Site News and Updates Archive

Here's where you can read about the scintillating adventures of Nothing Like the Sun! The wallpapers! The fanfic! The quizzes! The layout changes! Yes, it's all here, folks, for your reading pleasure. Fascinating, I'm sure.

12/28/03: Added a bunch of new icons to the Icons page, including some animated ones.

6/28/03: I won another award and have put it on the Awards Page! My story "The Question Game" won best PWP fic in this most recent round of the Fancy Me Yours Awards. Thank you, anonymous nice person who nominated me! I haven't been updating the site as much as I would like, because my health is still not good. I've been reading some wonderful fic over at AllAboutSpike, though. I definitely recommend that you check out the site, if you haven't already.

5/30/03: Added a bunch of new icons to the Icons page.

5/29/03: (1) Added four new wallpapers, all pertaining to the series finale: Sacrifice, I Love You, The End, and The Chosen One. (2) Added a new page of icons (such as those used on LiveJournal) in the Fun section.

5/28/03: (1) Updated the Episode Guide to make it complete through the series finale. (2) Updated the Buffy and Spike's Crucial Episodes page to cover through the series finale.

5/26/03: Made some updates in the Awards section (mostly just removing awards sites that are no longer reliable or existing, and updating the list of my own award nominations).

4/3/03: Fixed some funky formating on the Buffy and Spike's Crucial Episodes page to make the quotes easier to read.

2/24/03: (1) Added a new essay called "Spike's Soul as a Metaphor," which explores my thoughts on whether or not it was necessary for Spike to regain his soul in order to find redemption. (2) I've been seriously ill for several months and am not sure when I will be fully recovered. I'm afraid I am not updating this site very frequently as I deal with my own health.

2/24/03: (1) Added a new award to the awards page, because my story "Angel Redux" won Best Short/Light/Comedy Spike Fic at the 2002 Spiked Awards! Also, someone has nominated my story "The Question Game" in The Vamped Awards! Thank you! (2) If any of you have been sending me email and not receiving a response, you have my abject apologies. I'm having a very hard time in real life right now, and that is preventing me from dealing very well with anything else. It is nothing to do with you, and I really am sorry.

2/10/03: Deleted some awards sites from the listing, because they seem to have disappeared. I'll do a more complete update soon, but have some big stuff going on in real life that is keeping me very busy these days.

1/24/03: We're back! We have a new DSL provider, and so the site should be stable again. Hurray! And I've made some updates: (1) Added some new Tiling Wallpapers! Check them out and let me know what you think. (2) Updated the Episode Guide to make it current. (3) Updated the Spike and Buffy Episodes page to add the most crucial Season 7 episodes thus far. (4) Updated the character quotes pages for Buffy. Spike, Buffy and Spike, Anya, Willow, Dawn, and Xander with my favorite Season 7 quotes. NOTE: Somehow, my file of older Dawn quotes got erased! So if you have any favorite Dawn quotes, please feel free to email them to me.

1/05/03: Grrrrrrr! We found out yesterday that the DSL provider to NothingLiketheSun.com is discontinuing its service (to all its customers) with very little notice! So this site will go down sometime in the next two weeks, and will be down until I can get set up with a new service provider. The URL will remain the same, but the website may be down for as long as two months! Sorry about this folks, but I also won't have access to my email during that period. So prepare for the site to go offline temporarily sometime very soon, but it will be back as quickly as I can manage it! And I have some updates planned for when we come back up!

12/04/02: Due to real-life circumstances (including my recent falling-out with The Fusion House and my subsequent decision not to be a member there any longer), I'm feeling really crappy about my graphic abilities right now. I don't really feel up to doing any artwork lately, so I'm temporarily taking down the Wallpaper Genie. I will go through the wishes that have already been submitted, and create wallpapers for at least 3 of them when I'm feeling a bit more self-confident, but for right now I'm just not feeling proud of my art.

11/13/02: (1) Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I actually have made updates in the past couple weeks, just nothing big enough to merit mention here. (2) Someone nominated Nothing Like the Sun in the new Fancy Me Yours Awards at One Good Lay! Wowza! Thank you! I'm flattered and honored and all that other good stuff. :-) (3) The Angelic Slayer Awards chose Nothing Like the Sun as best conventional shipper site. Woo hoo! You can see the lovely award on my Awards Won page. (4) Updated my blog. (5) Coming Soon: I have new fic to add, and updates on some of the existing fics ... I'll try to get those done this week. I'm pretty sick right now, though, so it might not be until the weekend.

11/01/02: Due to real-life circumstances, the Wallpaper Genie is now monthly instead of weekly. So three wallpaper wishes will be granted on the last day of each month, but you should feel free to submit wishes whenever you like! Please do. :-)

10/29/02: (1) Sorry the Wallpaper Genie ran one day late this week ... real life got in the way. But here are this week's 3 granted wishes: "Make Her Stop (Giles Version)," "Becoming," and "Blackberry Patch." (2) I also made two new S/B wallpapers in response to Isabelle's blend challenge at Carnal Sins: "Flowers in Flames" and "I Can't." (3) I've fully updated the Spike Wallpaper Gallery, the Spuffy Wallpaper Gallery, because the pages were becoming too crowded. Should be better now (let me know if there are any problems). (4) Phoenix from the Elfhob Fanlists sent me a S/B fanart titled "Ironic," which I've added to the Fan Art Gallery. This is the first time I've put up fanart created by someone else, but I'm a big fan of Phoenix's work, so I'm proud to host it here. (5) Added Joey's list to the All-Time Top 5. Feel free to send in your own list & I'll post it. :-) (6) I've received a number of nominations for Nothing Like the Sun's Awards in the past couple weeks, but they all seem to be missing crucial information such as URLs or email addresses. Please make sure to include all the necessary information when filling out the form, otherwise, I can't do much to help you!

10/26/02: (1) Updated the Fan Art Gallery to include the 10 or 11 most recent of my fanart pieces, which hadn't been posted there previously. (2) I've run into some serious problems in real life recently, which will make it difficult for me to update this site much in the next couple weeks. I'm hoping to get a few of Annie Sewell-Jennings' fics archived this weekend if I can, but I'll have to see how things go. Let's just cross our fingers that real life works out fine, and then I can go back to updating every day with gads of exciting new stuff. In the meantime, hang in there with me, eh?

