#i can only imagine when money gets in the mix with that sort of fandom/online culture

[batrachised]

after watching part of that review scandal video, can I just say I am inordinately thankful I am not involved in booktok or book circles online, dear lord

[sindrafalcone]

Secret Valentine...

Fandom: BIGBANG/ Kwon Jiyong (G Dragon) x reader

Synopsis: Jiyong finally figures out his secret Valentine

Warnings: fluffiness, candy induced fluffiness

Author’s Note: Finally finished this belated Valentine’s fluff piece! Maybe Jiyong will leave me be for now so I can go back to writing Seunghyun. lol My apologies for the lateness. But I hope you guys still enjoy!

Suggested Listening: ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This story contains fictional representations of real people. None of the events are true. This is from an American standpoint, so some of the situations may not happen the same way they might in Korea. I make no money from the writing of this fictional work. I do not own any images used.

Masterlist

From his place on the floor of the YG mens locker room, partially hidden behind some empty boxes, Jiyong yawned as quietly as he could & checked the time on his phone. 5am. That meant that most of  the early employees should start arriving soon. He felt himself smile and excitement bubbled up in his chest. This time he was finally going to figure it out...

The chocolates had begun mysteriously appearing in his locker on Valentine's day of 2007. Bigbang had made their debut, but hadn't quite managed to find that hit song that he was so sure he'd be able to write sooner or later.

After an incredibly long and tiring day of dance practice he'd opened up his locker, only to find a tiny white box sitting on the shelf inside. The box was plain, not even a bow or a note in sight. Curiosity got the better of him as he carefully extracted the little package from it's hiding place, turning it over in his hand to see if he could figure out what it was. “Hey!” he called out to the other four men. “Did any of you guys slip this into my locker?”

He held the box up so they could all see it, but every man shook his head. “What is it?” Seunghyun asked, his voice a bit muffled as he changed shirts. “If I knew that, do you think I'd be asking who put it here?”

“Well, open it!” Youngbae encouraged.

Jiyong eyed his best friend warily, but decided he was right... the only way to find out was to open the damn thing. He slid his thumb along the flap and pulled it back. He had to fight the urge to laugh as the whole group crowded around him in order to see what his unexpected gift was.

“It's...” Jiyong was at a loss for words.

“Chocolate?” Daesung offered tentatively. “I think...”

A single chocolate truffle was all the box contained. It was sad looking and irregularly shaped, clearly a homemade attempt. Jiyong reached into the box with trembling fingers, picking up the chocolate in between his forefinger and his thumb so he could examine it closer. It was obviously dark chocolate, covered in a layer of cocoa powder. But it still had a faint scent of something else... 'Oranges, maybe?' he thought to himself.

“Awww.... Jiyongie got himself a Valentine!” Youngbae teased. “Who's it from?” the maknae asked.

“I have no idea.” Jiyong whispered, just before he held it up to his lips and took a bite.

Despite the yelling protests of his friends, telling him he was insane for eating something from an unknown sender, Jiyong was in heaven.

He had been right. The slightly bitter flavor of the cocoa powder hit his tongue first, followed quickly by the sweetness of the rich chocolate as he chewed the soft confection slowly. Only after he swallowed did he taste the orange and something slightly more astringent... probably alcohol of some sort. A satisfied groan came from somewhere deep within Jiyong's chest.

“Damn...” Seunghyun swore under his breath. “Must have tasted better than it looked. Can I have the other half?” he looked at the leader hopefully.

“No.” said Jiyong simply & then popped the rest of the treat into his mouth. This was his very first Valentine's chocolate and he was not in the mood to share it.

The guys just shook their heads and went back to getting ready, all interest in teasing Jiyong was lost now that the chocolate was gone.

And that was how it had started.

Jiyong had received “mystery chocolates” in his locker every Valentine's Day from there on out, with the exception of the couple of years he'd actually had a girlfriend. And on those years, he'd found himself seriously missing the candies. So much so, that he'd started to make absolutely sure he was single on Valentine's Day, just so he'd be guaranteed to get his chocolates.

