On fanfic, part the nth

There's been another round of Author Has Fit Of The Vapours About Fanfic, although in fairness to said author I should point out that a) she has since posted a "I've considered what people have said, and have modified my position", b) I have read neither the original vapours nor the "okay, I see I got stuff wrong". Mostly because life's too short, and I had the UK election to satisfy all my train-wreck-watching needs this week.

This has naturally generated another round of angst on the whole subject. Until now my usual reaction has been to point at what Scalzi said about fanfic, and say, "That, only with the obvious exception about the yaoi fanart."

Now I can point to a variation on the theme, i.e. "And also, what Charlie Stross said about fanfic, with the obvious exception about producing/consuming fanfic." After all, I don't exactly keep it secret that I read and have written the stuff, or that I have published treeware zines of the stuff.

I wouldn't read fanfic of *my* stories, for the reasons given in the links above and in lots of other places, but my general reaction to the idea of fanfic of my profic is along the lines of "Oh dear god, that I could be so popular a writer that there was fanfic of my work."

On the other hand, I do know authors who are really, really freaked by the idea of fanfic of their work. And many of them are perfectly capable of understanding that this is their personal squick, rather than a law of nature. So as far as I'm concerned, if someone asks politely that people not Do That to their work because they find it upsetting, it's a very different matter to an author denigrating all fanfic, whether it be of their work or of someone else's.

Author Hal Duncan thinks fanfic is just fine himself, but in a previous iteration of the Great Fanfic Kerfuffle he posted a thoughtful discussion of why authors might find fanfic skeevy. It's long and chewy, and it's worth a read if you want to understand how and why fanfic can press hot buttons for authors.

I've seen in the current iteration a nice brief analysis by Xiphias of two things we're trying to do with copyright law, and how they relate to two approaches to writing which map onto the split between "Aieee! Get it away from me!" and "Cool! Just remember that I'm the one who gets to make money on my world."

So... I'm just fine with fanfic, but I'm also just fine with authors who are squicked by fanfic of their work and communicate that politely as a personal viewpoint without expecting that the entire world agree with them. Alas, the post by alg I used to point to because it matched my own thoughts pretty much exactly has been locked in the years since, but I may see what I can salvage of my own comments from that conversation. But that's a large post in its own right...

As for that tired old insult about fanfic writers only writing fanfic because they're not good enough to write their own, don't be so damned silly. There are lots of good reasons for writing fanfic. In fact, I think I might write some this weekend, as a break from fretting about the current WnotIP.

Book log -- April 2010

For once I had time to write this up on the last evening of the month, but I put it off because I wanted to write a review of the book I'd just finished, and thought I'd get time the next day. That was a mistake... At this point I might as well abandon any notion of doing the remaining April reviews, and just note those books with brief comments.

19) Sam Storyteller -- Your Face Is Turned (Torchwood fanfic) (reviewed 12 April 2010)

20) Agatha Christie -- Peril At End House (abridged audiobook) (logged with comments 24 April 2010)

21) Sam_Storyteller -- Condition of Release (reviewed 25 April 2010)

22) WJ Burley -- Wycliffe and Death in Stanley Street (reviewed 2 May 2010)

23) James Anderson -- The Affair of the Thirty-nine Cufflinks
Third of the Alderley series. Once again a disparate group of people spend the weekend at Alderley, the country mansion of the Earl of Burford, and once again it leads to murder. This time it's for the funeral and will-reading of an elderly relative who has asked to be buried at Alderley. The second wife of Florrie's long-dead son feels entitled to the major share of the money after bringing up her orphaned stepdaughters. When she gets a deliberately insulting pittance, she accuses the others of having poisoned the old lady's mind against her -- and threatens to expose everyone's embarrassing secrets in revenge. It's no great surprise when she's killed during the night, and once again it's up to Chief Inspector Wilkins to sift through the many clues and motives on offer.

As with the first two books, it's fluff that I won't keep, but greatly entertaining fluff I'd be happy to read more of.

24) WJ Burley -- Wycliffe and the Redhead
I'd started this in March while I was away from home, but only got a chapter or two into it before failing to take it out of my suitcase when I got home. Finished it at off at the end of April. I made some brief comments after reading it four years ago, and find that my view of it has changed this time round. The coincidence I complained about works for me this time.

Started but not finished:
Audiobook -- WJ Burley -- Wycliffe and the Pea Green Boat
Another of the four quid specials from The Works. It's a 3 CD set read by Jack Shepherd, the actor who played Wycliffe in the ITV series.

Book log: Edward Marston -- The Railway Detective

Placeholder for the first book of May in case I don't get around to writing the review. First book of a series about a Victorian era detective inspector at Scotland Yard. A wealth of period detail, particularly about the railways, and a wealth of purple prose. This is very much a pastiche of Victorian melodrama, and with more than a touch of Holmes-Watson stirred into the mix. Fun enough for me to keep reading the series, but I thought noticeably flawed.