10/23/02: (1) Holy roly canolli! I won *5* awards for my fan fiction from the Shadows & Dust Awards this round! I can't believe it! "The Question Game" won best PWP; "Sunlight and Shadow" won best conventional shipper fic; "Grounded in Reality" won best Spike fic; and I also received a Judges' Choice award and an "Outstanding Author" award. Holy overwhelming flattery, Batman! Okay, I have to admit this has finally succeeded in inspiring me to write more fanfic. I'm taking down "Forgive and Forget," my WIP sequel to "Sunlight and Shadow," because I've just lost interest in it. Sorry, folks. If I ever do finish it, I'll put it back up. But right now, I'm getting started on a project that's a collection of sonnets alternating POV between Spike and Buffy, and after that I've got some other prose fic I want to write. (2) Blogged.

10/22/02: Blogged about tonight's episode.

10/21/02: (1) Granted this week's three Wallpaper Genie wishes: "Venus," "Kiss Me Again," and "Don't Leave Me." Hope you like them! I'm rather fond of "Kiss Me Again," in particular, and have put it up on my desktop. :-) I hope you'll all submit more wishes for next Monday! (2) I've joined The Fusion House, a clique for graphic designers of all levels of skill and experience. I encourage you to check it out if you're interested in graphic design! I've posted my new membership plaque to the Memberships, Affiliates, and Webrings pop-up window.

10/20/02: (1) Uploaded Herself's wonderful new fic "Lovingkindness" (a sequel to "What She Deserves") to the Fan Fiction archive. (2) Added SpikeLuv's list to the All-Time Top 5 Spike/Buffy Moments page.

10/17/02: Feeling a bit tired of Pathetic!Spike, so I went looking around and found a bunch of neat Spike quotes from Season 2 and added them to the Spike Quotes page. I have a few fics to add over the next week, so watch for those most likely middle of next week. The husband and I will be caught up in the wedding mania of two of our close friends this weekend, so I won't have much time to work on website stuff.

10/16/02: (1) Blogged. (2) I've sent an email to The Sugar Awards, just to see if I can find out what's going on with them. I just hate to take awards sites off my list when they seem so very cool. I loved The Sugar Awards, and I would hate to see the site vanish, but right now it doesn't seem to be being maintained. If anyone knows anything about any these dormant awards sites (Sugar Awards, Summer Visions, Pure Bliss, etc.), please let me know. The webmasters haven't responded to my emails. :-( (3) Updated the Crazy!Spike Interpreter and the Episode Guide to include this week's episode. I didn't find any of Crazy!Spike's rambling especially mysterious this week, but if anything puzzled you, feel free to write me an email or leave a message in the guestbook and I'll do my best to help out. (4) I liked this week's episode of BTVS, unlike a lot of fans. I'll work on a ramble about it to post before next week's episode. I'm also still thinking about what to write about "Beneath You" ... it's just so huge that it's difficult for me to decide what I want to say. If my wrists are doing okay, I'll try to write both of those episode rambles before the upcoming Weekend of Wedding Madness.

10/15/02: (1) Blogged. (2) The polls are temporarily down while I work on the new questions. I'll post the results of the previous poll questions, along with the new poll questions, within the next couple days. (3) Finally gave up on the Sugar Awards and Summer Visions, since both have been completely dormant for about two months ... and deleted both of them from my Nominations page and my Awards Sites list. I'm also deleting the Top Stakes Awards, though it pains me muchly. I was supposed to be judging for them, but I've heard nothing from the webmistress in response to my emails, and the site hasn't been updated in months. I just don't like to keep inactive awards sites on my list, because it makes it a lot less useful.

10/14/02: Just thought I'd give y'all an update about what's going on in Nothing Like the Sun-land. My wrists have still been giving me trouble, and so I haven't been on the computer very much this past week ... sorry for the meagre updates, but the health comes first. News: (1) This week's 3 wishes granted by the Wallpaper Genie: "Not Again," "Come To Me," and "Bad Ass." Next Monday, 3 more wishes will be granted, so go ahead and start submitting your ideas! There were a lot of great ideas this week, so if I didn't choose yours, that doesn't mean I didn't like it! Please feel free to resubmit it this week or in the future. I just received a hilarious Wallpaper Genie wish from Meltha ... and it cracked me up enough that I think I'm just going to have to grant her wish this week. I really loved the last wish she submitted (Spike and Joyce theme), too, and even collected some images for it ... but then I saw something shiny and it was all over. Another random thought: perhaps I should tell folks that the Wallpaper Genie can be bribed with guestbook entries. No one ever signs my guestbook, and I feel so unloved. (2) I'm looking for new fic to read (and potentially, if I find stuff I love, to archive here). Any recommendations? If so, write in the guestbook (with URL, if possible) and I'll love you forever. I recently read Annie Sewell-Jennings' latest fic ("Expedite") and Wisteria's latest fic ("Lovingkindness" -- rated NC-17) and both are simply amazing. I can't recommend them highly enough! I'll be archiving "Lovingkindness" here this week if my wrists cooperate. (3) Blogged. (4) Added a new addition to the Spike section of Facts: a Crazy!Spike Interpreter, in which I give my interpretations of Crazy!Spike's season 7 ramblings. I hope you enjoy it! If you have particular Crazy!Spike quotes that don't make any sense to you, feel free to write them in the guestbook or send them to me in email, and I'll do my best to figure them out. But I've gotta admit that some of the stuff he says seems pretty inexplicable. Hope you're doing well and enjoying the autumn (or ... well ... whatever season it is where you live).

10/11/02: (1) Presented a new Award from Nothing Like the Sun: a Devotion award to Trisha for her excellent fanfic. Thank you to Sandy for nominating her. (This is yet another "Sandy," and not the same one who nominated me for the award at Your Beauty Effulgent. Perhaps I should form a special clique for Sandies Who Like Nothing Like the Sun. Or just Sandies Who Like Spike. Heh.) (2) Nothing Like the Sun won in two categories in the Loving Angel & Buffy Awards! Check out my beautiful new awards for Best Shipper Site and Best Fanart/Fanfiction Site on the Awards I've Won page. Thank you, LABA! I'm so excited!

