If any one person is to thank (or blame) for Wool fan fiction, it’s David Adams. One of the best members of KBoards (which is to say the most helpful, most uplifting, and most entertaining of members), David has been a huge supporter of my work since the very beginning. He put up the first (and only?) video review of Wool and started numerous threads about the series (one of my favorite was this Hollywool mockup).
But it was his fan fiction that really blew me away. Before the SHEAR TERROR piece (which I loved and which you can find on the fan fic page), there was NEW FLEECE ON LIFE. It was the first true piece of fan fiction written in the Wool world, and it started as little more than a forum post. One that blew me away for it’s brilliant and moving What If?
Now, I get a lot of questions about this fan fiction stuff, and one of the things people seem most wary of is the idea of having something written that conflicts with “canon.” This has never been a concern for me, and I think it’s because I grew up on comics, where origin stories are rewritten, comics rebooted, alternate universes explored, and nothing is set in stone.
In fact, one of my favorite comic series growing up was the Marvel What If? series. Narrated by The Watcher, these comics revealed the outcome of major events in the Marvel universe had they gone a different way. The exploratory nature was fun. It was like a formal daydream in a known world. I loved them.
Which is why David’s take on Wool knocked my socks off. You see, he un-kills a beloved character. We get to see what would have happened if Holston survived his cleaning. No, not a spoiler, as the story begins with this moment. And it is tenderly treated, moving me to tears on my first reading. Even better, David brings characters from his Lacuna series and intermingles the two casts together. It is a fan fiction mash-up, and brilliantly done.
For a dollar, it can’t be beat. And it’s a great introduction to one of the future stars of indie publishing. David is a complete natural. He writes with a cinematic style and creates believable characters. I’m honored that he not only dabbled in my world, but brought a piece of his into it. Thanks, David.
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