Tuesday, August 25, 2009

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

Monday, August 17, 2009

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

Sunday, August 2, 2009

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