Thanx Tuffs writers!!!

Jamee....who is so incredibly excited, because believe it or not, there
is an episode of Lois and Clark on tomarrow that she never ever saw!
I'm so excited I'm gonna burst! :)
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:19:24 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Annette Ciotola <AMCiotola@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

In a message dated 98-07-22 18:53:26 EDT, you write:

<< Hello,

 Let me know the day and time you all want to meet at IRC and I will be
there.
 If you want to talk to me privately my email address
 is........Lansbury1@aol.com

 Annie :) >>

Annie,

If ya want any help.. I'm there for ya  :) just name the channel :)

Anne :)
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 17:18:30 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Wendy Richards <w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK>
Subject:      Fanfic challenge
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

Someone - I can't remember who - posted a challenge to the
list earlier this week. What if a journalist spotted
Superman wearing a wedding ring?

I am about to post a fanfic which deals with this scenario,
and, I hope, a number of the other twists people suggested
to go along with it. Don't all throw rotten tomatoes at
once!

Look for 'A Ring on his Finger'

Wendy

----------------------
Wendy Richards
w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 17:20:06 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Wendy Richards <w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK>
Subject:      A Ring on His Finger   Part 1 of 3
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

A Ring on his Finger

By Wendy Richards

"Lois! Clark! Take a look at this!"

Jimmy's excitable voice reached the Planet's star reporters
as they had barely stepped out of the elevator to enter the
newsroom. Lois turned to Clark, raising an eyebrow in
amusement; Clark grinned back as they both wondered just
what had occurred this time to gain Jimmy's interest.

Not allowing his friends time even to deposit their
briefcases at their desks, Jimmy rushed over. "The Star
says Superman's got married!"

Lois felt a little chill run through her;  had their secret
finally been discovered? She stole a glance at Clark: he
also looked worried, though he was trying not to show it.
Lois shook herself; how *could* anyone have found out?

"Jimmy, how could anyone believe some of the rubbish the
Star prints? Really, they're not much better than the
Whisper some of the time," she said firmly, dismissively.
"Throw that away and let's get some work done around here
before Perry sees what you're wasting time with."

"No, Lois, you don't understand," Jimmy protested. "It's
not another made-up 'kiss and tell' story. This one's
different, and Perry wants -"

"Perry wants you two in my office *right away*," the gruff
voice of the Planet's editor-in-chief growled from a
location behind and to the right of the little group.

Clark and Lois followed Perry White to his office; shutting
the door behind them, Clark protested, "Chief, you're not
suggesting *you* believe that stuff?"

"See for yourself," the editor replied, gesturing to a copy
of that morning's edition of the Metropolis Star which was
lying on his desk.

The banner headline screamed, "Who's Mrs Superman?"

Underneath, a smaller headline observed, "Man of Steel
Married!"

Most of the remainder of the page was occupied by a large,
blown-up colour photograph of Superman carrying a victim
away from some emergency or other - the gas explosion near
the docks a few days ago, Clark remembered. The photo was
cropped so as to focus on the upper part of Superman's
torso and his arms as they were wrapped around his
passenger. A large circle had been drawn around Superman's
left hand by a copy-editor, to emphasise the simple item of
jewellery on his third finger.

A wedding ring.

<*My* wedding ring> thought Clark with a silent groan.

"How did that happen?" Lois exclaimed in shock, forgetting
Perry's presence as she turned to Clark with an expression
of horror on her face.

Clark, his mind in turmoil, managed to recover enough of
his senses to realise what Lois had said and to prepare to
cover up if necessary. But Perry's next words made it clear
that he had not read anything suspicious into Lois's
outburst.

"Yes, how come you two - who are supposed to be *friends*
of Superman, after all - didn't know anything about this?"
the editor asked in a voice heavily ringed with irony. "Of
course, I know you wouldn't dream of keeping such a big
news story to yourselves; after all, it's not as if the
Planet's circulation figures would have been helped by *us*
breaking this story, is it?" He gave Lois and Clark an
accusatory glare.

"There's nothing wrong with the Planet's circulation," Lois
objected, having pulled herself together - publicly at
least - and seizing on the opportunity of a distraction.

"There is this morning!" Perry retorted. "Do you two really
think anyone wanted to read about yet another environmental
impact conference when the Star was telling the world that
Superman's gotten himself hitched?"

Clark sighed. He was well aware that this was all his
fault. He was usually so careful when he changed into The
Suit, ensuring that he removed anything and everything
which would link him to Clark Kent, Lois Lane or any
semblance of a normal, *human* lifestyle. They had joked
about his wedding ring when they had first been married,
coming up with suggestions for places to carry it when he
was Superman. He had insisted that he would remove it and
wear it on the chain Lois had given him when he had
departed for New Krypton. And so he had done, on every
occasion when he had needed to become the super-hero.
Except... until... two days ago. He had clearly forgotten,
in the urgency of the need to get to the site of the
explosion, to take off his ring.

And because he had been careless, a photographer had been
able to snatch an incriminating, highly damaging, image.

Clark searched his mind back for other photographs taken of
him during that rescue. He hadn't remembered noticing the
ring, and for an instant his hopes rose. Perhaps the
picture had been electronically altered? That had happened
before, when Superman had been accused of having an affair
with Lois; thankfully they had been able to prove that the
pictures were forgeries before he had needed to implement
his resolve to tell the truth about his _alter ego_.

How _could_ he have been so careless? He had put in
jeopardy his and Lois's privacy,  and perhaps their entire
lives. How could they continue in their home, their jobs,
if the truth were known? Would Lois, his friends, his
family ever be safe again?

Perry, impatient at the lack of response from the two
journalists, tried again. "Will you just tell me whether
you knew about this?" he demanded.

Lois, seeing that Clark was too lost in his thoughts to
answer, spoke. "Perry, Superman is a friend of ours. And
because of that, there are things about him which we
haven't published - you know we didn't write about green
Kryptonite, and you didn't write about red Kryptonite. So
he does trust us... But at the same time, I'm well aware
that he doesn't tell... his friends... everything about his
private life. Maybe because he's afraid of having it become
public knowledge, maybe because he really is a very private
person. So you see, Chief, that story in the Star is as
much of a shock to us as it was to you."

<Brava, Lois> Clark applauded his wife silently.

"Well, all right, I guess I accept that," Perry conceded.
"But now this is public knowledge, I want the story! When
did he get married, why didn't he tell anyone, why is he
wearing a wedding ring if he's not prepared to talk about
it - and most important, *who is she*?" He picked up the
Star, glared at the headline, and threw it down on his
desk. "This story's even bigger than Elvis marrying
Priscilla, Charles marrying Diana... get on it!"

*****************

"Well, I managed to get us out of that - for the moment,"
Lois commented. They were sitting in the coffee shop around
the corner from the Planet, having decided to got there to
talk as soon as they'd left Perry's office.

"Yes, you did - I thought you were fantastic, sweetheart,"
Clark replied softly, reaching for Lois's hand and
squeezing it.

Lois  pulled her hand away. "You can't get around me that
easily this time, Clark. This is appalling - how could you
have let it happen?"

Hurt, Clark pulled back. He *knew* it was his fault; did
she have to rub it in? "Lois, I am sorry," he said, after a
pause, in a voice so low she had to strain to hear him. "I
can't think how it happened. I even hoped at first that it
was a forgery, but..." he paused again, then continued.
"Before we left the newsroom, I looked at our own report of
the explosion - I used my super-vision to look closely at
the photo we ran, and I *was* wearing the ring."

"I knew it was real," Lois replied quietly.

"How?" Clark demanded.

"Do you think I wouldn't recognise the ring we chose
together, that I put on your finger when we were married,
that I see on your hand every day?" Lois's voice was angry,
passionate, upset.

Clark again felt the tight hand of emotional pain curl
around his heart. But he forced himself to focus on the
immediate problem. "Do you think anyone else will recognise
it?"

I doubt it," Lois replied convincingly. "No-one else would
have any reason to think it looked familiar - I'm sure none
of our friends could describe your wedding ring, it's
hardly distinctive in any way." <Except to me...>

"Lois, I'm sorry..." Clark murmured in a heartfelt voice.
"I would never have wanted to do this to you, please
believe me."

Lois allowed herself to meet her husband's eyes and to
acknowledge his suffering as equal to her own. She *wasn't*
being fair simply to blame him and pretend that they
weren't both in this together.