Over the years the number of candies had multiplied and improved in quality. The second year, there had been four of the same that he'd gotten the first time. Each one a little rounder & more expertly shaped than the one before. And it had just snowballed from there... fillings and toppings had changed, there was now a mix of dark, milk and white chocolate. And, he had to admit, the candy itself had gotten prettier, more well made. Practice made perfect, Jiyong supposed. But the boxes, even though they'd been getting steadily bigger, were always plain & white with no indication whatsoever as to who kept leaving them in his locker.

Jiyong heard the door to the room open, jolting him from his memories. He watched as a shadowy figure crept into the room and headed straight for his locker. Patiently he waited... the “chocolatier” as he'd come to think of her, opened his locker quietly, pulled a container from her bag, and slid it into place on the shelf. Then she stealthily shut the door to the locker and turned around.

That was when Jiyong sprung his trap.

“A-ha!” he yelled in triumph, flipping up the light switch and flooding the room with the harsh glow of florescents. “I've gotcha now!”

You screamed and flattened yourself against the row of lockers at the sudden invasion of light.

Jiyong stood there just blinking, trying to give his eyes time to adjust.

“Ji... Jiyong?” your voice wavered in shock and a slight tinge of fear. “You scared me to death!” you held a hand to your chest, attempting to slow the frantic beating of your heart.

“______________-ah?” Jiyong asked, his voice sounding confused, but intrigued at the same time. He couldn't imagine that you, of all people, turned out to be his mysterious Valentine chocolate maker.

You'd begun working at YG in 2005, starting as an unpaid intern, basically running errands and cleaning. Through the years, you had managed to work your way up through the company based solely on hard work and perseverance. You moved over to working with the Coordi Noona's on wardrobe & then transferred to the set and stage team. Now you were incredibly proud to be able to say that you were the main set designer for all of Bigbang's concerts. It was a job that you loved and hated at the same time. Because it helped keep you close to Jiyong, the man you had come to love and accept that you could never have. So, you made a compromise with yourself to make him chocolate every Valentine's Day, never letting him know who they were actually from, because you knew that his rejection would absolutely wreck you.

Jiyong moved around the boxes he'd been using as cover and strode over to stand in front of you, dangerously close.

“So... you're my 'chocolateir'?” he asked with a smirk.

“I...” it was on the tip of  your tongue to say that you didn't know what he was talking about, but you knew it was no use. You'd been caught & now would come the rejection and humiliation that you had been so scared of for years. That's why you had placed them in his locker in secret in the first place, you didn't have the courage to face Jiyong and admit your feelings.

He simply reached around you and deftly popped his locker open, reaching in and coming out with the simple white box in hand.

“Jiyong, I...” you started to explain, but he just held a finger up to your lips.

“Shhhhh.....” he said with a smile as he pried the lid open.

You watched as his face lit up like a little kid, looking at the variety of chocolates in the box this year. He pointed to a white chocolate one that you'd made for the first time. “What's this one?”

“Raspberry mousse.” you told him flatly.

“And this?” he pointed out another.

“Pistachio.” you sighed.

Jiyong took his time looking the box over, but the longer he took, the more his delighted face turned into a frown.

“Where's the orange ones?” he pouted.

“What?”

“The orange ones!” he whined. “You know... like the first one you made me.” Jiyong looked at you then, his brown eyes pleading.

“Oh....” you chuckled. “those are on the second layer.” you reached over and lifted the first section of the box to reveal the tier below.

Jiyong's eyes grew wide as he saw that the entire second box was filled with nothing but the orange truffles that he loved so much. Without hesitation, he reached in and lifted one out, popping it into his mouth in a single bite and moaning aloud, just as he had the first time.

You felt yourself shiver as Jiyong ate the truffle. Watching as his eyes slid closed in complete bliss and the sound of satisfaction escaped his chest. You couldn't help but feel proud that your chocolate making skills had managed to elicit such a response.

“They aren't orange.” you whispered, not sure why you felt the need to correct him on such a small detail.

“What?” his eyes popped open in shock, the moment ruined.

“The truffles...” you stammered. “They aren't orange. They're Grand Marneir.”

