Amy's Forever Knight Fanfiction Recommendation of the Month - Recommendations May Contain Spoilers -

           

November 2008 "Protect and Serve" by Christina K., 1995   Novel (55,833 words) PG-13 (violence) Set in early third season     SUMMARY:  Nick's friend Morgan has become an Enforcer and doesn't want Nick to know, but Lacroix sets them on a collision course by reporting Tracy's forbidden knowledge of vampires. RECOMMENDATION:  The Enforcers -- those who ensure vampirism's secrecy -- appear only in "Unreality TV," plus an allusion in "The Fix."  "Protect and Serve" unfolds from the rotating perspectives of Tracy, Natalie, and an original character, Morgan, now an Enforcer, but once Nick's protégé.  Morgan's dilemma illustrates one way the Enforcers might function, while exploring why Natalie and Tracy each choose to keep vampirism secret, and what it costs them.  Equipped with a murder mystery and fleeting flashbacks, this energetic plot whips out eye-opening character analysis on its way into suspenseful confrontations.  Third season was not without hope, this story shows. CHARACTERS:  Feliks, Lacroix, Tracy, Nick, Natalie, Vachon, Brianna, Reese, Urs, Grace, Janette, Others MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

October 2008 "Anno Mirabilis, Anno Horribilis" by Nancy K., 2006   A Conversion Day Story (1,994 words) R (physical violence, psychological issues) Set one year after the flashbacks of "A More Permanent Hell"     SUMMARY:  Divia arranges for Lacroix to celebrate the first anniversary of his conversion to vampirism. RECOMMENDATION:  Fair warning: this is a disturbing tale.  In this virtuoso portrayal of the demon child and her father/son, a brutal massacre prefaces Lacroix's first tug at the psychological Gordian Knot binding them.  Lacroix desires control where Divia wants abandon; it is Divia's control, perversely, that ensures abandon.  And as this Lacroix begins hewing out his identity as a vampire, he defines himself in contrast to Divia in ways that not only evoke Nick's eventual rebellion, but which also cast a long shadow over Lacroix's own later philosophy.  What specter of Divia lingered across those centuries? CHARACTERS:  Divia, Lacroix MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

September 2008 "Spring Break, Slayer Style" by Valerie M. K., 1998   Crossover (36,938 words) PG Set after "The Human Factor," intersecting with the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer     SUMMARY:  Natalie's cousin sends her daughter Buffy north for a family reunion.  Trouble follows. RECOMMENDATION:  "Spring Break, Slayer Style" unleashes a snappy BtVS scenario on the sets of FK.  The early BtVS tone cushions late FK's painful canon, even as references to it gather on all sides.  Blunt Buffy convincingly pushes Natalie and Nick into admissions never made on screen, hopefully nudging them toward a saving self-awareness.  The story parallels Buffy's calling with Nick's quest, and Buffy's romance with Natalie's relationship, all through a featured Willow plot that allows Nick to both exhibit heroism and seize teachable moments on self-control and free will.  Sequel: Spring Break, Sidekick Style (by Perri S.). CHARACTERS:  Natalie, Nick, Tracy, Buffy, Willow, Giles, Lacroix, Xander, Angel, Other MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

August 2008 "Encounter with Destiny" by P J, 2005   Short Story (11,271 words) PG Set mostly in 1917 (after "Strings"), framed in second season     SUMMARY:  In the past, Nick helps a widow and her daughter flee the Russian Revolution.  In the present, Natalie and Nick make a discovery. RECOMMENDATION:  Falling in love with a worthy woman only to lose her is proverbial in Nick's long life.  "Encounter with Destiny" revisits this trope though a compelling heroine who happens to be one of Natalie's ancestors.  This elegant little romance, encased in adventure, unfolds like half an episode; it's missing only the police mystery.  The story rides the waves of Nick and Lacoix's push-and-pull relationship as it invokes their ill-starred agreement over Fleur's life, and their conflicting interpretations of Nick's choices, before pinning Natalie between them to draw her own conclusions. CHARACTERS:  Natalie, Nick, Lacroix, Others MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

July 2008 "Traditions" by Susan G., 1996   Short Story (7,867 words) G Set after "Killer Instinct" and before "Partners of the Month"   SUMMARY:  Cohen tells Nick and Schanke to participate in the precinct's annual charity project by baking cookies. RECOMMENDATION:  The food metaphor is both fundamental and fraught in FK.  Blood is much trickier as food than as alcohol!  "Traditions" sidles up to the issue, quietly folding serious considerations of Nick's alienation and excesses into a funny, snug, secular holiday yarn.  In December of second season, spurred by Captain Cohen, Schanke scrambles for a family recipe, Nick learns to make rum balls, and Natalie bakes gingerbread people -- whom Nick "brings across" with frosting fangs, leaving Natalie to "cure" the gingerbread vampires so they can join the other cookies.  (Bonus: The story ends with the recipes.) CHARACTERS:  Nick, Schanke, Cohen, Natalie MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

