New Story: NEVER SAW BLUE

[arianna]

Hey, a new gen story has just gone up on my page in Starfox's Mansion. In part, this story was inspired by a song by Hayley Westenra, Never Saw Blue. And, in part, it may resonate with a discussion on Prospect-L some months back, in which there was speculation about what makes Jim 'Jim' -- his intrinsic traits, his experiences, his senses? A combination of all three? Could he still be Jim if any of those givens were changed?

Genre: Gen

Synopsis: Approximately five months post TSbyBS, Jim and Blair are caught in a bomb blast meant to kill them. When Blair wakes in hospital days later, he learns Jim was so badly hurt that no one believes he'll ever wake up, if he survives at all. William has had Jim moved to an Institute that specializes in brain trauma. Unwilling to abandon hope, Blair finds out where Jim has been taken and goes after him. There's angst, h/c, a case story of sorts and, well, lots going on.

Warnings: In this story, Jim is suffering what appears to be, and may well end up being, permanent amnesia so a few tissues might be necessary. Blair is a cop in this story.

Length: 94,500+ words/120 pages

The story is complete as is, but it may lead into a series to be called Wolf and The Jag. If anyone feels inspired to write a story in this 'universe', I think that would be very neat.

My thanks go, as always, to StarWatcher, my beta and to Starfox, for hosting the story on her site. I'm also grateful to Alyjude for the lovely cover art.

If you read it, I hope you enjoy it ... and I'd love to hear what you think about it!

You can find the story at: http://www.wolfpanther.com/stories/blue.html

Comments

[marizilda.livejournal.com]

Hi dear : ))))))))))))))))
I loved the artwork, a lot pretty!
I am going to begin it read now:)
Hugs
Have a great week:)
Great news! : ))))

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Mari! Yep, Aly did her usual great job on the artwork!

Sure hope you enjoy the story.

[knitty-woman.livejournal.com]

I'm hurrying to read this now. You've brought me over to the gen side! (BTW, do you anticipate a fourth story in the Bitterwood Creek series? I understand it's essentially done, but I'm sure there's an audience for as many stories in that universe as you'd care to tell!)

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I'm working on the fourth Bitterwood Creek story now, called Soiled Doves, which brings Naomi into the story arc. I think, though, that this will be the last one in that series. Thanks for the encouragement!

And I really hope you enjoy Never Saw Blue!

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Oh wonderful - another nice long juicy story of yours... I'm saying thank you now as I know it's going to be at least the weekend before I find time to read, and the way my life is at the moment ::rolls eyes:: even that is a bit hopeful... So, thanks in advance *hg*

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. I hope when you do have time to read it, that you'll enjoy it!

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

Way longer than most fic I read (thus me taking an age and a half to finish it) but really beautiful :) I just adore Jim and Blair at their most sweet and spiritual and it takes a really brave author to do something like amnesia and make it permenant. This is just a wonderful exploration of everything Blair means to Jim and just left me feeling warm and cuddly inside :)

*smushes you* beautiful...

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Kat, thanks so much for persevering with this fic. I think the vast majority of folks take one look at the length and move on. I'm very glad you found it worth the effort. Not sure how brave I am; if this turns into a series, Jim might yet get his memory back, though that would present a whole bunch of new problems. ::grins:: Thanks so much for letting me know how much you enjoyed the relationship between these two guys, and that it transcended a loss of memory.

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

I tend not to let length deter me (much) if it's a good fic although I prefer anything much over 30 pages to be in chapters so I can find the spot I last stopped more easily (says the chick who routinely posts 40-50 page pieces in a single chapter, lol).

I really enjoyed this. To me, it feels like you took your time to really research the different forms of amnesia. We did a whole unit on various forms of amnesia when I took Cognitive Pscyhology and one of the things we covered was that specific memories are stored in a different part of the brain than emotions. Which makes it so perfect that, even not knowing the first thing about Blair, Jim still knew Blair and knew how he felt about him but couldn't quite make sense of it all...

Lovely stuff, whether he gets his memory back or not. If it becomes a series I kind of want to see it turn shippy, although I can definitely see Blair being resistant if he decides Jim's still vulnerable emotionally. Ah, well. I'll look forward to more however it goes :)

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Kat, if you copy and paste the story doc into a clean doc, you can 'mark' where you left off with something like '888' and then do a 'find' to go right back to that point (my beta taught me that trick).

I didn't research amnesia particularly for this story, but I studied brain functions YEARS ago, so I knew that different memories (scent, muscle, language, emotions, personal memories, etc) are all stored differently and in different parts of the brain.

You're not the first to request that the story go in a slash direction. Not sure yet how the series will play out. LOL, I'm not even sure when I'll get around to writing the next story! ;)

I sure appreciate the encouragement to do so, though. Thanks!

[kat-rowe.livejournal.com]

thanks for the hint :)

it doesn't need to go in a slashy direction (i adore the boys either way unless it's that dreadfully-writen slash that seems to plague all slash-friendly fandoms) but I can very well see it happening and adding a new layer of conflicts and concerns ... i know it'll be lovely however you play it out

*hugs you*

[lapetite-kiki.livejournal.com]

I love long stories, it’s the Gen part that I’m not a big fan, but since it was such a long story and from you, which I know I love your writing style and characterisation I figure it was worth a try… And it was definitely worth it, that was a wonderful story! The way it end it’s easy to imagine that they will become more than friends on this trip. ;-)

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the story! It's really good to hear from you. Maybe, someday, I'll get around to writing a sequel to this story and, yeah, who knows where it might go? ::grins::

[maybeatdawn.livejournal.com]

I just read Never Saw Blue and enjoyed it a lot. I like very much how you illustrate how the character manage to focus more on the positiveness they can built together even in these extremE circumstances. Like in life accepting to let away some part of us belonging to the past is a way to more new useful and good part to take place and to grow. It's a beautiful story full of deep meanings. Thanks for sharing it. Are you going to write a sequel?

[caarianna.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your great comments and support. As for a sequel, I don't know. The sad truth is that I seem to have lost the impetus to write but I'm hoping it will return, in which case, yes, we may someday follow these guys to the jungle and, from there. possibly to Europe.