Surfing the Alien Pond

E. A. Smith, on the PPMB suggested that Daria fan fiction authors be interviewed so that there could be some discussion regarding what particular authors were thinking when they were writing their stories.

This got me in the mood of looking at the more popular authors of the last two years and in doing some fic review again. In order to keep a tighter choke-chain on my pyromaniacal tendencies, I'll do a more structured review of a fic, in this case, of Richard Lobinske's "On Alien Pond". I'll do strengths, weaknesses, confusing parts, and general impressions.


Plot summary : Daria, after a broken marriage to Tom Sloane and a failed relationship with Trent Lane, decides to pack it up and head to that cabin in Montana. There, she unexpectly finds herself the caretaker of three children from an alien planet.

Strengths of the story :

1) The work is very engaging. Mr. Lobinske is very skilled at maintaining the reader's interest throughout the entire story, except perhaps near the end where plot points bog down in too much detail.

2) The premise is approached as realistically as one can approach it, given the structural elements of the plot. Daria's attempts to raise these children are beset with difficulty almost from the vary beginning, and indeed, become a critical element of the story.

3) I felt the way that Daria handled her breakup with Trent was very much in the way I'd expect Daria to handle something like that.

Weaknesses of the story :

1) Tom's "surrender" to the expectations of his parents. This seems have become almost a cliche by now. (Take note, I am not blaming Mr. Lobinske for it.) In a lot of fan fiction, there is the exectation that Tom is completely spineless when it comes to his parents and given any conflict of interest between what Tom wants and what his parents want, Tom will sooner or later give in. It's almost becoming the equal of other fan cliches, like "complete bitch Sandi".


2) Why would Daria's writing go unsold? A premise is that Daria couldn't get published because of the divorce. I don't agree with that premise; on the contrary, you would think that after a nasty divorce people would be interested
in what one of the parties had to say. I don't think the Sloanes have that kind of hold over the literary world.

3) For large segments of the story, there is too much of an emphasis on plot mechanics and not enough regarding Daria as a character. There was one time when I was reading the story where I felt, "this story could be about
anybody, with some other person's name substituted for Daria's, and it wouldn't make much of a difference".

However, the Daria/Leafrunner confrontation put the story back into its correct balance, and we got to see more of the character and less of the plot.

Confusing parts :

What was Helen supposed to make of such a strange letter? Wouldn't Daria have sent a letter like that to Jane first, rather than Helen? Did Helen receive the letter at all? And what was her reaction to it?

Final impression :

A good read, but I probably won't read the two sequels.

Read "Alien Pond" here .

Your comments? Fair review? Unfair? Praises? Torches being lit?