my taste in fanfic

I don't read all that much fanfic. My fannish impulses don't express themselves that way; I write individual stories because I come up with specific concepts, not because I have an ongoing engagement with the canon, or am linked into the social community of that fandom. Taken from the other direction, I generally only read things if a friend has recommended them, and a lot of what I read ends up not meaning a whole lot to me, because I lack the context or the interest to receive it properly.

But there are exceptions. There are fanfic stories I not only read, not only love, but remember for years afterward.

And, as I realized a while ago, they all have a common trait.

For a fanfic to really stick with me, it needs to be doing something extra, beyond just being fannish. (There's nothing wrong with being fannish, mind you -- it just isn't what I read for.) Something intellectual, something critical, which can't be done by writing original fiction, because that would lose the closeness entanglement of its commentary, and can't be done by writing straight-up criticism, either, because that would lose . . . something harder to put my finger on. Stories that strike that balance make me absolutely giddy as a reader.

I'd like to share with you a few examples of what I mean, with explanatory notes. (But, uh, be warned -- I guess the stories I like share two common traits. The thing I mentioned above, and the fact that they're EPICALLY LONG. The two rather naturally go hand-in-hand.)

( Read more... )

Those aren't all the fics I've ever liked and remembered; they're just five of the most epic examples. I could list Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead among them, because really, it's the same kind of thing. And -- though I shouldn't say this; I really don't have enough spare time -- if you know of any others like them, in fandoms I might be familiar with, feel free to recommend them in the comments.

In the meantime, I hope some of you lose many enjoyable hours reading these. :-)

I've been sitting on this for a month

I've worked with Ekaterina Sedia (squirrel_monkey) twice before, on "Comparison of Efficacy Rates for Seven Antipathetics As Employed Against Lycanthropes" (in Running with the Pack) and "Coyotaje" (in Bewere the Night). Now that I have the go-ahead, I'm delighted to say that I have sold her a third story, this one without any shapeshifters in it whatsoever: "False Colours," a novelette in her upcoming anthology of YA Victorian romance, Wilful Impropriety: 13 Tales of Society and Scandal.

You can read more about the anthology here. The table of contents looks pretty awesome:

• THE DANCING MASTER by Genevieve Valentine
  
• THE UNLADYLIKE EDUCATION OF AGATHA TREMAIN by Stephanie Burgis
  
• AT WILL by Leanna Renee Hieber
  
• STEEPED IN DEBT TO THE CHIMNEY POTS by Steve Berman
  
• OUTSIDE THE ABSOLUTE by Seth Cadin
  
• RESURRECTION by Tiffany Trent
  
• MRS BEETON'S BOOK OF MAGICKAL MANAGEMENT by Karen Healey
  
• THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND by Sandra McDonald
  
• FALSE COLOURS by Marie Brennan
  
• NUSSBAUM'S GOLDEN FORTUNE by M. K. Hobson
  
• THE COLONEL'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Roden
  
• MERCURY RETROGRADE by Mary Robinette Kowal
  
• THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Caroline Stevermer
  

As for "False Colours"? Well, a select few among you may recall a certain character named Lt. Ravenswood . . . yeah, this is that story. The rest of you will have to wait and read it for yourself -- I wouldn't want to spoil anything!

I'll post a release date when I have one.