[penguicon-general] Fannish Material To Read

[Catherine Olanich Raymond]

On Wednesday 20 December 2006 9:59 am, Matt Arnold wrote:
> Two people have mentioned Bimbos Of The Death Sun. When I finally got
> a copy of that and read it, I didn't enjoy it. I was surprised that it
> was frequently recommended, given that the author has no love of
> fandom whatsoever. It is not affectionate mockery. It's a hostile
> message to stay away from conventions, those who attend them, and
> those who run them. I tried to interpret it more charitably, but could
> find no redeeming qualities in the events or people depicted. Every
> fannish activity the characters in that book participated in was a
> human train wreck. The author attributed their motivation to
> participate entirely to their personality flaws, which were not
> depicted sympathetically at any point. Far from being a core
> experience of fandom, I found its perspective to be outside my
> experience. If BotDS is a good intro to fandom, stay away from that
> fandom.

Apparently there are fen who disagree with you, Matt.  I have no opinion, 
since I haven't read BotDS.


-- 
Cathy Raymond <cathy at thyrsus.com>

"A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point
of doubtful sanity."  --Robert Frost