Well, hasn't this been a fun little romp? It's the story that ate my life! (But I loved writing it.) Before I go into my own reflections on the story, let me thank some people first:
    Silent Steel (sometimes known as Sarah Blomenkamp, but not often), who was my first cheerleader for this story and sent me much fanart and many suggestions for it. Also, girls made of steel make mighty fine sounding boards!
    Yu Jin Chung (a.k.a. Eugene) whose art you see gracing each chapter. When I approached her to do the chapter art, I was surprised and delighted to learn she was already a fan of the story. As soon as she gets herself into grad school   (12/98), she promises she'll finish the art work!
    Everybody who signed my guestbook and/or sent me an email to tell me how much they liked the story, or to point out places where I dropped the ball (like the proper spelling of Mazuko, which I didn't correct till the last chapter but will go back and fix in the others later).
    All those great people who have Slayers sites on the net! Too many to name *blush*, but let's start with Lina Inverse's, Xellos' (with nice Next summaries--ooh!), the Royal Fool's and lots more.
    OK! Let's talk about Zelgadis On The Couch, shall we? First of all, if you haven't figured it out already, the couch in question is the proverbial psychoanalytical couch, right out a Freudian sterotype. This story started as a one-off when I wondered what Zelgadis would talk to his therapist about if he was finally convinced to see one. Then as I was writing it, I threw in Xellos and Kopii Rezo to mess him up. That done, his friends had to know what was going on so they could try to save him. And the hounds were out of the gate and on the scent. I had no idea where the story would go from there, but that's my writing style: I get a vague idea sometimes, but mostly the story just writes itself (doesn't that sound corny).
    At the time I started writing it, I had only seen tapes 1-4 of the Software Sculptors English language release of Slayers and prowled through Slayers sites on the net. As the rest of the SS tapes were released, I learned the fate of Kopii and had to go back and cover my butt.
    No, I didn't do a lot of deep, meaningful meditation, probing the logic and possibilities that could come of things that happened in Slayers (like Zelgadis' transformation by Rezo). I come up with an idea, then compare it to the original series to see if I can make it hold water. Backwards "logic". I hope I succeeded.
    Ok, like The Force, I have a light side and a dark side (only I can't hold the universe together or make Stormtroopers let you into Mos Eisley). I love to write really loopy humor. This comes from too much Monty Python in my youth. (Can one have too much Monty Python? I think not.) I have a strong sense of the absurd--like the terrifying Sons of Chaos turning out to be a couple of nice boys who just want to open a hot springs resort with a beauty spa. My dark side tends toward the visceral--bloody, violent and creepy. I also love to write fight scenes (perhaps you noticed with the Zelgadis/Urlich face-off at the inn).
    I've been asked on several occasions which characters are mine and which belong to the creators of Slayers. Marrigan and its denisens are my creation, including Zhara, Urlich, Ullan, Zellan, Sylph, Jaz/Jessica, Nik, Lenzer and Garroll. I invented Dr. Sorez, as well. Lei Magnus is a real Slayers character, but his affair with L-Sama was my doing and not contained in Slayers canon. For that matter, there's no record in the Slayers series of Xellos having kids with a dragon. That one's mine, too. So's relating Zelgadis to Xellos and the Lord of Nightmares, though the relationship to Shabranigdo isn't as much of a stretch, though it's not openly stated in Slayers. My logic is that the piece of Shabranigdo within Rezo could feasibly have tainted the Red Priest's bloodline. Also in the TV series and movies, L-Sama doesn't do much more than let Lina use her power to zap Dark Lords. However, I hear tell that she asserts herself more in the novels (could be wrong about that, though). I did more with her because I think she's an interesting character.
    Yeah, yeah, I took liberties. I aged Amelia and got her mad enough to talk like a sailor. I made Beast Master a total fruit loop, got Gourry and Lina in bed, and almost turned Zelgadis into a real, live Dark Lord. I also made another Rezo copy, and had Amelia sock away a lock of Zelgadis' hair from that one part in Next (?) where he cuts his hair. Oh yeah: I also put some of Xellos' genetic material into Zelgadis, making Stone Boy a tad loopier.
    On the one hand, I'm glad it's over, but I really, really did enjoy writing it. Next, I reformat that bad boy and get more art from Eugene, so it looks spiffy! I'm thinking of doing a Marrigan-based series of short stories, using my own original characters. Sound like fun? Let me know.
    Thanks for reading!

    kjh
    The Queen of Swords