Introduction - Maplepunzel

The genesis of this one doesn't go back nearly as far as Hilary and the Beasts. I was originally going to do "Little Red Riding Hood" for Maple's fairy tale, but then I watched "You've Met Your Match" from the fourth season. Maple and Victor's date was one of the only ones that actually worked well. They had chemistry and looked really cute together. They worked together with Betty and Scott to help stop Abernathy and Brumpton in "And If I've Died Before I Sleep," too. 

I enjoyed writing Maple and Victor's part of Hilary and the Beasts so much, I thought the next story should go to them. "Red Riding Hood" didn't seem romantic enough, so I switched it to something that could highlight both of them. I never liked the ending of the original Grimm's "Rapunzel" story. That ends with Rapunzel either wandering in the wastelands or raising children there, the blind prince finds her, and she sobs on him and restores his sight. Then again, Disney's Tangled, though it's cute and funny, doesn't really have that much to do with "Rapunzel" other than the long hair and the girl in a tower. The question was, how could this be action-packed, dark, and funny, without going off the original story that much?

Maple LaMarsh is feeling like the lady in a tower. She's thrilled that she and Victor Comstock were able to work together with Scott and Betty and help the station with the sabotaged 52-hour broadcast, but not so much that Victor's mind is still scrambled from his work in England. He can't remember anything about the night he came back, including the first time she saw him in the police officer's uniform. As the still-ailing Maple hears Betty read "Rapunzel" on the radio, she wishes that Victor could rescue her from the tower...and that sends her feverish mind off into a romantic fairy tale, where she's more than just the girl in the tower. She's a woman who is taking control of her love and her life, in more than one way...

Re-Introduction - WENN Fairy Tale Series and Hilary and the Beasts

Hi everyone! "Where the hell have you been?" Well...not writing. I've been trying to find a better job, and I got hit rather hard with a severe case of writer's block. I started a follow up to that original fairy tale I wrote back in 2023, then got stalled and couldn't figure out where to go with it. I started no less than five different Match Game fanfics and stalled on all of them. I considered a Monkees fanfic set in the 80's after re-watching the show last fall, then decided I wasn't that into the fandom anymore.

In early May, I finally got a second job as an assistant at an after-school program...and I loved it. I loved working with the pre-schoolers. It really re-energized me. And though I  ultimately didn't write fanfiction for it, I enjoyed seeing The Monkees again enough to re-watch another favorite sitcom of mine. 

It had been a decade since I last watched the 1996-1998 cult historical comedy-drama Remember WENN straight through. The ongoing saga of a small-time radio station in Pittsburgh in the years leading up to World War II has been my favorite show since 1997, and watching it again reminded me of how brilliant it was and is. It helps that it's now far more available than it was in 2015, too. AMC finally posted it in full on their streaming site AMC Plus in 2022. The first two seasons are free on Plex, and the first three seasons are currently on YouTube and the Internet Archive. 

Among the many fanfic ideas I came up with back in 2015 were a series of fairy tales revolving around a WENN staff member during or after an episode of the series. I got The Little MerBetty, Scott White and the Seven Actors, and the Christmas story Babes In WENNland done before my muse wandered to the Star Wars franchise. Had my muse stayed put, the next story in that series would have been Hilary and the Beasts. I've not only returned to that original idea, but have expanded it tenfold. 

Originally, the "Beasts" were Scott Sherwood and Jeff Singer...but given the 4th season setting, I had to sneak in Maple LaMarsh and Victor Comstock, whom I thought worked well together. Hilary Booth, Betty Roberts, and Maple LaMarsh are quite tired of their beastly men after their dates in "You've Met Your Match" all went off the rails. They wish their men weren't quite so difficult to deal with. Hilary's attempt to re-write the script for the Book at Bedtime version of "Beauty and the Beast" to spotlight her leads to the story of an actress and her two younger sisters who end up dealing with three real beasts of their own after their father steals a rose for the eldest. 

And if you enjoyed this (very long) story, there's a lot more WENN Tales coming! Next up, Maple takes center stage as she dreams of Victor Comstock rescuing her from a tower...and her rescuing him from Pavla Nemcova and his own fractured memory in Maplepunzel. 

Introduction - A Brett Somers Story: Blank In Wonderland

I know it's been a long, long time since I last posted anything here. I originally planned on doing a long Match Game western after Pirates of Blank, then a superhero story. They fell by the wayside when this idea caught me and wouldn't let go...and then I had a lot of personal problems and difficulty finding a place to live in late 2021 and early 2022 that often didn't leave me with time for extra writing, plus I came down with Covid around New Year's. 

