FORKNI-L
Digest - 11 Mar 2006 to 12 Mar 2006 (#2006-73)
Sun, 12 Mar 2006
There are 3 messages totalling 88 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Today's Birthday: March 11
2. Late on the flegling thing
3. FK Moment?
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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 15:59:37 -0600
From: eowyn23@j.......
Subject: Today's Birthday: March 11
Hi Y'all!
Today is the birthday of: Shenandora aka Heike
Shenandora@a.......
AND of course, GREG KRAMER
You may send birthday greetings to Shenandora at the above email address.
Please NOT to the list!
Others who share this birthday:
Sam Donaldson, Newscaster
Bobby McFerrin, Jazz Singer
Rupert Murdoch, Publisher
Douglas Adams, Author
Lawrence Welk, Conductor
Significant events on this date:
105, A.D., Ts'ai Lun invented paper.
1969, Levi starts to sell bell-bottomed jeans.
1998, The International Astronomical Union issued an alert, saying a
mile-wide asteroid could zip very close to Earth on October 26th, 2028,
possibly colliding with it. (The next day, NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory said there was no chance the asteroid will hit Earth.)
I hope you have a very Happy Birthday, Shenandora and Greg!
If you would like to be added to the birthday announcements, please send
your name, birthdate (no year needed) and email address to me,
eowyn23@j......., privately, and I'll be glad to add you.
Terri
eowyn23@j.......
GWDFC, FK X-Stitcher, Proud Survivor of FK Fic Wars 8-12, Texas Knight
Dreamers, Knighties List Owner, Keeper of the FK Birthday List
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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:08:27 -0500
From: Portia <portia1@m.......>
Subject: Late on the flegling thing
I know this discussion was back in Feb, but I just got around to the emails
(I've taken a detour into another few fandoms, but I SWEAR I'm still loyal! "g")
and this is an intriguing subject to me, so forgive the late entry.
The first few attempts I made at writing fic where the results of me trying to
work out some ideas about Nick's relationship with LaCroix over the course of
*800* years(!), the man Nick was, the man he became, and the man he was trying
to become, along with the complexity of his realtionships with Natalie and
Janette. I tried not to be too heavy handed in expressing my theories in the
stories, but I'd never written anything before in my life! "g" Haven't written too
much since, either....sigh.
I thought about how Nick made the change from being a relatively moral person
to pretty much a conscienceless serial murderer overnight upon being brought
across, only to eventually strive to come full circle. I thought about the idea
of "first hunger" and the impulsive and deranged behavior of many of the
recently "converted" (well, especially Nick's! "g"); of Richard's and the Barber's
extreme psychotic behaviour, etc.. I though aobut why LC might keep such a
relatively close eye on Janette and Nick, and how unlikely it seems that the vampire
population could be very large.
To me, this all added up to the idea that young vampires in the FKverse, due to
physical (and maybe even metaphysical) changes as well as psychological
changes, were relatively unstable - like the whack-out teenagers go through when
puberty hits -- though, of course, much, much more extreme. The changes and
upheavels of puberty can take a while to settle out, and I imagine the young vampire
to experience the most major of this kind of 'whack-out" "g" -- manic and/or
psychotic behavior, extreme impulsiveness, god complex, mood swings, etc. -- that
could maybe take decades (or longer?) to settle out. To the list above you'd
certainly have to add learning to deal with and mentally accept changes in the
body, not necessarily with the dismay teenagers often have during this period,
though that is not an impossible idea, and certainly the situation could afford
some insecurity or uncertainty -- look at all the humorous stories exploring
Nick's first learning to fly. "g"
However, this all is not to say that young vampires should be written of as
childlike or as children; Nick, for example, was a full grown, experienced man
when he became a vampire, and while he may have become (in my imagination)
excessively impulsive and at times childishly ebullient, along with being
thoughtlessly and even horrendously cruel, upon first being brought across and his
subsequent early years, he also had adult tastes and comprehension, and the capability
and inclinations to independence that any 30+ year old man would have.
The reason I envisioned the above "adolescent" model is because it seems to
explain some of the illogical and impulsive behavior we see in FK vampires (which
we'd otherwise have to blame on plot holes and poor writing! "bg"), and gives
an added dimension to LaCroix being so protective and keeping his favorite
converts/children so close -- good qualities in the parent of a young child, but
qualities some parents fail to set aside when the children grow up. I imagine
that most, though not all (hi, Vachon!), unguided and unprotected "fledglings"
fail to survive overlong, and even a careful "parent" has a hard time of seeing
them safely through the rough years. Also, it doesn't seem to me that society
could support or even keep hidden a large population of vampires, and this gives
another explanation of why we aren't overrun with them ("g"), along with the
idea that they probably prey upon themselves (natural selection to keep the
population down?). I don't write this to suggest they feed upon each other,
but I see vampirism as an intrinsically egocentric condition -- the very life
of another person is sacrificed to sustain one's own -- and the idea of
self-perpetuation and self need generally would become paramount and supplant
consideration for others. Therefore, I imagine stronger FK vampires have a
tendency to use and abuse weaker or more inexperienced vampires. A vampire
uses manipulation and violence to get what he or she wants -- the propensity
to use one another, to become "bullies" in effect would seem very difficult to
avoid; and I don't see many of the vampires in the FKverse avoiding this,
including Nick, Janette, and LaCroix.
Oh, and going back to the idea of the "whack-out," I imagine that sometimes
things go wrong during this period of metamorphosis; the psyche gets permanently
damaged and the fledlging becomes an inevitable danger to himself and the
vampire community, or the person who emerges from the change loses the drive or
essence or maybe even the intelligence that first inspired the effort to conversion.
I imagine it can be a crap shoot -- what is put in isn't necessarily what
comes out. Maybe this idea could help explain why LC is so taken with Janette
and Nicholas and why he keeps them with him for so long; they were rare successes
in the attempt to create viable converts. BTW, this isn't to say that all
attempts at conversion are made from the desire to create offspring: caprice,
whim, specific purpose or utilization, physical desire, even accident -- all
can be the cause of someone being brought across, and a poor initial specimen
could emerge from the change as someone suprisin gly enhanced. But it's my
personal inclination that the odds are that the more extraordinary the mortal,
the more likely they are to survive and emerge as an extraordinary vampire.
Portia,
long-winded as ever....
and someone who thinks Nick is an extraordinary vampire! :o)
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Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 11:59:56 -0500
From: Cindy Clark <clarkcindy@m.......>
Subject: FK Moment?
My imagination has bee working overtime lately, probably because the body
has as well, and I've become prone to sleep-deprived (or is that depraved)
halucinations. Anyway, here's wishing for an FK moment--on "Stargate SG-1",
they've taken up an Arthurian theme where they may be likely to meet King
Arthur or some of his knights. For those of us who have read NB's books,
wouldn't it be cool to actually see him play Lancelot?
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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 11 Mar 2006 to 12 Mar 2006 (#2006-73)
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