Bittercon: "I'm So Special"

[intertext]

For those on my flist not able to join oursin and brisingamen at Wiscon, or who did not go and have fun at Kalamazoo (or even those who did!) but who would like to participate in a Con panel, there is lively discussion at papersky, sartorias and katenepveu and others coordinated in the community bittercon. Here's my panel topic:

"I'm So Special" - Wish Fulfillment Fantasy and Science Fiction

From Harry Potter to Heroes, there's a whole sub-genre of SF in which the "outsider" suddenly discovers that he or she is not an outsider but a member of some elite class of beings (wizard, superhero, Herald). There is a sub-genre of this trope in which the person becomes special by being CHOSEN by some kind of sentient animal - think particularly of the works of Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey.

My question is not so much about the popularity of such a class of novels - I think the attraction is fairly obvious - but whether any of these authors, or others, have dealt with the notion of being the one NOT chosen. J K Rowling never really allows her characters to interact with "normal" Muggles, only the dreadful members of Harry's family - I'd love to read something from the perspective of such a character. There are several Pern novels in which some of the suspense is derived from the viewpoint character not being chosen by a dragon when expected to be so, but I believe that all of them end up with that character being chosen in the end.

I've often thought of writing something called "The Unchosen" from the perspective of someone in that position who feels, perhaps, bitter (hey - Bittercon!) and excluded. Do any works exist in which the main character is "normal" within a society such as I've described and comes to terms with it?

A related question is that these, with the possible exception of Harry Potter, seem to fall into the category of "guilty pleasure" reading - basically not terribly good books that are nevertheless fun escapism. Are there any "good" works, by which I mean books that you don't have to apologize for reading, that fall under this category? And if not, why not?

Comments

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd thought of Buffy. And of course, Joss Whedon, as he is wont to do, to some extent upsets the whole concept in the very last episode. I won't be more specific in case there's anyone for whom that might be a spoiler.

The Buffyverse - Angel included - plays interestingly with the insider/outsider idea, in that there's a whole group on the "inside" - the Scoobies, in the case of BVS and Angel and his cohorts and adversaries, in the other - for whom vampires and demons are part of the normal world, but every now and then they come into contact with a person or group for whom such things seem to be completely alien.

[madrobins]

The Buffyverse has Xander Harris (and later, Dawn, who may have a supernatural origin but--other than keeping her eyes open when her sister's in a fight--doesn't have any special powers) who are the not-Chosen. The episode in which Dawn thinks she might be a potential slayer and learns that she is not is particularly on point for this topic (Xander's speech to Dawn at the end, particularly), but it's Xander himself--who is not superpowered, who is "The Glorified Bricklayer," who really becomes a hero. No magic, no superpowers, not a vamp or a slayer or a computer whiz. Just a decent human being who sees what's going on around him and keeps stepping up to the challenge. "Hey! I've clocked field time!"

[simonator.livejournal.com]

Arguably, the general 'Xander problem is that his character wasn't very consistantly written. He was always as brave or cowardly, as smart or dumb as the next gag required.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

I think there's a couple of consistencies -- Xander's strange attraction to the wrong women and his tendency to act in what he sees as Buffy's best interests. Even his constancy, which is his strongest characteristic up through talking Willow back from the edge of apocalypse, goes away when it comes to Anya. But you're right -- in general, Xander is really just the constant foil.