I have, however, long been a fan of Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. So's Brett Somers, who's holding an after-taping party for some of the panelists and her sons and Richard Dawson's. Her own mind is really on her ex-husband Jack Klugman and her feelings for them...and it'll lead her down a very strange rabbit hole populated by "weirdos" who seem very familiar...

Introduction - A Gene Rayburn Story: Pirates of Blank

Growing up by the Jersey Shore, I've long been a fan of pirate yarns and nautical adventures. My sisters and I listened to high-seas stories, real and imagined, the way other kids heard fairy tales. We used to dream of digging up pirate treasure like the kids in The Goonies. We never did find treasure, but those stories stayed with me...and they've inspired many of my fanfics, including this one. 

It's June 1978, and Match Game host Gene Rayburn wishes he were in the middle of the ocean, or anywhere but CBS Television City in Burbank. Richard Dawson, formerly his best panelist, now the host of Family Feud, just finished his last day of taping. He behaved badly the whole week, barely playing the game and never enjoying it. Gene's fed up with him and tired of his boss Mark Goodson complaining to him about their falling ratings. He wonders what being a pirate would have been like, over two hundred years before...

Introduction - A Charles Nelson Reilly Story: Fairy Tale Blank

My second Match Game fanfic took me a LOT longer than expected! I was originally going to do a spy spoof featuring Richard Dawson. I'll likely still do that, but I thought it needed more work. Fairy tales, on the other hand, are something I know well. I thought I could knock this out in a few months...but the craziness in the spring increased my hours at work, and then I broke my elbow in May and moved in July. Not to mention, this story wound up being really big. I wanted to get everyone in and see what I could do with so many different people and characters.

Having focused on Brett in the last story, I thought I'd work with her partner in this one. Even today, Charles is known for his portrayal of oddballs and nebbishes on shows like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir...but for once, he'd like to be a hero. Encouraged by Brett to be "the hero of his own story," Charles dreams himself into a fantasy world where he can save his friends...and prove that you don't need to look like a typical tough guy to be a true hero. 

Introduction - Brett Somers: The Most Dangerous Blank

First of all, The Rebel League Star Wars stories are on hiatus, and I may or may not complete the second and third installments...because I've discovered something else.

This may be the strangest piece of media I've ever fallen in love with. Back in April, I discovered that the digital channel Buzzr, a station devoted to rerunning vintage game shows of the 50's through the early 2000's, streams for free online. While I enjoyed seeing old childhood favorites like Card Sharks, Supermarket Sweep, and Press Your Luck again, the show that intrigued me the most was one I barely remembered - Match Game. Host Gene Rayburn asked a panel of six star comedians and sitcom favorites a goofy question, and they'd have to match the contestant's answers.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, the difference between this and the games of my childhood was personality. Three of the panelists - crusty, tough Brett Somers, fussy sophisticate Charles Nelson Reilly, and suave Brit Richard Dawson - were regulars who played off a rotating cast of a who's who of the comedy, game show, and sitcom world of the 70's and early 80's (including Betty White). Gene was as wild as any of his panelists, doing bad imitations for some questions and openly flirting with any even vaguely attractive woman within his reach.

Even what Buzzr showed in the afternoon and evenings wasn't enough. To my delight, I discovered that someone has been cleaning up and posting most of the existing episodes on YouTube. Watching all the antics onstage - from Gene breaking through a stuck door to Richard starting a riot when the judge didn't accept his reasonable answer - got the wheels turned in my head. I began to think of scenarios as I listened to their comments and did some research on the regulars at Wikipedia and elsewhere.

I thought this crazy cast of characters would be a great way to explore genres I don't normally play around in...like horror. That brings us to this story. Brett Somers, having just separated from her husband and drank a little too much at lunch, has a nasty nightmare that eventually concerns the whole panel, and the producer of the show, too.

And a major warning that this is intended to be for adults only. There's bad language (especially from Richard towards the end), violence, and general horror mayhem. For those of you who dare, I submit to you, Brett Somers. A comedienne upset by her husband's walking out and her own fears of being nothing more than a puppet on a show. Miss Somers is about to discover that there are games out there a lot scarier than fill-in-the-blank, as she takes on...The Most Dangerous Blank.

Introduction - The Rebel League and the Death Ray

I was inspired to write this one by several behind-the-scenes photos I've found of the Original Trilogy...and because this was the world the Original Trilogy was released into, and in a way, created. This was also the world of my early childhood – disco, glittering nightclubs, slinky pantsuits, Charlie's Angels in no bras, guys in powder-blue leisure suits, huge boxy cars in shades of orange and brown, gowns based on the 30's or the pioneer era – and I guess I just wanted to get some fond memories out.

