4th Quarter Fun and Funding

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. This pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. Every penny donated to HASA goes directly to paying the hosting costs.

Currently our donation balance is at $47, which covers almost 1/3 of October hosting. HASA's marvelous Secret Admirer has guaranteed matching funds for all Quarter 4 donations, up to $500! Another member is covering all the service fees that PayPal takes, so every dollar you donate is worth double!

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 visiting HASA!

HASA Reviews September 2009

Welcome to the September reviews bulletin.

Reviews are an important part of the site: there are the authors who sit waiting with baited breath and fraying nerves, and there are our intrepid reviewers to think of. So before looking at the stories: Thank you all for your work, authors and reviewers alike!

Stories in review
As I type this, there are 13 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Of course, 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?

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.

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. Put more simply: put one in, take one out...

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

Conquering the Helcaraxë by Raksha
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: A southern princeling faces a new challenge in the frozen North. Join young Barahir of Ithilien and his grandfather on a wintry day in this 600-word ficlet.

'Of Pride And Penalty' by JDE
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 1st Age
Summary: " Ay, do despise me, I'm the prouder for it; I like to be despised. " [From 'The Hypocrite', Act V, Sc 1']

Adolescence by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: General
Summary: Adolescent daughters sometimes seek to avoid restrictions set on them. Set the year Sam and Rosie visited Gondor with Elanor.

I Am Of The House Of Eorl by Nieriel Raina
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: When the Three Hunters and Gandalf come to Edoras, history is made, events are set in motion and some will never be the same… A mix of book and movie verse told from an unusual point of view - a wolfhound.

Deliverance by Imhiriel
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - The Kings
Summary: A mariner has reached the end of his long quest. Drabble. MEFAwards 2008: 3rd Place - Races: Men: Gondor Drabbles

Pity Us Not by JDE
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 1st Age
Summary: A narrative from Oropher's point of view, set in Doriath after the kinslayings. A bit of everything, some angst, some diplomacy, some dreary musings, and of course, the house of Finwë.

Gamesmanship by Raksha
Rating: Adult
Genre: Action
Era: 4th Age
Summary: On a voyage to Dol Amroth with his family, Éomer faces peril at sea. Rated Adult for some battle scenes. Written in honor of Branwyn's birthday in 2008.

The Sins of the Fathers by Mirefinwe
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: Time of the Trees
Summary: My take on the Fall of the Noldor as family saga, focussing on Indis and her daughters.

First Victory! by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Action
Era: 4th Age
Summary: At age fifteen, Eldarion Telcontar has his first true victory at sparring....

Far From Home by Raksha
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: On the last night of 3018, what do Boromir and Frodo find they have in common? (a true drabble)

---

Thank you for reading, writing and reviewing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA news - September 2009

Exciting new things are happening at HASA! Those of you who have visited the site in the last few days have already seen the expanded focus on Challenges. And there is another new feature drawing attention to reviews.

Reviews

Reviews are now visible at the top of the members home page. If you are an active reviewer, log in to see the list of 10 new stories that are waiting for reviewers. Why not check one out?

Or, if you are not yet a reviewer, why not sign up? Reviewing is not nearly as daunting as you may think it is, and you're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out


Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in September and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.


Challenges and Nuzgul

Click here for the Challenges homepage.

If you have an idea that you'd like at least five people take on, grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge? Prospective Challenges can be found here

There is one open Challenge: the HASA Birthday Challenge '09*. On July 1st, it was HASA's seventh birthday, and there is of course no better way to celebrate than with a challenge involving the number seven or any other 'lucky number': The Challenge will run over the summer to give all entrants enough time to write your story, be it an epic story or a ficlet, and closes on Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. We wish you luck and a Happy Birthday to HASA.

* (please note, you need to be logged in for this link to work)


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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

---
Nath

Donations for September site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Thank you to generous site users who donated last month, and in previous months. Currently our balance is at $17, which means we will need donations to pay the September hosting bill. The due date is the 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 143 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA Reviews August 2009

Welcome to the first new reviews bulletin.

Reviews are an important part of the site: there are the authors who sit waiting with baited breath and fraying nerves, and there are our intrepid reviewers to think of. So before looking at the stories: Thank you all for your effort, authors and reviewers alike!

Of course, there’s also Jay of Lasgalen, our Reviews Admin, who deserves her own round of applause for her hard work, and it’s in fact a forum discussion between her and Agape4Gondor that led to Reviews getting a separate news bulletin again. Go read, and if you have ideas and suggestions, please join in.

Stories in review
As I type this, there are 12 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Of course, 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?

