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graycardinalAs the fanfic world ramps up for Yuletide, posts elsewhere remind me that I ought to do a bit of fandom-promotion -- especially considering that I've nominated a whole slate of unreasonably obscure fandoms this time around. Herewith the list:
Legend (tv)
Not the feature film with the unicorn, but the 1995 series starring Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie. Yuletide's been fairly kind to fans of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. -- it's time we had some new adventures for Ernest "Nicodemus Legend" Pratt and Professor Janos Bartok.
Kate Chambers - Diana Winthrop series
If there is a more obscure fandom in the entire Yuletide database, I'd be surprised. This was a series of a half-dozen slim "teen sleuth" mysteries first published in the 1980s; the setup most closely resembles the Nancy Drew universe, but the settings were more realistic, the plots more complex, and the characterization somewhat more adult (anticipating the "Nancy Drew Files" incarnation of that series a bit, perhaps); the individual books also featured dedications/homages to various classic mystery writers. There doesn't seem to be a good Web resource for the series, though individual titles are findable from the major used-book vendors (in some cases, at insane-looking prices). "Kate Chambers", incidentally, was one of several pen names for a writer named Nicole St. John [not, apparently, children's mystery writer Wylly Folk St. John, as I initially thought] whose best-known nom de plume was probably Norma Johnston.
Linda Haldeman - The Lastborn of Elvinwood
A very brief summary of this novel: English bachelor and actor Ian James is walking home from his village's theater one evening when he notices two of his neighbors slipping quietly into the nearby wood -- and when he follows them, he finds himself in a Faerie court straight out of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Except that the faeries are fading away, and as penalty for snoopiness Ian is recruited to help them exchange one of their own for the infant child of a visiting American family. While the book is long out of print, it's findable in larger libraries and on the used market, and is well worth seeking out -- fans of Tanya Huff's more humorous books and those of the Wrede/Stevermer para-Regency fantasies should find this utterly charming.
Muppets
All right, the Muppets aren't really obscure at all -- but after signups closed last year, I realized that Kermit and friends had somehow not made the cut, and we certainly can't have two Yuletides in a row with no Muppetational content.
Robyn Tallis - Planet Builders series
Not quite as thoroughly forgotten as the Diana Winthrop books, but close. This was a series of ten paperback-original SF novels dating from 1988-1989, featuring a sizeable ensemble cast of teen heroes and heroines living on a newly colonized planet -- sort of as if someone had hired Andre Norton to write a season of Veronica Mars in Space. In this case, though, the "Robyn Tallis" alias belonged to a collective including Sherwood Smith (Inda), Debra Doyle and James Macdonald (The Price of the Stars), Bruce Coville (the Magic Shop books and others) and Mary Frances Zambreno (veteran writer of fanfic and YA fantasy). Great straight-ahead classic SF adventure with much admirable teen-aged snark. Copies are likely findable via the Net, but I have no good sense of how rare they may be -- still, this did get a bit of exposure in the genre community when the series appeared, so it's not completely unknown.
Tom Swift - Fourth Series
My favorite of the several incarnations of Tom Swift, boy inventor -- and it's not a coincidence that some of the writers behind these books were prior Planet Builders authors. This version is notable for incorporating some nifty SFnal ideas, as well as a strong recurring villain in Xavier Mace aka the Black Dragon; also, there were thoughtful nods to prior continuity.
Legend (tv)
Not the feature film with the unicorn, but the 1995 series starring Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie. Yuletide's been fairly kind to fans of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. -- it's time we had some new adventures for Ernest "Nicodemus Legend" Pratt and Professor Janos Bartok.
Kate Chambers - Diana Winthrop series
If there is a more obscure fandom in the entire Yuletide database, I'd be surprised. This was a series of a half-dozen slim "teen sleuth" mysteries first published in the 1980s; the setup most closely resembles the Nancy Drew universe, but the settings were more realistic, the plots more complex, and the characterization somewhat more adult (anticipating the "Nancy Drew Files" incarnation of that series a bit, perhaps); the individual books also featured dedications/homages to various classic mystery writers. There doesn't seem to be a good Web resource for the series, though individual titles are findable from the major used-book vendors (in some cases, at insane-looking prices). "Kate Chambers", incidentally, was one of several pen names for a writer named Nicole St. John [not, apparently, children's mystery writer Wylly Folk St. John, as I initially thought] whose best-known nom de plume was probably Norma Johnston.
Linda Haldeman - The Lastborn of Elvinwood
A very brief summary of this novel: English bachelor and actor Ian James is walking home from his village's theater one evening when he notices two of his neighbors slipping quietly into the nearby wood -- and when he follows them, he finds himself in a Faerie court straight out of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Except that the faeries are fading away, and as penalty for snoopiness Ian is recruited to help them exchange one of their own for the infant child of a visiting American family. While the book is long out of print, it's findable in larger libraries and on the used market, and is well worth seeking out -- fans of Tanya Huff's more humorous books and those of the Wrede/Stevermer para-Regency fantasies should find this utterly charming.
Muppets
All right, the Muppets aren't really obscure at all -- but after signups closed last year, I realized that Kermit and friends had somehow not made the cut, and we certainly can't have two Yuletides in a row with no Muppetational content.
Robyn Tallis - Planet Builders series
Not quite as thoroughly forgotten as the Diana Winthrop books, but close. This was a series of ten paperback-original SF novels dating from 1988-1989, featuring a sizeable ensemble cast of teen heroes and heroines living on a newly colonized planet -- sort of as if someone had hired Andre Norton to write a season of Veronica Mars in Space. In this case, though, the "Robyn Tallis" alias belonged to a collective including Sherwood Smith (Inda), Debra Doyle and James Macdonald (The Price of the Stars), Bruce Coville (the Magic Shop books and others) and Mary Frances Zambreno (veteran writer of fanfic and YA fantasy). Great straight-ahead classic SF adventure with much admirable teen-aged snark. Copies are likely findable via the Net, but I have no good sense of how rare they may be -- still, this did get a bit of exposure in the genre community when the series appeared, so it's not completely unknown.
Tom Swift - Fourth Series
My favorite of the several incarnations of Tom Swift, boy inventor -- and it's not a coincidence that some of the writers behind these books were prior Planet Builders authors. This version is notable for incorporating some nifty SFnal ideas, as well as a strong recurring villain in Xavier Mace aka the Black Dragon; also, there were thoughtful nods to prior continuity.
