Some Words of Introduction....

 

The Welcome

Hello and welcome! After a long period of procrastinating, I've finally gathered up all of my stories and put them into one place, convenient for your reading enjoyment. If you're new to my writing, I hope you'll find something to entertain and interest you here. And for all my old friends, keep your eye on these pages for the most timely and complete updates. (If anything connected with something as glacial as my writing pace can be considered timely....)

A few words of introduction to my fanfics in general...please read this if you aren't familiar with my work.

All of my current fanfics are based on anime and manga works. For those who might not know, "anime" is Japanese animation and "manga" are Japanese comics. I don't actually speak or read Japanese, so I depend upon the work of companies and fans who render these works into English. Here I'd like to offer my thanks to all of them, but especially to the fan-translators of the CLAMP mailing lists. I couldn't do this without you guys!

Most of my work grows out of shoujo anime or manga. "Shoujo" means "girl" in Japanese, and shoujo anime/manga is directed toward a female audience. What distinguishes it from "shounen" or boy's anime/manga, aside from the marketing forces of Japan? The shoujo mailing list debates this topic frequently without much consensus. My personal taste tends toward stories with much exploration of the characters' inner states and relationships, a mystical, magical, or fantastical element, and lots of beauty, particularly of the male variety. You can find all of this in shoujo, which is why I'm drawn to it (although it's true that the lines between shounen and shoujo are beginning to blur these days.)

 

So my stories tend to be romances with magical and/or psychic trappings...and they tend with fair frequency to be male/male romances. Anyone who's bothered by this concept should probably leave now...thank you. In the West, this genre is called "slash fiction"; in Japan there are several words for the nuances of romantic and sexual interaction in this type of story. The two I use most frequently are shounen ai and yaoi. "Shounen ai" means "boy's love"; the connotation is of a more subtle attraction, one which may or may not be consumated sexually. The emphasis is generally on the development of the relationship and of the characters. "Yaoi" is an acronym for something like "no climax, no point, no meaning." Typically it's more focused on sex, frequently sex for the sole purpose of sex, and it often throws together characters who would never have come together quite like that in their original series.

For the most part, neither shounen ai nor yaoi depict an authentic "gay" lifestyle, nor are they meant to. These works are generally written by women for women. One could debate for hours exactly why women like to write and read this stuff, so I'm not even going to get into it here. I like it, and right now that's good enough for me.

Anyway, neither of the words I introduced above quite works for my stories. As a rule, though, I prefer "shounen ai." My intent is usually for the sexual material to serve the growth of the story and to be a realistic expression of the characters' relationships. (Although perhaps "seinen ai"--"young man's love"--might be more appropriate in some cases, as the main characters of "Sakura and Snow," for instance, are decidedly not boys.) A couple of my one-shots have been labeled "yaoi" instead; while I like to think that they're still character-driven stories, they wouldn't exist at all without the sex.

The point of this entire digression, however is: yes, there is romance and also sex between male characters in some of my stories. At times the sex gets fairly graphic. I'd like to think that there's a lot more to the stories than just body parts, though, and for that reason I've provided expurgated versions of the "adult only" pieces wherever I could. I want readers to be able to enjoy the stories and not miss anything vital, even if they choose to skip over the more explicit sections.

 

So here's The Warning:

The default rating for this site is PG-13. I may have a somewhat liberal view of "suitable for thirteen-year-olds"; you can expect to see physical affection, references to physical attraction, acknowledgment of the existence of sexual relationships (both straight and homosexual), some violence and death, and certain people not being very nice to each other. That's just the way life is. You can also expect to see a discreet use of cuss words.

Material with graphic sexual content will be marked with an - S (for sex, sex, sex). (On the blurbs page, a distinction is made between basically shounen ai stories with some sexual material and the more yaoi stories.) Again, most of this sex is male/male. If you're uncomfortable with this idea, then don't read it. If you're under the legal age to read such things in your country, then you shouldn't be reading it either. However, that's between you and your conscience. You can also expect to see a warning page before entering any explicit chapter.

I don't generally seem to write things with extreme amounts of gore or bad language. If I do, I'll add ratings for those in the future.

 

Linking and Archiving Policies

I'm always very flattered when people like my stories enough to want them for their own web sites. However, because I have a tendency to go back and revise, I'd prefer to have links made to the stories on this site, instead of seeing them uploaded to other servers. (It gets terribly confusing for the readers to find twenty different versions of the same story, some of them missing parts or otherwise outdated.)

Since I encourage linking, it should be obvious that this is a "link-free" site, but I'll say it explicitly: you're free to link to any page on this site at any time. You don't have to ask me for permission, although I do appreciate being informed. (If you're linking to pages other than my opening one, consider putting a note on your link to inform your visitors where you're sending them, so they don't get lost and confused.) If you'd like to use a graphic for your link, you can visit my banner page.

Finally, the images on these pages were all created by me unless otherwise noted. Please don't steal my kitties and borders! I worked very hard to make this site look unique....