Jiyoing grinned. “I thought I tasted alcohol...”

“I, uh... I learned how to make them from my aunt.” you admitted shyly.

“And the rest?”

“Well, at first I just watched videos online and eventually I took some local classes on chocolate making.” you said quietly, not really sure why you were admitting all this to him.

“All that... just for me?” he asked, carefully taking the first layer from you & setting both down on the nearby wooden bench.

You just nodded, suddenly unsure of what to say.

Jiyong turned back to face you, his face suddenly serious. “All this time... why not just tell me, _______-ah?”

“I...” you briefly thought about lying, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. “I... wanted to wait until they were perfect. And I was... I was afraid you wouldn’t return my feelings.” you looked dejectedly at the floor, certain that he was going to try and turn you down as gently as he could. You couldn't bear to watch his face as he did it.

To your great surprise you felt Jiyong step into your space. One hand snaked around your waist, coming to rest at the small of your back. His other hand gently came up under your chin, tilting your face so that you were forced to look at him.

“They're already perfect.” he murmured. “They were from the very beginning.”

You opened your mouth to protest, because even you had to admit that the first truffle you'd left him had been positively ugly. Instead Jiyong slid his mouth over yours, objectively swallowing anything you were about to say.

The kiss shocked you at first, but once you realized there was actually feeling behind it on his part, you began to kiss him back eagerly. You wound your arms around him, pulling Jiyong even closer to you.

There was a hint of dark chocolate & Grand Marnier and you found that couldn't get enough now that you'd finally gotten a taste of him.

After a while, he broke the kiss and pulled back slightly, his lips still barely touching yours. “You were my first Valentine.” he admitted breathlessly.

“Really?” you gave him a dubious look.

“Honest.” he smiled. “You can ask the guys if you don't believe me.”

You returned his smile, leaned forward and gave him another small kiss.

“Can I also be your last Valentine?”

Jiyong pulled you into a tight hug, whispering into your ear, “I'd love that, actually... just as long as you always make me those orange truffles.”

“Deal.”

Jiyong exhaled a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding and chuckled. He pulled back so that he could look at you.

“Fair warning,  _________-ah. I feel like I should tell you to brace yourself.” he said, his face suddenly serious.

“Brace myself?” you asked, confused. “For what?”

“I have a lot of White Day's to make up for...” he said, winking at you before leaning in for another kiss.

[autumnstwilight]

An anonymous discussion on monetizing fanfic which makes a lot of good points and I’m holding onto for the next time it comes up.

(I’ve got nothing against people who do monetize their fic, but I dislike the pressure/guilt-tripping/social-justice framing many of the discussions in favor of paid fanwork have).

>>>Do you think the lack of monetization in fanfic is preventing newer writers and different stories from being told?

When has monetization and commercialization ever led to a more diverse, innovative creative output? People who are writing with an eye to monetization or pull-to-publish aren't going to be the people writing weird experimental fic, or obscure rarepairs, or wildly improbable AUs that somehow work, they are going to write the same popular derivative fic of megafandom juggernauts as everyone else, because that's where the money and the audience is. And, like, that's fine if people want to do that! There's nothing wrong morally suspect about writing fun romance fic for a big audience if that's what you enjoy doing in fandom. But let's not pretend that monetizing that is some heroic effort to democratize fandom. One of the best things about fandom is that there is pretty much no barrier to entry. You can write the weirdest, most niche fic on the entire planet, you can write it about a canon only two people in the world have ever seen, you can write it entirely in emoticons, and you can put it online right now. It may not be popular, you may not get a million comments/kudos/twitter followers out of it, only a few people may read it, but there is no gatekeeper telling you not to write it or not to put it on AO3 if you really want to. Monetization would not make that better. 

>>>This is pretty much why I don't want fic monetization to be the norm. So much already ugly wank and discourse is prompted by fic and fic related jealousy. Imagine if money was brought into the mix. 

