Magic is in the pen

Hello, there, luv!

Don't buy the stankpile, you can read it for free on the intrawebz and I don't advise doing that, either. Do buy your Imakarum (I titled my dramalet after him in your honour!), he may be expensive, but, like my Sandman, he'll give you joy.

Anyone can write rings around the hack, luv, which is why the phenomenon fascinates me so much. I mean, do you realise that, apart from the terminally illiterate, there are people who read and appreciate GOOD and WONDERFUL authors and manage to love the turd? My inner anthropologist wants to understand why and that is the only reason I forced myself to read the crapenbarfen (delightful word!).

Sorry about promising and running, but I couldn't resist the 'It's a Fake' no 'It Is The One True Book' debate and the Potterdammerung. Unless it explodes anew tonight - in which case picture me glued to the screen - I'll finish writing your review and I'll post it, it's all notes right now.

Hugz?

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Much Hugz. ;D

And now I'm not quite sure I want the Potterdammerung to end quite yet... on the one hand I really want to read those verbose reviews of yours - me wantz! me wantz! - but on the other hand I want you to have fun... Hmm...

I guess liking GOOD and WONDERFUL authors is no concrete assurance of having good taste. But, then again, what is eh? ;)

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I suspect the Rowling-lovers pay lip service to good authors not to appear quite so moronic. One can't possibly enjoy intelligence and wit and that Wasteland of Stupid at the same time.

Also, if they'd really read the good authors, they'd see how much the Queen of Fascism has stolen from the good authors and made crap thereof.

Potterdammerung proper appears to have started. F-W server, though robust, is creaking at the joints and LJ is not that much better. Just like during Strikethrough.

I know it's quite childish of me, but high drama on the INTRATUBES makes me laugh.

HUGGGGZEZZZZZ!

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Anyone can write rings around the hack

Actually... amazingly enough, that's not entirely true. There are published authors worse than JKR. Laurel K Hamilton is worse (at least a little) and Christopher Paolini makes JKR look good by comparison. I mean, there's seriously lower depths to sink to.

Try not to dwell on it. It'll just keep you up at night. ^_^;

Mind you, no one but no one enjoys as much unjustified success as she does. With the possible exception of Dan Brown...

there are people who read and appreciate GOOD and WONDERFUL authors and manage to love the turd

Yes. That disturbs me too. It's one thing that twerps and morons like crap, but otherwise sensible and discerning people? I just cannot understand it, try as I might.

And they tend not to appreciate it when you point it out to them, either. ^_^;

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Nono. You haven't read it. Paolini? Actually less of a shitfest. Hamilton? Her overt PR0N is PWNED by this wandfest. Goodkind? His politics PALE in comparison to this Fascistfest. UGH.

As I said to

ingriam, I'm quite sure they who say they like Pterry and go all batshit on Rowling have NOT read Pterry, they just say it not to look like the totally mentally impaired persons they are. Well, with a few exception, like you, Maya and me who read the Turd for the LULZ.

That's why they don't appreciate it when you point it out to them.

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My sister only liked it for Hermiony - or however her name's spelled - and her relationship with Harry. She pretty much agreed with me that Ron was a stupid asshole who needed to be bitchslapped with a 9-iron.

I don't think she's read either Pterry or DWJ, though.

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Where are you? *is SO SO SO curious*

Hermione the Ruthless Ballbreaker is overreated. Harry is a sociopath. I know, I know, You would ADORE that. :P

Your sister is going to have a heart attack with DH if she's really in the Potter fandom, poor lass. How old is she?

Hermione, posh Shakespearian name. She's the one who ruthlessly did a magic memory charm on her parents so they now believe they are Australians with no children. Reminds you of anyone? Remaking personalities and all? :P

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California, Redwood City area.

My sis? 35 and pretty obsessed with soaps, so you can see where she came from, yeah? Of course, she bailed after the 6th book since it "was written like bad fanfic" and it sank her 'ship.

