And Now a Word From Your Author:
SEPTEMBER 7, 2008
Well, I hope everybody had a great summer. I know I did. In fact, I just got back from vacation last week. Of course, I was greeted by a spirited discussion in the Guestbook about my impending demise in 2015, which will apparently leave the story unfinished and the readership hanging in an eternal cliffhanging limbo. Or something. Well, it's nice to know that folks care, I guess. And since my health is not currently failing and I have promised to finish the story, I feel that you all have reason for optimism.
And on that topic, I'm sure you'd all like to know how the story
is progressing. Well, the next chapter isn't ready yet, but I am
still working on it. I don't have a projected release date at this
time ... as my mother used to say when I was a kid, "It'll be ready when
it's ready." Still, with the distractions of summertime behind us
for another year, hopefully progress will be made at a faster rate.
I'll keep you in the loop. So that's it. Just dropping a line
to let you all know that I'm still plugging away. Check back later
for more progress reports.
MAY 28, 2008
Wow. Last night was a comedy of errors, trying to get the story formatted and posted. It was well after midnight by the time I finally got it up and fixed the link so the chapter would actually show (typing .thml instead of .html at the end of a link makes it not work. It's also a hard mistake to find when it's late and you're tired. Now you know!) I'm sorry I didn't make the original deadline, but I'd rather be late than post something that didn't meet my standards. Anyhow, I just wanted to thank the readership for their enthusiastic reception of the last two chapters. A lot of folks have stuck out the long wait to see how the story would develop, and I hope it turned out to be worth the wait. I'll continue to update over the next week as I get some time, there's some new fanart to be posted for instance, as well as photos and the like. This poor page gets pretty neglected sometimes, so I'm going to try to keep it a little more current.
As for the most popular question now, "When's chapter 23 coming out?", well, I'm not going to commit to a date like I did with 22. THAT damned chapter nearly did me in! However, I feel good about it showing up by the end of the summer. If that should change, I'll let you know, but I am in a groove now and intend to ride that as long as I can.
That is all from mission control. The warm weather is coming, so get out and enjoy. I know I will.
Later.
Mark
MAY 27, 2008
Well, I had promised to have this chapter out
by Saturday night, but real life events conspired against me, something
I'm sure everyone out
there is familiar with. Just a couple notes
before we get down to it. I had hoped to have this chapter end a
little further along, but my
self-imposed deadline put the kibosh on that.
Still, even if chapter 22 is shorter than I'd wanted, it's still 125 pages
in Wordperfect, so it's
not exactly small. I had thought to get
this one out faster because I had so much of it already done, accomplished
during my great writing
surge of early 2008. Unfortunately, going
back over the pages I'd cranked out during my spurt of productivity, I
realised that much of it
was, well, pretty lacklustre. It's always
daunting, realising that you've got 50 or 60 pages of material that don't
really make the grade.
Doing extensive re-writes on that much of a chapter
is a major undertaking, not to mention time consuming. And I didn't
want to do it,
I really didn't. I wanted to push ahead
with chapter 23.
But you know how this ends.
I gritted my teeth and I went back and I worked on the weak parts.
Not only because I'm a perfectionist, but
because everytime you guys tell me how much you
appreciate the work that goes into this story, it shows me that all the
time spent on this is not
in vain. And trust me, these last two chapters
have sucked up a lot of time that could have been spent on other endeavors.
Hopefully, you'll judge the
result worth it. So, without further ado, here it is.
Enjoy.
MAY 23, 2008
Well, I know the 24th is tomorrow, but I may have to delay posting the chapter a little bit. Due to the usual circumstances beyond my control, I haven't had the time to work on it that I'd hoped for. Plus, it needed a lot more work than I'd thought. So chapter 22 may be pushed back to Monday. I'm hopeful that I can have it ready before then, but I just wanted to issue a general heads-up. Still, 48 hours late is better than 2 years, so I've got that going for me.
Check back soon.
Mark
MAY 3, 2008
All righty, then. So the time is at hand for the loyal, long-suffering readership. It's new chapter time. You know, I was checking my e-mail archives last night, and damned if it hasn't been almost exactly two years since last posted a chapter. Two years. Yeah, that's quite a stretch. I'm thinking I have to stop ending chapters on cliffhangers because, man, that's just not right! (I'm certain many of you are nodding in argreement.) Still, my life is different than it was in 1997, when I started writing fanfiction as a creative outlet, one I missed from my university days. I, like you, have a life outside of the internet, one that makes demands on my time. I have little enough free time these days, so it takes longer and longer to write. And, let's face it, creativity can't be forced. If you're not feeling it, you just have to be patient. But here, at long last, we are.
But, before I get to the new stuff, I'm going to indulge in a little rant.
You know, there are many advantages to writing fanfiction, like the built-in audience and pre-existing settings and characters. There are also disadvantages, for instance the fact that many people feel possessive of their favourite characters, and may not appreciate seeing them placed in different environments, or even alt universe scenarios. And I accept that. Hell, I understand it. This story, after all, wouldn't pass muster canonically for either of the series I've chosen. It has ventured way out into the vast reaches of the AU wilderness.
