fansplaining.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

We've got a brand-new way to support Fansplaining's writers (including @gavia.bsky.social, who wrote our February piece, out tomorrow!). In an attempt to get off PayPal entirely, we've swapped our one-off donations link to Ko-fi. If you have a few bucks to spare, please help us pay writers! ✨

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

I wrote about fandom dynamics around Captain America: Brave New World, casting back to the Peak Stucky Era to see what's changed. There are specifics—eg longtime racism towards Sam—but broader franchise fatigue is real, as brilliantly articulated by @jsalowe.com here: www.wired.com/story/captai...

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

NEW from me at WIRED: inside the White House’s—jk jk, WIRED asked me to write about Captain America. 🙂 On the complicated fandom picture around Brave New World, the MCU’s 35th title in 17 years. Franchise fatigue, fandom’s longtime racist sidelining of Sam Wilson, the BDS boycott, and much more:

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

Hugo voters! Please keep both The Rec Center (Best Fanzine) and Fansplaining (Best Fancast)* in mind as you fill out your ballots! ✨ (*Since Fansplaining has been a written publication since June, perhaps we actually qualify for Best Semiprozine, since we are funded by patrons and pay writers?)

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I had so much fun talking with Vee and Emily!! If you enjoyed this piece www.fansplaining.com/articles/end... I highly recommend our conversation, because we talk about a lot of the stuff I raised there! Plus Giles fan webrings. 🥰

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

Great thread about @scenicrailway.bsky.social's piece on the Blake's 7 Slash Wars—illustrates just how much the events of ~35 years ago resonate in fandom today.

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

In our latest article, @scenicrailway.bsky.social digs into the Slash Wars—a conflict involving Blake's 7 actors and fans in the late 80s/early 90s—whose central questions remain deeply relevant to fandom today. Read the piece or listen to an audio version: www.fansplaining.com/articles/the...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

This is a part of #Blakes7 fandom history that I had no idea about, and it was a fascinating read

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Just wait until someone hunts down the entire letter.

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

"Hell hath no fury like a selfish fan scorned!" Your longread for the weekend is @scenicrailway.bsky.social's deep dive into the Slash Wars: a conflict over cons, money, fanfiction, fan/creator dynamics, and more in late-1980s Blake's 7 fandom. Read or listen to a full audio version:

submitted 32 days ago • 2 comments

Very excited to share this with the world—we've been working on it for months and I'm so proud of how it came out. ✨ Highly recommended for anyone interested in fandom history (or grappling with fan/creator interaction issues today).

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

My latest for @aoofficial.bsky.social is about Reid Byers's truly wonderful exhibition of "imaginary books" at the Grolier Club in Manhattan. (And his class on making an imaginary collection!) It's a whole gallery of pretend books mentioned in other books—the lost, the unfinished, and the fictional.

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

Loved this fantastic fandom history piece by Lena Barkin about Blakes 7 fandom, the 'slash wars', and rifts in this 1980s fandom (foreshadowing many debates still going on) about fan economies and crossing the line between paid labor and fan creativity. www.fansplaining.com/articles/the...

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

ICYMI: I wrote a lengthy research piece for @fansplaining.bsky.social about the Blake's 7 SLASH WARS. There are ZINE LETTERS, there's CON DRAMA, there's PAUL DARROW. It was such a pleasure and privilege to dive deep on one of my favorite topics: the cyclical nature of fandom.

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

really loved this excellently researched deep-dive into a fascinating event… it absolutely set the tone for decades of fourth wall drama to come

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the same (fan-creator interaction is fraught!!)

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

For Fansplaining (!) I wrote about a passion topic - Blake's 7 and early fandom conflicts.

submitted 34 days ago • 2 comments

Our first piece of the year is live—and it's a big one! With the recent release of the classic BBC sci-fi show Blake's 7 on Blu-ray, @scenicrailway.bsky.social looks back at the infamous 1980s clash between fans and creators that became known as the Slash Wars. 🚀 Read or listen to an audio version:

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

Tomorrow our January article comes out, and it's a big one! @scenicrailway.bsky.social goes deep on early Blake's 7 fandom and its very complicated fan/creator dynamics. To get ready, check out this new oral history from some on the creator-side about the show itself!

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

If you missed it, @elizabethminkel.bsky.social wrote about the context collapse that characterized the past year in fanfiction. AI grifters, traditional publishers, and huge new audiences: Where does the exploding demand for fanfic leave writers? Read or listen: www.fansplaining.com/articles/end...

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

🎊 Happy New Year! 🎊

submitted 56 days ago • 7 comments

It has been a YEAR for fanfiction (not in a good way). 🥲 Normally, we'd discuss all of this stuff on our "Year in Fandom" episode, but with the podcast on hiatus, I decided I'd write about these trends instead. What happens fanfiction scales—but participatory fan communities do not?

submitted 56 days ago • 9 comments

Around this time in December, we put out "The Year in Fandom," a look back at trends over the prior 12 months. With the podcast on hiatus, @elizabethminkel.bsky.social had a lot of thoughts about one trend in particular—an inflection point for fic, as people came for it on all sides. Read or listen:

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

All of Fansplaining's 2024 interviews and articles in one handy list, plus a round-up of Elizabeth's fandom journalism!

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

As 2024 winds down, we've been highlighting the incredible work we've been able to publish this year thanks to your continued financial support. ✨ Our final piece of the round-up is November's essay from @abbykirby.bsky.social on her work teaching fic writing to middle schoolers! Read or listen:

submitted 68 days ago • 1 comment

As 2024 wraps up, we're highlighting the incredible reporting we've been able to publish this year thanks to your continued financial support. 💫 Today, we've got @tchotchke.bsky.social's deep dive into modern-day Beatles fandom, and the pleasures of RPF at a historical distance. Read or listen:

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Our 2024 wrap-up continues with September's piece: nearly a year after Scream star Melissa Barrera let go from the franchise after publicly supporting Palestine, Michael Boyle dug into the continuing fallout amongst fans, where Barrera's supporters were dismissed with "toxic fandom" language:

submitted 70 days ago • 1 comment

We're highlighting all the fantastic work we've been able to publish this year thanks to your support! 🙏🏼 Today, it's @gavia.bsky.social's incisive analysis of the cancellation of the The Acolyte, contextualizing it within a broader Star Wars/Disney pattern. Read or listen to an audio version:

submitted 76 days ago • 1 comment

So exciting that @gavia.bsky.social & I are the first installment in the @eff.org's new video series "Gate Crashing"!! ✨ See The Rec Center ON CAMERA:

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Our 2024 wrap-up continues with a piece from August by @laurawheatmanhill.bsky.social on theatre fandom! As social media has democratized access, fandom gatekeeping has shot up in turn. "Are theatre fans actually destroying the thing they love from the inside?" Read or listen to an audio version:

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments