Rec Us Your Newest Thing.

This past year, I got interested in a new fandom—well, new to me, that is. I'd certainly heard of the Biggles series, which is a long set of adventure stories by British author, Capt. W.E. Johns, starring James Bigglesworth (nicknamed "Biggles") from his teen years as a fighter pilot in World War I through to middle age in the 1960s. Altogether over a hundred books, very popular in its day. Biggles is a typical mid-twentieth century boys' adventure hero: honourable, brave, ingenious, and lucky. I never read any of the books when I was a kid; but, when I was studying children's fiction back in the '90s, I bought a few for my collection. Judging by the spines, I'm not sure I even opened them!

A year or so ago, a group of Biggles fans on AO3 began requesting the series in gift exchanges, writing for each other in a venue that made the fandom visible to people quite unfamiliar with the series. They're very good writers, and one of their main pairings is the sort of frenemyship that's pure catnip. So last summer I hauled out the handful of books I had and took a peek at them.

They're well plotted and lots of fun!

So I ordered more; but, as they're cheaper in Britain, I had them delivered to my sister, who brought them over to me when she came here for Christmas. In the meantime, I discovered that most of the books are actually available on line. In some countries, you see, they're out of copyright; and, as that includes Canada, I've been downloading them with a clear conscience. Of course, with so many of them, I'm nowhere near finishing the series yet.

People who read my stories know that I often write "worldbuilding" stories: not just backstory and futurefic; but also stories that fill in missing bits, or try to resolve contradictions and errors, or assemble all the tiny snippets of information we have about a supporting character and then try to fit them into a coherent whole. Any worldbuilder who sees a lacuna in canon is bound to wonder what happened. Well, the Biggles series is full of odd gaps and questions. So fanfic, obviously ... and then probably more fanfic! And maybe some meta, too.