When the Bottom Fell Out of the Unicorn Market

Today is the birthday anniversary of Ole Worm. (That was his real name, pronounced OH-leh VORM, but he also liked to be called Olaus Wormius.) He was a Danish physician, teacher, and perpetual college student who like to collect ancient Scandinavian books. An amateur scientist as well, Dr. Worm is best known (some might say infamous) for proving in 1638 that unicorns did not exist. Until that time scholars could always point to one sort of physical evidence "proving" the existence of unicorns: their whorled horns. Then Dr. Worm showed that these horns actually came from narwhals. That, alas, was the end of the unicorn. (Not that unicorns didn't have problems of their own.) The image at left is of course from the "Charlie the Unicorn" web cartoon.

Today is also the birthday of author Armistead Maupin, who is 66. He is the celebrated author of the Tales of the City novel series that I read years ago on the advice of an excellent friend, and this in turn laid the groundwork for the Pause in the Air series. More about this influence may be read here.

Is Daria returning to The-N? Or something similar? Read and learn.

And here is an image sure to blow your mind, from the legendary S.C. Thank you, man!

NEW GNUZ! Sick, Sad World (the Daria website) has been updating continuously for months, and just did it again! Check it out!

FF.net
Most stories added to FF.net of late have appeared elsewhere, except for one.

• NEWEST! The Fate of the Duels, by a440 (COMPLETE!): Brittany, in her black blouse and bow, along with her black skirt, arrived at that spot ahead of Kevin, her katana swords in their scabbards, strapped to her waist, the blonde waiting for her adversary, having spent last night in Florida, in what she thought was a clean motel...

Outpost Daria

• NEWEST! A Stranger in Lawndale, by Belle Book (Part 5): Stacy was stunned by what Derek just told her. When he first talked about Shintoism, kami, and kitsune she thought he was just speaking of fascinating fables that had no real connection to her. Until he told her that he was a kitsune. Now she didn't know what to believe.

PPMB

• NEWER! Daria: Hunter 6—Infectious, by Jim North (continued): "Miss Lane, please lower your weapons and step away from Miss Morgendorffer," the male agent said levelly. "You don't fully understand what's going on here." "No, I do fully understand what's going on here," Jane shot back. "I understand that for all you know, she just burned her hand with some coffee before we ever even got here, Agent Jumptoconclusions!"
  
• Daria's New Necklace, by Wraith (COMPLETE!): "It's called a behelit. Also known as the Egg of the King. Whoever possesses it is destined to obtain the world in exchange for their own flesh and blood." (Daria/Berserk)
• NEWER! The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): Unnerved, Daria drove out of Godfrey to a crossroads. Stopping, she looked at the signboards to see if she could find her way home. Each road seemed to intersect each other in a peculiar topological fashion, so that all the roads that were, are and will be pass through the crossroads and frequently exchange destinations. And this is how one gets lost, she thought.
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 46: Shields Up, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 2): “Hello, Janet, how was your day?” Timothy asked in that sappy way of his. “Awful," said Janet. "Those new freshman males make we want to vomit. Think they’re so great. Sure, they think they’re flying now, then they’ll run out after 20 years of...” “Oh, Janet, it’s okay. Let out your anger.” “Sometimes I think we should just graduate them now and ship `em off to the next great war or something.”
• NEWER! The Game Called Life, by Trscroggs (continued): Daria had a very firm glare in place the next time the desk appeared. “That was a dirty trick,” Daria growled while attempting to set the desk on fire with her eyes. “You signed off on it,” the Old Man replied. “While I was ranting to myself, it doesn’t count!” Daria protested.
  
• NEW! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Daria's children, your view), by Ranger Thorne (COMPLETE!): "I saw two generations of Barksdale/Morgendorffer dysfunction in person," Daria said as she looked out of the screen. "A little digging and I found out that it had been going on with both families for a lot longer than that."
  