"I do, Clark, and I'm sorry too - for making this harder by
taking out my temper on you," she whispered, knowing that
he could hear her. She reached for his hand, and they held
each other for several moments.

"I love you," Clark mouthed at her. She smiled and mimed
the words back to him.

"But we have to decide what we're going to do about this,"
she added a moment later, matter-of-factly.

"I know," Clark acknowledged. "We've got Perry on our
backs, to say nothing of the rat-pack who'll be following
Superman everywhere he goes for the foreseeable future -
and probably chasing after us as well since it's known that
we're friends of Superman's."

"So what do you want to do?" Lois asked, unsure what he
intended to suggest.

"We have to do something quickly, to stop the speculation.
Which means providing an answer they'll be happy with."

"Such as?" Lois demanded. He couldn't be thinking of
revealing all, could he?

"Such as who Superman is married to," Clark replied firmly.
Lois thought that he was probably completely unconscious of
it, but his jaw was set in a very Superman-like expression.
She was glad they were sitting in a dark corner booth of an
almost-deserted coffee shop.

Glancing around cautiously before speaking, Lois replied,
"You mean me?"

"No," Clark replied instantly, reassuringly. "You're
married to Clark Kent. Not Superman."

"We've had this conversation before, Clark," Lois pointed
out patiently. "You *are*... you-know-who... and I'm
married to... *both* of you."

"Not as far as the world knows, Lois," Clark replied
firmly. The cogs of his brain were still working thousands
of times faster than Intel's most powerful chip, but he was
attempting to show a calm exterior to Lois.

He paused; Lois waited. Finally, he spoke. "Kal-El was
married to Zara... and the world knows about the New
Kryptonians..."

"That's an idea..." Lois raised her eyes to Clark's, her
own shining. "That would be a wonderfully simple solution!
You could do a press conference, explain about the birth
betrothal, and say that even though Zara has gone back to
New Krypton you are still married to her under Kryptonian
law..." She broke off and grimaced at Clark.

"It won't work, will it?" she asked him.

Clark shook his head, disappointed. "No. Why is this the
first time he's worn the ring if...? Zara left a year ago.
Why would he still consider himself married to her? And why
didn't anyone say anything about a marriage at the time?"

"You're right," Lois acknowledged. "It's not convincing.
But what can we say, then?"

Clark sighed deeply. "I don't know. We need to think about
it - and in the meantime, look as if we're doing something
about getting the story!"

Lois groaned. "I've just remembered the awards ceremony,
Clark!"

Appalled, Clark shook his head slowly. He - or rather,
Superman - was supposed to be presenting awards to children
who had carried out acts of bravery, at a ceremony hosted
by the Mayor. In a few hours' time... and the Press would
be ravenous.

"Can you pull out?" Lois asked, although she knew what the
answer would be.

Clark shook his head decisively. "You know I can't let
those kids down." He reached for Lois's hand again. "It'll
be a nightmare. But we can get through it."

Lois nodded, knowing that he was right.

"And Lois," Clark added, "You need to be up there at the
front of the pack, asking as many intrusive questions as
the Star and Whisper reporters do." He saw Lois instantly
recoil at the thought, and added, "You have to. It's the
only way to protect ourselves and assure Perry that we're
taking this as seriously as he wants us to."

--------------------

Continued in Part 2

----------------------
Wendy Richards
w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 17:22:02 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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From:         Wendy Richards <w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK>
Subject:      A Ring on His Finger   Part 2 of 3
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Continued from Part 1
---------------------

*************

"...and, ladies and gentlemen of the Press," the Mayor
continued her introduction to the awards ceremony,
"Superman has asked me to say to you that he is aware that
you all wish to ask him questions about recent speculation,
but that he would be grateful if you would wait until after
the awards have been presented. He wants me to assure you
that if you will do as he asks, he will answer your
questions then."

How like Clark that was, Lois reflected as she stood with
the rest of the Metropolis Press corps - and one or two
reporters from out of town - waiting for Superman's
appearance. He *would* want to ensure that, whatever else
was going on, the children should get the uninterrupted
attention they deserved.

The Press corps was substantially larger than had been
expected for such an event, and the City Hall staff had had
to provide extra space. Even with that, a number of
reporters jostled parents and relatives of the children who
were to receive awards, and it was clear that the families
did not appreciate their special event being hijacked by
media interest in Superman-related gossip. Already some
comments had been made in stage whispers about 'tabloid
junk' and 'nosy reporters'. Lois couldn't help but
sympathise. Although she was a reporter, loved her career,
and felt passionate about the freedom of the Press, she and
Clark had themselves been on the receiving end of unwelcome
Press attention a few times, and so they understood how it
felt.

As Lois watched the presentation of the awards, she thought
that Clark was giving the children and their families even
more time and attention than was his usual practice at
these events. Attempting to put off the unavoidable
confrontation with the Press as long as possible, or simply
trying to compensate the children for the fact that their
special day had been ruined by his carelessness? Knowing
Clark, it could be either. Lois found herself hoping that
Clark would hear an emergency he couldn't ignore, so that
the impromptu press conference would be frustrated.

Eventually, the awards were over and the Mayor took the
children and their families into one of the function rooms
for a private reception. As soon as they had left, the
Press swooped. Converging on the platform where Superman
still stood, dozens of reporters began shouting questions
at the same time, and several flashbulbs went off.

Shielding his eyes with one hand, Clark held up the other
hand in an appeal for silence. However, afforded an
uninterrupted sight of his left hand, the babble grew even
more intense.

"He's not wearing it!"

"No ring! Could the Star have got it wrong?"

Lois's heart leapt on hearing the speaker nearest her.
Perhaps they could get away with pretending it had all been
a mistake after all.

She had no idea what Clark was going to say. They had
discussed the likely sequence of events, but had not been
able to come up with a convincing story before they had
both had to leave for the ceremony. All Clark had said was
that he would try to stall, for the time being.

<Tell them it *was* a mistake!> Lois pleaded silently, her
eyes raised beseechingly to Clark's.

Clark read the mute appeal in his wife's eyes, but refused
to acknowledge it in any way. He could not take the risk of
anyone noticing, and wondering about it.  He called for
silence. "I can't answer your questions if I can't hear
them!" he said ironically, in a raised voice.

The cacophony ceased. The journalists waited, poised, Clark
thought, to pounce.

He straightened, crossed his arms in front of his chest,
and looked straight at his persecutors. He paused, glancing
from one face to another, then said, "Ms Lane?"

Lois, surprised, moved forward. Clark had not told her he
intended to do that! She focused her atttention quickly.
<Treat this as you would any other news story!> she
instructed herself. "Superman, the Star shows a photograph
of you wearing a wedding ring. Can you explain that?" she
demanded loudly.

Other reporters attempted to ask follow-ups, but again
Clark raised his hand. "If you want me to answer, you've
got to give me an opportunity," he pointed out.

<Tell them it was a mistake, that you... found it, got
called away, and...> Lois screamed to herself. <And what?>
the rational voice inside her head taunted. <And just put
it on his finger? Why on earth would he have done that?>

Clark, meanwhile, was gathering together the tentative plan
he had been constructing in his mind for the past few
hours. Step one: stall. Step two: find some valid
explanation... but what?

"Yes, I was wearing a ring," he answered.

"A wedding ring?" demanded the Whisper reporter.

"Yes," he replied. "And yes, I have a wife."

"Who is she?"

"Why haven't you said anything before?"

"Why aren't you wearing the ring today?"

"Where is she?"

The questions came thick and fast, and Clark let them
continue for a minute or two, buying time to compose
himself. He risked a glance at Lois; although she was
trying to behave like a journalist on the track of a great
story, he knew that she was anxious. He noticed that she
was chewing her lower lip, and he could tell that her pulse
rate was higher than normal.

Decisively, he stopped the questions again.

"I have never said anything because I have always wanted my
private life to be just that... private. What I do in
public - helping people,  lending my support to this kind
of occasion - is newsworthy, and I accept that. I also try
to assist the Press by giving occasional Press conferences
and quotes for news reports." Superman paused, then
continued before the questions could re-start. "But I
believe that I am entitled to privacy when I am not in the
public eye, doing my job. Therefore I don't think I need to
say more than I already have."

He turned, as if to leave, then paused and added, "Wearing
the ring the other day was a mistake. I do not wear it
normally when I'm... working... in order to safeguard my
privacy and that of my wife."

The questions came again; the reporters were not happy at
being told to mind their own business.

