Some Hodgepodge Notes

If you have never heard of fanfiction, then I would recommend that you read this blurb from Wikipedia and do some of your own investigating. There is much more on the Wikipedia page.  And there are 2 links to the most popular fanfiction sites.  People, this is really cool stuff.  In fact, Elizabeth Hunter, who was our RBC author in February, and who has written a bunch of novels and novellas, started out in fan fiction!

Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, or fic) is fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator. It is a popular form of fan labor, particularly since the advent of the Internet.

Fan fiction is rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's creator or publisher, and is rarely professionally published. It may or may not infringe on the original author's copyright, depending on the jurisdiction and on such questions as whether or not it qualifies as "fair use" (see Legal issues with fan fiction). Attitudes of authors and copyright owners of original works to fan fiction have ranged from indifference to encouragement to rejection. Copyright owners have occasionally responded with legal action.

Fan fiction is defined by being both related to its subject's canonical fictional universe (often referred to as "canon") and simultaneously existing outside it.^[1] Most fan fiction writers assume that their work is read primarily by other fans, and therefore presume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe (created by a professional writer) in which their works are based.

A review of the two largest sites, FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own, shows that firstly, a large percentage of the efforts are 'crossovers' where one or more book-based universes or characters are conflated; secondly, an even larger proportion are very short (at less than 1000 words); thirdly, a significant number of the larger works are incomplete; fourthly, that the readership for many genres is very low.

I've got a few other pieces of news for you:

1.  Marty Brounstein, who wrote Two Among the Righteous Few:  A Story of Courage in the Holocaust, will be coming back to the Bay Area for 2 appearances.  I saw Marty last April and blogged about him on April 30. In that post, I said that he is someone you definitely want to see in person.  Here's your chance:

3/20 - 7-8:30, Howley Hall, St. Mary's Church, 219 Bean Avenue, Los Gatos
3/28 - 5:30-7:30, Commonwealth Club, 555 Post Street, San Francisco

2.  I don't know if I have mentioned this to you before.  But Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle (one of my top 12 all-time) is coming to the big screen.  The movie is starring Brie Larson (winner in 2016 of the Best Actress Oscar for The Room), Naomi Watts, and Woody Harrelson.  I don't know when it's coming out, but I will be among the 1st to see it.

3.  Both Book 4 of the Maverick Billionaires (Irresistible in Love), by Jennifer Skully and Bella Andre, and Book 8 of the Mike and Rosie series (Felony Murder Rule), by Sheldon Siegel, are available for purchase this week.  I'm waiting for my shipment from Amazon even as we speak.

4.  In the next week or so, I will be posting an interview with Leslie Hoffman, who is a professional copyeditor.  Do you ever wonder how the books you read get checked for spelling, grammar, syntax, et al? Leslie will tell us how this works.

That'll do it for now.