- Slate wrote about the University of Iowa’s Hevelin Collection of fanzines, quoting the OTW’s Karen Hellekson who wrote “fanzines were typically self-published pamphlets, made from ‘stapled-together pieces of ordinary-sized letter paper, sometimes folded in half.’ Fans would exchange these documents through the mail, often after discovering one another through the letters pages of magazines such as Amazing Stories…According to Hellekson, in those pre-photocopying days authors of zines would reproduce their work via carbon paper, mimeograph, or other similarly primitive means.”
- Texas A&M University now hosts The Sandy Hereld Memorial Digitized Media Fanzine Collection in remembrance of the OTW supporter Sandy Herrold. “Sandy’s legacy of work includes the founding of Virgule-L, the first Internet slash mailing list, hosting numerous other mailing lists and fan sites, and helping to create the annual ‘Vid Review’ panel at the Escapade convention (the longest-running slash fan convention), which became the model for serious conversations about vidding as an art form.”
- The Mary Sue discussed the difficulties in passing on fandom. “Sailor Moon was something we were really looking forward to sharing with our son. I knew that Usagi’s outfits, transformations, and quirky sensibilities would be right up his alley!…Within 3 episodes, I was horrified and questioning everything I ever knew about my love of the series. When all was said and done, we made it only 6 episodes in before I tragically put an end to it, completely taken aback. These girls were so vain, and her superpowers were triggered by a magical makeup mirror? I was right about my son, though: He was hooked.”
- Netflix released a study exploring when people became fans of a TV show. “While around the world the hooked episode was relatively consistent, slight geographic differences did present themselves. The Dutch, for instance, tend to fall in love with series the fastest, getting hooked one episode ahead of most countries irrespective of the show. Germans showed early fandom for Arrow whereas France fell first for How I Met Your Mother. In Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill won Brazilians over one episode quicker than Mexicans. And Down Under, viewers prove to hold out longer across the board, with members in Australia and New Zealand getting hooked one to two episodes later than the rest of the world on almost every show.”
- WBUR had a segment where a couple tried to see if they could become baseball fans. “A change had come over Susie. Over the course of a few hours, she’d become a Cubs fan for life. In those same few hours, Kris Bryant had singlehandedly undermined our relationship. Just kidding. But as we headed home, even I, the longtime sports cynic, had to admit — that was incredible. It’s hard not to get caught up in the thrill of a dramatic win at home. But at the same time, I wondered if I should resent the Cubs for winning? Because I didn’t. And maybe that made me less of a Sox fan?”
What fans do you want remembered for their contributions to fandom? Start a page for them in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a Fannews post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.