10/10/02: (1) Finally added Kalima's "Daemons Luminati" and "Mister Talky Mouth" to the Fan Fiction archive. My wrists are still giving me trouble, or I would have had them up sooner. Due to the wrist pain, updates might continue to be a bit sketchy for a while. :-( (2) Added Rebecca's list to the All-Time Top 5. (3) I've received a few Wallpaper Genie wishes this week, but not as many as usual. Folks, please feel free to resubmit wishes that weren't granted last week, or submit more than one wish. 3 of the wishes will be granted on Monday. And yes, I have already received more than 3 this week, but if you were considering submitting a wish, please do ... I'd like to have the opportunity of making your dream wallpaper for you! (4) I've created a set of "Current Mood" icons, for use in blogs such as LiveJournal. I'm not posting them to the site, because I know that people would direct-link to them (and we're already having some bandwidth issues), but if you'd like to check them out, just drop me a line of email and I'd be happy to email them to you. Most of them are Spike faces, but there's also a few other characters (for example, I had to use Angel for "moody" ... heh).

10/09/02: (1) Wrote my ramble about last night's episode, "Same Time, Same Place." (2) Blogged. (3) Nothing Like the Sun passed the 5000-hit mark today! Wow! Not bad for a site that's only been around for 4 months! (4) Nothing Like the Sun has a new partner site! Go check out Soulstarsinger's fantastic Spiked & Skewered! But be prepared to spend some time there if you're a Spike fan, because it has just way too much cool stuff.

10/07/02: (1) This week's 3 wishes granted by the Wallpaper Genie: "Tilt" (with some inspiration owed to Dr. Dawn at Headtilt ... she gave me the idea for the protractor), "Just Willow," and "The Crypt Door." Next Monday, 3 more wishes will be granted, so go ahead and start submitting your ideas! (2) I also made and uploaded 2 additional Spuffy wallpapers, just 'cause I felt like it: "Raindrops and Tears" and "Sweet William." The flowers texturing "Sweet William" are called ... well ... "sweet william," and they symbolize bravery. Seemed appropriate, after watching last week's episode. (3) Blogged. (4) I've decided to remove the non-S/B image galleries from the site, since they take up bandwidth I could better use for fanart and wallpapers. I may, within the next couple of months, be able to move this site to a different server where I would have more space and the site would upload more quickly. If that happens, I'll bring back the image galleries ... I promise. (5) Added Julie's list to the All-Time Top 5. What are your all-time top 5 S/B moments? Fill out the form, and they'll get listed too. :-) (6) Received an unexpected new award from spike_me_1 at Your Beauty Effulgent! Apparently the incredibly sweet Sandy (from Eternal Devotion) nominated me! So ... thank you to both Sandy and spike_me_1! I feel all loved. And they will look on her with forgiveness ... and love ... and she will be loved. (7) I've got the title images finished for Kalima's fics "Daemons Luminati" and "Mister Talky Mouth," so I'll try to finish coding the files tomorrow and get those fics uploaded to the archive, as long as my wrists aren't hurting. (And lemme tell ya! Creating a G-rated title image for "Mister Talky Mouth" was quite a challenge!)

10/06/02: (1) Blogged. Also added a couple pics of me and me with my husband to the blog. (2) Put up a new award from the Angelic Slayer Awards. Nothing Like the Sun won Best Fan Fiction Site. I also won Best Fan Fiction Site in The Unforgettable Awards a couple days ago. So it's been a good week. :-) Anyone know if The Sugar Awards are dead or just comatose? If you've got any info, let me know. They haven't updated in ages!

10/05/02: (1) Added Alisa, Lilia, and kitten's favorite S/B moments to the All-Time Top 5 page. (2) Created a new "Reviews" section within "Web", including all the info that used to just be tacked onto the end of the Webmistress page. So it has all the info about how I review websites, and a listing of the reviews I've written thus far. Since Royal Four Reviews hasn't been updated in about a month, and hasn't even posted my last few reviews, written nearly a month ago, I've decided to move all my reviews to Nothing Like the Sun. I've got about 1/3 of them moved thus far ... the other links still lead to Royal Four Reviews. I haven't written any website reviews in 3 or 4 weeks, so if you would like a review of your website, drop me a line of email and I'd be glad to oblige. :-) (3) Wrote my Episode Ramble (another new section, within "Opinions") for the first episode of BTVS Season 7. Check it out and see what runs through my strange brain while I watch the show. My ramble about episode two will probably be up sometime Monday. (4) Blogged.

10/04/02: Looks like our server was down for a couple hours early this morning, but it's back up now, and all is well. I've just posted some new Awards I've Won recently, including the gorgeous award from the lovely and talented Thia at Forever Beautiful for the fanart challenge!

10/03/02: (1) Added Sali's favorite S/B moments to the All-Time Top 5 page. (2) Added three new wallpapers in response to Wallpaper Genie wishes: "Entropy," "Slayer Slayer," and "The Spark." This last wallpaper, "The Spark," ended up being in response to two separate wishes made on the same day, by different people, for basically the same wallpaper. :-) (3) Changed the policies of the Wallpaper Genie, so that I only grant 3 wishes each week. You all can still submit as many wishes as you like, but only 3 will be granted per week, with the new wallpapers being posted each Monday. The number of requests was just becoming too much for me to handle, though I'm sooooo happy that the Wallpaper Genie has been so successful! I wish I could make all the wallpapers that everyone wants, but I only have so much time in the day! And ... well ... I do have a life, too. And a husband. And two cats, who miss me and cry and claw at my lap when I sit at the computer for too long. The cats do that ... not the husband. (4) Added that absolutely heart-breaking last scene from this week's episode, "Beneath You," to both the Spike Quotes page and the Buffy and Spike Quotes page. I think that scene tells a lot about Spike as a character, but also about his love for Buffy ... so I felt it belonged on both pages. (5) Blogged at MM&M. (6) I'm afraid I'm having quite a bit of wrist pain from my tendonitis right now, and so I'm going to have to stay away from the keyboard for as much as possible in the next two or three days. I'll probably still blog and add other small stuff, but I can't do any of the stuff that keeps me at the keyboard for hours at a stretch, like wallpapers, fan art, and coding new fics.

10/02/02: Much thanks to Jackie, who alerted me to a problem with the navigation part of the new layout. I think it was only looking funky in IE5.1 or higher, but it should be fixed now. Please let me know if there's other funkiness. I can only check the site on a Macintosh, and only on the browsers I have access to, so you all can help a lot.

