I’m sad too, Robward.
But over the years I’ve had the good fortune to see many of my fandom dreams become reality. When anything exciting, unprecedented, or fervently anticipated actually happens in fandom, there is a real sense of disbelief and euphoria. Off the top of my head, fandom events that blew my mind and made me grin for days:
- The Office Convention in Scranton in 2007. I didn’t get to go because I had a nursing baby, but most of my fandom friends went and reported back that they had THE BEST time… including long talks about JAM over beers with BJ Novak.
- Seeing all the Twilight sequels at midnight showings with my best friend.
- Camping out for tickets to Star Wars: Special Edition in 1997. And going to see it with a very hot Star Wars buff who was NOT my boyfriend. Best.Date.Ever.
- Having the first Outlander Fan Event on my birthday and getting a shared birthday shout-out from DianaG.
- Randomly leaving a party at last year’s ComicCon and running into the entire cast of Game of Thrones.
I’d like to say I’ve had enough fandom wins to last me a lifetime. I’ve had authors I admire exchange emails about how something I wrote made them laugh or think differently about their characters. I’ve gotten to sit down with actors I LOVE and ask them questions about the characters they play that I love even more. And my favorite fandom thing EVER: I’ve had many of you tell me that you’ve loved a book that I recommended. NOTHING beats that.
But I’m greedy. I want more. More fandom wins. More amazingness. Some a-hole kid once said, “Sometimes I dream six impossible things before breakfast.” Me? I think I can handle five impossible fandom dreams before I fall asleep after watching John Oliver.
My Impossible Fandom Wishlist
1. Melina Marchetta Never Stops
Maybe one day when my children have grandchildren, I will be able to tell Melina Marchetta, “Well done. Enter into your rest.” But as long as I have eyes to see and hours to spend, I will want to be reading new Melina Marchetta novels. If she could just pump out a new Lumatere novel every 9 months or so, like a perfectly formed, exquisitely paced and intricately plotted newborn, I would be happy.
Good news is: something new is coming soon (and a Lady Celie novella as well!!!) I like getting what I want.
2. Larry Comes Out Circa 2011
This wish (and this whole post) was inspired by my tweet to @seeCwrite (the Christina of Christina Lauren) the other day about fannish excitement.
This is a legit wish. I don’t want Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson to be in love in 2015 and eventually come out (I mean, if they wanted to I would be totally ok with that and no one would complain and there would be puppies that never grew up for everyone in the world), but my truest most sincere fandom wish is that we could go back in time to One Direction’s FIRST EVER tour, and those boys woud just OWN IT.
Not that they didn’t own it the first time around.
3. Original Sinners on Premium Cable
Look. We live in an era of a true embarrassment of riches when it comes to great books being made into great TV. But if HBO, Showtime or Starz could please please please just get on the Tiffany Reisz fan train sometime soon, I would really appreciate it. We already have the cast. And I picked out the theme song a long time ago (Poison and Wine … it’s perfectly Nora/Soren). So really, fans have done all the hard work (and Tiffany too, I guess, with all the writing and creating and imagination and wordsmithing and all). It’s a no brainer, HBO. You already have a trailer for Nikolaj.
Post: Ten With Tiffany Reisz
4. Jamie Fraser’s Hair
… to look like this. In every episode, all the time.
This one does not seem insurmountable. MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Post: The Highlights and Lowlights of Jamie Fraser’s Hair
5. Captive Prince Book 3 in my tiny hot hands NOW
So, on Thursday, author C.S. Pacat will announce the release date for Kings Rising, the 3rd book in the Captive Prince trilogy. AND I DON’T EVEN CARE because until I have that little manifesto of narrative perfection in my own hands IT MATTERS NOT. Except I’m totally unable to even until I know so that I can schedule my 4th re-read and my parents coming to get the kids and sending my husband to overnight camp so I can read and read and read and read Damen and Laurent’s final pages with the dedication and undivided attention they deserve.
Post: Falling Into the Captive Prince Fandom
Want to read more about fandoms on That’s Normal? Try these posts too: How to Avoid Fandom Drama and Fandom Obsessions.
What is on your Impossible Fandom Wishlist? Want to see 5 more seasons of My So-Called Life? Would you die to erase the entire Monica/Chandler storyline? Do you wish ANY OTHER (literally ANY OTHER) Twific besides Master of the Universe had made it big? Let us know.
