HASA Reviewed Stories April 2011

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 9 stories in review. Make an author's day and review a story! New submissions are of course welcome as well!

As I type this, there are 9 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out).

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!

A Cold Night in June by Agape4Gondor
Rating: General
Genre: Humor
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Faramir's dream has him befuddled.

Gracious Days by Vaysh
Rating: General
Genre: Romance
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Early morning on his fifty-second birthday, Frodo brings Sam a mathom from the Bag End orchards.

A Light of Gold was on the sea by losselen
Rating: General
Genre: Poetry
Era: 1st Age
Summary: Olwë remembers the Trees, and laments the Kinslaying. Poem.

Beneath the Birches by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: Romance
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: A pensive Arwen encounters a stranger. Written for the LOTR GFIC "Hearts and Flowers" challenge. With thanks to Virtuella.

A Yule Journey by Lindariel
Rating: General
Genre: Other
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: A gentle mystery in 12 installments. Follow a hobbit's Yule gift as it wends its way from Hobbiton to its final destination and recipient. Can you guess the sender, recipient, and year the story takes place before all is revealed in the end? Familiar characters appearing include Gi ...

Least Expected by Imhiriel
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: What if Halbarad's first appearance had taken a different turn? Drabble. MEFAwards 2008: 3rd Place – Genres: Alternate Universe: Drabbles

Donations needed for Feb-Mar-April

What do your hosting donations do for HASA? They put us on a new server that is much faster and more secure than the old one. Pages render faster, searches work more quickly, and attacks are foiled. We're behind and the April bill will be due soon.

http://www.henneth-annun.net/

HASA depends on member & reader donations and subscriptions to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to host our content, all the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more, and our new server makes this faster and more secure.

We should not be running this far negative for this long. Our balance is at -$238. Thanks to recent donations and subscriptions we're less behind than we would have been, but on average we've tended toward more negative rather than less. It would be best if we were positive. Please support HASA so our great stories can remain online and accessible.
One way we can do that is subscriptions. Currently we have two monthly and two annual subscriptions, many thanks to our patrons! It would be great if we could have more. The monthly hosting fee for HASA is $150. There are now three ways to donate to our PayPal account.

One time donations - this is what we've always had
Monthly donations - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
Annual donations - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.

Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page. If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Birthdays, stories

April birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in March.

April Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in April, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

March Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In March:

--- 6 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 35 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 4 Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Site Update Status

Transition to the new server has been completed. A DNS change request was submitted to the ISP @ 2:30 PM US West Coast time, March 27th.
Anglachel

HASA Server Downtime Schedule

Ang asked me to post this:

HASA is moving into its new home this coming weekend!

Starting about noon on Saturday, March 26th, HASA will be taken offline for maintenance. If all goes more or less as planned, the site will be back up on the new server about mid-day on Sunday, March 27th. Due to lags in DNS population, it may be a bit longer before users can see the new site.

So, what is being done? Many things have already been done this week. The server was patched and its security configured, a mail server was installed, the web site and application servers were started, tested and patched, preliminary tests were done on the mail server, sample databases were moved from the old server to the new one, and test sites are now running. Starting tomorrow, the following will be done:

• Thursday - Code transfer
• Friday - email account creation
• Saturday - Database backup and transfer
• Sunday -- ColdFusion application mapping, site configuration, testing and DNS switch

So, it's going to be a busy few days for me this week. Some features, like the Research Library text search, will not be operational until later next week and there will no doubt be some bugs to shake out.

Please, if you are planning story updates, forum posts or reviews, do your best to complete that before noon on Saturday.

Anglachel

Looking for subscriptions!

Just a quick note:

Since HASA is about to move to a newer, more stable server, I'm hoping we can celebrate with some new subscriptions.

Julie

HASA news - Birthdays, stories

March birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in February.

March Birthday Challenge
Is your birthday in March, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.
Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

February Stories
All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In February:
--- 15 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 27 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Please read, we're still behind

We're at -$161 which means January and February hosting fees aren't fully paid for and the March bill will soon come due. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to host our content -- all the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

We should not be running this far negative for this long. Thanks to recent donations we're less behind than we would have been, but on average we've tended toward more negative rather than less. It would be best if we were positive. Please support HASA so our great stories can remain online and accessible.

