Not really fannish, for once

[petronia]

What I want to do is rampage through my flist commenting on every second entry, mostly telling people to go look at each other's projects. This is kind of beyond me at the moment, though, as I'm 200 pages into Fire From Heaven and mentally far from dealings with the Computer Age. ^^; (Have to pick the best of good novels to read these days, or my attention isn't held; fanfiction's made me more fastidious than published books, ironically enough. Also sororial unit demands it, so she can complain bitterly and sans restraint about the perspective switch in the second book or whatever it is that's got her gander up. XD She doesn't like it, and won't read the third. Perhaps she'll cave, but who knows? Neither of us has read the last two of Jacqueline Carey's trilogy.) It feels a little odd, because I've read any number of Roman historical novels but can't remember any Greek/Hellenistic ones - I mean, that are really historical novels and not, dunno, Jean Anouilh's Antigone. (Or for that matter, Sophocles' Antigone.) Plenty of that sort of thing. But Alexander belongs to the mental category presided over by National Geographic. I actually found the old magazine with the article I used to read over; it's the same age as Renault's novel. ^^;

As for the rest, marathoned the last half of Tsukihime, which finally began to pick up and deliver circa episode 8 (but is there any more Sheep's Song? ;_;). Akiha's by far the most interesting character, which actually prompted a ramble-post regarding whether canonically obsessive sibling relationships can be written as anything else but 'cestfic in the eyes of a ready viewer (if not the actual writer), which I then privatised after deciding that rather than angst about it I'd write it and see. XD Thrice-becursed fansubbers bundled the YamiBoushi eps while I was still in the middle of downloading ep.6 and up singly, so I started Maria-sama ga miteru instead. ...I can't tell if I like it wholeheartedly, or if I like it because it sort of disturbs me. It's as if they took Oniisama e (and a good dose of Utena's surface aesthetic) and made it fluffy. o_O Also I went to a girl's high called Villa Maria, and thence to a somewhat affiliated college called Marianopolis, and every once in a while in the anime there'd be a shot of a staircase or stained-glass window or statue that looks exactly like my old HS, which really wigs me out. I suppose convent school buildings all around the world are the same. ^^; Pure times, innocent times... eheheheh.

Comments

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

but is there any more Sheep's Song? ;_;

One more episode. Will send in next shipment. BTW, has anyone sent you Full Metal Alchemist yet? You'd like I think....

[petronia.livejournal.com]

No one has, and I haven't asked for it. Have carefully refrained from all mention of it, in fact. Not because I don't think I'd like it, but because it appears to be addictive, and another addictive series is so what I need right now. XD;;;

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

::decides to read this as 'Why yes, I would like it. What's taking you so long?':: ^_^;;

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Heh, we're pretty different. In reading material, whenever I start a series I *have* to finish it, even if it's gone to the dogs and I end up skimming. I'd rather, if going incomplete, read the last book rather than the first. And so there's a great deal of fantasy series I refuse to start until they're finished. And I have zero problem reading out of order, though that leads to me perhaps underrating authors. Picked up Steven Brust and came away wondering what all the hype was about...

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

that description of Maria-sama ga miteru makes it sound rather enticing, actually. *fangs*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, it is. *g* Someone on AMLA posted a couple of longish summaries of the novel series the anime is based on (and fandom thereof), which I read and was like, "It's Oniisama e, but totally fluffy and with roses. Obviously a must-watch." XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

You crack dealer, you. T_T Well, bring it on. :P

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Where our different approaches to the idea of canon come into play, methinks. *g* We're both canon h0s, but you want to know how canon is in its entirety because your main concern is analysis (am I correct?). Extrapolated fannishly, this leads to discussion sans risk of spoiler. I'm scrupulous about beginning canon at the beginning, because most of the time the first book or two are the best and then quality begins a downward slide; when it reaches the point of annoyance saturation I draw a cutoff line, refuse to read further and declare the rest no longer relevant to my concept of canon. XD Extrapolated fannishly, this of course leads to replacements in the form of fanfic.

Sometimes I do this even when I sense that the canon is going to start to bother me. The Jacqueline Carey is a case in point, and so for that matter is the Lois McMaster Bujold. In both cases the end of the installment where I stopped reading was such a sterling endpoint for the series as a whole that... well, it hardly seems worth the risk. A lot of the time I just don't feel the necessity for the existence of a sequel; tend to resent it in fact. I like ending a book wide open, not quite knowing what's going to happen to the characters, but able to extrapolate freely if I so desired. I would've preferred that Aliana simply disappears at the end of Kay's Sarantium Mosaic, for instance, and I very much appreciate that Ellen Kushner does no more than hint and sketch at the ensuing lives of the protagonists of Swordspoint. Though I expect virulent disagreement from most readers of said books. XD

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

which reminds me, i still need to watch the last couple episodes of Oniisama E. still haven't. XDXD

but yes, that does indeed sound like a must-watch. i can't begin to explain why i enjoy OE, but to say that it's Awfully Special is rather understating it. XD

[starlighter.livejournal.com]

I very much appreciate that Ellen Kushner does no more than hint and sketch at the ensuing lives of the protagonists of Swordspoint. Though I expect virulent disagreement from most readers of said books. XD

Oh no indeed - I was perfectly happy with the way Swordspoint ended. I imagine it left me free to imagine their lives continuing on exactly as it had before happily, and the people who like the sap and sparkly to imagine perfect worlds where they run off, get married, have themselves a family, etc. (Until we're all contradicted by The Fall of the Kings, anyway.)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, one knows what happens regardless, because of the short stories that come with the latest edition. ^^; D'you read those? The last one... which is kind of WAFF in a severely non-WAFF way, and tells one barely enough to give one an idea of the facts. I love it. XD (They say I elide in my fics? Here we have a master.)

As expected, I'm highly conflicted on whether I want to read TFotK or not. Magic system...? We don't need no magic system, j0!

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Yep, analysis is my major concern. And that's why I'm a total spoiler freak as well, and consider discussion sort of tentative until the entire thing is completed. The way I see it, there is always a conflict and the author promises to resolve it, so I want to see what the climax is, and the author create irrevocable events at the endpoint. So the end is always like a destruction of the rest of the thing, I guess (like RahXephon, which you might like to see....the problem with being an analysis sort of fan is that people can write fanfic in a vacuum, but it's impossible to discuss without fandom, isn't it?). But on my ending-mania, I guess I approach everything like a mystery novel: the whodunit and the howdunit demand resolution. And that's why I complain so much about how a show ended badly.

So why do series begin to suck as they go on, I wonder? I usually rate part 2 as the best of a triology. Could have something to do with the bloating of the modern fantasy novel?