>>>I can see the basic logic that this would invite in those who are forced to monetize their every waking hour. The people who espouse this view imagine that being paid to write fanfic will allow people to immediately swap out extra retail/food service shifts, delivery, driving, or Mechanical Turk-type work for writing time instead. They then assume that there will be more diverse and innovative output because these people who previously didn't have time to write as an unpaid hobby will have time to write as a paid job. This ignores the fact that when it's a paid job, these people will not be writing the innovative works of their heart. They'll be writing what a more financially secure class of people want to read - if they're competitive enough in the right market out the gate to start making money immediately. It also ignores the more crucial thing here: that the way to encourage diversity and innovation in creative hobbies isn't to turn them into jobs, it's to ensure that everyone has both enough money to live on and enough leisure time in a week to pursue creative endeavours for free. Anything else is just a new thing to pay for.

>>>Frankly, I think encouraging people to ask for money for their fic is doing them a disservice, because the vast, vast majority of people will not make anywhere near even minimum wage for the amount of time they put in. They will be wasting time they could have spent doing something that would have made more money *or* writing a story that they would have fun with.

>>>If anything, money would make writers shy away from anything that could be seen as unappealing or controversial and cater to the perceived lowest common denominator. Of course lots of authors chase kudos even now, but it'd still be different if they were losing actual money by writing that unpopular ship or kink. It would make people ditch unpopular fandoms altogether.

>>>Somehow "creative professionals have a right to ask for fair compensation for their labor and not work on spec/accept starvation wages for the love of the medium" has morphed into "all creative expression requires monetary compensation." Like, I enjoy carving little wooden squirrel figures and it takes hours of labor. I have a right to charge whatever price I want for them, but if no one wants to buy them at that price, the "system" isn't screwing me over.

>>>I personally want the people reading my stories to be fellow fans and potential friends, not customers who see me as a service provider (and who, having paid for my services, have a say in shaping the form those services will take), so I have zero interest in trying to monetize my fic. If other people want to sell their writing, more power to them, but doing so necessarily changes the dynamic with readers in a way I suspect they're not all prepared for. For example, once you've monetized, you don't get to pout about readers not commenting on your stuff anymore -- they've already paid for access, that's a comment in of itself! Negative reviews are also fair game once you're offering your content for a fee (not that they can't also be left on fic, but in the fic world at least they're often seen as rude).

>>>I agree with all nonnies in this thread but I'd also add that it would likely actively stifle marginalized fans. I can sort of see OP's logic - privileged people with leisure and a steady income have more time to write fic, but if fic was paid, everyone would have an equal chance, etc. And for the first few months, this might work out. People desperate for money would write a lot of fic. People struggling to get by would give up their current side hustle and focus on fic. A few new working class BNFs would emerge. But inevitably, the same thing would happen as in the world of pro blogging and cheap genre fiction. Competition would grow. People with more money for marketing would start earning more. Brand development, market analysis, BNF status retainment would become the only certain way to make a living. Impoverished fans would have to make do with ghostwriting, or they'd have to try to develop a virally pitiable persona. Comfortable fans with a steady income and lots of leisure would still get most of the attention. They'd even sincerely believe they deserve all of it. And fandom wanks would become a thousand times more vicious because there's financial incentive. And like always, marginalized creators would be the most vulnerable (except for the lucky few, mostly the rich ones, who successfully built their personal brand on their identity).

[flerkenkiddingme]

a few lesser-known book series that I love to death

1. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman- so this takes place in a fictional kingdom called Goredd, which has had some troubled history with dragons but has reached a shaky peace. The protagonist, Seraphina Dombegh, is a rare child of a dragon and a human, and she’s been hiding this for years. Things change when a member of the royal family is murdered and the blame set on dragons when she is roped into solving this mystery and discovers others like her. This is a duology, and the installments are called Seraphina and Shadow Scale. I hella recommend if you’re into high fantasy. The world-building in these books is off the charts amazing; it is written almost like it’s a real place (except with dragons). The plot will take you for a serious ride, and you’ll hit quite a few twists and turns in there. Characters are complex and moderately diverse, with disabled characters, poc, a side m/m pairing, a well-written transgender character. it’s truly a great duology.

