I am pretty unfamiliar with HP fandom, and I just spent the last 2 hours reading it, completely fascinating. It is a lot more about human nature than about Harry Potter.

Since this board is my major on-line outlet, I hadn't really realized how lucky we are here-- perhaps because we aren't too popular, and Buffy is over?

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It was fascinating -- well, as much of it as I read. (I read the first two chapters and some of the comments - but the third chapter was in a funky font and kind of illegible to me so I stopped there.)

I can't imagine spending the energy and imagination to create a bunch of different personae just to make yourself "famous" in fandom.

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I don't know if anyone here used to read XF MSR, but Brandon Ray, who was one of the Big Names in MSR back in the day, died in his sleep the other night. He leaves behind a wife and son.

Somewhat sobering.

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Suela, I'd heard about that from his SiL. His poor family.

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Yeah, it's very sad. Do we know how old he was?

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And what I'm getting out of it is that fandom is like High School.

Snacky's Law.

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Well, the thing is that, despite having written a big-ass HP novel about a popular HP pairing, I haven't stored it in any of the popular archives, or posted it to any of the mailing lists (I assume they exist) or, you know, engaged with HP fandom at all. Um. Because I am odd. But I haven't read much HP fic, actually, and I'm squicked by a lot of the HP stuff because - dude. They're kids.

...I do realise that this sounds foamingly insane.

It doesn't sound insane to me. It's a squick issue for me, too.

HP fic with a sexual aspect (even with the kids all grown, and that's just a note on my tastes, not a moral judgement) is just never going to be for me. I also didn't love the books enough (I liked them) to chase extra-canonical stories, so HP gen doesn't draw me, either. Plus, there are still volumes of canon I've yet to read.

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Oh, is that Snacky's Law? Huh. 'Kay.

Oooh, you really should get up to speed with The Half-Blood Prince, if you're at all inclined. I was really pleased with a lot of what she did in that. And it's cleverly constructed - there are at least two completely different and canonically-grounded interpretations of What Actually Happens, and we'll only find out which interpretation is correct with the final book. I spent the last 3 chapters sobbing, on the basis that my own interpretation was big with the tragedy. YMMV.

For me, JKR's 'verse is sufficiently familiar as a composite of countless fairy tales and children's books (fantastical and non) that the gen stuff can tickle my fancy; I particularly enjoy the wordplay and the wee details that round out her 'verse. As to Sex in the HP 'verse - well, the stories I've happily read (& written) deal plausibly with people of Buffyish age or considerably older. And I'm good with that. But I still wince at the prospect of trawling for fic, because I feel perfectly certain that the vast bulk of the stuff out there is stuff I'd really NOT be good with.

(And, man, if you think SGA has a lot of crack, HP is way freakier and infinitely more worrying.)

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Oooh, you really should get up to speed with The Half-Blood Prince, if you're at all inclined. I was really pleased with a lot of what she did in that. And it's cleverly constructed - there are at least two completely different and canonically-grounded interpretations of What Actually Happens, and we'll only find out which interpretation is correct with the final book.

I'm inclined, just lazily. I liked the books I read (the first three, I think) but after a while, it felt too much like the same story to me, which I knew meant I had to lay off them for a while. That happens to me whenever I read too much of one author's work, too closely together.

I believe I was spoiled on the HPB development you're referencing above. That it's open to interpretation makes it more intriguing to me.

As to Sex in the HP 'verse - well, the stories I've happily read (& written) deal plausibly with people of Buffyish age or considerably older. And I'm good with that.

I'm good from a that's-okay-to-do stance, but it's just a [something] for me.

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I'm sorry to hear that, about Brandon. Was there an announcement somewhere?

(I never particularly was friends with him, but we were reasonably friendy.)

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