Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Life Imitating Art About Art and Life

There is a lovely, and I believe underappreciated, movie called "Fanboys" about a group of friends who take a van out to California to try to break into George Lucas's ranch to see the first episode of the "Star Wars" movies.  Their reason, other than road trip!, is that one of them is terminally ill and likely won't make it to the premiere.  Now, I have managed to make this sound like a terribly sad, somber movie instead of the funny ode to fandom that it is.  (Go see it, folks.)
But, I thought of "Fanboys" when I saw this story on Twitter, about a fan of Harry Turtledove's series. Now, I am a series junkie and there are different kinds of series.  Some are more like TV procedurals, such that each book progresses things, but essentially the main story is resolved each time.  These kind can go on forever.  (They also can often be read out of order super easily, a fact I appreciated greatly in my used book hunting days.) 
Some kinds, particularly in romance focus on different people each time, so while others might make an appearance, or even play a pivotal role, that couple's story gets resolved there.  (This is related to the above, although you might be dying (not literally) to know what happens when it's that character's turn.)
But other kinds have a more specific progression that may take anywhere from three to twenty books to resolve.  Usually some piece gets taken care of each book, but there's stuff left out there that you are waiting to see to conclusion. Well, this one fan loves Turtledove's series and well, he may not make it to July when the next book comes out.  So his friend reached out to the internet and got an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) for his friend.  (The link above has the video of him receiving it which I recommend you watch because he is so clearly happy to receive it and immediately starts looking at the first few pages, clearly torn between loving his friends for doing this and wanting to kick them out so he can read it right then.)
But wait, there's more!  (I feel like a gameshow host.)  The internet also helped said friend get in touch with Turtledove, who agreed to give the guy a call and talk about his plans for the rest of the series.