ETA 12/1/14: Another new sort item is the ability to filter by whether a story is marked as read or not. SoaringClaws asked for this a while back, and it's taken me a little bit to get it set up, but now on most browse pages, if you're logged in, you'll see this option among the top of the page drop-downs:
Remember, you need to mark stories as read for them to be included, since they aren't automatically marked that way if you view a story.
There's an item I wanted to point out just to hopefully avoid confusion. I had a few members ask me to add a new option to the bookshelf sort choices. They wanted to be able to sort their bookshelf by the date stories were added. The reason I didn't add that option in the first place is because the date isn't set in stone. What that means is, the date is added when you add the story to your bookshelf. Then, every time you click on a new chapter of the story, the date changes to reflect the day when you read the story. Since the date is fluid, I didn't want people to be confused but the fact that the stories would frequently appear to be in a different order since the dates would change. However, after a few people asked for the option, I figured that we're all big boys and girls (or we should be ;) ), and that you all could probably figure is out. So, now when you look at your bookshelf, in the sort drop-down, you can now choose 'Date Added to Shelf/Last Read'. This will show the stories in your bookshelf starting with the ones that were most recently added/read.
Also, I added this a while ago, but I don't think I ever pointed it out. For members who like to read on a dark background, I added a darker version of the simple skin called, uh, simple-dark. Creative, I know.
Holidays are coming up, so before the rush starts, be sure to get your Member of the Month nominations in!
Let me know if you have any questions.
--Susan on November 14, 2014 05:07am 7 Comments
Many new stories are featuring banners, and they are wonderful. We love banners, and are in awe of the work and creativity it takes to make them. That said, we know they can make it difficult to inconspicuously sneak a peek at the most recent list while at work sometimes you just want things simple and clean. So, you now have the option to hide banners from the browse pages and story index. Banners are always shown by default. To change your settings, go to your preferences, uncheck the box for 'Display banners on browse pages and story index' and click submit. If you uncheck the box, the banners will be hidden, and in their place you'll see a message that says '** Click here to see this story's banner**'. If you want to view the banner, you can hover over that message to see a thumbnail of the image, or you can click the message to view the image full size. Remember that it sometimes takes a little push for your phone/computer to register the style changes, so you may need to refresh your page if things don't look quite right.
In totally unrelated news, you may have noticed that your statistics page now includes your total wordcounts for stories and reviews written. I recently modded the reviews to keep track of review wordcounts (this only includes your initial review, not responses by you or the author) because I felt review wordcount was just as, if not more, important than the regular review count.
As always, let me, Megan or pfeifferpack know if you have any questions.
--Susan on September 12, 2014 07:02am 2 Comments
Okay, I know I just posted a news item, and I hate to post them too frequently. However, I felt these awesome new site awards, created by EffulgentEllie, deserved a post all their own. From now on, all our members of the month and members who make our yearly top 10 lists, will get a gorgeous award placed in a new section on their profile. Let's all take a moment to admire the awards that have already been added.
Thank you again, EffulgentEllie!
--Susan on August 04, 2014 07:13pm 13 Comments
We now have our first Members of the Month! Congratulations to stuffandnonsense and magnus374! 21 authors and 7 reviewers were nominated by a total of 36 members (not everyone nominated members for both categories), which is a really great start. The nomination process can only be successful with your help, so please continue to use this as an opportunity to let our authors/reviews know that you appreciate their contributions. Nominations for September members are now open!
Previously, when viewing a story on EF, you could read online one chapter at a time or download chapters/entire stories as Word, HTML or ePub files. However, you now have the option to read an entire story in one page while online. If a story has more than one chapter, on that story's table of contents, you'll now see a link to "View All Chapters". This option also can be found in the chapter listing drop-down menu you see while viewing the story itself. If you choose to view all the chapters, you'll notice that at the end of every chapter, there's a link to leave a review. Clicking the link will open up a pop-up window where you'll be able to leave a review for the chapter you just read without losing your place in the story. One thing to note, if you have a story in your bookshelf, it will note the last chapter you read only if you're reading the story one chapter at a time. If you choose to view all chapters, the system has no idea which chapters you've actually viewed, so it will not keep track of your last read chapter.
A month ago, we added a category for authors who wanted to put their fics up for "adoption" on a trial basis to see if there was interest in such a category. We didn't have any fics added to the new category, so we're assuming that author interest just isn't there and it has been removed. That said, if an author does want to give up a fic to a new author for whatever reason, we have no problem with that author noting their feelings in the story's summary, or letting others know about it in the shoutbox.
