Congratulations to Brandy Norwood for winning the Soul Train Certified Award at the Soul Train Awards on November 29, 2020!*
Ever since The Great Gatsby went into the public domain on January 1st, 2021, not a single day has gone by that I haven’t beaten on, boats against the current, drawn back ceaselessly into the past. It’s this damn pandemic; it stirs up the nostalgia for simpler times when we could, like, go outside and do things.
Influences: My RPF Origin Story
The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order by Marcelle Karp
Bust is just about the only U.S. magazine for adult women that does not suck, and this book captures some of the best offerings of its early days. Some of its highlights include "The Mysterious Eroticism of Mini-Backpacks" by James Reling and "My Keanu: A Fantasy" Lisa Palac, which I credit with giving me the permission I needed to write some of my early writings.
Lisa Palac’s fic is an imaginary tale about Keanu Reeves. It was a real person fic (RPF) I became aware of before I knew any fandom or fan fiction writing terminology. The Bust Guide was released in 1999 and I checked it out at least twice from my local public library, which at the time was the Main Library of South Bend, Indiana.
Episode 27 of the “The Worst Thing We Read This Week” podcast is about the book Ship It by Britta Lundin (the showrunner of Riverdale). In the book, the fictional character Tess talks about her obsession with the Jonas Brothers. Tess likes to read Jonas Brothers incest fiction - she ships them with each other. As they’re being completely squicked out by this, the podcast hosts mention the author Cassandra Clare.
Cassandra Clare wrote, very early in her career, Harry Potter fan fiction**. You can read this on Wikipedia, where it says that, spelling her pen name “Claire” at the time, she wrote something called The Draco Trilogy. What it doesn’t say is that she also wrote Ron Weasley/Ginny Weasley incest fiction. I’m not judging; it’s FICTION. I’m just saying.
Clare went on to author the Mortal Instruments series. May the memory of Godfrey Gao be a blessing.
*It went unsaid in the Autumn 2020 issue so I’ll say it now: I fucking hate Chris Brown and I will never, ever listen to the Chris Brown track on Two Eleven. Fuck you, Chris Brown.
**Fuck you, JKR. Trans lives matter.
*** “Having to read footnotes resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.” - Noel Coward
“Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.” - Jean Genet
