We know many of you are (eagerly we hope) awaiting the publication of our wild and crazy roadtrip through Supernatural fandom, Fangasm – and we hope to have news of its release soon. In the meantime, the first book we wrote on fandom and Supernatural is now for sale. Fandom At The Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships is our academic take on the fandom we love. Given the fandom’s propensity for intellectually stimulating meta and “thinky thoughts” so deep they can make your brain hurt, we thought you’d like this one too!
We began this research because we wanted to challenge the “fan shame” that seems to permeate fandom, to celebrate the ways in which fandom brings us all together and validates who we are, and to celebrate the incredible Show we’d fallen hard for. We also wanted to explore the reciprocal relationship between fans and producers that’s closer than ever (Jimions, anyone?), so we talked to the creative side of Supernatural as well as the fans. We sat down with series creator Eric Kripke, showrunner Sera Gamble, and many of the talented cast and crew, most of whom are as passionate about the Show as we are. Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, Matt Cohen, Richard Speight Jr, Chad Lindberg, Gabe Tigerman, Samantha Ferris, Samantha Smith, Malik Whitfield, Todd Stashwick, Kim Rhodes, Fred Lehne, Danneel Ackles, Steve Carlson, Jason Manns, and Brian Buckley all contributed their insights. (We also had some rather amusing and/or embarrassing moments during these oh-so-serious interviews, as you can well imagine if you read this blog regularly – all of which will be confessed in Fangasm. Don’t laugh at us too hard…)
So yes, Fandom At The Crossroads is academic, but since it’s written by the two of *us*, it also looks at fandom and at our beloved Show with a fannish perspective. We asked the sort of questions most researchers (or journalists) probably wouldn’t, and sometimes forgot our researcher hats and dared actors to do things they might not have otherwise. We were also periodically distracted from our “academic pursuits” by our inner, squeeing fangirls. (Hey, wouldn’t you if you were sitting in Jared’s trailer watching him undress as he answered your questions????) Since fandom – and SPN – are full of glorious visuals, we also illustrated the book with lots and lots of photos. Jared and Jensen demonstrated their sense of humor by posing for dozens of these, and we expressed our appreciation for their creativity by letting them come up with some of their own ideas for poses, while we laughed safely out of camera range.
We had an incredible time researching and writing this book, and hope you find the insights of Supernatural’s fans, cast and crew as fascinating as we did. If you read Fandom At The Crossroads, please add your thoughts to the research data in an email or a post here, so we can include your voice in our next book! If you’re studying fandom or popular culture, please recommend it to your university as a useful and current textbook.
Buy now on Amazon.com
Hardcover: Available now
Soft cover: Available: July 2012
More interviews from Nashcon coming up soon…..
I’ve been looking forward to this book. But $60 is too much for me right now. 🙁
Hi summer — Alas, we have no control over the format, and the publisher does hardcover first, since this is an academic book. We’re begging for softcover and ebooks asap though!
oh i’ve been waiting this for ages but $60 is too expensive for me as non working student. hope soft cover will be cheaper or amazon releases e book.
We’re campaigning for softcover and ebooks asap too – it’s released as an academic book, so the publisher is right now sticking to hardcover. Fingers crossed for sooner rather than later.
i’m taking it as a good sign that the book is ‘temporarily out of stock’ right now. didn’t you tell the publishers how passionate supernatural fans are about our show? they obviously didn’t order enough copies!
We tried to tell them, but I don’t think anyone quite gets it except those of us who have experienced this fandom firsthand 🙂
just so you know, i got a notice from amazon today that they’ve shipped it!!! it’s supposed to arrive this week, so i know what i’m reading next weekend!
Gosh, I’d love this, but hardback prices might take a bit of saving, particularly with Amazon’s international shipping on top of that. I’ll get it, but it won’t be straight away!
Totally understood — we unfortunately have no control over the publisher’s format, and right now they’re only doing hardcover. (We’re glad it seems like something you’d love tho 🙂
OMG, yay — congrats and i’ll be getting my copy. (eep, from the comment above, is it temporarily out of stock?)
Hi there! The publisher may have underestimated the enthusiasm of SPN fans a bit. LOL. More should be on their way tho 🙂
hi! i’ve added it to my shopping cart and will complete my order when i’m back home. 😛
see you in — OMG — 10 days!
Please ask them to make it available on amazon.co.uk as well .Looking forward to reading it 🙂
Will do – excellent idea, particularly since the publisher is in the UK 🙂
I Ordered mine! Says its out of stock but I placed the order. 🙂
They should be shipping soon — looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
I actually got a tax refund this year. I think this is a great way to splurge on myself with that money! Ladies, congratulations! This is so very exciting for you both. I look forward to reading it. It still shows out of stock but I’m going to order it now so I get it asap. 🙂 YAY!
They should be restocked soon, so hopefully yours is on its way. Can’t wait to hear what you think!