"What's she like?"

"Is she a babe?"

"Is she good in bed?"

Lois flushed at the last one, and glared at the questioner,
a reporter on a tabloid TV news magazine show. How dare
they...? They were asking about *her*, although they didn't
know it. She seethed silently.

"So the Suit comes off, then?" This, with a suggestive
grin, came from the Star's female gossip columnist, in
Lois's opinion a vamp who had made advances towards Clark
more times than Lois was prepared to put up with.

Superman shook his head at the repeated questions and said
loudly, "I have said all that I am prepared to at the
moment." He stopped, then tilted his head to one side. "I
have to go, I'm needed elsewhere." With that, he raised
himself slowly into the air, and drifted towards an open
window at the back of the hall. On exiting the window, he
was gone with the sound of a sonic boom.

Lois, left behind in the midst of the fulminating throng of
reporters, wondered whether that had been a real emergency
or simply a convenient excuse to leave. She wanted
desperately to leave as well, to go somewhere on her own,
or with Clark, where they could simply forget about this
whole nightmare. <Maybe Clark and I could fly to
Smallville... no, Jonathan and Martha would want to talk
about how we're going to handle this and, much as I love
them, I don't think I could cope with it... maybe we could
find some deserted tropical island somewhere and simply
stay there until all this has died down...>

But she knew that such an idea was impossible. It would be
too suspicious, and Perry in particular would be difficult
to get around.  Lois forced herself to concentrate on the
matter at hand. Clark had done a good job of stalling, it
was true; he had been aloof and insistent on his right to a
private life, and indicated that he thought that the Press
was overstepping what he considered a reasonable boundary.
Enough for the time being, but it would certainly not kill
the story.

No, the rat-pack would simply increase its efforts to find
the woman they were calling Mrs Superman. That much was
obvious from the hubbub, although no-one was giving too
much away, other than their disgust at Superman's belief
that he had a *right* to keep such information to himself.

Gradually the hall began to clear, as pressure of deadlines
began to make itself felt on the various members of the
Fourth Estate present.

*************

The Daily Planet's evening edition announced, "Yes, I'm
married, but it's my private business."

The Star screamed, "Who is she? The public's right to
know."

The Whisper claimed, "Clairvoyant tells the secrets of
mystery Super-Bride"

Clark, who had returned to the newsroom about an hour after
Lois, crumpled the Whisper into a tiny ball and aimed it at
the waste-paper bin. Lois saw the reined-in frustration in
her husband's expression and moved towards him. Curling her
arm about his shoulders, she murmured, "Can I get you a
coffee, sweetheart?"

Clark smiled back at his wife. However difficult his life
sometimes seemed, having Lois by his side somehow helped to
reassure him that all would be well. As long as they had
each other... <You and me together is stronger than me
alone> The words came to him suddenly from his
sub-conscious. He had meant them when he had said them to
Lois all that time ago, when she had just discovered his
secret. But he hadn't *really* realised what the concept
meant. Since then, so many things had happened which he
really would not have been able to handle without Lois: the
threat to his parents' lives, the - brief - loss of his
super-powers, the arrival of the New Kryptonians, their
inability to conceive. Through all of these, Lois had been
his constant support. The only times, now, when he felt
that he could not cope were when he felt that Lois was lost
to him... when she had been kidnapped by Luthor and lost
her memory, and when she had been framed and found guilty
of murder.

<Together, we can find a way out of this> The thought
imprinted itself on Clark's brain, and, looking at Lois, he
felt that she believed it as well.

They took their coffee into the conference room, where
Clark explained his absence since the ceremony. "There
wasn't really an emergency - I just had to get out of
there," he explained. "I knew that they wouldn't be happy
with me telling them to mind their own business - and we've
read the Star's editorial, they're claiming that I don't
have any right to privacy and that everything I do is in
the public interest. So I just left, and I went to see Mom
and Dad."

"How are they?" Lois asked, concerned.

Clark shrugged. "Worried about us, but they're sure we'll
find a way to deal with it."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their
own thoughts. Lois began to look through the other
newspapers, making notes of points which they would have to
address whenever they did arrive at a convincing
explanation of Superman's marriage.

Suddenly she exclaimed angrily, "Just *who* do they think
they are?!"

"Lois?" Clark  looked at her in concern.

"Look at this!"

Clark quickly read the offending page. The first article
was written by a scientist at Metropolis University, a
geneticist. In it, he argued that if Superman was indeed
married, and to an Earth woman, there could be great
concerns for the human gene pool. Not only was there the
question of potential Super-humans, he pointed out. The
effect of mixing Kryptonian genes with human genes was
completely unresearched, and it was highly irresponsible of
Superman to risk corrupting the human gene pool in this
way.

The other main article was by 'a former senior Defence
official', and this was more disturbing. In it, the author
reminded readers that, although Superman so far had
appeared friendly to Earth, the government still had no
proof of his ultimate intentions, nor any reliable means of
controlling him should he cease to be a benign influence.
The destruction wreaked by the New Kryptonians was referred
to, in an attempt to suggest the kind of harm Superman
*could* do if he so chose; references were also made to the
couple of occasions when, to Clark's deep shame, Superman
had appeared to lose control of his powers - once as a
result of hypnosis and the second time due to red
Kryptonite. Even more worrying, the writer argued, was the
potential for Super-children. What if, he claimed, the
ultimate aim was to start a Super-race who would take over
the Earth?

Clark threw the paper down in disgust. "Trask clones
crawling out of the woodwork, on top of everything else,"
he muttered.

Lois threw her husband a sharp glance. There had been
something in his tone of voice...

She went to him and wrapped her arms around his taut body.
"Honey, what is it? You're not letting that... that
*garbage* - get to you, are you?"

Clark grimaced. "No, I know I shouldn't - well, not the
nonsense about me trying to start a..." his voice fell to a
whisper, "...a Super-race to take over the earth. That's
just laughable," he continued in a normal voice. "But the
effect of a combination of genes... we've never really
considered that. All we've looked at is whether it would be
*possible* for me to get you pregnant. I never thought
about what our children might have to live with..."

<Typical Clark> Lois thought. <*We* thought about whether I
could get pregnant. *Clark* didn't think about the
children... we're in this together, you idiot!>

Deciding that setting him straight about what joint
decision-making actually meant would be better done another
time, she leaned towards Clark and kissed him softly,
lingeringly.

Clark, successfully distracted, returned the kiss and held
Lois tightly for several moments. Lois then pulled away and
addressed her husband's concern. "Clark,  Dr Klein isn't
stupid. Don't you think that if there was a genuine need to
worry about the effects of mixing... you know... that he
would have said something while he was doing the tests for
you?"

They both looked at each other in shock, and simultaneously
exclaimed, "Dr Klein!"

**************

In Lois's Jeep, as they drove out of the Planet's car park,
they put into words the thoughts which had occurred to them
both two minutes earlier.

"What if Dr Klein puts two and two together... Superman was
asking him whether he could get an Earth woman pregnant;
now Superman admits to being married?" Lois's voice was
growing high-pitched.

"But honey, Dr Klein already knew that I... that Superman
had a girlfriend. What difference does a revelation that he
is married make?" Clark flung out an arm towards Lois in an
attempt to convince her, and perhaps himself.  "Lois, we've
never given Bernard Klein any reason to suspect that I am
Superman, or that you are involved with him - you can't
mean that he'd figure out our secret from this?"

"No, I guess not," Lois acknowledged in a calmer voice. "I
suppose what I'm really afraid of is that the Press will
find out about the... tests. Then they'll not only hunt
even harder for the mythical wife, but they'll be screaming
about babies too!"

"OK," Clark said. "Let's look at this carefully. Are we
saying that we're afraid Klein will talk to the Press?"

Lois hesitated. "He never has before... and he's taken
risks to protect you - Superman - before too."

"Yes," Clark agreed. "And he's not interested in money, so
I don't think the rewards the tabloids are offering would
induce him to talk. But I can go and talk to him if you
like...?"

Lois hesitated again, torn. "I *would* like... but I also
don't really want you going anywhere in the Suit at the
moment. All it needs is one assistant at Star Labs to pick
up the phone and notify a reporter that you're there..."

"OK, then I go to Star Labs, collect Dr Klein, and take him
somewhere private to talk," Clark suggested.

