Abandoned visioncloths*

[dolorosa_12]

Day Seventeen of the fandom meme prompts me to write about:

Q: A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

I don't tend to leave fandoms — as should be very obvious to anyone who's been reading my various posts for this meme, once I love something, I love it forever.

But my feelings about Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn series have decidedly cooled since she wrote the concluding book several years ago.

This is a series for which — along with a lot of Australian women of my generation — I felt a great deal of affection. It's almost as old as I am; the first book was published in the 1980s, and I grew up with the series. For years most fans assumed it would never be finished. And then, a couple of years ago, Carmody finally published its conclusion.

To say this book was met with disappointment would be an understatement. I don't think I know a single fan who was happy with how the series ended, and the forum Obernewtyn.net, the first fannish community I ever joined, was ablaze with critical discussions of the book's ending. I had begun to cool on the series a bit earlier than that, basically at the point that I realised a) because it had dragged on so long the political situation to which it had been written in response was no longer relevant (it is extremely influenced by its Cold War context, with the nuclear arms race playing a major role, and had to scramble to adjust to a post-9/11 'war on terror' context) and b) because Carmody began writing the series as a teenager she was no longer able to distance herself from the story and felt paralysed about finishing it because it would, metaphorically, be closing that childhood chapter of her life.

I'm still good friends with the people I met through the fandom — we just don't talk about the books all that much any more — and I did dip my toes into Obernewtyn fanfic waters in an exchange a few years back. Inevitably, that fic was a canon divergent fix it fic that overwrote and ignored the last book's ending.


R: Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

S: Show us an example of your personal headcanon.

T: Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

U: Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

V: Which character do you relate to most?

W: A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

X: A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Y: What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Z: Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

*The title of this post refers to another incomplete (and unlikely ever to be completed) Isobelle Carmody series, The Legendsong, rather than Obernewtyn. Are you sensing a pattern?

Comments

[rachelmanija]

I haven't read the series, but in general terms, what was wrong with the ending? "Rocks fall, everybody dies?"

[dolorosa_12]

To be honest, the problem with the ending was that it undercut everything the series had been saying — and all the character development it had given the protagonist — for the past six books.

I can't figure out how to hide spoilers in a comment, so unfortunately you're just getting them here. Stop reading the comment if you don't want to be spoiled.

The protagonist begins the series isolated, trusting no one, and convinced that she's doomed to be a self-reliant loner who will never be able to get close to anyone. The series proceeds to prove her wrong, and to show that building community, finding your family of misfits, and being kind and compassionate to others will save the world. And that lone heroes will not win — they need to accept the help of others if they're to achieve their aims.

And then the heroine's 'reward' for saving the world, which she accepts cheerfully and with relief, is to ride off into the sunset with her boyfriend and a menagerie of animals (animals in the series are sentient and the main character and others with her supernatural abilities can communicate with them) and never see any of the other friends to whom she's spent the whole series slowly getting closer.

It makes me spit flames whenever I think about it.

[aimedatthestars]

Oooh, the last Obernewtyn book has been on my to-read list for awhile now. I remember the fan reactions, which is why I've put it off so long. Depending on how long I'm home, I might finally attempt it; one of my libraries has it in ebook form.

[dolorosa_12]

Yeah, I'm sad to say that I don't know of a single fan who was happy with the ending. Who knows, maybe you'll be different? You're right at least that the lockdown gives you an opportunity to get a lot of reading done, and if it's available from your library, at least you won't have to pay for a copy.

[laurenthemself]

SODDING RED QUEEN.

[dolorosa_12]

I still feel so betrayed by how bad the ending was! I don't think I know a single person who liked it (and I know a lot of Obernewtyn fans).

[morbane]

I still want to read the full series. But I keep getting stymied by the poor pacing in Stone Key, let alone further on. (Partly, shopfront keeps asking for Elspeth/Dameon and I keep thinking 'Could I write that?')

And, fool that I may be, I still really hope Darkbane gets written.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh God, the pacing in the later books is terrible! (And there were editing errors in the first editions, which still makes my mind boggled: she had so many years to write those books, and yet they still have continuity errors, typos, and read as rushed.)

I wrote Elspeth/Dragon for shopfront at one point, and really enjoyed doing so (apart from anything else, I got to fix the ending of the book), but I think Elspeth/Dameon is beyond me — I'd read it if you wrote it, though!

I'm still involved in Carmody fandom to a certain extent — the people I met through the old Obernewtyn.net forum set up a Facebook group — and the last I heard she was allegedly working on Darkbane, but had to reread the previous two books because she'd forgotten what happened. *headdesk* I have to say I'm not holding my breath.

[morbane]

Yes! I think I read your Elspeth/Dragon? And it's very kind of you to say I'd read it if you wrote it of my ideas.

Oh my. Oh, that's honestly really charming. I'd be like that if I ever had big ongoing WIPs. But it doesn't give confidence that she remembers what was supposed to happen, either!

Would you mind linking me to the Facebook group? I think I'd like to join.

[dolorosa_12]

The link to the Facebook group is here.

It's a private group so I think you would need to be approved by the admin to join. I'm friends with her, so if you have issues getting your membership processed let me know and I'll send her a message about it (I'll find a way to do so without needing to know your real name, if that's a concern).

[morbane]

That's very kind of you...

And, approved already!