On the nature of fanfiction, and when my jaw dropped.

I would like to spend a moment to possibly blow your mind.

I just finished reading the excellent My Little Apprentice series by Starscribe. 424,542 words in 59 chapters. That is over half the length of the King James Bible, which is the longest book I have ever read so far. It had an average approval rating of 96.08% over 1839 votes. I would give it 9 out of ten stars. It is really rare for a story to score above an 8 with me. It was an incredible story.

Today, I came across Imploding Colon's work. I cannot pronounce the names of the books it their series. With an average approval rating of 95.37% over 4711 votes, their work might be worth checking out, I thought. Then: I noticed their stats.

2,031,078 words in 4,493 chapters. Read that again. 2 million words in 45 hundred chapters, from May 13, 2012 to May 31, 2015.

That is 1,823 words a day, every day, for the past 3 years, 18 days. It is still being expanded upon. And it is 2 1/2 times longer the King James Bible. According to wikipedia, the longest novel ever published was 1,954,300 words, 80 thousand words less than this.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for novels of its Nebula award categories as being 40,000 words or more. This story is two novels worth longer than the longest novel ever published. And it's still going!

I have not read a word of it yet, so I cannot comment on the quality of the work, but with a similarly high approval rating as Starscribe's stuff, if Imploding Colon's work is even half as good, this deserves recognition.

Thank you for your time.

Edit 1506082023: I have begun reading it, and I am amazed. There are... a large number of spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as times when it seems like the author may have written exactly opposite what character meant to say. That last bit may be intentional, or it may not. There are also portions that are written in all italics, which tend to give me headaches. Even for all that, I count is as one of the most immersive literary journeys I have ever been on. Not just because of the length, which does help it, but for the shear force of realism the characters are given. The story is about Rainbow Dash. I have laughed with joy. I have cried real tears in crushing sorrow. I have been disgusted and appalled by the ravages of war, and felt bittersweet pain as Dash and I recalled memories both heartbreaking and soul strengthening.

A good story makes you forget you are reading the story. You become a part of it, either as an observer, or a participant. In this story, you are a 3rd party observer, but you forget it is a story. You feel the dragons breath. You smell the blood. Your heart races, as you get a surge of adrenaline, ready to fight your way through the battle. The story is that good.

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I will be record my stats here as I read. You can ignore this part.
Date Time(H) Words Read Read%
06/02/15 4.8 50,443 2.47%
06/03/15 9.7 109,111 7.81%
06/04/15 12.57 153,562 15.33%
06/05/15 13.29 163,376 23.33%
06/06/15 17.97 218,135 34.02%
06/07/15 9.46 89,848 38.42%
06/08/15 4.39 62,685 41.49%