We all have our “guilty pleasures.”  Those things which we enjoy–perhaps enjoy a bit too much–and which sit a little outside the image we have of ourselves and the image which we project for others to see.  Nonetheless, the pleasure is real and an integral part of who we are.  If we are honest, we can embrace this aspect of our makeup and accept it as one component of the multifaceted beings we are.

I’ll even tell you mine, dear reader.  I’m a sucker for a good romance.

And I’m not talking here about your stereotypical bodice-ripper, though I have read a number of regency romances.  (For example, apart from one tiny nitpick–literally one sentence I’d have left out–I really enjoyed Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics.)  I’m speaking more to the theme of romance: two people confronting the complexities and challenges of human relationship.  And overcoming them…or not.

Like many other writers these days, I cut my teeth writing fan-fiction and in particular, the style of fan-fiction referred to as “slash” fiction, as in “Bobby/Julie” where two characters are brought into some kind of romantic entanglement.  Many, many moons ago, I wrote a triology of such tales in one particular fan-fic universe and I’d like to share them with you here.  Looking back over them these decades later, I can see how some of my writing patterns had already begun to show themselves even back then.

Readers of a certain age may remember the MTV animated show Daria.  Though they could stand some editing, I give you my humble contributions to the Daria fan-fic universe in their original form, written around the turn of the century.  The pseudonym I used might ring a bell for hard-core Daria fans.  Standard fan-fic disclaimers apply: all copyrights belong to their respective owners.  I claim no ownership of these characters.