Nabiki looked around impatiently. "Uh, Kasumi... why are we here?"

The tree branches fluttered as a mild breeze whistled by. "Oh my, you
mean you don't remember?" Kasumi swiveled on the picnic table to face
her sister. Kasumi wore an airy sundress; looking at it, Nabiki felt
herself starting to sweat in her power business suit. "This is a promo
for a fanfiction that's being posted Monday!"

"Yes, yes, I know. But why do we have to do it *here*, in the park, of
all places? There's some great restaurants that we could've gone to
without getting grass stains all over our clothes."

"It all ties in with the story. Anyway, it's fun!"

"Let's just get it over with. All right, some of you may remember a
fanfiction series called Hearts and Minds Preludes. It seems that the
next one, Prelude 9, is finished, and will be released on the FFML
Monday morning."

"Yes, and it stars the two of us! How exciting!"

"Exciting's not the word I'd use. At least the author's check didn't
bounce this time. But yes, this installment features us, the elder Tendo
sisters. Along with absolutely no one else you'd recognize."

"Don't forget about the surprise guest, Nabiki!"

"Oh yeah. Though technically I'm not sure if she really appears in the
story. Anyway, the story will include a summary of what you need to know
from previous chapters in order to understand this one -- which actually
isn't much."

"Of course, they could always go read Preludes 1-8 at
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html#ham . That might be more
enjoyable than just being told what happened in some of them."

"Yeah, if they have time. Some of us don't, Kasumi. And none of the
other Ranma regulars are in this part, so it's not that big a deal. Why
couldn't the author have put at least some of them in, anyway?"

"Goodness, you didn't know? He said that after paying you to appear in
this chapter, he didn't have any more...."

"It was a rhetorical question, Kasumi. Anyway, that's about all we need
to say, I think. I've got to go send a bill to the author."

"Oh my, I thought you said he'd already paid you for being in the
story."

"Yes, he did. But now he owes me for doing this promo."



Far away, a fanfiction author shuddered. Oh well, he'd pay back the
loans someday....


HaM Prelude 9 coming to the FFML! Two days from now!


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics