It’s no secret how much I love Harry Potter. Heck, for years I’ve been featured in many publications talking about my fandom and how after 15 years of being a professional fiction writer I started writing Harry Potter fanfic for fun. (Like this one or this podcast or this one, or this one…)

So when I heard my longtime literary agent and now publisher of Riverdale Avenue Books, Lori Perkins, was going to try to launch a line of books called The Binge Watcher’s Guides, and she was going to want to sign up many writers to each do their favorite TV and film series, I jumped on the chance to be the one to write the book on the Harry Potter movies!

To get the book and series off the ground, we’re running a Kickstarter, which will help to not only pay me a good rate, but raise the money needed for the kind of promotion and publicity necessary to compete in today’s book publishing market, which is tougher than ever. The campaign launched Wednesday, topped its first thousand dollars by Friday, and is well on the way to not only making the initial goal but hopefully reaching the all-important stretch goals, too!

To back the campaign: https://bit.ly/HPbingewatch

Among the rewards, which of course include the book, I’m also offering some virtual tarot card readings, and some other really fun stuff, like recipe cards for foods and drinks to make and serve at your Harry Potter movie marathon party!

The book includes tons of research I did, including dozens of fascinating casting stories, film-making innovations, and analysis of the place of the film series as a force in modern pop culture.
I’ve also got tips for throwing a binge-watch party, and advice on how and when to introduce the films to children for the first time. And of course recaps of each film, and a section for film fans on things you might want to know from the books.

Among the things I had forgotten until I went and looked back at it was the fact that the first film debuted right after the September 11th attacks. I think we were all ready for a little escape into a magical world at that point…

And I think during the pandemic people are looking to escape again, only this time from the safety of our own living rooms. There’s never been a better time to do a binge watch of a series, really.

So if you’d like to re-live the magic of discovering the Harry Potter films for the first time, or if you ARE discovering the films for the first time, come along with me to Hogwarts and beyond!

All backers get a discount off the regular retail price of the book and/or ebook, as well as exclusive rewards that can only be gotten through the Kickstarter.

Click to support: https://bit.ly/HPbingewatch

Mirrored from cecilia tan.

This year’s Arisia is once again shaping up to be tons of geeky, sexy fun–which is pretty much what this con has been about for over two decades! Last year Arisia was so popular they SOLD OUT, so if you’re planning to go, I strongly suggest pre-registration. I know a fair number of folks who ended up just meeting up for meals in the hotel’s bars and restaurants since they couldn’t get in elsewhere! (The con is January 16-19 at the Westin Waterfront in Boston. Rate is $55 now, goes up to $65 on Jan 1st. Friday only passes are $20 IF THE CON ISN’T SOLD OUT.)

Here’s what I’ll have going on.

FRIDAY 7pm to 11:15pm (Room # 461 on the party floor): Circlet Press Erotic SF/Fantasy Book Party
Our traditional gathering to munch on snacks while schmoozing with various Circlet Press editors and authors! Free ebook of choice to first 25 guests to arrive! Come peruse our smorgasbord of smutty science fiction and fantasy novels and anthologies. What’s your kink: elves, transhumanism, dragons, artificial intelligence, steampunk, vampires, etc…? Chances are we’ve got something for you.

FRIDAY 11:30pm (Hale): EROTICA READING
This year it’ll be me, Jennifer Williams, and Connie Wilkins! I don’t usually plan in advance what story, genre, or sexuality type I’m going to read. But maaaaybe this year I’ll put up a poll just to see. Since it’s a group reading I’ll only have time to read 1-2 short pieces, so maybe I’ll let you guys vote in advance.

SATURDAY 4:00pm (Marina1): FOOD SCIENCE PANEL
For once I will get to nerd out about something besides sex, BDSM, or erotica! (Or Harry Potter!) Who knows? Maybe I’ll even make something that can be handed out at the panel using mad science skillz.

SATURDAY 8:00pm to 1am (Room 461 on the party floor) HOGWARTS ALUMNI REUNION
The now-traditional annual party for all Potterheads. Wands required for entry. (Muggles welcome if they can convince a witch or wizard to get them through the door…) Not for kids, mostly because we talk about rather adultish things like Harry/Draco/Snape threesomes a lot. This reunion will be sponsored by MISTI-Con! (MISTI-Con 2015 is an immersive Harry Potter fan convention in Laconia, NH, May 21 – 25.)

SUNDAY 11:00am (Hale) TALES FROM THE SLUSH PILE
I will be on this panel about What Not To Do when one submits a manuscript with an awesome passel of female editors. Check out this all-star lineup: Genevieve Iseult Eldredge (moderator), Joy Marchand, Joy Crelin, Innana Arthen, Hildy Silverman, and me.

For more info about Arisia, or to register for the con: http://www.arisia.org/

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae were gracious enough to invite me to write a guest blog at Avian 30. I originally met Racheline through Harry Potter fandom, and as those of you who were at my erotica reading at the Geeky Kink Event–or who saw the video of it on YouTube–know that I write Harry Potter fanfic for fun. So I tackled the subject of writing fanfic in my guest blog.

Racheline writes, “So often, when we talk about fanfiction I feel like that discussion is defensive, fearful, or defeatist — there are certainly incredibly good reasons in the history of fanfiction culture for this to be the case. Cecilia’s take is refreshing, because it’s not about that at all. It’s about different ways to tell stories and what it’s like when the world finally catches up with what you love.”

What, I wrote about love? Grin. Of course I did.

“Yep, these days fanfic is not just considered “cool,” it’s red-hot mainstream,” I wrote. “Which puts writers like me in the odd position of being like those hipsters who were doing something ‘before it got big.’ Unlike those hipsters, though, I don’t complain about people discovering our ‘secret.’ We weren’t TRYING to create an elitist cabal that others would long to join. Fanfic writers are the intersection of two of the nerdiest groups on Earth: writers and fans. I don’t think most of us thought of ourselves as ‘the cool kids,’ we were just doing something we love! But these days even nerddom is going mainstream: certainly fandom is.”

In the essay I talk about how fandom’s “arrival” at the same time as widespread acceptance of certain gay rights (a la marriage) and the sudden mainstreaming of BDSM (a la 50 Shades of Grey) is NOT A COINCIDENCE. They’re all part of my fight and my peers’ fight for the right to wear our hearts on our sleeves, to not hide what we love or how.

“Fandom is about love, intense intense love, with dashes of deep devotion and maybe even some obsessive need. Fanfic is about expressing that love–which results in some intense intense fiction, incredible emotional rollercoasters–and about satisfying that need. That sounds like exactly the recipe one should follow to cook up a bestselling romance novel, doesn’t it?”

Go on over to Avian30.com to read the whole thing and comment if you agree or disagree!

Confessions of a Fanfic Hipster

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Earlier today, J.K. Rowling got everyone’s knickers in a twist when the news broke that, in an interview conducted by Emma Watson (the actress who played Hermione in the Harry Potter movies) for Wonderland, Rowling said that Hermione should have married Harry instead of Ron. (See the story on Hypable.)

With that one statement, Rowling torpedoes not only the one love relationship in the series that she took time and care to really set up (Ron/Hermione), but sinks Harry/Ginny as well. I’ve always felt that the epilogue was forced onto the books. She says she wrote the epilogue first and kept it as a beacon to guide her through the whole series, knowing that the Jane Austen-esque double wedding was waiting at the end.

One of the reasons this particular announcement is causing so much uproar, though, I feel, is that the romantic elements of the Harry Potter books were among the weakest and most ripe for criticism. Reasons below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.