10/01/02: Well, here it is ... an all-new layout for October. I decided to keep the same basic color scheme, but brighten things up a little bit and make the whole thing a bit more friendly to those of you of the 800x600 persuasion. Plus, I'd been pouting about not having mouse-over effects on the navigation in the last design, so this time I added it. Don't it look neato? However ... as always happens with complete site redesigns ... I'm sure I've accidentally broken something and it will take me days to find it. So if you find it before I do, please let me know through email and I'll fix it immediately! And lemme know what you think of the new design, eh? My husband calls it "Joss Whedon meets Georgia O'Keeffe". Heh. He didn't even know who Georgia O'Keeffe was before he met me!

09/30/02: Real life has been keeping me pretty busy lately -- and I received several Wallpaper Genie wishes over the weekend, so that'll keep me busy for a while! (1) Added Adrienne's favorite S/B moments to the All-Time Top 5 page. (2) Got rid of my page of links to webpage review sites, because after much investigation I have not found any that are truly worth recommending. I haven't found a single one that reliably writes useful reviews in a timely manner. If you know of any, please feel free to recommend them! (3) Blogged. (4) Added three new Spuffy wallpapers in response to Wallpaper Genie wishes: "I Tried," "In Dreams," and "Drowning or Waving." (5) Also, I reorganized the Spike/Buffy Wallpapers Gallery, because it was getting crowded. It's all organized now, with the newest stuff first. If I've broken anything, please let me know ASAP!

09/28/02: (1) Updated the Fan Art Gallery with a couple pages of new fan art pieces. (2) Uploaded Rabid's phenomenal stories "Cuore Della Notte" and "Facing the Mirrors" to the Fan Fiction archive. (3) Blogged. (4) Added yet more random stuff to the Webmistress page, including my favorite quote.

09/27/02: (1) Added Maya's and Mary's favorite S/B moments to the All-Time Top 5 page. (2) Added three new wallpapers in response to Wallpaper Genie wishes: "You Belong in the Dark", "Buckle Up", and "Every Night I Save You".

09/26/02: Added another fic to the Fan Fiction archive: Treacle-Antlers' "Diversion." It's a great story, with a sequel in progress at Treacle's site. I hope she gets inspired to finish it soon, because I can't wait to see what happens!

09/25/02: (1) Put up a new, season premiere wallpaper in response to a Wallpaper Genie wish. The wallpaper is called "In the Dark." Many enthusiastic thanks too Amanda White for the fabulous screen caps so soon after the episode aired! (2) Two new stories in the Fan Fiction archive: Dee Bradfield's "Shades of Grey" and Valerie's "Super Food World." Both are way, way under-rated, so go give them a read! And send the authors feedback!

09/24/02: (1) I just put up five new wallpapers in response to wishes to the Wallpaper Genie. (2) And I blogged at MM&M after watching the season premiere.

09/23/02: Season 7 starts tomorrow! (1) Added three new fics to the Fan Fiction archive: HLynn's "Sideways Shanshu: Closure," Rabid's "Still Life with Melon and Honey," and Treacle-Antlers' "Clearance." (2) Made some changes to the fic pages to make them (I hope) easier to use. I took out all the tiny images on the list pages, so now you'll just see the title images on the actual fic pages. I think the little pics were just taking up too much space. Disagree with me? Want the little pics back? Drop me an email or write in the guestbook! (2) Blogged at MM&M.

09/22/02: (1) Granted a Wallpaper Genie wish, with the new Buffy wallpaper, "Come Back To Life." (2) Blogged at MM&M. You've got to go check out Mr Monkeybottoms's hilarious blog! I'm totally addicted.

09/21/02: Added two fics by Treacle-Antlers ("Pen Pals" and "All That's Left To You") and one fic by Amy ("Spinning") to the Fan Fiction archive. I currently have three more fics to archive, but they're longer and will take more time to code. Plus, I haven't created the title images yet. I hope to get them done this weekend.

09/20/02: (1) Created a new fan art, entitled "Bittersweet Forgiveness." I haven't put it into the Fan Art Gallery yet, but you can still check it out. The flower garland in Buffy's hair spells out a sort of statement, because the flowers included are: bittersweet (the yellow flowers with red berries) for truth, colored daisies for beauty, freesia for sweetness, and loosestrife (the yellow flowers) for forgiveness. (2) Added another terrific story to the Fan Fiction archive: Juliatheyounger's "A Strange Turn of Events." This has been one of my favorites for ages, so I'm very excited to finally have it archived here.

09/19/02: (1) Added another of Amy's lovely stories to the Fan Fiction archive. This one is called "After Midnight." (2) Added a new wallpaper to the Spike Wallpapers. This one was inspired by the title image I made for Lara Dean-Brierley's wonderful fic "Masks," and the wallpaper is called "Fantastic Garden." (3) Blogged at MM&M. (4) Created a few potential logos for the new Crypt Door Sanctuary, a haven for homeless Spike/Buffy fic, created as a response to the new policies at fanfiction.net. (For more information about this issue, check out my blog.) When Mary has chosen which logo she wants to use, I'll put it up on my Logos page. I'm pretty much always happy to help by making logos, banners, etc., for folks, as long as I'm not too swamped. So if you're needing or wanting something, drop me a note and I'll most likely be able to help out! (5) I also entered another fanart competition at Effulgent Embrace, a new S/B fanart and fanfic challenge awards site. It's a really neat site idea, so you should go check it out! I really don't like the piece of art I submitted (a Spike/Buffy fanart manipulation based on The Princess Bride, called "Death Cannot Stop True Love"), but then I've never liked manipulations much. That's why I almost never do them. But I thought I'd try something new.

09/18/02: I got an email about an hour ago from a wonderful woman named Laura (a different Laura than the one at AllAboutSpike.com), letting me know that the link to Nocte's fic "Sacred Flame" wasn't working correctly. Upon investigating, I found that the entire file for the first half of "Sacred Flame" had been over-written by another file! It's fixed, now, with much thanks due to Laura, so you can all go read it. It's a wonderful story!

