I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE. What are you having trouble finding? Because I was just watching the BBC version of Robin Hood, and I went looking for reading material and dear God that fandom is just a giant pile of fail.
Dude, I watched like the first three episodes of that show and then lost track of it, but IT WAS KINDA HOT (and also Marian was not super-thin, I was so thrilled). I'm not at all surprised that you're into it. What is your faily pairing though, I must know.
My problem currently is Star Wars fic, which, there's a lot of pretty good prequel stuff out there, and a lot of really really unreadably awful original-trilogy stuff. And exactly one author who writes the pairing I like and does it well, and she (or possibly he, I never have been sure) doesn't post anymore. SO TRAGIC.
. It's actually a fairly popular pairing, but all the fic is G rated fluff, and that is just missing the whole point of what makes that pairing awesome.
AWWW. Star Wars always seemed like one of those fandoms that are huge but have no fic (possibly because everyone is distracted by the ten million tie-in novels). What pairing, what pairing?
I have virtually no memory of who Guy is. Isn't he villainous? If so, are the people writing the G-rated fluff high?
Yeah, I think part of Star Wars fandom's problem is male-to-female ratio among fans. The tie-in novels (which are almost all written by dudes) are great -- I stopped reading new ones about 8 years ago because they were just getting ridiculous, but I re-read my old ones all the time -- but they do not meet my needs in the area of cute boys talking about their feelings and maybe kissing a little. And where there are female fans, most of them are young and way more into the prequels. So I can have all the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan I can eat, but nothing involving Luke at all. (Mostly all I demand is that Luke be involved, but I am especially partial to Luke/Wedge (what I am writing now) and Luke/Biggs (possibly hinted at in what I am writing now).)
I'm writing it in teeny little ff.net-sized "chapters" (maybe I will even post it on ff.net! I only ever posted one thing there and then got ashamed, it was kind of an embarrassing fic, but I did get a couple reviews and that was sort of exciting). So far I am on the fifth one.
(Could I use more parentheses in this comment? YES I COULD ()()()().)
He is the villainous guy who works for the Sheriff, yes! I and I have no idea where all the fluff is coming from. I mean, you could do a reasonable plausible fluffy AU, but not with the actual canon. In the actual canon they might act fluffy but in reality Marian would be getting ready to knife him in the back.
I'd forgotten about the male-dominated part of Star Wars fandom! Yeah, unfortunately fandoms like that tend to put out bad fic with no boy-kissing at all (although you can often find some really horrible, horrible het). And I will totally cheer you on in your fic writing endeavors even though I'm not sure who those two non-Luke people are!
Oh, man, FF is kind of amazing. I sort of stopped putting things up there for a while because trying to format a story is incredibly obnoxious, but all the fangirls there are so enthusiastic. Even if they sometimes do give really bizarre feedback.
And that would be so much more interesting that G-rated fluff, too. *face of woe*
I think basically what happens in Star Wars fandom is, if the dudes write fic at all, they keep it in a folder named "WORK STUFF" on their computers and never ever speak of it. Some of them are probably writing decent gen stuff, but those are the ones hoping that one day Lucas Licensing is going to call them up out of the blue and offer to publish, sight unseen, any manuscripts they may have, you know, stashed in their desk drawer or something.
In other news, WHAT, BLASPHEMY, how dare you not be an expert on my fandoms, lol. Allow me to give you way more explanation than you want or need.
Both those dudes are also X-wing pilots. Wedge is this guy: (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i63/elsajeni/?action=view¤t=wedge.jpg)
Biggs is this guy: (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i63/elsajeni/?action=view¤t=biggswithluke.jpg)
He and Luke grew up together... (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i63/elsajeni/?action=view¤t=biggs-darklighter-1.jpg) ... and they are totes BFF, as you can see But then he dies in the Death Star battle, it's very tragic.
Ah, yes, the fanboys who always think they can get published! I once knew a guy in the Threshold fandom that was shocked and distraught when NBC never responded to the all the scripts for tie-in novels that he sent them (then he filed off the serial numbers and self-published, completely sure that he would sell thousands of copies).
Hey, I remember that second guy! Probably because he has such awesome seventies looking facial hair. Are these the kind of characters that get the treatment where they're not on screen for very long but get a million years of backstory in the extended universe?
