Reading But Not As You Know It...

Picking a best book of the year or even a selection of best books is actually kind of hard, partially because I read so much and partially because 2013 was the year I veered a little - okay make that a lot - from traditional books.

Instead I have been reading  fanfic. Lots and lots of fanfic.  Which I adore.  Still that doesn't mean that I haven given up reading more traditional and accepted stories.  But even these I have been doing in slightly less traditional means.

Because e-books and audio dramas ARE THE BEST.  Like REALLY.  I have become a major convert.

One, because with e-books I can store hundreds and hundreds of books on one little device.  No more lugging around bags bursting to the seams with books - well not as much.  Instead I can pop in all the stories, books, music and audios that I could possibly get through on a device the size of a paperback.

Two, multi tasker that I am, I can now do housework, exercise, even do my work all while getting my latest story fix courtesy of all the audio dramas I now have.

Bliss.  Utter bliss.

So instead of giving you my best of best books for 2013 here are my picks for best stories.  Because really they are all one and the same. 

A series of murders [compact disc] : a Charles Paris mystery / by Simon Brett.

I adore Bill Nighy.  But I really adore him in these series of audio dramas done by the BBC.  Wonderfully funny as well as being detective stories, Nighy is glorious as Charles Paris, a sometimes actor, a womaniser, a man who drinks and smokes too much who seems to have a knack for getting involved in solving murders.  If only they would turn these into a TV series with him starring in them my life would be complete (well almost...)

Cabin pressure. The complete series 4 [compact disc] / written by John Finnemore.

I love Benedict Cumberbatch but that's not the only reason that I choose this as one of my favourites of the year.  After all any audio that makes you laugh so hard that it causes you to shoot drink out of your nose has got to be a winner... Trust me you just have to give these a go.

  Dark Eyes: An 8th Doctor Who Adventure

Sadly we don't have these at Auckland Libraries (hint hint hint to any audio selectors) but don't let that put your off in trying to hunt them down because they are well worth it.  If you had any doubts about Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor Who then listening to all the Big Finish audio dramas will completely change your mind. 

Pines / Blake Crouch

Thrillerly, sci-fiing Pines is one of those books where you just didn't see it coming.  Even better the sequel is now out AND it's being turned into a TV series, though I'm not getting my hopes up as they'll probably ruin the book completely.  As they do...

 Sleepwalkers / Tom Grieves

Another thrillerly, sci-fiing story. I'm sensing a pattern here but that's okay I often find that I tend to go through trends with my story intakes.

Wool / Hugh Howey

An online sensation that resulted in a book deal and a movie deal, Wool is the first in a series and is just my kind of thing.  Science fiction rules (as it should) and 2013 was the year of some great science fiction books.

And there you have it. Six stories that stayed in my head.  Not necessarily the best books of the year but ones that I enjoyed along with a huge range of others.  So why not check the above out as well as these other titles that I enjoyed through 2013.

City of Bones / Cassandra Clare
The Maze Runner / James Dashner
Best Served Cold / Joe Abercrombie
The Fault In Our Stars / John Green

Fanfic Or Not To Fanfic

"Fan fiction can be defined as any piece of writing inspired by the original work of another."

I am a fan fiction fan.  I"m also a fan fiction writer.

And yes I can hear the cries of shock, horror and outage from here.  Because admitting that you like fan fiction (much less saying that you write it)  is a bit like admitting that you like porn (which some...okay a lot... of fan fiction is).

Fan fiction never has an easy time.  Those that hate it see it at best as lazy writing and at worst as plagiarism, stealing and akin to selling your soul to the devil.  And don't even mention Fifty Shades of Grey.

And yet despite all this I love fan fiction with a passion... and I'm not the only one. FanFiction.Net a website devoted to fan fiction works has more than 2 million users.

2 million.

That in itself should tell you the popularity of fan fiction.  Of course just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it's a) good or b) legal.

From my own personal perspective fan fiction is just as legitimate and worth while as any other creative endeavour.

Is is lazy writing? Well yes there is a lot of bad fan fiction but there is also some really great fan fiction.  You just have to dig a little deeper for it.  But trust me it's there. 

Plagiarism and stealing? Perhaps. Though most (about 99.9 %) make no money from what they create and have no desire to do so.  They do it for love of a show/book/movie, to share their love with others, as a way of improving their own writing skill and a great many other reasons.  People with a love of art or music copy and adapt famous works all the time and no-one cries out.  So why is writing any different?

Of course fan fiction fans don't always help themselves.  Some in the fan fiction community can be pretty brutal in their defence.  It's enough to make a fangirl like me hang her head in shame at the antics of others.  Luckily there are plenty of others that make up for this and help make fan fiction a warm and entertaining community where you can share your love of whatever it is that makes you *flail*.

And at the end of the day that's what fan fiction is all about.

It's about exploring possibilities that the original author never thought of.  To celebrate a TV show/movie/book/character that another created in a way that is original to you and to share that love with others.  And that is a pretty great thing.

By the way check out Auckland Libraries latest events.  There's a discussion about Fifty Shades of Grey on next Thursday. http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/Events/Events/Pages/darknight.aspx