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.

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. Put more simply: put one in, take one out...

Reviewed story spotlight

These are the latest stories to pass through review. Authors, congratulations; well done, people!

Bridal Bouquet by Lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: Romance
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Galadriel prepares a very special bouquet for her granddaughter. 100 words as counted in MS WORD. Written for a challenge.


Crossing Borders by IgnobleBard
Rating: Adult
Genre: Drama Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: A misunderstanding threatens to expose Faramir's secret. AU, slash, angst, whipping (not bdsm)


In Defiance of the Dark by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Romance Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: She had been very beautiful--and a courtesan and slave. Now she and the Ringbearer find themselves defying the Dark as he visits her in the Houses of Healing, encouraged by his friend, the King Elessar.


Truth by Starlight
Rating: General
Genre: General Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Faramir learns of the manner of his father's death.


Autre temps, autre moeurs (Other days,other ways) by Lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General Era: 4th Age
Summary: An envoy at King Elessar's Court writes a letter home. Written for a challenge.

---

Thank you for reading, writing and reviewing at HASA. Enjoy!

--
Nath

HASA news - August 2009

The general news bulletin for August 2009, focusing on birthdays, reviews, profiles and stories.


Profiles

Time for a bit of summer cleaning? There are a bunch of new nationality flags available, but even if you're not from any of these places, it may be a good idea to go and have a look to see if your profile is still up to date (email address, beta reader status, bio etc).

New flags to wave:
Catalonia
European Union
French Guiana
Heard and McDonald Islands
Montenegro
Serbia
Reunion
Svaldbard and Jan Mayer


Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in August and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.


Reviews

Right now, there are 13 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you're not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... why not sign up? You're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.


Challenges and Nuzgul

We have one open Challenge: the HASA Birthday Challenge ‘09*. On July 1st, it was HASA's seventh birthday, and there is of course no better way to celebrate than with a challenge involving the number seven or any other 'lucky number': The Challenge will run over the summer to give all entrants enough time to write your story, be it an epic story or a ficlet, and closes on Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. We wish you luck and a Happy Birthday to HASA.

* (please note, you need to be logged in for this link to work)

If you have an idea that you’d like at least five people take on, grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here


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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In July:

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

---
Nath

A few donations for August site hosting needed

Thanks again for all the generous donations to date. In our fundraising for July we got a great start on August. We have $ 117.00, so we're close. We need only four $5 donations, because HASA's generous secret admirer is continuing to match donations; every dollar you donate will be matched.
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Donations pay for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. HASA has many visitors every day. If only a fraction of that number can donate $5 each, we will be funded for next month. You can also show your support for HASA in other ways: why not write a comment or review a story, even if you cannot donate. But above all, enjoy the site!

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA news - July 2009

HASA news - July 2009

The general news bulletin for July 2009, focusing on birthdays, reviews, resources and stories.

To start with: thanks to the generosity of our donors, costs for July are covered! Thank you all!

Of course, money (though welcome) isn't the only way you can "donate" to HASA. Just as much as funds to keep going, HASA needs you to write stories, make comments, perform reviews, post to forums etc. If you would like to donate, but your budget won't allow it, pick out a favourite story and post a comment. It just takes a minute and it will make that author's day!

Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in July and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.


Reviews

Right now, there are 15 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you're not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... why not sign up? You're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.


Challenges and Nuzgul

We have one open Challenge: the HASA Birthday Challenge ‘09*. On July 1st, it's HASA's seventh birthday, and there is of course no better way to celebrate than with a challenge involving the number seven or any other 'lucky number': The Challenge will run over the summer to give all entrants enough time to write your story, be it an epic story or a ficlet, and closes on Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. We wish you luck and a Happy Birthday to HASA.

* (please note, you need to be logged in for this link to work)

If you have an idea that you’d like at least five people take on, grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here


Resources

The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.

Some recent articles in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn

Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II

Places
Argonath
Caragdûr

Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).


June 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In June:

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

--Nath--

Quick funding update -- almost there for July

It's July and we're still a few dollars short. I updated the announcement box a
few days ago we got a good responce. Right now we only need 4 more $5 donations.
As I write this there's 135 visitors at HASA -- if just a few who are able and
haven't donated could do so, that would be great.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Donations for July site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Thank you to generous site users who donated last month, and in previous months. Currently our balance is at $12.05, which means we will need donations to pay the July hosting bill. The due date is July 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 121 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA news - June 2009

The general news bulletin for June 2009, focusing on reviews, birthdays, challenges, and stories.

Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first). If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up.

