(Almost) Shameless Brag Post

It's too hot to be sensible. (For tomorrow, we're being threatened with temperatures of 40°C. Urgh.)
It's too hot to get anything done. (And as always, there's a lot that should be done.)
And then, Dawn published the SWG birthday celebrations post. (The SWG is turning 10. In online fandom, that's an eternity! So go and celebrate, ye Silmarillion fans all!)
So I might as well... use the occasion to brag a bit.

Now, I've been thinking about the subject line of this post, and such exceedingly funny lines as "From Mordor with Love"* came to mind. Or "In Soviet Russia, vanity publishes you."² But that would look political. Also, it would've been seriously ungrateful to my Russian fans. Because it seems I - no seriously, I, yours truly, moi, я - appear to have a small but reliable Russian fanbase for - wait for it - my Silmarillion fanfic. (That's how all this ties up with the SWG 10th birthday.) And one of my - it still feels really weird to say that! - Russian fans translated my opus magnum into Russian. She kindly translated a lot of the Russian feedback into English for me, too. (It was all positive feedback, so she probably filtered out the less friendly reviews. That's why I'm enjoying the illusion of having only fans, no enemies, in Russia.) Anyway, then another Russian fan felt the urge to illustrate that story. Oh, and print it on paper. As a real book, like. Just a couple of copies, mind you, but, book.

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As you might be aware, I'm a huge fan of fanfic. I'm also a huge fan of fanart. I consume it and I create it, or at least I did before I had two kids that mysteriously swallow up all free time I might otherwise have. So I don't create fanworks anymore. But I still love it.

So when I got an e-mail from my Russian translator (being able to say that really is the most awesome thing in the world!) that this fellow Russian fan had asked whether she might illustrate and publish my story for other fans, it was like Christmas, Easter and Middle-earth Festival in one day. SOMEBODY WANTS TO ILLUSTRATE MY WORDS. SOMEBODY WANTS TO PUBLISH ME. HOLD ME, GRAVITY.

When I was done soaring around, serious issues raised their head. So I replied something along the lines of "Hell yes to the illustrations, go wild, but about the publication, uh, the Tolkien Estate is gonna chew me alive, so no. But I'm ever so flattered."

My translator explained that she didn't have the impression we'd be touching these issues, and whether it was OK to give my e-mail address to the other fan. Sure, go ahead. So I got an e-mail from the illustrator/publisher-in-spe. ("You've got mail from Mairon Gorthaur!") She explained that she really just meant to ask a couple of fellow fans whether they wanted a copy to spread the expenses of printing, then printing (and binding etc.) exactly as many copies as there were contributors, and that was it. Not, as I'd sort of expected from what I'd seen in Japanese fandom, creating like 200 copies and then selling them for the price of printing. No profit made, etc, aside from the joy of having the book.
So that was settled.

I was hardly back from Britanny (oh wait, I never mentioned that either. Never mind.) when I got my copy. I don't read a word of Russian (although I discovered that I can decipher "Maitimo" or "Findekáno" or what-have-you in Kyrillic script just fine!), but I was vain enough to ask for a copy anyway. I mean, it might be the only book I ever get printed, right?

And holy moly, it turned out gorgeous. The cover is gorgeous. (The cover and the chapter titles are in English. Possibly just for me? Aww!) The backcover is gorgeous. The illustrations are gorgeous. (That's my only teeny tiny qualm about fanart: But what if I don't like it, I mean, somebody went to all this effort and then I might not like it? I'll have to lie! But in this case, there's nothing to worry about, I adore it.) The layout is gorgeous. The paper is nice and firm. Did I mention that it's a hardcover book? So far, every self-published book I've seen was softcover, rather poorly printed, and on rather bad paper. And this one of all self-published books, that I didn't even publish myself, is everything I'd ever want from a book. Well, aside from being in a language I can't read. Never mind. I've got the English text on my computer.

It's not quite like holding your newborn baby ("Beides versucht - gar kein Vergleich"³), but it's a pretty damn awesome feeling. Really awesome. But being a sensible grown-up woman, I suppressed the urge of running around and pushing the book into everybody's faces. LOOK! BOOK. WHICH I WROTE THE WORDS FOR. MY BOOK. IN RUSSIAN! After all, it's only fanfic, etc. etc., and anyway, life goes on and is busy and it really doesn't matter.

But, as I said, today it's too hot to be sensible. And it's the SWG's birthday month. And as it happened, that book OMG MY BOOK SOMEBODY PUBLISHED MY BOOK WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S ONLY VANITY PUBLISHING IT'S STILL A BOOK THAT I DIDN'T PRINT MYSELF! was first published - in the sense of publically shared - on the SWG archive. So when I join the SWG's birthday celebrations, I can't help also celebrating myself a little.

Because, let's be brutally honest for a second, one of my childhood ambitions was to be a published author. And for my childhood self, it really doesn't matter whether it's "only fanfic" and whether I can't make any money with the book. The SWG has given me a platform on which I can publish the stories I actually write (as opposed to the ones that might help me make money, but that I just don't get written), on which I can find readers, and even found a translator. And, good heavens, fans. I mean, people who like my fanworks so much that it makes them create their own fanworks. That counts as fans, no? I have fans, ahahahah.

Anyway, to stop this post being all about ME ME ME, this is all thanks to the SWG. So thank you, Dawn & Company, for that - and many happy returns!

And that ends Lyra's irresponsible bragging post. I'll return to my usual bad housewifing now. Or maybe to melting. Probably that. It's too hot for anything else.

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*For the youngsters among you, there was once a James Bond flick titled From Moscow with Love. That's pretty much the entire joke.

²For the youngsters among you, a coupla years ago that was a bit of a joke on the intarwebs. "In Soviet Russia, the music plays you." "In Soviet Russia, Pikachu chooses you." There's almost certainly a serious and unfunny issue behind it, but I only know the online jokes.

³Line from a silly old German med student joke. "In the dormitory of the medical faculty, there's a big note: 'It is absolutely forbidden to receive lady visitors or dissect corpses in your rooms!' A scribbled note next to it declares: 'Tried both - no comparison!'" That's what our grandparents laughed about, people.