February 29th, 2004

Oh Bardies? YoooooooHoooooooooo? It's that time again...time for a Bard Challenge...number 11 for those keeping track...but not just any Bard Challenge... the second annual Bard Academy/BardCon2004 Combo Challenge.

BTW FYI: Orlando BardCon is only 90 days away.

Anyway...if you will go here:
http://www.merwolf.com/academy/contest/2004/bardcon/

You will find the rooools and a very simple premise...wide open to interpretation and creativity.

There are two categories of competition...those attending BardCon and those NOT attending BardCon. The prize packets (which are really, really nice...if I do say so myself) differ only in that the winner of the "attending" category will also get a Disney Park Pass.

This Challenge is limited to 25 total participants...first come, first get. Go see the character list...make your choices and email me. I'll send you an email confirmation of which of your choices you get and send you a map.

The page will not be updated as to which characters have already been chosen, so you will have to email me (PHIL728@aol.com) for the current availability list.

Then you are off to write, to type or to do whatever...cancel the to do whatever...you only have until April 9th to write your story and send it in. Save the to do whatever until after you are done writing. Details are on the Challenge page.

http://www.merwolf.com/academy/contest/2004/bardcon/

Good Luck everyone.
OZ

February 28th, 2004

No Ocean Deep by Cate Swannell (complete!)

Inevitable Destiny 9 - Discoveries by Ken Rogers
Tanya teaches a lesson to someone new then offers to sell Audra, if the price is right. Phyllis is shocked when she meets a compete stranger.

February 27th, 2004

Welcome to the Academy Thunder Perfect!

A Momentary Storm by Thunder Perfect [über/alt/complete]
A rainstorm prompts a woman to look at a friend in a different light

Added part ten of Mavis Applewater's Whispering Pines, Things That Go Bump In The Night
Catherine is worried about her lover's safety while Faith is hating her latest assignment and Shawn isn't happy about how the reporter is spending her nights off.

Added part 16 of Heart's Choice by Lois Kay

Announcement

This was an interesting request that found its way to us. The Academy has no ties with this company nor do we endorse it. any contributions are at your own risk. It *is* still intriguing though :)

Hi, my name's Mark Prebble. I'm a 27 year-old New Zealand filmmaker and I've recently made my first feature film, Futile Attraction, which features actors from Lord of the Rings, Xena, Hercules and Neighbours. However, I need your help to finish it. Gaining funding for independent films is incredibly hard. I've decided to go directly to the largest and most generous source of financial support in the world - the general public.
I need to raise US$16,500 and as much publicity as possible. I've put a website together which has detailed information about the film and the people involved. It also allows you to make online contributions and lists other ways you can help. The url is:
www.makemarksmovie.com
If you help, I am offering the opportunity to be officially involved and credited in the completed film. Credits range from "Thanks to" to "Executive Producer" depending on the contribution size.
Futile Attraction is a comedy which features Xena and Neighbours star Michelle Ang in her first feature film role, Alistair Browning (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Veritcal Limit, Xena, Rain) and a host of up and coming New Zealand talent.
Check it out. Spread the word. Please forward this e-mail to anyone you think will be interested. Some of you will receive this e-mail multiple times from different helpful people. I apologise in advance, it is the nature of internet publicity. Please receive it in the spirit with which it was sent.
Thanks
Mark Prebble

February 26th, 2004

Blizzard by Kim Baldwin [über/alt/complete]
Beth Williams regrets her decision to take that shortcut on the map, when a blizzard drives her off the road and leaves her in a perilous situation. Trapped by the storm in a stranger's home, she discovers she has much in common with her host. And that's even before they begin compare tastes in reading material.

New eBooks

Even in Death - Xequinn
Stolen Glances - Monkey

February 25th, 2004

Added part 4 of Answer by Girl Bard

Stolen Glances by Monkey [short/complete]
summary pending

Even in Death by Xequinn [complete/post-FIN]
Xena has to come to terms to being dead.

