The Author
So who am I and how did I get enough nerve to tackle this job?
My name is Kat, as you may already have realized. I'm a 50+-year-old secretary with an insane secret life as an animation lover and fanfic writer. Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime. But it left me with so many questions! Why do Spike and Vicious, former friends, now hate each other so venomously? Why did Julia go into hiding instead of running away with Spike? What's with that bionic eye? What's with that fish sculpture? And so on and so on. Watching the series again and again, I began to slowly come up with a pattern in the crazy-quilt of Spike's flashbacks. I also was deeply touched by Gren. The enigma of Vicious kept nagging me, always in the back of my mind. Finally I decided to just start writing something that might explain where he came from. I only expected to write a single chapter, enough to get a handle on Vicious.
Instead, he got a handle on me. He seems to want me to tell this story, because I can't get away from it. I've gone on to other animes ~ Rurouni Kenshin, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Peacemaker, Samurai Champloo, Inuyasha, .hack//SIGN, Slayers, The Vision of Escaflowne, Oh! My Goddess, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ouran High School Host Club, and lots more. I've written fanfic for Rurouni Kenshin. Yet this story keeps dragging me back.
It's as incredibly difficult to write as it is impossible not to write. Vicious is not a comfortable person to write about, Spike is complex, and Julia's character is a mystery. Furthermore, I never realized the sheer wealth of detail in Bebop until I started trying to figure out a story that would explain all of it. It's a monumental task. But I'm loving it, and I can only hope I don't screw it up. As for how I got the nerve to start it... well, I'm over 50 years old. When you've got that many years under your belt, not much scares you!
Reaction from reviewers on Fanfiction.net (go to my spot and review if you want!) has been hugely encouraging. (Only one bad review, and that one objecting mainly to Vicious and Spike being brothers.) I have almost as many reviews for this one story as for all my other stories combined! With that kind of encouragement, I feel as if my Muse has wings.
What are my plans for this story? I plan to tell Spike's story up to the point where he meets Jet, and Vicious' story until the day he kills Mao Yenrai. I plan to try my best to tell a plausible story about how Spike and Vicious became friends, how Spike joined the Dragons, how Julia came into it, how Spike and Julia fell in love, why Vicious betrayed Gren, and why and how Spike left the Dragons. I hope to shed some light on these characters and share my understanding of them, and record my guesses about the many things left unexplained. Big ambitions, I know! Wish me luck, and if you like the story, any encouragement to continue will be appreciated!!
If you want to learn more about me (why would you do that? well, anyway), all my sites are linked from my main site, Dragonfare.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at prelude.kat@gmail.com.
If you'd like to read non-fanfic works by me, I also write fantasy stories and Regency romances. Click on the red and yellow icon!
