Fandom Books

Charles Phipps has made a spectacular world in which the nightmarish future views of earth have something most Sci-fi books of this type don't have...hope.

There is a delicate mixture of spirtualism that is lacking in most sci-fi books. Instead of centering on only mysticism and non-judeo-christian religions, Mr. Phipps has meshed these traditions with others into a tapestry that is uncommonly lovely.

I highly recommend this book to those who like a page turner but do not have the time to delve into a dissertation on quantum mechanics.

The book is readable while being intelligent! Kudos!

The word fan is so common in our culture that we often forget that it is derived from the word fanatic. For those of us who have forgotten, Warren St. John reminds us in Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer.

In 1999, St. John bought a beat-up RV and followed the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team to all of its games. St. John fell in with the true fanatics who live for Alabama football. By writing about his experiences, St. John entertains his readers with some incredible stories.

The best aspects of Rammer Jammer all involve the colorful characters who follow the Crimson Tide. Few of these passionate fans attended the University, but somehow they all latched on to the football team. Among many others, you'll read about: a man who is proud that he can make EXTREMELY hot food, a couple who misses their daughter's wedding for an Alabama game, and a man who needs a heart transplant, but violates doctor's orders to attend Tide games. You also get a great insight into the festival that surrounds football; the degree to which southern culture revolves around college football may amaze you.

St. John's book is not perfect. He tries to be a participant observer; he wants to participate in the fan mania while making detached comments on it. I didn't feel that he was always successful. At some point, you begin to wonder why a grown man gets himself thrown out of the press box at a game or why he cannot see how boorish it is to shout "We just beat the hell out of you!" to opposing fans each time the Tide wins a game. In the end, St. John admits that he cannot explain his own behaviors, but he runs on for many pages while trying.

In spite of a few drawbacks, Rammer Jammer is an entertaining book that is worth a reaad.

St. John's exploration of die-hard college football fans is extraordinary in several ways. First, he's a first-class investigative reporter, able to follow slender threads of connection to find interesting people and stories. Second, he's an excellent writer who's able to move back and forth from reporting to observation with ease; he describes the characters he encounters along the fan trail with exceptional vividness. Third, and most importantly, he's able to see social and personal truths that are larger than the immediate subject of his story. It's true that sports fans, and college football fans in particular, will connect to his subject most fully, but St. John's broader discoveries about individuals, groups, allegiances, friendships, and rivalries will be interesting to anyone who has even a marginal acquaintance with the dimensions of fanship, sports or otherwise. St. John's story of ingratiating himself with the RV crowd that follows Alabama football games at home and on the road is a page-turning read, artfully set to the dramatic backdrop of a turbulent SEC-championship run by the Tide. He weaves the stories of those he meets into a deep historical fabric of college football in the South, discovering some subtle (and not so subtle) realities about his own fanship in the bargain. This is a fine read for anyone interested in fanship, group dynamics or just good people stories; and it's a terrific read for sports fans. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

Sports brings out the best and worst in a fan. It gives people a sense of belonging to a group, but can also encourage violence and uncouth behavior towards opposing fans.

The theme of this book for me was the need that people have to belong to something. In today's fragmented and fast paced world, this is even more of a concern for people. St. John, a lifelong Alabama football fan, is able to gain entrance into people's lives simply by supporting the same team as they do. The frenzied postings on the Bama Fan message board and the sense of togetherness these total strangers feel on game days further shows the need for belonging most of these people have. The way most of them are described, Bama football is the end all and be all for them.

St. John's book also explores the dynamics of minority groups in a roundabout way. By traveling to opposing teams' home cities, the Bama fans show themseleves to be a vocal and aggressive minority. Everywhere they go, Bama fans are ridiculed and derided for their football allegiance. The way that the Bama fans band together and repel the assaults and insults of their rivals can give the reader some insight into how and why sports teams' fans can be such diehards.

