So, this entry was inspired by the thread at AHA and of course because I’d rediscovered one of my favourites. The excerpt is quite long, but it’s totally worth it, I’ve marked the sentence I liked best bold:

Elizabeth half-expected some sort of demand for an explanation, but it never materialised. She and Darcy had clearly been appointed chaperones, their mutual dislike so well-established that no one considered what the charge must entail. They could spend hours together, their intense attention to one another broken only by occasional rebukes to Bingley and Jane, and nobody, not even her father, thought anything of it.

So their season of courtship passed, unobserved, in plain sight. Darcy and Elizabeth talked, of books and philosophy and relations, and later, of more personal matters, eager for any knowledge of each other. They had fallen in love with essentials, and with a flash of intelligence and spirit, but knew little more. Darcy heard of her dog, and Elizabeth his cat — each of the solitary, intractable, overindulged children they had been, she climbing trees and he lost in books, both running half-wild over their father’s estates.

Every day, the wedding drew closer, and though their acquaintance had ripened into friendship, neither had quite the temerity to risk it, just yet, on anything more. This was enough for the present; they were young, beautiful and brilliant, with their lives before them, and they had all the time in the world.

It’s taken from Anghraine’s Contradictions and Varieties, available at AHA and DWG. It’s short, complete and as Anghraine herself said a “fluffy diversion”. I won’t say much more because you already know from Fiora’s post on Subsequent Connections that we are a fan of Anghraine’s writings so you can do nothing wrong with reading this one (it’s also totally angst free ). And wait until you’ve read the part quoted above – it simply fits pefectly.

Some lines are from fanfictions are simply perfect. I guess I’ll post about this more often…

So, KarenA is posting her story, a modern WIP called “Obsession” at AHA and I have to admit, the suspense is literally killing me, because I have this nagging feeling, that some things are about to explode soon!

I really suck at summarizing this story, because it has so many twists and story developments and I’ll just say that Elizabeth Bennet and Georgiana – Ana – Darcy are friends from medical school and house mates. As Darcy gets to know of his sister’s friendship with the Bennet sisters and her subsequent move out of the dorm into a shared house he’s afraid that the two unknown Bennet-girls might be bad influence for his baby sister, Darcy decides to visit. Of course, Darcy and Elizabeth initially have a very rocky start, but soon get to know each other better and of course fall for each other. Currently, we are at a state of the relationship where both are aware of their love for the respective other, but both are too afraid to admit their feelings to each other. *sigh* However, we know from the original that there are some hindrances before these two actually become a couple and I have the nagging feeling, that in this particular story there will be angst galore!

My guesses are that there will definitely be a Wickham-Lydia-story line but I’d bet that KarenA has more on her sleeve than a “simple” story line that would simply be a modern equivalent to the elopement in the original. I’d guess that of course Lydia is involved but, as far as I can tell, his plan to get to Darcy are by far more evil and elaborated and there are more people involved.

Oh, and apart from the absolutely and gripping story line there are of course other features that make the story absolutely recommendable. First of all the style, the story is told from the first-person-perspective, however the narrators are mostly  Elizabeth and Darcy but actually we also get to know the thoughts of the villain in this story, when Wickham tells things from his perspective.

KarenA has a very strong style, her descriptions are excellent, very visual, and you feel very close to the respective narrator and his/her feelings as well as his/her observations. You also get to know that there is a lot of sexual frustration involved This is simply brilliantly done in this story, I envy her of her ability to write with a first person narrator. I also like her portrayal of chacaters in this story, especially Ana – I like it when Darcy’s sister is not the shy little mouse, but instead has more self-confidence – and strangely enough Mary, although she’s only a minor character…

I really like reading this story  and as mentioned above I’d wish that I would develop faster, but I guess I simply have to be content with each new instalment, which will bring us inevitably to bombshell that is about to be dropped.

So it’s me again.. after another absence and Angelika’s wonderful work so that the blog is still activ I return…

Normally I rarely read modern Austen fics I have to confess… most of the time I prefer Regency. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it is.

Some days ago I stumbled over The Luxury Gap by sharlamc (Modern/Adult), originally posted at the HG and I got totally sucked in. Part I is quite a lot and I read about 2 days, even before going to bed I used my netbook t read at least a chapter before going asleep (usually it ended with me reading at least 5 chapters and then after looking at the time being totally surprised but awfully tired )

Thanks a lot to the girls at AHA who mentioned it in the Recommendations section… you gave me a marvellous read!

Blurb: A modern retelling of P&P set in Seattle. Elizabeth is a costume designer and Darcy one of the richest men in the country. Charles and Jane (who is a cousin of Elizabeth in this fiction) try to bring them together but both “victims” see their intention… and nonetheless fall for each other. Of course there are certain obstacles to overcome, Wickham throws his weight in to seperate them – or at least stir something.

