Friends?

My daughter went to the library the other day, and came back with this book called Six Wakes. I was unfamiliar with it, and I asked her if it was from that I Am Number Four series that made it big enough to be made into one movie, but not a series of movies. She said no, and told me the basic premise of the story. It sounded pretty good.

Then, a little while later, I got a closer look at the book:

Oh, it's by Mur Lafferty, I thought, I know her...except I don't. I've never met Mur Lafferty. I kind of feel like I do, because we were both involved in the same scene at the same time, but I don't think I've ever even exchanged an email with Mur. I listened to her shows, both I Should Be Writing and Pseudopod. Hell, I even narrated a story or two for Pseudopod over the years...although I don't think I did that until after Mur had moved on and Alasdair Stuart took over.

We were both on a similar path in those days. We were doing podcast versions of short stories while trying to launch a writing career as well. I feel a kinship with her, but I guess I don't actually know her...but I feel like I do. Seeing her name on that book makes me smile and think, "One of my friends did it. They made it!"

I guess that's what a parasocial relationship is. since the advent of mass media, people started developing those kinds of relationships, and that has only accelerated the more and more technology advanced. Rish always liked to talk about how he had that kind of a relationship with the radio DJs that he listened to a lot, and he was hoping that a similar thing would happen with The Dunesteef.

I don't know. It's not really worth a blog post, but I did it anyway. Mur doesn't know me, probably doesn't even know the name Big Anklevich at all, but I still think of her as my friend, and I like to be able to see her name on a book cover that just randomly made its way into my house, so that I can say, "Good job, Mur. I'm proud of you. Hopefully, I can join you someday as someone making a living as an author too."