Fan Fiction...

[MaggieEvans]

Please pardon me if I'm posting this incorrectly... but I have a quick question.

Does anyone here know where there's a good place to post/read DS fan fiction?

[MaggieEvans]

I'm in the process of writing a story... just started it the other day. So any ideas where I can post it would be greatly appreciated!

[Midnite]

This topic came up in a Search (our best kept secret) of the past 900 days.  Since it's from '06/'07, not all the links will work (one or more of the sites moved, was archived, or disappeared altogether), but several are still active--

The Best and Worst of Fan Fic!

Hope that helped. 

[The Doctor and K9]

My internet fanzine, The Collins Mausoleum has fan fiction.  Issue One features a story set between the 2nd and 3rd Big Finish audios, a story by former zine editor Geoffrey Hamell, a continuation of Jean Graham's Epitaphs series (done with her blessing) and much more.  Issue two has a story by a talented lady named Susan Ramskill and another story by me.  Both issues also have articles and reviews.

You can get these by emailing a request to quentincollinsii@aol.com or downloading the torrent file on www.demonoid.com.  The torrent is not up yet but will go out soon.

[Midnite]

Doctor and K9,

CM #1 is also a visual treat-- vivid colors and beautiful cover art.  It's very nicely done.

[MagnusTrask]

Nancy knows more links for fanfic.

[The Doctor and K9]

CM #1 is also a visual treat-- vivid colors and beautiful cover art.  It's very nicely done.

THANK YOU.  That made my day.

[MaggieEvans]

Thanks so much!! Now I have tons of options!

When I'm done, I'll let you all know where I've put it, if you would like to read it. However... just letting you all know now... it's VERY sappy.

[The Doctor and K9]

I'm reading a great book called My Boy Willie by Christina Pilz.  It covers the period when Willie releases Barnabas and gives us extensive background scenes of Willie's life in the Old House.  I bought it from Kathy Resch's site
http://www.morgandawn.com/kathy_resch_darkshadows.htm

[Taeylor Collins]

Thanks for the Kathleen R site!

[Pansity]

Great Find, DoctorandK9.  If I remember right that's a standalone of a novellette or serialized story from the Karlenzines.  I'd forgotten Kathy had that site with her snail mail ordering info, and the link to her agent for online sales. FYI for those unfamiliar with other fandoms, her agent, Waveney, (Judith and Richard Proctor from England) have an excellent reputation for honesty and reliability within fandom, dating back to their involvement in the heydey of Blakes 7 in the 80s.  If you go though to their home page, http://www.knightwriter.org/index.html you'll see there's zines, both new and used, that they agent for most every fandom. This agenting arrangement is pretty common in media fandom, by the way, as its a way for people like Kathy, who is publishing at least 4 Trek zines alone this year, to get more done and have someone handle their bookkeeping and order processing.

I'd really like to plug zines, since so many people new to the fandom don't know about them, and I've seen multiple DS fanfiction groups actively trash them.  So many don't realize that there's a difference between an EDITED proofread and spellchecked story in a fanzine that's been researched and checked for consistancy and accuracy, and your average fanfic posting where the author demands a good review because they just banged it out in five minutes, and spellcheck just stifles your creativity. 

For those who prefer making up their own minds, and would like to try a fanzine,  there's a number of excellent standalones that Kathy keeps in print.  My favorite is the prequel novel she and Marcy wrote The Island of Shadows.  It's about the Josette and Angelique backstory, and personally, I liked their version better than Angelique's Descent (though I read the latter first, which usually makes that a person's preference).

Jeannie

[The Doctor and K9]

As a long time zine collector, I agree with Pansity and her plug for fanzines.  I'd like to recommend another that I've been meaning to reread.  Dale Clark's Resolutions in Time is a great novel.  [spoiler]For those who loved the 1840 storyline and thought Judah Zachary was a chilling villain, you're in for a treat.[/spoiler]

I do wwish to defend online fanfic though.  I've read some good stories here, and they were free.  I've been burned a few times with incredibly poor material bought via snail mail.  I won't give specific titles.  Natural selection has probably made them extinct any way. 

There is one novel I was reading online before it was abruplty yanked off of the net.  I decided to see if it, by chance it may have made its way back.  I'm gratified to see that it has.  I've now saved the entire story as a Word file and plan to read it this summer.  Here's the link  http://www.readersclubs.com/darkred/  Bear in mind I never finished it, so I can't speak for the resolution.  What I did read have a lot of promise.  Besides, it's free; what is there to lose? 

I've had several conversations both by phone and email in which I was encouraged to send my fanzine out via snail mail.  The unspoken assumption seemed to be that an e-dcoument does not have the same value as a printed, paper book.  To which I counter, fine.  Do what I do, print it up.  You can take it to KINKOS, as I have done, and print it for much less than it would cost me to do it, charge you for it, pay for two return SASEs, ship it to you, insure it, and then pay for lost copies.  In the end I believe that we should take pride in what we produce.  I've seen poorly written stories online.  There are also serials start out with promise but are never completed.  I make it a policy to never read a serial until the final chapter is in my hands.  That mandate is mirrored in "The Collins Mausoleum".    I also have to say that I have a few serials on my fanzine shelf that are unresolved too. 

I'm firmly in both camps.  If I hear about a fantastic zine, I'll rush to the PO and send out a check.  I also love to read decent fiction online.  Here's a final link.  I sent out the outdated location for Jean Graham's fiction before AOL Hometown disappeared.  Jean is a wonderful writer who's published her stuff in many zines.  Most, if not all of these stories were
originally printed in various publications.  They are available now, free of charge.  http://jeangraham.150m.com/

[Janet the Wicked]

I'm reading a great book called My Boy Willie by Christina Pilz.  It covers the period when Willie releases Barnabas and gives us extensive background scenes of Willie's life in the Old House.  I bought it from Kathy Resch's site
http://www.morgandawn.com/kathy_resch_darkshadows.htm

This is by far one of the best fan stories of them all. It's beautifully written, edited to perfection, and researched to the point of annalism. Yep, that would be Pilz. I recommend this tome to any DS fan. And to all those Willie people out there - get the hell on Mary's site and order the Zines. They are sooooo worth it.

[Sunny_Collins]

I'm glad they have the fanzines, although I've not been able to read any of them, however, I really really appreciate online fan fiction. True not all of it is good, but then what one person thinks is good, another person doesn't like. At least online fan fiction is accessible to many more people, and feedback is almost instantaneous, what with e-mailing, and other forms of contact info. I also think it draws more attention to Dark Shadows as a fandom, because I've known people who have read a fan fiction story without having had prior knowledge of that particular fandom, who then find the story so interesting, they then go watch the show. IMHO, I think we could use a lot more online Dark Shadows fan fiction sites!

[The Doctor and K9]

I recently posted a story that attempts to fill in the gaps about what happened between Quentin and Maggie while Barnabas was in Parallel Time.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9885911/1/Love-s-Reflection