AVALON MISTS:  A momentary escape from reality.
Issue #1
First Released: Wednesday, February 14th

	****Challenges of the Week****


Note: Weekly Challenges have no deadline, but I won't print more than three
an issue and if I get substantial duplication of a theme, I'll pick the best
few. Short stories/vignettes are preferred -- under 2000 words.

	Challenge #1: The Gargoyles and/or the Mutates discover what lives beneath
the streets of New York besides flying cats...(urban myths, crossovers to
other series...go for it!)

	Challenge #2: Avalon deposits Elisa, Goliath and Angela in a *very*
unlikely spot...(you pick the unlikely spot)


	****Alt Episodes****


	Episode #1000: Xanatos finds himself embroiled in modern-day labor politics
when the Steel Clan goes on strike.
	--By Andrew Weitzman      (a_weitz@alcor.concordia.ca)  

	Episode #1001: Generic Things that Go Bump in the Night invade Manhattan.
Lois, April, Elisa and Catherine all end up at the police station in an
elevator together. The power goes out and strange scary noises are heard in
the elevator shaft. The assorted heroines send out assorted distress calls by
screaming, telepathy or radio. Within thirty seconds, there is a melee at the
entrance hatch at the top of the elevator shaft. (Snarl! Cowabunga! Jalapena!
Who's the guy in the tights?)
	--by Leva

	Episode #1002: The police force suffers a drastic budget cut, and the
choppers are grounded. They rehire Derek.
	--by Leva


	****Top Ten Lists****


"Top Ten Things Overheard at the Xanatos Enterprises Personnel Office:"
	By Andrew Weitzman      (a_weitz@alcor.concordia.ca)  

10.  "No, we do not think the company uniform resembles 'Captain Power and
the Soldiers of the Future'."

9.  "Don't worry about the medical plan.  No one has lived long enough to 
collect."

8.  "Remember: ALWAYS let Mrs. Xanatos win two out of three."

7. "You know, this is the 100th time this month we've had to submit a claim
for 'injured by falling rubble' to Worker's Comp..."

6. "You're the new guy, huh?  A little tip: keep looking up.  It comes in
handy."

5. "I'm sorry, but you need six months seniority before you can check out 
the death-ray."

4. "Yes, genetically-engineered fangs are covered under the dental plan."

3. "Violation of our non-smoking policy is punishable by summary execution."

2. "We'll be deducting a month's salary from your paycheque.  I don't care if
you had to escape the 10th century--tardiness will not be tolerated!"

And the Number One Thing Overhead at the XE Personnel Office is:

1. "Actually, good aim is not a prerequisite for the job."

* * *

Ten Ways to Get Elisa's Full and Undivided Attention
By Leva Mevis (levamevis@aol.com)

10.	(From Beth Maza): Hey, sis, I just got a new job in New York! This really
cool guy named Xanatos hired me...
9.	(From Owen Burnett, on the telephone): Detective Maza, Mr. Xanatos wishes
to speak with you.
8.	(From Chavez) Elisa! Good news! We've got some new dirt on Xanatos...all
you have to do is go arrest him!
7.	(From Derek) Dr. Sevarius survived Nessie! Maggie saw him in the
labyrinth!
6.	(From her mother) Elisa, why don't you invite the gargoyles over for
supper? We can introduce Brooklyn to Beth...
5.	(From Goliath) Elisa, I, uh, umm, <looks away, flushes>, I...oh, Jalepena!
Forget it! <Stalks off>
4.	(From Beth, on the phone, in a strange voice) Sis, I won't be able to make
it to that dinner. Tell mom I have a case of the monster flu...
3.	(From Coldstone) Is Goliath around? (Elisa: Who wants to know?)
2.	(From Xanatos) If you arrest me, you'll never catch Sevarius and I think
he has your sister...of course, *I* had nothing to do with this. I just want
a deal, a reasonable deal, detective.

	And the #1 way to not only get Elisa's attention but also her mother's:

1.	(From Sevarius) Oh, I based Beth's form on DNA from a dead spider named
Anansi...spectacular, isn't she?


