Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of May! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website and is open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. These can be viewed by event-type, such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, or Technology Events taking place around the world.

• Free Comic Book Day takes place on "the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores."

  More about Free Comic Book Day on Fanlore

• M/M Rares

  M/M Rares is an annual fanfiction exchange for rare slash pairings. Participants write a fic at least 1000 words long focusing on a slash pairing another participant has requested. As this is an exchange, they receive a 1000+ word fic featuring a slash pairing they requested in return.

  Nominations Open: 13 April
  Nominations Close: 3 May @ 8:00pm PDT
  Signups Open: 5 May @ 8:00pm PDT
  Signups Close: 23 May @ 8:00 PDT
  Assignments Sent: No later than 30 May @ 8:00pm PDT
  Fics Due: 25 July @ 8:00pm PDT
  Fics Revealed: 1 August @ 8:00pm PDT
  Authors Revealed: 8 August @ 8:00pm PDT

  More about M/M Rares on Fanlore

• LexiCon

  LexiCon is an open-to-all gaming convention. Visitors can learn to play new games like Gravwell, Sentinels - Vengeance, Jupiter Rising, Relic Runners, City of Iron, and BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia. LexiCon also will have family gaming events like "Learn 5 Family Games in 90 minutes" and Adult Party nights Friday and Saturday. There will also be a Magic the Gathering Tournament with $1,000 1st prize, plus lots of extras.

• BLush Convention

  BLush Convention is a biennial not-for-profit event organized for Philippine and Asian fans of Boys' Love and Yaoi. The first event was held last 8th December 2012 at Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila. This year it will take place on May 3 in Manila. It will feature panels and talks, merchandise booths, the much-anticipated butler cafe, La Vie En Rose, and more.

• Open Doors chat with fans

  OTW's Open Doors committee will be holding two public chats on Campfire (the online chat platform the OTW uses) in order to discuss the import of the Yuletide archives to the AO3. The second will be held on May 4, 1am UTC (see when the chat is held in your timezone)

• VidUKon 2014

  Vidukon is a fan run convention in the UK where fannish vidders and vid watchers get together to OD on vids and vid talk and have the fun times. Aside from video shows, panels and workshops will run for those interested in the whys and wherefores. A Vid Bazaar is also included in the con-suite where DVDs are up for sale or swap. You can get a spot on the table for a flat fee, payable at registration. Registration is £40 for an attending membership, which includes two and a half days.

  VidUKon is also accepting Premieres and submissions to their Vidder's Choice show - a chance for any member (attending or supporting) to show a vid of their choice during the opening evening. Deadlines for these are 11th May 2014.

  Starting in 2014, a virtual convention will be running alongside the physical convention. If you buy a supporting membership, you will be able to watch the vidshow, including Premieres, streaming, in real time, with comments enabled to discuss the shows with your fellow virtual attendees! After the convention, this will be available to everyone. They are also considering streaming some panels, depending on interest.

  More about VidUKon on Fanlore

• WisCon

  Running since 1977, WisCon is the first and foremost feminist science fiction convention in the world. WisCon encourages discussion, debate and extrapolation of ideas relating to feminism, gender, race and class. WisCon honors writers, editors and artists whose work explores these themes and whose voices have opened new dimensions and territory in these issues.

  Special events include the Tiptree bake sale and auction, a writer's workshop and a Dessert Party, as well as a vid party. The deadline for submitting a vid is Friday, May 9, 2014, two weeks before the con.

  More about WisCon on Fanlore

Calls for Papers this month come from:

• Stardom and Celebrity in Contemporary India

  The forthcoming issue of Indian Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies is opening submissions on "Stardom and Celebrity in Contemporary India". The informing assumption is that there is no single culture of celebrity and the issue will endeavor to highlight the co-existence of multiple domains of celebrity culture in India. IJCLTS invites original, unpublished and innovative work from across the disciplines and across the world. The extent of the essays should be between 3000-5000 words or shorter but rigorously analytic pieces (500-1500 words) whose scope is less extensive than that of an essay but which raises a pertinent point regarding celebrity culture. The pertinent master categories of India studies.

  Besides the articles, IJCLTS is looking for translations, interviews, and book reviews. Submit by 31st May 2014.