****************
Concluded in Part 3

----------------------
Wendy Richards
w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 17:23:49 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
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From:         Wendy Richards <w.m.richards@HRM.KEELE.AC.UK>
Subject:      A Ring on His Finger   Part 3 of 3
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Continued from Part 2

----------------------

Clark returned to the house on Hyperion Avenue later that
evening, pleased that he could at least reassure Lois about
one thing. He had indeed virtually kidnapped the scientist
and flown with him to a deserted cliff overlooking the
coastline. Clark had been surprised to discover that he
hadn't even needed to explain to Dr Klein what he'd wanted
to discuss. The scientist had commented that he had read
the reports in the Press and seen some of the TV coverage.

"I realised that this must have been going on for some
time, given that you had asked me to run tests on your
genetic compatibility with Earth women," Dr Klein remarked.
"So as soon as I came in this morning I removed all trace
of your records and test data from the laboratory. It's all
locked in a safe at my home, where I keep highly sensitive
research data. No-one even knows the safe is there, so your
secret is perfectly safe with me."

Clark hadn't bothered to hide his relief. He had also
realised that it would be highly insulting to the man who,
he now knew, was genuinely his friend, even to suggest that
Dr Klein might have considered talking to the Press. He had
simply flown the man back to Star Labs and left before
anyone had noticed.

On his way home, he had diverted to assist in a
multiple-car pile-up on the freeway, But even that had not
been straightforward. Instead of simply being grateful for
his help, as was normal, accident victims, bystanders and
even some emergency services personnel had insisted on
congratulating him on his marriage and asking intrusive
questions. The last straw had come when several reporters,
alerted to his presence, had arrived and fired yet more
questions at him. Deciding that the emergency services
could just handle this one on their own, Clark had flown
off without a backward glance.

But even having a quiet evening at home had turned out to
be an impossibility. The TV news was full of speculation
about Superman's bride. The talk shows were full of guests
invited for some vague connection with Superman. The live
comedy shows were full of ad-libs about Super-sex, joking
about whether an Earth woman could keep up with a Super
libido, whether a simultaneous orgasm would genuinely
result in the couple floating on the ceiling, and whether
Mrs Superman should be offered a lifetime prescription of a
female version of Viagra.

Clark turned off the TV in disgust. "I don't believe it -
they're making fun of our sex life now!"

Lois crossed to him and hugged him. "Who cares about the
outside world? All we need is each other." They held each
other close for some time, each acknowledging and aching
for the other's pain. At length, Lois asked Clark to take
her flying.

"Is that wise, honey? What if we're seen?"

"It's dark, sweetheart - just go as high as you can until
we're out of Metropolis, and then we can go somewhere
remote," Lois suggested.

*************

They returned home before dawn the following morning and
collapsed into bed for the remaining few hours before their
alarm went off.

A shock awaited them as they left the house later. A throng
of reporters was outside.

"Lois! Clark! Superman's a friend of yours - what do you
know about his mystery girl?"

<Oh no, not again> Clark thought to himself. Lois, on the
other hand, was setting about silencing the reporters.

"Yes, Superman is a friend of ours. But he told us all
yesterday that he keeps his private life to himself. He has
always been like that, as long as I have known him. Clark
and I were as surprised as anyone else when we saw the
wedding ring on his finger."

"Yeah, but have you spoken to him since?" demanded the
Star's city reporter.

"Superman made it clear yesterday how he felt about Press
harassment," Lois replied. "I gather he even left an
emergency situation because of unwanted Press attention. I
hardly think, in the circumstances, he would want to talk
to reporters, however good friends they were."

Clark, again admiring Lois's capacity to think on her feet,
joined in the discussion. "I don't think Superman wants to
talk to anyone about this, and I certainly wouldn't ask him
even in private or on off-the-record terms. I know Lois
feels the same."

"I bet Perry White doesn't!" guffawed one older hack.

****************

The morning's papers were even worse. The Star had taken up
the theme of warning about the dangers of Superman's
descendants, and other articles and leaders debated the
limits of privacy entitlements. The general conclusion
appeared to be that given that Superman, and any
Super-offspring, had the potential to be a great danger to
the State, Superman had no legitimate right to privacy
about his marital affairs.

The sole dissenting voice in this was that of the
Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet. In a front-page
editorial, Perry had written that the speculation about any
danger to ordinary citizens from Superman was ludicrous. He
listed the many dangers which Superman had averted,
including stopping the Nightfall asteroid at great danger
to himself. Superman, Perry reminded his readers, had also
defended America against his own people, the New
Kryptonians, at the risk of his own life. As a  result,
Superman surely deserved the same consideration and
entitlements as every American citizen held under the
Constitution.

Lois and Clark had not seen Perry's column, and as they
read it they felt reassured in the knowledge of their
friend and boss's support; not, of course, that Perry knew
just who he was defending, but that was irrelevant.

However, their delight over the Planet editorial quickly
disappeared when they saw the front page of the Star's
latest edition.

"Mrs Superman talks! We reveal the identity of the Man of
Steel's bride"

Accompanying the headline was a photograph of a pneumatic
blonde woman, dressed in a skimpy Lycra dress, in dark blue
with a yellow-and-red 'S' shield on the front, and
displaying a wedding ring prominently.

Clark choked. "As if I could be remotely interested in
someone like... that!" he gestured contemptuously at the
newspaper.

"She's... a bimbo!" Lois snorted.

"Honey, I've never seen her before in my life," Clark
muttered anxiously.

"Clark? I never thought you had!" Lois exclaimed. "Why...?
Oh, of course, because I wasn't sure whether to believe you
when someone claimed she'd had your baby."

Clark inclined his head, although he didn't reply.

Further conversation was prevented by the newsroom TV
screens blinking into action to reveal a press conference.
The woman in the photograph was surrounded by Star
editorial staff, who were asserting that she was indeed
Superman's wife. Prompted by her companions, she was
telling tales of moonlight flights, trips to Venice, a
hunky body and a fantastic sex life.

"Yuck... I can't watch," Lois muttered in tones of
revulsion.

"Exactly," Perry growled from behind her. "This one's about
as genuine as an Elvis impersonator at a church fete. But
there's still a story!"

"What do you want us to do, Chief?" Clark enquired in a
faintly bored tone. "I mean, the Whisper's staff are
scouring every church and registry office in the country
looking for a lead, the other papers are offering
rewards... do you want us to go and rummage through trash
cans or something?"

"Now, son, you know very well the Planet's not that kind of
paper," Perry said reprovingly. "And I know that Superman's
careful of his privacy at the moment. But surely he doesn't
want people thinking that... that supermarket tabloid model
is his wife? Why don't you two offer him the opportunity to
put the record straight? Offer him whatever guarantees he
wants - copy approval, if he wants it."

****************

"Great idea, if we could think of what to say," Lois
commented once they had returned to their desks; the rest
of the newsroom staff were still staring at the TV screen.

"Maybe I can," Clark said slowly. "But if we're to carry it
off, I need your help."

"What?" Lois demanded. "What are you going to do?"

Clark glanced around before replying. "Give the Press what
they want - Superman's wife."

Lois stared at him.

"Do you still have that Ultra Woman costume?" he murmured,
dragging Lois towards the lift.

Inside the lift, Lois began to protest. "No - I mean it's a
brilliant idea, but we can't..."

"Why not?"

"Ultra Woman had Super-powers. I don't."

"Doesn't matter," Clark retorted swiftly. "You won't have
to do anything. I can do it all."

Lois gaped at him. "Not even you can make me fly!"

Clark drove the Jeep back to Hyperion Avenue. He glanced at
Lois as they waited at an intersection, and enquired, "Do
you trust me, Lois?"

"Of *course* - how can you even ask?" Lois was indignant.

"I mean, do you trust me with your physical safety - not to
drop you when I fly with you, or to take any risks where
I'm not sure that you would be safe?"

"Again, of course!" Lois glared at him. "What has this to
do with anything?"

"Simply that we can make it look as if you're flying. But
you won't be - I'll be doing the flying, and any other
Super feats necessary."

Parking the Jeep outside the house, Clark hustled Lois
inside. Now that he had arrived at a solution to the
problem, he wanted to implement his plan as quickly as
possible so that their lives could return to normal. "Lois,
when we fly I always hold you up in my arms," he explained
once they were in their bedroom. "I don't actually *need*
to hold you that way - I'm strong enough not to need two
arms. But I do it to reassure you, and anyway I like it."

"Yes?" Lois was still unsure as to where this was leading.

