The grand total of books I read in 2008 came to 54. I'm going to set the same goal of 50 books for this year, and see if I can achieve that again but without having a three-week trip to Thailand in there, in which I had long plane flights and nights in hotels with no distractions but books.

( 50 Books in 2009 )

Also, because keeping lists is fun, I'm setting a goal for movie-watching too. A more modest one of 25, which is slightly more than my Netflix subscription will provide in a year.

( 25 Movies in 2009 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (14/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 3: As the threat against Excalibur draws nearer, Wyatt takes on a school bully -- and goes too far.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 3: Cut Adrift - Chapter 1

( Part 3: Cut Adrift, Chapter 2 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (13/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 3: As the threat against Excalibur draws nearer, Wyatt takes on a school bully -- and goes too far.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6

( Part 3: Cut Adrift, Chapter 1 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (12/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5

( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 6 )

In the course of editing The Education of an Heir, I have learned that in 2005 I was exceedingly fond of:

1) people shrugging

2) "in any case"

and, above all,

3) ellipses.

And how. I've noticed it more and more, and in the latter chapters I became positively ruthless, but now I fear earlier chapters may still be riddled with many, many unnecessary ellipses. What was I thinking?

(I may very well still be exceedingly fond of these things. Now that I'm hyper-aware of them, I'm almost afraid to look at more recent writing.)

Despite these quirks, I'm still pretty proud of the story and I've had fun giving it an extra polish. I'm done with the edit; I'll just continue to post it here in stages so as to not overwhelm people's flists.

Title: The Education of an Heir (11/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4


( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 5 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (10/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3


( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 4 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (9/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2


( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 3 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (8/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
Part 2: The Traveler - Chapter 1


( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 2 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (7/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary, Part 2: A spell sends Chris on a trip to a past life, where he meets some familiar faces -- for good or ill.

Previous Chapters:
Part 1: Underworld - Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6


( Part 2: The Traveler, Chapter 1 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (5/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."

Previous Chapters: Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5

( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 6 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (5/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."

Previous Chapters: Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4

( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 5 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (4/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."

Previous Chapters: Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 4 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (3/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."

Previous Chapters: Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1 / Chapter 2


( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 3 )

Title: The Education of an Heir (2/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."
Author's note: Wyatt's friend Mark was loosely based on an original character in The Trials of Being Twice Blessed by Bluley, who kindly gave me permission to borrow him. Bluley in turn had based him on a one-off, unnamed, non-speaking character from the show -- readers who've seen season 6 should be able to figure out who!

Previous: Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1

( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 2 )

Okay, here goes: Finally archiving The Education of an Heir on LiveJournal. It'll be good to have it live somewhere other than FFN. And this version is New and Improved (in theory)!

Title: The Education of an Heir (1/21)
Author: nam_jai
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "She dies when I turn fourteen." The story of the Halliwell boys' tumultuous year leading up to "the event."
Warnings: Aside from a character's canon death you might gather from the summary, there is a scene in a much later chapter in which torture is strongly implied (but not explicitly depicted).
Notes: This is a lightly edited version of a fic I wrote and originally posted in 2005. As such, it's not necessarily canon-compliant past season 7, although most of this takes place in the original timeline, so chalk it up to that!


( Part 1: Underworld, Chapter 1 )

In collaboration with my fabulous co-mod jeanne_dark, I have done as threatened and set up a Star Trek canon fodder comm. Ta-da!

trekcanonfodder

Come join us! Tell your Trekkie/Trekker/whatever-they-prefer friends! (Especially friends who know lots about Star Trek canon, please? I'm still a bit paranoid that we'll end up with lots of questioners and no answerers.)

I signed up for Aflac's accident coverage a couple years ago, when they came to my work -- it was when I was really starting to use my bicycle for transportation more and more, so the accident coverage seemed like a good idea.

Well, in May I had a bicycle accident, I injured my hand, went to the doctor, and filed a claim with Aflac. Got a letter in the mail today: Aflac denied the claim. They said that "the condition was not caused by an injury." What? My hand didn't hurt, then I fell off my bicycle, and then my hand hurt like hell and has hurt ever since. How is that not an injury?

Oh, I am so pissed. Two years of paying them, for nothing. The very reason I got the coverage, and, what, it doesn't apply? In that case, they are useless to me.

Luckily, I got this letter before the turn of the fiscal year, just in time for me to cancel the coverage. I hope. I damn well better be able to cancel it. The Aflac guy hasn't been around for his yearly sign-ups, changes, or whatever, so I better not be told I missed my chance to cancel until next year.

Unfortunately, I can't do anything about this until Monday. Other than imagine the worst-case scenario and uselessly argue with phantoms in my head about how it's not fair that I can't cancel. Can I call our business manager at home just to put my mind at ease? Er, probably not. Well, I could, but it would be rude. So I just have to stew about it until Monday.

And I'm mad at myself too, because I feel like I've been had and I never should have been foolish enough to sign up for it in the first place.

Well, four people on my flist liking the idea of a Star Trek canon fodder comm is encouraging, but not exactly a groundswell of interest. Hmmm ... I'm not quite ready to commit (especially not until I have at least one co-mod volunteer, pretty please?), so here, have a poll. A poll I will ask trek_news to include, to get wider input.

To make clear what I'm talking about, here's how dwcanon_fodder describes itself:

This community was created in an attempt to make life easier for n00bz writing Doctor Who fic. ... But it's not always fic-whoring n00bz who have questions, so it's pretty much open-season. Losing sleep over the canonical height of Turlough? Worried that you've misunderestimated the Slitheen? Unsure how to kill that Dalek you know is hiding under your bed? These questions and more are exactly the sort of thing this community should be able to help you with. Huzzah!

So, like that. Except it would be for Star Trek. It works by members asking questions, and other members answering (preferably specifying the canon source).

Poll #1419148
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Would you join a Star Trek canon fodder comm?

If you might be willing to co-mod please check the box:

...is there a comm that is the equivalent of dwcanon_fodder, only for Star Trek? It seems like there ought to be, what with a similar situation of many newbie fic writers faced with decades of unknown canon, but I can't find one. If there isn't one, would I be insane enough to start one? Would anyone be interested in co-modding such a comm with me? Would anyone join such a comm? Specifically, not just newbies, but people who know Trek canon, because my canon knowledge is rusty and I couldn't answer questions all by my lonesome. In fact, this idea came to me because I had a question of my own (that I've totally forgotten now) and wished there were a canon fodder comm to post it to.