Administration Corner
LAST UPDATED: 2 OCTOBER 2011, 21:19 AEST
This page is for all the bits and pieces that don't have a proper home anywhere else on the site. It's really just for the die-hard fans or people looking for a specific piece of information.
+ Design History + Parental Advisory + Archivist's Corner +
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Design History
I've always prided myself on having a beautiful home for my fic. A lot of my old designs are lost to history, but my last few can still be viewed for nostalgia's sake. I've tended to preserve the thematic designs where they match a collection, unless that theme no longer suits current standards. (For instance, the X Files Krycek/Marita theme isn't friendly to the much larger screen resolutions we have now).
2008-2011: Connections & Chronicles
This theme was based on Sarah Connor Chronicles' Sarah Connor and Derek Reese. It was quite large, in part due to the large monitors and resolutions available at the time. I was never completely satisfied with how I managed the small-versus-large monitor issue, but I loved the underlying graphic.
2002-2008: Searing Snow
This theme was based on X Files' Alex Krycek and Marita Covarrubias. It was lovely for a long time but not suited to later generation large monitors. The image shows how it appeared originally for most users.
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Parental Advisory
Firstly, the hard word. The internet is an international forum. It is your responsibility to know what you are, and are not legally permitted to read, and to make your personal decision to read with due regard for the laws of your jurisdiction (and, in the case of minors, your guardians). Stories are marked with ratings and I recommend that you use them. I'm not a supporter of foam-padding the world. I provide the information needed to choose wisely, I believe, but the final choice is your responsibility.
So. That's the heavy "don't come crying to me" part out of the way.
This site is not a kids' site. It isn't pornographic, but it's definitely adult reading. I write a lot of stories for an adult audience. There are stories here of people recovering from major trauma, such as war and rape. Stories of people who have faced terrible moral dilemmas. There's adult language. Not everyone in my stories does the right thing - a lot of my work deals with people who have done terribly wrong things and who have to learn to live with that truth about themselves. And there are sexual references here, too, although not usually of a particularly titillating kind. I expect that you are an adult, or reading under an adult's guidance, and capable of doing so with a bit of discernment.
Parents, the stories here are generally rated in some sort of helpful way. The rating systems vary from fandom to fandom. Some derive their ratings more or less from the norms of the Moving Picture Association of America (MPAA). NC17 means no children aged under 17. Usually NC17 stories will involve explicit violence or explicit sexual references and are not suitable for children. R is a softer version of NC17, and a lot of my work is R. R deals in adult concepts - recovery from violence, sexual identity issues, significant moral dilemmas, war or the threat of war, and so on, and may include low-level sex (less detail or not so graphic words, but you can probably picture in soft-focus what's going on). PG-13 is a higher level of parental guidance - stories that reference the kinds of things found in a R story, but in less graphic detail. PG is a lower level of parental guidance, and is pretty harmless - it may deal in adult dilemmas, but there is no real need for a sophisticated reader to understand the nuances, and no graphic sexuality or violence. In other fandoms, broad words like "teen" or "mature" abound, and they're usually pretty obvious.
To get some idea of the ways in which I've applied the ratings, NC17 was applied to one story in which the specifics of sexual activity between consenting adults was used as a power play, and another in which a woman grappled with and eventually overcame sexual dysfunction arising from past manipulation. R was applied to a story in which a man reared as part of a military project retained unusual and unhealthy philosophical beliefs about human life and his place in the world until very late in the story - the near-absence of corrective points of view makes this a story that should only be read by someone with the moral and philosophical maturity to understand that this doesn't represent a "good" point of view that should be emulated. R was also applied to a story about a pair of adult siblings in a situation of extreme isolation and trauma who formed an incestuous attachment as a result. Again, this should only be read by someone with the benefit of moral and emotional maturity. PG13 and PG have been applied to a story where a hired assassin talks to his intended victim and then lets her go, and a story in which two terminally ill people agree to take part in risky military medical experiments - stories in which significant dilemmas are faced but there are fewer problems of "wrong" POVs requiring sophistication and/or corrective.
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Archivists' Corner
To contact me regarding archiving, please email deslea [at] deslea [dot] com.
1.1 Archive Policies - General
Please don't archive or link my work alongside actorfic. I'll bend a little on this - for instance, I'll allow it on archives that also archive parodies that show an actor and a character switching places. But no real person smut, please. It's not something I care to be associated with. I realise that's a very unfashionable and 1990s opinion but I still expect it to be respected.
1.2 Archive Policies - X Files
In general, I'm happy for my work to be archived on any X Files not-for-profit archive. I would like you to drop me a courtesy note if you're not a "major" archive just so I can come and take a look. I've found some great sites that way. I always want to know ahead of time if you're a multifandom archive or if you work in some form other than a conventional webpage (eg, print zines).
That said, I'm not fond of some of my older work. Scully/Skinner specialist archives can have those stories because I know they still get asked for it now and then, but I'm starting to limit them to fans of that genre. I'd rather people not archive the Scully/Skinner stuff in general archives. I just think I've grown a lot as an author since then. There are also a few throwaway pieces I'd rather not see archived - these are indicated in the headers. Generally they will be pieces on the Wastelands page.
The following places and people can always have my fic and they never need to ask: Gossamer, Ephemeral, all Lara Means sites, RATales archive, the Ferret Cage, all ArchiveCentral archives, Glass-Onion, and Down In The Basement. WorldofX.de always has my approval to translate into German, and Dark Love Of The X Files always has approval to translate into Russian. If you run an archive or rec site and you would like a blanket consent, just ask. I'll probably say yes.
