Introduction

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 16:44:26 GMT

Hello,

This is the place where I have chosen to put the series Discovery Pick and The Franchise, a series of unpublished novels I have put together in the last two years. The story is about Katrine "Katie" Johannesen, a young former ice-hockey star now involved in sports broadcasting and technology with a professional soccer franchise in Minnesota, and Christian James "Jamie" MacKenna, a young soccer player from the United Kingdom who comes to play for the Minnesota Owls. It is from that rare genre of sports romance, and so far, most of the people who have read it have liked it.

I am posting it here because the previous server it was on, ezboard, was hacked and the first four seasons were lost in the abyss as a result. The original story appeared in my head when I was sixteen (over 20 years ago now), and was very, very different than it is now, taking place in Northern Ireland in the midst of the Troubles and envisioning an IRA coup. Now, the setting is Minnesota, owing to the emergence of professional soccer in the United States and the new developments in the UK leading to the cease fire and now proposed disarmament of the IRA. This version of the story first appeared in "print" thinly veiled as fan fiction on a web site dedicated to the Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (most recently in the CBS miniseries Elvis (in the title role) but probably best known in the US for his role as the soccer coach Joe in Bend It Like Beckham) only because I could envision Jonathan in the lead male role of Jamie. Yeah, wishful thinking for an amateur whose writing experience is better suited to historical research and artifact reports. Seeing Beckham made me want to re-invent the story to bring soccer into it more, and that and the book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby made me realize that people might want to see/read this kind of stuff.

I will be starting with the very first chapter of the first book (each book is called a "season," and I have completed five, with at least three more on tap) and working my way from there.

All should be forewarned that this story does contain sexual content, like most romance novels. If it were a movie, as written, it would probably rate an NC-17 rating. Therefore, if you are under 17, I take no responsibility if you get into trouble, since I have now warned you. However, I'm sure most of the people who read this are already familiar with the story, so *shrug*.

I will make each entry friends-only, except for this one. If you want to be added to the Reader List (aka the friends list), let me know. This is a precaution to prevent people from stealing the story for their own.

These stories are all under my copyright, and the subject line will indicate such. Any reprinting is prohibited without my permission, and I will be supremely pissed if you do it. Thank you.

The MacKenna Chronicles

Introduction