Birdbrains

One of my most very favorite movies of all time ever, so much so an incredibly beloved favorite that I even have Tom and Elsie Sloane mention it in a Daria fanfic ("A Midsummer Nightmare's Daria"), is Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. This ultra-mega-classic horror movie was based on a short story by Dame Daphne du Maurier, who was born 101 years ago today. Thank you! What a great movie!

This is also the 64th birthday of Armistead Maupin, author of the Tales of the City novels, which had a pronounced effect on the writing of the Pause in the Air fanfic series. Thank you, too!

Christ Oliver has a striking new crossover artwork: Futurama with Daria and Jane. Enjoy!

PPMB update time at last!


PPMB

• Avalon, by legendeld (Part 21): The war against Avalon does not go well for the U.S.A.
  
• Big's Jake's Harley-Davidson, by Ranger Thorne (continued): A classic unfinished fic gets a new chapter! HOORAY!!!
• The Cynic, The Fashionista and The Jackass, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): Hands down, the best Daria Western ever, and possibly the best crossover this year. Read it!
• Death Takes a Holliday, by The Angst Guy (Parts 1 and 2): A visitor arrives in Lawndale through the back of a restaurant, during a holiday. See what happens next. (SFMB version)
  
• Falling Into College 62: Run It Up the Mast, by Richard Lobinske (Part 3): Dancing, drinking, cute boys, drinking, dancing. More power to you, Jane.
  
• Infected, by legendeld (Part 1): Daria and Quinn have a little problem: everyone on earth is trying to kill them. Literally everyone.
  
• Size Does Matter, by BlackHole (Part 23): Quinn soothes the savage beasts.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): The long-awaited update on Lord Manglepunk's delicate condition. Also, Tom Sloane speaks out on the obvious economic advantages of slavery.
  
• Turnabout Confusion Part II: All The King's Horses, by Dennis (continued): "Shakespeare really can be fun," said Quinn to herself. "Of course, Machiavelli can be more fun."

. . . and . . .

• The 1,001 Deaths of Tom Sloane (continued): More crimson goodness.

"Here comes the bride(s) . . ."

Eight years ago today, Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed into law the first bill in the U.S. that allowed civil unions for same-sex couples. This eventually led to the wedding of Daria and Jane Morgendorffer-Lane in the story, "Pause in the Air," and the Pause in the Air (PitA) series that followed.

Looking back, it becomes apparent that there were two great influences on my writing PitA. I mentioned one of them in one of the PitA stories: Armistead Maupin's marvelous Tales of the City novels. I read in the 1980s on the advice of a friend, and great advice that was. I consumed the novels more than read them. These lively, flawed, lovable people and their adventures gave me many pleasant hours of page-turning.

The more powerful influence, however, is one I haven't mentioned before. I confess I am at a loss to say why, as it undoubtedly provided the groundwork for the whole PitA thing. Maybe it was embarrassment. Anyway, I used to subscribe to a comics newspaper, and one of the series it carried was Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For. I was not so much addicted to that comic as enslaved to it. It was sheer torture to wait an entire month for the next installment to come out. Those readers who are familiar with the series (still running!) will not be surprised to know that it was the civil union of Clarice Clifford and Toni Ortiz in Vermont upon which the union of Jane and Daria was founded, and Toni and Clarice's rambunctious son Raffi has been reborn as Quinton Trent Erin Morgendorffer-Lane.

The strangest thing to me is that I was not consciously thinking about Clarice, Toni, and Raffi as I was creating the series. What I was thinking most about was the dreadful quality of so much of lesbian-teen Dariarotica, and how funny it would be to write something about Daria and Jane as lesbians, but without the sex. I wondered if anyone would get the joke. "Pause in the Air" was written in January 2003, one of my entries to an Iron Chef I had started asking for stories about an unexpected guest who drops in for dinner with the Morgendorffers. (The baby was the "guest.") This was the same Iron Chef that also inspired "Nuthouse," "Thanks Giving," "Highland Fling," and Deref's classic Oz tale, "Antipodean Daria," so I guess those stories and "Pause in the Air" are siblings. Sort of.

So, there it is, the real story of where PitA came from. I have the feeling I should do more of them eventually. Time will tell.