One way we can do that is subscriptions. Currently we have two monthly and two annual subscriptions. It would be great if we could have more! I would be pestering you less. The monthly hosting fee for HASA is $150. There are now three ways to donate to our PayPal account.
• One time donations - this is what we've always had
• Monthly donations - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
• Annual donations - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.
Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page. If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges

The February Birthday Challenge is still going on, and there is slightly over a day left to make a request or write a birthday drabble. Keep an eye out for the March Birthday Challenge as well!

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

February 2011 Birthday Cards - closes February 28

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, why not head over to the Challenges Forum; or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

As I’m in the middle of moving house (and have half an idea ready for this Challenge) the February Nuzgûl will run for another month: Estelmo’s story.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop.

Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

HASA Reviewed Stories February 2011

Since the previous Bulletin, 9 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 12 stories in review. Make an author's day and review a story! New submissions are of course welcome as well!

As I type this, there are 12 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out).

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!

Until We Meet Again by Tanis
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 4th Age
Summary: A difficult farewell between two friends bound and parted by destiny. Mild slash relationship references.


Wings of Summer by Raksha
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: The new Lords of Gondor are bound to duty, but are they its slaves? Distractions and diversions tempt Aragorn and Faramir. An 800-word (as counted by MS Word) standalone ficlet. Not slash.


After the Sun Rises by Maethril-of-Mirkwood
Rating: General
Genre: Other
Era: Other
Summary: (Non-Slash) Millennia have passed since the War of the Ring, and alone in Valinor, an elf laments those he has lost, wondering whether immortality is truly a blessing or a curse.


Faithful Friend by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Faramir has found all his heart desires. But when he risks losingmuch of what he had gained, help arrives from an unexpected source. With grateful thanks to Virtuella and Raksha. Dedicated to Raksha on the occasion of her birthday. Teitho Contest - Finder's Keepers - First Place. ...


A Question of History by Marta
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Sam and Pippin discuss a puzzling passage from the Red Book. (Betas: annmarwalk, Dreamflower, and Linda Hoyland)


Lingering Shadows by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Faramir is worried that something is threatening his baby son and seeks Aragorn's help. With thanks to Raksha and Virtuella. Written for the LOTR GFIC "Believe it or Not" Challenge.



A Deck of Heroes by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: A collection of ficlets inspired by the cards of the major arcana from the Tarot deck.


Orcs At School by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: Humor
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: Because little orcs need to learn, too.


Above All Shadows by IgnobleBard
Rating: Adult
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Aragorn sees Legolas stumble as they run towards Rohan, but doesn't know it is one of the first signs of the Elf’s dark secret. - Slash

On the Recent Attack Upon A HASA Member in the Forums

The offical response has been posted on the HASA web site:
http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/news_view.cfm?nwid=267

Anglachel

HASA undergoing server swap

Over the last few months, HASA's server has become increasingly unstable. This is due to a combination of factors, the two most prominent being the age of the hardware and operating system (almost 7 years) and an increasing number of malicious attacks on the system. The combination leaves the server vulnerable to crashing.

I am working with the ISP this week to get a new server set up and to transfer HASA's code and data to its new home. When the new server has been prepared, HASA will be taken offline and the data will be transferred.

The specific dates for the move are not yet available. They will be posted as soon as I have them.

Thank you for your patience while this work is being done.
Anglachel

HASA news - Birthdays, stories

February birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in January.

February Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in February, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

January Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In January:

--- 14 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 46 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 5 Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Donations needed for January and February Hosting fees

We're at -$106 which means January hosting isn't fully paid for and the February bill will soon come due.

HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to host all the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. We should not be running this far negative for this long. Thanks to recent donations we're less behind; we still need to get positive. Please support HASA so our great stories can remain online and accessible.

The monthly hosting fee for HASA is $150. There are now three ways to donate to our PayPal account.

- One time donations - this is what we've always had
- Monthly donations - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
- Annual donations - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.

Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page. If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges
The January Birthday Challenge is still going on, and there is slightly over a day left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

If you’re feeling inspired, you can also get an early start on the February Birthday Challenge!