Reviews

Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you're not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... why not sign up? You're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.

Challenges and Nuzgul

We have two prospective Challenges waiting for authors to join in: the Midsummer Challenge, and the HASA Birthday Challenge. You can find the Prospective Challenges forum here

Forums and Workshops

Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.

A quick overview of forum links:

On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.

If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.

Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).

Playlists

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

For example:
- An author uses playlists to put the stories in a series in reading order.
- A reader puts her ‘favourites’ in a playlist and explains why they are listed
- A reader makes a list of similarly themed stories, for instance Hobbit romance or critical essays on Men.
- ...

Anyone can create a playlist!

If you are a reader, you can collect your favorite stories by different authors together in one place. If you are an author, you can put one together of your own stories. Using the Workshop, a group of authors can put together joint playlists of their work.

If you are logged in, go to My Playlists for more information on creating your own lists.

Playlists are meant to be shared!

Once you publish your playlist, other HASA members can add your list to a playlist favorites collection. You can collect playlists by authors and other readers even if you don't have any of your own. On every playlist overview page is an "Add to My Collection" button. Click, and that list is added to your collection. If you don't see the button, check to see if you are logged in.

May 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In May:

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

- Nath -

HASA is looking for reviewers

I made an announcement Wednesday on the website that HASA needed reviewers.
Thank you to reviewers that answered the request -- enough that there are now 17
stories waiting, down from 19.

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? Remember to log in
first.

If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up. You're eligible if you've
been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more
people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be
represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through
review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

Thanks for helping,

Julie

Donations for June site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $42.05, which means we will need donations to pay the June hosting bill.

This pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. We need about eleven $5 donations, because HASA's generous secret admirer is continuing to match donations; every dollar you donate will be matched.

HASA has many visitors every day. If only a fraction of that number can donate $5 each, we will be funded for next month. You can also show your support for HASA in other ways: why not write a comment or review a story, even if you cannot donate. But above all, enjoy the site!

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA news - May 2009

The general news bulletin for May 2009, focusing on birthdays, challenges, reviews and stories.

To start with, some very good news: thanks to the generosity of our donors, costs for May are covered! Thank you all!

Of course, money (though welcome) isn’t the only way you can "donate" to HASA. Just as much as money to keep going, HASA needs you to write stories, make comments, perform reviews, post to forums etc. If you would like to donate, but your budget won't allow it, pick out a favourite story and post a comment. It just takes a minute and it will make that author's day!

Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in May and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.

Reviews

Right now, there are 19 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.

(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.


Challenges and Nuzgul

Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here

Resources

The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.

Some recent articles in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn

Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II

Places
Argonath
Caragdûr

Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).

April 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In April:

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

Site no longer down

Edit: HASA is back up.

As you may have noticed already, the site is currently down. This will be resolved as soon as possible. Please check back here for news or check the main site (it may be back before I can update here).
--
Nath

HASA news - April 2009

HASA news - April 2009

With March, Back to Middle-earth Month, now behind us, it’s time to erm... stay in Middle-earth a bit longer? A round of applause for everyone who took part, whether you wrote just one or two prompts or managed to do them all, and thanks to the organisers over at SWG for their hard work in thinking up all these prompts!

Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in April and would 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 the stories written for the March requests.

Challenges and Nuzgul

Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but the prospective April Poetry Month Challenge needs just two more people joining in to become a Challenge.
And perhaps you also have an idea you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here

Reviews

Right now, there are 15 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.

(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.

Forums

Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.

A quick overview of forum links:

On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.

If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.

Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).

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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In March:

--- 10 Reviewed Stories
--- 35 General Stories
--- 7 Beta Stories (Remember, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

-Nath-

Donations for April site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Thank you to generous site users who donated last month, and in previous months. Currently our balance is at $73.35, which means we will need donations to pay the April hosting bill. The due date is April 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 125 visitors, which is a nice number. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA news - March 2009

March is Back to Middle-earth Month. The Silmarillion Writers Guild is posting daily prompts at their site. Why not go over and participate? (and of course post the results at HASA *g*)

Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in March and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.

Challenges and Nuzgul

Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here

Resources

The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.

Some recent articles in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn

Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II

Places
Argonath
Caragdûr

Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).

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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In February:

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

Donations March site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $67.67, which means we will need donations to pay the March hosting bill. The due date is March 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 144 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

HASA news - February 2009

Birthday Cards

If you have a birthday in February and would 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 the stories written for the January requests.

Challenges and Nuzgul

There are no current open Challenges, but the Unbelievable AU idea only needs 3 more people to make it into one. Take a look and wait for that nibble on the ankle...