June 2008 "Keeping it Together" by Ell H., 2008   Song Challenge (521 words) G Set after "Ashes to Ashes"   SUMMARY:  Tracy gets ready for work, with Vachon on her mind. RECOMMENDATION:  This incisive vignette portrays a Tracy whose memory of Vachon's death has been taken from her.  Her subconscious supplies details, rationalizing a farewell that never happened.  "Keeping it Together" makes every word count in its rich portrait of Tracy's long-practiced coping strategies marshaled to face a perceived loss that, while different from a death, is certainly not without pain.  The final line casts a double-entendre into the teeth of "Last Knight," equally valid as bitter irony or brave revolt. CHARACTERS:  Tracy MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

May 2008 "Legacy" by Amanda B., 2003   Short Story (5,481 words) PG Set in an alternate future   SUMMARY:  Nick is called to Natalie's deathbed by her granddaughter. RECOMMENDATION:  "Legacy" splendidly tweaks the familiar fanfiction scenario of Nick meeting a descendent of Natalie's by giving this descendent the advantage.  While the narration is Nick's, the original character Hope grew up on Nick stories, which both keeps her one step ahead and musters a mild mystery for Nick to solve.  Natalie's death here is poignant, not devastating.  In this Natalie's memory, Nick finds the courage to try again, and Hope the resolve to take that baton in a relay from the past to the future.  Sequels: A Merry Little Christmas, Lonely Hearts, Snooping Around. CHARACTERS:  Nick, Natalie, Original Characters MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

April 2008 "To Each Hiss Own" by Lisa McD., 1994   Vignette (1,129 words) G Set between first and second season   SUMMARY:  Nick is not pleased about the snake he found in the Caddy. RECOMMENDATION:  Here's a slapstick caper from the "Put down the snake and we'll talk" challenge (which was to start a story, any story, with that line).  "To Each Hiss Own" celebrates Stonetree's precinct while driving it to distraction, positing that these antics are the straw that broke the camel's back and got our favorite detectives reassigned to Captain Cohen.  In fact, this story was written in the summer before second season -- as the fifteen-month hiatus between "Love You to Death" and "Killer Instinct" finally drew to a happy close -- when rumors of a new precinct were hot-off-the-presses spoilers. CHARACTERS:  Stonetree, Schanke, Nick, Norma, Myra, Natalie MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

March 2008 "Evidence" by Dorothy E., 1998   Novel (68,720 words) PG-13 (violence) Set after "Trophy Girl," with flashbacks to the Renaissance   SUMMARY:  While Nick and Tracy track a serial killer, Natalie copes with accumulated traumas, and Captain Reese uncovers Nick's secret. RECOMMENDATION:  Formed on the template of an episode, "Evidence" comes complete with cop plot, subplot, flashback and a flourish of character development.  Third season is a hard place to be; without defying canon, this story helpfully adjusts the characters' grasps on their own baggage before it can drag them down into "Ashes to Ashes" and "Last Knight."  Memorably, "Evidence" reinvents Schanke's "Close Call" scenario via Captain Reese, who does not talk himself out of his own uncomfortably correct conclusion as Schanke does.  And this is one of vanishingly few fanfiction tales with a substantive role for Denise Reese. CHARACTERS:  Nick, Tracy, Natalie, Lacroix, Reese, Denise Reese, Janette, Vachon, Others MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

February 2008 "Things Unsaid" by Abby A., 2007   Short Story (2,271 words) G Set circa 2011   SUMMARY:  Jenny Schanke graduates medical school. RECOMMENDATION:  "Things Unsaid" splashes some old-fashioned Schanke whimsy onto pounds of eternal post-"Last Knight" umbrage to create a fresh, new scenario.  Imagine a world where Janette beats Nick to the punch of taking care of Myra and Jenny!  Where Jenny learns about vampires long before any of her dad's friends think to tell her!  Where she and Lacroix bond over fond memories!  It's a romp for Natpackers and FoDs.  And while Cousins, Ravens and Knighties must perhaps bear up and roll with some punches, there is only delight in such innovation appearing eleven years past cancellation. CHARACTERS:  Nick, Natalie, Jenny Schanke, Lacroix MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

January 2008 "Carpe Noctem" by April F., 2003   Song Challenge (1,893 words) G Set in first season   SUMMARY:  Nick takes Natalie flying. RECOMMENDATION:  Flying stories are a small but notable sub-genre of FK fanfiction, commonly featuring the vampire characters.  "Carpe Noctem," however, looks at flying with the wide-eyed wonder of humanity, cajoling Nick to reminisce about his violent first flying experience while ensuring a much safer and more joyful equivalent for Natalie.  This vibrant first-season friendship story gains piquancy from an undertow of romance and tragedy -- the backwash of later canon -- but muscles that aside with the expectant determination of the early days when Lacroix is dead and every good thing is possible. CHARACTERS:  Nick, Natalie MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

  

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