This is a good book to give to the person in your family who can't understand the dynamics of being a fan.

I received this book for christmas i guess 3 years ago from my brother. I went to Bama so obviously I'm a fan. However.....I must tell you that even if you don't like the Crimson Tide, but do appreciate college football, you WILL LIKE THIS BOOK. You will be able to relate how you and your friends follow your team and all of their glory. It's a fabulous book that I have decided I will read once again; very entertaining, completely amusing, something you cannot put down. I do think you must like college football to some degree, but it really is a comedy-drama, dramady, if you will; anyone I have loaned it to has absolutely loved it. The writing was gripping, the storytelling almost like a folklore. You wanted to keep hearing more. A fabulous tale of how one writer/fan put it all on the line.........and came up with something really, really special. Enjoy-I can't imagine you wouldn't.

This is a must read for anyone with an interest in college football and in particular the Crimson Tide. It is a delight to read.

Engaging, easy to read, and informative! I've loved the Potter books since Sorcerer's Stone was first published, but I never knew how vast the reach of this fantastical world has been. Ms. Pyne takes us on a fascinating journey through amateur authors, wizard rock bands, and enormous gatherings of thousands of fans from all over the world! No matter how deep into the Potter fandom you are, there's something in the book that will surprise you. Potter fans, as a group, have taken this simple story and expanded it into something wondrous, and I've never been more proud to be a fan of the Potter series as I am right now.

Pleasant read for non-fan. No great insights. Buy if you want it for your collection.

A friend of mine recommend this book, the reason? For every movie and book release of Harry Potter I went to I dressed as Professor Severus Snape. I have even worn the costume to comic cons (being one of the few there from the books). With this book I have learned that there are other people who are as die hard as I am. The author really got me interested in going to one of these symposiums and going further into this fandom.
-Magus-

Ten years ago, my father sent me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with a note that said "Since you like Roald Dahl, you might like this..." Ten years later, I found myself donning a rather crazy rock n' roll wig to play Sirius Black in the fan film The Marauders' Worst Memory, directed by the author of this amazing book. As evidenced from this book, Erin Pyne lives and breathes Harry Potter; however, the true acclaim for this book lies in her ability to translate that excitement to the reader. If you are a fan of Harry Potter, Erin taps into every great moment you have experienced throughout the ten year odyssey of the Harry Potter books, enabling you to relive those moments and guaranteeing to put a smile on your face. If you are not a fan, you just might to pick up A Fandom of Magical Proportions to see what you've been missing...

Robert Rankin's books are kind of like a really good BBC television show. Superficially, they don't take a lot of brainpower to comprehend, they're hysterically funny, and there are really only like, six characters in the whole series.

Conversely, the real reason they're so funny is because there's a core of intelligence and education to them that one rarely sees in American media. I've actually learned quite a few interesting things in researching offhand jokes about obscure historical characters, for instance.

All in all, I'd never call any of his novels life-changing gems of intellectualism, but I'm always pretty glad that I've read them.

I agree with another reviewer... I listened to the audio version, his dry wit and sarcasm came across in a way that I'm not sure would have by reading it in print, especially since Rankin is the speaker as well. I highly recommend the audio version over print. I wish more of his books were available in audio, in fact!

I read Fandom of the Operator because of ONE blurb on the back: Terry Prachett, author of the Discworld series, wrote "One of the rare guys who can always make me laugh." Well, that, and the fact that I picked it up cheap at a used booksale for charity. I won't go into the plot too much--suffice it to say that the ludicrous plot is the source of most of the humor, and alien mind control and raising the dead play a big part. It's a very silly book with more twists than an anaconda committing suicide, and nobody can rightly say they figured it out in advance. But for me it wasn't terribly satisfying. It's basically light entertainment, with a tiny touch of sex and a bit of disgusting stuff for fun. Discworld's much richer textured and funnier. I can't see it being worth the price asked here at Amazon--I think that's cause it's a UK book, and I'll bet you can get it in paperback from amazon.uk much cheaper. If you're someone who roars at the humor of the title, you'll go for it big. But the cover blurb, from the Daily Express, says it all for me, "Everybody should read at least one Robert Rankin book in their life." Well, now I have.