As always, let us know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc...
--Susan on August 01, 2014 09:15am 5 Comments
We have so many wonderful authors and reviewers here at Elysian Fields, and now you have the chance to help us recognize some of the members who make EF such a great site. Every month we will have two members of the month, one author and one reviewer. So, how are the members of the month chosen? That's where you come in! Starting on the 1st of every month, nominations will open and you can head over to the nominations page to fill in your choices. Not sure who you want to nominate? You have until midnight on the 20th 25th to get your nominations in. Also, if you change your mind, you can change your vote since the nominations aren't counted until after the 20th 25th (your nomination only counts once no matter how many times you change your vote or hit the submit button).
Since nominations are open for most of the month, we're choosing for the following month (for example, right now nominations are for the August members of the month). After voting is over, the members with the highest number of nominations in each category will be selected. If there's a tie for the highest number of nominations, the tie breaker will be chosen at random. The members of the month will then be displayed for all to see in the new section on the main page sidebar.
There's some more information over on the nominations page, so be sure you read that over before submitting your nominations. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.
--Susan on July 01, 2014 06:10am 3 Comments
I just wanted to post a brief news item on Adopt-A-Fic, a new category that was recently added. A few members wanted a way for authors to show that they are no longer willing nor able to finish a WIP that they have written, and they are now interested in giving the fic to a new author so that it may be finished. If this is the case, authors may add the Adopt-A-Fic category to their stories so authors interested in picking up an existing story can easily find available works. There is some debate on author interest level, so the category has been added on a trial basis. We will re-evaluate the necessity of such a category after one month.
The decision for a story to be added to the Adopt-A-Fic category is that of the original author alone. Please do not contact authors asking them to do this. Asking an author to give one of their stories to another author is one of the surest ways to anger them.
Edit 11/08/14 The deadline for this trial has now passed. I will be deleting this category, but this does not mean that any authhor at ANY time can't choose to offer an unfinished fic up to the masses with a new chapter/Author not or announcing it's availability in the tag. If you have any questions, please PM me.
--Susan on June 27, 2014 05:53am 2 Comments
A little while back EffulgentEllie and 3hours made a couple of suggestions for the challenge section, so I did a bit of work to hopefully fulfill their requests. When you look at challenges, you'll notice that at the bottom there are 2 new options. If you see a challenge that piques your interest that you might want to respond to at a later date, just click the first option [Save this challenge] and the challenge will be stored on your saved challenges list, which is accessible on your account info page. If you see a challenge that you don't want to take on, but feel like it's a great idea that you'd love to see come to fruition, click [Second this challenge]. You can see how many members have seconded a challenge on the top row next to the number of responses. In the example below, you can see a '+1' because one member decided that Puddinhead's challenge is awesome and should definitely be brought to life. If 2 members seconded the challenge, it would show a '+2' and so on...
On the challenge browse page, there are new sort options. Before, you could only sort alphabetically or by most recent, but now you can sort alphabetically by the challenge author, by most responses (i.e. the number of stories created from each challenge) or most wanted (i.e. the number of members who have seconded a challenge).
Since there are a couple of new challenge options on your account info page, you may notice that the order of the boxes is a little different. I switched things up just to keep things looking even (lack of symmetry makes me twitchy).
Big thanks go to spuffy luvr for looking over all this for me. Her awesomeness never ceases to amaze me .
As always, let me know if you have any questions or issues.
--Susan on May 29, 2014 10:24am 7 Comments
We now have a new way to contact other members here at Elysian Fields. Before, the member contact link had you send an email, and a few people mentioned to me that they were leery of sending out their email addresses. So, after much coding (and a little frustration), we now have a new method. When you click the envelope icon in a user's profile, it will allow you to send a private message. The message will be stored here, and will not force you to include your email address.
When you receive a private message, you will be sent an email notification with a link to the PM (don't reply to the email because the PM sender won't see your reply). Also, you'll know you have a new PM because there will be a little envelope icon in the top menu (the envelope wont be there if you don't have any unread messages):
If you hover over the envelope, it will tell you how many new private messages you have, and if you click on it, it will take you to your inbox. There is also a link to your inbox on your account info page. Once you're at the inbox you can view and reply to messages.