Challenges need nuzgul. Have ideas you’d like to see written? Why not take that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here

Reviews

Right now, there are 14 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).

If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?

If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.

(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.

Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.

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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In January:

--- 17 Reviewed Stories
--- 54 General Stories
--- 4 Beta Stories (Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

-Nath-

Donations February site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $62.05, which means we will need donations to pay the January hosting bill. The due date is February 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this, late Friday afternoon, it's at 93 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Happy Holidays

We hope everyone is having a safe & happy season.

Thanks to generous donations January site funding is covered and we have a good start on February! Thanks to everyone who made a donation and thanks to everyone for reading and writing and enjoying HASA.

Julie

Donations for January site hosting needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.

Currently our balance is at $48.99, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due January 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 161 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

We're OK for December!

17 Nov Update: Thanks everyone! With donations from readers & members, we now are covered for December. Thanks very much for reading, enjoying & supporting HASA

Julie

=========


HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.

Currently our balance is at $42.83, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due December 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 117 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.

To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Site hosting update: OK for November, Donations for December needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.

Currently our balance is at $154.21, which means we have November covered, but will need donations for December. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 118 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanks for visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and posting your stories! If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be set for December. I'll keep you informed.

To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Site Hosting update

Thanks to recent donations, HASA is funded through November.

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.

I am very happy that readers and writers continue to support this site. (As I write this message, “Visitors currently online” is at 123 – a fun number that makes me smile.) If you haven’t yet made a donation, please consider doing so sometime soon. Since November and December are busy months for me, I am hoping that December will be fully funded by the end of October. I will keep you informed.

To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Funding update: OK for October, Donations for November needed

HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment ofquality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are$150 US.We have been getting a series of $5 and $10 and $25 donations so thathosting fees for next month are covered. There are stillmatching funds left over for the 3rd quarter challenge that areavailable through September 30th. We still need about $35 forNovember.

If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see amessage, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 153 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanksfor visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and postingyour stories! If just 7 of you can donate $5 each, HASA will be setfor October. If you donate before the end of this month, we may get ahead start on December. I'll keep you informed.

To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm

Thanks for enjoying HASA,

Julie

Qtr. 3 Funding Challenge

When checking over the site for problems after the recent attack, I noticed that site hosting donations are a little over $50 short for the August hosting bill due week after next.

I spoke with HASA's Secret Admirer, who generously agreed to do another matching funds challenge!

Our funding goal is $200, which will pay for August and September. Our Secret Admirer will match dollar for dollar up to $200 from now through September 31. This way, every dollar you give is worth $2.

Thank you for your support!
Anglachel

Site Restored

Beginning in the late afternoon of Monday, July 21, I received emails from a number of HASA site visitors that something was terribly wrong with the site. Because of regulations at my workplace, I had to wait until I got home to view the site. My heart sank when I saw the errors affecting almost every page of the site. It was obviously malicious work, so I shut off the site to prevent further access.

Looking at source code, I saw information that should not have been there - JavaScript snippets, strange URLs, and other text garbage. A quick Google search revealed the problem. There had been a worldwide SQL injection attack on ColdFusion sites that ran on IIS web servers. Many sites had been brought down and a lot of data had been corrupted. Luckily, the attacker had only tried to insert code to convert site links to go to his own web site, and had not tried to delete data or erase databases. The ColdFusion community had responded quickly. By the time I was looking for information, the exact attack had been identified, various clean up scripts had been posted, and I had the tools necessary to fix the database.

What is a SQL injection attack? It is the nastiest, most destructive web site attack out there. In general terms, a coder takes a site form or URL, looks for a variable that appears to be an ID used by a database to locate a record, such as a story. Most database driven web sites work like this. The coder then resends the URL or form with a string of database commands (Structured Query Language statements) and tries to take over your database. If their SQL string is written well enough and if the database under attack is not protected, these commands can do anything from insert text to delete the entire database to (under very rare conditions) take over the server itself.

ColdFusion has a number of features to foil SQL injections right on the server and there are coding practices to help prevent the attacks. Just over a year ago, I had spent a month retrofitting much of the site to protect the main data tables and search functions from attacks. However, real life demanded my attention, and I did not get all the tables protected. Some of the lookup tables, like Story Era, were still vulnerable, and that's where HASA was attacked. In addition, the SQL statement used for the attacks was very sophisticated and bypassed most of the server-level protections.

