LATEST NEWS: July 2019:

Cliffhanger has begun. And now it's done. Please give it a look!

March 2019:

Night Vision is up. Hiei's feeling down.

Walking To Siberia is up. This story contains a cat of a very different stripe.

(Had it really been TWO YEARS since I posted a story? Yes, when I posted Dimensons is my latest. It's a mystery. AND my friend Susan tells me it makes a good Halloween story (just in time)!)

(Five Rules For Fighting was the last, and Botan made an appearance. Prior to that, Mr. Hiei is the tale of a puzzling fog that appears to be alive. But first, even before taking on the mysterious foe, Hiei must figure out exactly where he is.)

When my last annual Christmas tale went up... (Kurama and Maya: All I Want For Christmas.)...you know it's been too long when you forget how to post a new story.)

Don't recall how long ago the 'new' story was a two-parter called Nightwalk Pavilion. Hope you liked it!

0-0-0

Still many stories up: Maybe it's a Halloween story, but...please take a look at Mob Scene.

There is also Maya's Tale. If you've ever wondered what happened to Kurama's classmate, the girl with the sixth sense, here it is.

Mr. Groovy. Completed!

Also: Hiei-Meets-The-Batman, also known as Trade Secret, complete. With a few new OCs.

For whatever strange reason, F-net does not allow you to add the character of Batman from its Batman drop-down window. Only Bruce Wayne. Rest assured that this story contains THE Batman.

Here also lurks Elementary, My Dear Hiei, a trifle starring Hiei and Kurama and a slew of OCs. Actually, this COULD have been presented as a Christmas tale, but I like to keep those mainly to one-shots, and besides, the setting is February. Or March. ;p

And ...'Tis the season! My fifth? Can it be? Yuu Yuu Hakusho Christmas tale was posted here for holiday reading. The Imprint of Snow features Hiei and Kaitou.

Please also check Lights, Camera, Mayhem! (A Christmas Trifle)

The other three are still up and running: A Yuu Yuu Carol, X-Mas With An Angel, and The Thirteenth Attempt.

Thank you, ffnet...I've actually managed to change some of the story images/cover art/whateveryoucallit! -_-

Completed: Are You Loathsome Tonight, mixing Hiei, Halloween (yes, it's the wrong time of year!), and professional wrestling.

The story before this was a one-shot, and not all that long (for me, anyway.)

Landscape With Blur recounts the story of Kuwabara Kazuma and his struggle to process a crucial event in his life. It came in a dream, of all things, and for once, Hiei is not the viewpoint character.

Hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

-0-

It's also been suggested that I give a 'timeline' of sorts.

I think this is a great idea, so here we go:

Chronologically speaking, my stories start with Idiot Beloved and its sequel, Firebird Sweet.

Then (as far as timeline goes) comes The Book of Cat With Moon, which spans about a decade.

All the other stories (apart from Portrait of the Demon, which is set in the not-so-distant future, and Landscape with Blur, set before the Dark Tournament) occur within the time-frame of Cat With Moon... including the Cowboy Trilogy and my latest, Are You Loathsome Tonight?

It seems that I always return to music and movies for inspiration. OLD music. Older movies.

Other recent-ish news: The last story in the Cowboy Trilogy, Sidekick, which reintroduces Kurama's viewpoint, is finished. As is Once Upon A Time In The West.

A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done is, in fact, done.

'The Kurama Chronicles' might also include any story with Kurama as the first-person, POV character, starting with You Have Entered The No-Hiei Zone and including Death By Hiei, Peace, Love, Hiei, and of course Sidekick.

The Book of Cat With Moon was an interesting, enjoyable excursion into what-if, that grew of itself, when characters revealed their true motivations and the subtext behind them. I've also surprised myself by adding an 'endcap.' I hope you like this unusual tale of two opposites meeting in a similar 'battlefield.'

Funny that a new bunch of people are reading You Have Entered The No-Hiei Zone; it marks the first appearance by Kaitou Yuu in one of my fics, though his treatment there is different from in The Book of Cat With Moon.

Intrigued at the thought of two such opposite personalities as Kaitou and Hiei meeting and clashing? I was. That's how this story came to light.

THANK YOU to all those who have been reading my 'old' stuff in the interim.

Background Check: Writer's block? I was soaking in it.

Back in 03 or so, I stopped being able to write. Not a single word. From a usual output of a story per week, to nothing--for three years. (To this day I don't know whether it was sheer burnout or something else.)

Then in June of 06, Idiot Beloved, then Firebird Sweet, came to me in a storm of images. I couldn't write them down fast enough.

But the pace of an update per week since 06 has taken its toll. I hope that it won't be three more years before I can write and post regularly again, but for now I've slowed considerably. I am still 'working on' (if you can call my snail's pace working) Stakeout, a Kurama and Hiei story told in first-person.

And as for the rest: Operation Rosary, my 'secret-agent' themed YYH fic,

THE REST OF THE STORY:

WHO is that nun and why is she standing on a rock?"