This was also inspired by the recent wave of superhero movies. I'm taking inspiration from the superhero and science fiction made between 1977 and 1992 - sometimes wacky, sometimes cheesy, sometimes dark, always fun!

This was originally supposed to be novel-length, but I decided it would be easier to write in parts. Look for part 2, The Rebel League and the Freeze Machine, coming soon!

Introduction - The Adventures of Han of the Hood: A Star Wars Original Trilogy Fairy Tale

Finally! This took way longer than I'd planned on. Financial and family problems and erratic work schedules took their toll on my writing. This was intended to be a part of my Star Wars Fairy Tales series, but I opted to retain its less-magical folklore roots instead. I think I'm getting a little burnt-out on flat-out fantasy. It was originally going to be much longer and get further into Han and Baron Du Hutt, but I just plain got tired of writing it and opted to wrap it up early.

At any rate, I hope you still enjoy the tale of a rogue who never meant to rob from the rich to give to the poor...but ultimately discovered that giving is it's own reward.

Introduction - The Snow Queen

This is a story I've been meaning to do for a long time. I first got the idea in 2016 and had originally planned on doing it during the winter of 2017...but then Carrie Fisher died, and it just didn't feel right. One way or another, it kept getting pushed further to the back burner. One of of the things on my "to do" list for the new year is to clear out a lot of old Star Wars fanfic ideas that have been lingering on my story ideas list for two years or longer, or ones that revolve around the Original Trilogy.

Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie arrive in a planet of snow and ice that's a bit less hostile than Hoth. They get a warm greeting from Lady Gerda, but the head of the planet, Queen Frostra, remains mysterious and aloof...until Luke disappears in the snow, and the other three take off across Norweden's frozen plains to rescue him from the Snow Queen.

Introduction - A Star Wars Christmas Carol

After last year's Star Wars Christmas fanfic, BB In Toyland, kind of got away from me, I decided I'd try something simpler this year. What could be simpler than one of the most beloved holiday stories in the world? A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens' beloved tale of a miser who learns an important lesson about giving one Christmas Eve, is an old favorite of mine. I read a chapter a day of it every day leading up to Christmas Eve, and have since high school. This is one story I know quite well.

It was also my first time really working with the Prequels characters. In most of my other stories, they're mentioned or are minor characters. Chapter 2 is the first time many of them besides Anakin and Ahsoka are really important in one of my stories. While I still don't love the Prequels like many younger people who grew up with them do, I don't hate them as much as I used to, either. If nothing else, after having enjoyed doing the Past segment in Chapter 2, I might finally be ready to get around to doing the two Prequels stories I have planned, possibly sometime later next year.

At any rate, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you enjoy the story of Anakin Scrooge, and how the ghost of his former boss and three more spirits help him find redemption...and learn just how important charity is for many people...

Introduction - Tales of the Gold Wookie

Another genre I'm a big fan of is swashbuckling adventures about archaeologists and treasure hunters. I also love mid-20th-century history. This was originally going to be a more typical 20's gangster story, but first I saw photos of Harrison Ford in a bomber jacket (for the 1979 movie Hanover Street) on Tumblr, and then ran into this Tumblr photoset, and I though...pilot. He's a pilot for hire in the 30's. 

Other inspirations include the late Elizabeth Peters' long-running book series about female archaeologist Amelia Peabody and her family uncovering lost artifacts in Egypt, the short-lived early 80's TV show Tales of the Gold Monkey (and the Disney cartoon series Tail Spin it may have inspired), the novels of H. Rider Haggard, and the National Treasure and, of course, the Indiana Jones films.

I actually began this story in the summer of 2016, but I couldn't figure out the plot then and moved on to other projects. I gave it another brief shot around April 2017, but then decided I wanted to use the Rogue One characters as freedom fighters. Ended up waiting for the movie to come out so I could know them better...and in one way or another, never got back to it until June. This is one of the earliest Star Wars fanfic ideas I had, probably around the winter-spring of 2016. I don't think it's the best thing I've ever done, but I'm glad I finally finished it. Here's hoping you enjoy the adventures of Dr. Leia Skylark, her brother, and their friends, too!

(And yes, there's a sequel hook for a reason. I may return to this universe, though it likely won't be any time in the near future, considering the backlog of story ideas I have.)

