EDIT 7 DECEMBER 2017: I am currently dealing with long term family issues which are inevitably reducing the amount of time I can devote to fanfic. I will continue writing and posting as and when I can, but I apologise in advance if I fail to reply promptly to reviews or if there are any long gaps between chapters.

-oO0Oo-

After leading a respectable existence for - no, I won't say how many years - my enthusiasm for "Ashes to Ashes" and, through it, "Life on Mars", led me to discover the world of fan fiction, and life has not been the same since. I have to fit my fanficcing in and around the paid day job (as a civil servant), my overpowering passion for opera and classical music (which leads to me going out on an awful lot of evenings), and the unpaid part time job (as an opera and music critic - well, not entirely unpaid, I get quite a lot of free tickets but, alas, no money).

Nearly all my fics so far relate to "Ashes to Ashes", which is THE GREATEST TV SERIES IN THE WORLD!

My longest series yet, distinguished by having "Ashes to Ashes" in the title, so far consists of three stories. In chronological order (but NOT order of publication), they are: "Ashes to Ashes: Home to Mother", "Ashes to Ashes: Loss and Gain" (not available on this site because of its script format - it's posted on Archive of Our Own (NB: I can't give the link here because of the site rules - you can Google for it, but if you have trouble finding it, PM me)) and "Ashes to Ashes: Stravagation" (what's stravagation? Read the story and you'll find out!). I'm working on a sequel (Stravagation II??), but other ideas keep getting in the way!

Six more of my stories come in pairs. "Decision Time", a different take on Alex Drake's dilemma, is an angstfest which has an M rating, not because of smut but because of its darker subject matter. Its sequel, "Best Served Cold", follows the fortunes of her daughter, Molly, twelve years on from the series, and how she learns the truth about what really happened to Alex after the shooting. I'm sad that this story doesn't attract many readers - if it's because it looks from the first chapter as though Gene and Alex won't be involved, don't be misled - they don't appear in person, but we get to learn a lot about their life together, post -"Decision Time".

"Operation Christmas Carol", my Christmas fic for 2009, was inspired by a suggestion from harrypotterfan2009 on Luigi's. Its sequel, "God Blessed Them, Every One", was originally intended to be a one-shot and has ended up long enough to count as a short novel!

"The Return" was dashed off in a little over 24 hours as therapy to try to come to terms with what was, to me, the unendurable end to Series 3. I only intended it as a one-shot, but so many people have asked me to continue, that following several months' delay due to eyesight problems and a suicidal laptop, I've started to publish a sequel, "The Beginning of an Era". It's a work in progress, and to judge by the number of ideas I have for it, it could run and run.

My other stories are stand-alones. "Candlelight" is a bit of Christmas-themed angst in four chapters. "Gunshot" is my response to the shocking ending of Series 2. "The Love Potion" is a daft little fluffy two-shot which must be the first A2A operafic! Don't let that put you off - you don't need to know a thing about opera to appreciate it. "My Heart Will Go On", written and published just before Series 3 Episode 8 aired, was my idea for how the series might end - and I still prefer it to the scriptwriters' version! "Memory" is my second, angstier response to the end of Series 3. "Burning Inside", my entry for XTimeGirlX's 2011 shuffle competition, is a bit of post-Series 3 angst based on "Estuans Interius" from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana", which gives you an idea of the kind of stuff I keep on my music player! "The Proposal" is a sad little one-shot which came to me all unbidden and wouldn't let me alone until I had written it down. I never intended it to be more than a oneshot, but (with my permission) UnbreakableLovex has written a sequel, "Don't let me stop you". "Lonely This Christmas" is my Christmas fic for 2011 - more post-Series 3 angst but with a happy ending. "Getting His Reward" is inspired by the Tenth Doctor's farewells to his former companions. "The Legend of the Mighty Hunt" is both a completely off-the-wall send-up of scholarly dissertations and a look at how legends can change out of recognition over time. "Much Ado About Fenchurch East" is inspired by Shakespeare's immortal comedy. "Alex's Christmas", my 2012 Christmas fic, looks at how both Alex Drake and Alex Price spent the Christmas after Tim and Caroline died - and Gene, of course, is in the picture. "Charity at Christmas", my Christmas offering for 2013 and 2014, sends Alex and Gene undercover to a shelter for the homeless, where Gene is required to assume a most unexpected disguise. "On the Fiddle", my 2015/2016 Christmas fic, has a classical music theme.

Before finalising the third and subsequent chapters of "Gunshot", I visited St-Dunstan-in-the-East, which plays a crucial part in Series 2 Episode 8 as St Joseph's, where the final showdown takes place, and plays an equally crucial part in my story. This ancient church on St Dunstan's Hill, only a few minutes' walk from the Tower of London, was blitzed and never rebuilt, and in 1971 was turned into a beautiful garden which has won many awards and is very popular with city workers. It is still occasionally used for open air services. Only the church tower, built by Wren, survived the Blitz and is now used by the All Hallows House Foundation, a registered charity that provides core and complementary health services to those who live or work in the City of London, through its trading arm, The Wren Clinic. In my story, "St Joseph's House" (which in S2 ep 8 is the building behind Gene when he shoots Alex) is actually the rear of One Great Tower Street, and "St Joseph's Alley" is actually St Dunstan's Alley, a narrow footpath which runs between One Great Tower Street and the garden.

I have several more "Ashes to Ashes" stories rolling about in my head. At present "The Beginning of an Era" has to take priority, but I reserve the right to take time out for other stories if I want!

I have just posted my first two non-A2A stories. "Florestan and His Two Sisters", which is written in the style of eighteenth century fairy tales and gives three characters from the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet their own story for the first time, and "The Exterminating Angel - Marked for Death" was inspired by the recent opera based on Luis Buñuel's classic film.