Fanfiction And Literary Mash-ups

Liz Burns from A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy is the co-author (with Carlie Weber) of When Harry Met Bella, in this month's School Library Journal. They discuss writing fanfiction and using it with student writers.

At one point, they talk about the difference between fanfiction and works like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Wouldn't you know it, just yesterday I read an interesting post at Storytellersunplugged called Pride and Prejudice and Bitching and Moaning on those types of books, too. The author, Richard Dansky, says such works, which he calls "literary mash-ups," have received some of the same criticism Liz and Carlie write about when describing fanfiction.

Training Report: Well, today I went to one of those strange, crowded pharmacies that sell equipment rather than drugs to purchase a cam walker boot for a family member. Sure hope I can use that in a book because otherwise today was pretty much a bust workwise.

I might be able to use the pharmacy.

Like San Francisco In The Sixties But...Ah...Different?

Yesterday I went to a wedding. Who cares, you might ask? Well, at the reception I sat next to a fascinating woman who entertained us with stories about her past, which was spent racing sports cars, dating Hell's Angels, reading Faulkner, and attending a rock concert at which someone was killed. She totally missed the killing because she was off doing something with a hot air balloon. Somewhere along the line, she squeezed in some time in San Francisco.

I thought of her this morning while reading Potterpalooza at Salon. One young woman attending a Harry Potter Convention in New Orleans is quoted as saying, "Being alive as the story is being delivered to us is magic," Anelli concluded. "I like that I will always look back on this and be able to say, 'I was there. And you know what? It rocked.'"

Forty years from now, will people be sitting at wedding receptions talking about how they were in New Orleans for Phoenix Rising in '07? Or Lumos 2006?