Actually, Biggs' backstory was established for the movies -- they shot a whole bunch of scenes on Tatooine that included him, then cut them all out. Wedge just showed up very briefly and then started turning up in the EU, because he was one of the few surviving pilots from the movies (or at least, one of the only ones that actually had a name). Soon he grew a big dramatic backstory, and also a big dramatic, um, frontstory, and there's a whole series (10 books, I think) focused around him. Those actually are pretty much my favorite EU books. I got one of them signed once, it was super exciting.
Is there some fancy version of the SW original trilogy that has all the stuff they cut out? Because I know I've seen the extended versions of the prequels, but I think I've missed out on the original stuff.
Also, this reminds me! Do you have any good recs for EU books for somebody who's kind of a n00b to the whole extended universe? Because I keep wanting to read some, but when I go to the bookstore and see a whole shelf of different series my eyes kind of glaze over.
A lot of the stuff that was originally cut was restored for the re-releases in 1997, so unless the only time you've watched the original trilogy was on really old videotapes, you've probably seen most of it. The extra scenes with Biggs didn't get put back in, but I think you can find them on YouTube.
And shit yes, I can guide you directly to the best series. Personally, I recommend starting with Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command by Timothy Zahn, although I may be biased because those are the first ones I ever read and I was eleven at the time. (But I've re-read them since, they're still good, honest.) And if you want further recommendations, I know most of the books up until the New Jedi Order series, so I can tell you whether they're good or crap.
I probably haven't seen it, then! The only version I've got at home are the VHS tapes. And I actually do want to get the newer DVDs, since I don't actually have any way of playing those VHS tapes.
Excellent. I have all this stuff written down for the next time I go around to all the used bookshops.
I LOVE THAT PHOTO OF HIM SO MUCH. Because I have this weird ~Texas pride~ thing and seeing him in a cowboy hat helps dull the terrible pain of Bush trying to act like he isn't from New England all the time.
And for some reason the fact that everyone in the background is going for cam-shots really amuses me a lot.
EVERYONE I KNOW who is from Texas has that same deal. Including me. Was this, like, part of the vaccination schedule? "Okay, chickenpox, measles, total immunity to the idea that Texas is not the best state ever, tetanus..."
I totally believe that is this case! You can always tell who the native Texans are in college classes by the way they react when the NE professors make cracks about the state.
School is kind of weird! It's actually a lot easier than I though it was going to be, which would be nice except that it's sort of too easy and I'm kind of worried I'm doing it wrong or something. A lot of the other first-years keep saying things like 'I go to the library four hours a day', and I always want to ask them WTF could possibly be taking them so much time. But I can answer all the questions in class and everything, so for now I'm just choosing to believe that they're all ridiculous over-achievers and I am totally good.
BUT THE POINT OF THAT IS, the reading is easy and there aren't any tests or major assignments until finals, so all of my weekends are free for visiting! I even don't have class on Fridays. And, actually, isn't RenFest going on around this time? Are you planning on going to that? Because I kind of want to come down to Houston to go to that if I can find somebody to go with.
Well clearly you are a LAWYERY GENIUS. Seriously, that's ridiculous, you must be mega-awesome.
I'm not really into RenFest at the moment, I started to lose patience with the expensiveness and the thirteen-year-olds and whatnot. But all my weekends are pretty much free, too, and I don't have class Fridays OR Mondays. I'm working on planning a weekend trip up to Oregon, but that won't be too soon, so either you and I can plan something in the next few weeks or we can wait until the Oregon trip is settled. Either way, definitely sometime soon!
P.S. When I finish this I am going to make you beta it, do you mind?
IT IS SO EXPENSIVE NOW. I think I spent like eighty dollars last year, and I didn't even buy anything in the shops.
Also, no class on Fridays or Mondays? I AM IMPRESSED. I want to figure out if I can pull that off at some point. How does sometime early November sound?
And I will totally beta for you! So long as you realize that I probably won't be much help on the finer points of grammar (although I've at least reached a point in my life where I can actually spell grammar).
The main reason I'm able to have 4-day weekends is that one of my classes is a hybrid lecture/internet class, so it only meets once a week, and it's on Wednesdays. Also my last class on Tuesdays & Thursdays lets out at 7. But it's totally worth it, I have all the time in the world to do homework.
