Fandom Books

This is a good all around book to learn about fan fiction culture.

This book was obviously dashed together in a hurry. The authors' assorted essays--the book bears little evidence of editorial cohesion--are of middling to poor quality, and the conclusions are generally facile.

This "pop research" book shows all the signs of having been written over one or two weekends by a bunch of friends who could not take the time to read each others' contributions. The conclusions are as facile as the methodology.

I disagree with the two earlier reviews - they are probably from a single person who didn't like the book or perhaps did not understand the theories which underpin the evidence and stories presented in the chapters. The theoretical support of the book is quite cross-disciplinary and the areas described by the contributors cover a wide range of fan behaviors and phenomena. That could lead to a sense that the book isn't cohesive, if the reader is not careful to note the "throughlines" between the pieces. Remember that fan lit is still a relatively new area and solid theoretical categories in which to place all observations of fan behavior have yet to be established. Perhaps they never will. I have been reading *everything* available in the fan literature area for the past year and this one remains a book I keep turning to, along with my copies of Jenkins, Camille Bacon-Smith, and Lisa Lewis. These are foundational, even though some do not even address internet fan culture. This one does, however, to its credit.