The first thing to do was assess the damage. I ran some scripts and discovered there were 29 fields in 11 tables where trash data had been inserted. None of them affected the main story, forum, comment or review tables, which was a great relief. Also, non-HASA databases had not been affected, which meant damage was contained. Next, I ran a scrubber on those tables which located the bogus text and stripped it out. The biggest advantage here was that I did not have to run a restore from a backup, which would have lost content added to the site since the time the backup was run.

Data restored, I now had to track down those vulnerability points in the site. That is what has taken so long as every individual page in the site that an external (not logged in) user can reach had to be examined for all database connections and then those connections had to be evaluated for whether they were injection points. After the pages were reviewed, corrections made, and new code posted to a hidden site for the testers to check for bugs, all the forms had to be gone over. Forms are more dangerous than URLs, though more difficult to compromise, because they are the most common way to insert data into a database. The forms were completed yesterday. After that, the revised code was merged with the production code, uploaded again to another protected test area and put through its paces. That went on until pretty late last night.

There are a few glitches left. One form, the Knowledge Base search in the Research Library, could not be fixed and has been taken offline. The index search and all of the individual section lookups the Research Library are working. Also, the pop-up forum window attached to story pages will throw an error message if you try to use it. The Who's Online feature for logged in members does not appear to be working in production. There are a few conditions on a few forms we were not able to reproduce, so it's not 100% certain that they are working.

More testing will continue over the next month to be certain all access points were caught and to fix any bug accidentally introduced during the fixes. If you encounter an error message or you see something that just seems wrong on the site, please use the Contact form and send me an email at Tech Support.

This was the worst technical problem the site has experienced in its seven year history because of the data corruption. We got away with correctable damage, but it could have been much worse had the attacker been trying to destroy data. My deep thanks and appreciation for the site members who alerted me to the attack and provided their assistance to get the site fixed.

Anglachel

HASA Announcement - Reviews

BIRTHDAY CARDS

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Linaewen (June 17) requested "a tale of pre-Quest Boromir – specifically, a tale of him having an adventure on his way to Rivendell."

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

Fording the Greyflood by Jay of Lasgalen for Linaewen
Arrival by Larner for Linaewen

And the July thread is up! If you have a birthday in July and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

---

This Week's Focus:

REVIEWS

The review process is probably one of the trickiest aspects of the HASA website. Here we ask members to decide whether a story should be recognized as examples of outstanding JRRT fanfiction. Whenever something is judged, especially something as subjective as good fanfiction, there is the potential for unfairness and hurt feelings. Members are provided with criteria to consider when evaluating a story, but the final decision in most cases rests with those members who choose to review.

For more on HASA Reviews, check out the following links (you must be logged in):

--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria

As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial. The more people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented, and the less impact any one opinion will have on the process. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly – which benefits everyone.

If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Ready the pages I link above, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.

Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.

There are currently fourteen stories waiting for reviewers. To whet your appetite, here are a few of the stories you can choose from.

"Here You Cannot Leave Me"
A poem about Arwen's final farewell to Estel.

"A Maid Waiting"
Some who came to Minas Tirith did so in hopes of pursuing a larger ambition. For Systerien of Celebstrand in Dor-en-Ernil and Ivormil of Bidwell in Lossarnach, to find themselves in the presence of the King Returned served to put those ambitions into perspective.

"To Establish Ties"
Gil-Galad meets his future herald for the first time. Drabble.

So go forth and review!

Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement - Stories + Forum Posts

Hey guys,

Due to a mix-up on my part, last week's announcement wasn't posted. Ergo, this week you get all the features that would have been posted last week as well as this week.

---

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

No members had birthdays last week or this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, you can still write a drabble for this month's sole birthday baby:

Beruthiel [June 7] requested "a scene between Pippin and Faramir, before Pippin leaves for the battle at the Black Gate."

The following drabble has been written in the following week:

For Want Of... by Larner for Beruthiel

If you have a birthday in June and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

The thread to request drabbles for next month isn't up, but it should be before too much longer. Keep an eye out for it!

---

Last week's focus:

RECENTLY UPDATED 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 is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA hilights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. The current story is

Drink a Cup by SheBit
A drinking song sung by the men of Gondor in remembrance of those who fought against Sauron over Mordor.

Why not go here and check out the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. Check out these stories just added to HASA:

Reviewed Stories
My Shing Stars by Oshun
And now for something controversial: Elrond stands on the deck of the ship carrying him to Aman writing notes in a journal.

The Green Flash by DrummerWench
Written as 2007 holiday gift for Dawn Felagund to following prompt: "Fingon and Turgon, younger, in Valinor. You hint about their relationship--or lack thereof--a lot, and I find myself thinking on this when reading your stories. So I'd like to see a scene between them. It doesn't have to be serious or even revealing; just a hint of what there was between the two brothers in Aman."