I am super-confident in my grammar and spelling; the main reason I seek betas is for questions along the lines of, "Does this make any sense or is there a major plot point missing between Ch. 4 and 5?" and I totally trust your judgment on that.
Early November would be cool! You will have to give me your address, and then I can come harass you.
Oh, and an addendum to my previous comment: in general, I would say you can't go wrong with books by Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, or Aaron Allston, and you want to avoid books by Kevin J. Anderson, especially if they are called Darksaber. (Although if you can find the Young Jedi Knights series that he wrote with his wife, those aren't bad. But I think they're out of print.)
I once almost got away with a total T/TH class schedule, but my dad talked me out of it at the last minute. Which was probably smart, seeing as how I don't concentrate for long blocks of time well.
OH GOD I WANT TO SO MUCH. I'm worried I'm going to have a final that I need to pass school that day though! Do you mind if I wait a few weeks to give you my answer? Because it kind of depends on what schedule they decide to assign me (BUT OMFG I REALLY WANT TO DO IT and I am so glad you asked).
Of course I don't mind! I will tell you that May 16 is a Saturday and the wedding will be in the evening, so even if you have a final that Friday it will in theory be possible for you to be here, but of course I understand if it's impossible. (OMG I HAVE TO LIKE PLAN A WEDDING AND STUFF OMG.)
I know! I'm already certain I'll have a final that Friday, but unfortunately the University of Texas at some point decided it would be a good idea to hold finals on Saturday as well. I know the dates for all my core classes, but my elective choices all had 'floating finals', and I'm not 100% sure what that's actually supposed to mean (err, I really need to go talk to an advisor about it anyway, since I don't know what happens if there are conflicts with that).
DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU HAVE A DRESS? I WANT TO SEE YOUR DRESS!
YES I TOTALLY DO HAVE A DRESS. IT IS EVEN WHITE AND POOFY. AND I AM CHANGING MY NAME. I AM DOING THIS WHOLE "NONTRADITIONAL WEDDING" THING COMPLETELY WRONG, Y/Y?
ALSO I AM SORTA DRUNK, MY ROOMMATES MADE THESE DRINKS WITH PINEAPPLE RUM AND JUICE AND CHERRIES AND IT TURNS OUT THERE WAS KIND OF A LOT OF RUM IN THERE. I ALREADY DID SOME DRUNK TEXTING AND NOW I AM WORKING ON THE DRUNK LJING.
ALSO ALSO I SPENT A BUNCH OF TIME ON FF.NET TODAY READING X-MEN MOVIEVERSE FIC AND NOW I FEEL ASHAMED.
HEY. HEY YOU. WITH THE HAT. Do you know your spring schedule yet? Do you know anything about your finals schedule yet? Do you have any finals on the 16th? Huh huh do ya huh?
*gets a grip*
Also, it's looking like the wedding may end up being the next weekend anyway, the 23rd. Not definitely, but maybe. Is that a troublesome date also?
I signed up for classes, and my mentor sort of explained to me that a floating final is one where you get to sort of pick your own time slot from a set couple of days? I emailed the professor, but she's either kind of busy or is shunning me for asking a stupid question, but right now I tentatively thinks I'll be good for the 16th! I'll tell you if she ever e-mails me back.
And the 23rd would be even better, because I have absolutely no plans for that week and it should be before any internships/jobs would start.
ALSO, IMPORTANT QUESTION. Are you doing anything next weekend?
I meant this weekend that is coming up now? Although, uh, they sort of turned my AC off, so if you come visit now it might be sort of hot. But the forecast says it should stay around 70?
Alas, this weekend my schedule is very full with tasks like "write paper" and "bitch about paper" and "write paper some more". Are you coming to town this week for Thanksgiving? If so, we should hang out; if not, or if you're only staying for like one day, I could come up there for that weekend.
Also what the fuck, are you seeing an icon with tits all on it on that previous comment? I am, and that is not my icon, it is NOT EVEN MY ZODIAC SIGN, and I am very upset.
People made these for me in sf_drama last year! I have the two pumpkin ones I used, one where the baby alligator is riding on top of a pumpkin, and this one. Which is AMAZING.
