Planning to see the new Veronica Mars movie? You may also want to check out the new issue of Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC)!

TWC has released No. 15, Fandom and/as Labor, guest edited by Mel Stanfill and Megan Condis, both of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The issue's seven articles, two Symposium pieces, roundtable, and three book reviews all relate to topics such as fan labor, gift culture, community, and work. A variety of fandoms get a turn in the spotlight.

In a roundtable, scholars and an industry insider, Bertha Chin, Bethan Jones, Myles McNutt, and Luke Pebler, discuss the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign and its relationship to fans. TWC’s Symposium section features shorter, often personal essays that address particularly fannish connections. In the two essays that comprise this section, Tisha Turk argues that fandom’s gift economy should be understood as involving a wide variety of gifts, a complex system of reciprocation, and the use of gifts as a sign of their reception; and Joly MacFie remembers his time creating badges and zines during the punk era in the UK.

Several peer-reviewed essays discuss specific media properties in relationship to fans and labor.

• Bethan Jones discusses Fifty Shades of Grey, noting that pulling a piece of fan fiction off the Internet to publish it professionally means that the fan labor performed as the text was created and disseminated remains unacknowledged.
• Christina Savage analyzes the TV show Chuck’s “save our show” campaign, placing it in the context of other such campaigns to show how fan labor is used strategically, in this case by ensuring the visibility of their campaign by engaging with sponsors and using hash tags.
• Rose Helens-Hart, in an analysis of Tosh.0, analyzes how the show’s Web site encourages fans to use personal networks to spread the brand.
• Matthias Stork analyzes the Glee fan-insider divide as fans were recruited to do work and promised access, only to later have this denied by the producers.
• Bertha Chin’s analysis also deals with Web sites, fan-created ones; she analyzes Sherlockology and Galactica.tv in terms of gifting versus exploitation.
• Giacomo Poderi and David James Hakken analyze modding a video game, using online posts made by users to illustrate how fan labor works.
• Robert Moses Peaslee, Jessica El-Khoury, and Ashley Liles move out of the realm of the virtual and into the physical, as they analyze the motivations and work of fan volunteers at media festivals.

Three reviews appear in this issue. Stephanie Anne Brown reviews Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory, edited by Trebor Scholz (Routledge, 2013); Simone D. Becque reviews Cognitive Capitalism, Education, and Digital Labor, edited by Michael A. Peters and Ergin Bulut (Peter Lang, 2011); and Anne Kustritz reviews Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal, by J. Jack Halberstam (Beacon, 2012).

The next issue of TWC, No. 16, will appear in June 2014. Bob Rehak will present a guest-edited issue on the topic of Materiality and Object-Oriented Fandom. TWC No. 17 (September 2014) will be an open, unthemed issue. Although it is too late to submit to that particular issue, we always welcome general submissions; in addition, two other special issues (European Fans and European Fan Objects and The Classical Canon and/as Transformational Work) are in the works and are still open for submissions. We particularly encourage fans to submit Symposium essays. Read the submission guidelines for details!

Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of February! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website

• XenaCon, The official Xena Convention, is a "must attend" for any Xena fan! Meet fellow fans and special guests in Burbank, CA February 7-9

  More about Xena: Warrior Princess on Fanlore

• Popular and American Culture Studies: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow With a mission to "promote innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences celebrating America’s cultural heritages," The Southwest Popular/American Culture Association's 35th conference will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico February 19-22nd.
• Like slash? Then Escapade is where you want to be February 28th-March 2nd! Escapade has been celebrating slash for over two decades! The fan designed convention and includes an art show, dealer's room, panels, a zine library and a songvid show.

  More about Escapade on Fanlore

We have four calls for papers for coming up in the next month!

• Call for Papers: Twitter, Celebrity and online public identity

  Contact and submissions to: Sarah Thomas skt [at] aber.ac.uk

  The ongoing adoption of Twitter as a tool for communication, broadcasting and interaction has meant that the social media platform has emerged as a significant site for re-thinking some of the key relationships between celebrity, performance and the presentation of the self. This CFP seeks short articles for Celebrity Studies Journal Forum section that explore Twitter and its usage beyond its status as a ‘new’ platform (that positions its singular significance through comparison with traditional representational media).

  The special issue of the journal will incorporate the style and ethos of Twitter in the submissions: Abstracts should be 140 words and are due on February 28.

  The short articles should begin with reference to a specific Tweet that sparks the analysis within the rest of the article. The final word count for the article will be between 750 and 1,500 words, depending on the number of accepted submissions.

• Call For Papers: New Directions in Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes

  The BBC "Sherlock" is now one of the most commercially and critically successful series of all time. This one-day symposium focuses on the series to look back at its roots in Conan Doyle’s stories, and examines its treatment of a range of issues including race, gender, terrorism, and international relations.

  The fruits of this symposium will lead to the publication of a special journal issue dedicated to the series. Please email your 200-word abstract for a 20-minute presentation and 50-word biography to ue_tom at hotmail.com by February 28.

  More about Sherlock on Fanlore

• CFP: FanPhenomena: Fan Studies & Fandom

  The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (Popcaanz) is devoted to the scholarly understanding of everyday cultures. Proposals for both panels and individual papers are now being accepted for all aspects of Fan Studies, including, but not limited to, the following areas: Fan Fiction, Fan/Creator interaction, Diversity in Fandom, The Internet and Fandom.

• CFP: Fan Phenomena: Rocky Horror Picture Show

  Now accepting abstracts to be considered for a new book Fan Phenomena: The Rocky Horror Picture Show from Intellect Press. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film’s fan culture, its essential role in creating the midnight movie, audience participation, and cult film cultures, as well as other areas of influence and social impact. Abstracts, along with CV or resume, are due March, 3rd 2014 and should be 300 words long.