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.

Current and closing Challenges
January 2011 Birthday Cards - closes January 31

Prospective Challenges
Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, why not head over to the Challenges Forum; or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?

Nuzgûl of the Month
Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
There is still a bit of time to write for the January Nuzgûl: Tom’s Brooch.

February’s Nuzgûl will be: Estelmo’s story.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop.

Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

_~_Nath_~_

HASA Reviewed Stories January 2011

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 10 stories in review. Make an author's day and review a story! New submissions are of course welcome as well!

As I type this, there are 10 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out).

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!

Where Fate Leads by Maethril-of-Mirkwood
Rating: General
Genre: Action
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: As she stands upon the battlefield, facing the greatest challenge of her life, Eowyn reflects upon who she is and what she fights for.

Memories of Trees by Vaysh
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: After the quest the hobbits rest in Minas Tirith, passing the time with story-telling. One afternoon when Merry talks about Fangorn, he remembers a walk with his grandfather in the Old Forest.

The Healer's Journey by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: Is a great healer like Aragorn born or made?

Impossibly Blue by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Aragorn planted the White Tree of Gondor. Five hundred years later, it receives a very unexpected visitor.

The Promise - A Quintdrabble by Agape4Gondor
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: A tribute to soldiers on this US Veteran's Day.

In the Depths of Winter by Marta
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Aragorn, as the new king of Gondor and Arnor Reunited, ushered in a new age of peace - and, Gondor quite naturally hoped, the beginnings of a new dynasty. But just because something is expected does not mean it will come easily. (Arwen-centric.)

HASA How-tos - January 2011

This month's HASA How-to tells you how to share a link by adding it to the HASA URL Library.

How do I...

... add a link to the URL Library?

What is the URL Library?

The URL Library is a collection of web page links, organized by general categories, covering both Tolkien's works and other topics of general interest to HASA members. All members are invited to share interesting links.

These may include Tolkien-related sites, but also sites that you have found useful in researching a topic for a story; for instance, sites on pre-modern weaponry, architecture, navigation, astronomy, farming, ...

How do I add a link to the URL Library?

1. Be sure you are logged in - only members can contribute links.
2. Go to the URL Library in Resources.
3. Find the "URL Categories" box in the navigation column.
4. In the box below the form will be a link to add a URL.
5. In the URL form, fill in:
   * the URL address (be sure to add the http:// part!)
   * the web page name
   * the URL category for the site
   * a brief summary of under 250 characters, including spaces (please include warnings for any Adult content).
6. Click on the "Add URL" button.

Your URL will be added in draft status and the Resource Manager will be notified there is a URL waiting for review.

Have fun!

~*Nath*~

Donations needed for December and January

HASA is a fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. Currently our account is at -$256, which means we're behind for 2/3 of December and all of January. We should not be running this far negative for this long. Thanks to recent donations we're less behind; we still need to get positive. Please support HASA so our great stories can remain online and accessible.

Our PayPal account has been updated and there are now three ways to donate. HASA now accepts subscriptions:

* One time donations - this is what we've always had
* Monthly donations - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
* Annual donations - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.

Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page. If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news – Challenges, Birthdays, Stories

In this week’s news: Happy New Year! prospective Challenges, the Nuzgûl of the Month and the stories written in December.

First, a pleasant, prosperous, productive New Year to all our readers. May your muses never be silent and your inspiration never run dry.


Birthday Challenges
The December 2010 Birthday Challenge has just closed (but I’m sure the birthday babes won’t mind a late drabble... Keep an eye out for the January 2011 Birthday Challenge to appear.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories written in 2010.


Prospective Challenges
Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, why not head over to the Challenges Forum; or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month
Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
December’s Nuzgûl was: The Passing of Narsil, and applause for Aruthir’s entry. Remember: late entries are also welcome!

January’s Nuzgûl will be: Tom’s Brooch
http://henneth-annun.net/challenge/challenge.cfm?ngid=180

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop.


December Stories
All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing stories every day. In December:

--- 5 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 43 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 5 Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

HASA Reviewed Stories December 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 3 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 5 stories in review. Why not make someone’s holiday and review a story between Christmas and the New Year? New submissions are of course welcome as well!