2. Blood of Gods and Royals by Eleanor Herman- this 4-book series is set in ancient Macedonia and Persia and follows six teenagers, one of whom is Alexander the Great, and each has a different story but their paths cross in unexpected ways. Alexander has to learn how to rule the kingdom despite barely being of age and deal with the fact that his mother tried to sacrifice his twin sister to raise a god. Katerina, the twin sister, survived and was smuggled away and shows up to the scene on a mission to kill the queen and discovers she has some interesting powers. Jacob, Kat’s old flame from home, joins a group dedicated to hunting these individuals, but then discovers this is problematic for him, in more ways than one. Hephaestion, Alex’s best friend, wants only to help him, but gets dragged away from him due to the quests of the others. Cynane, Alex’s half-sister, also seeks power in both senses of the word, but discovers it may not be what it’s cracked up to be. And Zofia, a Persian princess, tries to escape her family and ends up physically and metaphorically very far from home. The books are named Legacy of Kings, Empire of Dust, Reign of Serpents, and Dawn of Legends. my GOD these books are ADDICTING. Just when you think you know where something is going, it’ll curve the other way. This plot is amazingly paced, and the characters incredibly compelling. They’re pretty diverse too, with many poc, bisexual and gay characters. Many characters lie in a morally grey area, and if this series was more well-known I can imagine the fandom being really divided over who was good or bad and why. 

3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman- how to unpack all of this without looking like a sociopath? well, the country basically tore itself apart in a war over abortion, and a system was agreed upon where no life can be taken between conception and age 13, but between 13 and 18 years old, parents can choose to unwind their kids, basically transplanting all their healthy organs into other people who need them. Freaky? Yep. That’s what three teenagers think when they’re sent to be unwound. Connor has been getting into trouble too much for his parents’ liking, Risa is an orphan and is given the unwinding orders to cut costs, and Lev has been told his life’s only purpose was to be an unwind. They make their way through holding camps, unwinding facilities, and all over the country making friends and enemies, and all they need is to draw attention to this unethical practice. Oh, and also to stay alive despite the multitude of obstacles in their way. there are 4 books called Unwind, Unwholly, Unsouled and Undivided. may I just say HOLY FUCK AND SHIT this series has CHANGED me. i’m in love with the crazy, twisty plot and insane worldbuilding. It never goes exactly how you expect it to. Most likely you will come out of this having like 12 favorite characters like I did. There’s a lot of poc here, and also lots of moral greyness. You’ll see that some characters do some messed up things because they thought they were helping people, and idk if y’all are into that but i DIG it. 

4. Mythos Academy by Jennifer Estep- this has 6 books (Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost, Midnight Frost, and Killer Frost) and follows a girl named Gwen Frost. Before you leave because I wrote “frost” way more times than you can handle, let me explain about how she goes to a school for kids with crazy abilities and ties to all sorts of different mythologies. Gwen herself can touch things and see memory flashes from them, and this strange gift attracts the attention of the goddess Nike, who claims Gwen as her “champion.” She learns from her friends and allies about Reapers of Chaos, who serve Loki and want to bring him back from his heavenly prison, and faces them down many times throughout the series. I enjoy this series for the awesome cast of characters, complete with poc, a side m/m couple, and a Romani protagonist. I’m a sucker for the world-building too. The influence of Mythos Academy isn’t confined to one area, it’s all over the place, but so is the influence of Loki and his Reapers. It’s a hell of an adventure, for sure.

5. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee- we’re stepping out of the past and heading 100 years into the future now. New York City is home to a massive tower one thousand stories high, and this trilogy follows five teens in different areas of it. Leda Cole has recovered from a drug problem and is trying to resume her old life, but faces strange treatment from her friends and a boy she thought cared about her. Eris Dodd-Radson faces a family catastrophe and is forced to move miles below her home, but many surprises, good and bad, lay in store for her. Rylin Myers, struggling for money in a low floor, takes a job for a higher-floor guy and discovers this could help her in more ways than one. Avery Fuller lives the life many can only dream of on the very top of the tower, but what she really wants is something very specific and forbidden. And Watt Bakradi is a middle-floor genius hiding illegal and expensive secret technology. They all have their own problems, but they become linked when someone falls off the top story at a party. Who is it? How did it happen? Read for yourself. Each book in the series (The Thousandth Floor, The Dazzling Heights, The Towering Skies) starts off with a death and only at the very end does it reveal what happened. It’s light on action, but the events are gripping and the end makes you question everything. It has a Sara Shepard-esque plot style, except in the future. The construction of futuristic NY is flawless and incredibly immersive. The characters, for the most part, are complex and interesting, and also heavily diverse, featuring poc and mixed protags and a spotlighted f/f relationship. I haven’t yet read the second two books, so I kept my raving limited to the first book.

