Since the writing of the then-singular Asteroids fanfic Festival Among the Rocks in 1999 to fulfill a requirement for his junior high English class, Luke Rounda's story has garnered some mild to moderate Internet celebrity. Although, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it infamy.

Festival debuted on FanFiction.Net the following year, kicking in the door with its own category. Since that time, it has amassed over fifty reviews on word of mouth (more chance and dumb luck, really) alone. With reviews ranging from encouragingly positive ("That was damn incredible ... I can't beleive that anyone would hate this." -- Ragewaar), to bewildered ("I'm just flat-out flabbergasted..." -- Bobcat Moran), to strikingly negative ("you suck dude" -- eLeMeNT1), to simply bewildering (French language Simpsons fanfiction as a stand-in for a review), one thing was clear: people were definitely interested in Asteroids. Perhaps more interested than ever before. Festival was, put simply, "a piece of ass-troids" (thanks Colin Breen).

Aww yeah, you know you want to hit that.

And then, things settled down a little bit. FanFiction.Net changed a few things (like the word limit on story synopses). Word spread even beyond the FanFiction.Net community:

21:22 Foodbunny> Asteroids: Festival Among the Rocks by Mordakai reviews
21:22 Foodbunny> Michael Ellison is an "asteroid smasher" for the Galactic Asteroid Mining and Drilling Corporation (GAMDC). He thinks he's gotten his big break when he's assigned to clear a massive field. With the pay, he hopes to retire forever. But his mission proves t
21:23 Foodbunny> That's where it ends.
21:23 Caryn> haha

Following the smash success of Festival Among the Rocks, Luke grew a big head and savaged releases from authors of Kafka-esque Minesweeper fanfiction. He then retired from fanfiction to rest on his laurels, cause trouble in high school, and ultimately pursue a (perhaps fruitless) college career as a writer, and not a teacher.

In 2005, Luke returned with the prelude to Where the Stone Falls, the long-awaited sequel to Festival Among the Rocks. Teaming up with fellow fic noir connoisseur The Grandiloquent Demagogue (author of The Frontier, a series based on the Static Space universe, the setting of Festival Among the Rocks), Luke began to build what started as a simple space opera into something far grander in scale.

Think Cowboy Bebop. Think Max Payne in space. Think of the best piece of art you can think of, and then add some asteroids.

Stay tuned...