SevenFandomDays 1: Share Your Stories
sevenfandomdays Share Your Stories
I'm a fan. Gamer, filker, slasher, sci-fi reader & watcher, fanfic writer (a rather new aspect; the others are decades old.).
Early 80's. I was 12, I suppose, when I discovered "fandom," or rather, was introduced to it by a friend from my D&D group. (I suppose I could argue that a D&D group is a form of "fandom.") Kevin was a hardcore Trekkie. I can't remember if he called himself a "Trekkie" or "Trekker" or "Trek fan" or what... but it was very odd, at that age, to find someone who would not talk on the phone during a TV show.
I'd watched some Trek. I liked it Spock was my favorite. That was about the extent of my young thoughts until I met Kevin. His fascination with Trek got me watching it more carefully, and talking about it a bit. And he threw books at me... "Here's Harlan Ellison, the first sci-fi author to use fuck in a mainstream published book." (Probably an exaggeration, that. But the exciting thought of reading real books with swear words in them was too good to pass up... I started reading Ellison.)
I'd already been introduced to Heinlein by a careless babysitter who said "books? Umm, I think Nora has some books in her room; you can read those if you like." Red Planet. Farmer in the Sky. Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I think I was 13 when I read Stranger In A Strange Land; I'm sure it warped everything I believe about relationships and human nature.
A year later, Kevin came out as gay, and promptly told his 312 closest friends. Some of you may realize that a gamer geek who's into Star Trek may not have 312 friends, and you'd be right: Kevin apparently never understood what that whole "closet" thing was about, and since he was already being despised as a D&D player and Trek geek, it was no real trouble to add a new category of "freak" to his geek resume. Amber (my best friend) and I continued to hang out with Kevin; hey, now we could chat about cute boys together. And so my concept of fandom is inextricably tied to my notions of being outside social norms.
Amber & I collected Elfquest. "Comic books," we called them; I'm told they're now "graphic novels," the difference apparently being that graphic novels cost twice as much as comic books, and don't have ads for Johnson & Johnson toys every six pages. We read sci-fi. We did D&D. We read fantasy, memorized poetry from Nancy Springer's books, made up our own stories about the characters, and about other similar settings. (Oh ye gods it was atrocious.)
At the age of 16, I went to BayCon for the first time, with a group of Elfquest fans. I'd found home.
I wandered in and out of conversations with total strangers. I signed up for some interactive RPG-ish thing with an atrocious gamer name. I seduced a 19-year-old boy who still winces to remember it; I was well under the age of consent. I slept on a sleeping bag on the floor of a hotel room with 12 people in it. I was basically broke; I scavenged french fries at the hotel diner from friends who weren't going to finish theirs. I bought a one-day pass on Saturday and couldn't afford one on Sunday so I just stayed out of the Dealer Room and hung out in the crowds.
I attended BayCon for the next 18 years. I attended TimeCon and SiliCon for a few years as well; I missed the "Rule Six" year by living in LA (a big mistake), but was around for the fallout the next con. I got into filk, and I read several books and series because I'd heard a filksong I loved, and wanted the background story. I wrote some filk.
Somewhere around age 18, Kevin mentioned slash. I remember 'cos I was all caught up with filk, and in love with Leslie Fish's songs, and he said "she writes Kirk/Spock." And I was intrigued. I went looking for it. Didn't find it. Slash was, at the time, handed around in under-the-table fanzines; I was too shy to ask strangers about it, and too poor to buy the various fanzines at the conventions and figure out which of them might include bits that I liked.
My first real introduction to slash was *years* later, on a Pagan email list, where someone posted the first chapter of Symphony of Darkness, by Kadira, a Snarry story. The list exploded in wank (CHILD PORN!!) and I had to read it. I went looking for more. I happily discovered that all my favorite fandoms have slash, although some don't have nearly enough.
I could go on, but I think I'll stop. I'm not up to trying to create a coherent manuscript of my fannish experiences, or chosing a single incident to highlight. I'm just throwing my hat in the ring, saying, "I'm here; I'm fannish; I love all of fandom, even the parts I think are really immature or squicky or wanky." Maybe especially those parts; they're what makes us a community, a way of life and not just a goddam hobby.
