It seems to me that Eric would have the right to decide who his heir or heirs would be since he had no say in the birth of this child. If this stranger’s child is made the heir then that puts a woman who is unscrupulous enough to go through with that pregnancy in the driver’s seat. I would assume he would want to provide for the boy, but it shouldn’t put him in line for heading up the family business, inheriting the gaming company, etc. Although, it sounds like something Sophie Anne had a hand in too &, if so, she would want to insist that this kid be the qualified heir to save her own financial ass.

I loved reading the stories I’ve read of yours so far, until this one. This one is just too much like the SVM books & I am eager for it to end. Sorry, but it’s making me feel as miserable as the damn books.

Why in the hell would she invite her deluded rapist to stay in the house with her, especially while Eric is away in the hospital? Even CH’s stupid Sookie didn’t invite Bill to live with her. It just seems smart to foot the bill for a hotel room if she feels obligated to him for helping Eric’s company without being paid for it.

I don’t understand why Eric jumps & obeys every time Victor calls. If he wants no part of the family business, what does Victor hold over him?

Did Appius die or is he going to survive?

Ugh! My skin is already crawling.

Oh no! Another episode for Eric? Between the two of them coping with so much emotional fallout, maybe Eric & Sookie should just arrange for a permanent double room in a psych ward as their one & only marital home...

Seems like Eric harboring Appius & his current young boy could become an easy path for Victor or someone else to implicate Eric as a pedophile via his association. Especially after the bad press Sophie Anne got a while back, how forgiving would the public be if Eric faced yet another sex related scandal, especially one that involved sexual abuse of minors?

I’m not surprised to see Eric trying to separate Sookie from Appius for several reasons. I am surprised that Sookie let things slide so quickly & easily, not trying to protect Eric in any way except to acquiesce to the request to stay with Pam.

I know that the lingering effects of abuse can cause the victim/survivor to behave oddly & tolerate things from their abuser, or a different abuser, than would be normal for them — as if that old programming kicks in & overrides any healing & any proper response to the moral outrage. Appius must need something from Eric to invite himself to stay in Eric’s house — something more than just a place to stay. This is a very bad spot to leave a clearly still emotionally vulnerable Eric in unprotected.

Pedophiles are the creepiest of the creepy. The are unredeemable, sadistic, psychos. All who are discovered should never see freedom again. That is the ONLY way to protect future potential victims from them.

Ugh! It just occurred to me — going back Bon Temps means more Bill. In the original SVM book series the official villains like Felipe, Sophie Anne, & Victor were kept to limited parts in the series. The worst in ‘villainous’ terms for me was having to endure the ongoing presences of Bill, Sam, & Alcide. I hated all three of them & that Sookie’s stupid, stubborn insistence on keeping them around even more!

Hm. I suppose having Sookie sneak down to get Claudine so she could take-down Santa is out of the question?

Okay, I’m gonna semi-apologize for criticizing this Sookie after thinking through your notes about keeping the characters and the essentials of the storyline true to the SVM book series. CH’s Sookie started out as a character that had a long way to go, but had great potential to ‘become’ & to do great things in her little fictional universe, but as the book series went on towards its end, CH turned her into a bitchy, selfish, totally unlikable, little shrew. So, you’re doing well along those lines of your writing goal by keeping this Sookie waffling & oh so annoying.

The ‘semi’ aspect of my apology is because I started reading fan fiction to get over the trauma to my psyche from CH’s vicious treatment of the Eric character & for destroying the Sookie’s growth, instead making her devolve into a bigoted drudge of a barmaid ‘elevated’ to a drudging part owner of the bar. I much prefer to read better, more promising versions of these characters than the originals to soothe the wounds CH inflicted. Not perfect, idealized versions, because that would indeed be dull, but definitely not repeats of the first versions.

All that said, I’m now cringing after Eric’s mention of Appius, knowing that you’ll be bringing that asshole into the story, irritating my story-based trauma as well as my own personal history with abusers of children. Next to that, Victor’s reappearance at the end of this chapter isn’t even flinch-worthy.

Side note though: you’re still keeping true to Sookie being irritating & inconsiderate. Bitch makes Eric wait for an answer while she showers & dresses? Pa-lease! Say yes THEN shower. That’s what a kind, considerate wife would have done!

OMG SOOKIE! Repeat after me — “Period” p-e-r-i-o-d, PERIOD. “Menstruation” m-e-n-s-t-r-u-t-i-o-n, MENSTRUATION. “Bleeding” b-l-e-e-d-i-n-g, BLEEDING. Good, Sookie! Now say, “I’m a grown-ass woman with reproductive organs. I have my period once a month AND I’M FINALLY MATURE ENOUGH TO ADMIT IT OUTLOUD, WITHOUT SHAME AND OWN THAT BITCH!”

Oh and P.S. — to hell with the ‘not ovulating’ Hail Mary — I smell the conception of that heir...

