"Little Altar Boy" by Christy S., 2004
(This author died in 2006.)
- Song Challenge Vignette (615 words)
- G
- Setting indeterminate (after "Only the Lonely" flashbacks, before "Last Knight")
Summary:
Nick watches a child and muses on his situation on Christmas Eve.
Recommendation:
Following this fandom's tradition of song challenges, "Little Altar Boy" weaves the lyrics of its chosen song under and over its incidents; in this case, the song and story embrace each other so closely that they merge into a virtual music video. This Nick watches humanity as an outsider and reflects on his grim alienation, but also warms himself at fires of hope that burn inside his soul as well as in Natalie's efforts on his behalf. This tiny, seasonal story is sweet and rich with the aspirations of first-season Forever Knight.
Characters:
Nick, Natalie, Other
(This is the only story by this author.)
"Trust" by Dorothy E., 1998
- Short Story (8,911 words)
- PG
- Set immediately after "Close Call"
Summary:
On administrative leave after the shooting, Schanke deals with what he learned in "Close Call."
Recommendation:
The fundamental question for Schanke, this story suggests, is not, finally, whether Nick is a vampire, but why Nick chooses not to confide in his partner. "Trust" picks up at the end of "Close Call" and follows Schanke through to a genuine resolution, undistracted by hypnotism or wordplay, in which he puzzles out the layers of fear, protection and shame that silence Nick. With a firm characterization of the Schanke family, "Trust" expands on themes of truth and interdependence hinted in the episode, and satisfyingly allows Schanke to keep the knowledge he's earned, turning the secret-keeping tables on Nick.
Characters:
Schanke, Nick, Jenny, Myra
"Full Circle" by Amanda B., 2005
- Short Story (2,202 words)
- PG
- Set in an alternate universe that diverged between "Killer Instinct" and "Black Buddha"
Summary:
After Natalie cures and marries Nick, he drifts away from humanity and her.
Recommendation:
"Full Circle" starts with the headlong rush of the most common happy ending in FK fanfiction, but soon sends it sprawling, dazed, on the hard, cold ground of eight centuries' inertia. Upending audience expectations, the story also turns out the characters' assumptions about each other; that such revelations could come so late, and so surprise them, points back to how closely all keep their own counsel throughout canon. This Nick and Natalie miss each other's grasp, even as both reach out.
Characters:
Natalie, Nick, Janette
"Deadly Stakes" by Nancy K., 2000
- Short Story (5,442 words)
- PG-13 (violence)
- Set in 1953, before the "Spin Doctor" flashbacks
Summary:
At a luxury casino, Nick and Bourbon play for life and death.
Recommendation:
This adventure pits Nick against Bourbon in a contest for the human life Nick holds dear and Vachon's crew holds cheap. It bridges the gap between Nick and the third-season characters with a tussle on the field of Nick's deepest traits and values. The historical, exotic setting sweetens the entertainment with factual background that sweeps by as the plot pivots from an intellectual clash to a physical one. "Deadly Stakes" is a character study in the form of timeless suspense and action.
Characters:
Nick, Bourbon, Other
"Physical Therapy" by Ophelia P., 1995
(This author died in 2010.)
- Novella (16,176 words)
- NC-17 (sexual content)
- Set after "Sons of Belial"
Summary:
Natalie comes up with a safe way to be physically intimate with Nick.
Recommendation:
This Nick/Natalie romance was once FK's most famous fanfiction. Striding out of the emotional quagmire of third season, "Physical Therapy" builds a tender, erotic interlude on a blunt confrontation with the understanding that mortals never survive sex with vampires (cf. "Baby, Baby"). The story presents the use of restraints with Natalie's rigorous practicality, wisely takes notice of psychological as well as physical risks, and connects with the search for a cure. A model of thoughtful craft in this genre, "Physical Therapy" blesses the characters with a victory.
(Note: The sequels to "Physical Therapy" are very disturbing! Please be heavily cautioned if you choose to read them. They are not necessary to enjoy the original.)
Characters:
Natalie, Nick
"Begin Again" by Jill K., 1997
- Short Story (1,130 words)
- PG
- Set after "Last Knight"
Summary:
Natalie's recuperation includes time in a mental health facility.
Recommendation:
"Begin Again" picks up months or years after a complete emotional collapse overtook Natalie in response to Nick's unexplained disappearance after "Last Knight." The story's hopeful present, warm in the sunshine of Natalie's recovery, opens an unknown future, defying any end to Natalie's journey. The story's grim past, however, argues for the gravest construal of canon's traumas, including the stress of Natalie's isolation with Nick's secrets. "Begin Again" maintains Natalie's self-containedness while also granting her the gift of accepting help offered, in an unconventional happy ending.
Characters:
Natalie, Others
"In the Beginning, James Created..." by James K.W., 1995
- Short Story (3,878 words)
- R (sex, off-screen violence)
- Set in an alternate universe second season
Summary:
In a universe where Natalie's the vampire cop, everyone is different — but nothing is different.
