Subject: re: Enter the Dragons + 20
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Posted on: 2022-11-14 04:15:20 UTC

Heh, that title is pretty literal, isn't it? Going in, I assumed it was more a metaphor for Suvian threats, but I see I was getting way ahead of myself! Anyway, my comments here will be fairly stream-of-consciousness, and recorded in the order I came up with them as I was reading.

Miss Cam owns evil? And body slams? Probably just some OFUM jokes I'm not getting . . . Okay, that "prologue" portion set in the 1970s is extremely intriguing. Someone seems to have attacked a fan over something they imagined? I wonder who the bolded-font voice is. (Obviously, no one spoil anything, please, I just organize my thoughts in the form of questions. Some of my questions about Lost never even got answered, lol.) Also . . . is that a knock against Jerry Falwell Jr? The name's different, of course, and Jr. would have been only ten in 1972, so maybe it's just a coincidence . . .

Boy, the tone of this really is a lot more serious than I anticipated! I'm so used to the surreal humor of the Original Series and a lot of other early spin-offs, and things just feeling a bit wacky and unhinged. But starting Suedom off in the real world, with lots of unpleasant interactions and a jarring amount of potty language, is a perfect contrast with the "imagination world" that Kate and Kira arrive in later, and the contrast serves to make that sequence even more wonderful. I love everything about that scene, from the teens meeting each other for the first time, to the pure happiness and freedom they find in discovering how unlimited things are, to the hilarious arrival of Odorf and his aloof line delivery. I'm definitely not going to headcanon those different brain regions as being canon to the PPC, as declaring that fan authors have different physiology from other humans is getting way into problematic territory.

Okay, bit of a tangent, but: Kate sings a song from the Avenue Q soundtrack, but that play didn't premiere until 2003, while these first two entries of Suedom are from 2002. Maybe some of the play's songs had been previewed before the official release? Or maybe that song title got edited in after the fact, sometime before Huinesoron made his GDoc backup?

I'm intrigued with what's going on with Rincewind! I was initially thinking that naming the dragon Rincewind had actually forced the real Rincewind to occupy its body (haven't read Discworld, so I don't know how well the dialogue or mannerisms match), but the narration sometimes uses female pronouns for the dragon, and she seems to recognize Middle-earth, so that doesn't quite make sense. And, hm. Jay and Acacia (if that is them) tried to shoot down the dragons without charging first. Not very in character, not in line with HQ guidelines, plus they could have easily read the Words to realize Kira and Kate weren't part of the fanfic they're there to investigate. Not a great representation of the PPC! Though I seem to recall . . . was it a LiveJournal post, or a visit to the Board . . . anyway, somewhere one of the authors mentioned that they were using Suedom to critique the PPC and other Sue hunting stories, so I guess that was intentional, though it doesn't make for a great critique if you're misrepresenting the subject!

The end to this chapter is also intriguing. Is Bilbo acting that way towards them because they have they actually become Suvian? Or is the actual Suvian that was affecting Middle-earth before their arrival just warping his character enough that he can't tell the difference? And what outside influence drew the ladies to this canon in the first place? Was it something Suvian, or Morgtoh whispering from the Void trying to find a way to destabilize canon enough to slip back into reality? And what does any of this have to do with the girl who disappeared in 1972? Yeah, I'm pretty stoked to read more!

—doctorlit will pass on that turkey baster; he doesn't really cook

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