"I could support you perfectly safely if we were just
holding hands, and even more easily if you were clinging to
my arm," he pointed out.

"So?"

"So if we arrived at a Press conference, in costume, with
you clinging to my arm as we touched down, it would look as
if we were both flying. And I could lift you up once or
twice during the conference so it would look like you were
levitating."

Lois stared at her husband. It sounded so simple, and so
irresistible... "Could we really get away with it?"

"Let's try," Clark suggested.

They experimented a number of times, and also talked
through the story they would tell at the Press conference.
Lois then phoned the Planet. Superman, she told Perry
White, had agreed to give Lane and Kent an exclusive
interview about his marriage, to be followed by a Press
conference outside the Planet building where he would
introduce his bride for the first and last time.

***************

"Ready?" Clark asked Lois. They were on the roof of the
Planet building, in costume; the massed ranks of the media
were already gathered below.

"As I'll ever be," Lois said through gritted teeth. Clark
curved his palm along her cheek and into her hair.

"Honey, trust me. This will be fine."

Lois nodded, eyes closed. "What a time to choose to develop
a fear of heights!"

Clark laughed softly, and bent to kiss his wife. Before she
had time to recover, he picked her up and carried her to
the edge of the building. Lois wrapped her arms about his
very solid arm.

"Just hold on - and remember, I will *not* let you fall,"
Clark assured her.

He allowed them to drift slowly down from the roof,
controlling the pace so that Lois would not feel a
sensation of free-fall. He heard the shouts as their
arrival was detected.

Jimmy's voice rose above the rest of the crowd. "Hey, it's
Ultra Woman!"

The Press conference was a success. Clark explained that he
and Ultra Woman had been married for some time, but had not
chosen to tell anyone about the marriage because they had
wanted privacy. Ultra Woman had not been seen in Metropolis
since shortly after the Newtrich sisters had been arrested
because she had been busy elsewhere; Earth was not the only
planet in need of Super assistance, Clark explained
blandly. And despite their marriage, Earth would not be
seeing more of Ultra Woman. She and Superman would continue
to conduct their marriage out of the public eye.

"And as for the woman claimed by the Star to be Superman's
wife..." Ultra Woman added, with an amused glance at Clark,
"I know my husband would not remotely be interested in her."

The conference over, Clark floated gently into the air
again, though once they were above the Planet roof he
turned their bodies so that Lois was held prone underneath
him. In that position, should anyone see them, it would
certainly look as if both were flying, he thought.

*************

It did; Lois and Clark looked with some amusement later at
the photograph Jimmy had managed to take with his telephoto
lens, to accompany the exclusive Superman and Ultra Woman
interview Lane and Kent had for the Planet. Lois and Clark
had enjoyed composing the piece, knowing that it would put
an end to speculation which had gone on for long before
this story had broken: did Superman have a girlfriend, did
he find Earth women attractive, and so on. With any luck it
also ought to stop ludicrous claims from women asserting
that they had slept with him; the Star's would-be wife had
been exposed as a fake, put up to it by a crooked lawyer
and a freelance journalist.

"I should have known Ultra Woman would never have looked at
someone like me," Jimmy said sadly. "I mean, why should
she, when Superman was around."

"Oh, come on, Jimmy, you don't want to let Penny hear you
talking like that!" Lois chided, a little embarrassed; she
had found it somewhat embarrassing to be the target of
hero-worship during her first brief spell of duty as Ultra
Woman.

"Oh, I guess not," the young photographer admitted. "It's
just... well, she is kinda cute."

"Superman thinks so too," Clark observed, joining them. "In
fact, I should say he's pretty crazy about Ultra Woman."

"Oh, is he indeed?" Lois enquired once Jimmy had wandered
off. She cast her husband a glance through lowered lashes.
"And does he show her how crazy he is about her?"

"Oh, I hope so," Clark replied, amused.

"Think he'd care to show her tonight?" Lois murmured

"I should think that could be arranged," Clark answered,
winking at his wife as he returned to his desk.

"I'll look forward to it..."

- the end -

----------------------
Wendy Richards
w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 13:17:52 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Frances Coogan <FCoogan106@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
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I'm probably a bit late with this, but if we're suddenly into old English,
how
about some Chaucer:

A Supes ther was and that a worthy man,
That fro the time that he first bigan
To flyen out he loved to assaye
Trouthe and rightness and Amerikan way.
An "S" it on his brest of steele sheene,
He was aferd eek of a rock of grene.
And ther was Lois, she a fresshe wight
Who'd wreken wrechednesse whan so that she might;
And Superman he kept her fro the foo
(Acordaunt for a Superman to do).
She wiste noght the way of temperaunce,
And whan they turned their wittes to daliaunce
Yfinde they chiertee as housbonde and wyf
For heste of eterne blisful lyf!

I knew that A-level would come in handy some day; but if anyone wants to go
further back please bear in mind that my Latin is very rusty!

Frances
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 14:58:27 -0500
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         "Hall, Melissa" <MHall05@SPRINTSPECTRUM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
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>I'm probably a bit late with this, but if we're suddenly into old English,
>how
>about some Chaucer:
Well, I think Chaucer was Middle English, so I'll go a little further
back to the Old English prosody:

A world in need of . awe and wondrous deeds
saw dawn one fine day . deliver hero-
a Super-man born . beneath burning sun
red- reared as a man . of fine Kansas roots
Wanderer scholar . skop of distant soil
Clark Kent of Krypton . by way of Kansas
to Daily Planet's . printing presses came
seeking something rare . Startled by the eyes
beautiful brown eyes . of reporter bold -
byline - Lois Lane . Clark Kent lost his heart
and found his soul-mate . in single sudden
glance She gave him hope . and made him hover
and most important . inspired inception
of body hugging . bold blue and royal red
His merry mother . made cape and costume
And so Superman . soared over city
and saved the shuttle . Lois Lane sighed and
swooned and Clark Kent just . suffered in silence

Sorry- it's bad, I know, but I had the rules handy and I couldn't
resist. (The rules go something like this: Each line must consist of
five syllables, caesura, and another five syllables. There must be at
least three alliterations per line, at least one on either side of the
caesura. Only hyphens and apostrophes may be used for punctuation.)

At least I didn't attempt any sort of rhyme scheme ;)

Misha
>
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:08:12 -0400
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Sandra McDermin <SMcDermi@NAS.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Frances said ... uh ... something:
>>A Supes ther was and that a worthy man,
That fro the time that he first bigan
To flyen out he loved to assaye
Trouthe and rightness and Amerikan way.
An "S" it on his brest of steele sheene,

And, then Misha said ... um ... something else:
>>A world in need of . awe and wondrous deeds
saw dawn one fine day . deliver hero-
a Super-man born . beneath burning sun
red- reared as a man . of fine Kansas roots
Wanderer scholar . skop of distant soil
Clark Kent of Krypton . by way of Kansas<<

This is all *very* impressive.  Puts to shame my Camden, NJ education.
Maybe we should have an L&C Poetry Slam.

Sandy
salymc@gateway.net
http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:27:26 -0400
Reply-To:     NightSky@erols.com
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Genevieve <NightSky@EROLS.COM>
Subject:      Combo Post: Feedback, Sandy's review of Paradise Lost, etc.
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I'm trying to get caught up on my mail before leaving for the weekend --
I just deleted all the Godzilla posts, figuring that it was probably too
late to reply to that one.  A couple of things ...

1.  Feedback -- I'll agree with what's been said so far -- as an author,
I love getting feedback of any sort at any time.  And as a reader, I
probably don't write as much feedback as I should.  Part of this is
because I tend to read fanfic when I'm too tired to write, so I finish
the story and say "I'll write to the author tomorrow."  But like all
those Godzilla posts, tomorrow never comes.

But I also like to get feedback as a proofreader.  When I get a draft of
a story, and then spend the next couple of days going over it with the
proverbial fine tooth comb, I like to hear whether the author is thinks
my ideas have merit or not.  I try to get back to my proofreaders,
usually by sending them back the same file they sent me, with each
comment marked "Done!" or "Don't want to."  It seems to me to be the
least I can do, given the amount of work the proofreader puts into the
story.  I don't like thinking that my proofreaders might end up
comparing the final draft with their comments and wondering why I didn't
do what they told me to.

2.  Sandy's review of Paradise Lost

Weeks ago, Sandy reviewed Paradise Lost.  Of course, I have comments,
and of course, I can defend everyone of my decisions. <g>  In fact,
since some of the things Sandy objected to are things that I bullied my
co-writer Pat into doing, I suppose in all fairness to Pat, I'd better
respond.