This books sounds incredibly interesting. July seems like a long ways away, but like others, I cannot afford a $60 book. I cannot WAIT to read this, if an eBook comes out before the paperback, I may have to get that 🙂
Every bit of interest expressed here will help with both of those formats, so thanks very much for letting us know you’re looking forward to reading 🙂
I was going to wait for the e-book or softcover. And with the book being out of stock (Go SPN fans!) there seemed to be a kind of encouragement for me to be more frugal. But I just so want to know it will arrive as I am so looking forward to reading it. So I clicked on that one-click and have ordered it. Thank you to both of you!!
Should be restocked and on its way soon — hope you enjoy! 🙂
Temporarily out of stock.! Sweet! put it on my wish list!
Should be restocked and ready to ship more soon — we look forward to hearing your thoughts!
I’m so stupid excited to read this. Congrats! 😀
Thank you so much, we’re thrilled that you’re excited!!!
Awesome ladies. As a new (as of this year) but still equally diehard fan, I am eager to read this book so you can:
1 – confirm that at the age of 41, I am not insane to be IN LOVE with this show (I tell people that I MUST be a dignified fan. I can’t act like the teenyboppers. I refuse! lol! Oh and can I be something other than a “fangirl”? I wanna grow up! But you can call me a Deangirl. That I will accept. 😉 )
2 – tell me why the heck I am so in love with this show in the first place! Seriously! I have never felt so enraptured by another show in. my. life. What IS the deal? And since I know what being in love feels like, I can honestly say it feels exactly like that right now.
Can’t get enough and can’t wait to get your book when it is in stock again.
Actually we’re pretty sure our book really CAN confirm #1! As for #2, we’re not entirely sure we get it ourselves, but it sure as hell is true 🙂
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to read!
SQUEEEEEE I have received an email from Amazon telling me my book has shipped! 😀
Yay!!!!!! Happy reading 🙂
It arrived today a day early! Thank you, Amazon! Can’t wait to carve out the time to start reading. I’ve already flipped through and looked at some of the pics and there are some good ones in there.
I was wondering if this will be sold in stores like Barnes and Noble etc eventually.
Any Idea when the softcover edition will be available in July?
Not yet, but believe me, we’ll announce it the moment we know the details!
Folks…this one is worth the hardcover price for the amazing photos alone. You’ll regret it if you don’t add this to your collection. Truly delightful!
I wish I could afford EITHER version of this book…:/ Maybe once (if!) my disability finally gets approved…
I just wanted to drop you both a comment to say that I’ve just finished reading this book and it’s really excellent. I’m working on a PhD thesis on RPS at the moment and I came across it at just the right time–it addresses certain gaps in my research regarding slash, particularly the old “why slash?” question, and it’s the first time I’ve read anything with a personal/individual approach to answering this question that rang true for my experience of fandom. I’m also really interested in questions of fandom and shame. It was something I tried to address in my work but in the end I just felt like it was too much for a thesis introduction, since it would require a whole book, and what do you know, this is exactly that book. I had also intended to include J2 as one my RPS case studies but again thought, actually, the Supernatural fandom would take a book to explain and, again, this is that book.
So thank you for writing it! It’s certainly added a lot to my research, as well as providing new takes on both fandom and “the creative side”‘s attitude to fandom. 🙂
Hi there! Thanks so much for letting us know that you found Crossroads helpful in your research, and especially that what we had to say rang true for you – we started our own research because none of the research out there rang true for *us*, so this feels wonderfully full circle. Will you keep us apprised of your thesis on RPS? We’d love to hear what you come up with! And if you go to either SPN cons or academic popular culture conferences, let us know and look us up!
Our new book on Supernatural and fandom (Fangasm) comes out in October. We hope you’ll enjoy that one too 🙂
Hey there, i see that Fandom at the Crossroads is currently not available on Amazon. Any word on more copies being up for sale anytime soon? Thanks!
Hi! Amazon has just been very quirky recently with its listings for Crossroads — if you order it, they will ship it to you pretty much right away. It’s just their listing that keeps being incorrect. The publisher is working to correct it, but you can definitely order and have it shipped now. If you do order and read, please let us know your thoughts!
I’ve read about objectification in your book Fangasm at the Crossroads.
Do you remember a fan asking Jensen what he would do for a Klondike bar and he said: There’s not a lot of things I wouldn’t do for a Klondike bar. What would you do for a Klondike bar? And we all knew this was coming but everybody was still shocked when she said: You.
Jensen dropped his mike and walked of stage. Jared was just sitting there, I don’t remember how he reacted, but he must’ve been laughing from the inside.. I know I would’ve have to laugh so hard, but also must feel very flattering or a bit a shamed if someone would tell that to me…
I could’ve sworn Jensen was trying to hold in his laugh when he walked of stage.
I remember, I only watched the video, the whole crowd was like: “oh no she didn’t” and now that I’m reading your book that video comes to mind. That answer was commented as a joke, but what if it wasn’t?
If the roles where reversed and a male fan answered that question to a female he would’ve had balls for saying that. And I think that girl/ lady who said it to Jensen is amazing! That must’ve taken so much courage to do that and I applaud her.
Maybe you’ve addressed this video in your book, I haven’t read so far, but its kinda interesting how these double standards work. So far I really like this book and I’m not even half way yet 😉
Keep writing these amazing stories!