Fandomy bits, and HAIR

[blamebrampton]

I just thought to actually read through my notifications, and there was a sweet wee lemur there from cinnatart , thanks love! But it had a twin! roma_fics  had also sent me a wide-eyed wacky mammal, with a note, to tell me that Snatched was this weekend's fic at hp_weekend_fics , which both made me do a mad little dance of glee at the same time as hang my head in shame, since I have meant to read several of the last weekend fics, but have instead been writing selfishly.

But THANK YOU, Roma and Maggie! I have such love for that mad Next-Gen set in their studio of Great Ego and Peril. Having spent most of the time since writing that working with a TV team as well as my mag set, I have mentally revised the level of ego I ought to have included upwards, but these are newspeople, who are usually a little saner ;-) And touched does not begin to describe my response to your words. Charmed and filled with love is a bit closer.

All of which reminds me that there are other fandom things Of Great Import happening! gunshandcuffs  has the fandom-wide H/D Most Read Bookshelf poll still underway! If you've not voted, please go over there and do so now! However, you don't need to vote for me -- in fact, I'd probably not cope, I like thinking of myself as a slightly acquired taste, like pismanye or Kurt Weill (NOT like Marmite! Bleagh!) What I DO ask is that if you have ever followed my previous recs, you vote for some of the other great fics out there that SHOULD be on the bookshelf but which look like slipping off due to lack of promotion. 

In particular, I would love to see  A Tale of Horns by pushdragon , Crup-tion of the Not-So Innocent by calanthe_fics , and The Simple Joy of Living by mahaliem  make it on. They're all everything that fandom generally loves: tightly written, well characterised, funny and porny, and all had massive responses when they were posted, but are all dropping off for some reason or other (probably because they are from 2008). Go and read them if you haven't -- each and every one is a complete delight (and none are awfully long). There are a bunch of other fics on that list that I would also be pimping were it a best fic list,  but these are the three that I remember having fantastic public responses and recs abungo, which seem to be merely in need of a bit of publicity.

So if you've ever trusted me on a rec and felt it worth the hour of your time, trust me again on these three! (Or check out the gunshandcuffs list for any number of great fics!)

In hair news, I now have dark brown-black hair with pillar box red racing stripes. It is FANTASTIC. I may have found the style I wish to keep for the next decade! (Unless the red runs out as quickly as the old 80s bright colours used to, in which case, expect griping and possibly an experiment with white badger stripes ;-))

And Rage, the Friday and Saturday night music clip show on the ABC, has an all-covers special on which has been unbelievably brilliant. Right now they are playing the Housemartin's version of Caravan of Love -- I am filled with joy!

Comments

Oddly enough....

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Taking midnight GMT last night / this ack emma as a cut-off point – because I don’t, actually, expect a sudden surge of votes – I took a shufti at the leading stories (not authors) w/r/t their nationalities.

Now I must say at once that in many instances, these are on my spreadsheet (yes, really) as UNK: unknown. Unless they have declared their nationality, I don’t guess. That being said, I can say what any critic should say, that internal indications clearly put these unknown-nationality authors almost invariably in the North American camp: at the very least, the ethos, the diction, and the cultural capital clearly underpinning the stories are North American, even in minor cultural references. This is not a condemnation: Femmequixotic, for one, writes like an angel and does her research.

Of course the poll is self-selecting, from nomination to balloting. Of course some authors have several stories with huge numbers. Of course ‘I have read this’ needn’t mean ‘… and liked it’: I for one dutifully ticked every story I had read, and not infrequently they were stories I’d not read again on a bet. (Also, I at least, when participating in a fest, read every story posted and find something nice to say in comments, if only, ‘What an interesting use of the prompt’: like a Royal Duchess at a prize-giving, it’s cringe-making.) No other methodology could have been employed, and I applaud the work that went into the poll.