09/17/02: (1) Hey! Nothing Like the Sun is the featured link of the week at AllAboutSpike.com! So go check out Laura's great site, which is full of terrific fanfic (some of it even written by yours truly) as well as tons of other neat stuff. Plus, she's a sweetheart. (2) Since it looks like it'll be at least a few weeks 'til my husband and I can get the searchable fic database done for this site, I've done a bit of organizing in the Fictions section ... creating separate lists for angst fics, humor fics, fluff fics, etc. I hope this will make the archive a bit more user-friendly. And you can always still just go to the master list of all fics listed by author's name, or the page of just my fics. Please let me know how this new organization works ... it makes sense to me, but if it's confusing for you guys, I'll change it again. Feedback feedback feedback! Email me or write in the guestbook, and I'll love you forever. :-)

09/16/02: (1) Blogged at MM&M. (2) Wrote a bunch of website reviews, which are linked from the Webmistress page. (3) Added Jess's opinions to the All-Time Top 5 page. (4) Finally uploaded a bunch of my new fanart to the Fan Art Gallery in Sights. I've been making stuff for weeks, and just hadn't gotten around to putting it all up on the site. (5) Updated the Awards Sites list, since some sites have gone on hiatus, some have disappeared entirely, and others have changed their URLs.

09/15/02: Blogged at MM&M.

09/14/02: (1) Added Lara Dean-Brierley's awe-inspiringly beautiful "Masks" to the Fan Fiction archive. I think this may very well be my favorite fic currently archived on this site! (2) Presented another Nothing Like the Sun award to Kindred, a great Eliza Dushku site. (3) Added another of Amy's lovely fics to the Fan Fiction archive. This one is called "Getting Lost." (4) Added a new wallpaper to the Misc. Wallpapers. This one was inspired by a request from Mr. Monkeybottoms, who wanted a wallpaper that included all of the Scoobies, including Spike and Tara. I had a hard time getting inspired for this one, because the Scoobs seemed to be sort of pulling further and further apart this last season ... so in the end I made a wallpaper about that. It's called, simply, "Season 6." (5) Added another award to the Awards I've Won page. Nothing Like the Sun won *sniff* "Runner Up" for Best Conventional Shipper site in the Sunnydale Fame Awards. The winner in that category was Beloved Enemy, a German S/B site ... so go check them out! (Especially if you read German.)

09/13/02: (1) I've finally recreated my Especially Informative links page, after its cruel demise under mysterious technical circumstances. I'm pretty sure I remembered everything that was listed there before the code got destroyed, but if you have suggestions, feel free to email me! (2) Added three new stories to the Fan Fiction archive: Amy's quietly lovely "When She Breathes," Isabelle's aching "The Unknown Citizen," and HLynn's plot-driven "Sideways Shanshu."

09/12/02: (1) I want to make a public apology to Thia, of Forever Beautiful. I had unintentionally used one of her graphics (to make a button for someone else's site by using their title graphic, with the site owner's permission) without her permission or giving her credit ... and I consider such things to be out-and-out theft! Upon realizing the mistake, I immediately removed the graphic from my site. I have the utmost respect for artists, and particularly Thia, and would never do such a thing intentionally. I'm terribly embarrassed and sorry. (2) Thia has been very gracious and forgiving ... such that she still presented me today with the "Graceful" Award from Forever Beautiful, as she had been planning before discovering the misunderstanding. You can see the gorgeous award on the Awards I've Won page. (3) I've been making lots of minor changes and additions in the past few days, many of which I haven't mentioned in the updates previously. So here goes. Check out all the new stuff on the Webmistress page, the visitor addition to the All-Time Top 5 (I'd love to see more, so send in your own all-time top 5!), the Thanks and Credits page, and my brand-spanking-new blog, called "Murmurings, Mutterings, & Musings."

09/11/02: Uploaded two amazing new stories to the to the Fan Fiction archive: Herself's "Bittersweets" series (This one took me a looooooooong time to code -- almost 2 entire days of full-time work! -- so there may be some errors, despite my best efforts. If so, please let me know.) and Amy's "After the Dance." I'm truly honored to host both of these fics at Nothing Like the Sun.

09/10/02: Presented another award from Nothing Like the Sun. This time, to The Buffy Insider. I created a new award: the Distraction Award, for sites that make me late for appointments because they've got so much neat stuff to look at that I can't tear myself away! :-)

09/09/02: (1) Three new wallpapers: two Halloween ones ("Hush" and "Fear Itself") inspired by a Wallpaper Genie wish from Danielle, and a third Spike/Buffy one ("Night Bloom") inspired by the fabulous Thia's fanart challenge at Forever Beautiful. (2) I have permission from authors to archive several more fics to the Fan Fiction archive, but I have not yet finished coding the files and creating the title images. Watch for those wonderful new fics over the next few days!

09/08/02: (1) I've been busy today fixing tons of coding stuff behind-the-scenes. (Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain.) It isn't as impressive as adding new content, but it makes the site easier to use and more attractive. (2) Okay, you asked for it again, and you got it again. I added 9 -- count them! 9! -- new polls in the Opinions section. They're all accessed through the Randomized Poll page. Go test them out so I can be sure they work. :-) (3) Presented another award (to spike_me_1, a promising new fanfic author), and created pop-up windows from the Win An Award page, to allow you to see sample awards and previous winners.

09/07/02: (1) Well, it seems that the Wallpaper Genie was a great addition to the site, because two more wishes came in today! (Thank you to Jackie and Megan!) The wishes have already been granted, and you can check out the resulting two new wallpapers -- "What She Deserves" and "Something Good" -- on the last page of the Spike/Buffy wallpaper section. If it continues to be this popular, I don't know if I'll be able --- er, I mean, if the Wallpaper Genie will be able -- to keep up with the wallpaper requests, but don't let that stop you from submitting wishes! (2) Arrrgh! GoLive seems to have irretrievably eaten my html code for the "Especially Informative BTVS Sites" page in the Links. I'm going to have to recreate it from scratch, so I hope I can remember everything that was listed there. How annoying! In the meantime, that page will be missing for a couple days. (3) Real life and my review-writing responsibilities at the currently-very-busy Royal Four Reviews may keep me a bit occupied this week. I know y'all are accustomed to me updating every day, but it might only be every other day this week. I feel like such a slacker! ;-) Do you still love me?