	****Fanfiction Vignettes****

	"Worse than the chimp..."
	--Leva

	"Ohhh..."  Sam stared at the mirror. "Ohhh...boy..." He sounded stunned.
	Al was more direct. "Sam, you have wings."
	In the years of leaping from life to life, Sam had asked, "Who am I?" many
times. However, his question this leap was new. "What am I?"
	Al consulted his handset. "You are...ah...very large. Male. You have wings.
You..." He paused, staring past Sam. 
	Sam knew that look. At least something was familiar. He turned slowly.
	She had wings too, but a figure that was rather...female, anyway. And she
was dressed with the bare minimum that the censors would approve.
	"Al." Sam hissed. "Al!" 
	"Huh?"
	"Al, she's not even human. What am I? What am I doing here?"
	"She reminds me of my fifth wife...huh? Ziggy's working on it."
	The female...female whatever...stared at them. 
	"Have you nothing to say?" She finally asked.
	Sam tried, "What would you like me to say?"
	"Your prayers, Goliath." She raised a bazooka. "You and that human in the
ugly suit are dead..."
	Sam dove for cover. An explosion nearly deafened him. Al casually walked
over and commented, "Ziggy thinks that's your girlfriend."
	"Great." Sam muttered, "I have a homicidal psychotic for a girlfriend 
and we *both* have wings..."



	****Limericks and other poetry****



There was a fae trickster named Puck
Who made all New York run amuck.
	Though bound by a chain
	He still used his brain,
Which is just our fave demon-gal's luck.
--Nancy

Now think on good Owen, mistaken
At times for a fae left forsaken.
	But to have Three Weird Brothers
	We'd still need two others
And daryl and Daryl are taken.
--Nancy

There was a young gargoyle named Lex
Whose inventions were turned into wrecks
	By his well-meaning friends,
	And here my tale ends
Lest I anger the Disney execs!
--nancy@rat.org (Nancy Brown)

	* * * * *

There was a castle in the air
A New York castle that isn't there.
It was there again today.
I hope to heck it's here to stay.
--Leva 


	****Short Stories****


***
Sleepless in Manhattan
a Gargoyles short short story
by Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson  (mrwilson@umr.edu)
Copyright 1996
***

Author's Note:
Buena Vista owns everything relating to the gargoyles and their human 
pals.  I humbly beseech their good graces, reminding them that the only 
payment I shall ever receive for this may be fanmail (I hope!).
 
     Elisa rolled over, unable to make herself go to sleep.  This was
getting ridiculous.  She was beyond tired, but no matter what she ried, she
simply couldn't rest.
     After dangers untold and almost unbelievable, she, Goliath and Bronx had
returned to Manhattan a few nights before, with a new and dear friend in tow.
 Once the fervor surrounding their homecoming had
died down to the usual buzz that gathered near them, they had gone back to
what passed for normal life.  She was back on the night
shift by her own request, and although she now had three permanent mother
hens in the forms of Matt, Captain Chavez and Officer Morgan, things seemed
to be pretty much as they'd always been.  Except that she hadn't slept since
they'd arrived.
     She tried fluffing her pillow.  *Her* pillow, she thought, and the
thought should have been comforting, even indulgent.  It had
been so long since she'd been in her own bed.  Along their journey, she'd
slept on the ground, on the boat, on grass mats, even
standing up once or twice.  She had a permanent crick in her neck from
leaning against stone statues as she caught forty winks during the long days.
 Compared to where she *had* slept, this was paradise.
     Memories of the trip stayed in her thoughts almost constantly, nudging
her from her half-sleeping state time and again.  She'd close her eyes and
see Anansi creeping towards her on his terrible eight legs, and she'd be wide
awake again in a hurry.  Yet it
wasn't just the dreams.  She couldn't name what the other problem was, only
knew that it kept her lying on her bed staring at the
ceiling while the sun moved across the sky.
     If she didn't sleep soon, she was going to go crazy.
     The voyage home from Avalon had been one of discovery.  They had
encountered beings of legend, had interacted with them, sometimes fighting
against them, sometimes bringing them to realize their own potential.  As
they had travelled, she had learned more about the world than she had dreamed
possible.  Her impressions of even the simplest things were forever
shattered, to be replaced by
an awe she hadn't felt since her childhood, for the discovery had been as
much internal as external.  She had learned who she was,
and who her wonderful companions were, and they too had become familiar with
her and with themselves, especially Goliath.
     Before the trip, they had spent countless hours talking together as he
learned the ways of her century, and she the codes of his.  When the three of
them had first set out on their mad journey, he had been her friend, her best
friend.  They had kept no secrets from each other save the ones that hurt.
 That's what she had liked best about him: she could trust him.  But now ...
     It wasn't that they were no longer friends, and it certainly wasn't that
they had taken that *other* step beyond mere
friendship.  That was one thing they weren't ready for yet, and possibly
never would be.  Oh, she loved him; that part wasn't difficult.  There was
really very little about him that wasn't loveable.  Well, now that she
thought about it, there *was* that
temper of his, and the stubborn streak that matched her own mile-wide one,
and his innate desire to maintain things as they had always been.  These were
things she knew and accepted as being part and parcel of the whole.  Besides,
she'd loved him before they'd left New York, so that couldn't be it.
     She rolled over onto her stomach and considered what *had* changed in
their relationship between the night Tom had come across the waters seeking
help and the night they had returned.  They had gone out as friends, and come
back joined at the soul.  He could start a thought and she would finish it
without either of them saying a word.  Even Angela had picked up on it, and
the three of them had managed to frighten the trio and Hudson several times
in
the past two nights.
     She yawned.  This really wasn't fair.  The gargoyles just had to wait
until morning, and then they were forced to sleep until the
sun set again.  Heck, she'd watched them turn to stone more times than she
could count, and had spent equally countless days keeping quiet watch over
the three still forms and awaiting the blessed night.  In their hibernating
state, they could, they *must* always sleep.  She wasn't so lucky.  There was
something missing that she still could not name ...
     Like a bolt of lightening from an empty sky, she *knew* what the problem
was, and why her comfortable bed simply wasn't as nice
as she'd thought it would be.  She sat up and began putting on her shoes.
 She would cure this insomnia yet.
 
