I'm a Foothill resident of Nevada City, California. I like it small, green, and covered in trees. Occasionally the trees try to kill me, but I let bygones be bygones.

My personal life is... personal, and we'll leave it at that. My cat, Dora, also occasionally tries to kill me.

I have a background in education. I tried to be a teacher, but I wasn't quite cut out for it (for the record, I figured this out after my student teaching time, so I never held a teaching position). I work as an Instructional Aide in Special Education. Most of the time I enjoy it, though it pays little.

Writing has been one of the few things that brings me genuine pleasure in life. Most of my writing has been school-based, but I sometimes tried my own stories. I've had modest success - thirteen short stories published in various print and internet publications. I've even been paid for most of them, though only coffee money (and I don't even drink coffee - maybe I should start). I've been attempting books and novellas, but that's a harder market to crack (though I'm still trying). I'm not going to promote my other writing here - not appropriate.

Ultimately, I'm into sci-fi. But stories for me have a life of their own. If the idea in my head is more horror or fantasy (or even contemporary), that's how it'll be.

My first fanfic was about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, done over a decade ago. That was back when the Sixth Season was starting, and I was inspired by Buffy's Fifth Season demise (which, honestly, we knew wasn't permanent) to try my own Sixth Season (and, as it turned out, I was rather unhappy with how the Sixth Season actually did play out - magic as a drug metaphor?). I didn't get much response, certainly nothing like the stats I'm seeing for my HTTYD stories, but I think it helped me develop as a writer. I started on a follow-up series, but I stopped it because... well, almost no one was reading it. A lot of effort for little payoff.

I took off all my old Buffy fics except the first one (I'm keeping it as a memento, and for anyone looking to see an example of my earlier work). If anyone's ever interested in reading the series that came after this starter story, send me a message. I'm always trying to be a better writer. I look back at my Buffy days and... well, I know I'm a lot better now than I was then. So if you look at my earlier work, please understand that it was from an earlier version of me.

My feeling about writing fanfic is basically about loyalty - have fun with new ideas and settings, put in some new characters even, but be loyal to the characters that inspired you to write. I know not everyone agrees, which is fine, but that's how I approach writing fanfic and how I pick what to read. In the end, we're all here having fun, and I always hope my writing is giving people some enjoyment.

All that said, I've reached the point where I'm done with HTTYD, mostly because I'm not the fan I used to be. I won't be completing my proposed next series, as I just don't have the heart for it any longer. If you want to know my reasons, I've attached them to the end of "A Random Occurrence." I'm leaving everything up as is. I enjoyed everything, but it's time for me to move on once more.

Cheers.

Dragons: Champions - Canon, Plans, and Release Dates

I explained why I started writing HTTYD fic in the prologue of "Standing Against, Standing Between," so I won't repeat myself here. The series goes as follows:

- Standing Against, Standing Between (the first one, obviously)

- I Bring The Thunder (effectively starts the next story arc)

- Dreams Of The Desolation (half the size of the last two stories)

- The World Needs Champions (the grand finale for the first trilogy (starting from I Bring The Thunder)

- A Random Occurrence (this was the start of my next planned trilogy, but I've axed it, so bear this in mind if you choose to read it)

And so that I don't have to explain the canon situation at the beginning of every new story, here's what's canon and what's not:

How To Train Your Dragon - obviously canon

Legend of the Boneknapper - yes

Book of Dragons - the dragon lore certainly is canon

Gift of the Night Fury - everything except the names given to the non-Toothless dragons (I'm keeping the names I gave them, as my story predates the special and the TV show and I'm not going to the effort of rewriting my stories to accomodate, thank you kindly!).

Dragons: Riders of Berk/Defenders of Berk - this one is tricky. For the most part, you can assume similar events occured in the two-year gap between HTTYD and my first story, but with certain things changed to fit my alternate universe (example: Gobber took up dragon dentistry in the TV series, but it's not hard to imagine that two years down the road he's gotten over his compulsion to weaponize everything and is making saddles and other dragon-riding gear).

However, as far as my HTTYD fanfic is concerned, the canon of Dragons ends right before the two-part first season finale ("We Are Family"). That two-part episode, and everything after that, is no longer canon. Part of my reasoning is that Alvin is further along in dragon training in the series than I predicted, but the introduction of Gronckle Iron is the bigger issue. After all, if Hiccup already had experience with super-strong, lightweight iron, myssteel wouldn't have been such a big deal. Now, again, that doesn't mean that characters or other elements developed from "We Are Family" onward are off-limits for my stories, but I will spell out how they work if I choose to include them.

One note about Heather: Am I the only one who thinks the writers of Dragons chickened out on this character? Early rumors suggested she'd be a romantic rival for Astrid, but that obviously wasn't what happened in the two-part episode she was in. Maybe the writers caught wind of all the Hiccup-Astrid shippers crying foul and changed things so the fans wouldn't freak out, or maybe such a love-triangle is slated for down the road. In any case, regardless of how things turn out on the TV-series, I'm approaching Heather the way I'd have used her.

Dragons: Race to the Edge: The third season of Dragons doesn't factor in here. The same goes for any future seasons if any are made.

How To Train Your Dragon 2: I included a few elements of the sequel in A Random Occurrence, but don't expect things to play out like they did in the movie.

How To Train Your Dragon 3: Nope.

So while I'm pretty much done with HTTYD fanfic, I hope people enjoy what I have put out. Just don't expect any future writings, or that I'll volunteer any spoilers for what might have been.

Cheers.