9/6/02: (1) Added the Wallpaper Genie. Go check it out and make a wish! (2) The first wish came in to the Wallpaper Genie ... requesting a Spike and Buffy wallpaper focused on the episode "Seeing Red." Ouch. The only real interaction Spike and Buffy have during that episode is the attempted rape, so this was a difficult wallpaper for me to do. But ... I'm not one to back down from a challenge, so you can check out the new wallpaper, titled "Regret," on the last page of the Spuffy wallpapers. (3) Added another fic to the Fan Fiction archive: Cousinjean's "Getaway." Enjoy!

9/5/02: (1) Added a new story to the Fan Fiction archive: Fallowdoe's lovely "Axis." (2) Added some random stuff about me to the Webmistress page. (3) You asked for it ... you got it! A couple people recently have responded to the mini-poll requesting more polls, quizzes, etc., so today I added a new Spike/Buffy quiz to the Quiz section in "Fun." In this one, you try to "Name That Episode" based on screencaps. Check it out and let me know what you think! (4) Added three new awards to the Awards Won page! Nothing Like the Sun won "Best Picture Site" and "Best Conventional Shipper Site" from the Alcea Awards, and "Best BTVS Site" from the Buffy 2002 Awards! Thank you so much to both of these awards competitions for honoring Nothing Like the Sun! (5) Ended the day by adding a new wallpaper to the Buffy section of the Wallpapers. It's called "Shimmer," and I hope y'all like it!

You know, I doubt that I will ever consider this site "finished," because there will always be new wonderful fanfics being written, I'll continue to write and create wallpapers, and I have no doubt that I will continue indefinitely to come up with new ideas for material for the site. My brain just never stops working! And I'm always happy to hear requests or suggestions from you all out there!

09/04/02: (1) Added two amazingly wonderful new stories to the Fan Fiction archive: Herself's phenomenal "What She Deserves" and Jericho TGF's famous "When Eternity Lies in the Balance." (2) I also added links on the Webmistress page so you can check out the most recent site reviews I've written. (3) Added a Thanks and Credits page to the Web section, to acknowledge all the great folks who've helped make this site what it is.

09/03/02: Added two new stories to the Fan Fiction archive: Spike Speigel's "Whispers and Remembrances" and Nimue's "Once, When We Were Young." I hope you enjoy!

09/02/02: (1) Added a Poetry section to the Fictions. (2) Added a Lyrics section to Fun.

09/01/02: (1) I'm still tinkering with the new layout, fine-tuning here and there. Please do let me know if you see any problems, as I'd like to fix things to make the site as fantabulous as possible. (2) Gave out two more Nothing Like the Sun awards to Sinister Attraction and Slay Me. (3) Added three new stories to the Fan Fiction archive: cousinjean's "And Miles To Go...," "Future Imperfect," and "A Letter Home."

08/31/02: Complete new layout! Complete new site organization! If I've broken anything, or anything is confusing, please do let me know. Even though I've checked everything about a million times, I'm sure I still missed some things. I've also made some additions to the site during the reorganization, including several new wallpapers. There will be more new stuff to come in the next week (some new fanfics, a song lyrics section, and a poetry section), but first I'm going to take a brief rest after working so hard on the new site design! Drop me a note in the guestbook or in email, and let me know what you think of the new layout and graphics!

08/25/02: (1) Uploaded two new fics to the Fan Fiction archive: HW's "The Dream" and Alane S. Megna's "A Hill of Beans." (2) Added a mini-review of Reading the Vampire Slayer, edited by Roz Kaveney, to the main Essays page. Coming Soon: I have a bunch of new fics to archive, but I'm in the middle of designing a new layout for the site. The layout will probably keep me busy for a few days or more, so don't be surprised if there aren't a lot of updates this week. When I'm done, though, I think the site will look great!

08/24/02: Uploaded a new fic to the Fan Fiction archive: Lara Dean-Brierley's phenomenally gorgeous "For the Sleepwalkers."

08/23/02: (1) Added an article about Spike (and his relationship with Buffy) from The Washington Post to the Essays section. (2) Added two new fics to the Fan Fiction archive: Zarrah's sweet fluffyfic "Little Buffy" and Kantayra's disturbing "Last Night." (3) I really need to start a blog, because I'm feeling a need to ramble. I surf a lot of BTVS sites — all kinds of sites, focused on lots of different 'ships, characters, etc. — and I have to say that the Buffy/Angel sites are starting to really bother and sadden me. I have nothing against the B/A 'ship or its fans, and in fact I enjoyed the first three seasons of the show very much, and enjoy B/A material on websites. But a very large percentage of B/A sites seem to feel a need to bash other 'ships (especially A/C and S/B) ... one I looked at recently even referred to "all the B/S crap." So ... my site is "crap"? It just seems un-called-for, to judge other people's preferences and slam them. I don't see why we can't all live and let live, and enjoy the amazing number of different stories that emerge from the imaginations of fans of the Buffyverse. Intolerance sucks. *Sigh* (4) I'll be changing the layout a bit over the next couple weeks, so I've started by changing the background and text colors. This is going to take a while! Too many darned pages! If I've broken anything in the layout with my recent changes, please let me know.

08/22/02: (1) Yet another quiz in the Spike and Buffy section of the Scoobies. This one's called "Name That Episode!" Is anyone even finding the quizzes? Trying them out? Are they too hard? Too easy? Let me know what you think. :-) (2) Added a page of "Funnies" to the Spike and Buffy section of the Scoobies. I was just feeling a bit slap-happy in the wee hours of this morning, and made up some silly stuff. (3) Uploaded a new fic to the Fan Fiction archive: Kantayra's "Forbidden." Coming Soon: I have three more fics to add this week, but I'm still working on coding the files. Also, my husband and I are working on a database that will allow you to search for fics on this site by title, author, rating, length, and story type (angst, humor, fluff, etc.). I hope to have that available within a couple weeks, but it depends on my husband's work schedule.

08/21/02: (1) Uploaded a new quiz to the Spike and Buffy section of the Scoobies. This one's called "Where In The World?" (2) Presented another award, this time to Zarrah, for her fic "Little Buffy." Much thanks to Dystiny for nominating her! Check out the award at the bottom of the Win An Award page.

