Fanfic

I don't read fanfic. I've tried reading some Harry Potter fanfic, and it's pretty lame. There's no way these preteen kids posting their "work" online are going to come anywhere near J.K. Rowling. Jane Austen fanfic mostly ticks me off, too--and it's actually been published by real publishing houses, not fan sites. There's only one exception that I've found...



Pamela Aidan is a librarian & Jane Austen fan, and her trilogy is actually pretty good. Obviously not Jane Austen level of good, but she doesn't try too hard to sound like Austen and I really appreciate that. The thing I hate most about Austen fanfic is that the writers try too hard and end up sounding pompous and wordy. These 3 books are simply a re-telling of Pride & Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. No prequel or sequel--it just begins and ends at the same times as the real deal. The 2nd book tries, a little too ambitiously, to create something for Darcy to do in the gap period of Pride & Prejudice when Mr Darcy is away and we only see what happens with the Bennets. It gets weird, but it's still a good read. The third book is the best, and really explains Mr. Darcy's transformation better than the original book can (blasphemous, I know, but it's true).