Loose Lips by Amy Stephenson and Casey A. Childers is out now! Check out our review for this new fanfiction anthology!
Loose Lips: Fanfiction Parodies of Great (and Terrible) Literature from the Smutty Stage of Shipwreck is officially here!
Last week we brought you the interview we had with the editors of the anthology, Amy and Casey, and this week, we’re going to focus on our review for the novel.
I’ve been around fic for awhile, but I haven’t ventured into many different fandoms. I’ve dabbled a lot, though. It’ll be eight years in January since I found out what fic was after searching IMDB forums for news about New Moon filming.
That’s when I found Wide Awake by AngstGoddess (this is a common answer when you ask Twific people what popped their fic cherry, by the way) and the rest is history. Well, I lie because I spent the first few chapters wondering why Edward Cullen was eating cookies because he was a vampire and didn’t like eating human food…thus began my learning of common slang used in fanfiction circles.
AH = All Human, guys. Just so you know.
I love that this anthology starts out with a basis for newbies by giving them these terms and explaining them. That’s such a big hurdle when getting into fic because it can almost seem too big to navigate at times. The editors are funny and really get what fic is like and how important it can be the readers and writers of it.
I completely understand the need to make classic literature less pretentious and more accessible, but I don’t know if these fics were the best way to do that.
As someone who loves fic and writes it regularly, I was disappointed that the stories in this anthology weren’t the smutty, fun fics I thought they’d be. Most of them were pretty much crackfic. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good crackfic, but I think that if it had encompassed the wide array of fic there is out there then it would have showcased fanfiction a little better.
I know a lot of people that read this anthology will be fanfic readers, and I don’t think many people who aren’t familiar with fic will see the appeal, but if one person does, I don’t know if this is the representation of fic that I’d like them to see. I feel that with a little more variety, it would have been a well-rounded look at fic.
This one contains lots of one-shots and lots of laughs, but crosses into *headtilt* territory a little more often than I would have liked which is why I’m giving this one 3 out of 5 stars.
I feel like the premise was there, the love of fic was there, but the execution was a little off for me.
**Thank you to the publisher and editors for the advanced copy of the anthology and taking the time to answer our questions!**