 

Legal Disclaimers

The works on these pages are all works of fanfiction. As somebody once said on one of the anime newsgroups, fanfiction is a lot like jaywalking: it's something we do without any real legal right to it, and for the most part nobody prosecutes. I would like to acknowledge here that all of these stories are derived from the original works of others. I have no official permission to play in the creators' worlds and with their characters; I do it because their works have inspired me, touched me, made me think, made me dream...I do it because I want to express how much they've affected me, and to share my love for these works and my interpretations of these characters with other fans. These stories are intended as homage and celebration, nothing more.

These stories are not written for any sort of material profit, and they may not be stored, reproduced, distributed, or packaged in any way for the purpose of monetary gain. The characters and the original works on which these stories are based are copyrighted to their respective creators as listed below. Unless noted, however, the actual text of the stories is copyrighted to me. Please do not adapt, mutate, or deform these stories for your own nefarious purposes. Unless for some ungodly reason you've decided to do a MSTie of one of them...in that case, send me a copy. ^_^

 

Copyrights

The characters and original story of X, Tokyo Babylon, CLAMP Campus Detectives, CardCaptor Sakura, and Clover (appearing in "Sakura and Snow," "Wings," "Dream," "X: Broken Worlds," "Two Casts....," "Magician," "Kiss of Moonlight," "Messages," "13," "26," "The Three Intimacies," "Little Green-eyes," "Kekkai," "Kekkai Lite," "Forever Is in You," "Return," "Still Waters," "Chibiphobia," "Wide as Wonder, Tall as Starlight," "Guardian," "Ordinary," "Mirrors," "Talks Too Much," and "Almost Nobody") are copyrighted by CLAMP. The manga for X and CLAMP Campus Detectives are published by Asuka Comics; Tokyo Babylon is published by Shinshokan. In the US, they're being released by Viz and Tokyopop respectively. The anime of Tokyo Babylon is copyrighted by CLAMP/Shinshokan/MOVIC/Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.The anime of CLAMP School Detectives is copyrighted by CLAMP, Kadokawa Shoten, Bandai Visual, Studio Pierrot, and TV Tokyo. The English adaptation is produced and copyrighted by AnimeVillage.com. CardCaptor Sakura is copyrighted to CLAMP and Kodansha Comics.Clover was published in Japan by Kodansha and has been released in an English version by Tokyopop/Mixx Entertainment.

The characters and original story of Please Save My Earth (appearing in "Falling from the Moon," "Love and Fishes," "True Lovers," and "Temptation") are copyrighted by Saki Hiwatari. The video was released in Japan by Victor Entertainment, and in the United States by Viz Communications. The manga of Please Save My Earth is published by Hana to Yume Comics/Hakusensha, and is now available in the U.S. from Viz.

The characters and original story of The Vision of Escaflowne (appearing in "Rain") are copyrighted by Sunrise, TV Tokyo, and Bandai Entertainment.

The characters and original story of Gundam Wing (appearing in "Come Undone" and "After Colony") are copyrighted by Sunrise and Sotsu agency.

The characters and original story of Fushigi Yuugi (appearing in "Breathing Deeply," "The Animal That Walks on Two Legs," and "Beasts") are copyrighted by Watase Yuu, Shogakukan, Flower Comics, Movic, Bandai, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Viz, Yomiun Advertisment, and Pioneer. (Wow, all those?)

The characters and original story of Weiss Kreuz (appearing in "Sword Dance," "Purity," "Catch Me," "Youji's Omelette," "Warmth," "Weiss Play D&D," and the "Not for 30 Kisses" stories) are copyrighted by Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss.

The characters and original story of Spirited Away/Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (appearing in "Crossing Over" and "Inspiration") are copyrighted 2001 by Nibariki, TGNDDTM (Tokuma Shoten, Studio Ghibli, NTV, Dentsu, Disney, Touhoku Shinsha, and Mitsubishi Commercial Affairs.

The characters and original story of Rahxephon (appearing in "Something Blue") are copyrighted 2001 by Bones - Yutaka Izubuchi/Rahxephon Project; the English version is released and copyrighted by A.D. Vision.

The characters and story of Loveless (appearing in "Everything We Touch, Changes") are copyrighted by Yun Kouga and Ichijinsha / Septimal Moon. The English manga is being released by TokyoPop; the anime is being put out by Media Blasters.

The characters and story of King of Braves GaoGaiGar (appearing in "Why Young Robots Shouldn't Play on the Information Superhighway") are copyrighted by Sunrise (Studio 7). The anime was released in the USA by MediaBlasters.

The cat-person in my index page logo was adapted from a picture in The B-Type Union, a manga by Yun Kouga (better known as the author of Earthian). I know nothing about this manga except that it's got cute cat-people (and especially cat-bishounen!) and that my edition of it was published by Newtype. If you can tell me more, drop me a line!

 

Conclusion

And there you have it: more than you could ever possibly have wanted to know. So with all of that out of the way, welcome once again, and enjoy the rest of your visit to Firecat Fanfics! If you have comments, criticisms, suggestions, or raves, you can send them to me at n-chan@firecat.net. Take care, and drive safely out there!

 

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