I don't know how Arts and Letters Daily
finds all the articles they link, but the digest is not only worth reading but is
an answer to anyone who still believes that the Internet is ringing the nine
strokes of the death-bell for good writing. (Not that there's not plenty of crap
out there too.) (Not that anyone who actually spends any time on the net -- and
who cares -- doesn't already know there's good stuff out there. I just wanted to
sneak in that Nine Tailors reference for fun.)
I am getting
very excited about upcoming events whose details I am not at liberty to divulge. I
promise, though, that early next week I will Reveal All. No, I'm not pregnant. Why
is that the first thing everyone thinks of?
I just finished reading
an absolutely wonderful Harry Potter fanfic,
href="http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/A_J_Hall/Lust_Over_Pendle/">Lust Over
Pendle. There are some things I just don't get. I mean, as a reader, I've
entirely happy to have things like this to fill in the long grey period until
Rowling gets her attention away from those blasted movies (and her new husband,
one supposes) and back to the serious work of finishing Book 5. But what is the
payback for the writer? Clearly there's some satisfaction in providing comeuppance
for Harry (he appears to have annoyed her) and in rehabilitating some of the
characters who got a bad rap. But this thing is book length, or nearly. There was
clearly an enormous effort involved in writing it. So why not just write a new
book? The plotting is entirely original. The characters have the same names as
those in the books, but some have developed in entirely unsuspected directions
while others appeared to briefly to have a personality in the canonical books --
so in essence she's created entirely new characters. That is, in addition to those
who really areentirely new. I suppose it's just the fun of working
within the Potterverse, the same lure that brings us all those short story
collections in which various authors set stories in one universe. And this one is
a hell of a lot better than, say, most of the Sherlock Holmes sequels out there
(excepting Laurie R. Kings -- I like Mary Russell) or the odd book by Martin
Gardiner in which Dorothy leaves Oz for a brief visit to New York. Anyway, go
read it. Or wait a bit, if you like carrying books on your Palm Pilot; I've
converted the files to .prc and am going to send them to the author. (Note to
href="http://eilatan.net/adventures">Natalie: Thanks. That Makedoc program
worked like a, er, Charm. I'll send you pie.)