Narnia

The fall always reminds me of Narnia, because with cold weather comes hot chocolate, Halloween, renaissance festival, and Thanksgiving--family things. And Narnia is very much a family thing for me.

My brothers and I grew up loving The Chronicles of Narnia, and we always played that I was Susan, John was Peter, and Nick was Edmund. (Lucy was invisible, and boring.) When the movies came out we immediately began working on costumes resembling each of our chosen characters, even though we are now grown up.

I've read the entire series probably 6 times now, and it always bothered me that Susan didn't end up in Narnia at the end of The Last Battle, but I never thought too much of it. I never read Neil Gaiman's reportedly downer of a short story "The Problem of Susan" and I'm not sure I ever will, because I found something that resolves my bother and ties up all the loose ends just how I imagine: The Queen's Return by Honorh on Livejournal.

It is a fanfiction, but I don't believe that fanfiction stories are any lesser stories compared to those that are published originals, and in fact are a necessary piece of our cultural exchange of ideas If you're a fan of Narnia or Susan, you just might agree.