Yes, but Alkanphel is awesome and better than her, so he wins. ;)

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AAAH! I asked because of the hour and timezone, of course.

Thrityfive and still can't meta La Rowling? HBP sank her ship? A Harmonian? Poor you. :P

Alkanphel is PRETTEH and SPESHUL and all, but, all considered I prefer Agito, What can I say? I like bad boys.

If your sister is a Harmonian (Harry/Hermione) shipper though, Alòkanphel PWNS her no doubt.

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Launching terrorist attacks against an orginization that rules the entire freaking world?

Has an army of genetically-enhanced supersoldiers ready to die at his command?

Planning to conquer the entire freaking world once he finishes defeating said rulers?

Stealing what amounts to the ultimate power upgrade from the guy who made it in the first place?

There's really no question that Agito "The Puppetmaster" Makishima kicks much ass. ;)

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Yeh. *sigh* I truly have a thing for the indomitable ones.

Is he that there in your icon? Because whoever it is, he looks lots hotter than any pretteh.

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Yes; yes it is. :)

I have a great many more pictures of him, if you'd like some. ;)

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PURRRRR.

Yep, me likes, especially with long hair acuz me is obsessed with long-haired males.

Harder to find in RL here, but I persevere. :-D

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baeraad.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-07-24 06:40 pm (UTC) - Expand

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flyingskull.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-07-25 12:56 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Well, I was in a discussion just the other day where I was forced to concede that Paolini is actually superior to Rowling in some ways. If nothing else, he's consistent - his Gary Stu hero who's going to defeat the evil overlord is ridicolously overpowered and unstoppable, in other words exactly the kind of person you would logically send against evil overlords. Eragon is most certainly not going to vanquish Galbatorix through the power of love - he's going to vanquish Galbatorix through the power of power. Evil little sociopath of a man Eragon might be, but I'd send him against scary, evil people any day - though I would of course hope that he and them would kill each other. =]

Harry, on the other hand, is a stupid little shit who only wins through pure luck, and who then gets told that he's the most wonderful person ever.

... now I kind of want to write a story in which Harry and Eragon battle it out for the honour of being Supreme Overrated Gary Stu, and Eragon chops Harry to pieces.

Anyway, as for Hamilton, I remember another discussion where we eventually established that Rowling is a PG13 version of Hamilton.

But I refuse to yield Goodkind. No one can write worse than Goodkind. Things that live in swamps would not, if you taught them to write, write worse than Goodkind. This must be so. I cannot live in a world where it is actually possible to sink beneath Goodkind! ^_^;;;;

I'm quite sure they who say they like Pterry and go all batshit on Rowling have NOT read Pterry, they just say it not to look like the totally mentally impaired persons they are. Well, with a few exception, like you, Maya and me who read the Turd for the LULZ.

A tempting theory, but I'm afraid I don't buy it. I mean, Maya doesn't read HP just to mock it - she does mock it, and she's perfectly aware of all its flaws, but she still likes it and thinks Rowling is a good author. How? Why? It is beyond my comprehension. But apparently there is something there that makes her forgive all the rest.

She's not the only one, either. The same person who made me read The Handmaid's Tale just yesterday snapped at me for being a snob when it came to Harry Potter. How can you appreciate both of those at once? And while we're on the subject, if being a snob means appreciating good things and despising bad things, just what's so wrong with it?

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If that's their definition of a snob, luv, I'd tell them that I'm damn proud to be one.

As to the fic: DOOOOOOOO EEEEEIITTTT!!

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Seconded and seconded and SECONDED!

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Harry, on the other hand, is a stupid little shit who only wins through pure luck, and who then gets told that he's the most wonderful person ever.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that, thanks to the Doomcock, Voldie was killed by a rebounding AK. Well, that and 9573362527 pags of Harry ranting. I tend to believe he was killed by boredom.