The fact is, HP fandom is an odd duck indeed. The canon is thoroughly British, and presumably this has its place in attracting readers. The readers and the subset of readers who are fen are international, and inevitably Americans and the Americanised predominate. Yet it is rather odd that Americanised visions of the British canon seem to be the most popular. Of the top of the 25 pops when I did the maths, there are two pieces by a British author or authors, two by Canadians (or possibly the same Canadian, I deleted identifying information after I did the tables), eight by Yanks, and the remainder by those whose nationality is not stated but who I make absolutely certain are, through no fault of their own, Not British.

Aussies begin to appear in the top 100 (although of course the UK can claim Brammers as well as Oz may do). There is one Irish author, at about the 70th rank at time of dekko. No EU author is in the top 150. I know of two British authors who, Malfoy-like, actually dwell in the ceremonial country of Wilts (although one, poor dear, technically lives in Swindon, God knows why); between them, they have some 110 votes all together.

I did not mark for the ballot paper any story I hadn’t yet read on polling day; I have since read many of the top stories I’d not read before, including those by authors whose nationality is nowhere to be found. They’re perfectly good stories. They are also an Americanised interpretation, actually or culturally, of the thoroughly British canon. I am not using these terms pejoratively, and I am far too likely as it stands to be mistaken for Boris, which I do try avoiding; but I think this does suggest a conclusion that may be of interest. The fandom being international, it prefers its Potterfic, I rather think, to be more familiar than faithful, and not to make too many demands of it w/r/t the Briticism of canon. The films are doubtless largely to blame. Equally, it does expect its authors to be Anglophone and part of the Anglosphere. Again, I am not judging quality of work here, merely cultural familiarity (both ways).

I should be very interested to hear what others make of this.

Re: Oddly enough....

[calanthe-fics.livejournal.com]

I think people may be avoiding responding to you on the basis of trying not to unintentionally offend anyone. You managed that beautifully in your comment!

I loved your comment - nodded along with all of it, and I think you have got the measure of the situation.

I think what's hard for people, all people, to maintain a consistent grip on is that the poll is not about 'the best' but about 'the most read'. Being at the top of a list surely implies you must in some way be 'better' than the others, right? I don't think there are many people who could hand on heart say that they haven't though that, or that they haven't looked at where their own fic ranks compared to other authors, particularly the ones they don't think are better than them! It's human nature and nothing to be ashamed of. We all have a pecking order mapped out, even if it stays in our own heads and we pretend to the outside world that it isn't there.

When 'favourite' and 'most read' are being used interchangeably on a wide scale it's inevitable that the old competitive elephant will stroll into the room and drop a big fart. People can stop breathing if they want, but there's still a room full of fart smells.

And on that note of cataclysmic wisdom, I leave you. Good day! (or is it g'day?)

Heffalumps and woozles aren't what they were when I was young.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

They were far too well-bred to act in that fashion in those High and Far-Off Days.

I do hope that the equivocal reading of 'managed that beautifully' is not to be taken as 'managing beautifully unintentionally to offend', but I quite agree the situation is perilous.

I really think that what the poll means to do, and does do, despite the inevitability of even its managers slipping into the use of 'best' and 'guaranteed good read', is to measure a Sellar-and-Yeatman Index of Memorability, as you and Brammers acutely note and as Maggie of course quite properly asserts. There is simply no better methodology to hand, and if people will misread memorable as best, there's nothing to be done.

Re: Heffalumps and woozles aren't what they were when I was young.

[calanthe-fics.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, yes of course - I meant that your comment was beautifully phrased.

Re: Oddly enough....

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* You have a nationality spreadsheet of H/D authors????? Now that's what I call obsession. :D Please to be putting me amongst those poor, underrepresented EU authors.

Some of the predominance (if one should call it that) of a supposedly Americanised vision of British HP canon may have to do with the fact that its editors thought it had that much of an international appeal that they published an Americanised version of canon. ;)

You're already thus scheduled.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

(See icon.)

And yes, of course I am that great an anorak.

Re: You're already thus scheduled.

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

*lol* Anorak is definitely my new favourite word. I love the etymology that www.etymology.com gives (pirate radio!). But is it correct, do you think?