But here's the thing. I know there are people who won't like the story. Maybe because they feel their favourite character is getting sort shrift, or maybe because they don't like vampires and werewolves, or maybe because they just wish it would end already. Fine. Anyone who creates something and sticks it out on the internet for pulic consumption has to be ready to take their lumps, warranted or not. That's just the way it is. So here's what I'm going to ask of you, the great reading public.
Stop using the word "should".
By this I mean, stop telling me what the story should
be. Stop telling me what should happen, or what the characters should
say, or should do. You're unhappy with how things are going?
Fair enough. You think your favourite character should tell these
other losers to get stuffed and walk away from all this nonsense, because
he/she isn't getting the respect they deserve? I get it. You
think this is all nonsense that doesn't matter, and you just want to see
Ranma kick everybody's ass? Apparently, you're not alone. And
I'm not here to tell you not to want any of those things. You can
tell me what you'd like, or what you wish, or what would be nice.
You can tell me you won't read this story because it's garbage/self-indulgent/too
long/too slow/just plain bland. That's fair enough.
Just stop telling me what my story should be, okay? That's all I ask. That's nobody's call but mine. I can't write by committee. Succeed or fail, it's all on my shoulders, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So read away, explore the fantastic fanart. Check out the Russian translation of On A Clear Day by Cheb at http://ranma-fanfics.mikata.ru/fanfics/ocdycsf/ if you've a mind to. Things just look cooler in Cyrillic, don't they? Also, Nugar has written an alt side story based loosely on Clear Day, called The Lie of the Night, the first chapter of which can be found on fanfiction.net. It's got a lot of Naruto in it, and I'm not familiar with that series, but good writing is good writing, so you might want to check it out. The new chapter has synopsis goodness, since it has been two years since the last "episode" as it were, and it would be understandable if folks didn't quite recall where we left off.
One last piece of good news. Chapter 22 won't take two years to appear. In fact, it'll be right here on this page in, oh, three weeks. That's right, on May 24th, a sweet long weekend for those of us in Canada. So you've got that to look forward to.
But enough of my blathering. Down below is chapter 21. I know it was a long wait, but I hope you'll find it was worth it.
Later.
Mark
MARCH 30, 2008
Yes, I realise that I suck at updating. I really do. But, for those few brave souls still clinging to hope that this story will ever BE updated, well, here's your straw to cling to.
It will.
What? Details? Geez. Okay. I'm aiming to release something (God, anything at this point) the first week of May. So basically, that's about a month. What can you expect? Not as much as I'd wanted to have done, that's for sure, but given how long the readership has had to wait I owe it to you to release what I can. So, first week of May, here on the page, be there or be square. We now return you to your interminable waiting for new Shadow Chronicles, already in progress.
Oooo! New Battlestar Galactica next week! Make that first
week of June! Okay, okay, just kidding!
Mark
OCTOBER 9, 2007
HAPPY (CANUCK) THANKSGIVING ... + 1
Whoo. A whole year has passed since the last update, and don't think I haven't been hearing your complaints about that, folks. I know I should be updating more frequently, but what can I say? Life is busy, and I need occasional breaks from writing (and the internet in general) to keep me sane. And, despite the long delay, there's not much to report. Yeah, I'm still working on the story. The going is slow, and with the current situation at work I don't expect to have much free time over the next month or two, so I'm not optimistic about the chances of having anything posted before Christmas. To the few people who've given me grief over this, I will only say that my job pays the bills while being a fanfic writer is just a hobby, one that used to be more enjoyable once upon a time. To the rest, sorry if I haven't managed to reply to your e-mails, but rest assured I haven't given up on finishing the story. I just can't promise more than this: I am committed to finishing this story, it's just going to take time.
And thanks to all who suggested some sort of captcha solution for my guestbook spam problem, I intend to look into that when I get a free moment, hopefully I can make that work. (And hopefully it will be dead-simple for computer dummies like me.)
Still plugging away,
Mark
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Welcome to The Shadow Chronicles
This page contains the archive of all stories I've written in the fanfiction continuity I call The Shadow Chronicles. This continuity takes a pretty abrupt left turn from the canonical stories it is based on, and the road just gets narrower and more harrowing as you go. So if you're looking for the light-hearted antics of the Nerima wrecking crew, you might want to get back on the main road. If you want to know what would happen to everyone's favourite gender-changing martial artist if he lost his entire world and ended up fighting for survival beside a bunch of "overpowered, scantily-dressed hotheads", then you clearly need professional help. Fortunately, you are also in the right place. So buckle up and read on.
And enjoy the ride.
And as always, a big thank you to Krista
Perry, who did the layout of this page and the neat titles you see
here. She really went to a lot of trouble to set this up for me,
and I appreciate it. Thanks, Krista!
Just another day in Nerima becomes anything but when Akane is nearly killed during a fight between Ranma and Ryouga. The identity of her saviour, however, is a shock, and his shadowy past threatens to destroy all that Ranma holds dear.
