Actually, Wendy, I'm not going to edit my post. But I definitely have to make a few clarifications myself, and I also need to apologize.

Catherine, you are an excellent writer. Your stories, with the exceptions of this one, have blown me away. (I was unable to really read this one, because of its subject matter. I could only skim it.) What makes you such an amazing writer is your ability to use such to-the-point, seemingly unsentimental imagery and to make the sort of little observations which, when seen in the proper context, become so perfect that they almost overwhelm the reader.

And because you are such a truly great writer, how can I blame anyone here for liking your stories? For liking this story? I can't. Even though I couldn't really read this one, as I said, I have no doubts that it is heart-wrenchingly moving. The people out there who aren't as paranoid as I am about seeing Lois killed - which is probably pretty nearly all of them - will inevitably be extremely moved and touched by your story.

I don't think I misunderstood your intentions, either. I don't think you are interested in killing Lois for Lois's sake, so to speak. Like you said, you had Lois killed here in a way that would break Clark's heart. That's what your story was about.

But to me, the concept of Lois and Clark should mean that it is Lois and Clark's togetherness that should be explored. Also, I want to see them treated as equal partners. It seems to me that in this story, Lois is reduced to some sort of tool that you can use to explore Clark's feelings. And that way, I think, the story isn't about Lois and Clark together, but about Clark.

Wasn't your first story just like that? No, to me that one was very different. We have no reason to expect Lois to be immortal, or to stay young and healthy for an unnaturally long time. Exploring what happens in the future, when Lois has inevitably died of old age, is, to me, a legitimate way of exploring the necessary ramifications of a relationship between Lois and Clark. But killing Lois when she is still young, just to see what her premature death will do to Clark, is something I can never accept.

Does that mean that no one else should want to read such stories? Should death-of-Lois fics be banned from these boards? Of course not. Like Wendy said, everyone else most certainly has the same right to their opinions as I have. Catherine, of course you weren't wrong to write this story. All of you who wrote in and heaped praise on it, you were in no way wrong to do so. Of course not!!! It goes without saying.

Maybe I was wrong to write in and say how much a story with this kind of subject matter horrifies me. Well, sorry. It does horrify me, and I won't take it back.

Well, I posted this before I was really done with it. I promised I would apologize, and I didn't. Catherine, I'm sorry you had to bear the brunt of my horror, when I really should have posted a general comment about deathfics and death-of-Lois fics in the Lois and Clark-related general discussion folder instead. And, to all of you out there who felt I criticized your taste in Lois and Clark fiction: I was out of line. Sorry.

The next time anyone posts a death-of-Lois fic, I will follow Wendy's advice and say nothing at all.

Ann