I'm a fan. Gamer, filker, slasher, sci-fi reader & watcher, fanfic writer (a rather new aspect; the others are decades old.).
Early 80's. I was 12, I suppose, when I discovered "fandom," or rather, was introduced to it by a friend from my D&D group. (I suppose I could argue that a D&D group is a form of "fandom.") Kevin was a hardcore Trekkie. I can't remember if he called himself a "Trekkie" or "Trekker" or "Trek fan" or what... but it was very odd, at that age, to find someone who would not talk on the phone during a TV show.
I'd watched some Trek. I liked it Spock was my favorite. That was about the extent of my young thoughts until I met Kevin. His fascination with Trek got me watching it more carefully, and talking about it a bit. And he threw books at me... "Here's Harlan Ellison, the first sci-fi author to use fuck in a mainstream published book." (Probably an exaggeration, that. But the exciting thought of reading real books with swear words in them was too good to pass up... I started reading Ellison.)
I'd already been introduced to Heinlein by a careless babysitter who said "books? Umm, I think Nora has some books in her room; you can read those if you like." Red Planet. Farmer in the Sky. Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I think I was 13 when I read Stranger In A Strange Land; I'm sure it warped everything I believe about relationships and human nature.
A year later, Kevin came out as gay, and promptly told his 312 closest friends. Some of you may realize that a gamer geek who's into Star Trek may not have 312 friends, and you'd be right: Kevin apparently never understood what that whole "closet" thing was about, and since he was already being despised as a D&D player and Trek geek, it was no real trouble to add a new category of "freak" to his geek resume. Amber (my best friend) and I continued to hang out with Kevin; hey, now we could chat about cute boys together. And so my concept of fandom is inextricably tied to my notions of being outside social norms.
Amber & I collected Elfquest. "Comic books," we called them; I'm told they're now "graphic novels," the difference apparently being that graphic novels cost twice as much as comic books, and don't have ads for Johnson & Johnson toys every six pages. We read sci-fi. We did D&D. We read fantasy, memorized poetry from Nancy Springer's books, made up our own stories about the characters, and about other similar settings. (Oh ye gods it was atrocious.)
At the age of 16, I went to BayCon for the first time, with a group of Elfquest fans. I'd found home.
I wandered in and out of conversations with total strangers. I signed up for some interactive RPG-ish thing with an atrocious gamer name. I seduced a 19-year-old boy who still winces to remember it; I was well under the age of consent. I slept on a sleeping bag on the floor of a hotel room with 12 people in it. I was basically broke; I scavenged french fries at the hotel diner from friends who weren't going to finish theirs. I bought a one-day pass on Saturday and couldn't afford one on Sunday so I just stayed out of the Dealer Room and hung out in the crowds.
I attended BayCon for the next 18 years. I attended TimeCon and SiliCon for a few years as well; I missed the "Rule Six" year by living in LA (a big mistake), but was around for the fallout the next con. I got into filk, and I read several books and series because I'd heard a filksong I loved, and wanted the background story. I wrote some filk.
Somewhere around age 18, Kevin mentioned slash. I remember 'cos I was all caught up with filk, and in love with Leslie Fish's songs, and he said "she writes Kirk/Spock." And I was intrigued. I went looking for it. Didn't find it. Slash was, at the time, handed around in under-the-table fanzines; I was too shy to ask strangers about it, and too poor to buy the various fanzines at the conventions and figure out which of them might include bits that I liked.
My first real introduction to slash was *years* later, on a Pagan email list, where someone posted the first chapter of Symphony of Darkness, by Kadira, a Snarry story. The list exploded in wank (CHILD PORN!!) and I had to read it. I went looking for more. I happily discovered that all my favorite fandoms have slash, although some don't have nearly enough.
I could go on, but I think I'll stop. I'm not up to trying to create a coherent manuscript of my fannish experiences, or chosing a single incident to highlight. I'm just throwing my hat in the ring, saying, "I'm here; I'm fannish; I love all of fandom, even the parts I think are really immature or squicky or wanky." Maybe especially those parts; they're what makes us a community, a way of life and not just a goddam hobby.