Fandom High School

"Morning, kids," Rick said cheerfully as the last student arrived. "Today we're going to be doing some preparation for your finals."

"Now, you'll all remember that in addition to the genre books we've been looking at, I asked you all to also read one of the more traditional classics, and now, I can reveal why." After pausing for dramatic effect, he held up a pair of paperbacks. "Those of you familiar with the Jane Austen WITH MONSTERS! books probably have a good idea where I'm going with this. You are going to take your classic and infuse it with genre elements in order to create a new and exciting classic work of literature, and then next week you'll present it to the class."

"You can go about this a couple of ways," Rick continued. "You can use the same conceit as the Austen books, keeping the same basic story and incorporating the elements, though you don't have to rewrite the text in question, just explain your take and give us an idea of what it'd be like, or do something more like Gaiman's The Consulting Detective and the Unspeakable Eldritch Horrors. Just try and avoid any straight-out rehashes in space."

"Also, try to keep in mind that these books are considered classics because people have read, remembered and probably liked them for decades, or even centuries, so consider how to balance gaining a new audience with alienating the old ones. Because Austen fans are much scarier than they might appear at first glance."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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Rick did not look the least bit chagrined that in the midst of his Bund-fanboying he'd forgotten to hand out reading lists for this fortnight. Because that would be silly.

He was, however, hauling a large stack of books, around with him.

"Did you guys know that romance novels are the single most popular genre in modern fiction?" he asked, holding a book with a particularly lurid cover aloft. "And it's really not that hard to see why. Between the affordability, guarantee of a happy ending, and hopefully a saucy love scene or three, they're like candy. Delicious, heart-warming, non-fattening brain-candy."

There was no way he was going to be able to get away with claiming those novels weren't part of his personal collection. Especially not with the way he was cradling that book.

"However, being so large a field means that Sturgeon's Law is in full effect," Rick continued. "For every La Nora, there's an Angelica Desmenes. Or worse, since those are at least entertaining in their ridiculousness. Even when there's a good author at the helm, things can still go horribly wrong in the art department."

Rick tapped the cover of the book he was holding with one finger. "What I'd like you to do today is to take one of these books, and come up with what you think the story's about based solely on the cover. No peeking at the blurbs. Have fun."

"Also, for next week's class I want you guys to all go see a romantic movie. Doesn't have to be a chick flick, just something romantic. However, I don't want you to see any films involving creepy, stalker-riffic sparkly monsters and the co-dependent death-seekers who fixate on them," Rick said. "Unless they're unicorns. Unicorns are allowed to sparkle."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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Rick was standing on top of his desk today, ineffectively wielding a broom at a large squash. Several large squash actually. And numerous other vegetables.

"I thought I'd save the lecture for next week and have a practical class today, kids," he shouted in a manner that was most definitely manly and authoritative and not at all like a girly shriek. "Just ask yourself what would James Bund do, then since you've all read at least one of his books, do it."

He paused a moment. "Minus the drinking, gambling, and having sex with women you'll never see again after the problem's solved."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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The windows were shuttered and the lights in the class room were turned down. The only light in the room came from a small braizer, and the torch that Rick was holding under his chin. Instead of the usual coffee and pastries, there was an ungodly amount of candy and other sugary treats.

"Good morning children," Rick, who was wearing his space cowboy costume specially for this, intoned. "Today we're going to be talking about the spine-chilling terror that is horror fiction. And we're going to be doing it the best way possible, by sharing scary stories over a not-so-open fire."

Rick twirled his torch around. "Person with the torch shares the scariest moment from their chosen book. However, no one is allowed to mention certain book series involving glitterfied monsters. They're only scary in their lack of research and the stalkery controlling behaviour of the male protagonist."

Rick held out the torch to the nearest student. "Also, while you're waiting your turn you may roast marshmallows over the coals. Just try not to set off any alarms."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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The usual selection of pastries and coffee greeted the class as they arrived. For his part Rick looked vaguely hung over as he clutched a cup of coffee in his hands.

"I hop you all had a good weekend," Rick began. "And that none of you had to find out that your mother slept with the Vice-Principal." He was in a sharing the trauma kind of mood today.

"So, crime and mystery," he said after giving the class a moment to shake that mental image from their minds. "Now as you might have guessed from the fact I write it, and because I told you in the first class, this is my absolute favourite genre of all time, because it's all about people, and unless you've got a truly terrible story on your hands, it all makes sense. Especially when it involves murder.

"In fiction, even the most seemingly senseless and arbitrary crime means something, has a motive, serves a purpose, even if it's only as a red herring. It has to, for the 'Aha!' moment. Which is the point in the story when all the pieces fall into place and your plucky girl detective, nosy old lady, gentleman sleuth, or hard-bitten P.I., unravels the mystery and you can go back through the book and pick up on the clues leading to it."

As if he was making up for last week's silence, Rick continued on for a while, explaining and expanding on many of the tropes used in the genre.

"Now, speaking of 'Aha!' moments," Rick said after he wound up. "Tell me if you had one in the book you read for this."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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As the class entered the classroom, Rick gestured in the direction of the customary coffee and pastries, waiting for them to collect their caffeine and sugar before starting to talk.

"Morning kids," he said cheerfully, sipping from his own much. "Since we're looking at fantasy literature next week, I'll save most of my talking for then and keep things simple this week."

"Now, like sci-fi, you can have the same problems with defining what actually constitutes a fantasy work because it simply encompasses so much. Even before we get to the doorstopper novels that most people think of when you say the word, we're talking myth, legend, folklore, fairy tales, thousands of years of human creative endeavour. However, general rule of thumb goes that the story contains fantastic elements in an internally consistent and coherent framework, along with themes of inspiration from mythology and folklore. If you've got that, you can pretty much go wild."

"What this means today is that in addition to the usual talking about what you watched, I also want you guys to talk about what you think of when you hear the word fantasy in relation to a story. Tropes, elements, character types, the whole shebang."

"Now, onto the films. A lot of western fantasy films tend to fall into either the high fantasy or sword and sorcery subgenres. So you've got a lot of epic battles between good and evil, or swashbuckling heroics in search of treasure and glory. All taking place in distant, far-off lands, after all, there's a reason that half of your lists were shot in New Zealand, though Australia is now getting a look in with Passage of the Dusk Strider." Rick continued on in this vein for a while.

Finally, he pointed at a random student. "Enough from me, your turn."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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Once again, there was coffee and baked goods on a side table as the class came in, and the tables were arranged in a rough circle.

( Rick is talky meat. IN SPACE! )

[OOC: OCD up.]

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