As I type this, there are 5 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


Truth Be Told by Virtuella
Rating: Adult
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: The newly appointed Chronicler of the Mark is faced with unexpected challenges, and painting in colour is the least of them. When he finds that not all is truth that the Eorlingas hold to be true, will his conflict with Eomer end his career? Reason for rating: brief scenes of violence, implie ...


A Father's Duty by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: Young Bilbo has an encounter with his alarming Took grandfather. A true drabble.


The Last Day Of Autumn by Ygrain
Rating: Adult
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: The last days of Gilraen The Fair, as seen by those around. A side-step from cannon by making Aragorn present; also taking some liberty in the manner of Gilraen's death. Rated adult for safety reasons, dealing with deathbed experience and details of terminal illness.

HASA How-tos - December 2010

This month's HASA How-to tells you how to display an image, for instance an award banner, with your story.

How do I...
... display an image with my story?

You can put images into story chapters or in your story intro by linking to them. Images in the story intro will not display on the story lists, only in the story's own overview page, so if you want to display an award that your story has won, put information about your award in the intro as well to have it show up in the story lists. For example, say "Winner of Legolas in Funny Hats Award, 2009". Search engines will find this text.


Where to link your image from
Images cannot be hosted on HASA, so you need to place them somewhere else, for instance Picasa, Photobucket, LJ, your own webspace...

Before uploading your image to the web, remember to reduce the file size and pixel dimensions of larger images by using your photo editing software's 'save for web' option. This won't usually be necessary for award banners. Smaller images load faster and display more clearly than images sized with HTML.

Get the URL of the image before linking your image. Check that you linked to the image and not the page it is on by pasting the URL into your browser's address bar. If you see the picture rather than the whole page after hitting Enter, you have the right URL.


How to link to your image
When you're editing a chapter, there is an 'add image' button on the toolbar:



This gives you a dialogue where you can specify where the image you're linking to is hosted, and you can also provide a short description of the image (this is what shows up when the image itself doesn't load for whatever reason; it's also what is used by screen readers, so it's useful to fill in, even if it says no more than 'image of ....'), and a few other settings, which you can ignore if you like. Now press 'insert' and your image should be there.


Have fun!

Donations still needed for December

Thanks to your donations November is paid; we still need donations for December. HASA is a fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. We want to be able to keep these stories and resources online and accessible. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. Currently our account is at -$141. We should not be running this far negative for this long. Thanks to recent donations we're less behind; we still need to get positive.

Our PayPal account has been updated and there are now three ways to donate. HASA now accepts subscriptions:


*One time donations - this is what we've always had
*Monthly donations - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
*Annual donations - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.

Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Birthdays, stories, funding

December birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in November, as well as an update on HASA’s funding.

Funding
After paying December fees, our account is currently at -$201. As you know, HASA depends on member and reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

First of course, thank you! to all of you who have donated either this month or this year. If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any amount is welcome and is greatly appreciated.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. Those stories aren’t going to read or write themselves, after all! If you’re a reviewer, why not go over to Reviews and review one or two of the stories that are waiting? Or comment on a story or write an email to an author...

December Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in December, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

November Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In November:

--- 2 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 25 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Please read! We're behind: Donations needed for Fall/Winter

After paying November fees, our account is at -$178. The $150 bill for December will be due soon. We should not be running this far negative for this long. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees.

HASA is a fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction & we want to be able to keep these stories and resources online and accessible. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server we need to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges

The November Birthday Challenge is still going on, and there are two days left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

If you’re feeling inspired, you can also get an early start on the December Birthday Challenge!

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

November 2010 Birthday Cards - closes November 30

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, why not head over to the Challenges Forum; or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

There are still two days to write for the November Nuzgûl: Ruling Steward forevermore.

December’s Nuzgûl will be: The Passing of Narsil.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop.



Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

-*~Nath~*-

HASA Reviewed Stories November 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 3 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 8 stories in review (remember to log in before you follow the link). Reviews couldn’t exist without authors and reviewers. So Thank You all for your work. BUT... we always need reviewers!


Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


The Gift of Foresight by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Aragorn and Halbarad have a conversation on the way to Minas Tirith.