~*~

General Stories
Prince of Horses, Lord of Stone by Elen Kortirion
Prince Theodred is prevented from travelling to the Fords of Isen by a strange message, and is sent to Parth Galen to rescue Boromir... 'where the quest balances on a knife-edge'... and the changes this entails, when Theodred eventually fights at the Pelennor and Boromir at the sieges of Lothlorien and Dol Guldur. (Adult, WIP)

With Hope and Without Hope by docmon
One decision made differently - the Three Hunters run through that second night of their chase after the Orcs rather than rest - and everything changes. Well, not everything. They're merely captured by the Orcs like Merry and Pippin. Not in the plan. (WIP)

~*~

Beta Stories
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view these stories.)

A Woman of Valor by Red's Head
The Return of the King told through the eyes of a Haradrim woman, a tale of her escape from enthrallment to the redemption of her spirit. (WIP)

Orcs in Hobbiton by The Lauderdale
AU. Two years after Sauron won the war, his Orcs have come to a Shire under Saruman's dominion. The hobbits that are its proper inhabitants are caught in the middle. Told in drabbles and double-drabbles. (AU)

---

This week's focus:

FORUMS

One of the best ways to get involved at HASA is through our forums. People are discussing research questions and stories as well as having fannish squees regularly there.

Some useful forum links:

"On Our Minds" displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It's a good way to catch up on what you've missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.

If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the "One Month of Posts" page. This page has just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.

Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren't ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link.

Now, here are some of the most recently-updated threads in HASA forum. Don't be shy. If any interest you, why not jump in?

HASA Birthday Card Forums
Subject: Re: June 2008 Birthdays

Prospective Challenges
Subject: Re: Challenge Proposal: Tiny AUs

MEFAs – The Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards
Subject: MEFA 2008: A Reminder for Nominated Authors

Here's hoping this week finds you having many interesting discussion about all things Tolkien. Because, really, you were trying to cut back on sleep anyway, right?

Until next time,
Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement - Recent Resources Additions

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Beruthiel requested "a scene between Pippin and Faramir, before Pippin leaves for the battle at the Black Gate."

The following drabbles have been written in the previous week:

"At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" by Nath for Dwim
"Inevitable" by Gwynnyd for Dwim

If you have a birthday in June and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

---

This week's focus:

RESOURCES.

The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available to both members and non-members at http://www.henneth-annun.net/resources/index.cfm.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.

What's new in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Tidings of Sauron's passing reach Minas Tirith. (25 March, 3019 T.A./1419 S.R.)
Elven Smiths of Eregion begin to Forge Rings of Power (1500 S.A.)

Character Biographies:
Nahar
The Tooks

Places
Straight Road
Sirion

Things:
Thains of the Shire
Laurelin

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site please feel free to thank the researchers, listed at the bottom of every entry.

And always remember, grasshopper: the path of wisdom leads through proper citations. *grins*

Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcements - Bday Drabbles, Funding Update, Challenges

HASA FUNDING UPDATE

No website is truly free. HASA does not display ads or charge for memberships, but there are still costs associated with running the website. The website depends on member donations to pay its monthly hosting fee of $150.00.

Currently available funding: $220.78
To provide funding through: June 2008

If anyone would like to make a donation, you may do so here.

---

BIRTHDAY CARDS

No birthday drabbles have been requested for June. Get those requests in so we can write you something!

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

--- "Least Expected" by Imhiriel for Dwimordene
--- "The Stitch in Time" by Dwimordene for Nath
--- "(untitled double drabble)" by Aiwendiel for Dwimordene
--- "Cerin Amroth" by Elena Tiriel for Nath
--- "Winnowing" by Gwynnyd for Dwimordene
--- "The Least of Rings" by Marta for Dwimordene

--- "A New Road or a Secret Gate" by Marta for Dwimordene
--- "Inevitable" by Gwynnyd for Dwimordene
--- "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" by Nath for Dwimordene

If you have a birthday in June and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

---

This Week's Focus:

CHALLENGES

Unfortunately, there are no ongoing challenges right now, except the ongoing birthday drabble challenge. Why not select a new one? If we get five people interested we can get another challenge going.

Suggest challenges at the Prospective Challenges forum.

You can also peruse the Nuzgul Hutch (for ideas that have never been challenges) here, or the Oliphaunt Pen (where you can enter pieces for past challenges) here.