First,though, if there is anyone who hasn't read it yet, or wants to
look at it again,  "Paradise Lost" can be found on my website:
<http://www.erols.com/nightsky/plost.txt> and should be up on the main
fanfic archives soon.  (I'm working on trying to get all the TUFS
stories into the archives.)

Sandra McDermin wrote:
>>
> As I remembered from my last read through, I was immediately struck by
some
> general similarities in theme and even little asides to my own virtual
> episode, [...]  For instance, both
> stories had as a sub-theme the issue of money, both used the imagery of
the
> sun, both made a joke of the Titanic film as well as junk food such as
Ding
> Dongs and Ho Hos....  The psychic friends network has nothing on us!

The sun?  Did we use the imagery of the sun?  I can't remember.  (I
guess I'd better go reread the story, to have it fresh in my mind!)  I
used the imagery of the earth, so much that my sister (who was one of my
alpha-readers) started calling it "your dirt story."  The earth as a
poisonous entity, as well as a life giving resource.  The earth as a
symbol of the roots people put down in Smallville.

> Secondly, why were the perpetrators still hanging around?  I got the
> impression, at the beginning of the story, that they were making their
last
> visit to the Sowerby farm.  Shouldn't they have been long gone?  No one
> would have been able to trace them as far as I could see (more on that
> later).  Shouldn't they have covered up the hole where they dumped the
> toxic waste?

At the beginning when they were talking about how the long term effects
were beginning to be seen, they said they it will take two more months
for them to fufill all their contracts, and then they can find a new
place.  So I would guess that they still had people bringing toxic waste
to them there.

> Thirdly, Lois' interest in the Sowerby farm seemed above and beyond.  I
> know that she supposedly has a nose for news, but she seemed almost
> obsessed to the point of taking pictures and doing library research
> (without Jimmy!) for no apparent reason.

Now, Sandy, you should know that the reason we had Lois doing library
research was because both Pat and I are librarians. <g>  We'd talked
about having Lois compare the microfilm in the Smallville library with
the computers at the Planet.

No one mentioned one of the possible stumbling blocks in this story.
How would Clark (who would never spy on his parents) find out about
their financial woes?  The e-mail advertisement for the "Internet Spy"
is actually one that I got at work!  So we decided to use it, and it
functioned as a bit of a private joke between us, since we'd both been
amused (and amazed) at the amount of information available on the Daily
Planet computers!

>
> Fourth, why was Frannie aka Rebecca Sowerby in Smallville?  I don't recall
> her explaining this.

Ah, this gets into "scenes left on the cutting room floor."  Writing for
TUFS gave us two things: a deadline, which we just made, and a size
limitation, which I was very conscious of.  Craig didn't use a mailing
list for the Krypton Club; he sends all of these out manually in what is
apparently a very laborous process.  "Paradise Lost" was the longest
TUFS story to date, and I was very worried about Craig's reaction when
he saw how long it was getting.

So, given the fact that we were running out of time, and that it was
getting too long, we started cutting scenes.  We never developed the
aforementioned library scene for instance, and we cut the scene where
Frannie would come to dinner at the Kents.  We planned for a nice
neighborly dinner (she was new in town, after all), an super-excuse or
two for Clark, and a chance to find that Frannie had always dreamed of
living in a small, country town.  Some residuual memory, drawing her
back to her roots.

> > I was willing to suspend all disbelief, but not when
> > she proceeded to rattle off the names of her kidnappers.  She was a
> > traumatized 4 year old when snatched.  I can't see how she could have
> > remembered them so readily.  (Of course, this would help in
identification.
> > Lucky she was there.)

Pat left this one for me, huh?  (Gee, thanks!)  We wondered how much a
non-traumatized four year old would remember in the normal sense.  Why
wouldn't she go up to the first person she saw and say "These bad people
stole me from my Mommy and Daddy"?  My four-year-old certainly would.  I
couldn't stomach a story about cruelty to children; we weren't going to
keep her locked up in a cellar for ten years or anything.  We wanted to
get her adopted and happy as soon as possible.

So we traumatized her.  Seeing her father hand her over to the bad guys
or something put her in shock.  That's why she didn't say anthing whenit
happend, but all the memories were there, under the surface.  The
memories had begun to come back when she went back to the farm; then
seeing Medlock again opened the floodgates.

>
> 2) The Kent farm:  I wonder about the concluding developments here.  Would
> it really only take one to two years for the chemicals to disappear from
> the soil?  Even so, wouldn't Jonathan have to jump through a lot of hoops
> to get back in the market?  Wouldn't he have a difficult time finding
> buyers later considering that the poisoning of the area soil was big news?

Now this was a sticky point.  Pat's original idea included the Kent's
financial woes, the haunted house, the kidnapped girl, and the
kidnappers still being in Smallville.  I came up with the idea of the
toxic waste dump to tie it all together.  It was all going fine, and I
was merrily writing away, when Pat's husband pointed out that toxic
waste wouldn't act like that -- merely poisoning crops.   Farm animals
would also be dying, people would be getting sick, Lois was there and
pregnant -- this just wouldn't do.

Mike even came up with an alterate scenario.  He suggested that they
were dumping experimental synthetic fertilizer, that was actually
depleting the soils of necessary minerals, or something.

I felt it would take four pages just to explain the synthetic fertilizer
thing to the user and that this was supposed to be a *television*
episode, for heaven's sake!  Everybody knew what toxic waste was --
poison, bad, Mr. Yuck personified!  (Besides, I didn't want to have to
rewrite the parts I'd already finished!)

Pat said that it wouldn't take four pages and, besides, we had an
obligation to be scientifically accurate.  (Pat would never get a job
with Brad and Eugenie!)

Then I found a quote in one of my books about Toxic Waste.  "There is no
known way to determine the effects of toxins on life with the infinite
possible combinations that exist in toxic waste sites.  Simply put, no
one knows. [...] It is sufficient to say that most scientists agree
cancer is at the top of the list."

So I figured that I could have Toxic Waste do whatever I wanted it to.
(Although there were a lot of experimental chemicals and synthetics in
that hole)  And if the EPA says damage will be repaired in a couple of
years, so be it.  And if not, and if the farm is unsellable, I guess
Jonathan and Martha will have to retire a few years early.  My
Grandfather spent his last years getting paid by the government to leave
his farm fallow.

> (I can't identify Genevieve so easily, except when Lois
> talks about getting rid of her doctor<g>.)

The only thing I talk about more than Lois and Clark is how much I
dislike the medical establishment!

We are on our way up to New Jersey for the weekend; my eight-year-old
daughter really, really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty this
summer.  But it's going to be HOT!! We'll be seeking cooler weather by
heading for Western New York (Ithaca, Corning, Rochester) in August if
there are any FoLCs up there who would like to get together and talk
L&C.

And I want to thank Wendy for sending me some new fanfic to read this
weekend; it's printing out as I type.

See you all Sunday.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Genevieve  (NightSky@erols.com) ; <http://www.erols.com/nightsky>
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 21:16:43 +0100
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Jenny Mills <j.mills@NETCOM.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: An IRC Tutorial
In-Reply-To:  <009C98E8.36A6D480.19@kenyon.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Hi

If you are moving this to private, please include me in - as you see I too
am a UKer!

Jenny

-------------------------------------------------------------------

At 10:59 22/07/98 EST, you wrote:
><< Unless we are all on the East coast, what I suggest we do is decide on
a day
>and a time (of course) that incorporates all the time zones within a
reasonable
>range. >>
>
>I am on the East coast, but it seems that there are at least a few UK
folcs who
>want to take part, too. I'm not sure the time difference- but someone
suggested
>it might be 5 hrs, and, as long as we start early enough at night, that
should
>be okay.
>
><< Laurie will be away from the 29th to the 5th, so we could try the
weekend of
>the July 25th, the weekend of the August 8th, or a weeknight in between --
No
>weekdays, please.  Can't do.  (How's that for narrowing it down; okay I'm
>hopelessly indecisive. ; ) >>
>
>July 25th would be best for me, though I could probably do August 5th as
well.
>
>Also, after collecting everyone who wants to be involved, we should
probably
>move our Learning to IRC plans to private e-mail. Probably all of the
old-time
>IRCers will soon be getting a little tired of our plans, if they're not
>already. :)
>
>-Christy
> kubitc@kenyon.edu
> Attalanta on IRC
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 18:04:17 -0600
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
In-Reply-To:  <l03130304b1dc6719d9d4@[207.167.64.48]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Thanks for the comments on my "Look...!" effort. I've thought of another
but, not having a book of Willie the Shake here at home, I'm stumped after
combining...