08/20/02: (1) Well, it ends up that the negative review was actually a mistake! The reviewer hadn't looked at most of the site, so she's going to look at everything and re-review with more informed opinions. So I'm feeling better about that. (2) I added a page of "ABCs" to the Spike and Buffy section of the Scoobies. I think it's cute ... check it out and let me know what you think. :-) (3) Added a new Vamp!Willow wallpaper to the Wallpapers section. I'll be revamping (heh ... no pun intended ... or maybe it was intended, unconsciously ... or something) the Wallpapers sometime very soon and adding some more new ones based on some of Kyan's lovely sketches from Floating Pencil. She's a very sweet person, and she's given me permission to use a few of her sketches to create wallpapers, so that's something to watch for in the next couple days.

08/19/02 (later): Nothing Like the Sun just got a very negative review at Royal Four Reviews, so I'm feeling very depressed. The reviewer gave me pretty much the lowest possible score for originality, and said that I don't have much content. I've written essays and stories, made nearly 70 wallpapers, created unique title images for all the archived fanfics, ... oh, never mind. I'd been feeling pretty good about the site, especially after winning the awards from Step By Step, but my feelings are hurt right now. If you like the site, leave a message in the guestbook, eh? Tell me what you like. I could really use the strokes right now. :-(

08/19/02: (1) Added an "All-Time Top 5" page to the Spike and Buffy section of the Scoobies. There will be more lists eventually (feel free to email me if there are particular lists you'd like to see), but check out the first one and let me know what you think. And send in your own all-time top 5, and I'll post it here at Nothing Like the Sun! (2) Nothing Like the Sun just passed 1000 hits early this morning! (3) I'm now a reviewer at Royal Four Reviews. It's a great website review service ... check it out! I plan to create a page here that links to all my reviews at R4R, though they are all different sorts of sites, rather than only BTVS sites. (4) Nothing Like the Sun won two beautiful awards at Step By Step! Best Foreign Site and Best Fanfic Site. Very exciting! I've added them to the Awards Won page.

08/18/02: (1) Added a bunch of images to the Spike Gallery. Enjoy! (2) Made a new splash image. What do you think?

08/17/02: (1) Added about a dozen images to the Spike and Buffy Gallery, and quite a few new images to the Buffy Gallery. Hope you like them! (2) I also prettied up the Image Galleries with some nifty new buttons to replace the clunky old layout.

08/16/02: (1) Presented another award (to Sandy S.'s fanfic at Eternal Devotion). (2) I added my very first quiz to the Spike and Buffy page in the Scoobies section. Yay! This is the first time that I've made a quiz, so please let me know if anything is wrong. I've tested it pretty thoroughly, but human error is always a factor. (3) I added my second quiz to the Spike page in the Scoobies section. Yay! (4) I added another essay of mine to the Essays section: "Redemption and Outcasts, or Why I Like Spike." (5) Removed some long-dormant awards sites from the awards sites list, including The Pure Bliss Awards. I'm sad to remove them from my list, but they haven't updated in more than 2 months, so I don't think it's fair to refer folks to them right now. :-( Does anyone know anything about The Caritas Awards? They haven't updated their site in weeks, though the date for the announcement of winners has passed. (6) Put up a page of logos (mostly banners and buttons) that I've created for other people.

08/15/02: (1) I've spent the last couple days on lots of tiny things that no one but me will ever notice, trying to get the site looking more polished and working more smoothly (navigation, etc.). This is a continuing project, of course. (2) I've also added some new links and presented the first award from Nothing Like the Sun (to Vampire's Kiss). (3) Added a new multi-question poll to the Scoobies main page.

08/14/02: (1) Added a page to the Awards section where you can submit a nomination for an award from Nothing Like the Sun! Yay! (2) Redesigned the headers on the pages, to make them look snazzier. I didn't have time to do all of the minor sub-pages, but I got almost everything done.

08/13/02: (1) Reorganized the Awards, making it a section, rather than a single page. I think this will be easier to use. (2) Added some new Spike/Buffy shipper Links, and also made it a section, rather than a single page. I think this one, too, will be easier to use now. I'm constantly trying to improve this site, not only in content but also in ease of usage, so if you find something difficult or annoying, please send me an email and I will do my best to fix it right away! And please let me know if I've broken any links or images ... I'm always paranoid about that when I make major structural changes, even though I check carefully.

08/12/02: (1) Uploaded four new wallpapers to the Wallpapers section: "The Beloved," "Innocence," "Light," and "The Abyss." (2) Added some new links and reorganized the Links page.

08/11/02: Uploaded a new ficlet to the Fan Fiction archive: Fallowdoe's heart-breaking "Agnus Dei."

08/10/02: (1) Uploaded one new fic to the Fan Fiction archive: starbaby's achingly lovely "In the Days Still Left." Go read it now! It's short, and so so so worth reading! (2) Added a Buffy quotes page to the Scoobies section. (3) Majorly reorganized the Image Galleries, so that each character has a separate gallery page ... instead of them all being lumped up together. I think this will be easier to use. (4) Reorganized the Awards page and did some tidying up here and there. I wonder if anyone really reads these Update pages? Maybe I'm just talking to myself, here.Hmmm ... interesting thought. Hello? Hello? Is there anyone out there? Aw, shucks ... guess I'll just go grab a slice of pizza and watch my tape of "Fool For Love" again. See ya!

08/09/92: (1) Uploaded three new fics — Chris's "Yellow Was Desolate Without Stripe" and bubonicplague1348's "Interred Remains" and "Morning After" — to the Fan Fiction archive. (2) Uploaded two new wallpapers to the Wallpapers section: "Spike" on the Spike Only page and "Written on the Body..." on the Misc. Wallpapers page.

08/07/02: (1) Finished proofreading/editing "Spike Lips! Lips of Spike!" and uploaded the completed chapters to the Fan Fiction archive. (2) Added a couple interesting websites to the Links page. (3) Did some futzing with the logo images to make them look nicer (in my opinion).

08/06/02: Uploaded Chris's "Enough" and Chelle's "Walking After Midnight" to the Fan Fiction archive. "Walking..." still needs a bit of editing, but it's certainly readable as it is, so I wanted to go ahead and make both of these great fics available.

08/05/02: I added several awards sites to the list on my Awards page. I just love awards sites, because they're a great way to find other neat sites and fics out there. I'm working on a couple of projects right now: (1) I'm editing/proofreading "Spike Lips! Lips of Spike!" It's already uploaded to my Fan Fiction archive, but it has quite a few typos and such in it, so I'm going to give it a bit of a polish ... but it's taking time, because the story is so long. I hope to have it finished before the end of the week, though. (2) I'm coding the html files for a new fic, Chelle's wonderful "Walking After Midnight." I hope to have that finished by the end of the week, too ... so watch for it soon!

