Fandom Guest Post from Sarah Remy, author of Across the Long Sea

Title: Across the Long Sea
Author: Sarah Remy
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Format: Ebook/Paperback

The gripping follow-up to Stonehill Downs

As the most valuable asset in the kingdom of Wilhaiim, Malachi Doyle has many responsibilities—protector, assassin, detective, and King Renault's right-hand man. And until he met Avani in the cursed village of Stonehill Downs, he believed he was the last of his kind: a magus who can communicate with the dead.

But Wilhaiim is left vulnerable when Mal and his page, Liam, are kidnapped and ferried across the Long Sea to a warring kingdom in search of its own magus. To make matters worse, a springtime plague is rapidly spreading, and beneath the earth the sidhe are preparing for war. With Mal missing and presumed dead, Avani reluctantly takes his place as Wilhaiim's magus. But her powers are unreliable and untested, her many allies are treacherous, and she is certain Mal is alive. Will she be able to keep Wilhaiim—and herself—safe?  

ORDER INFORMATION

Across the Long Sea is available for order at  

   

Fandom.

If you’re in need of a good laugh, browse through the many definitions entered for the word on <a href=http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fandom&page=1>Urban Dictionary.</a> If you’re anything at all like me, and I’ll bet dollars to donuts you are, you’ll recognize yourself in at least a few of these entries.

The top definition, submitted by a user called Brianne, is well written and technically correct -

The community that surrounds a tv show/movie/book etc. Fanfiction writers, artists, poets, and cosplayers are all members of that fandom. Fandoms often consist of message boards, livejournal communities, and people.

- while my favorite, submitted by the aptly called SomeAwesomeName, begins -

Fandom means family

Fandom.

It’s not a dirty word, despite the self-depreciating way it sometimes rolls of the tongue. Fandom is an essential part of our daily lives. Maybe you’re a sports’ fan. Could be political debate brings out the raving fanatic you keep bottled up 9 to 5. Maybe it’s Game of Thrones that drives you wild, or (and I never judge a good fan) One Direction. My teenage son dresses head to toe in Paris Saint-Germain football merchandise, while my husband counters PSG’s blue and red with a Seattle Seahawks’ neon jersey. My daughter sat down and watched every episode of Psych over summer break, almost without pause for food or drink.

I’m a writer; I’m most comfortable with literary fandom, and I’ll squeal as loud as anybody over a favorite author’s newest release. Robin Hobb comes to mind. I’ve been a member of one of her longest running <a href="http://robinhobbmeganlindholm.yuku.com">online fandoms</a> for the last decade, and her return to Fitz and the Fool made me wish I had my own Hobb jersey to don.

Tolkien. I wouldn’t be writing fantasy today if not for Tolkien. I read The Hobbit in third grade - I was confined to bed with chicken pox - and devoured Lord of the Rings right after. I spend so much time in Middle Earth I knew the books by heart. I shopped in RPG stores for those tiny little metal figures one was meant to use in campaigns and instead set them around my room like tiny idols. I owned Rankin-Bass’ The Hobbit record and played it over and over again. And I wrote my own further adventures of Frodo and Sam in a battered spiral notebook: a fledgling writer’s fanfiction.

The University of Iowa has recently began digitally archiving its <a href="http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/resources/FandomResources">impressive library</a> of fandom culture, staring with the Hevelin collection, specifically that collection’s fanzines. The Organization for Transformative Works and Culture’s <a href="http://opendoors.transformativeworks.org/collections/fan-culture-preservation">Open Doors Fan Cultures Preservation Project</a> is doing similar by providing safe space for anything from songvids to fancrafts.

Fandom.

As Wired’s Scott Brown pointed out - a full year before BBC’s version of Sherlock Holmes aired and subsequently engendered legions of Cumberfans and Freeman enthusiasts - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may in fact be responsible for <a href="http://archive.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-05/pl_brown">the dawn of fandom as we now know it</a>, and I guarantee Sir Arthur would not be pleased to hear it. Sherlock Holmes has inspired more fan fiction than any other literary character, and although many Sherlockians prefer the term “pastiche”, I see no real distinction between the two. As a Sherlockian myself, I adore Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series, and this last month I finally had time to sit down and read Dan Simmon’s The Fifth Heart, a great read in which Sherlock Holmes struggles to deduce whether he is in fact a real person or Conan Doyle’s invention. Henry James also puts in an appearance, as does Mark Twain. There’s a fandom definition for this: Real Person Fiction.

Fandom nurtures <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/09/10-reasons-geeky-creatives-need-the-intervention-e.html">creativity</a>, forward thinking and, believe it or not, a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/30/sports-fan-mental-health-benefits_n_6565314.html">healthier body and mind</a>. And in spite of the challenges with this year’s Hugo Awards, I believe science fiction and fantasy fandoms in particular are foster inclusive communities. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without eight-year-old-me’s drive to build worlds and characters as beloved as Tolkien’s; I’m still striving. I celebrate my fandoms, shout them from the rooftops. Do you?

Sarah Remy's newest fantasy, Across the Long Sea, is out from Harper Impulse this month. She can be found on the web at www.sarahremy.com, an on Twitter as @sarahremywrites. She's a staff member at The Organization for Transformative Works and Cultures, and a proud Fan Geek.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 In 1994 Sarah Remy earned a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Pomona College in California. Since then she’s been employed as a receptionist at a high-powered brokerage firm, managed a boutique bookstore, read television scripts for a small production company, and, more recently, worked playground duty at the local elementary school. When she’s not taking the service industry by storm, she’s writing fantasy and science fiction. Sarah likes her fantasy worlds gritty, her characters diverse and fallible, and she doesn’t believe every protagonist deserves a happy ending. Before joining the Harper Voyager family, she published with EDGE, Reuts, and Madison Place Press. Sarah lives in Washington State with plenty of animals and people, both. In her limited spare time she rides horses, rehabs her old home, and supervises a chaotic household. She can talk to you endlessly about Sherlock Holmes, World of Warcraft, and backyard chicken husbandry, and she’s been a member of one of Robin Hobb’s longest-running online fan clubs since 2002. Find Sarah on Twitter @sarahremywrites, and on Tumblr at huntpeck.

For More Information

Visit Sarah’s website.
Connect with Sarah