Introduction - Lady Leia and the Prince

This novella was inspired by a writing prompt at Tumblr that suggested Leia as a knight who rescues imprisoned Prince Han from a dungeon and helps him rescue the throne from his dastardly brother. I loved the "Leia rescues Prince Han," but the dastardly brother...no. Brought this closer to the Star Wars universe by replacing him with Palpatine. This is also intended to be my version of several popular alternative universe fanfiction strains, including "Padme, Anakin, and/or Obi-Wan raise the twins," "Han/Luke/Leia switch places," and "Leia is trained as a Jedi."

I think I sort of lost this one in the end. It took a lot longer and got far more complicated than the simple "girl rescues boy" fantasy I'd intended! I've had this one in development for a long time. I believe this is actually the third Star Wars fanfic idea I came up with in the spring of 2016 after The Summer Strikes Back and the 30's novel. I was going to do it last winter after Leia and the Old Warlock of the Woods, but then Carrie Fisher died, and I just didn't feel like I was up to it.

Thought it was time to finally clear out some of my older prompts and actually work on this one. Hope you enjoy my first venture into hard-core sword-and-sorcery fantasy!

Introduction - BB In Toyland

This is my Star Wars version of one of the oldest and most beloved of all Broadway musicals, the operetta Babes In Toyland. The opening was mostly inspired by the infamously cheesy 1986 TV version, and there are some parallels to The Wizard of Oz as well. This was supposed to have been the Christmas story for 2017, but I got so caught up with the holidays and a lot of trouble over New Year's, I didn't have the chance to finish it until now. At any rate, I hope you enjoy it as a bit of the holiday season in bleak January.

Eight-year-old Barbara Beatrix "BB" Dameron is excited to go with her brother Poe to visit Skywalker's Department Store in downtown Philadelphia. While she's there, she overhears a plot by the owner's son to force his mother to sell the company to Alexander Snoke and his First Order Value Department Stores chain. Worried but tired, she falls asleep in the mini-train in the toy department...and wakes up in Toyland, a land of houses made of gingerbread and factories that make nothing but toys. Here, she has to help Poe the Piper's Son and Rey Quite Contrary stop the evil Barnaby Snoke and Sir Kylo Ren from taking over the Factory and destroying all of Toyland forever! 

Introduction - Beauties and the Frogs

This was originally intended to be two fanfics. I'd noticed that there seemed to be no Beauty and the Beast-type stories online written around the one Star Wars couple the fairy tale would, in fact, have suited - Han Solo and Princess Leia. I also wanted to do The Frog Prince for Finn and Rey. When I realized how similar the two stories are, I brought them together for my second Sequel Trilogy-based fantasy novella.

And then I thought...why not bring along other characters? I'd been wanting to do more with some of the other Resistance members, like Snap and Jess, as well as Hux and Mitaka of the First Order. (Incidentally, I believe that the First Order members are villains, and are supposed to be villains in the movies. They will be played as such here, including Kylo Ren.)

Which is why Queen Leia now has a trio of adopted daughters who join her in solving the mystery of Deckard Manor and it's amphibian inhabitants who look like frogs..but walk and think like men.

Introduction - The Summer Strikes Back

I began this Star Wars fanfic last year, but stopped it after Part 6 due to other concerns and the end of the real-life summer. After The Adventures of the Crimson Hawk came out so well, I thought I'd dust this one off and give it another chance as my second novel. I think I did pretty well on it, considering part of it is older material.

The Summer Strikes Back was originally inspired by this series of fan art by Italian comic artist Denis Medri I found on DeviantArt  back in December 2015. I loved the idea of writing Star Wars as a 1980's action-comedy, but had a hard time working with the high school setting. I was four years old in 1983. I knew nothing about high school in the 80's besides what I'd seen in John Hughes movies.

I did, however, know about the Jersey Shore. I grew up in Cape May, a small town on the very tip of New Jersey, in the 1980's and early 90's. Switching the setting from a small fictional Philadelphia high school in 1983 to a small fictional Jersey Shore town in the summer of 1983 made everything click. I was able to make ample use of not only my memories, but my family's memories of the Shore during that time period. This is now a tribute to all the comedies of the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's that had a small band of misfits gathering together to rescue some place close to them from evil snobs, developers, or corporate types.

Major warning that this is intended to be my first full-fledged adult novel. There's violence, adult themes, a brief reference to nudity and sex in Part 15, drinking, references to drug use, and quite a bit of swearing. If this were a movie, it would be an R. Despite the child characters in the later parts, this is for ages 15 and over.