  More about The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Fanlore

The Events Calendar is here to inform and connect fans about upcoming fan events both face to face and online! We are always open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. Events come in many categories such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, Announcements of fanwork fests and challenges, or Technology Events taking place around the world and online. New ideas and categories are encouraged! If you know about any upcoming fan events please let us know!

Happy New Year! Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of January! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website

The Events Calendar is here to inform and connect fans about upcoming fan events both face to face and online! We are always open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. Events come in many categories such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, Announcements of fanwork fests and challenges, or Technology Events taking place around the world and online. New ideas and categories are encouraged! If you know about any upcoming fan events please let us know!

• Space City Con is an all-ages festival of comics, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, literature, and art! Envisioned as a "geek festival with free parking," their goal is to put on the best convention possible for current generations of fans, and instill a love of comics, Sci-fi and fantasy in the next generation. In their 2nd Annual Gathering Space City Con is offering a robust mix of authors, artists, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, gaming, costuming, fan group networking, literature, writing workshops and more, in a venue meant to be more approachable to families and children. Space City Con will take place January 3-5 in Galveston, Texas
• MarsCon2014 is a multifandom, multimedia convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA from 17 to 19 January. MarsCon features a wide range of programming including panels, workshops, movie screenings, music and comedic entertainment, gaming spaces, an art room, and more. The convention also offers a family programming track

  More about MarsCon on Fanlore

• Arisia 2014, New England's largest and most diverse science fiction and fantasy convention, will be held from 17 to 20 January at the Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts. The 2014 theme will be cross-culturalism. The event features panels on a wide all aspects of science fiction and fantasy literature and media, an art show, a masquerade, gaming spaces, musical guests, a film festival and much more. Arisia may hit our membership cap this year. Pre-registration is strongly recommended.

  More about Arisia on Fanlore

We have 3 calls for papers for January.

• CFP: Fifth International Graphic Novel and Comics conference. The theme of this conference incorporates comics production as part of but also outside of institution. Comics are unique in the mass media because the individuals who produce and distribute the products are usually fans: from creators to comics shops owners and comicon organizers. Papers are enocouraged on all aspects of production: from the multinationals and media conglomerations to small scale production such as fanzines and independent presses. Related aspects of the industry are also of interest, for instance censorship and copyright issues, promotional practices (comicons, comics distribution, historical practices eg: the change in distribution from newsagents to comics shops to collecting and comics promotion). It also has long been argued that comics are a medium with the potential for anarchy, whose narratives often push against cultural boundaries and whose graphic nature can render them a target for moral panics and political objections. Although the exhibition will clearly concentrate on the collections of British-published comics held in the library, contributions in this section which deal with these themes across any national culture or period are welcome. Proposals for specific panel topics are also needed.

  Send a 300 word abstract to: d.huxley at mmu.ac.uk and j.ormrod at mmu.ac.uk by 17th January 2014

• CFP: The Politics and Law of Doctor Who - Politics, law and constitutional questions often feature prominently in Doctor Who stories, whether in the form of the Time Lords’ guardianship of the universe, the Doctor’s encounters with British Prime Ministers, or the array of governance arrangements in Dalek society. Abstracts should be 250 words in length, and should be accompanied by a 100-word biography of the author. Deadline for receipt of abstracts 17 January 2014.

  More about Doctor Who on Fanlore

• CPF: 'Fandom, Brands and Public Relations'- The goal of this project is to bring scholarly attention to the disciplines' interaction, engagement, and interaction with fans who are publics. The purpose of this special issue is to integrate stakeholder and publics theories with those of participatory cultures and media studies/fan perspectives. Submission deadline: 1st February

The OTW encourages anyone to submit an event that's not already listed, and to check out the events calendar throughout the year!

• PC Mag ran several articles on minorities in fandom from a panel at New York Comic Con. "Representations of Muslims in media have improved as well. Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, who created the sci-fi compilation A Mosque Among the Stars, said that in the past decade 'Muslims in comics were the quintessential other.' But this has changed with a French Batman who is an Algerian Muslim, a Green Lantern who is a Lebanese Muslim from Detroit, and other re-imagined characters."
• Such panels at major fan cons are seen as critical for raising awareness of troubling issues in fandom. "Jay Justice said, 'the media doesn’t promote us, so we have to promote ourselves.' Taking onto Tysk’s comments she pointed out that up to a certain age society seems to have no problem with children dressing up in costumes outside of their race. It’s something we often see, for instance, in elementary school Halloween celebrations. Yet at some point we start facing the 'why are you, as a non-white person, trying to portray that white character' questions. Justice asked, 'at what age are we supposed to start telling children that they can’t play certain characters?'"
• India.com announced the arrival of a new Indian superhero, Chakra on November 30. His move is the result of a partnership between Cartoon Network, Graphic India and POW! Entertainment. "'Chakra: The Invincible' was also selected as part of a handful of third-party content partners soon to be featured on Rovio Entertainment's new ToonsTV platform - one of the largest global digital platforms for kids in the world with over a billion views already since its launch."
• Disputes in media fandoms tend to lean to verbal harassment rather than physically violent extremes. But the problems generally emerge from a failure to understand the other side's concerns. This can erode formerly good relations between fans and creators, or fans and other fans. "Teen Wolf released a video of actor Dylan O’Brien asking for fans to vote for Teen Wolf in a TV Guide poll... O’Brien joked that if people didn’t vote, they’d kill off the show’s lone surviving gay character, Danny...The joke didn’t seem very funny, particularly when the survival rate for side characters in Teen Wolf is notoriously low for anyone who isn’t a straight, white man."

What troubling issues have you seen in fandoms? Write about it on Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.