BRW: Behind the Blind 5

This past spring I wrote a 25,000-word fan fiction story. It’s inspired by a Marvel comic book from the eighties. I have no idea at all why I did it. I wasn’t eager to write a fanfic, about superheroes or anything else. The urge just came to me out of the blue. 

In my previous blog I wrote shorter fanfics inspired by movies and TV. (Here’s an example.) I did it then as a means to generate material for the blog. Often, I cared less about whether or not a given movie was any good and more about what I thought or experienced while watching it. Also, posts like these were more creative than a thumbs-up or thumbs-down review.

My point is, I’ve never had a strong yen for fanfic for its own sake. This felt different. 

Viva Ze Bool! Ferdinand Went to War for Australia

The flower-sniffing bull was the inspiration for a wartime surveillance group in the land down under.

by Rich Watson

The Story of Ferdinand was a 1936 book by Munro Leaf, with illustrations by Robert Lawson. Life magazine called it “the greatest juvenile classic since Winnie the Pooh.” At one point it outsold Gone With the Wind.

It came out during the Spanish Civil War and on the verge of World War 2. Some interpreted the children’s book within those contexts.

The book’s success, however, inspired Allied forces in Australia in the battle against fascism.

Illustrator Beatrix Potter Self-Published Her First Book, “Peter Rabbit”

After her budding future as a scientist was stifled, the Victorian-era illustrator turned to children’s books.

by Rich Watson

At the turn of the twentieth century, Beatrix Potter had a promising future as an amateur scientific illustrator, with an emphasis on the study of fungi. As a woman in Victorian England, however, she could only pursue her craft so far.

Her fortune took a turn when she launched a career in children’s literature, beginning with her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.