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elsajeni
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-11 04:01 am (UTC)And, congratulations on not dying during your surgery!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-15 03:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-15 03:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-15 03:57 am (UTC)IN OTHER NEWS, I am having a bizarre and mildly shameful fanfic craving, and the internet is being no help at all. I will have to write it myself :(
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-16 03:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-16 03:57 am (UTC)My problem currently is Star Wars fic, which, there's a lot of pretty good prequel stuff out there, and a lot of really really unreadably awful original-trilogy stuff. And exactly one author who writes the pairing I like and does it well, and she (or possibly he, I never have been sure) doesn't post anymore. SO TRAGIC.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 04:06 am (UTC)AWWW. Star Wars always seemed like one of those fandoms that are huge but have no fic (possibly because everyone is distracted by the ten million tie-in novels). What pairing, what pairing?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 07:05 am (UTC)Yeah, I think part of Star Wars fandom's problem is male-to-female ratio among fans. The tie-in novels (which are almost all written by dudes) are great -- I stopped reading new ones about 8 years ago because they were just getting ridiculous, but I re-read my old ones all the time -- but they do not meet my needs in the area of cute boys talking about their feelings and maybe kissing a little. And where there are female fans, most of them are young and way more into the prequels. So I can have all the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan I can eat, but nothing involving Luke at all. (Mostly all I demand is that Luke be involved, but I am especially partial to Luke/Wedge (what I am writing now) and Luke/Biggs (possibly hinted at in what I am writing now).)
I'm writing it in teeny little ff.net-sized "chapters" (maybe I will even post it on ff.net! I only ever posted one thing there and then got ashamed, it was kind of an embarrassing fic, but I did get a couple reviews and that was sort of exciting). So far I am on the fifth one.
(Could I use more parentheses in this comment? YES I COULD ()()()().)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-18 01:38 am (UTC)I'd forgotten about the male-dominated part of Star Wars fandom! Yeah, unfortunately fandoms like that tend to put out bad fic with no boy-kissing at all (although you can often find some really horrible, horrible het). And I will totally cheer you on in your fic writing endeavors even though I'm not sure who those two non-Luke people are!
Oh, man, FF is kind of amazing. I sort of stopped putting things up there for a while because trying to format a story is incredibly obnoxious, but all the fangirls there are so enthusiastic. Even if they sometimes do give really bizarre feedback.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-19 01:03 am (UTC)I think basically what happens in Star Wars fandom is, if the dudes write fic at all, they keep it in a folder named "WORK STUFF" on their computers and never ever speak of it. Some of them are probably writing decent gen stuff, but those are the ones hoping that one day Lucas Licensing is going to call them up out of the blue and offer to publish, sight unseen, any manuscripts they may have, you know, stashed in their desk drawer or something.
In other news, WHAT, BLASPHEMY, how dare you not be an expert on my fandoms, lol. Allow me to give you way more explanation than you want or need.
Both those dudes are also X-wing pilots. Wedge is this guy:
Biggs is this guy:
He and Luke grew up together...
... and they are totes BFF, as you can see But then he dies in the Death Star battle, it's very tragic.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-20 01:55 am (UTC)Hey, I remember that second guy! Probably because he has such awesome seventies looking facial hair. Are these the kind of characters that get the treatment where they're not on screen for very long but get a million years of backstory in the extended universe?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-20 02:05 am (UTC)Actually, Biggs' backstory was established for the movies -- they shot a whole bunch of scenes on Tatooine that included him, then cut them all out. Wedge just showed up very briefly and then started turning up in the EU, because he was one of the few surviving pilots from the movies (or at least, one of the only ones that actually had a name). Soon he grew a big dramatic backstory, and also a big dramatic, um, frontstory, and there's a whole series (10 books, I think) focused around him. Those actually are pretty much my favorite EU books. I got one of them signed once, it was super exciting.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 03:14 am (UTC)Also, this reminds me! Do you have any good recs for EU books for somebody who's kind of a n00b to the whole extended universe? Because I keep wanting to read some, but when I go to the bookstore and see a whole shelf of different series my eyes kind of glaze over.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 03:55 am (UTC)And shit yes, I can guide you directly to the best series. Personally, I recommend starting with Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command by Timothy Zahn, although I may be biased because those are the first ones I ever read and I was eleven at the time. (But I've re-read them since, they're still good, honest.) And if you want further recommendations, I know most of the books up until the New Jedi Order series, so I can tell you whether they're good or crap.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-22 03:45 am (UTC)Excellent. I have all this stuff written down for the next time I go around to all the used bookshops.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-16 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 04:09 am (UTC)And for some reason the fact that everyone in the background is going for cam-shots really amuses me a lot.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-18 01:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-19 02:37 am (UTC)(Also, this is the other pumpkin icon.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-20 02:06 am (UTC)BUT THE POINT OF THAT IS, the reading is easy and there aren't any tests or major assignments until finals, so all of my weekends are free for visiting! I even don't have class on Fridays. And, actually, isn't RenFest going on around this time? Are you planning on going to that? Because I kind of want to come down to Houston to go to that if I can find somebody to go with.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-20 02:59 am (UTC)I'm not really into RenFest at the moment, I started to lose patience with the expensiveness and the thirteen-year-olds and whatnot. But all my weekends are pretty much free, too, and I don't have class Fridays OR Mondays. I'm working on planning a weekend trip up to Oregon, but that won't be too soon, so either you and I can plan something in the next few weeks or we can wait until the Oregon trip is settled. Either way, definitely sometime soon!