February 24th, 2004

Detective Amanda Ellis by Patricia Winterburn (aka tap)[über/complete]
Part 5 of the Amanda Ellis series

The Library by Emyster [über/pwp/complete]
A small story about the library...with some unusual studying going on.

New eBooks
Tales of a Librarian - T Walker
When Pianos Try to be Guitars - T Walker (under Tales of a Librarian)
Elana's Legacy - Pat Winterburn

February 23rd, 2004

New eBooks
Christian's Faith - D
Artist's Dream - Gerri Hill
No Regrets - Idryth
A Family Establishment - K Darblayne
Crush - KG MacGregor
Carnivale - Lariel
The Families We Make - Linda Crist
Thursday's Child - Lois C Hart
A Higher Power - Mavis Applewater
Just Maybe - Rab
Love & Cheesy Poofs - Tara Kerry
Neer - Troubleshooter
Partita - Vivian Darkbloom
Monsters in Love - Zee
Fallen Angel - Zuke
My Heart - Lynn Ames

February 22nd, 2004

Announcement
-from Lynn Ames

StarCrossed Productions has begun taking pre-orders on The Price of Fame by Lynn Ames. The novel will be available in print March 1. To purchase the book readers can either go to www.starcrossedproductions.com, or they can visit www.lynnames.com. The print version contains 23 new scenes not available anywhere online. I sure hope folks will come along for the ride!
(from steph- remember there are numerous new scenes in the published version, not to mention we need to support our bards and encourage them to keep their stuff on-line even after it's printed!)

Added parts 1-4 of Elana's Legacy by Pat Winterburn

Added part 5 of The Day After by Insane Englishwoman

February 21st, 2004

Added part 5 (conclusion) of Elana's Legacy by Pat Winterburn & Debbie Dee

February 20th, 2004

When Pianos Try to be Guitars by T. Walker
Brynn learns about Bloodsport that hard way, then her favorite singer/songwriter turns up murdered and Brynn is not sure if she herself is the killer.

Inevitable Destiny 8 - Unexpected by Ken Rogers
Tanya shows her creative side and Samantha learns a little about the seamier side of life.

Added part 15 of Heart's Choice by Lois Kay

Added part 9 of The Retreat by Phair

New eBooks
Making Your Way Home — Ann Brisk & SX Meagher
Rock for Remembrance – Ali Vali
Little Em – B Soiree
Three Piece Heart – Colleen
Love, Honor, Duty - Part 1 Love – Anais
Canopy for Happy Endings – A Valdiva
Valentine’s Story – DJ Belt
Slow Valentine - Redhawk

Announcement

-from Ogami

Just letting everyone know at the Academy that my old university website has closed, my Xena stories are now located at:
http://www.geocities.com/infiniteseeto/fiction.htm
and still at the Academy as well

February 19th, 2004

When you Dance with the Devil by Harley [alt/über/unfinished]
When You Dance with the Devil begins right where Poetry In Motion left off, taking us further into the lives of Deven and Rhian as they face the challenges and opportunities created by their newly formed relationship, as well as the various other interpersonal associations within their lives. Is their bond strong enough to overcome the pressures of trying to create a life together? And are they, as individuals and as a couple, willing to accept the changes they both will have to make?
As if the complications of a developing relationship weren’t enough, throw into the mix a rocky path of self-discovery that is further disrupted by the convergence of past and present - points of complex growth and change that can only challenge the very foundation of their friendship. When Deven’s personal demons become reality, can she find within herself the fortitude to face the most extreme fight of her life? And will Rhian be able to come to terms with the outcome? Dancing with the devil will only get you burned, and when the smoke finally settles, what will rise from the ashes?