This was a big project for me, so the possibility that I've forgotten something or messed something up is definitely there. If you notice anything not working as you think it should, be patient and let me know about it (with a PM, perhaps ) . If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks!
--Susan on April 24, 2014 05:45pm 7 Comments
2013 brought Elysian Fields many changes (server issues, switching hosts, upgrading software, new features, etc...). With all those changes come growing pains, and we can't thank you all enough for sticking with us, being patient and continuing to support us. Despite being a 7 year old archive focusing on a show that went off the air in 2003, we have remained active, and that is all thanks to our wonderful authors and readers. Here's to an even better 2014. Happy New Year from all of us at Elysian Fields!
2013 by the numbers:
Total number of words written for stories: 4,688,476
New stories: 174
New chapters: 1,313
New members: 1,602
Reviews written: 6,543
Most prolific authors of 2013:
1. Passion4Spike (366,354 words)
2. sweetprincipale (273,320 words)
3. KittenOfDoomage (190,407 words)
4. spuffy luvr (188,626 words)
5. badgervamp (122,560 words)
6. hulettwyo (119,862 words)
7. tempestt (116,873 words)
8. ginar369 (76,585 words)
9. abstracted (75,972 words)
10. ddysrs (72,570 words)
Most prolific reviewers of 2013:
1. magnus374 (966 reviews - Wow!)
2. ginar369 (354 reviews)
3. All4Spike (242 reviews)
4. Lou (188 reviews)
5. ScarlettDuck (184 reviews)
6. ILoveLamp (156 reviews)
7. lambean (152 reviews)
8. waddiwasiwitch (151 reviews)
9. nmcil (145 reviews)
10. Amasirol (140 reviews)
--Susan on January 01, 2014 04:46am 4 Comments
Hi all! The holidays are upon us! Yup, not only Christmas but the Solstice, Yule, Kwanzaa, New Years and we just missed Hanukkah (came so early this year). There are likely even more holidays that I am forgetting but you will remember fondly. Anyway....
Time for fic rec's to give us that 'ole holiday feeling. I'm trying to select fic that haven't already been featured so anyone with a special fav you would love to clue everyone in to enjoy, now is the hour. Drop a comment here or e-mail me with the fic rec (provided it's here on our site of course LOL) and we'll see about letting everyone else in on the yummy holiday treat.
Thanks and wishes for a very Spuffy holiday,
Kathleen
--pfeifferpack on December 15, 2013 01:13pm 1 Comment
Just a few items for this Thursday morning (or whenever it is where you are).
First, I wanted to point out that I have done some work on the reviews section. When you get an email saying that you have a new review or an author response, it will now include the review/response text (this is only if you have it set to email you for those things in your preferences, of course). Also, the author response section now includes the date/time of the response and it is more clearly separated from the review itself so that it's more noticeable. This will not apply to previously posted responses though since they are already formatted and I don't want to go into the database and reformat thousands of reviews. The biggest change though is that once an author responds to a review, the reviewer has the ability to add additional comments, as does the author. The screen cap below shows the new threaded review system. I've been staring at a screen for a little too long, so if this is confusing, let me know and I'll answer any questions you may have. As always, let me know if anything looks off or doesn't seem to be working properly.
Next, I wanted to update you all on the addition of classic Spuffy fics to EF. As you can tell by the lack of classic fics being updated, it's kind of come to a screeching halt. I sent out lots of emails, but most got returned due to out of date email addresses. If you happen to know any of the older authors, feel free to let them know that we would be more than happy to load their fics on here for them, but other than that, I think that well has kind of run dry.
Finally, I noticed that as of late October, Elysian Fields has been online for 7 years. Happy birthday to us .
--Susan on November 07, 2013 05:44am 4 Comments
I feel like I keep posting new news items. I'm not usually this productive, so I don't know what's gotten into me. There are a just a few items that I wanted to bring to your attention. First off, we have a new skin thanks to a wonderful banner that was submitted by Spikesterolic. If you look in the skin dropdown, you'll now see an option for drinking buddies (Don't forget, the best way to change your skin choice is in your preferences. The other dropdowns don't always save the change.).
Next up, we've always had the option to either leave a review, an opinion or both in the review area at the end of a chapter. As soon as someone marked that they liked a chapter (whether there was an attached review or not), the thumbs up icon appeared on the story and chapter. There wasn't really much information after that since the icon appeared the same whether 1 person or 100 people liked the chapter. I thought it might be handy for authors to see how many people had liked their works, so I modified it to show the number of likes per chapter and story. As always, there may be some coding issues I've overlooked. If you notice anything off, let me know.