Yup--that was my first impression of Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

I discovered the series on Cartoon Network in the middle of the Beasts of Maze Castle saga--the Gate of Betrayal storyline, halfway into the episode. The show instantly caught my attention in spite of some initial confusion about the cast. In addition to mistaking Hiei for a nun (a mistake that was dispelled the instant he opened his mouth) I also thought Kurama was a girl (ditto!), Kuwabara a cop in charge of them all, and Yuusuke was his enemy.

Eventually I learned who was who. The story was both character and plot-driven, and the fights were actually about something.

The power of a voice:

As for the characters, I liked Kurama--who wouldn't? Yuusuke made me laugh and also surprised me. And I thought Kuwabara, though he had great heart, could stand to calm down a bit.

However, after my initial visual impression, I was lukewarm toward Hiei.

While I enjoyed the dub of YYH, and liked the American voice actors, it wasn't until I finally heard the Japanese version that the series achieved True Prominence in my heart. From the moment I heard Hiei snarl at Yuusuke, the hairs stood up at the back of my neck, and Hiei's character came to life.

Why I don't feature Yuusuke that often:

I write mostly battle-oriented stories. So let's face it--Yuusuke is the strongest. If he's in a battle-oriented story, in any significant way, he's going to be the hero. The protagonist. He's going to win.

Therefore, Yuusuke has to have a background role. (The exception so far, being A Yuu Yuu Carol, my Christmas tale).

It's not that I dislike the character. Far from it. But as much as I like the character, he's not the focus of my series. Hiei is. And that's why, even when you see Yuusuke fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Hiei, there's always some force that prevents him from delivering the killing blow.

What force? You'll have to read the fics to find out. ;p

Other notations:

When I first began writing Idiot Beloved, I had not seen Chapter Black, so everything in that first novel is predicated on the Dark Tournament and what led up to it.

And I had not seen CB because I read someone's (mistaken) and very negative review of the story arc, basically stating, "Don't bother with this one, everyone becomes a pop star." Not true, and CB eventually became my second favorite story arc.

So, after having seen CB, for Firebird Sweet I decided to play with that notion of pop stardom. Anyway in Japan, the voice actors for YYH appear on numerous music CDs, singing in-character, and at least one cover illo depicts them as a Boy Band.

Anime and me:

The journey began a long time ago, when broadcast television aired a Russian-made cartoon called The Magic Antelope. (Or maybe it was called The Golden Antelope, or The Magic Horse; information was sketchy, and several release dates are given, ranging from 1949-1954. It may have been part of a package called Cartoon Classics, syndicated by Radio and Television Packagers).

By any name, the cartoon was beautifully rendered, filled with magical beasts and a brave, kindhearted orphan, and I loved it, and couldn’t wait to see more like it. But it was one of a kind.

Until I discovered Miyazaki’s Mononoke Hime.

Finally, a work that evoked the elusive, long-ago Russian cartoon! The hero even rode a red elk that resembled the Magic Antelope. Eager to see more, I tuned into Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The rest is... maybe not history, but the saga of a love affair with anime.

For reference I use a combo of the manga and anime--but I 'hear' the Japanese voices. It may seem a small point, but crucial to several key scenes. I happen to be a voice freak. (And yes, I employ the Japanese method of putting last names first.) :p

I'm particularly interested in developing some of the under-used YYH characters such as Kaitou Yuu and Minamino Shiori.

There's a lot on ffnet to choose from, so believe me, I appreciate each and every review you post.

A word on my ratings system: My choice of 'K' or 'T' is almost arbitrary. I suppose most of my stories would be rated PG-13 in the real world, for an intense scene or two, anime-style fighting/violence, and the rare naughty word (always given with a warning). If I knew how to run a poll I might poll you all for what rating I should choose.

I have done some magazine illustration in the past; now I post YYH character sketches; I've also done some very small-time voice work for radio, and I own all the YYH DVDs. And I've written about the nature of anime for Gilbert Magazine.

Currently watching/following:

Ga-Ga-Ga, Ga-Ga-Ga, GAOGAIGAAARRR! Whether as swordsman or mecha pilot, 'Hiei' is win! Total awesome-osity.

Prince of Tennis

Zenyatta in particular and horse racing in general: including harness and quarter horse racing

And: I've seen The Golden Antelope, and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered. Not only that, but it seems to me that Miyazaki might have been influenced by it, and its accompanying feature The Snow Queen, a beautifully rendered but somewhat eerie take, whose young heroine is very much like a Miyazaki heroine, kind-hearted and courageous.

The character and background designs are like forerunners of the Miyazaki style, and also echo the fairy-tale feel of his films. The Snow Queen (hey! She's a Kourime gone horribly wrong!) and The Golden Antelope were both based on fairy tales.

The Department of Redundancy Department:

Gilbert Magazine published this author's interview with Dean Koontz in a December issue.

'One fic at a time!'