***
 
     She climbed the stairs to the clocktower slowly, not because she feared
waking the others, but because she was quite simply
exhausted.  Cagney ambled over to her, seeking attention, and she petted her
lovingly.  The cat had permanently relocated during her long absence, but
they were fortunately still on speaking terms.
     Once she'd done the obligatory ear-scratching, she made her way towards
the outside, then stood for a moment watching the seven beautiful statues
against the city skyline.
     It was actually kind of funny.  When they had first arrived home, and
frankly, several times during the trip, all she could
think about was at last being back where she belonged and having some
illusion of privacy again.  Mostly, she had wanted to spend a
day without the all-too-familiar silhouettes looking out into empty daylight
as they slept.  She'd become sick of guarding them,
     Now she could think of nothing dearer to her.
     She unrolled her sleeping bag and pulled her pillow out.  She fluffed it
for the thousandth time that day, then placed against
the ledge.  She wrapped herself in her sleeping bag securely, and rested her
head against the ledge, below the largest of the stone figures.  His shadow
covered her face from the bright sun, and if she moved her head a little, her
cheek would brush lightly against his foot.  She moved her head.
     She was fast asleep before her eyes were even fully closed.
 --mrwilson@umr.edu (Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson)


****Reviews****


Editor's note: I won't always do reviews. I will only do positive reviews.
And only for stories that I *really* like. And only if space permits.

	"All Through the Night"
	Story by Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson (mrwilson@umr.edu)
	Story at the rat.org ftp site under pub/gargoyles/stories/attn.txt
	
	I was very impressed by this novella by Missy. It's aptly named -- I *read*
it all through the night! It's a murder-mystery, and a crossover story with
about a dozen universes colliding. An incomplete list would include:
Gargoyles, X-files, Beauty and the Beast (TV), Superman, Batman, MacGyver,
Quantum Leap -- plus a whole lot more. Her characterization was very
accurate, the prose was *great*, and the ending left me giggling. A excellent
story, and one that's certainly going on my disk of favorite fanfiction! 
	--Review by Leva

****Advertisements for Fanfiction****

* * * * *

"Forever"
by Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson
190k
should be available at rat.org://pub/gargoyles/stories on Feb.14

One of the "lost journeys" of the four travellers from Avalon.  In an 
attempt to get back to New York, the foursome use the Phoenix Gate. Avalon,
however, has different plans for them.  They find themselves further away
from Manhattan than they dreamed possible, stranded aboard a space station
called Deep Space Nine.  And then, things start getting interesting.

* * * * *