Simon Snow series
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Simon Snow (series) |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Rainbow Rowell / Gemma T. Leslie |
| Date(s): | 2013- |
| Medium: | fictional book series within the novel Fangirl (book) |
| Country of Origin: | USA / UK |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Simon Snow series by fictional author Gemma T. Leslie is a fictional fantasy book series. It appeared first within Rainbow Rowell's novel Fangirl (2013), as the canon in which main character Cath wrote fanfiction.
Passages of the Simon Snow books are "quoted" in Fangirl and the characters are discussed by the Fangirl characters.
The Simon Snow verse served as the basis for Rowell's related Spin-off, Carry On (2015).
The Simon Snow book series is obviously modelled on the Harry Potter series.
Overview
According to its author's (fictional) "Encyclowikia" page which appears in Fangirl, the series is comprised of:
- Simon Snow and the Mage's Heir, 2001
- Simon Snow and the Second Serpent, 2003
- Simon Snow and the Third Gate, 2004
- Simon Snow and the Selkies Four, 2007
- Simon Snow and the Five Blades, 2008
- Simon Snow and the Six White Hares, 2009
- Simon Snow and the Seventh Oak, 2010
- Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance, May 1, 2012
According to the same page, the books were translated into 53 languages and, previous to the publication of Book 8, had sold more than 380 million copies. The author faced criticism for "violence in the series and for creating a hero who is sometimes selfish and bad tempered," and was boycotted by American Christian groups for an exorcism scene.[1]
In Fangirl, we learn that the books have also been made into a series of movies.
Main Characters
Relationship to Carry On
In October 2015 Rowell published Carry On, a novel featuring the characters from in Fangirl. When asked about the relationship between the two books, Rowell said on her website:
Wait a minute -- is Carry On fanfiction or canon?
The most common question I’ve been asked is whether I’m writing as Cath or as Gemma T. Leslie … The answer is, I’m writing as me.
After I finished writing Fangirl, I kept thinking about Simon and Baz and the World of Mages … I wanted to write more about them, but I didn’t want to write the full series GTL-style. And I also didn’t want to write through Cath’s hands and brain.
I wanted to explore what I would do with this world and these characters.
So, even though I’m writing a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series …
… I think what I’m writing now is canon.[2]
Fanworks
Despite its status as an invented fandom (similar to Ghost Soup Infidel Blue), real fanworks were created for the series.
On AO3, around a hundred works were posted in the Simon Snow series tag from Sept 20, 2013 to October 2015. It was a Yuletide fandom in 2013 (1 work) & 2015 (8 works).[3]
When Carry On was published on Oct 6, 2015, the tag blew up: as of May 11, 2016, it contained 592 works, often tagged with the Simon Snow tag as well as with the related "Fangirl" or "Carry On" tags.
Therefore it is difficult to differentiate between works that concern purely the Simon Snow canon as occurs in the book Fangirl and those informed by the Carry On book and/or the "Carry On" fic as written by Cath in Fangirl.
Example early works:
- Penelope Bunce and the Yuletide Assignment by hhertzof, posted 2013-09-30 (Gen).
- Carry On Simon Universe by rhien, posted 2014-01-01 to 2014-01-03 (SnowBaz).
- Truth Potion by fefereri, posted 2014-02-03 (SnowBaz).
Resources
- Simon Snow tag at AO3.
- tumblr tag.
References
- ^ "The Simon Snow Series", Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell.
- ^ Carry On section of Rainbow Rowell's website [1]
- ^ Nine Simon Snow Works in Yuletide (accessed May 11, 2016).
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