Update January 16, 2019:

I don't know if anyone will actually read this, but I feel that I have to vent some of my frustration with what has become of this community (although it is not only this community, but seems to be a rather common phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that is driving all the good writers away (Thanwen being the latest example)... and the name of it is APATHY.

I have been writing and posting my stuff here for a long time (around twenty years!), and I remember that it was different back then - people wrote stories, and they were read and often, feedback in the form of a review was given. It didn't matter whether it was only a short line or a thorough, long dissection of a chapter; as an author, you got the feeling that people cared. Nowadays, I (and not only I) have arrived at the frustrating realisation that people don't seem to care anymore. They come to this (or any other) site, they read and consume, but they can't be bothered to leave the author even a single line for all the hard work that went into their stories. I partly blame the "Like"-button on Facebook for this, as people seem to have become lazy. If there is no "Like"-button, there is no feedback.

The result is that more and more authors stay away, as it seems to have grown pointless to post our stories. We see that they are being read, but how am I supposed to feel if I find that I get 1.000 hits to my stories in a month, and out of these, only a personal friend takes the time to let me know she enjoyed what I created?

So now Thanwen has left, who had graced the LoTR-fandom with some of the finest Rohan-centered fanfiction around, for this very reason, and slowly, but surely, I am arriving at the point where I feel that "A Red Sun rises" will be my last story, too. It is hard to make time for writing. And as we are writing in a copyrighted world, the only reward we might get for this is feedback and perhaps, find new friends and have great conversations regarding our favourite books/ movies. There really is no point in doing so if you are posting to silent readers. I am determined to finish "Red Sun", but it will probably be the end of my creative output here, as well.

I would love to hear from anyone offering advice or insights in a private message, and for now, remain with sad greetings,

Yours Truly,

Katzilla

Update March 8, 2018: I have now created a Facebook-page for an exchange for everyone who would love to get in contact with me concerning my stories, complete with pictures that inspired me to write. You will find it here:

h t t p s : doubleslash w w w dot f a c e b o o k dot com slash Katzilla13 slash

My profile... oh gosh! I realize that what I wrote down here before was hardly sufficient, but heck, what do I write? Hm... let's see...

Born 1966 in Germany (where I still live today and yes, my first language is German), I always was a Sci-Fi/ Fantasy nut from when I could barely crawl. My earliest childhood friend was Godzilla (see my author name and go figure, LOL!). I proceeded to loving STAR WARS (not anymore though, at least not the new episodes), BATTLESTAR GALACTICA... and 1986, I became a big TERMINATOR and ALIEN-fanatic (and JAMES CAMERON, I just wish he would quit all this diving stuff and shoot some mean SF-movies again!)and began taking my first steps in the fanfiction universe (I also had a huge crush on Michael Biehn, obviously).

My probably most ambitious undertaking was ALIENS: CHRYSALIS, which was thought to become a trilogy, but unfortunately, my ALIEN-muse pretty much died a very sudden death, and so far, I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to finish this, all the more since the last part of it would have been quite complicated to write. I do plan, however, to post at least a summary of what would have happened in part three to give people who read it some closure. The biggest plot point of it was probably that Darwin (the young scientific genius, who so far seemed to be the Queen-B* of the Universe) turns out to be Rogue's secret twin and has a hidden agenda against Weyland Yutani. Their parents were both very high up in the WY hierachy and couldn't stand the thought that their children might not be up to their standards, so they "manufactured" them in the WY genetic laboratory. But then the twins turned out so smart that they frightened their parents and basically couldn't connect with anyone else but themselves, since everybody else seemed to be idiots to them. They even had their own language in which they communicated with each other.

Their parents, not happy about being left out, decided to give Rogue (Darwin's brother) away to force the girl to put up with them, thus condemning both children to loneliness. Darwin suffered immeaserably and decided to get even with the company for what they did to her and her brother. Rogue went underground, and together, they built Isis (the female cyborg who plays one of the main parts in the story) to gather all the information against W.Y. Darwin would give her access to when she took her onto the Space Station. She never told Isis that she was her creation for fear that this would have corrupted her proof against W.Y. So Darwin set herself up as the "evil scientist" , whose evil deeds would ultimately cause the company's downfall. She realized that her chance had arrived when Hicks and Newt and the aliens were brought to the station.

During the final tests of the "Hicks-hybrid", she sees to it (after having confirmed that he has - after some trouble - learned to control his alien-side) that he and Newt can escape, but stays behind herself to set up the station for destruction. Also, after all the horrible things she has done, she would never be accepted in the community again. There is no tomorrow for her. When Hicks, Newt and Isis (after a huge fight with Raven, who has also escaped) flee the station toward the planet where Rogue is hiding, she dies a happy death knowing that Isis carries everything for her revenge against the company inside her...

Well, so much for that. My ALIEN-muse died, and at the same time, my LORD OF THE RINGS-muse was born. I must say that I was ALWAYS a fan of LotR from when I read the books first at the age of 13. I then saw that horrible Ralph Baskhi animated movie (ruined Aragorn for me for all times!) and used to fantasize with my friends that a "real-action" movie of the trilogy would be my dream come true... You can image how thrilled I was when I first heard in 1997 that Peter Jackson was taking on that epic task! And the movies have fulfilled everything (well, almost) I had ever wanted from that fandom. I think the best thing he did was hiring Alan Lee and John Howe to make things look EXACTLY the way most of the fans wanted them to look (I, too, since I collected their calendars back in the 80's). These days, pretty much the only complaint I have is that they made my favorite character Éomer suffer the most cuts (he was one of the main characters in the books, and is barely in the movies at all). But well, that is what fanfiction is there for, right?

I can only urge you strongly to take a look at my favorite authors and stories if you like the Rohirrim. They are all on top of their game and make for a fantastic read!

Oh, and one of my main works (a sequel to "A Rohan Ghost Story") is not mentioned in my below list of stories because it was posted under a different author name (as it is a cooperation with Timmy2222) You will find it on this site under the title:

"Twilight of the Gods"

under the author name KatzillaTimmy2222. Just be warned: It's pretty epic!

So long, until the next update!

Oh yeah, and I forgot to say: I'll do (almost) ANYTHING for a review: Positive, negative, I don't care, as long as it is constructive and I can learn from it and see that the stories are getting read. Unfortunately, there are not many people in the fandom who still go to the effort of writing a review (however brief it may be) anymore. Please, if you read this and haven't written a review in your life, be assured that even with a few words, you can make an author's day! It really isn't that difficult. Share your thoughts!