February 18th, 2004

Announcement
-from Dimples

Limitless D2D has agreed to publish my books "Time and Time Again" and "So Close, So Far". The books will be published as general romances under my pen name, Nikki Grin. I truly hope and would very much appreciate your help in buying my books. I have requested these two stories be taken off-line due to the publishing. I hope you understand.

Added part 4 of The River's Edge by Denic

Added part 8 of Designs of the Heart by Heartbrkn

February 16th, 2004

Please make sure you send feedback on the Valentine stories. I am hearing that some of our authors aren't receiving a lot and if you guys want to continue to have them take time out of their busy schedules for these specials, you need to let them know you're reading!

They will be moving our host server tonight, and there will be some downtime as the new DNS propagates. If you want to read something get to that page now!

February 15th, 2004

The Search for Inspiration by Muzza [original/alternative/unfinished]
This story isn't your typical story it's more of a journal of the characters thoughts and feelings

Added part 34 and part 35 of Time's Fell Hand by LJ Maas

Added part 4 of The Day After by Insane Englishwoman

February 14th, 2004
The cure for all ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrows and the crimes of humanity, all lie in the one word 'love.' It is the divine vitality that everywhere produces and restores life.
Lydia Maria Child

It's Today!

Go to the Academy of Bards Valentine Special

http://www.academyofbards.org/specials/val1 for stories from

Anne Brisk and S X Meagher • Ali Vali • Gerri Hill • Colleen • DJ Belt • KG MacGregor • Linda Crist • Lois C Hart • Lynn Ames • Redhawk • Tara Kerry • K Darblyne • Zee • Zuke • Bsoiree • Idryth • Anais • Emily Duncan • Mavis • Vivian Darkbloom • Troubleshooter • Lariel • Rabster • Patty S.

February 13th, 2004
"Because you make every moment of my life worth living."
Dar Roberts

1 more day...

Added part 14 of Lois Kay's Heart's Choice.

eBooks

Strike Out by AK Naten
Evin's Revenge by B Soiree
A Million Dollar Lady by B Soiree
Promises to Keepby Irish
Galveston 1900 - Swept Away by Linda Crist

February 12th, 2004
I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone.
Javan (Steven Javan Jones)

2 more days...

Yeehaw Junction by Uncaged Amazon [Alternative/complete]
I am a fu***** genius. I mean who else can be given a map and compass, be told not to enter the areas highlighted in red, and still manage to camp in the forbidden fields? Right beside the signs that say "Warning: Infested Tick Fields, Keep Out..."

Added a revised version of part 9, Echoes of the Night, of Whispering Pines by Mavis Applewater
Due to a copyright problem, I couldn't go forth with part ten as written. So I had to change part nine to accommodate the 
changes in the next chapter.   Part Ten should be coming soon.

February 11th, 2004
I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
Larry S. Chengges

3 more days...

Stories

Serendipity by J. Peterson [Original/Alternative/complete]
Story summary: Ariel Peters reluctantly attends a house-warming party with her best friend. She is not prepared to meet the strangely infatuating Charlie Evans, nor is she ready to find the one thing she was never looking for. Still, the world tends to provide you with what you need, rather than what you want.

Tales of a Librarian by T. Walker
Brynn Dobhale's city seems like a perfectly normal second rate mertropolitan area, but when she meets her new lover Hart, the librarian learns that beneath the seams of her fair city is an occult underworld that she is about to discover she has always been very much a part of. In the first story of the Tales of a Librarian series Brynn meets Hart and the two begin the adventure.

Inevitable Destiny 7 - A Frightening Experience by Ken Rogers
First Samantha experiences a strange seizure giving Phyllis a bad scare then Phyllis is badly frightend by the sudden appearance of Tanya, a woman she half believed wasn't real. Tanya's sudden appearance is to bring some very bad news to an already frightened Samantha.

The Girl and Her Gift by Flame, Dani, Emyster, Slick, Spawn and Princess [alt/complete/über/round robin]
What would you do if you received a mysterious toy in the mail? What? Nothing exciting like that ever happens to you? Me either. *sigh* But it happened to Angel Dupree and her life was never the same again....