P.S. When I finish this I am going to make you beta it, do you mind?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 03:11 am (UTC)Also, no class on Fridays or Mondays? I AM IMPRESSED. I want to figure out if I can pull that off at some point. How does sometime early November sound?
And I will totally beta for you! So long as you realize that I probably won't be much help on the finer points of grammar (although I've at least reached a point in my life where I can actually spell grammar).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 04:06 am (UTC)I am super-confident in my grammar and spelling; the main reason I seek betas is for questions along the lines of, "Does this make any sense or is there a major plot point missing between Ch. 4 and 5?" and I totally trust your judgment on that.
Early November would be cool! You will have to give me your address, and then I can come harass you.
Oh, and an addendum to my previous comment: in general, I would say you can't go wrong with books by Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, or Aaron Allston, and you want to avoid books by Kevin J. Anderson, especially if they are called Darksaber. (Although if you can find the Young Jedi Knights series that he wrote with his wife, those aren't bad. But I think they're out of print.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-22 03:47 am (UTC)And I will e-mail you right now with my address.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 04:07 am (UTC)I am getting married on May 16. Will you be my maid of honor?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-22 03:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-23 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-25 12:50 am (UTC)DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU HAVE A DRESS? I WANT TO SEE YOUR DRESS!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-25 05:07 am (UTC)YES I TOTALLY DO HAVE A DRESS. IT IS EVEN WHITE AND POOFY. AND I AM CHANGING MY NAME. I AM DOING THIS WHOLE "NONTRADITIONAL WEDDING" THING COMPLETELY WRONG, Y/Y?
ALSO I AM SORTA DRUNK, MY ROOMMATES MADE THESE DRINKS WITH PINEAPPLE RUM AND JUICE AND CHERRIES AND IT TURNS OUT THERE WAS KIND OF A LOT OF RUM IN THERE. I ALREADY DID SOME DRUNK TEXTING AND NOW I AM WORKING ON THE DRUNK LJING.
ALSO ALSO I SPENT A BUNCH OF TIME ON FF.NET TODAY READING X-MEN MOVIEVERSE FIC AND NOW I FEEL ASHAMED.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-26 12:32 am (UTC)PICTURES PICTURES OF YOUR WEDDING DRESS!
And have spent most of the past week reading or at least skimming every single Robin Hood fic on ff.net, so you have nothing to be ashamed of.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-13 09:06 pm (UTC)*gets a grip*
Also, it's looking like the wedding may end up being the next weekend anyway, the 23rd. Not definitely, but maybe. Is that a troublesome date also?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-13 10:03 pm (UTC)or is shunning me for asking a stupid question, but right now I tentatively thinks I'll be good for the 16th! I'll tell you if she ever e-mails me back.And the 23rd would be even better, because I have absolutely no plans for that week and it should be before any internships/jobs would start.
ALSO, IMPORTANT QUESTION. Are you doing anything next weekend?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-14 04:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-19 05:55 pm (UTC)By "next weekend" did you mean, um, the weekend that has already passed? Or a different one?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-20 04:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-22 11:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-22 11:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-16 05:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 04:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-17 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-18 01:04 am (UTC)AND, LJ, I CAN'T BELIEVE I GIVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY JUST SO I CAN HAVE A HUNDRED LITTLE SQUARES TO CHOSE FROM.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-19 12:04 am (UTC)