Recommendation:
This was the first alternate universe fanfiction that I ever read, and it still folds my brain like origami. "James Created" is an FK carnival fun house. Set during a serial murder case, the story yanks the rug from under the reader by shifting all the roles; it runs the characters into each other's shoes on the rails of often-overlooked personality alignments. But while the wild substitutions wave the red flag of a world upside down, the story remains unmoved on the bedrock of the tensions that drive FK. There's no denial here. This AU explicates the canonical relationships intensely — by relocating them utterly.
Characters:
Natalie, Cohen, Janette, Nick, Lacroix, Schanke, Other
"Walk on By" by Susan G., 1995
(This author died in 2010.)
- Vignette (1,118 words)
- PG
- Set immediately following "Be My Valentine"
Summary:
Natalie pretends not to recognize Lacroix when he tests her memory.
Recommendation:
In a chilling echo of an "Only the Lonely" flashback, this story sends a rightfully frightened and righteously enraged Natalie past Lacroix moments after "Be My Valentine." Natalie is alone in "Walk on By;" while she sees Nick and Lacroix and a city full of people, she struggles in silent isolation with the indignities and contradictions of the scene she's just survived. "Walk on By" explicitly proposes one vibrant interpretation of an endlessly controversial episode; it also implicitly comments on the general "reset button" phenomenon in serial drama. This story all but shivers with energy and defiance.
Characters:
Natalie
"First Knight" by Nancy T., 2000
- Short Story (3,862 words)
- PG
- Set on New Year's Eve 1999, diverging before "Last Knight"
Summary:
Staked during a rescue, Nick gets another chance in the place between life and death.
Recommendation:
One of the diverse genres of FK fanfiction is the overtly religious, worrying with Nick over the state of his soul. "First Knight" begins concretely in Toronto's "First Night" celebration with a crime on the edge of the crowd, and then switches gears to install a satisfying theological patch between the questions asked in "Last Knight" and the answers made available in "Near Death." The ending is noteworthy for going just so far, insisting that Nick has mountains yet to climb; it re-sets the story from third-season's excesses, yet excitingly refrains from a final resolution. (There are three sequels.)
Characters:
Lacroix, Nick, Natalie, Schanke, Briana, Others
"Mortal Ties" by Cindy I., 2000
- Novella (21,759 words)
- PG
- Set between the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" and the present of "Dark Knight," with flashbacks to 1229
Summary:
As Nick joins Toronto's finest, Natalie's family suffers a sudden loss.
Recommendation:
The undocumented stretch between Nick and Lacroix's arrivals in Toronto inspires many stories. "Mortal Ties" serves up an abundant harvest from that period, spreading Nick's budding friendship with Natalie, antagonism with Schanke and understanding with Stonetree across a sturdy base of cop plot, vampire flashback and personal tragedy. The novella weaves a parallel between Nick and Natalie from the same incidents it uses to define one of the biggest reversals in Nick's life. A little adventure, romance, angst, history, mystery and comfort — it's a happily familiar recipe. (Note: This story was originally published in the 1999 zine A Taste of Forever.)
Characters:
Nick, Natalie, Grace, Stonetree, Fleur, Lacroix, Janette, Schanke, Richard, Sara, Others
"Broken Promises" by Elisabeth H., 1996
- Novel (37,026 words)
- NC-17 (vampire torture, sex)
- Set after "The Human Factor," with flashbacks 1220, 1227, 1833
Summary:
A vampire who knows both Nick and Vachon arrives in Toronto hunting her insane master, who is also behind Nick and Tracy's current homicide case.
Recommendation:
Third season often runs on two tracks, as if Tracy and Vachon's crew are all but off in a separate series from Nick. "Broken Promises" shrewdly laces them together with a character who links Nick and Vachon's pasts as Tracy does their present. It marshals the full cast for an integrated adventure, consolidating the police work, vampire crisis, and personal growth. (While this story is technically set after "The Human Factor," its sensibility is distinctly early third-season; this is the Raven with live entertainment, and Tracy before the layer uncovered by "Avenging Angel.")
Characters:
Natalie, Nick, Lacroix, Vachon, Fleur, Tracy, Reese, Urs, Larry Merlin, Grace, Richard Vetter, Janette, Others
"Disclosures" by PJ, 2008
- Novella (14,275 words)
- PG-13
- Set after "Blood Money"
Summary:
An investigation of a jewelry shop robbery/murder brings Schanke closer and closer to Nick's secret, while Natalie turns to Lacroix for what Nick is unwilling to tell her about his relationship with Janette.
Recommendation:
"Disclosures" lacks only a flashback to replicate second-season's steady template. It neatly entwines police mystery with personal developments, returning through almost every character to its dominant theme of revealing hidden motivations. In this case, most of the secrets are Nick's, and they collapse like dominos as Natalie and Schanke both press for more information and understanding. In different ways, Janette and Lacroix each take the humans' side, promoting disclosure and the consequent changes, while Nick would have been content to keep things the way they were.
Characters:
Nick, Schanke, Natalie, Janette, Miklos, Lacroix, Cohen, Sidney, Others
Please contact an author with feedback after reading her story. You may inspire her to write another! Your readership and responses are precious. Writers depend on readers.
Naturally, these fanworks are entirely fictional (there's no such thing as a vampire). Forever Knight was created by Parriot & Cohen and belongs to Sony. Feedback and suggestions are welcome; please let me know what you think. Thank you very much for reading!
