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"Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letterbox..."

SUSAN RYAN

In the realm of Beatles Fan Fiction, the name Susan Ryan is synonymous with excellence and quality. Her E-Zine, Rooftop Sessions, has been the premiere showcase for orginial Beatles related fiction for over five years and she spoke with me recently about how it all came to be.

Susan, you have countless readers the world over who know that they can come to your E-Zine for fine Beatle fiction. Keeping that standard up month after month must be a labor of love: tell us a bit about how the idea of "Rooftop Sessions" was born!

Rooftop Sessions came about almost as a joke...I was talking one day to Aviva Rothschild (author of "With Strings Attached" and a very good friend of mine) and we were lamenting the lack of good Beatles fan fiction on the Web. I mentioned that I wished I could do something about that, because there was so much really bad stuff out there, stuff that people had just slapped up without proofreading or editing. The problem was, at the time I did not have any web design skills or ability. Aviva, however, did, and she also had just started her own webzine, Rational Magic. She offered me space on RM for my own fanfic webzine, with the idea that I would eventually learn how to do it myself and take the site to its own URL. Essentially, Rooftop Sessions was born out of a desire to prove to the world that there was more to Beatles fan fiction than badly-written, unedited drivel -- to treat it as a legitimate literary form, with professional guidelines.

Which is certainly a departure from the fanfiction not just in the Beatles realm, but in others too, which is one of the reasons us readers, love it so. When the website first launched, did you have any idea the response to it would be as great as it has been?

Not really. I mean, I knew that people were reading Beatles fanfic -- *I* was reading it! I figured a few people might take a look, but I had no idea that it would become any kind of a phenomenon. I was actually kind of surprised at the reaction.

Your husband James contributes to the E-Zine as well. It must be rather nice for your husband to be a fanfiction writer too! Has he always been a fanfic writer or was that your influence upon him?

Well, Jim has always been a writer -- he's had several stories published in several magazines, mostly in the horror genre. However...he is a Beatles fan, and interestingly, when I was launching Rooftop Sessions and looking for people to contribute to the first few issues, he showed me an old story he had written, an Alternate History (Alt-His) called "I Read The News Today," which was a "what-if" story in which John survives his shooting, and the aftermath. He didn't think it was much of a story -- in fact, he had it stuck away in a drawer and never intended to use it for anything. He wrote it long before he knew me, funnily enough. But when I read it, I thought it was great -- and I featured it in an early issue of Rooftop. He got caught up in the idea of writing fanfic -- but his stories are not the usual Beatles fanfics -- he specializes in Alt-His and suspense, and the stories he has contributed are mostly in those genres.

Is there any sort of Lennon/McCartney relationship with you two, or do the two of you write altogether seperately?

(laughs) Well, we've tried to collaborate...but it's not been terribly successful. We both like to write, but we've got vastly different styles. He has, however, been a good consultant and sounding board for me, and I for him.

You've been a writer for quite some time-- Growing up, was it your dream to be a writer? Was there any one influence that stands out in your mind that made you pursue that dream?

Hmm...well, I've always written. I wrote when I was a child, I wrote in high school, I wrote and was an editor on the newspaper in college. My dad was probably my greatest influence in that regard -- he was also a journalist, the editor-in-chief of his high school paper at Boys High School in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1940s. After that, he worked as a journalist and then in the publishing industry. And he always encouraged me to write and express myself. I have always been comfortable with the written word -- it has always been my medium of choice, since I'm not musical or particularly artistic otherwise.

Just for the record and for the benefit of the readers who don't know any different, would you care to briefly mention a few of your literary accomplishments?

Hmmm...well, I was Arts and Entertainment Editor of the newspaper at Queens College when I was still in school. I have been an editor for many years, and I have worked in the publishing industry. When I was in school, I wrote reviews, features, news stories and editorials, and I have actually written fan fiction on and off for the better part of 30 years. I wrote my first fanfic when I was 16, and I still have it -- but I won't show it to anyone...ooh, it's dreadful! ;-) I have also written for various Beatles-related publications, including the London Beatles Fan Club Magazine, and I am a regular contributor to Daytrippin' Magazine. I have been profiled in an interview with Beatlefan magazine about the fan fiction phenomenon, and I have been the moderator of discussion panels about fan fiction at the New York, Chicago and Boston Fests for Beatles Fans for the past four years.

My goodness, but what an impressive resume! And you're a Beatleologist to boot, right? Forgive my ignorance, but exactly *how* does one come to be a Beatlelogist?

(laughs again) I've pretty much lived and breathed Beatles since 1975...I prefer "Beatleologist" to "Beatles Fan" because it just sounds...not so frivolous, you know?

Say no more!

Seriously, though -- I take my fandom very seriously...and so..."Beatleologist. "

Then you must know that these next questions were inevitable: when were you first bitten by the Beatles bug?

Ah yes...I remember it well... ;-) It was the summer of 1975...I was nearly 14. I went to summer camp on Long Island, and there was an older girl there who was into the Beatles. She asked me if I liked them, but I had never really paid much attention -- I was aware of them as a child, and my mother says I was in the room when they were on Ed Sullivan, but inasmuch as I was only two years old at the time, I didn't remember that. Anyway, this other girl played me some of their music, and I just loved it -- wanted to get my hands on as much of it as I could find. And then I wanted to know more about them, not just the music, but the Beatles themselves. And there was just so much to learn, facts as well as myth. And then...I saw A Hard Day's Night around the time of my 14th birthday...and that was it. I was smitten. It didn't hurt, of course, that at age 14 you have all those raging teenage hormones -- I was exactly the right age and they were exactly the right thing.

That wonderful "H" word, Hormones. So which one of the boys was it that did it for you?

John!! Oh my God, he was IT. It was his voice that got me first -- remember, I hadn't ever really seen them, other than on album covers. But his voice...it sent shivers up my spine! And then, when I saw AHDN, and saw him moving and talking and laughing and...real...that was it. It was like tunnel vision. I didn't see anyone or anything else. I have NEVER been so smitten, before or since (well, until I met my husband, anyway).

I know a *lot* of readers out there understand that completely! So this fascination with the fascinating John Lennon... is that when you began writing Beatles Fan Fiction?

Yes, definitely. I don't even really remember what brought on that first fanfic...it wasn't called fan fiction back then, it didn't really have a name. But I do remember writing some silly story about meeting John...or some such...

I have to ask you the hardest question last. You've dedicated so much of your life to the Beatles. What *is* it about them that caused you to devote such a large part of your heart to them?

Wow...that is a tough one. I don't really know...it's difficult to pin down to one or two things. I often say that if you are destined to be this kind of a Beatles fan, it hits you the very first time you hear or see them. It's visceral, it's an emotional reaction unlike any other you have experienced or ever will experience. And it doesn't matter if you are male or female -- the girls all want to kiss them, and the boys all want to BE them!
There's something very special about the Beatles -- about *them* as people. You want to know more about them -- they're larger than life, but still approachable. They are brilliant and talented and wonderful and witty and charming...sexy and handsome...and, I believe, four really good guys. The emotional attachment I feel for them is something I can't really explain, but I do know that it is something very, very special. Being a Beatles fan has made me the person I am -- and I would never change a thing. I owe them more than I could ever tell them, and more than I could ever thank them for.

Beautifully put, Susan. And spoken like a true Beatleologist!

I want to thank you so much for taking time out to speak with me, it was nothing short of delightful!

You are quite welcome, Liz, it's been a pleasure!

Visit Susan at her website Rooftop Sessions