that’s all for now, hope this inspired you to read one or more of these series! i’d love to talk to someone about these books, since I know like 1 person irl and 3 people online who read even one of these. have a great day! or night!

[nofomoartworld]

There's an Online Galaxy Full of Star Wars Art

Unknown creator, title & year, images courtesy of DB Burkeman

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This article was originally published on November 10, 2014 but we think it still rocks!

There's a galaxy's worth of Star Wars art out there, from pixel art water colors, to costumed photography, to Banksy-esque murals. DB Burkeman developed a way to organize the cream of the interstellar crop into one coherent body of art: the curated online catalog, Star Warps.

Burkeman set his roots down in the art world with the success of his first book, Stickers- from Punk Rock to Contemporary Art. Burkeman tells The Creators Project, the one thing that drives him has, "always been the same thing really: a desire/need to collect and curate."

The idea for Star Warps was born when Burkeman's art career introduced him to a wealth of creatives, including The Sucklord, Bill McMullen, JK5, and Kostas Seremetis, who shared his passion for art, culture, and a galaxy far, far away. "I suspect I subconsciously started collecting images for this project years before I met those guys," he said. "When I started talking to the guys about the idea of a book of art inspired by Star Wars, they were psyched."

Due to copyright in the age of the internet, the guys soon realized that a book, the format Burkeman had become familiar with while making Stickers, wasn't the best way to present this type of art. Gathering it all on the internet, beautifully, and for free was the only way to pin down the grassroots art movement germinating in the Star Wars fandom. We spoke to Burkeman about how to make a digital book for the internet, how he curates, and why he thinks artists love Star Wars so much.

Sucklord aka SUCKADELIC "GRAFF-AT” Bombed Hasbro AT-AT walker Features Throw-Ups, Fill-ins, Tags, and Burners all written in Aurebesh, a letter system created for the Star Wars Universe. With artwork By José Parlá (Aka EASE) and Joseph Aloi

The Creators Project: How did you first begin talking to your collaborators about curating an experience like Star Warps?

DB Burkeman: I suspect I subconsciously started collecting images for this project years before I met those guys actually. I was just stashing them away in some filing cabinet in my brain. Sucklord put me in touch with a guy who had done an unauthorized, but high profile, art-related Star Wars project. I wanted to understand if this was a project that could be published as a printed, commercial book. What I took from that phone meeting was that it might be possible, but that the artwork copyrights would need to be owned by Lucas Arts (now, Disney). I knew that the fine artists I was interested in showing were not going to give up their rights any time soon, so the idea of creating something that could only be viewed for free, online, was born.

INVADER “LDN_132” London. Ceramic Tile 2013 http://ift.tt/IevlZs

Can you tell me about the design philosophy behind the Star Warps website?

The only design direction I gave my partner, Phil Kuperberg, the real genius here, was that I wanted it very clean, almost to resemble a museum or auction catalog. Text on the pages would be simple credits: artist name, title of work, medium, size, and year created, and credits would then vanish after ten seconds, leaving nothing but the art floating on white.

What qualities were most valuable in engineering a digital book experience?

This was a labor-of-love project. There was no team, there was no money, this was just me on the art, and Phil on the tech. He just kept trying new things and we kept simplifying the design. Clean, intuitive functionality is key to having fun with the book. There are design elements that seem simple and obvious but were difficult to get just right, like fine-tuning the splash page to have the stars’ direction controlled by the mouse, getting the chronological order sorted correctly, and the incredibly effective “search.”