---

Happy writing!

Fangedly yours,
>:-E Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement - Recently-Updated Forums

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Dwim [May 25] requested any AU drabble or "fics dealing with political situations.

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

--- "Mercy" by illereyn for Dwimordene
--- "Our Lily" by thelauderdale for Dwimordene
--- "Narn i Hîn Elrond" by Jay of Lasgalen for RiverOtter, Nath, and Dwimordene
--- "(untitled)" by maya_ar for Dwimordene
--- "Land Stroke" by Elena Tiriel for Dwimordene
--- "Least Expected" by Imhiriel for Dwimordene

If you have a birthday in May and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

The thread to request drabbles for next month is not up yet, but should be soon. If you have a birthday in June, be on the lookout for it.

---

This week's focus:

FORUMS

One of the best ways to get involved at HASA is through our forums. People are discussing research questions and stories as well as having fannish squees regularly there.

Some useful forum links:

"On Our Minds" displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It's a good way to catch up on what you've missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.

If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the "One Month of Posts" page. This page has just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.

Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren't ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link.)

Now, here are some of the most recently-updated threads in HASA forum. Don't be shy. If any interest you, why not jump in?

May 2008 Birthdays (in HASA Birthday Card Forum)

Question About Avari Elves – Physical Appearance (in Research Questions)

Science in Middle-earth (in Prospective Challenges)

Here's hoping this week finds you having many interesting discussion about all things Tolkien. Because, really, you were trying to cut back on sleep anyway, right?

Until next time,
Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement (May 19-26) - Recently Updated Stories

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Nath (May 18) requested, "I would like anything related to 'time', any characters and any rating, though my current favourites are the Northern Dúnedain."

Dwimordene (May 25) requested, "I realize that it can be tough to write an AU in only 100 words, but give for my birthday, I'd like to see you give it a shot. Choose your time, your incident, and your desired divergence. Alternately, if the AU idea is just too big to be reducible to 100 words, I have to teach a socio-political philosophy course next term. So fics dealing with political situations would be welcome. (Especially if they have to do with the Kin-strife in Gondor.)"

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

at http://henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confId=0&forumId=482&messageId=51739
--- "Mercy" by Illereyn for Dwimordene
--- "Our Lily" by thelauderdale for Dwimordene

Also, Larner wrote a belated longer story for RiverOtter, "Embassy to a New Age".

If you have a birthday in May and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

---

This week's focus:

RECENTLY UPDATED 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 is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA hilights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. The current story is

Sam I am by Vistula the Dunadan
Sam and Frodo meet for the first time when Frodo comes to live with his cousin Bilbo in the Shire. Also includes Hamfast Gamgee.

Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and check out the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. Check out these stories just added to HASA:

Reviewed Stories
Seeking the Sun by lindahoyland
While most of Minas Tirith celebrates the end of the Ring War, one war-wrecked soul is filled with anger toward the new King. With grateful thanks to Raksha.

Full Brothers in Blood by Oshun
Written as 2007 holiday gift for Dawn Felagund to following prompt: "Fingon and Turgon, younger, in Valinor. You hint about their relationship--or lack thereof--a lot, and I find myself thinking on this when reading your stories. So I'd like to see a scene between them. It doesn't have to be serious or even revealing; just a hint of what there was between the two brothers in Aman."

~*~

General Stories
An Elf By Any Other Name by Marta
...or, A Short Speculative History of a Certain Elven Emissary. An attempt to construct a history for the emissary sent by Cirdan to the Council of Havens from the hints sprinkled through canon, that also functions as a case history in how to characterize minor characters.

Opus of Tales Untold by Tinni
What happened to Maglor? Does Elured and Elurin live? Did the sons of Elrond choose the doom of man or the fate of the eldar? Find out in the Opus of the tales untold!

~*~

Beta Stories
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view these stories.)

Orcs in Hobbiton by The Lauderdale
AU. Two years after Sauron won the war, his Orcs have come to a Shire under Saruman's dominion. The hobbits that are its proper inhabitants are caught in the middle. Told in drabbles and double-drabbles. (WIP)

Ways Round, Ways Through by Larner
Not all who have been maimed in war acquiesce to remaining on the sidelines afterwards.

---

And now for your mid-month nuzgul. Because the only way to get stories to read is for someone to write them, and that requires our fangy little friends.

Wanderers Speak
Write a story about a character overcome with wanderlust. Write about rangers trying to settle down or elves exploring in the early days. Maybe a hobbit has itchy feet? Or a dwarf leaves to search out new metals and discovers he loves to travel. Write about what is just over the horizon and the character who yearns to see it.

