Up evil
You may know that I have what I would describe as a love/hate relationship with science fiction fandom.
I’ve been involved enough to know the good that can come out of it; the fun, camaraderie and rare but treasured flashes of true wit. Then there are the friendships: Someone I consider to be one of my most supportive friends today is someone I first “met” on an SF series newsgroup.
To be “fannish,” in the best sense of the term is to look at a beloved old thing in a new way. SF fans are also less likely to discriminate (in a good way) in their choices of reading material; they won’t assume that something can’t be SF if it is literature or vice versa.
But I also know the flip side of all that. The disgusting cliques, the emotional problems, sheer bloody-minded humorlessness and the seething resentment of a good fan feud.
To be “fannish,” in the worst sense of the term is to cling to your beloved old thing like a child to his mother, to be unable to have any perspective on it or step outside your own POV even for a few minutes. To be willing to read any SF book, watch any SF series or movie, no matter how atrociously written, paper-thin or cliched. Rather than something gorgeous, fleshed-out and original that just doesn’t have a lot of spaceships or vampires.
And then there’s this. I’m telling you, this is what it all leads to.
