--- "Henry J. Cobb" <hcobb@io.com> wrote:

"It's genetic.  All of the Alices have a common ancestor from 2,000
years
ago."

Hmm.  Having read this after your explanation - I can see why people
would find this one lacking.  The reference is obvious only to a very
limited audience, yet attempts to carry the whole piece.  The majority
of readers won't get the reference; without it, the piece falls flat on
its face.

This is a danger in using obscure references.  It is okay to sprinkle
them in liberally, perhaps even form the majority of the content.  But
a fic, in my opinion, should also stand on its own, even to those with
little context other than the fic itself (and any explicitly declared
references - in this case, Alice Academy but not The Da Vinci Code, no
matter how obvious you think "The [Whatever] Code" is as a reference).
Like it or not, that is how many who read your fic will inevitably come
across it.  (Conversely, if there anyone searches for "Alice Academy"
and "Da Vinci Code" crossovers - the search engines don't see the
latter mentioned in your fic, so they won't list it in the results.)

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