Well, alright Goodkind is TEH PITZ, but at this point I must really insist that you read DH. It's quite possible that TEH PITZ can host more than one hack, y'know? :P

You're right about Maya and others. *SIGH* The only thing I can come out with is that they started reading fantasy with La Rowling and then read other, far better authors. BUT they kept their childish attachment to their first trip in fantasyland. Because if one came at it AFTER having read Pterry, Rankin, DWJ, LeGuinn, Adams and - laugh at will, but I can defend - even Lackey for years how the FUCK could one not see it for what it is?

Huh? Huh?

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Voldie was killed by a rebounding AK.

(*facepalms*) Again? Damn it, Voldie! Invest in an uzi already!

Well, that and 9573362527 pags of Harry ranting. I tend to believe he was killed by boredom.

Oh dear. Maybe it really is comparable to Goodkind, then. Richard tends to rant his enemies to death, too. ^_^;

Actually, I have a theory. It doesn't explain why people like Rowling, but it does explain why you and I don't. You said that you get an impression of an author while you read, yes? I do too - and as far as I've been able to tell, it's usually an accurate impression. When Orson Scott Card started ranting about how gays are evil and how we should nuke all Muslim countries back to the Stone Age, I was amused at how shocked people were. I mean, how can you read an OSC book and not realise that he's a bigoted Christian fundamentalist asshole? Every word he says so clearly comes from a bigoted Christian fundamentalist asshole perspective!

But apparently, most people don't get an impression of the author. They... how do I put this? They imagine the story taking place in the real world, when in fact it takes place in the storyteller's mind. So when certain things and indeed certain ideas seem completely missing, they assume it's because it's not relevant to the story and that's all there is too it. But a lot of the time, if an idea doesn't up it's because it's an idea that the author is emotionally incapable of understanding. The best of authors write stories where every human idea is at least implied, not because the author intentionally puts it in there but because "nothing human is alien to her," and so those ideas are part of the way she sees the world.

What I'm getting at, in my usual long-winded fashion, is that most people open a HP book and see a silly little story about wizards. You and me open a HP book and stare Rowling straight in the face - and Rowling is a deeply unpleasant person. How can we not loathe her books, when we hear not just what she says, but what she means?

What do you think of that theory? :)

laugh at will, but I can defend - even Lackey

Oh, I'm okay with Lackey. She's kind of heavyhanded and perhaps a little too trapped by convention (if she wants to write a story that is more about life during wartime than about the war itself, why does she have to make the heroes defeat the tyrant in the last twenty pages of the book? That just defeats the whole purpose!), but she does have a pretty good idea about what human beings act like.

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What do you think of that theory? :)

That you nailed it on the head. I don't know about mostlive in the story. I think this could also explains the really wide difference in attitude towards fandom. The Read-the-author kind of people tend not to be rabid fans, or even nnot to be anything mre than very tepid fans; the Live-in-the-story kind of people tend more to be quite involved fans up to rabid fans.

I think I'll have to think a bit about this. Thanks!

Oh, poor Merceds has lots of defects, but she's readable and never made me foam at the mouth.

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I like that theory, and I may have to use it on people who demand to know why I can't take either Rowling or Tolkien seriously as a writer. Well, Tolkien was also BORING, so for him there's that angle. Sometimes I do fall into a story a bit, but never so far that I can't call the writer on being a complete idiot.

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Thanks. :)

Yes, Tolkien was a complete ass also. You know, sometimes I feel sort of weird knowing that while I adore fantasy, I loathe Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling... pretty much every author who leaps to mind when you mention fantasy. The fantasy authors I like that are really famous are usually ones that are generally considered to be on the fringes of the genre.

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I'm usually more into Sci-fi than Fantasy; you get less idiots there and I just enjoy it more.

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I like sci-fi too, but I tend to find it a little dry. A lot of sf authors give me the impression that they're writing their characters from a psychology textbook as opposed to from personal experience with how people behave. =]

Mind you, there are exceptions, of course. I deeply adore the Gap cycle by... uhm... by an author whom I shall not mention in Jane's journal for fear of upsetting our fragile peace treaty on the subject... ^_^;;

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