About me: I am male, 5' 11" and overweight. I am over 60 years old (I'm not saying how much over 60). I am not married and am currently retired. I like reading science fiction and fantasy and watching sci fi and fantasy movies as well as Japanese anime.

My all time favorite anime is Ranma 1/2 but I also like Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Robotech and others in the action and sci fi genres. I generally feel that the Japanese have an odd sense of humor, but it is one that I like. My hat is off to Rumiko Takahashi for what she has done with Ranma 1/2. I think it takes a certain kind of genius to put a comedic spin on the events of Ranma's life as she portrays it.

A few years ago I started to read fan fictions. I really enjoyed them, my favorite being stories about Ranma 1/2. After reading the stories for about six months I started thinking. Since fanfics are written by fans and not professional writers, the quality of the writing varies from horrid to excellent. I started to wonder if I could write stories as good or better than some of what is posted.

My first fic was a sort of self insert I called "A Big Help." While I was writing one chapter of that a scene gave me an inspiration for another story. The scene was where Dr. Tofu was talking to Ranma and telling him what a thorough series of examinations of both male and female forms had learned. One comment from an independent doctor had been that as a girl, Ranma could get pregnant and through artificial insemination, his male side could even be the father.

That got an idea stuck in my head that I couldn't get out. It was wondering if there were a way that Ranma's male side could accidentally get his female side pregnant. I wrote what was intended to be a one-shot of how Nabiki splashed Ranma at the wrong moment and Ranma ended up pregnant and the father of her own child.

The funny thing was that I got reviews where people wanted to know what happened next. I ended up writing several chapters more and even an epilogue. Maybe some day I will edit out the lemon scenes and post that story on this site. The title is "I'm the Father and the Mother?"

I actually posted that fic on MM before "A Big Help." I have posted some of that first fic, but the response in reviews was lukewarm at best and because of that I haven't even posted all of the chapters that I've finished.

I ran into some problems in my real life and took a rather long hiatus (More than a year) from posting any fiction. The main reason for my lack of new postings was not from any lack of ideas to write. I've written a lot in that time. The problem was not being able to concentrate well enough to go over the finished text to edit and proof read. I suppose if I had pre-readers it would have helped greatly.

As things stand now I something like 60 or more chapters worth of material that nobody has ever seen but me. I am thinking that the time has come to get some of the new material posted along with revised and expanded versions of previously posted works. Once I have a few chapters posted, I may seek the services of a beta reader.

There are a few things I want to say about my writing.

1. At the present time I have only written Ranma fan fictions. I have included crossovers with other anime and world of comics and TV, but I have never written anything that didn't include Ranma in it in some manner. Before this my fiction was posted on Media Miner but it seems to me that there has been few postings of new material in the Ranma section of that site for a while. I think I might get a wider audience if I post on FF dot Net.

2. Akane - One reviewer accused me of being biased in favor of the Ranma/Akane pairing. That is not true. I pick pairings for my characters based on the needs of the story. For perhaps half of the stories I've written Akane was the person Ranma ended up with, but for others he (or she if locked) ended up with someone quite different. I'm open to suggestions for match ups to characters from other series.

3. The Amazons - I confess that I don't generally like the Amazons or at least I don't like Shampoo and Mousse. Thus I generally do not depict them in a good light. Her behavior in canon leads me to think of Shampoo as a sort of spoiled brat who feels it is her right to be married to Ranma. On the other hand Cologne is almost perfect for the role of wise old mentor so I can't paint the Amazons as being evil, just rather self-serving. I tend to think of the Kiss of Death as the "Sore Loser Law."

4. Ryoga - He is a good supporting character, but you generally will not see him in a major role in any of my fics. The way he takes advantage of Ranma's promise to not reveal his curse seems to show questionable honor. I would say it is a pretty safe bet you will not see a Ryoga/locked girl-Ranma romantic match-up in any of my fics. That's not to say I don't read such fics by other authors and enjoy them.

5. Ranma's height as a girl - I can see that in canon and in many fan fictions Ranma doesn't like being so small as a girl. For that reason if I can work out a plausible reason for it, I often will include some magic or other means for his girl side to get taller.

6. Sex - I have written some lemon Ranma fics. None of these is purely about the sex but often will have a plot to explain why the characters got into these situations. Since I am aware that doesn't allow fictions of that sort I may edit some of my stories to make them fit the restrictions. Older versions of my lemon stories can be read on Media Miner or on my blog m-ivins dot blogspot dot com. (take out the spaces and change the word "dot" to a period)