meteordust | On Nevermore, Dazzleland, and Supernatural fiction

What I find fascinating about the reaction to Nevermore, the first Supernatural tie-in novel, is that the fans don't ask, "Is it as good as the series?" but "Is it as good as the fanfic?" Which says much about the calibre of the writing in this fandom.

I wasn't originally planning on picking up a copy, but

veronamay's review encouraged me to give it a try. For the most part, it was a fun romp, like riding along with Sam and Dean as they hang out in New York City and solve some mysteries.

It wasn't until afterwards, when I had a chance to think it over, that I began to feel that something was missing. That something, I realised, was stakes. The story was a bit *too* much of a romp - at no time did I ever feel that anyone was in genuine danger. Which is a bad thing when you have a serial killer reenacting gruesome murders from the stories of Poe. As for the musician whose house is haunted, all the ghost does is cause a huge racket after each gig, forcing him to retreat outside. More the stuff of Scooby Doo than Supernatural.

Thing is, not all tie-in novels are like this. Star Trek has some great ones - classics like The Price of the Phoenix, Metamorphosis, and Dark Mirror. Then again, there are literally hundreds of Star Trek novels, and Sturgeon's Law applies to all fiction. Sometimes you get dozens of ordinary books before a brilliant one comes along. And Supernatural will probably never have enough tie-in novels released to win at that numbers game.

But what about the fanfic? Well. I think it's fascinating that author Keith DeCandido has chosen to set Nevermore between 'Crossroad Blues' and 'Croatoan', because there is a notable fanfic novel that is also set between those two episodes:

big_pink's Dazzleland.

Like her other Supernatural longfics, it's complex, plotty, and emotionally intense. In her notes she says, "The action in Dazzleland is positioned between two episodic bookends - I had to get the boys to how they are in Croatoan, how Dean ended up saying that he's 'tired of this life' rather than the anger and guilt over what deal John had struck with the yellow-eyed Demon, what we saw in Crossroad Blues."

Dazzleland attempts to explain a discontinuity between episodes, and the emotional arc is an integral part of the story, woven around two hunts, one past and one present, both plotlines culminating in devastating consequences. Nevermore seems designed to slide between episodes without affecting the status quo, the characters working the case while touring the town, and leaving barely affected by their experiences.

Sometimes all you're after is a fun romp. And there's room enough in the world for stories like that. But sometimes you want to be moved, or thrilled, or shocked, or enthralled. And there's already a vast reservoir of stories that can do that.

This is the reason why people ask, "But is it as good as the fanfic?"