I’m sorry if I sound mean & overly critical here, but it feels like this Sookie’s level of maturity & self-awareness is absurdly low. How can anyone get so freaked out by her husband, whom she has had sex with, sleeping nude, especially given her knowledge of the more relaxed Scandinavian attitude about nudity & the fact she’s been around him nude outside of having sex as well? It’s as if she’s implying the only reason she ever had intimate contact with Eric is because he wanted it — that she didn’t want it herself. This would basically mean she thinks of Eric as a rapist since her having sex with him could only happen because she felt some pressure to give in to what only he wanted. Surely even this pathetic version of Sookie could admit that she was also attracted to him and wanted to have sex with him too.

Sookie’s comment, “And you made her cheat on him for years?” while talking to Niall is another example of the extreme immaturity level that is verging on being a caricature. In the books, the accusing assumption that the fairy version of Finton raped Adele as Sookie’s initial excuse for Adele’s infidelity is a different thing than this ‘made her cheat’ accusation. It’s some serious confusion & self-delusion for her, thinking of both herself & her grandmother as strong, independent women, to think in terms of Niall being able to “make” Adele cheat on her husband enough to have children from multiple births by him. She chose not to call it rape & to try to lay blame on Niall for Adele cheating without acknowledging that the relationship would have to have been at least tacitly accepted by Adele’s husband as well as Adele since it’s known the husband was sterile. In her own way, this Sookie is sounding as looney as this story’s Sophie Anne.

Good for Eric finally calling Sookie out on her shit & then firmly holding her responsible for owning her shit & GtFU.

Ugh! Stupid, stubborn, childish Sookie. I’ve reached my tolerance for her & find that I really don’t like this version of the character.

Pretty shitty of Sookie not to explain that Barry is gay to set Eric at ease. She ‘hates jealousy’? She’s the one obsessing about Eric & other women. He even tolerated her nonsense of dating Bill & Alcide while seeing him too. Since she’s still paranoid about Eric being a womanizer, despite being told more than once that *he hasn’t seen anyone else but her* since she arrived in Oslo, she ought to GtFU & talk to him about it. Being his wife & as they are having sex, she has a right to expect exclusivity between just the two of them. This aspect of Sookie characters always feels like she’s in her mid-teens, not mid-20s. Hell, I was comfortable having discussions like that when I was only in my mid-teens.

Then she deserts her room with her husband when he gets upset after she’s been fondling & dirty dancing with another man after she was too stupid & stubborn to have easily avoided that problem with a simple explanation earlier? I take back my estimate of her maturity level being at mid-teens. This Sookie is barely at adolescent level & probably should never be out of the company of a babysitter or her husband.

Ugh! Barry calls her sweetheart? That feels as icky as Quinn & the babe shtick! I guess I’m just not a fan of gooshy pet names in general, but especially when used by someone not the significant other or an emotionally close family member.

Well, the ‘arranged marriage’ idea at least places a bookmark so they have a chance of their story progressing & expanding. Hopefully Norwegian immigration authorities aren’t as suspicious & invasive as thos in the U.S.! As long as they don’t get separated, we know they’ll eventually admit to themselves & each other that they are in love.

NYC, Puerto Rico, & the U.S. Virgin Islands. Well that’s an interesting & fun set of destinations, but definitely in no way likely to give you a taste of the U.S. culture & many sub cultures overall! If you’re ever interested in someplace completely different than Scandinavia you should visit the southwestern U.S.

I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a year & loved it. New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. There is lots to see & do in the state & the food is amazing. There are tons of artists (good & not so good) & galleries, an internationally known opera house ( ), lots of old & current Native American sites, lots of good restaurants, the Georgia O’Keefe museum ( ), and more, not to mention sites, national parks, etc. in nearby states.

One of the most exciting events I saw in Santa Fe while there was the Annual Indian Market (3rd week of August every year for nearly 100 years). Hundreds of Native American artists from all over the U.S. & Canada converge annually to display & sell their art — not the cheap & cheesy knock-offs, but real, original, hand-made work that will blow your mind plus the opportunity to actually speak with the artists. (URL for info on that market: /).

Albuquerque is about an hour south of Santa Fe, is considerably larger, & is where you would likely fly into. There is tons to do there as well.

Wow — you spent some time in the States? I’m curious where you visited. Seems like most visitors spend their time in New York or Los Angeles or, to ‘broaden their horizons,’ places on the east or west coast. For most non-natives (of non-coastal states) the dozens of states that lie between the coastal states don’t even exist.

The upper midwestern states probably had the highest populations of Scandinavian immigrants in case that is of interest to you. Minnesota has a particularly high number of proud folks claiming Swedish heritage. It also has a lot of folks of Norwegian descent & some, though not as high a percentage of those of Danish ancestry.

Per Wikipedia, U.S. states with highest percentages of people of Scandinavian ancestry (% by state in descending order):

SWEDISH
Minnesota
California
Illinois

NORWEGIAN
North Dakota
Minnesota
South Dakota

DANISH
California
Utah
Minnesota

Minnesota is the best bet overall because it’s pretty average in both territory size & average population size. Both North Dakota & South Dakota are low population to land size. Utah is also low population to land size plus its focus, heritage-wise, is on its very, very high Mormon population 55% Mormon) so I’d guess there wouldn’t be as much focus on Danish heritage. California looks like it would hold promise for Danish interest, but the focus on the film & wine industries and strong Hispanic influences would likely drown-out a Danish influence. LOL, in the midwestern states there are fewer distractions.