Introduction - The Adventures of the Crimson Hawk

And here it is, after much delay...my first novel! At six months in the making and over 104,000 words, this is my longest completed work to date. I've always loved swashbucklers. I've written them for the TV shows Perfect Strangers and Remember WENN, but this is an even more epic undertaking. The Star Wars franchise already has some elements of old-fashioned, sword-and-pirates tales, as well as Japanese samurai stories. I decided to play up the former, adding in a bit of steampunk with the airships and light guns and odd machines.

Warning - this is neither light reading, nor a quick, easy read. It's 31 chapters and may take a while to get through. If you have time on your hands, I hope you enjoy the tale of spirited Duchess Leia Organa and the dashing bandits she met one fateful summer in Europe, the roguish Crimson Hawk and his ward, the mysterious and kind-hearted Golden Eagle...

Introduction - Cinder-Han

This took a LOT longer than I originally planned! First, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds died, and I ended up doing two short stories to deal with my feelings. Then I discovered my rent was being increased, not to mention I continue to have financial problems, both of which I discuss in more detail in my regular blog. I also joined Pinterest, which proved to be a huge distraction.

Most of all...this story just ended up being a lot longer than a simple fairy tale. I don't think it came out too horribly, for all the problems I had while writing it. I've seen Star Wars versions of Cinderella that had Obi-Wan as the servant and Qui-Gon as the princely Jedi, as well as Luke/Han and quite a few Finn/Poe. Oddly enough, I've never seen one used for the original Star Wars couple, Han and Leia. Maybe people didn't think of it for them because Leia's nobody's little cinder girl...but what about her swaggering smuggler swain? As with The Girl and the Sorcerer, I thought a gender-reversal was in order. Here, Han is the put-upon servant, while Leia is the dashing royal in search of a groom.

Incidentally, my next project will probably be (finally) The Resistance Kids Go Camping. I'll then either finish the Original Trilogy 30's adventure story I started last year, do the Luke/Han/Leia Snow Queen, or do the Sequel Trilogy Beauty and the Beast. We'll see how things go.

Introduction - The Star Wars Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is one of my favorite holiday tales. As I mentioned when I did a version of for Remember WENN years ago, I'm not a big fan of the original book The Hard Nut. Instead, I took The Force Awakens and several versions of the ballet (including the Barbie movie and the animated film The Nutcracker Prince) and mashed them together.

It took me a while to figure out how to do this one. I couldn't decide whether to do it with the Force Awakens cast or the Original Trilogy cast. After I decided on that, I had to figure out whether to keep the opening and closing segments in their original Victorian setting, or move them elsewhere, including to modern times. I ultimately decided I wanted to explore the relationship between Rey, the Solos, and Luke and thought the story worked best in the time it was written, the early 1890's.

I hope you enjoy this holiday treat! I'll be working on a few more original short Christmas stories this month as well. If you don't celebrate Christmas, don't despair! I'm also hoping to catch up on my Star Wars Original Trilogy fairy tales, as well as The Resistance Kids Go Camping, before New Year's. I'll return to longer stories after the holidays.

Introduction - The Resistance Kids and the Haunted House

This was inspired by and is a homage to the "B" comedy series The Bowery Boys. The series basically involved a group of young adults (they weren't really "boys" by the time the series proper began in 1946) who got into wild adventures while hanging around a soda shoppe in their Lower East Side neighborhood. The group did at least five horror-themed comedies over the years. This one borrows some elements from Master Minds, Spook Chasers, and The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters, but like the fairy tales I did earlier in the year, it's also something of a Force Awakens retelling.

(This is going to be a good place to acknowledge that - spoiler alert - Han Solo doesn't die here, and probably won't in the next Force Awakens story I  have planned, either. His death fits the story told in the movie, but it doesn't work with a horror comedy or a relatively light fantasy. I may work it into the sequel-based Wizard of Oz story I'm developing. We'll see what happens.)

I enjoyed doing this one so much, I've decided I'm going to take a note from Monogram/Allied Artists/Warner Bros and turn it into a series. I'm hoping to get to The Resistance Kids Go Camping by sometime in December or early January. We'll see how things go.

Introduction - Princess Leia and the Merman

My original plan for this month was to get started on the 30's story...but then, in the middle of the night about three weeks ago, I was thinking about "Princess Elena and the Trolls" and that I still had princesses rescuing princes on the brain. Well...does princesses rescuing merman smugglers count? This is kind of a blending of several ideas I had, including the Little Merman story and the medieval story.

I love stories that turn convention on its ear and has the girl rescue the boy, which is probably one of the reasons I love Star Wars so much. Princess Leia Organa is very good at coming to the aid of her men...including a certain prince of a smuggler who drives her crazy...