The Professor That Sets Your Flesh on Fire

Most of us have never had the luxury of having a professor that was as pleasing on the eyes as Professor Northman in college. Heck, for my first 2 years in undergrad, I was a math major and I am sorry to say that Dr. Akingbehin and Dr. Shirley just didn't get me so excited to attend class and watch them work out algorithms on the board.

Luckily there's House of Flesh on Fire's Professor Eric Northman to ponder. Similar to all the Infamous Gracious Plenty (Infamous GP) posts, I will do a rendering of the character using my Photoshop skills. On the right is my image interpretation of the Professor. At first I wanted to go all abstract and incorporate the Professor somehow with Robert Herrick, the poet who wrote the poem FDM used to name the story; but unfortunately that proved to be a bit more difficult and prolonged this post. Instead what I've come up with is a realistic image of a professor that Sookie may have come across in the English Department at her school. I used this and this as inspiration. I have no idea who those guys are but they helped me bring our Professor to life. *The photo of Alexander Skarsgard is from a GQ Man of the Year event in 2009.

Now the image is out of the way ... let's talk about him.

About the Professor ...

Appearance: House of Flesh on Fire, E v E
Creator: FarDareisMai2
Setting: In this All Human fic, the Professor is Sookie's English professor at University. Completed with 28 chapters, including the epilogue, this story is listed as a romance.

What to like about him ...

For each Infamous GP post I will do an acrostic to describe the character to you. I hope you will enjoy and if you have your own word to add, feel free do to do on the comments section.

B is for Brazen. Kind of a contradictory description of the Professor since he wasn't brazen in his public life due to constraints upon him with his family and university work. However, when Sookie had a chance to be with the good prof behind a closed door, the fire ignited.

E is for Extra Credit. With this comment from Sookie "I was wondering if there was any sort of extra credit I could do to help my grade? I'd be willing to do anything.", we are awarded with the first panty dropping smirk from this Eric.

L is for Literature. You won't be mistaken that the Professor is an English teacher. One of the cool parts of the story is that he inspires FarDareisMai2 to give us a lesson in literature. As she states, she has a BA in English and her experience helps punctuate the Professor just right.

L is for Library. Have you ever googled House of Flesh on Fire? The first item that appears is Chapter 11. A famous scene in the story that hasn't been duplicated yet. But it has nothing to do with a library. One of MY favorite scenes is in chapter 21, which takes place in the library.

E is for Europe. Where sadly enough, the Professor took off to somewhere in the middle of the story. A low point for the Prof in terms of running, but he did give us a lesson in the Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey.

T is for Tortured. Sadly, the Professor is a bit tortured and held back from a lot. Not only is he tortured by having to fantasize about a student in his class, but the guy also has family responsibility and duty to contend with.

R is for Robert Herrick. His works are the poems Professor Northman quotes to his dear student. "I saw a Cherry weep, and why? Why wept it? But for shame, because my Julia's lip was by, and did out-red the same. But pretty fondling, let not fall a tear at all for that: which Rubies, Corals, Scarlets, all for tincture, wonder at."

I is for Intelligent. Hello! He's Sookie's English professor at the university she attends. Sookie is an English major who enlisted in his class; and then further interacts *wiggles eyebrows* with him when she tries to enlist in some *ahem* extra credit. (Please see "E" above for more info.)

S is for Sexy. Let's use Sookie's words, "...He had long, blond hair that he always wore pulled back in a low pony tail at the base of his neck. His hands . . . well, I know I already said they were huge, but his fingers were long and graceful and, despite his size, when he gripped the chalk and wrote on the board, his hand was elegant and smooth."

T is for Tragic. I already mentioned that this story is written by FarDareisMai2 right? Not all her stories have an angsty twist but when they do, you are left on the edge of your seat. Well, this story has the tragedy potential but thankfully the Professor pulls it together to make it work out.

I is for Illustrious. With over 2,000 reviews (poised to hit 2,500 any day) this fic is just a year old and has definitely secured it's place in SVM fanfiction history. Many have this story listed in their profile's favorite fanfiction section, and the Professor's story has been talked about everywhere.

C is for Challenge. And finally, thank goodness for the word challenge that was started in the Northman thread on the Sookiverse. If not for that we would never have had the pleasure of meeting this memorable faculty member.


And with this we get BELLETRISTIC the definitions are "written and regarded for aesthetic value rather than content" and "versed in literature, dealing with literature." To me this word perfectly describes the Professor and what FarDareisMai2 offered when she penned this fanfiction classic.


Did you read the stories about the Professor? Let us know what you thought, add your own word or acrostic, or share your favorite scene in the comments section.


The Infamous Gracious Plenty is an ongoing feature for My SVM Addiction where each post, will contain an image interpretation of that Eric, where to find him for those fans who haven't read about him, and an acrostic to describe him. You then can log on and comment about the Eric.  In the original Infamous Gracious Plenty post, I gathered many suggestions for the Infamous GP. If you have one, let me know.