Readers, make sure you're out there leaving reviews and marking that you liked the work you've just enjoyed. According to the site statistics, there have been over 2,500 members active in the last 3 months, so our authors should be getting plenty of constructive, considerate feedback.
In slightly related news, I wanted to thank the Chatzy crew for humoring me when I show up with ideas or ask for guinea pigs to help test new items. You guys are the best .
--Susan on September 27, 2013 06:04am 7 Comments
So I was chatting with spuffy luvr, and I got an idea (Isn't that how all great ideas come about? By chatting with spuffy luvr?). Anyway, the gist of it was that there are so many wonderful classic Spuffy stories/authors that are slowly disappearing as various author websites and other archives go offline. It's really a shame that many quality stories are vanishing even though there are so many people still in the fandom around to enjoy them. I'm hoping to contact some of the classic authors to see if they will give Elysian Fields permission to add their work to our archive (nothing will be added without the author's permission first). If you have any classic authors who are no longer active in the fandom that you'd like added, you can let me know through the site email (ssolace at gmail.com), and I'll see what I can do. One of the main issues is finding current contact information since most of the listings are woefully out of date, so if you happen to have contact information for them, that would be pretty swell.
I have already gone ahead and contacted a few of my favorites, so there are a few things to add already. As new (old?) stories get added, please review them as usual. Just don't get too excited when you see them in the most recent list. They're not headed back into writing Spuffy fanfic, it's just me adding stuff.
--Susan on September 16, 2013 07:16am 14 Comments
There's a magical period of time coming up that will be after my kids begin school and before my job starts back up. Since that means I'll have some free time, I thought I'd see if there are any requests/suggestions/comments about the technical aspects and features on the site. Is there anything we don't have that you'd like to see? Any ideas on how the site could be more user friendly? Please submit your thoughts in the comments below, and try to be as specific as possible.
The other mods and I will take all the suggestions under consideration, but please keep in mind that we may not be able to make them all happen. We are restricted somewhat by the software that powers the site and database usage considerations, so there are some limitations. However, we promise we'll do our best.
Thank you!
--Susan on August 12, 2013 11:59am 25 Comments
As requested, we now have detailed beta profiles where betas can specify their preferences and abilities. The previous beta list has been removed, so if you want to beta, you must go fill out your new profile. To do this, go to your account info page. Under the Profile and Preferences section, click on the link for Edit Beta Profile. For your beta status, if you select 'Currently accepting new stories', then you will be added to the active beta list and your beta profile will also be viewable on your main profile page. If you select 'Not currently accepting stories', you will be marked as a beta, but your information will not appear in the active beta list and your profile will note that you are not currently active. Please fill out the information in your beta profile as completely as possible.
If you don't want to be a beta, you don't have to fill anything out. By default, members are not betas. You only need to fill out your beta profile if you want to be added to the list.
I need to thank Puddinhead for her help with this. She looked over everything for me, wrote the new tips for beta readers and authors, and is just generally wonderful. Let's all take a moment to reflect upon her awesomeness.
As always, additions to the site can sometimes be a little glitchy in the beginning. If anything looks buggy, send me a message and let me know.
--Susan on July 19, 2013 06:43am 7 Comments
Over the last few weeks, I've made a few tweaks to the site based on comments and emails from various members, so thanks to those who have let me know when they noticed a bug. There were a few issues with the advanced search that have been resolved, and the issues with the ePub files that have a ? in the title have been fixed. Also, I added a random story section on the main page (under the most recent stories), because who doesn't love a random story once in a while. Basically, every time you load the homepage, a new story will appear at random.
However, the main reason for this post is a new feature I wanted to explain. Previously, each story gave you the following options: [Add to Bookshelf] [Add Story to Favorites] [Add Author to Favorites]. Now, there's an additional choice: [Mark as Read]. When you click Mark as Read, you'll be taken to a confirmation page. When you look back at that story in the listings or on the story page, it will have a red check mark next to the title. This way, when you're looking at a long list of stories, you'll easily be able to differentiate between stories you've already read and once you haven't. If you want to see a listing of the stories that you've marked as read, there's a new option for that in the Favorites and Bookshelf section of your Account Info page. The stories you mark as read are not public, and are only viewable by you.
Let me know if you have any questions, and as always, feel free to let me know if something with the site seems buggy or isn't working correctly. Also, I still remember the request for a better beta list, and it's definitely on my radar, but I just haven't had the time to work on it lately. I'll get to it eventually.
--Susan on June 25, 2013 04:00pm 3 Comments
I just added a new feature that might help some of our members who prefer to read on an e-reader. When viewing a chapter, you previously had the option to print or download the Word version of the chapter or the entire story. Now, after the Word option, you'll see a new choice with this icon: . This allows you to download the chapter or story in ePub format. EPub is a widely used eReader file type and is compatible with the Nook and Sony Reader. Also, you can easily add the ePub file to iBooks on your iPhone or iPad. To do this, use Safari on your device to browse to the story of your choice. When you select the ePub link, you will be able to select Open in "iBooks". This will place the chapter or story on your iBooks shelf and you can read from there even if you're offline. ePub is not compatible with the Kindle, but it's easy to convert the ePub format into MOBI, which is compatible with the Kindle. To convert the file, you can download a program such as Calibre, or you can convert online with a site like this one: http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-mobi. I think that the Kindle Fire can open ePub files with an app like Overdrive but I'm not sure. I only have an iPhone 4 and an old school Kindle, so that's what I've tested with. I'll gladly test with other devices provided you purchase them for me .
Hopefully this will make reading on an eReader easier for you if you have one. However, since you'll be reading offline, make sure and come back to leave a review for the story!
It took me a little while to get things to work properly with this, so there may be a few kinks (not the good kind). If you run into any problems, just let me know and be patient while it all gets worked out.
--Susan on April 07, 2013 05:38pm 16 Comments
Sorry it took a few days to get back online. I thought that this would be the best time to do a software upgrade for the site since it had to be offline anyway, and that added on some extra time.
First, I need to thank Puddinhead, Science and Tennyoelf who beta-tested the site upgrade for me. They helped me immensely with their comments and suggestions, and the transition will be smoother than it would have been without their contribution.
Now, the changes...
--The shoutbox is now integrated into the site instead of using a 3rd party script. You can view the shoutbox as a guest, but you can't post until you're logged in. When you post, your name has a link to your profile, which means we can't put other links in our name anymore. After you type your message, hitting enter will not submit your post. You need to hit tab and then enter or click the shout button. If you hit refresh right after posting a message, it will probably end up reposting. If you want to refresh the page, use the refresh the shoutbox link or hit HOME in the top menu.
--All the skins have been redone a little because they had to be recreated to work with the new software. Also, there are 2 new skins, simple and mobile. Mobile is meant to be used on mobile devices (shocking, I know). Remember that changing your skin in one of the drop-down menus does not change your default skin. To make a certain skin always shows up when you log on, you need to change it in your account preferences.
--All stories added or updated in the last month have a New! or Updated! tag next to the title in the story listings.
--Stories now have a read count. Since it's new, it doesn't have a history of old views. The count for all stories is starting at 0.
-- There is a new Bookshelf feature that allows you to add stories you're reading/want to read to a list. You don't get an email when a story on this list is updated, but it lists the date when you last read the story, and if it has been updated since that date, there will be an Updated! tag no matter when it was updated.
--When you click on a story, you have the option of being taken to a table of contents page for the story instead of the first chapter. You can turn this feature off or on with the table of contents setting in your account preferences.
--This has nothing to do with the upgrade, but while I was adding things, I remembered that there was talk of wanting a Holidays category, so I added one. I'm not going to go through old stories and reclassify them, but if you have a story that fits, please add it to the list.
--When you add a favorite author or story, you are taken to a second screen where you can choose to add comments to remind yourself why you added it to your favorites list. The notes are for you, and do not go under reviews. You do not have to add any comments, but you do have to click submit after being taken to the second screen to add the author/story to your favorites list. You can edit items already on your favorites list to add comments.
--There are a number of changes in the account info/preferences section:
----You can now view/edit reviews you've left for other authors. Your reviews are listed under the storyand are in order of when that story was first published (starting with the earliest).
----You can set a default story sort of either alphabetical or most recent and choose to be notified when an author responds to your review of their story.
----In your bio, there are new profile fields if you want to enter your LJ, DW, Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook accounts.
----The beta information was unfortunately wiped in the upgrade, but it was woefully out of date anyway. While you're checking out the new profile fields, be sure to mark if you're interested in being a beta reader or not.