1.3 Archive Policies - Harry Potter and TSCC
I do not know the TSCC and Harry Potter archives very well and would like to be asked for archive permission. I will assess on a case by case basis.
2. Archive Logistics
In August 2003, I implemented scripts that will make it much easier for archivists to work with my stories. By appending ?format=plaintext to any english-language story URL, it will be possible for you to view a version of that story formatted in plain ASCII with lines broken at 65 characters. The breaks are achieved with HTML and implemented with a PHP script. You should be able to save the output as plain text in most browsers. If you encounter any problems using this facility, please let me know. At present, this facility is available for all stories from the beginning of 2003 (whisperjack onwards). Older stories can easily be converted on request - it's only a few minutes' work for a single story, so don't hesitate to ask.
My stories are stored in many places on the web, not only in archives but also on other sites I administer. I do revise from time to time. The versions on this page will always be the most authoritative, and I would prefer for you to harvest from here where possible. You are also free to link to my stories if you prefer, but it would be good if you could let me know so that I can notify you in the rare event that any URLs change.
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Quick Links
Recent Site Updates
27 February 2013: In Mark of Cain, Narcissa Malfoy learns a secret about her husband that turns the tables on their lifeless marriage, and in Garden of Memories, she and Lucius defend each other and their marriage from the Dark Lord, risking everything they've worked to save.
20 December 2012: In Witch Break A Vow, Astoria Greengrass learns that sometimes there are no good choices, only ones that contain the damage.
23 October 2012: In Silver Starlight and Golden Wine, Narcissa's wedding night is a journey of trust. It's a standalone moment in the Blue Vial universe, but it can be read on its own. Meanwhile, in Folie A Deux (Madness of the Two), Voldemort and Bellatrix lead each other deeper into madness.
14 October 2012: In Under Your Skin, a small piece of unashamed Hallowe'en fluff, seventeen-year-old Tonks flirts shamelessly with her Potions Professor. Snape gives as good as he gets. Also added Want You To Want Me, a standalone Sons of July missing scene, in which Tonks seduces a willing Lucius for her own ends - but both get more than they bargained for.
22 September 2012: In Of Vials Blue and Shades of Grey, Narcissa knows there is another woman, but learning who and why makes for hard choices to bring them all through. Narcissa POV on The Blue Vial. Also, in Spoken For, we meet the Pureblood children of Hogwarts whose marriages have already been arranged when they arrive.
8 September 2012: In The Blue Vial, Lucius offers Tonks a choice between an easy death and the means to endure the torture he has been instructed to inflict on her. The resulting revilement/sympathy between them will be both their comfort and their imprisonment for the rest of their lives. Also posting a major update to The Substitute (half as long again) and minor edits to Two Of A Kind: Yule Interlude.
12 June 2012: In The Substitute, Lucius and Tonks enter a marriage of convenience to facilitate Narcissa and Draco's escape, and facilitate her infiltration of the Death Eaters. It soon becomes a folie a deux - for them, and for Snape as well. Tonks is torn between who she is and who she pretends to be.
8 May 2012: In Sons of July, the arranged marriage and deep friendship between Lucius and Narcissa sets the scene for the Dark Lord's last stand. They and their private loves, spies Nymphadora and Severus, all have secrets, and sacrifices will be needed along the way. Meanwhile, in Awake, Narcissa draws on her every reserve to help her imprisoned husband hang on to his mind.
7 April 2012: In Kill To Be Kind, an AU battle scene set at Malfoy Manor, Lucius and Tonks debate the relative merits of loving and killing one another. Also, I've revived an old story, Between Worlds, which I took down at one time in response to fandom developments that no longer appear to be at issue. In this crackpot Chamber of Secrets missing scene, Moaning Myrtle meets a ghost who isn't quite dead yet. Non-explicit underage fumblings and humour ensue.
4 January 2012: In Two Of A Kind: A Yuletide Interlude, Andromeda comes to terms with her flight from her family of origin, against the backdrop of Nymphadora's and Lucius' growing attachment. Meanwhile, in Fair Fight, a humour SSHG piece, Snape is a reluctant war hero, and the witches come a-courting. To his bemusement, Hermione is one of them.
8 December 2011: In Part 4 of Two Of A Kind, Tonks allows herself to see who Remus really was, while the final chapter sees both Lucius and Tonks make their peace with their lost loves and face their future together.
15 October 2011: Part 3 of Two Of A Kind sees Harry Potter's Lucius torn between the wife he lost and the woman he loves now.
2 October 2011: A site overhaul, a new Harry Potter theme, and special pages for some of the other collections (especially TSCC, which is on the backburner but not forgotten).
1 October 2011: I've restored my translations page, and added a Chinese translation of I Enjoy You with thanks to Joanne. :)
26 September 2011: In the postwar ficlet I Enjoy You, Hermione uses a willing Snape to make Ron jealous, only to find she's happy right where she is. Meanwhile, Two of a Kind Part 1 and Part 2, an AU postwar novella, sees Lucius and Tonks widowed and finding their way through grief together. (Work in progress).
28 August 2011: In Vigil, Hermione takes a moment by a lonely grave, to reflect on the schoolgirl crush who became her hero.
Update History
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