                        "Oh, Clarkeo, Sweet Clarkeo, Wherefore art thou,
Clarkeo?
                Is it better to suffer the slings and arrows of your
outrageous
                excuses for your disappearances, or, [by something
them,...?]"

and I can't remember any of the rest, and it doesn't help that I keep
thinking of Lawrence Harvey's strip tease scene in The Magic Christian...

Next?

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 19:35:46 -0500
Reply-To:     eed2@Ra.MsState.Edu
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Elizabeth Eve Davis <eed2@RA.MSSTATE.EDU>
Organization: Mississippi State University
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
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If your looking for the next part of the line from Hamlet, it is "..or
to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them."
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 19:47:44 -0500
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Joseph Barrow <jbarrow@CFI.NET>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
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Hiya, people!  Debby said:

>
>                         "Oh, Clarkeo, Sweet Clarkeo, Wherefore art thou,
Clarkeo?
>                 Is it better to suffer the slings and arrows of your
outrageous
>                 excuses for your disappearances, or, [by something
them,...?]"

    This is more Hamlet, Debby, than Romeo and Juliet.... but I forgive
you...    I'll add a little to this...

       Clark:   To ask, or not to ask, that is the question
                   Whether tis nobler in my mind to suffer
                   The slings and arrows of outrageous opponents
                   Or to take arms against a sea of Scardinos, Lexes and
Deters
                   And by opposing, end them? (I wish!)
                   To love, to sleep no more, and by a sleep,
                    to say we end
                    The heart-ache, and the thousand natural questions
                    That Lois is heir to; tis a inquistion
                    Devoutly to be feared.
                    To love, to sleep, to sleep...
                    Perchance to dream, aye there's the rub
                    For in that sleep of love what heavy dreams may come

                    And I'll leave the rest of this passage to the rest of
the FOLC's imaginations..........*G*
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 21:40:47 -0400
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         salymc <salymc@GATEWAY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
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-----Original Message-----
From: Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
<LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Date: Thursday, July 23, 1998 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback

>Thanks for the comments on my "Look...!" effort. I've thought of another
>but, not having a book of Willie the Shake here at home, I'm stumped after
>combining...
>
>                        "Oh, Clarkeo, Sweet Clarkeo, Wherefore art thou,
Clarkeo?
>                Is it better to suffer the slings and arrows of your
outrageous
>                excuses for your disappearances, or, [by something
them,...?]"
>
>and I can't remember any of the rest, and it doesn't help that I keep
>thinking of Lawrence Harvey's strip tease scene in The Magic Christian...
>
>Next?
>
>Debby
>Debby@swcp.com<

*****************

Although I'm sure there are others, a good Shakespeare website with all the
Bard's plays and poerty (plus a search engine) is:

http://www.gh.cs.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/index.html

I recommend it.

However, regarding your recitation above, I believe you have mixed two
famous scenes from two famous plays:  the balcony scene from Romeo and
Juliet (which I quoted in my story, Taken, in reference to the names Kal-El
and Clark, i.e., it didn't matter what his name was as he was still the same
person.) and Hamlet's famous soliloquy where he debates whether he should
act against his Uncle/Stepfather Claudius:

Sandy
*******************

Act II, Scene II

 JULIET
                 O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
                 Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
                 Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
                 And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
 ROMEO
                 [Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
 JULIET
                 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
                 Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
                 What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
                 Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
                 Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
                 What's in a name? that which we call a rose
                 By any other name would smell as sweet;
                 So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
                 Retain that dear perfection which he owes
                 Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
                 And for that name which is no part of thee
                 Take all myself.

****************************
Act III, Scene 1

HAMLET
                          To be, or not to be: that is the question:
                          Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
                          The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
                          Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
                          And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
                          No more; and by a sleep to say we end
                          The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
                          That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
                          Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
                          To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
                          For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
                          When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
                          Must give us pause: there's the respect
                          That makes calamity of so long life;
                          For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
                          The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
                          The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
                          The insolence of office and the spurns
                          That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
                          When he himself might his quietus make
                          With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
                          To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
                          But that the dread of something after death,
                          The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
                          No traveller returns, puzzles the will
                          And makes us rather bear those ills we have
                          Than fly to others that we know not of?
                          Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
                          And thus the native hue of resolution
                          Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
                          And enterprises of great pith and moment
                          With this regard their currents turn awry,
                          And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
                          The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
                          Be all my sins remember'd.
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 01:45:40 EDT
Reply-To:     "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Frances Coogan <FCoogan106@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
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In a message dated 23/07/98 20:09:56 GMT, Sandy writes:

<<  This is all *very* impressive.  Puts to shame my Camden, NJ education.
 Maybe we should have an L&C Poetry Slam. >>

Maybe you need to suffer - er ... benefit from - an English education to
understand that lot (although I hear some examining boards are dropping
Chaucer now).  A poetry slam sounds like fun.

Anyway, since I'm probably the closest folc to Stratford-upon-Avon (unless
anyone can beat 16 miles) I couldn't let this rest.  Here's Lex as Orsino in
the opening speech from Twelfth Night:

If the Pathetique Sonata be the Chinese food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so be carried to the bedroom.
That strain again!  It had a dying fall until Superman saved it.
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a dockload of Revenge,
Stealing and giving odour.  Enough, no more!
'Tis not as sweet now as it was before.
O Superman how quick and flash art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
To rescueth as the emergency services, no bullet enters thee,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But bounces off thy skisuit of low price
Even in a nanosecond.  So full of shapes is jealousy
That I alone am highly fanatical.

I went a bit mad last night and totally rewrote the first two scenes (even
Shakespeare needs an editor occasionally<g>) but I'll spare you that for
now.
I may just rewrite the whole play.

Frances
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 19 Jul 1990 20:45:48 +1300
Reply-To:     gay.devlin@ait.ac.nz
Sender:       "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic"
              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
From:         Gay Devlin <gay.devlin@AIT.AC.NZ>
Organization: Auckland Institute of Technology
Subject:      Definitely not Shakespeare
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Inspired by the efforts of others - both literary and FoLC.

When the hearts of the Heroes lay dying;
When the Brotherhood sank to a few;
In an Age without cloaking or flying,
He took up his Cloak, and he Flew!
        ~Real Men and Real Cigars,  Rudyard Kipling

No, mon cher Hastings, the secret identity was no secret to the little
grey cells.  The truth was evident to me even before the pilot.  And
Lois Lane — nom d’un nom d’un nom — she is indeed of a stupidity
galactique.
        ~The Mysterious Missing Brain,  Agatha Christie

For each man kills the show he loves,
   To serve or spite his plans:
One moves it to a graveyard slot
   Among the also-rans;
Another does it by mistake,
   And blames it on the fans.
        ~The Ballad of Reading Intoit,  Oscar Wilde

Bring me my man of burning steel!
    Bring me my by-lines of desire!
Bring me my Kerth!   O Clark, get real!
    Bring me my Cherokee of fire!
        ~Loisalem:  William Blake
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 19:49:47 -0600
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From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
In-Reply-To:  <c=US%a=_%p=SprintPCS%l=USKMESSOA01-980723195827Z-112998@us
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At 02:58 PM 7/23/98 -0500, Misha wrote:

[snip]

>Well, I think Chaucer was Middle English, so I'll go a little further
>back to the Old English prosody:
>
>A world in need of . awe and wondrous deeds
>saw dawn one fine day .

[snip]

>Sorry- it's bad, I know,

I was going to say "maudlin" but first went to the kitchen to fix myself
some dinner, during which time I realized the real, better, more accurate
descriptor is "epic." The tale is epic, should be treated that way, and
sometimes archaic(?) forms of the language can transmit the awe and wonder
better than our know-it-all, even jaded version of English.

Good work!

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 19:53:48 -0600
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From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
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At 01:17 PM 7/23/98 -0400, Frances the C wrote:

[snip]

>I knew that A-level would come in handy some day

You're A Number One with us!

>but if anyone wants to go
>further back please bear in mind that my Latin is very rusty!

I'm thinking next Greek->English for an Oddessy or some other epic (see
other post).