I borrowed this from the library as an audiobook before a roadtrip and loved it. I think though, being an American and prone to reading things with an American's timing, rather than a Brit's, that I would have missed the humor had I not heard it read by the author. This book is funny, but exponentially more funny read aloud by Rankin. Reading it to myself, I would have likely rated it much lower, as I think I'd have mistimed the delivery.

"Machine Goddess" by Charles Phipps is a novel that somehow encompasses the issues of technology abuse, philosophy and action all into one. After the exposition, the novel dives into a wild sequence of events which see James Brody's day go from bad to worse. Brody, the protagonist and narrator, is a genius with cybernetic implants, which give him unparalleled computing abilities.

This genius, however, also makes him extremely arrogant- initially, you might find it difficult to like James, but it improves as the story progresses.

As for the events of the novel...there's a battle between geniuses, a bizarre love triangle and a revolutionary movement for starters, not to mention all the interesting philosophical questions it raises. The character of Eve is particularly intriguing- and she provides a bit of comic relief in the book through her naivete. The concept of the Digital World is great, and is well handled in the book.

If you like cyberpunk, computer implants or completely Digital Worlds...you'll probably love this book. Even if you're not into alternative computer-generated worlds you'll probably still enjoy it ;)

I enjoyed Charles Phipps' Machine Goddess, and also the second in the series Undying Machine. His attempt to create a new universe is awesome to watch, especially one of such a sophisticated level. I did enjoy his OZ books, and his work in that already established universe was certainly worth reading, however working in someone else's universe doesn't require the same level of skill as creating an entirely new one. I've found few authors who could pull it off like this author.

Machine Goddess is an unusual and very creative adventure story set in a bleak far distant future of Earth when technology is very advanced. It's told from the first person perspective of James, who is the main character. James is human being who has cybernetic implants. These implants permit this already very gifted person to think millions of times faster than a normal human. Talk about multi-tasking! He can be taking a language class AND a class in martial arts in the Digital World at the same time that he's composing a poem and chatting with the lady of his life. (One of several ladies of his life actually!) Despite his implants, James is a very human and very compelling character with a strong morality. James creates Eve, an amazing Artificial Intelligence who is more intelligent and perfect than humans. She is a very interesting, complex character despite being a machine.

Much of the story involves the Digital World, an intriguing and wonderous place where people can do anything that they can do in reality and more. The fast-paced, action-filled story takes place over just a few real-time days, but James has enough adventures to last a lifetime! The book is definitely a page-turner! The end of the book leaves you wanting to read the next one immediately!

Allyson Beatrice lives a not-quite-ordinary life. Her job and almost everyone she knows are the result of spending too much time on the Internet talking about vampires, slayers and lesbian witches. And her encounters are even more unusual than you'd imagine.

A hilarious collection of true stories from Allyson's days as one of the Internet's leading cult TV fan gurus, her mind-boggling escapades include meetings with network executives in dark steakhouses to try to save doomed TV shows and one hastily arranged wedding for two committed Buffy fans. Honest, emotional and side-splittingly snarky, Allyson Beatrice brings a fresh voice to these wild but true stories. Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? welcomes you to a fun and sometimes bizarre world where stupidity frustrates, wit triumphs and connections are made in most unlikely ways...a world, in fact, not too different from our own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Beatrice's writing style. The pages flew by with funny stories and mental images of crazy fans. In one essay titled "Munchausen's by Internet" Beatrice writes about a forum member who duped the community into believing she was a married mother of two with a sick child whose woes were never ending. I'm sure anyone with more than one year experience on message boards can admit to knowing someone who has tried something similar.

Although the book is mostly based on the fan world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other shows of its creator Joss Whedon it's a great read that I recommend to all.

If you pick up this book expecting it to be the ultimate insider's look at Buffy, Angel or even Firefly, you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you appreciate witty writing with more than a touch of snarkiness and want an inside look at the intersection of online communities, people who love shows like Buffy, Angel or Firefly enough to spend time posting about them, and the writers and creators of those shows, you will love the book.

I note that several reviewers were upset by the first chapter of the book. For reasons unknown, I skipped the first chapter and started with the second one and only read the first chapter after I had finished the book. I recommend that tactic as it turned out that was my least favorite chapter in the book (though there was nothing in it to offend me).

My favorite parts of the book were about the people she met (famous or otherwise) and discussions on the various online boards on which the author participated. This is because I have an online community have experienced many of the things she wrote about. In a "six degrees of separation" kind of link, I learned of the book from an online friend who is also one of the author's online friends and decided to read the book based on my friend's recommendation.

If you've ever spent way too much time and emotional energy posting to a discussion board and find that you have to explain how it is that you have all these friends across the country you haven't really met, I think you'd enjoy this book even if you never watched a single episode of Buffy, Angel or Firefly.

I was originally drawn to this book because of the name. Then I read the back cover which talked about how this book came about because she was this huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and since I am too a huge fan of BtVS I figured that I should read it.
The thing is that this book is not about BtVS or Angel, it's about how her original love of these two shows led her to the world of internet forums where she became a regular on several talking about Buffy, Vampires and Joss Whedon. So the book is more about internet forums than anything else. The fact that she became sort of a crusader for the shows and the writer all make for an interesting read but at the same time some parts of the book seem more like a diary, and not a very interesting one at that. She has some really funny stories about the world of fandom and some true and somewhat disturbing stories about internet forums which make the book worth reading.

Allyson Beatrice is a writer gifted for using humorous, laugh out loud phrases while viewing the world through an honest pair of glasses. Her comments about the generosity and wonderfulness of the online community is smack-on and is universal not only to the Buffy boards, but to places like Bookcrossing.com as well. The book is a quick read and made me want to somehow hang out with her. Yup, she created a Beatrice Fan-gurl in me!

From the description, I expected this book to be laugh-until-your-sides-ache funny, a sort of David Sedaris does the internet. Wrong. Not funny. Also, hoped for some behind the scenes action on my favorite show ever, Firefly. Turns out, the author loves Joss Whedon, but hated this show. This book is a personal memoir, essays on the wonderful power of fandom and the great friends she's made, how the web is not a dangerous, scary place.

For a hilarious read which lampoons sci-fi fandom, try Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb.

Robert Bloch was one of those rare creatures who didn't stop his fannish writing when he turned pro. Like Bob Shaw and Terry Carr, he continued to turn out hilarious writing for fanzine editors despite the pressures of a professional career. This is a collection of truly funny short pieces that were published in the fanzines of the 50s. It contains essays about the conventions of the time, collaborating with a long deceased Edgar Allan Poe, SF gone Hollywood, and how SF fandom should replace the beatnik movement. To appreciate these essays it is necessary to have a familiarity with the issues concerning fans and pros in the 50s. While there are many histories of science fiction literature, I can only think of one fan history: A Wealth of Fable by Harry Warner, Jr. ISBN 0963309900 and other editions. As a fan of fannish history and writing I am grateful that The Eighth Stage of Fandom remains in print.

If you never believed that 90's football was about enjoyment of the masses and had a sneeking suspecion that it had more to do with business then this is the book for you! It neatly dismisses all those long forgotten myths that football is for the fans and replaces it with the notion that football is about the business ethos. It takes a look at power, control and the men in grey suites who are determined to take the game away from the true fans and place it in the hands of the only people who can afford the ticket prices! It also serves the excellent perpous of confirming the fans view of their identity and where it comes from. This will make all football fans realise that you don't have to be a Nick Hornby to care . . . but it helps! If you are one of the few who still care and want to know a bit more about how they are dirtying the beautiful game, get a copy now!