If you don't feel the tickle of little fangs in your ankle yet, there are many more potential stories just waiting to be written. Read all of HASA's many story prompts in our Nuzgul hutch.

Do you have a suggestion you'd like to see added to the hutch? Submit it using the "Submit a Story Suggestion" form.

Happy reviewing!
Marta
PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement (May 11-18)

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

RiverOtter (May 6) requested, "I would like to see the Fourth Age of Middle Earth. Any place, any character is fine."

Nath (May 18) requested, "I would like anything related to 'time', any characters and any rating, though my current favourites are the Northern Dúnedain."

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

http://www.henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confId=0&forumId=482&messageId=51652
--- Ties of Love by Imhiriel for Ainaechoiriel

http://www.henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confId=0&forumId=482&messageId=51739
--- (Untitled) by thelauderdale for Dwimordene
--- Seeds Under Stone by Raksha the Demon for RiverOtter
--- The King's Time by Larner for Nath
--- A Treasure Retrieved by Larner for Dwimordene
--- Amends by Nath for Dwimordene
--- Prisoner of Time by Raksha the Demon for both Nath and Dwimordene

If you have a birthday in May and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here.

---

REVIEWS

There are several stories in HASA Review, a few of which have been there for quite a long time. All members who joined HASA at least thirty days ago, you can become a reviewer. To look at the available stories, log in to HASA and visit here.

To whet your appetite, here are the summaries of three stories currently available in Review.

"An adventurous Elwë (Thingol) and a lonely Nowê (Cirdan) form a friendship before the First Age. Slash"

"Short AU: Forgetting every impossibility, the Three Hunters overtake the Orcs and contrive a plan to save the two captives."

"This is one Orc's story of his time working the Mordor convoys. Not all of them saw battle, after all.."

---

This week's focus:

RESOURCES

The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available to both members and non-members here.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form here.

What's new in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Narsil reforged and renamed Andúril.
Merry and Pippin captured in the Orc-raid at Parth Galen.

Character Biographies
Denethor II
Will Whitfoot

Places
Withywindle
Cerin Amroth

Things
Palantíri
Old Man Willow

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site please feel free to thank the researchers, listed at the bottom of every entry.

And always remember, grasshopper: the path of wisdom leads through proper citations. *grins*

Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.

HASA Announcement - Challenges

Hey guys,

Sorry, this is a day late. But better late than never, right? >:-E

HASA FUNDING UPDATE

No website is truly free. HASA does not display ads or charge for memberships, but there are still costs associated with running the website. The website depends on member donations to pay its monthly hosting fee of $150.00.

Currently available funding: $154.12
To provide funding through: June 2008

If anyone would like to make a donation, you may do so here.

---

BIRTHDAY CARDS

The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Nath requested, "I would like anything related to 'time', any characters and any rating, though my current favourites are the Northern Dúnedain."

And Dwim requested, "I realize that it can be tough to write an AU in only 100 words, but give for my birthday, I'd like to see you give it a shot. Choose your time, your incident, and your desired divergence."

(She also said, "Alternately, if the AU idea is just too big to be reducible to 100 words, I have to teach a socio-political philosophy course next term. So fics dealing with political situations would be welcome. (Especially if they have to do with the Kin-strife in Gondor.)")

The following drabbles have been written in the following week:

--- "Forty" by Nath for Fliewatuet
--- "Half a Life" by meckinock for Fliewatuet
--- "His Birthday Wish" by Larner for Fliewatuet
--- "Messengers from the West" by Jay of Lasgalen for Fliewatuet
--- "New Daughter" by Larner for Ainaechoiriel

All here.

If you have a birthday in May and would like a drabble about your favorite character or topic, you can request it here

---

There are currently no challenges so there is no Challenges bulletin this month. However, you can change that! There are some porspective challenges. Sign up for one, and we'll get some challenges rolling:

Science in Middle-earth, proposed by littlehobbitlost
She says, among other things, "If you landed in Middle Earth say during the War of the Ring (or your favourite age Gondolin? Hollin?) and survived through to see Aragorn become king-how would you like to contribute to society? With 21st Century knowledge how would you contribute?"

I also proposed a Minority Rulez! challenge

I said, among other things, "Why don't we have a challenge of our own in honor of the fact that a woman or minority might soon be the U.S. president? Write me a story, poem, drabble, or essay about the challenges a woman or ethnic minority might have faced in Middle-earth? "

---

Happy writing!

Fangedly yours,
>:-E Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please contact me here.