--The text editor has been updated, with a few notable changes:
----The best way to add an image is now with the button that looks like a picture of a tree. Click the button, and enter the image URL/direct link into the top line of the pop-up window. After filling in any other information that you would like to enter about your image, click Insert. Make sure your image isn't wider than 920px, or it won't display correctly. If you need to make your image smaller, you can do so in the appearance tab of the pop-up window.
----The button with the checkmark/ABC is a spell check. It only works after you've clicked the button.
----The happy face button has some emoticons, which have no real purpose other than the fact that smileys make everything better (is it just me?).
-- At the end of the last chapter of a story, there are additional story notes that mention other stories in a series (if that title is part of a series), has a listing of how many other stories the author has written and links to a list of other stories that are favorites of people who also favorited that story.
--Stories can now have more than one author. When adding your story, there is a space for you to enter co-authors if there are any.
--When adding a new story, you can enter story notes. These notes appear on the table of contents page and at the top of every chapter page. This is a perfect place to put a banner or a disclaimer so you don't have to put them in every time you add a new chapter. There are still chapter notes and there are now end of chapter notes as well.
--From the chapter pages, you can now choose to save a chapter or story as a Word doc.
--You can now share a story to tumblr or Twitter. From the table of contents page, you can share the link to the story, or from a chapter page, you can share a link to the chapter.
--In the top navigation, there's a link to the Chatzy page. The link is only visible when you're logged in.
--The registration page now has a captcha on it. It won't stop spammers, but maybe it will slow them down a bit.
--Last, but not least, the site now has a favicon, which is the little image that shows at the top of your browser, in your bookmarks, etc... When I was trying to add a favicon initially, I just snagged an image that I had sitting on my desktop, which just happened to be Underdog (yes, I had an image of Underdog on my desktop). I'm well aware that Underdog doesn't really fit the site, but I'm not artistic enough to create a new favicon. That's where you come in. If you want to submit a favicon for the site, send me your 16px x 16px creation at susanelysianfields (at) gmail.com. It can be anything you think that would represent the site, and remember, it's small, so you don't have much room to work with. You have until March 10th to submit a contribution and then we'll have a site-wide vote to determine which image will be used.
I think that about covers it. There may be a few other things I forgot to mention. With upgrades, there's always glitches and growing pains, so if you notice that something isn't working properly or that something's missing, please let me know.
--Susan on March 03, 2013 03:35pm 11 Comments
Fic idea submissions are now finished. This does not mean you can't continue donating. No, what this means is the fun part...waiting for the writers to start producing new fic! If you volunteered to write for the Auction for Kain, a list of the fic ideas is now up. Please comment on which idea you want--and please pay attention to if someone might have requested you for a specific idea. We have two weeks in which to write, but obviously if you can submit work before then, all the better. Fic is to be sent to Susan to upload, so PM me for her email address if you don't have it. Also, any questions and I will answer as best I can. I am bound to have forgotten something important! Here is the link: http://auction.dark-solace.org/?p=757
PS: I don't have time to locate everyone's email addy, so if you know someone who said they would write but don't think they might have seen yet that the ideas are up, please give them a buzz and put them in the know. Thank you all!
--Megan on January 28, 2013 03:55am 4 Comments
Auction For Kain: http://auction.dark-solace.org/
It's finally time for us to open this up for donations. Not everything is there yet--we have had some last minute donations of memorabilia and some handmade beauties that haven't been finished or photographed yet, so stay tuned for further announcements as the week continues. We are also loading up graphics that you can share as the week progresses.
For those that aren't quite in the know about this yet, one of our original and very much loved Administrators--Spikeslovebite--has suffered the extreme loss of her 11 yo son, Kain, 5 days after Christmas. Kain suffered from Severe Cerebral Palsy but has been a huge figure in the lives of everyone who knew Tam. While the loss of her son is heartbreaking, having to be concerned about where the money is coming to cover funeral costs is bitterly cruel. As a loving, supportive community, members new and old are banding together to do what we can to relieve some of this burden for Tam and her family. If you can donate to the cause, it would be greatly appreciated. Your generosity will not only make this load a little easier for one of our own, it also shows how strong and caring our own community is. And to top it all off, new fiction from authors that have been out of the 'biz' for a while--some of us a long while.
