The Okal Rel Universe in evolution and in the world.

 


ORU contributor Mel Farrow pointed out to me today that after many months of just a few friends talking with her on the ORU fan club site she created on Deviant Art, there are signs of visitors appearing. Very exciting.

Visit Mel's Okalrel-Fanclub on Deviant Art at http://okalrel-fanclub.deviantart.com . Mel did chibbie art for the OR Encyclopedia and for use on buttons. She is also a regular at our Saturday morning readings, wrote a wonderful review of the series for Over the Edge, the UNBC student newspaper, masterminds cosplay with Tegan to produce ORU picutres and is writing a story for an upcoming anthology.

Speaking of Saturday morning readings ... we just finished today's. Krysia brought a new friend, Miranda, who is an artist and is gamely getting into the stories. Holly had to do yard work today so we didn't get an Artemis Fowl installment. I read the last chapter of Part 6: Avim's Oath. David stayed for breakfast but had to go to work at the playhouse before the reading began. Angie showed him her ORU website before he left. He was impressed, just as I was! Thinking we should get it up on the main site, after it is finished, and label it "Angie's Route" to getting to know the ORU for newbies. Miranda is reading Part 1: The Courtesan Prince and is at about chapter 3. Angela is re-reading Part 2: Righteous Anger, in which Horth is about to be exiled to SanHome at age 11. The gang pointed out, after I read from Part 6: Avim's Oath, how the books are getting "lighter", compared with Part 4: Throne Price and Part 2: Righteous Anger. Part 7: Healer's Sword is about busy, productive change in the ORU and on the light side, as well, in as much as it features marriage, romance, babies and the cultural exchange. But it will have its nasty moments. The last three books head into darker waters, but I hope to keep up the sparkle on the interpersonal front established in the "middle volumes". Lovely to hear the Saturday morning audience lament "There's only three books left!" when I bragged about being halfway through Part 7: Healer's Sword But it will be a relief, at the same time, to have the whole saga delivered. Still hoping to get there by 2012.

Labels: art, fan, Mel

posted by Lynda at 12:25   3 comments permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 3 comments links to this post

 
Puttering at my delicious bookmarks today I spotted the fan word on their page as per the image here and made up my mind once and for all - I gotta let go of my squeamishness about the word 'fan'. I'm a fan of any site I bookmark or group I join! It's that simple in web 2.0. My balky feelings about the word spring from my discomfort with what I have dubbed the "pro-speak" culture of my early days as a published writer. In pro-speak, a fan is a mindless wallet whose role is to buy whatever commodity a creative entrepreneur is hawking and to stroke the ego of the artist but keep the hell out of the business of being creative herself. I hated the blind arrogance of the usage. I wanted a word for my readers that expressed my respect for their good taste and my acute awareness that they were complex, inspiring people who happened to like my books as well. If any of the creatively talented ones wanted to write or do art in the ORU, I especially didn't want to use a word that would put them on the wrong side of the pro-speak divide between those who 'can' and those who 'buy'! I believe the line is blurring and the branding of products and aggressive categorizing of people integral to pro-speak is melting down under the egalitarian influence of the web. No change comes without a price, and there is always the challenge of navigating the surplus to locate the materials of choice for you. But 'fan' in web 2.0 is not the same word as the 'fan' of pro-speak. In pro-speak, fan and pro are hard and fast categories. In web 2.0 we are all fans and all creators, taking on different roles in differet contexts. And that's a usage I can snuggle up to and embrace without feeling icky.

Labels: fan, fandom, pro-speak, semantics

posted by Lynda at 07:29   0 comments permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments links to this post