Five Things That Never Happened to Sauron by Russandol
Rating: Adult
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: Five short scenes with a twist, in five different locations. Each of them harder to write than the previous one! Thank you to my fellow lizards for their nit picking and comments.

Song of a Swan Princess by Mirefinwe
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: At Mithlond, in the Third Age, a lost Telerin princess recalls the many sorrows of her long life, a life shaped by the deep purposes of Ulmo - perhaps...



-*-*-
Nath

HASA How-tos - November 2010

This month’s HASA How-to tells you how to create a playlist of your favourite stories by other authors and of your own stories.

How do I...
... create a Reader Playlist and put stories in it?

Playlists are lists of HASA stories put together by authors and readers, just as music lovers put together lists of their favorite songs.

Examples:

• Stories in a series put in reading order.


• A collection of similarly themed stories, such as Hobbit romance or critical essays on Men.


• A reader's "favorites" list, complete with explanations of why the reader likes them.


• A collection of stories by multiple authors.

There are three types of playlists, each featuring a slightly different set of perspectives.

The first type, Reader Lists, is for readers to put together collections of stories that you like, for whatever reason, in the order you like, and by as many authors as you like. Put together a reading tour of HASA!

You can add playlists as follows.

If you do not yet have any playlists, you can make one first:

1. Go to the Playlists section.


2. If the Main Menu is not open, click the header to unfold the menu.


3. From the menu, click on "My Playlists", and choose "Playlists I share" from the righthand column.


4. You will now see a form for creating a list.
   --Type in a title. It cannot be more than 50 characters, including spaces. Make the title distinctive. Do not use double quote marks!
   --Type in a description of the list. Use key words like your screen name, characters featured in the stories, and so on. Each one of these words is searchable. Click "Add new playlist".


5. The playlist is created and you end up on the "Playlists I have created" page. You are now ready to add stories.

Or, when you are in Stories (and this works both for creating a new list and adding a story to a playlist you made earlier):

1. While you are reading a story you like, click on the "Add to Playlist" button in the Readers Toolbox located at the top and bottom of every chapter page.


2. If you do not have any playlists at all, you will immediately see a form like the one de-scribed above. Follow those instructions to create a playlist.


3. If you already have playlists, you will see a drop-down list of your Reader playlists, plus a link to "Create new Playlist."


4. Once you have either created or selected a playlist, you will be prompted to add the story to the list.


5. Provide a brief explanation of why you are adding the story to the list and click "Add".


6. The screen refreshes and you can see the story in the list. It is added at position "0". You must set the story to a number other than "0" for it to show on your list.


7. Use the small ordinal drop-down boxes to put the story in position.


8. Click "Reorder List" to update the order.

NOTE: When a playlist is created, it is set to Inactive. This is because when it is created, it doesn't have stories in it. After you add stories to it, you must set the playlist to Active to allow others to read it.

---

The second type of list is the Author List. If you write multiple stories that should be read in a particular order, or if you have different sets of stories (these are my Dwarf stories, these are my Hobbit stories, etc.) you can group them together. The only limit here is that any story included in the list must be Beta, General, or Reviewed status.

Creating an author playlist is also a great way to promote your own works. The most recently updated playlist appears on the home page of HASA, which is a good way to bring a set of stories to the notice of readers.

1. Go to the Playlists section.


2. If the Main Menu is folded up, click the heading to unfold it.


3. Choose "Playlists I Write" from the menu.


4. On that page, if you do not have an author playlists yet, you will be prompted to create one.


5. Enter a title and a brief description of the playlist, such as "This is my Legolas AU series set in chronological order."


6. Click "Add".


7. When your list is first created, it is set to Inactive. This allows you to put your list together before releasing it to the public. You must set your list to Active to make it viewable.

Now that your list is created, you can add your stories to it.

1. Navigate to My Playlists-->;Playlists I Write in the Playlists section of HASA


2. You will now see the list of all Author Playlists you have created. If you don't have a playlist yet, you'll be prompted to create one.


3. Click "Update List" to add stories.


4. The screen will refresh and you will now see all of your Beta, General and Reviewed status stories in a drop down list.