Here is how it will work. Graphics are free for you to claim or share. Use them to pimp all over your LJ, FB and wherever else you commune with fellow Spuffy lovers. When you make a donation, you will have the chance to submit fic specifications--genre, rating, favourite season, and any other details you like. You can even suggest who you'd prefer to write it...make up to three suggestions. Those that have the highest donations will have the chance of getting their first choice of writer and the story of their suggestion coming to life. Leftover fic ideas will be divided up--writers have the choice of choosing between these or writing something else if they don't find something to suit. These fics will feature on the Auction site as they are posted for a number of weeks and then will be able to be posted wherever the writers choose.
And, for those that are interested, we will be auctioning off some Buffy memorabilia, I will be knitting a shawl, and hopefully a some other crafty morsels for those that would like them.
So, on with it. Everything about setting this up has been Susan's baby and I think she's amazing for doing this. Show your love and appreciation wherever you can. Finally, Tam, we love you, and would take away the pain if we could. Please accept this effort from all of us to you as proof how very much we care.
Auction For Kain: http://auction.dark-solace.org/
--Megan on January 14, 2013 06:48pm 2 Comments
The loss of Kain has touched so many of us very deeply. The loss of a child has to be one of the most tragic things to happen in one's life, and on top of that loss, a parent is then slogged with extreme costs in order to care for their child even once passed. It is the desire, then, for a number of us to try to raise some money to relieve Spikeslovebite of the burden of finding funeral costs for her beloved Kain. Already a number of past writers have offered to write for an auction--swapping fic written to specs by the auction winner. Some of us feel more than a little nervous that the more current authors and followers of the site might look at our names and go, huh? scratching their heads and wonder why a bunch of oldies would hope someone out there still likes their fic enough to donate towards a new piece. So...if there are newer authors out there who can find it in their hearts to participate, we'd be so very, very grateful.
We are in the process of setting up an Auction site as we speak, thanks to the brilliant Susan, our newest Administrator. I have no clue how we got on without her! Please reply here or send a message to me (megpf27 @ gmaildotcom) or Kathleen so we can add you to the list. And, even if you aren't a writer but have some other talent (I knit!) or are good with graphics, please also consider contributing. The more $ we can help Tami and her family with, the better.
Love to you all!
Megan
--Megan on January 05, 2013 09:29pm 4 Comments
One of our original Administrators is going through great pain at the moment. Spikeslovebite is well loved and admired for her brilliant writing, but she also has been the mother to Kain for 11 years. Kain had Cerebral Palsy and Tami has been the most brilliant mother I've ever known. She has been devoted to his love and care and has taught me a thing or two, one of them being the introduction to Spongebob Squarepants, one of Kain's favourites back in the day. I remember very clearly Tami telling me that I had it so much harder than her, having two boys with autism and one in particular who is a nutbag, because my lot was so much more unpredictable.
Kain is no longer with us, having passed last Sunday night. I haven't been able to talk to Tami yet but I hope she knows that we are all saying prayers for her and her boys and that we love her very much.
Edit: As you all will know, funeral costs can be exorbitant and this time is no exception. If anyone would like to donate some money to help Tami with these costs, you can do so at raizing.kain@gmail.com
Thank you all for your understanding and support through this horrible, heartbreaking time.
--Megan on January 02, 2013 02:59am 4 Comments
Promise of Frost by Eurydice
An Angel In Disguise by RipeWickedPlum
A Cricket From California by Elsa Frohman
Baby It's Cold Outside by Addie Logan
Christmas Rage by The Enemy of Reality
Santa Claws by Lilachigh
Better To Give Than To Receive by Immortally Spuffy
Tiny Hands by Weyrwolfan
Christmas Spirit by Kantayra
Let Nothing You Dismay by Constance
Slay Bells by Eowyn315
A Very Buffy Christmas Carol by Starlight Slayer
Four Voices by Uisage_beatha
A Merry Little Christmas by Hils
Midnight Clear by Icemink
Father Christmas by Rabid1st
One...Two...Three Christmas Presents by ssddgr
A New Years Eve to Remember by Maryperk
Secret Santa by MinxDeLovely
The Silent Stars Go By by Lirazel
A Very Joan and Randy Christmas by Sabershadowkat
When Buffy Met Spike by Spuffy Luvr
I'll be updating this news item with each addition.
These are by no means the only holiday themed fic here in the archive! I encourage you to go and find the treasures for yourself as well. These are merely a sampling of the goodies to be had!
We don't rec stories by our mods : Holly, Amy, Meghan, me (Pfeifferpack) for example but we've all written holiday stories as well. Our retired or part time mods also have great holiday and other fic as well that we don't rec. Schehrezade, spikeslovebite, spike_spetslayer, are all archived here as well and while not modding on a regular basis are still Admin's and not rec'd on the features list.