New eBooks
Just Like Jessie James – Amanda Calkins
Dregs of Summer – Cephalgia
The House on Sandstone – KG MacGregor
Hammer and Nails - Lucid

February 10th, 2004
All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.
Leo Tolstoy

4 more days...

Promises to Keep by Irish [über/alt/complete]
Devlyn always keeps her promises but for this one she'll need help.

Strike Out by AK Naten [über/alt/complete]
A woman who is unlucky in love meets up with someone who could change her losing streak. Will they get a hit, or will they strike out?

Added part 7 of The Ridded by Phair

New eBooks
The Riddle of Sappho’s End – DJ Belt
How Am I Supposed to Live Without You – Paully Adams
One Day the Heavens Opened and Sent Me an Angel – JS Connolly
Blissful Surrender – Mavis Applewater
All in a Day’s Work – Mavis Applewater
Parking Tickets – Mavis Applewater
Happy Birthday to Me – Mavis Applewater
The Feast – Emyster
Have a Disney Day – Uncaged Amazon
Many Happy Returns – Annaria
Too Far – DS Bauden
Too Much – DS Bauden
Most Cherished Dreams – D
Imperfect Past – Jessica Casavant [only up for a few days]
The Price I Paid – Mavis Applewater

February 9th, 2004

The art of love . . . is largely the art of persistence.
Albert Ellis

5 more days...

Evin's Revenge by B. Soiree [Über/alt/complete]
A fiercely competive attorney, Evin seeks revenge on her partners for hiring petite Elizabeth Montagieu, her rival. The two men have fled town for the Christmas holiday, whisking away their families in the hope of avoiding Evin’s wrath. But can they avoid detection? And what about this new hire with the soft Southern drawl and iron will who now has set her sites on the tall beauty? This is a sequel to A Million Dollar Lady.

Added part 31 of Hidden Desires by Vertigo

Added part 7 (conclusion) of Immortality and Greek Wizardry by Patricia Winterburn aka tap

February 8th, 2004

In true love the smallest distance is too great,
and the greatest distance can be bridged.
Hans Nouwens

6 more days...

Galveston 1900: Swept Away by Linda Crist [Über/alt/complete]
On September 7-8, 1900, the island of Galveston, Texas, was destroyed by a hurricane, or "tropical cyclone," as it was called in those days. This story is a fictional account of two women who lived there, and their lives during the time of the "great storm."

Added the revised version of The Riddle of Sappho's End by DJ Belt

Added part 8 of Wild by Kim Pritekel & Alexa Hoffman

February 6th, 2004
Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says: 'I need you because I love you.'
Erich Fromm

8 more days...

Added part 13 of Heart's Choice by Lois Kay

February 5th, 2004
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

9 more days...

The Riddle of Sappho's End by DJ Belt [Mel&Janice/alt/complete]
In this fifth in a series (after The Tomb, The Tears of a Goddess, The Legacy of Britannia, and A Bad Day in Algiers), Jan Covington and Mel Pappas seek out and excavate the legacy of the great poet Sappho, dealing with a jealous bureaucrat, tomb-robbers, a "curse", and one of the toughest riddles of their careers: just what caused Sappho's tragic end, and how were Xena and Gabrielle involved?

Announcement

-from Minerva

I know its been a long while, but I've started a new story called Fallen, and it is only available through my yahoo group Minervaspalace. Rory Macade finds herself stuck in love, in life and in a psychiatric facility. She struggles for answers and her memory with the help of some quirky but choice characters. It all comes down to one question: What wouldn't you do for love? Now, I know some of you are saying what about WHITE NIGHTS. I haven't forgotten or abandoned that story. I am merely using this new one as a catalyst to start the muse flowing again. So, join Minervaspalace and start over with me (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Minervaspalace)

February 4th, 2004
A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. That's basic spelling that every woman ought to know.
Mistinguett

10 more days...

