Pretty Good Year (Lord of the Rings series)

:They say you were something in those formative years
:Hold onto nothing as fast as you can
:Well, still, pretty good year. - Tori Amos
Pretty Good Year by Mary Borsellino "is an episodic story ... taking place during the final chapter of Return of the King and beyond.",Pretty Good Year. Accessed November 9, 2008. containing a positive Frodo/Sam/Rosie relationship. It was nominated in the Mithril Awards 2003, category "Best story focusing on Hobbits".Mithril Award Winners 2003. Accessed November 9, 2008.
==Author's Discussion==
In 2003, the author described her journey through the creation of the series and fandom's reactions to the storyline in her Forward to the printed version of Pretty Good Year.
==Commentary==
"To the non-fan, or to fans of different shows, [some works] present another level/layer to be traversed, because they require competence both in the source and in a specific fan artifact, which is a (Tolkenian) sub-creation. This calls to mind Mary Borsellino’s Lord of the Ring AU, Pretty Good Year: an alternative reading to the book finale, which problematises sexuality and coupling norms, the status of women and the treatment of mental illness (pointing at yet another source in the title, the Tori Amos song). Pretty Good Year became a fandom in its own right, with other fans programmatically writing in that universe. to add yet another layer of complexity."Battlestar Redactica: Visual Revision of Narrative Error comment by Mafalda Stasi, November 20, 2009.
A follow-on series (or set of loosely linked) fan fiction was written under the heading West of the Moon.
==Works Inspired by Pretty Good Year==
The entire series been translated into German by Cuthalion. Two more stories have been translated into other languages: Prologue into Finnish (translation by Hyel) and Winter's Road into Quenya (elvish) (translation by Gilly). Several fanartists have created illustrations for it, songs have been written, songvids edited and a shared universe of fan fiction written by other fans inspired by the series has been set up at Storytellers, a fan fiction and fan art archive.
=== Pretty Good Year music videos===
* Bizarre Love Triangle by Mary (offline)
* Pretty Good Year by Mary (offline)
* Pretty Good Year by Sloane (offline)
=== Fan Art Inspired By The Series ===
Blow is a small representative sample of the extensive fan art inspired by the series. For more comprehensive galleries go here for Pretty Good Year and here for West of the Moon artwork.
File:Kaleidoskopefour.gif|Merry, Pippin, Diamond and Estella, artist: Kaleidoskope
File:Sliphyelgardnerscolor.jpg|Panel depicting the characters, Artists: Lineart by Slipstream and colour by Hyel
File:Pgyacer.jpg|Frodo, Sam, and Rose on a picnic, artist: Acer canadensis
File:Pretty Good Year cover1.jpg|coverart for printed version of Pretty Good Year, artist: Serai
File:Bytheriver.jpg|By the river, artist: Hyel
File:Singewinterfrodo.jpg|Frodo suffering from depression in winter, artist: Singe 
== Websites/Journals/Communities ==
* The Storytellers Archive
* Pretty Good Year fanlisting (maintained by Dana) (offline)
* Pretty Good Year livejournal community (maintained by Meli)
* The Pretty Good Year Character Index (compiled by Hyel) (offline, archived here)
* The Rosy Ring Store(maintained by Hyel) (now offline)
* Pretty Good Year colourbar (artwork created by Dana) (offline)
==Core Stories Written By Mary==
* Prologue: Fourteen twenty
* Wasted a year
* Wake up
* Little flower
* All they need
* Dirty Water
* Bag End Morning
* Simple
* Storyteller
* Dusk
* Talk
* Excuses for celebration
* Dictation
* Proper
* Ridiculous behaviour
* Break
* Winter's Road
* Perfectly Well
* Best
* Just the sort
* Afternoon light
* Dreamer
* Three of a kind
* Sometimes
* Play
* Common story
* Always music
* The twelfth of never
* Another day
* Stone soup
* Role reversal
* Dusk and dawn
* Easy
* Season's turn
* Gifts
* Little heart
* Once upon a very long time ago
* Birthday party
* Wind and rain
* Fair
* Tinker, tailor, soldier,
* Outside
* Inside
* Bonfire night
== External links ==
* Pretty Good Year main website
== References ==
Category:Poly Fanfiction
Category:2000s