blamebrampton | Best Top Gear EVER, plus, the AS/S Fest

I watched the most magnificent episode of Top Gear tonight. Be aware that SBS (a free government channel affectionately and accurately known as Sex Before Soccer here) screens episodes quite some time after they are screened in the UK. I think their theory is that since no one can afford a Bugatti Veyron, it doesn't really matter when we see it on the track.

Tonight the team raced across London, from somewhere that may well have been Gunnersbury Park (the kitten jumped on my head at that bit), all the way across to London City Airport. James, Captain Slow, drove a giant Chelsea Tractor by Mercedes. Richard rode an astonishingly sexy carbon-framed bicycle. The Stig took public transport: bus, Tube and light rail. Jeremy, the lucky, lucky fucker, drove a Cougar jetboat down the Thames.

It was splendid. Richard showed me a London that had improved slightly since the days I used to fang across it on two Brammers-powered wheels. There are now 412m of cyclepaths, from what I can gather, as opposed to the 6.7m of my youth. Ah Boris, live up to your hype in this one way at least. Make it a whole mile before you go ...

Jeremy had the most fun, he ambled through the speed restricted parts of the river, looking for all the world as though he was Ratty, then opened up the throttles once in unrestricted waters, leading to the Best Ever radio call as he approached the Barrier: "London BTS London BTS, This is Red Cougar requesting permission to take the Barrier at speed."

I have a new goal in life: to one day say something similar.

Needless to say, permission was granted. Imagine his horror when he was beaten by Richard in the actual race. The Hamster was sweaty and filled with hatred of busses and red lights, but definitely there first. And I have now a tiny part of my brain saying: "Actually, you paid $1600 for a bike when you earned a third of what you earn now, so £1600 is proportionally cheaper ..."

Alas, I am not allowed to cycle in Sydney these days, since the city is determined to kill me. But I could move.

For the record, The Stig came third, James and the car came last. As Jeremy put it, they have killed the entire reason for Top Gear.

Now, to the AS/S Fest.

When sign-ups were happening, the mods were horribly cruel and asked that we include an age listing. Reading through I realised that I am the equivalent of 140 years old. But I thought it would be fun, and so threw my hat into the ring. It actually was fun, and the mods were relaxed and supportive (which is, of course, shorthand for understood when I needed an extension (to be fair to me, my original recipient dropped out.))

I am miles behind at reading, and feeling very guilty about it. But I have been reading some meta about the fest and the characters, which has me thinking. There have been some folk rabbiting on about how Scorpius or Albus is X or Y, and never, ever A or B. I dispute their canonical basis for these assertions. A hair colour and first-day nerves do not equal a character study.

wemyss has written persuasively that it is not lazy to look to the canon characters to give us guides for writing and reading these next-gen characters, since most of us are heavily influenced by our parents and other relatives (read it here), which I find an interesting position.

Others have said that they find the characters utterly uninteresting, or the writing on them too young. To which I say "Look, modesty forbids me suggesting you should read or like my story, but for the love of tiny bunnies, people,

sansa1970's Man's Dwelling Place is anything but immature!" (Read it here if you are not on her flist)

ETA And, due to being hit in the head with one too many moving vehicles, I completely forgot about

mistful's Coda to an Epilogue, which is another very convincing reason as to why next-gen can be fascinating. (Is it just me who sees a lot of Flora Segunda in Scorpius's mum? That's FS the novel, not the character.) End edit.

Of course, that said, a lot of the writing on next gen characters is very young. But there's some surprisingly good stuff in this fest. And if young writers are supported and encouraged, they go on to become older writers, and produce a great deal of good reading along the way. So, for purely selfish reasons, you should stop by and take a peek. Try these for starters:

A Wizard's Guide to Pocket Dwelling is a story I should never have liked, filled as it is with angst, self-destruction and a spot more angst, but it's great. The writing is assured and focussed, and the tightly constructed story never flags. Albus Potter is spiralling downwards since his father died, and he's not the only one. His best friend is feeling fairly low and reptilian himself. The only thing keeping either of them going is the relationship between them, and it's as fucked-up as they are.

Through Harry's Eyes is similar to Pocket in that it has an unusual voice, but otherwise it is a different kettle of fish: it's AS/S told through a very close Harry POV, with confusion aplenty. Sweet, funny and just a teeny bit fluffy, this is a gentle and well-written tale that shines an unusual light on the concept of future!Potter.

The Rules of Malfoy Manor received quite a few recs a few weeks ago, but it's worth mentioning for those who missed it. Light, bright and short, this is an hilarious little romp through the changing rules that govern life with the Malfoys in the post-War years.

What about you? Any AS/S you'd like to shake?