How Am I Suppose to Live Without You by Paully Adams [short story/complete]
Joxer gets an invitation to a special wedding which causes him to deal with his feelings about Gabrielle.

One Day the Heavens Opened and Sent me an Angel by JS Connolly [complete/über/alt]
This is the story of Riley, a security guard, who's heart aches for the love she has yet to find, and Cass, a new truck driver who may be the answer to her prayers.

February 3rd, 2004
If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.
A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)

11 more days

Added part 8 of The Retreat by Phair

February 2nd, 2004
Forget love...I'd rather fall in chocolate!
Author Unknown

12 more days...

Here are four more from Mavis Applewater's Wednesday Afternoon Series

Blissful Surrender or Truth Or Dare Part Two, reunites two women who shared a stormy romance in High School, now that they are all grown up can they make things work?

All in a Day's Work
Rumors at work put a young woman in an interesting situation.

Happy Birthday to Me
How would you spend your birthday? One woman decides to head off for a little vacation in Mexico only to discover a very unique gift awaiting her arrival.

Parking Tickets and Other Annoyances
Parking tickets, snow storms and a cranky boss are all part of one woman's day. Things look up when she meets a very charming meter maid.

Added the edited version of The Price I Paid by Mavis Applewater

The Feast by Emyster
This is not a story of a Thanksgivings day feast. But it is a feast. Lots of kink. Enjoy!

Added the revised version of Have a Disney Day by UncagedAmazon

February 1st, 2004
In our life there is a single color, as on an artist`s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.
Marc Chagall

13 more days...

Announcements

-From Phil

WOW!

This is the best one yet. This book was a special request by our BardCon Event Organizer (and my own personal pita/ bdr requester) Denise. For the month of February, with that ever so special holiday of luvvvvvvvvvv, we bring you:

DAR ROBeast, KERRYelle and CHINiere of Beauty and The Beast.

In addition to the book image, Lucia provided us with isolated images of just the amazing characters she created too.

Run, do not walk to THE LUCIA OF THE MONTH CLUB at http://www.cafeshops.com/bc_projliteracy

It's a short month, doncha know. <.g.>

Plus, at the bottom of the page, we added some of the novelty t-shirts we talked about on the BardCon chat list.

Go browse. Remember, the tile boxes (or as I refer to them...desktop chocolate holders) make great Valentine gifts. Cafe Press is offering a $5.00 discount on orders of $45 or more. Just use the coupon code CPLUVSU when you check out. The coupon code is good until 2/4/04.

Thank you again for your continued support of StoryPlus via the LOTMC. Y'all ROCK!

PHIL
www.bardcon.com
118 days to BardCon

-From the Academy of Bards

We are officially opening our new Valentine store today. The URL to get there is http://www.cafepress.com/RAOB and go to the store....and quote me on that. Here you can buy a little piece of your favorite bards! We picked five of the reader's favorite lines so we have offerings from Radclyffe, Missy Good, Indigal, D and Anais.

Last year I ordered a tile box and found some pink and white m&ms to fill it with. That went over very nicely! Chocolates would also fit nicely. As always all profits go to charity. The charity we are honoring now is the ALS Foundation.

Oh yeah and, as Cafe Press says...you can SAVE MONEY ON YOUR HONEY.
People can save $5 off orders of $45 or more by using the coupon code of CPLUVSU when they check out. Offer good until 2/4/04

Have a Disney Day by UncagedAmazon
Short and silly story of a girl looking for her crush who happens to be Disney's Cinderella. She finds her and a whole lot more in the tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom's Castle .

Added part 12 of Heart's Choice by Lois Kay

New eBooks
Murder Has Two Faces – Tonya Coley
A Word to the Wise – Pat Winterburn
Dregs of Summer – Cephalgia
Watching the River – Monkey