Part I is – as I said – finished and it is a read you should not miss! Wonderfully written

Unfortunately Part II is still just one chapter but I really, really hope that the authoress will continue. Btw… should she or some whom she knows read this…

I beg you to relieve this suffering and continue writing this fabulous story!!

Kathy, the authoress of Mr. Darcy makes amends has posted an absolutely enchanting story at DWG – link here. It’s a bit of a fairy tale take on P&P where Elizabeth Bennet meets a frog in the woods of Hertfordshire with whom she soon shares her impressions of the Meryton society but the frog is of course not what it seems to be.

The tale is absolutely delightful. It immediately brought a smile to my face and I have this little penchant for fairy tales, so it’s no wonder I fell in love with it, but you cannot really help it, it’s cute and funny, an excerpt:

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not Mr. Collins, are you?”

It laughed, an odd sound that seemed a mix of true laughter and the low croaking it usually emitted. “No. I am not your cousin.”

“You do look a lot alike. Not brothers, are you?” she asked with an arch smile.

“No relation, Miss Bennet. And from your description of him, I feel I should take that as an insult.”

In short: I loved it – go ahead and read it!

Just a small note: Sarah Hoyt (thank God that you’re still alive and still writing!) has published a perfect piece of silliness at DWG, which you simply have to read! The story is called “The Naked Truth” and it’s truly hilarious!

There’s not much content to be summarized (as it is very short) but I was laughing my ass off, I still am when I read such lines as:

“And where are Lizzy and Mary? I shall run mad. We’re all going to be turned out to starve in the hedgerows.” She thought about it a moment. “No, forget the hedgerows. The Lucas used them to make dresses.”

So go ahead and read it. And I’ll definately save this story for bad days as it simply puts you into good humour.

I’m still laughing!

Now that AHA has an international stories forum for fanfictions in other stories than English I’m definately tempted to publish a story there… I have on current WIP (which doesn’t develop as fast as I would like) which I could probably post there, however, I’m first of all a bit afraid because it would be the first German story there and somehow – I’ve always associated AHA with one of the best English FF sites around so I don’t know. Suddenly posting a German story there – and one of my nonetheless – seems to be such a break in style and at the moment not really fitting.

And then there’s the audience. In Germany I more or less “know” the people reading and commenting my story, the audience is very small and I’m kind of used to them. Not that many people at AHA actually read/speak German but nevertheless, JA is for me a bit a epitome of an English story and some things don’t come across that well in German…

And lastly there is the dream that I’d post my first story at AHA in English (I’m currently writing one) and not in my mother tongue because this would be a real huge step for me. Now starting to post there with a German story is a bit in between, isn’t it? And usually I’m not one to do things half-way…

*sigh* I don’t know, maybe I just needed to vent my feelings here. Maybe I’ll dare, maybe I won’t, I don’t know. I miss Fiora (who is currently on holiday in London) because I guess that she’d give me sound advice. *sigh* Maybe I’ll bite the bullet, I’ll let you know.

So this week the whole thing about my not-so-secret second identity as Amerna at FF.net and some small commotion about Sag niemals nie (Never say never again), one of my at-the-moment-only-available-in-German-stories, made me actually look (and sort of update) my profile at FF.net again. I’m not that active at FF.net anymore as I prefer other sites (as you may know ) but it also had its advantages because I recovered an old favourite of mine: Love and other accidents. It’s the only story I have in my “Favorite Stories” section at FF.net.

It’s a modern take on P&P with Darcy being a rockstar and Lizzy a student (and a former model, although everybody is surprised about this ). It’s very close to the original with them having (of course) a very rocky start and things going downhill from there on. There’s Hunsford and then Pemberley and of course – after some angst – a happy ending. The only changes are in the family dynamics, Mary and Kitty don’t exist and Lydia is a cousin instead of a sister, Mrs. Bennet has a minor role as Jane and Lizzy (fraternal twins) have moved out.
Another change concerns the hero’s name. At first I was a bit confused that Darcy is called Darlington (and as you may remember from my previous post I don’t take changes in names so well ) but this is part of the story – a very good twist, I might add.

So what else makes this story so worth reading?

First of all the style. Lizzy is a photographer and the authoress manages to describe the shots Lizzy takes very well. It’s very visual and you have the picture Lizzy takes in front of your eye. This is very cool – after all, isn’t writing fiction about conjuring images in front of the reader’s mind? Additionally her dialogues and the descriptions of people’s reactions are very well done. Some of them were simply “right”, some of them made me laugh out aloud – it’s been a pleasure to read.

Another thing: The characterizations. Lizzy and Will are – though modernized – perfectly in character and I was almost ready to bild a shrine for Richard who is really cool (and unfortunately very married ) in this story. Compliments also for the portrayal of Mr. Collins! I love it! I was laughing all the way through this part of the third chapter.

