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The Waterstone's Postcard (Potter Prequel and Neil Gaiman)
The Waterstone's postcards are online here! This Leaky Cauldron article tells how to find Rowling's story in case you have trouble. I'll cut for spoilers in case anyone doesn't want to be spoiled, but I do want to say that you absolutely MUST go read the Neil Gaiman postcard, especially if you like werewolves!
So the prequel is basically James and Sirius acting like a couple of prats. I had difficulty reading Rowling's handwriting, but it's from the point of view of two policemen who are chasing a speeding motorcycle carrying two young men. Reading between the lines, it seems like James and Sirius are fleeing from the Death Eaters, and take advantage of the policemen and the police car to make their escape. I might have some sympathy for them being in danger, except that they show absolutely no fear and treat it all like a great lark--which is in character for them, I must admit. And they seem to take pleasure in mocking the policemen. Not to mention that they've led the Death Eaters straight to a pair of clueless and helpless (I'm assuming that even if the policemen were armed, that would not be much defense against magic) Muggles. But nothing James and Sirius do could ever go wrong, right?
I admit that I've been a little bitter towards them ever since Book 7. (Actually since Book 5, but I was assuming that James, at least, matured after the Shrieking Shack incident, but that was clearly proven wrong in Book 7.) Maybe I'm being a little too bitter about a hastily scribbled ficlet on a postcard, but the story shows that they haven't matured at all since their school days.
On the bright side, it was being predicted by some of us slashers that the prequel would be all about proving how not-gay James and Sirius are, but there was no mention of bikini girls! ^_^ No mention of girls at all, so maybe someone will write some James/Sirius slash about how their motorcycle ride got them all worked up, and they went off to, ah, release some tension after they escaped the Death Eaters!
Okay, so on to Gaiman's story! This is an awesome little murder mystery penned on just one side of the postcard (versus two sides for Rowling). But it gets everything done in those few words and ends with a heck of an impact where you're left saying, "Oh my god!" It has a twist ending that I don't want to give away, but let's just say that it's the most interesting and original werewolf story that I've ever read!
ETA 6/11/08: I've been browsing the web, and yep, the James/Sirius slashers are tickled pink about the two boys riding pillion on a motorcycle! I'm sure we'll be seeing lots of PWPs based on this in the near future. I'm not really into the ship, just because I don't care for those two characters very much, but hey, I'm glad people are getting slashy enjoyment out of this! ^_^
There seems to be some debate on the web about whether the people pursuing them on broomsticks are Ministry personnel just trying to catch a pair of joyriders breaking regulations, or whether they're Death Eaters. If they're Ministry people, then at least James and Sirius haven't put the cops' lives in danger, although they'll probably be Obliviated later. However, given the period that it's set in, my best guess is that they're Death Eaters. Hopefully the police fled before the DEs regained consciousness.
There's also some debate about whether the "golden bird" on Sirius and James's t-shirts is a phoenix (as in official Order of the Phoenix t-shirts) or a Griffin (House t-shirts?). A Griffin isn't exactly a bird, but the police might have mistaken it for one in the dark. For some reason I thought it was a Snitch and they were wearing some kind of Quidditch t-shirts. I don't know why "phoenix" never occurred to me!
Anyhow, although I wasn't really impressed by the prequel, I am relieved that it didn't involve James and Sirius "playing a prank" (i.e. "tormenting" or "bullying") Snape, which was my original guess. I had suspected that it would be the two of them having a laugh at Snape's expense--the kind that non-Snape fans would think was hilarious.
And you know, I find it a little weird that so many people think that James and Sirius scaring the wits out of the hapless policemen is funny. Because after all, *we* are all Muggles--we're the sort of people that the wizarding world looks down on, makes fun of, or at best, finds quaintly amusing.
Oh, and I forgot to add this to my original post: check out the![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
800_words community, in which fandom wrote their own 800 word prequels!
I admit that I've been a little bitter towards them ever since Book 7. (Actually since Book 5, but I was assuming that James, at least, matured after the Shrieking Shack incident, but that was clearly proven wrong in Book 7.) Maybe I'm being a little too bitter about a hastily scribbled ficlet on a postcard, but the story shows that they haven't matured at all since their school days.
On the bright side, it was being predicted by some of us slashers that the prequel would be all about proving how not-gay James and Sirius are, but there was no mention of bikini girls! ^_^ No mention of girls at all, so maybe someone will write some James/Sirius slash about how their motorcycle ride got them all worked up, and they went off to, ah, release some tension after they escaped the Death Eaters!
Okay, so on to Gaiman's story! This is an awesome little murder mystery penned on just one side of the postcard (versus two sides for Rowling). But it gets everything done in those few words and ends with a heck of an impact where you're left saying, "Oh my god!" It has a twist ending that I don't want to give away, but let's just say that it's the most interesting and original werewolf story that I've ever read!
ETA 6/11/08: I've been browsing the web, and yep, the James/Sirius slashers are tickled pink about the two boys riding pillion on a motorcycle! I'm sure we'll be seeing lots of PWPs based on this in the near future. I'm not really into the ship, just because I don't care for those two characters very much, but hey, I'm glad people are getting slashy enjoyment out of this! ^_^
There seems to be some debate on the web about whether the people pursuing them on broomsticks are Ministry personnel just trying to catch a pair of joyriders breaking regulations, or whether they're Death Eaters. If they're Ministry people, then at least James and Sirius haven't put the cops' lives in danger, although they'll probably be Obliviated later. However, given the period that it's set in, my best guess is that they're Death Eaters. Hopefully the police fled before the DEs regained consciousness.
There's also some debate about whether the "golden bird" on Sirius and James's t-shirts is a phoenix (as in official Order of the Phoenix t-shirts) or a Griffin (House t-shirts?). A Griffin isn't exactly a bird, but the police might have mistaken it for one in the dark. For some reason I thought it was a Snitch and they were wearing some kind of Quidditch t-shirts. I don't know why "phoenix" never occurred to me!
Anyhow, although I wasn't really impressed by the prequel, I am relieved that it didn't involve James and Sirius "playing a prank" (i.e. "tormenting" or "bullying") Snape, which was my original guess. I had suspected that it would be the two of them having a laugh at Snape's expense--the kind that non-Snape fans would think was hilarious.
And you know, I find it a little weird that so many people think that James and Sirius scaring the wits out of the hapless policemen is funny. Because after all, *we* are all Muggles--we're the sort of people that the wizarding world looks down on, makes fun of, or at best, finds quaintly amusing.
Oh, and I forgot to add this to my original post: check out the
800_words community, in which fandom wrote their own 800 word prequels!