I found this book on the new books shelf at the university library. It's a cross between a media studies/cultural studies expose of the study of fan culture. The different chapters in the anthology cover different genres tv shows (Sopranos), women in violent movies (_Kill Bill_) and the aesthetics of fandom.

The book was well-written, researched, and entertaining. I ate up this book and this says lots since I'm really in research and teaching mode. This book will be best served by a lay audience who is already interested in popular culture, media studies, communication, etc. A university audience will also find this book interesting in various courses in the humanities and social sciences.

I can't decide which chapter was my favourite---they were all great. But, I do think the Into, Sopranos, and Kill Bill chapters were the highlights for me.

The Lure of the Vampire is, as the title suggests, a book about vampires. However, it's not about vampires per se, but rather an analysis of people who admire vampires and everything they stand for, people who have meticulously read every single book by Anne Rice about Louis and Lestat and her other characters, and who live their daily lives closely identifying and relating to the vampire worldview. In other words; hard-core vampire fans. True, some of them have more of a casual interest, while others more or less base their entire worldview, existence, and philosophy on the mythology about those pale, immortal beings who only live at night and drink blood whenever the thirst becomes too strong. But all fans - whether they are completely satisfied with watching the latest vampire-flick or if they choose to spend all their free time online with other devotees - have one thing in common: They're all suckers for vampires.

And this is what Milly Williamson devotes most of the pages in her book to explore and analyze. When she doesn't discuss fans and fandom she explores the origin and evolution of the vampire novel along with extremely popular vampire shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, as I said before, most pages are devoted to fans, not vampires.

(Or at least not "real" ones; quite a few of the fans wouldn't mind turn immortal if Louis or Lestat showed up on their doorstep and offered a quick bite and instant immortality).

Williamson is especially interested in female fans, and argues that the ones more or less devoting their lives to the vampire has done so because they "found in the vampire a figure that expresses painful outsiderdom and love in a way that echoes their own experiences in the world" (pg. 189).

Countless of people all over the world are interested in, and fascinated by, vampires, but The Lure of the Vampire is still not a book for everyone. It's a book written by a scholar, and it soon becomes apparent that its intended audience is other scholars or university students, not the everyday reader. Which obviously doesn't mean it's a bad book in any sense. Quite the opposite actually; as long as you have the necessary patience and training required to deal with it you'll find that Williamson has written a book that's both very informative and interesting, but if you don't and just want a book about vampires in general, then you're probably better off buying a different book.

In the section preceding chapter five, "Vampire Fandom: Rebels Without a Cause? Theorising Fandom in the Field of Cultural Production", Williamson informs the reader that she's about to offer a model to "understanding fandom in contemporary culture" (pg. 96), but in fact the entire book, not just chapter five, is an attempt to do just that.

Now, a thorough analysis is never a bad thing, but why does Williamson - along with many other scholars of contemporary culture - have such a hard time simply admitting that some people appreciates vampires and vampire movies without really considering why? Is it really necessary to analyse every single aspect in meticulous detail? I mean, I'm a vampire fan too, but I'm not sure I could tell you exactly why. I just like them.

Another strange thing, perhaps less important though, is the absence of discussions about films like Underworld, Van Helsing, and the Blade trilogy. On the back of the book these movies are mentioned, giving the impression that they will be discussed in the book, but as it turns out, only Blade is mentioned, and only in a sentence or two. Not that this feels like false marketing, well, in a sense I guess it does but it doesn't really matter that much, but it's still weird.

So now, then, is The Lure of the Vampire a good buy? Yes, as long as you belong to the right group of people who are able to fully appreciate her analysis. But no, not if your interest in vampires is more emotional than it's scholarly. Make sure to figure out what group you belong to before you buy it.