There are also other little details for example Darcy’s family constantly taking Lizzy for a groupie or things Lizzy suggests in jest really happening later on. Or the references to modern pop culture. With VH1 and stuff.

I’m really glad that I “recovered” this story and I read it again today. Strangely there was one scene I remembered as soon as I had read the title and the blurb. It was the scene where Darcy, who’s a big star in America but unknown in the UK, was recognised by a American tourist and Lizzy, currently visiting the UK (and Pemberley among others ) “saved” him.

I think it’s a pity the authoress paperclipz doesn’t have any more stories! I would have liked it very much to read more JA fanfictions. But you cannot help it. I have to be content with Love and other accidents – not that I’m complaining.

This is a screenshot of the Wikipedia page of the 2005 version of P&P made yesterday, August 14, 2009 at 3:32 pm before I corrected it. I’ve highlighted the cause of this post.

I know, I know, you shouldn’t set such high standards for Wikipedia pages – after all everybody can add/change things there – but nevertheless: Longbourn is spelled wrong! -.- This is not meant to be a vocabulary lesson and of course there are mistakes that are far worse than spelling mistakes, but I’m sorry, but I’m very sensitive to theses things. Some people call me pendantic but I simply have this “must correct this” urge. I’m by far not perfect myself, but at certain times certain mistakes just drive me crazy! And when I have a bad day (such as yesterday and today) such mistakes just damage my pleasure to read. It’s pathetic, I know, but I cannot help it!

I quote the contributor guidelines of the DWG now because there it is handled very well.

Bennet has one t
Wickham has one h
Georgiana has one n
de Bourgh is two words with a small d
Lizzy is spelled with a y
Younge has an e
Bingley has an e
Longbourn does not have an e
Pemberley has 3 e’s

At certain times I simply cannot abide reading Longbourne over and over again! If I have a bad day it can make me stop reading the story, seriously. I can deal with “wrong” spelling in modern stories, where names can be changed (although I won’t necessarily like it) but not in original Regency ones, because there Jane Austen clearly wrote how everybody and everything is called!

This is even worse with German translations! Why can you simply not stay with the English names? Jane Austen’s stories are English stories after all, they take place in England so why change the English names? But no, in most cases, the names are germanized and Elizabeth becomes Elisabeth and Lizzy is changed to Lizzie or Lissy or (the worst of it all IMO) Lissie! And sometimes the translator isn’t even consistent in his/her changes. So he/she writes Elisabeth but her nickname is nevertheless Lizzie – so were did the z’s come from? Yeah, that’s also I reason I like reading the English original so much!

I know this post is more or less pointless, I’m writing about fanfiction after all where certain things simply have to be changed or imagined, but I needed to rant (bad week and all).

And sorry, I don’t want to offend any writer about this they are after all free to do as they chose and spelling “mistakes” just make us human.

And I don’t want to know how many mistakes (spelling, grammar and expression) I made in this post

EDIT: I apologize if any author felt insulted by my post – as I’ve mentioned two paragraphs above, I don’t want to offend anyone. This is simply my personal opinion. Just to make myself clear: I know that it is pathetic, but at a certain point I need to vent off my anger and then such minor spelling mistakes incense me in a totally irrational way. I don’t condem the story or its author, because for example Longbourne is spelled wrongly, but I stop reading because I know that I will become flustered about it when I’m already in a bad mood, because this is such a convenient way to vent off my anger. I probably reread the story later on.

It’s not as if I’ve written “Oh, author XYZ has written Longbourne in his/her story so it must be total crap” – because that’s not my opinion.

But when I have a bad day I can be pretty merciless and intolerant and completely irrational and but I guess that – like making “mistakes” – is simply human. So my apologies if that came out in a wrong way, every author is of course free as he/she choses, there are things far worse than a missing or additional e in a proper name!

I simply had to get this off my chest. I’ve had this scene in my head ever since I helped out at my company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in May, but I will probably never use it – at least not in the next five years or so as it simply doesn’t fit in any story I am writing or aim to write in the future.

I should probably describe the premise. I’m a student/apprentice working for a German-based “global player” with approximately 130,000 employees. In 2008 we had a revenue of 12 billion euros – an increase of 13% and this despite the financial crisis. So those were good conditions for a very smooth AGM as there were – in contrast to other global companies – no problems to report, really, as the company also operates in markets that are relatively independent from the overall economical development. That was until some shareholders decided to charge our directors with some pretty nasty accusations among others corruption and nepotism. I would never have guessed that shareholders would really come up with such stupid and totally vulgar questions – at an AGM no less! It felt as if they were virtually throwing tomatoes at our executives, because they decided that it would be fun.