5. Select the story you want to add from the drop-down list and click "Select".


6. Provide a brief explanation for the story. Use keywords that readers might use for search-ing, such as characters names or story genre. Take time to say something that will spark curi-osity about your story and make a reader want to click. If you are putting together a thematic series, put that in.


7. Click "Add".


8. The story and reason are added to the list.


9. Be sure to set the order of the list after adding a new story. Use the order drop-down num-bers to do this. The stories that are left set to "0" will not show up in the playlist.

After you have added a story, you will need to reset the overall playlist to Active status.

1. Click the "Edit Playlist" button in the top table.


2. The playlist will open in a form.


3. Make changes to the description if desired and change the status from Inactive to Active.


4. Click "Edit Playlist".

---

Workshop Lists. These are the most specialized. These are lists of stories by authors who be-long to a particular workshop. If a group of authors is conducting a writing exercise, they could gather the stories in a playlist. Or if the authors are jointly writing stories, they can compose the joint works in a workshop, then put the stories into a playlist with commentary about writing them.

Adding stories to a Workshop List works the same way as described for the other two types of playlist. The only other thing you need to keep in mind here is that only stories that are in a Workshop can be added.

Have fun!

-*Nath*-

HASA news - Birthdays and stories

November birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in October.

November Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in November, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

October Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In October:

--- 8 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 29 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 3 Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Donations needed for October & November

Please read. After paying October fees, our account is at -$88.00. The $150 bill for November will be due soon. HASA is a fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction & it depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees.

The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. When you make a donation you will be helping to make sure all the great stories and resources archived here will remain accessible. HASA's indexing and recommend features make it easy for readers to find the stories they are looking for. Our resource section helps authors get the details right in their stories. Our forums and workshops help connect authors and readers so authors can make stories better.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewr, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges

The October Birthday Challenge is still going on, and there is a week left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

October 2010 Birthday Cards - closes October 31

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, why not head over to the Challenges Forum; or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
Since there’s still a full week to go in October, no new Nuzgûl yet... instead a quick repeat showing of this month's offering, the oliphaunt: Show me feär.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop. There’s still time to write it.



Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!


~*Nath*~

HASA Reviewed Stories October 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 3 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 8 stories in review. Reviews couldn’t exist without authors and reviewers. So Thank You all for your work. BUT... we always need reviewers!

As I type this, there are 8 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


The Sell-sword and the Prince by Lady Bluejay
Rating: General
Genre: Action
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: The Battle of the Pelennor was not Imrahil's first meeting with Isildur's Heir. Years before the future king led a young prince in a daring raid on Umbar, and then nudged him towards finding a wife. The story starts as a high adventure and ends as a light- hearted romance.

A Tree Grows in the Pass by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 4th Age
Summary: During their first term of service with the Rangers of Ithilien the son of King Elessar and the son of the Prince of Ithilien, inspired by tales told of the visit by the Ringbearers, decide to seek certain relics within the Pass of Cirith Ungol.

The Measure of a Man by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Déoric has lost a leg and his best friend on the Pelennor. He is set to lose even more things after his return to Edoras, but Éomer discovers the young man's unusual talent. A coming-of-age story.



*~*Nath*~*

HASA news - October 2010 week 2 - advertisements

This week's news features an announcement by Anglachel about advertising on HASA.

HASA will start displaying advertisements in next few weeks. It was a hard decision to make. This post is to explain the reasoning for the change to the site's previously ad-free environment.

One of the reasons HASA was created was to provide a place to read Tolkien fanfiction that did not bombard the site visitors with obnoxious advertisements. In the early Naughties, web advertisements were hitting their stride with invasive, annoying, bad-mannered and downright offensive crud. Web browsers didn't have ad-blocking capabilities, so the only refuge was an ad-free site.

For seven years, I've been able to keep the site advertisement free. I've been able to rely on voluntary donations by site members and the reading public alike. [...]

Read the full announcement here on HASA. Of course, you can still donate if you prefer, but clicking an advert now and again helps to pay for the site hosting as well.

Thank you for reading at HASA!

HASA news - Birthdays and stories

October birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in September.

October Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in October, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

September Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In September:

--- 6 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 33 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 3 Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Donations needed for September and October

After paying September fees, our account is at -$83.00. The $150 bill
for October will be due soon. HASA is a fee-free Web site, run for the
enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction & it depends on member & reader
donations to pay hosting fees.

The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the
features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts,
challenges and more. Since funding is running behind we've begun looking
at advertisements to supplement donations.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing
so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot
of traffic and offers many great stories and features. We want to be
able to keep these stories and resources online and accessible.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are
always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for
comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on
their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be
created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer,
check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewr, no better time than
now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges
Intro

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges

The September Birthday Challenge is still going on, so there is still a bit of time left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

September 2010 Birthday Cards - closes September 30

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, head over to the Challenges Forum or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

And to make that dive into the hutch that little bit(e) more attractive, have a taster of what is in there:

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
October’s offering is from the Oliphaunt Pen, rather than the Nuzgûl Hutch: Show me feär.

Think you want to write it? Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop, be inspired, see how many others you can inflict this idea on, and perhaps even turn it into a Challenge.

There are still a few days left on the September bunny Elven Divorce, so feel free to join in the fun, even if it’s with no more than a drabble...


Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!


~*~

Nath

HASA How-tos - September 2010

This month’s HASA How-to tells you how to make a story out of your Birthday Challenge gift posts, and put the story into the Birthday Workshop.

How do I...
...put my Birthday Challenge forum posts in the Birthday Workshop?

Once you have made your birthday request and the first entries have been posted, it’s a good idea to already create your story in the Birthday Workshop so that gift writers can add a drabble there as well as in the Birthday Challenge Forum. Here you can read how to do this (please make sure you are logged in before you follow the links):

1. Create a story in the same way you normally would. (See the FAQ if you’re not sure how to do this). Give it a name like [Your_name]’s 2010 Birthday stories.
2. Create a chapter for each of the gift stories already in the forum. Use the title of the story as the title for the chapter. If there's room, add the author's name to the title, otherwise, make it the first line in the chapter. A chapter would end up with a name like [Title by Author].
3. Make sure that the status for each chapter is set to ‘publish’ and that the story itself is set to ‘General’.
4. Go to the Birthday workshop. If you are not yet a member of the Workshop, you will need to sign up to the Workshop to perform the final step below.
5. Add your story to the set of stories in the Workshop.

Now that the story is in the Birthday workshop, the authors of your gifts can add more chapters to your story as they like.

HASA Reviewed Stories September 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 8 stories in review. Reviews couldn’t exist without authors and reviewers. So Thank You all for your work. BUT... we always need reviewers!

As I type this, there are 8 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


Falling Leaves by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: A series of drabbles concerning trees.

Eight Elven Cloaks by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Galadriel has a special commission for her handmaidens. As eight Elven cloaks are sewn in a bower in Caras Galadhon, the members of the Fellowship are evoked in turn, and blessed.

A Treasure Restored by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: For some years Faramir of Gondor has had in his possession two books that had apparently come to Gondor from the far north, and now he believes they should go to the new King, perhaps as a wedding gift of sorts. Follows some elements from my story, Or Perchance, when the Last Little Star.... ...

Bibliophile by Imhiriel
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Éowyn is reading about a tragedy of the First Age, until her husband provides a more pleasurable pastime. Drabble.

To the Sea by Mirefinwe
Rating: General
Genre: Poetry
Era: 1st Age
Summary: Fingolfin's lament for his wife. Should be conceived of as written in Sindarin.

Shoulder the Sky, My Lads by Marta
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: In Rivendell, Gimli and Boromir spend some time below stairs.

HASA news - Birthdays and stories

September birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in August.

September Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in September, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

August Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In August:

--- 7 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 55 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Please Read, our account is negative

After paying August fees, our account is at -$48.00. The $150 bill for September will be due soon. HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction & it depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees.

The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features. If a fraction of our members and regular visitors can donate just $5 each we'll be able to keep this site accessible to all.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donate some time. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewr, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Challenges

In this week’s news: funding; current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month .

Funding
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction.

Currently, we still need $48 for our August site hosting. Please consider donating a small amount, if you haven’t already done so. Every bit helps! And if you can’t afford to donate money, why not donate time? Review or comment on a story, start a Forum discussion, enter a Challenge...