What was the most difficult challenge you had to overcome in launching this project?

In the final days before we launched I had a couple of sleepless nights, stressing that Disney/Lucas were going to instantly shut it down, and the two years of real hard work was going to vanish before our eyes. We were very careful not to have links that would direct the viewer to an artist’s shop where they might be selling unauthorized Star Wars art. My anxiety level decreased a little once I typed Star Wars into Etsy’s search and something like 33,000 items showed up. This led me to believe, or at least hope, that the all-powerful guardians of the brand know that having fan-driven stuff out there is a very positive force for them...excuse the pun.

You've spent a lot of time as an influencer in dance music and DJ culture. How has your experience as a DJ influenced your process in composing what is essentially a massive Star Wars art playlist?

I’ve recently been thinking about what actually drives me, and I feel like it’s always been the same thing really: a desire/need to collect and curate. Even at 14 or 15 years old I was making up mix-tapes on cassettes, using the pause button for edits, then using another cassette recorder to make copies just so I could give them to friends. It was the need to compile music that worked well together that drove me to become a professional DJ. In the early 90s that drive turned into real skill, and I was hired by Profile Records, where the majority of my A&R role was compiling Techno, House, & Jungle compilations. I’m now working on curating art books, which will be giant playlists of other topics. I want to create books for people who are not necessarily art-educated, but who have an appreciation for it, especially if it’s presented in a down-to-earth way. My first book, about the history and culture of stickers is totally sold out now, which is unbelievable, but the biggest thrill for me was getting a text from my sister in London telling me the Tate Modern was selling it! Same deal here at the MoMA, and the Pompidou in Paris.

Megan Whitmarsh "Ace vs Darth” Embroidery thread on polished cotton. 5" x 5” 2006, meganwhitmarsh.com

Fan art is notorious for the disparity between amazing and amazingly awful artworks. How do you decide whether a work of Star Wars art is "good enough?”

Editing is always tough for me. I like the majority of this stuff, even the really “bad” art. It was simply impossible to include everything, though, as the book would have been thousands of pages. We also had an issue with like minded-people creating the same, or very similar works. So whoever was the first to do it “won.”

Other than the guys mentioned above, my personal preferences are at the opposite ends of the “art” spectrum. I really love the fine artistry by the likes of Tom Sachs, KAWS, John Baldessari etc, and also the culture jamming stuff that's often totally anonymous. Possibly my favorite of those is the GIF of the X-Wing endlessly flying over the radio waves from the dying star, designed by Peter Saville for Joy Division.

Crispix, Two Cheerios, Frosting. 2013, http://ift.tt/kEEY9t

One work I have not been able to include yet, because I didn’t get good images when I saw it in Miami a few years ago, is a conceptual piece created by the anonymous artist collective Bruce High Quality Foundation. What I remember, and my memory can easily be faulty, was a big multimedia sculpture of the earth, with video and audio playing on vintage TVs that were stuck into the globe. As I passed one of the TV's I heard a conversation by two people who were acting out the moment when George Lucas is telling his idea of the Star Wars saga to Steven Spielberg.

I'd love to know if the scripted dialog was based on a real, or totally imagined, conversation. Maybe being featured here will open their previously closed door to me.

What do you think makes Star Wars that is so attractive to creators?

Hmmm, I can’t even really explain why I was so attracted to it, let alone what drives an artist to make their work!

Tom Sachs, "R2D2 (1-1)” Foam Core, Ink, Thermal Adhesive, Triple Expanding Foam, Steel Armature. 42" X 30" X 30.25”. 2000 www.tomsachs.org

William Cordova "Lando, Landu (Yawar Mallku)” Wood from Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Peru, Algeria. Approximately 216 x 840 x 600 inches. 2010-2011 sikkemajenkinsco.com

Unknown creator, title & year

Unknown creator, title & year

Visit the Star Warps website to explore the galaxy of Star Wars remixes Burkeman has curated there.

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In The 90s, Two Middle Schoolers Created A Massive Body Of Star Wars Pixel Art

Meet The Designer Recreating Star Wars In Minecraft

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