In general, directors don’t answer directly to the questions or accusations shareholders make in order to not let the discussion getting out of hand but answer a bunch of questions after a question period. But I couldn’t help but imagine Darcy being in our CEO’s position (not that these two have anything in common ) and after some very tedious question rounds suddenly being asked about his personal life, namely an alleged relationship with Elizabeth Bennet, member of the board of Longbourn Industries, which is a competitor of Pemberley PLC, Darcy’s company. So this is how I would imagine Darcy’s reaction to such a question.

“I’d like to direct a question to the CEO, Mr. Darcy himself and ask him about the state of affairs in his personal life, especially his relationship with women.”

“Excuse me?” Richard had asked that before Darcy had had any chance to react to this statement and had completely forgotten that they were not to challenge the questions a shareholder asked. “How is the personal life of our CEO relevant at the AGM?”

“Well, if I have to be more blunt – do you have an affair with Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy?”

For a moment Darcy was taken aback by the venom with which the question was asked. He tried to remember the man’s name but couldn’t come up with it.

“I cannot imagine how the CEO’s love life might be relevant-“ Richard began anew but Darcy silenced him with a look and turned on the microphone in front of him.

“For those here in attendance who have not read the gossip rags in the last few months, Elizabeth Bennet is the newest member of the board of Longbourn Industries, one of our American competitors.”

“Which has done remarkably well the last year,” the man interjected. “Ever since she was promoted to be a member of the board and became ’acquainted‘ with you.”

“So, what do you mean to insinuate with that information here at the AGM of Pemberley PLC?”

“Come on, Mr. Darcy, don’t try to play me for a fool. Don’t you think that some of the most confidential data can best be gathered in bed?”

“So you are insinuating that I’ve been leaking out information to her due to a sexual relationship with Miss Elizabeth Bennet and that she’s been willing to have sex with me in order to gather confidential information? I’d rather be careful with that. And I can assure all of you that as of today I do not have and I have never had a sexual or romantical or whatever relationship with Elizabeth Bennet that goes beyond that of casual acquaintances caused by the fact that Charles Bingley, member of our board and my good friend, is engaged to her sister. Whatever the rumours about an alleged relationship with her may be, they are totally unfounded and hurt both mine and Miss Bennet’s professional reputation.”

“And what about the future?” The man simply didn’t want to stop.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You said that you currently don’t have and that you’ve never had a relationship with Miss Bennet – what about the future? Do you intend to enter into an alliance with her? After all, you will get to know her better now that your friend and her sister are about to get married.”

“I don’t see why the future of my private life – relationship with Elizabeth Bennet or not – has any relevance for this AGM, where we review the goings of the past fiscal year and give a careful forecasts to the future of Pemberley PLC. You will be kept informed about all events in the future that might affect our company… but not about my family planning. And if you wish to further insult my professional behaviour as both CEO and majority shareholder of Pemberley PLC, please do so without reference to my love life and without a connection to Elizabeth Bennet because there is none to speak of. With that I consider the discussion of my love life closed.”

I will probably never use this, but it feels good to see my thoughts posted here. And if I ever decided on continuing this idea somewhere in the future, I would still have this blog entry to work with

I’ve already recommended one of orchidvines’ stories back in April and now she’s posting a new story (although updates are a bit irregular) which (of course) has me hooked already!

I’ve already praised her talents into the skies the last time, so I won’t bother you with my obvious appreciation of her talents and come straight to the story.

Will Darcy had absolutely everything. Until the accident. In a glimpse of what could have been, he wakes up beside Lizzy Bennet, the artist he was supposed to dump ten years ago. The fork in his path. Still, what the hell happened to his Armani suits?

It’s called “You, Me and the Bourgeoisie” and as you may have guessed from the blurb it’s a modern take of P&P crossed with the movie “The Family Man”. (Sadly) It’s only available at FF.net

I love this premise already, it’s very interesting to read, how Darcy, the epitome of arrogance and success, is suddenly thrown into another life, where he is married to Lizzy with two kids and “simply” runs the bookstore Mr. Bennet had to give up after a heart attack. And now from simply one glimpse to another he has to deal with all these changes. My guess also is that his “adaption” to this new life is not the only obstacle Lizzy and Darcy have to overcome, because I have the feeling that there is also something in the past of Lizzy’s and Darcy’s relationship that will blow off sometime soon – and which Darcy of course will not remember. The reason I think this is that there is the mention of a “George” and my guess is that this is George Wickham as Charles Bingley is (sadly) not part of this story. I would like this to be George Knightley, but I don’t think so.

So, I’m curios what will happen next – I know the movie with Nicolas Cage of course but it’s quite difficult to imagine what will happen next. But I’d love to read the declaration Nicolas Cage makes at the end of the movie in this FF, because that would make me melt on the spot.

I’ll probably recommend orchidvines’ other stories here soon, because you can definately call me a fan of her work. So, you can do nothing wrong with reading “You, Me and the Bourgeoisie“