08/04/02: Added two new fics to my Fan Fiction archive: "Driving" and "Haunted," two beautifully-written angst ficlets by rainyday.

08/03/02: (1) To accommodate the new fics, I redesigned the layout of the main Fan Fiction page. I also made some layout changes to the Awards page, and reorganized the Links page to make it easier to use (and removed a couple of dead links). (2) I added two new fics: "Love Is Blind" and "Slip of Mind." (Ooooh ... I'm an accidental poet! And I know it ... Okay, I'll stop now.) I've got a few more fics to add, too ... just need to code the files and create the title images.

08/02/02: (1) I'm continuing to upload other people's fics to my Fan Fiction archive as I obtain permission to do so, and as I complete the title images for each story. I've uploaded five more fics: "In Heat," "The Keeper of Truth," "Recognition," "Sacred Flame," and "Silencio." I hope you enjoy! Please drop me a line and tell me what you think. (2) I liked the title image for "In Heat" so much that I made an accompanying wallpaper, which has been added to the Wallpapers section.

08/01/02: (1) Uploaded 4 new wallpapers and reorganized the Wallpapers section accordingly. There's now a full page of Willow wallpapers, separate from the "Other Scoobies" wallpapers. (2) I also added a new link to my Links page: go check out the fanfic and fanart at Be Still My Heart! (3) I've begun adding other people's fics to my Fan Fiction archive (with the authors' permission, of course). Go and check them out!

07/31/02: I wrote a new essay for the Essays section. It's called "Joss and Marti Pull A Fast One: The Mutant Enemy Crew Slips Spike's Soul Past Their Viewers," and it explores the question of Spike's intention in going to Africa at the end of Season 6, and how the Buffy writers purposely clouded the issue.

07/30/02: I added icons to the awards sites listed at the bottom of my Awards page, to show what sort of awards are available. I hope this will make the listing more useful!

07/29/02: Uploaded 4 more wallpapers: "Wake Up," "Giles," "Pink Sequins," and "Nice Duster!" I'm quite fond of all of them ... hope you like them, too.

07/27/02: Did some general tidying to make things look nicer here and there, and uploaded 4 new wallpapers. Someday, I suppose I'll get tired of making new wallpapers ... but apparently it won't be today.

07/26/02: (1) Put up 8 new wallpapers, and rearranged the Wallpapers section accordingly. There's now a full page of Dawn wallpapers, and a full page of "other Scooby" wallpapers (meaning not Spike, Buffy, or Dawn). (2) Uploaded my work-in-progress fanfic, "Forgive and Forget" — a sequel to "Sunlight and Shadow" — to the Fan Fiction section. (3) Added a link to a new essay on my Essays page. Then also added links to two webpages that are listings of interesting Spike-related essays. (4) Tidied up all the Quotes pages in the Scoobies section to make them clearer and easier to read.

07/25/02: Yowza! Updated my Awards page to include the four awards presented to me by The Top Stakes Awards! Wow! I'm soooooooo excited! I can barely believe it! I was hoping just to win one!

07/24/02: Added "Crucial Episodes" to the Buffy and Spike page in the Scoobies section. Check it out and leave a message in the guestbook to let me know what you think!

07/23/02: (1) Did a bit of redesign of the splash page (including adding a button linking to my sister site, BuffyPedia), and now I think it looks pretty darn nifty with all those stars! (2) Finished redesigning the Scoobies section, with banners leading to separate pages, instead of everything all on one looooooooong page. I hope it's prettier and more easily navigable. Check it out and let me know what you think! (3) Finished and uploaded Xander's biography for his Scooby page. (4) Added a bit more stuff to the new Buffy and Spike page in the Scoobies section. (5) I also created a couple of those teeny tiny buttons that people seem to like so much. They're on the Link to Me page.

07/22/02: I'm back from vacation, and I got tons of ideas while I was gone! Thus far, (1) I've created a fledgeling Buffy and Spike page in the Scoobies section (I have much more to add to this, but there's only so much time in each day!); and (2) I've redesigned the main page for the Scoobies section. Oh, yeah, I also (3) posted some awards presented to me from The Buffy Insider on my Awards page and (4) added some new awards sites to the list.

07/17/02: Added 4 more wallpapers (bringing the grand total up to 40!) and reorganized the wallpapers section again to reflect the newest additions. I'm heading out of town today to visit family, and won't be back for a few days, so there won't be any new updates until next week. But I'm hoping to get some additional content written for the "Scoobies" and "Essays" sections while I'm gone, so wish me luck!

07/15/02: (1) I made a few additional standard-size banners, and moved all the new ones to the top of the Link to Me page. (2) Updated the Awards page by adding the award I won from Vampire's Kiss in addition to my fic nominations at the Watching You Awards. Also cleaned up the Awards page, even adding the dates when awards will be granted. (3) Added a few handy links on the Links page: BBC Cult TV, the Complete Buffy Episode Guide, and Slayage.com.

07/14/02: A few updates today. Isn't that what weekends are for? (1) I added 4 new wallpapers. (Insomnia again.) I really like how they turned out, so check them out in the Wallpapers section. (2) I've also added a poll to this page, so let me know what you like about my site, what you'd like to see more of! (3) I've created a guestbook (click the button at the bottom of the page). I'd love to hear your comments! (4) I made some new buttons for the Scoobies page — rather than simple text links to the character pages — and I think it looks much nicer! (5) I made some new banners for the Link to Me page in more standard sizes (468x60 and 468x80).

07/13/02: Added 4 new wallpapers. (Insomnia makes me very productive.) I also finished Dawn's bio in the Scoobies section and created a brief Episode Guide page (as a sub-page of "Scoobies").

07/12/02: I did an overhaul of the Wallpapers section today, adding 8 new wallpapers and reorganizing the entire section to make navigation easier. I hope all the links still work and whatnot. I've changed a lot of stuff, so if you discover any problems, please do email me to let me know, and I will fix them as soon as possible.

07/07/02: My new domain name finally works! So we're now http://www.nothinglikethesun.com! (The old, less-intuitive URL will continue to work, but I prefer to use the new domain name, for obvious reasons.)