Birthday Challenges

The August Birthday Challenge is still going on, so there is still a bit of time left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

August 2010 Birthday Cards - closes August 31

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, head over to the Challenges Forum or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

And to make that dive into the hutch that little bit(e) more attractive, have a taster of what is in there:

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
This month’s bunny is Elven Divorce.

Think you want to write it? Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop, be inspired, see how many others you can inflict this idea on, and perhaps even turn it into a Challenge.

There are still a few days left on the August bunny Royally Screwed, so feel free to join in the fun, even if it’s with no more than a drabble...


Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

~*~
Nath

Please Read (August & September site hosting)

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, the balance of our site hosting fund is negative. We need $103 US for August and it would be good if we could start on the $150 needed for September's hosting. The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be greatly appreciated. If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donate some time. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewr, no better time than now to sign up.

And if you are an author, please consider donating a new story!

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA Reviewed Stories Augusy 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 6 stories in review. Reviews couldn’t exist without authors and reviewers. So Thank You all for your work. BUT... we still need more reviewers!

As I type this, there are 6 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

Forum discussion
And for all (potential) reviewers, there is a forum thread about reviewing. Feel free to drop in and have your say if there’s anything you want to say or ask about being a reviewer.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


The Temptation of Hope by Raksha
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: Captain Thorongil must make a choice that could alter the path of two realms as well as his own destiny and the fates of Denethor, Finduilas and Arwen.

The Queen's Fool by Aruthir
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 2nd Age - Pre-Rings
Summary: Tar-Ancalimë was Númenor's first ruling queen- daughter of a love sundered by pride. Here is a tale from the dying days of her long, long reign- seen through the eyes of her Fool.

A Mother's Hope by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: Gilraen receives news that will change her life for ever.

A Race, To Be Like Me by Imhiriel
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: Time of the Trees
Summary: Fëanor contemplates the reactions to his Oath. Drabble. MEFAwards 2008: Honorable Mention - Races: Elves: Drabbles

Worse Than The Witch King by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: Humor
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: As her wedding day approaches, Eowyn finds some old Gondorian customs not at all to her liking.

Choice of Heirs by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: The rumor is that Bilbo has brought his young cousin Frodo to Hobbiton to become his heir. Not everyone in the village is pleased with that idea, however.

HASA How-tos - August 2010

Every site will experience technical problems and downtime, and alas! HASA is no exception... Read on to find out how to report any problems you may run into.

How do I...
...report a site problem or outage?

For readers, problems with the site that are caused by technical problems fall into two broad categories: either you find you cannot reach one or more specific pages, or the whole site is inaccessible. Below, you can find what you as a reader can do in each situation.

First to remember: if we don’t know about it, it can’t be fixed!

So please, if you experience any of the following errors:
-A white page with a few characters
-An error message that has lots of technical code
notify Tech Support. It may be just a glitch, but it may also be something that we need to know about so it can be found and (hopefully) fixed.

When the site is unreachable and you can't see anything like a normal HASA page, that usually means there is something wrong on the server. That affects everyone, so it's better to be safe than sorry and just send in a warning that something significant seems wrong on the site. If you're not sure how big the problem is, try going to a few other places on the site. If you can browse the site normally except for one page or one form, then there probably is a smaller problem. You should still report it so that small problems don't become larger ones!

No matter how big or small the problem, if you get an error message of some kind, please either copy the text or make a screenshot of the page (Ctrl-Prt Scr) and send those along when you send in a report to Tech Support.

You can't go wrong sending in a message that something isn't quite right. To be able to do that, you can make note of the Tech Support email address. Also be sure to bookmark the HASA LJ, the HASA News Yahoo Group, or our Blogspot blog. If we already know about a longer outage, those are the places we will use to post about it. You can also post a message or leave a comment at any of those locations if you can't remember the email address for Tech Support.

HASA has visitors around the clock. Chances are someone will see a site error before Anglachel does. Don't be shy about sending an email that something may be misbehaving.

HASA news - Birthdays and stories

August birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in July.

August Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in August, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

July Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In July:

--- 11 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 66 General Stories were published or updated.
--- no Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~