Happy reading!
Kathleen
--Pfeifferpack on December 11, 2012 05:59am 3 Comments
The other story is An Angel in Disguise by RipeWickedPlum. This writer was very active during the series run but left fandom since. Often her tales were written as the show progressed and sometimes she was "Jossed" (a term we use for us writing something only to have Joss Whedon take canon another direction LOL) and yet her stories always delight.
I'm going to try to feature a couple of different stories with a holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year, Solstice...this time of year holiday!) aspect to it. The plan is a couple of new stories every few days in December that fit the criteria.
I am happy to take your suggestions of favorites to feature!_
Enjoy,
Kathleen
--Pfeifferpack on December 02, 2012 12:42pm 3 Comments
Since I'm a new admin, we thought it would be a good idea for me to introduce myself to everyone. I didn't watch Buffy until late 2011 when I was looking for something to distract me from the monotony of running on a treadmill. After finishing the show, I stumbled into fanfic while looking for information about the comics, and I've been here ever since. I don't write and I'm relatively quiet, so you may not have noticed me lurking in the corners.
I'm so grateful to Amy, Megan and Kathleen for keeping the site around for so long and for allowing me to help them bring Elysian Fields back. I'll do my best to continue helping with technical issues and hopefully get the site updated so it stays current. As of now, the site is running on a script that's almost 3 years old, and the developers don't have any plans to update. This means we're kind of limited in terms of what we can do about the spammer issue. Until we have other options, please continue to point out any newly registered spam accounts, and we'll do our best to delete them as soon as possible.
Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of the site while it was being worked on! Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Susan
--Susan on November 25, 2012 10:45am 6 Comments
Hello everyone! We're back!! Woohoo!! *does the Numfar dance of joy*
After an extreme amount of stressing, freaking out, pulling hair in frustration and praying to every internet god out there Elysian Fields has finally returned! Our 'never give up' attitude, paired with the technical skills of our new resident admin genius Susan has returned the archive to it's rightful place in the Spuffy fandom. Have you missed us? Because we the mods have certainly missed all of you.
Long story short, the cause of our disappearance (and resulting in said freak out by the mods) was not Hurricane Sandy. We believe we were hacked. We say 'we believe' because there is no definitive proof for any other cause. We certainly did not delete the archive, hence something nefarious must be the cause.
Luckily, with a lot of blood and sweat (courtesy of Susan) and tears (from yours truly, megan_peta and pfeifferpack) we are happy to say the archive is back mostly in one piece. PLEASE NOTE: some works are missing chapters. Those authors have been contacted by the mods so that their stories can be reloaded. We are not perfect though, and if we miss something and if you stumble across a story with missing chapters PLEASE NOTIFY US. That would be greatly appreciated. :)
Last, but in no way least, our gorgeous new banner is courtesy of Knifeedge. Isn't it pretty!? I, for one, cannot stop looking at it. The name of the skin, "Not Without a Fight", is the name of the piece and a very fitting title. To paraphrase the artist it's called that because there's no way we'd give up EF without a fight.
Keep your eyes peeled, as this gorgeous layout is not the only new pretty artwork that will be gracing the site. We will be debuting several new looks over the next few weeks. We hope you are as excited about the return of Elysian Fields as we are.
Yours in Spuffy,
The Mods.
--angelic_amy on November 21, 2012 02:15am 9 Comments
--Megan on March 02, 2012 01:21pm 4 Comments
--Megan on January 04, 2011 06:03pm 2 Comments
Beginning tomorrow, Feb. 25th, 2010 I will post a chapter a day until the whole story is up.
If you haven't read this story yet this is a great time to indulge. Some of our better writers contributed as a gift of love to a darling peer who left us much too soon.
Enjoy,
Kathleen
--Pfeifferpack on February 24, 2010 08:53am 0 Comments
Hello everyone. As those of you who frequent Elysian Fields often would be aware we've had a bit of a problem of late with spamming on the tagbox. After trying several other avenues it became apparent that removal of the tagbox was going to be the best option. Temporarily.
When it returns it will be in a slightly different format but hopefully it will make it harder for people to spam us.
Until then the Elysian Fields LiveJournal can be used for communication between members of our community. You can find it HERE.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
--Amy on October 23, 2009 04:57pm 0 Comments