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author_by_night(Non-HP people: Yes, another public Harry Potter entry. Sorry if you were hoping these would end last July!)
When I opened Harry, A History, I felt like my worst fears had been confirmed.
The book started out being about Melissa Anelli (of The Leaky Cauldron and the book's author) and her Pottercast friends. It then continued to be about Melissa. It was soon pretty clear this was not a book about the broad ranges of fandom.
It frustrated me at first. I didn't want to read about "only" TLC; I think TLC is a wonderful and credible site, but I wanted to read about other things too, things I didn't think were going to be there after all. I wanted to read about Sugar Quill. About Livejournal. About so many other things.
Then I took a deep breath, went back, and started over with an open mind.
And you know what? It was a really good book after that.
Was the book mainly about Melissa's experiences? Absolutely. But she did, in my opinion, go into as much about other places as she could've. One of her closest fandom friends was from Sugar Quill, so of course that was mentioned; FictionAlley got mention as well, along with, yes, Livejournal, fanfiction.net... quite a few sites, once I thought about it.
When I first wanted to get the book, I was surprised at how many people hadn't even heard of it. A number of Harry Potter related news communities didn't even mention it. Some people outright dismissed the book. Even I expressed concern before that it would be "fandom according to Melissa", and not about all of fandom.
But the book is about all of fandom. It mentions Get A Clue, which was actually pretty cool. It mentions shipping wars, which weren't so cool but are certainly a fun trainwreck. And like I said, it does talk about most of the fandom spaces I can think of. There's even a really short but shocking story about a fan who related an act of senseless violence Harry witnesses to the loss of a friend. And while it doesn't focus a lot on other sites... they really are mentioned quite a bit.
Is it more Leaky based? Absolutely. But you know what else? That should be expected.
If you get a book about a person growing up in the same city as you, and for some reason the city is particularly exceptional, you're going to read about it. But you wouldn't expect the author to have visited every cafe you went to. Maybe the author even loves a pizza place you hate because the pizza always tastes stale.
That's not the point of the book.
Melissa's story and the stories around her hit close to home for me, or will for others at least. They talk of online friends who are just as important as real life ones. They talk of fandom friends falling in love. They talk of horrible tragedies, how site members can come together to make sure everyone in their fandom adobe is home safe and sound. They talk of obsession - almost insane obsession, at that.
I don't think it matters if you go to messageboards or LJ communities, if you posted at Sugar Quill or FictionAlley, if you're Ron/Hermione, Harry/Hermione, or Harry/Draco; there's something everyone can relate to.
Are there things I would've liked to have seen more of in the book? Absolutely. But I think it's unfair to expect Melissa to not write about her part of the HP world - and it's a little sad that because she didn't write more about Livejournal or other places, fewer of us are willing to give it a chance.
When I opened Harry, A History, I felt like my worst fears had been confirmed.
The book started out being about Melissa Anelli (of The Leaky Cauldron and the book's author) and her Pottercast friends. It then continued to be about Melissa. It was soon pretty clear this was not a book about the broad ranges of fandom.
It frustrated me at first. I didn't want to read about "only" TLC; I think TLC is a wonderful and credible site, but I wanted to read about other things too, things I didn't think were going to be there after all. I wanted to read about Sugar Quill. About Livejournal. About so many other things.
Then I took a deep breath, went back, and started over with an open mind.
And you know what? It was a really good book after that.
Was the book mainly about Melissa's experiences? Absolutely. But she did, in my opinion, go into as much about other places as she could've. One of her closest fandom friends was from Sugar Quill, so of course that was mentioned; FictionAlley got mention as well, along with, yes, Livejournal, fanfiction.net... quite a few sites, once I thought about it.
When I first wanted to get the book, I was surprised at how many people hadn't even heard of it. A number of Harry Potter related news communities didn't even mention it. Some people outright dismissed the book. Even I expressed concern before that it would be "fandom according to Melissa", and not about all of fandom.
But the book is about all of fandom. It mentions Get A Clue, which was actually pretty cool. It mentions shipping wars, which weren't so cool but are certainly a fun trainwreck. And like I said, it does talk about most of the fandom spaces I can think of. There's even a really short but shocking story about a fan who related an act of senseless violence Harry witnesses to the loss of a friend. And while it doesn't focus a lot on other sites... they really are mentioned quite a bit.
Is it more Leaky based? Absolutely. But you know what else? That should be expected.
If you get a book about a person growing up in the same city as you, and for some reason the city is particularly exceptional, you're going to read about it. But you wouldn't expect the author to have visited every cafe you went to. Maybe the author even loves a pizza place you hate because the pizza always tastes stale.
That's not the point of the book.
Melissa's story and the stories around her hit close to home for me, or will for others at least. They talk of online friends who are just as important as real life ones. They talk of fandom friends falling in love. They talk of horrible tragedies, how site members can come together to make sure everyone in their fandom adobe is home safe and sound. They talk of obsession - almost insane obsession, at that.
I don't think it matters if you go to messageboards or LJ communities, if you posted at Sugar Quill or FictionAlley, if you're Ron/Hermione, Harry/Hermione, or Harry/Draco; there's something everyone can relate to.
Are there things I would've liked to have seen more of in the book? Absolutely. But I think it's unfair to expect Melissa to not write about her part of the HP world - and it's a little sad that because she didn't write more about Livejournal or other places, fewer of us are willing to give it a chance.
