November 2013

Anyone Know More About This Fandom Book?

Fanpire: The Twilight Saga and the Women Who Love it
by Tanya Erzen

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The Man? Who Cares About The Man? The Man Is Irrelevant

An interesting quote about TPTP (The Powers That Be):

“[The panel] was a bunch of writers who had mostly gotten their start in 1970s K/S and had mostly transitioned to being profic writers. When they were sharing fandom stories from back in the day, the panel was great. When they were talking about their approach to fanfic and its relationship to canon, TPTB, profic, and tie-ins, they were so far on the other side of a cultural and to some degree generational divide from me that it wasn’t even worth the time and effort to argue with them. They believed that the reason they could write Trekfic was because Paramount let them/turned a blind eye, and they believed that when Paramount started recruiting fic writers to write tie-in novels, that amounted to Paramount finally paying attention to the fandom. I don’t think they could have possibly understood the relationship I have with TPTB in my fandoms, that I don’t care whether or not they want me to be writing the fic, that I often write fic that would be read as deliberately confrontational toward TPTB, except that I don’t give a shit whether they read it because I’m writing in conversation with other fans, not in conversation with the creators. They can’t comprehend how I approach contemporary copyright law as a thing to ignore when one is not politically inspired and to campaign against when one is.”

More here.

Calling All Filkers - Archive Now Opening

Earlier in the year I blogged about how the filk community needed an institutional preservation effort - much like the one for fanzines at the University of Iowa Fanzine Archives that the OTW helped set up (aka the Open Doors project)

The Year Is 1995 And Let Me Explain This Thing Called A Website

“I guess I will talk a bit about what my concept behind this page is, so perhaps you all can tell me what I can do better if I’ve missed the mark:

What I’m trying to do with this page is to combine the static nature of an archive with the dynamic nature of a zine or newsletter. That is, there is "archive” material there now, such as back issues of OLAH and HNG, as well as certain images. These things will probably be there as long as the page itself is up.

Then there are also things at the page that you might find in a “zine,” such as poetry and fiction (and someday, art). The collection of poetry and fiction that you may find at the page at any given time will rotate, meaning as I run out of room at the page, I’ll begin to delete the older material. I don’t think this is a bad thing. In fact, I think it makes  the page more like a periodical publication. Two visits to the page, spaced apart by six months or a year or whatever, could yield completely different collections of fiction and poetry, just like two different issues of a zine would have different things in them.

Lastly, I hope the page will remain up-to-date with regard to current events. This is where I hope the page acts like a newsletter. For example, the page currently has in it registration info for the ‘96 con, an order form for the ADS video, info on the SciFi Channel’s story on ADS, and Robert Sigman’s address, in case you want to write him regarding your opinions on a possible new film. This is all info that will change (sometimes weekly!) as all of  you send me updates and corrections. I hope that the page will become the defacto “place to look” for the latest on-line info about BATB and its fandom.

There’s info on the show there too, but honestly, there’s not much. Our episode guide is rudimentary at best, and we have no faq. But, I don’t really  see this page as being dedicated to just the tv show, as so many other tv show pages are. Few shows have such an elaborate and creative fandom built up around them. I want this page to serve *all* of BATB: the show, but more importantly (in my mind), the fandom. This page is for you guys, all of you.

I know that not everyone can browse the Web yet, but the ability is getting more and more common. AOL even offers a Web browser to their customers, which I think is fabulous! For those of you who can browse, I really do hope you like the page. To my knowledge, it’s the only page for this show in the world, so help me to make it the page you want it to be: give me your feedback, updates and changes.“

You can see the 1998 version of the website as it evolved here.

Edited to add: A month later the website owner wrote: ’'From August 1 to August 30, the page was hit **2,979 times**, with a total thruput of 69,857,296 bytes! YOWZA!!”

(links go to Fanlore the fan run wiki about media fandom)

Before There Was The Veronica Mars Kickstarter Fund Drive

…..There was the Beauty and the Beast Video Campaign. Not as successful, but it shows you how much has changed in 23 years.

BTW, if anyone has a moment to spare to add more info about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project to Fanlore, the Veronica Mars page is here And the blank , ready to edit Kickstarter page is here

(links go to Fanlore, the fan run wiki about media fandom)

Dear Diary......

I’ve been reading up about Beauty and the Beast fandom (the original TV series, not the new one). And I came across this announcement to a public BatB mailing list in 1994:

“Helper Laura [H] in FL has come up with a charming idea: a tunnel kettle that will visit you for a comforting cup of tea (or whatever) just for the asking, and the postage. It will pass from individual to individual, group to  group, until the convention next year. Perfect for a special gathering, or just for you, to remind you we’re all in this together. Or arrange for a visit to a friend who needs some warm comfort and affection. Judy [L], of Helpers Above Tulsa, is godmothering the kettle in its journeys. If you’d like to arrange a visit from the kettle, contact Judy…”

(links go to Fanlore, the fan run wiki about media fandom)

I never was good at math (how much fanfiction is there anyway?)