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
who, however, won't do it
cuz I'm more into commedy
=========================================================================
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1998 20:09:57 -0600
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From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean & Feedback
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At 07:47 PM 7/23/98 -0500, Joseph B. wrote:

>Hiya, people!  Debby said:

[snip]

>    This is more Hamlet, Debby, than Romeo and Juliet.... but I forgive
>you...

Thanks! I knew once I wrote it that I was mixing them up... but fortunately
for me, Lois is such a strong character (well, to me she can be) that
giving her some of Hamlet's lines isn't too out of character :)

>I'll add a little to this...

>       Clark:   To ask, or not to ask, that is the question

[snip, though maybe he would say "To tell, or not to tell, that is..."]

>                    The heart-ache, and the thousand natural questions
>                    That Lois is heir to; tis a inquistion
>                    Devoutly to be feared.

particularly if he got to tell her as he planned ;)

[more snips]

Yours is a quite good refashioning! Excellent creative work all :D

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 07:18:31 -0400
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From:         salymc <salymc@GATEWAY.NET>
Subject:      Ok, enuf with the British poets -- let's have Amurricans!
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Frustration is the thing with tights and cape
by Lois Lane

     (with apologies to everyone, including Emily Dickinson)

Frustration is the thing with tights and cape
That breaks thru doors and walls,
And sings of truth by word and deed,
But seldom stops to call.

And surest in the storm is he;
And sore must be the storm
Which could abash my surging ... heart
That tried to keep him warm.

I've waited amidst the darkest hour,
And issued a most urgent plea;
Yet, never ... *even upon bestowing a god darn white flower*,
He begged a kiss of me.

~~~~~~

Well, Frances, if you think a poetry slam would be fun -- you're going to
have to organize it, call for teams, and set the rules. ; )
Sandy
salymc@gateway.net
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:50:03 +0100
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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From:         Angee Chaudhry <angee.chaudhry@FASTC.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: Ok, enuf with the British poets -- let's have Amurricans!
In-Reply-To:  <001501bdb6f4$cb559160$6b4a48a6@oemcomputer>
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In message <001501bdb6f4$cb559160$6b4a48a6@oemcomputer>, salymc
<salymc@GATEWAY.NET> writes

>
>Well, Frances, if you think a poetry slam would be fun -- you're going to
>have to organize it, call for teams, and set the rules. ; )

Is this a serious idea? 'Cause it would be good .... just my humble
opinion ....

Angee
--
Angee Chaudhry
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 08:41:34 EDT
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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From:         "C.C. Malo" <Ccmalo@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fic Idea That's Shakespearean
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Debby -- don't give up on the Greeks ---How about a Lysistrata/ L & C cross.
It may not be poetry, but it is "commedy".
Carol
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:43:18 -0400
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From:         Gary <gar8434@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Teri's Romeo and Juliet Appearances
In-Reply-To:  <3.0.1.16.19980721212607.4adf0c9c@vmspop.isc.rit.edu>
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>>You tease - the 'live one *has* to be her 'Maria' in West Side Story', as
>>part of SNL - must dash off to re-watch Toy Story!
>>>>>
>>>>><< And for those interested in Trivia...name the two
>>>>> acting performances of Teri Hatcher which involved
>>>>> a storyline based upon Romeo & Juliet (Hint: both TV)
>>>>>  >>
>>>>(Hint:One was before L&C and the other was during L&C.)
>>>>
>>>Okay more hints: The 2nd one was live. The 1st was an occupation
>>>that Lois had to use in Toy Story.
>>>

Another hint for the 1st one: Teri was the same thing that
she called her husband in Big Girls Don't Fly.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
| Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu <http://www.rit.edu/~gar8434> |
| "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger|
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 15:43:16 EDT
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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From:         Frances Coogan <FCoogan106@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Ok, enuf with the British poets -- let's have Amurricans!
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In a message dated 24/07/98 12:26:26 GMT, Sandy writes:

<<  Well, Frances, if you think a poetry slam would be fun -- you're going
to
 have to organize it, call for teams, and set the rules. ; ) >>

Organize?  Teams?  Rules?!!  Not concepts with which I have more than a
passing acquaintance.<g>

I don't think "poetry slam" is a term used much in England - or maybe I'm
just
hanging out in the right places - so I was thinking more along the lines of:
 "If anyone feels like writing some L&C poetry and sending it to the list,
and
no one else objects, why not?"  Strict enough?
I really don't *do* rules, but if I'm setting any I'd say make the poems
funny
and preferably rhyming.

Or since I've just read Debby's message (Nice to see the puns don't improve,
Debby: What was Dawning 8 ... Re-Vaulting Developments?<g>) how about seeing
how many puns someone can get into one shortish piece?  I'm not even going
to
attempt that one!

As for American poets/playwrights, the 16th century (or earlier) American
writers were ... ? <bg>

Frances
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 17:16:29 -0600
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At 07:35 PM 7/23/98 -0500, Elizabeth Eve Davis wrote to me...

>If your looking for the next part of the line from Hamlet, it is "..or
>to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them."

Thanks!

Hmm... Okay, so I wrote originally:

                "Oh, Clarkeo, Sweet Clarkeo, Wherefore art thou, Clarkeo?
                Is it better to suffer [in my mind?] the slings and arrows
of
                your outrageous excuses for your disappearances, or,

thanks to EED, add:

                "or to to take him by the arms against his tsunami of
                'I gotta go pick up's the never-ending like, and,
                by opposing my** lips to his--end them."

**keeping in mind this is Lois protesting mightily.

                ...exit all stage right toward bedroom

There have also got to be great Shakespeare parts for Perry (someone
blustery but wise), Jimmy (Ophelia's dad in Hamlet comes to mind for some
reason... for his advice probably), the elder Kents and Lanes, etc.
Preferably from a comedy.

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 20:40:44 -0500
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              <LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
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From:         Christy Kubit <kubitc@KENYON.EDU>
Subject:      Re: poetry
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To go along with Lois and Clark poetry that has been sent out lately,
here's something I wrote as a creative assignment for an English class
nearly 2 yrs ago. It's not in Shakespearean English (except for a "thee"
which I used for rhyming ;) With apologies to my two main writer-models,
Shakespeare (for sonnet 130) and Sidney (for the surprising turns at the
ends of his sonnets)...

To Lois: A Sonnet

Please don't look at me in the same old way,
I'm not just a farmboy with a heart full of hay,
I love you, dear Lois, what more can I say?
But your heart loves another, one who can fly,
And now I must tell you- I don't mean to lie-
The honest truth about this other guy.
He's not what you think, though you know him "so well,"
You deserve to know but I have uncertainties to quell:
You must love me *for me* before I can tell.
I should say it now- it's a disguise you see
When the man in the cape flies over to thee.
I must tell you, Lois, there's much more to me...
So look closely, my dear, see if you can,
Please look in my eyes- I'm Superman.

-Christy
 kubitc@kenyon.edu
Attalanta on IRC
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 20:42:56 -0600
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From:         Debby Stark <debby@SWCP.COM>
Subject:      Re: Teri's Romeo and Juliet Appearances
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At 11:43 AM 7/24/98 -0400, Gary wrote:

>Another hint for the 1st one: Teri was the same thing that
>she called her husband in Big Girls Don't Fly.

A husband stealer...?

Debby
Debby@swcp.com
unless you're talking about *Lois,*
in which case she'd call her husband
"You idiot! Leaving me to go with *them*???"
Although, of course, these scenes were cut in
favor of the A plot...
=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 23:54:40 -0400
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From:         Gary <gar8434@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Teri's Romeo and Juliet Appearances
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At 08:42 PM 7/24/98 -0600, you wrote:
>At 11:43 AM 7/24/98 -0400, Gary wrote:
>
>>Another hint for the 1st one: Teri was the same thing that
>>she called her husband in Big Girls Don't Fly.
>
>A husband stealer...?
>
No. Let's omit the 'called' part.

Teri's character was the same thing as Jon's character
in BGDF. Teri's character had the occupation which Lois
used to save the day in Toy Story.

So ask yourself these questions:
What was Ching?
(Hint: Ching says it himself.)
How did Lois save the day in Toy Story?
(Hint: It happens more than once in the episode.)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
| Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu <http://www.rit.edu/~gar8434> |
| "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger|
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=========================================================================
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1998 21:14:45 -0700
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From:         Grace Wong <lois1979@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Greek epics and dramas and comedies (was:Fic Idea That's
              Shakespearean)
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