Dear Fandom:

Hi, come on in and sit down. Man, you’ve grown. Seems like yesterday you and me were just hanging out in Red Roof Inns and bingo halls. Now look at you. You’re winning awards, Hollywood is yours, and you’ve converted millions. Congratulations, you’ve hit the big time at last.

But we need to talk. Like it or not, Fandom(or Geekdom), in my opinion, is about to have its bubble burst. Not a big deal. People are fickle, and nobody stays on top forever I expect it to happen after Marvel reboots the universe onscreen and after Game of Thrones ends.It’s happened to bunches of things I like: metal, pro wrestling, hell even the music industry.

What’s got me worried is the folks I see here on the net who seem to think it was always like this. We’ll always have the “spuds” who only care about stuff when it’s popular or “in”. I expect that. They’re like the weather, they’ll be here forever, like roaches.

What ticks me off, however, are the folks in your fandom that profit and make money off of it, and have absolutely no respect for the business, or are faking their respect for the community they claim to be part of in their marketing.

Two things caused me to write this post. The first is the asshole who called the Geek Gala crap on a review. Now, full disclosure, due to a lot of issues, I’ve never attended one. But since they started doing their Muggles Market(Next one at Contagion*plug plug*) I’ve attended and they create a great family friendly atmosphere that can expose people to local artists and authors, and help feed the hungry. And some pendejo had the nerve  to call that “crap?”

My first response to people nervy enough and asshole enough to say shit like this is usually this: you try it. Unless you’ve put on an event, or stood on stage and performed, and done it better, shut the fuck up. Don’t like it? Fine, but shame on you for shitting on people for trying .

I’ve always been annoyed by this type of person. They’re usually new and clueless to the scene, and have been programmed to think that everything good has to be big and costly and impressive. These are the people whose dad and grandads were around in the 70’s, thinking that how big a venue or how much they were on the radio was the only barometer of success.

Those people are fucking clueless. They claim to love an art form, but they only love the most popular, watered down version. They’re the folks who show up to WWE shows but have never been to PWX or Dragon’s Gate or any local promotion. Now some folks not showing up because they didn’t hear about it, or they had to work or something, now that’s understandable. It;s the people who are like”If it isn’t on a major label, they must not be any good”.

These people are how punk rock got started. The pushback against them and the crap music they promoted.The kids back in the late 70’s to even now who saw someone onstage and said”Hey, I can do that, and I don’t need the majors to do it.” The people who put on wrestling shows in gyms, or the bands who book their won tours, taking groups like Black Flag and Fugazi as their inspiration to DIY:Do It Yourself.

The second thing that has been bugging at me are the people who are in an industry and have almost that mentality, but do it by their actions and where those actions take place. I get authors who have social issues, who have to limit their social interactions due to mental health issues or time for the day job. I get that. What I don’t get is when you never,ever use those spoons to do anything local. If you only ever go out of town and never try to build anything close to home, I don’t get it. I know of two local writers who I’ve never even seen talk about attending a local con in the five years I’ve been aware of their existence. Yet both have traveled cross country to big ass conventions. It’s one thing to try the local scene and strike out, and quite another to be dismissive of it by your silence or refusal to even try it.(And no, it’s nobody on any of my social media. And no, I won’t tell you who I’m talking about)

And these people don’t get it. I understand it in some people, who see crap like “Star Search” and think that’s how success works. But to dismiss local fandom just because it’s not San Diego or DragonCon? Dude, that’s just pathetic and snobbery of the highest order.

What Fandom needs is people like Joey Starnes, Michelle Iannantuono, and John Hartness. John is the Henry Rollins and Ian Fugazi of NC publishing. His Falstaff is publishing stuff the majors don’t, he’s got good taste, and he’s brutally honest and decent. Joey’s done so much in fandom I can’t even. Michelle does nifty horror films that should be in the theatres.

These people, in my opinion, are what I call punk rock fandom. John vends at so many damn cons, that he may have to split himself in two next year. Joey is everywhere she can be. They Do It Themselves.

And there’s hundreds out there like them. You’ll see them exhibiting home made shirts and candles, some of which blow the established products out of the water. And musicians like Valentine Wolfe and Mikey Mason might not ever be opening for Weird Al or Nightwish(but they should be), but they’re still out there killing it. whenever life lets them do it.

So do us a favor, Fandom. Love your locals. Go to the local con the library puts on. Show up to a comedy show where there’s only ten people in the bar. Buy that book the guy published himself. Watch those B-movies on Amazon Because chances are,there’s been a lot more love put into that than whatever polished turd Hollywood or the major labels try to jam down your throat. And you’ll see some amazing shit, I damn guarantee.

Or else. I’d like to point out that none of your big guns got there overnight, no matter what their PR people will tell you. But everything you like started out small. My first sci-fi con in 89 was at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant. John Cena worked his ass off in OVW before he ever showed up on Smackdown. If we don’t support the locals and indies, we will suffer.

Don’t believe me? Look at tabletop RPGs. D & D had the world by the balls in the mid 80’s. Shit, we had nerds and geeks who could afford coke habits at that point. TSR got their stuff into every bookstore in America, and they got toys and television shows.

The problem was, there wasn’t enough there to survive a downturn. Everyone can name D & D. The problem is, they went Walmart  and killed all their competition. And when CCG’s came along, the industry damn near died and now the people behind Magic own D and D. Thankfully, when D and D came back the last few years, there’s been a bigger variety that’s gotten attention. More media outlets mean more opportunities for variety.

In the end, fandom is in flux right now. But supporting local authors, artists and cosplayers will always be good for fandom and for you. Shoot, if you’re lucky, you might even get to say”I knew them when…”