• CFP: My Little Pony: A Transcultural Phenomenon

  "This one day conference seeks to place the 30 year long ‘My Little Pony’ series within critical, cultural and creative contexts, exploring the brand from a multi-disciplinary range of perspectives. 300 word abstracts are invited." The conference will be held at University of Brighton – Grand Parade on Saturday 28 June 2014. Please send abstracts and enquiries to Ewan Kirkland at e.kirkland [at] brighton.ac.uk.

  Deadline for abstracts: 28 May 2014

• CFP: Queer Fan Cultures in Greater China

  Queer fandom nowadays has become a global phenomenon. The blooming of Chinese queer fandoms in the past two decades has also offered rich sites of queer representations of gender and sexuality. Yet, research explicating Chinese queer fandoms is still far from adequate. The editors seek chapter contributions that elaborate the cultural specificities, significances, transformativity, hybridity, historicity, and futurity epitomized by Chinese queer fan cultures. We are especially keen to receive manuscripts that consider the queer dimensions of gender, sexuality, desire, and fantasy from a wide range of Chinese temporal and geographical settings. We also very welcome submissions that employ interdisciplinary and/or comparative approaches.

  To submit chapter proposal submissions for consideration, please send a 1000- to 1500-word abstract with working bibliography and a CV by May 30th, 2014 to queerfandom2014 [at] yahoo.com.

• CFP: The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Solutions and Resolutions

  Charles Dickens’s last novel, unfinished as it is, has become a call to arms to a legion of fans, academics and authors to solve the mystery and complete the uncompleted. The Victorian Popular Fiction Association will publish The Drood Inquiry, which will investigate and celebrate the many weird and wonderful responses to Dickens’s story, exploring the ways in which these solutions reflect upon the authors’ attitudes to Dickens and his legacy, and how Dickens’s story and characters exist both within the boundaries of the original text and without in the numerous spin-offs that have arisen.

  Proposals are welcome for 20 minute papers to be presented at a one day conference on the themes of the book or the insights its subsequent treatment can provide on Dickens’s reputation, as well as any discussion of theories on how the story ends. Proposals (up to 500 words) and a brief biographical note should be sent by 31 May 2014.

• CFP: Golden Age or Gilded Age? Fan Cultures, Past, Present, and Future

  Fan culture has been intimately linked with mass media since the beginning of the movies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As various technologies have pushed media evolution along – sound, color, television, and internet – fan culture has kept pace and fueled not only consumption but also developed communities. First in fan magazines, then at conventions, fan culture has spread and inspired fans to celebrate the media they loved. This love frequently leads to the development of derivative works such as fan fiction and fan editing—the expansion of existing media elements into whole new worlds.

  Is this the Golden Age of Fan Culture, as brought about by the internet’s ability to transmit media and foster communities, or is this a Gilded Age, where fan culture has gone postmodern, sometimes eclipsing the objects and subjects of fan desire? This area welcomes proposals on a diverse range of topics pertaining to fan culture, both present and historic, with a particular emphasis on visual media such as film and television.

  2014 Film & History Conference is looking for submissions of 200-word proposals by 1 June 2014.

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

• The question of how fandom works has been popping up in the media. Entertainment Weekly used the finale of True Detective to raise the question: 'Does modern TV fandom actually make it harder to understand TV shows?' "I wonder if the conversation around True Detective made the show seem more ambitious than it actually was. I wonder what it would be like if we could have those conversations about shows that do have a deeper point beyond 'Good vs. Evil.'" (Spoiler warning for the series).
• At The Mary Sue, Rachael Berkey used the return of Veronica Mars to look at changing fandom. "I was seventeen when I joined my first fandom. It was 1999, and Rent was kind of a big deal...Fandom feels like a completely different beast in 2014. There’s a lingo to it you have to translate until you really go native." She believes that "Fandom has hit its stride in the second decade of the new millennium. Thanks to successful fan-funded projects like the Veronica Mars movie, the great things about being a part of a fandom are being pulled right out into the open."
• Bronies for Good posted a podcast of Feminism and the Fandom. "One of the core aspects of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is how it strives to provide empowerment for young girls through a medium that is typically unfavorable to women. As part of the content blitz for International Women’s Day discussed in more detail in our previous post, and in collaboration with The Round Stable, we have invited fellow fans to discuss femininity, feminism, and women’s issues in the context of MLP:FiM and its fandom." (No transcript available).
• NPR's Code Switch transcribed their discussion of race in World of Warcraft. Although the interview began by saying "Don't worry, this isn't about racial disparities between black, Latino and Asian players", in fact the discussion does end up there. "DEMBY: So there were no, like, guilds full of young Latino kids? SCHELLDORF: I never met a single person with a 'Hispanic-sounding' accent on the game. But I can say that those who sounded Asian or black were less welcomed...HERNANDEZ: I wish I had found a Latino guild! It would have made things way easier. A friend actually joined an Australian guild one time on accident, so there are definitely some guilds with national or racial identity out there. For us it was about finding a good raiding guild, and eventually a good raiding guild that didn't hate on our accent."

What factors about how fandom works have you noticed? Write about them 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.

• As greater recognition of the diversity of fandoms appears in the media, author Brad R. Torgersen decided to trace 21st century English-speaking fandom’s path. "I agree absolutely with Toni that some of these fault lines can be traced directly to the social and political fault lines in the wider English-speaking culture; out of which a good deal of fandom springs. But I also think that much can be explained by examining where people come to fandom from–and through which doors they walk when they enter." Torgersen discusses, among other things, the importance of super-cons in allowing people to experience fandom together.
• One of the most significant super-cons, however, has demonstrated yet another division: the one between geeky and mainstream audiences. Laurie Penny addressed this at New Statesman while various others have weighed in with additional concerns. "Why is it that this early history of Science Fiction fandom is presented as 'idyllic' when we know for a fact that large groups of people stood outside looking in? Isn’t that history being rewritten in front of our very eyes?...It is obvious to me that this idyllic period of Science Fiction 'history' is told largely from an American, white, male perspective. It might be an important part of a historical narrative, but it is not the whole narrative."
• Fangirl the Blog pointed out more in-house divisions within fandoms by gender. "The Star Wars fandom as a whole often has gendered reactions to different types of fan participation in expressing love for the franchise." She listed examples in RPGs, fanart, cosplay, fan films and fanfic, concluding "Ultimately, if Topher Grace and Kyle Newman can be praised, even given official support and visibility, for their fan creativity – for their fanfiction – then female fans deserve equal respect for all the ways they produce fanworks, too. Including their prose fanfiction."
• The OC Weekly turned a spotlight on Disney social clubs and the mixed reaction they have received. "These social clubs are a new generation of hardcore Disney fans, powered by Instagram and Facebook and made up of grandparents in their 60s, as well as teens and toddlers plodding along beside their parents...Like the Goths of the 1990s or the hippies of the 1960s, they trek the park like a second home, occasionally mistaken for troublemakers and ne'er-do-wells. But unlike other groups, they're not at the parks to scare or intimidate. They're there for fun, for friendship—and to uphold Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom ideal."

What fandom divisions have you come experienced? Write about them 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.

• The visibility of fandom fights is a definite downside of social media. Stylecaster wrote about attacks on singer Lorde and dubbed it "extreme Internet fandom". "'The music and fashion industries nurture teens’ obsessions with one icon after another,' said Epstein—a professor of psychology at the University of the South Pacific...'No matter how competent teens are, we trap them with their peers 24/7 and don’t let them enter the adult world in any meaningful way. Many get frustrated or depressed or angry as a result, and they exercise power in any way they can. In recent years, social media has become a major power outlet for teens, even though it actually gets them nothing except a little attention. So when Lorde or anyone else for that matter trips up, or at least appears to trip up, they pounce in large numbers. It’s a pathetic way to demonstrate power.'"
• Writer Ben Koo discusses how the toxicity of regional tribalism in college football sets fans against one another. "The power brokers of college football think they are onto something in nurturing a rising tide of friction, envy, and hate in the college football fan eco-system. Hate has long been an underrated tool for anyone looking to make people watch, care, and pick a side in sports."
• At Kernel, writer Jack Flanagan manages to indict Japanese culture and fans alike. "[W]hen the internet and Japanese culture collide, these people have that haven to explore worlds far away from the suppressed ones they inhabit, for whatever reason. So, yes: it’s a shame for some that Japanese culture comes down to niknaks and samurai. But the strange and somewhat superficial interest in Japanese culture online is rooted in the need for solace."
• The Atlantic hosted a spoilery article about the plot of Frozen. "Leslie Fielder...argued that the American novel is incapable of dealing with sex, and instead focuses on violence and death in a prolonged state of boyish immaturity. Yet he could have been writing about the state of American films today where violence gets more audience-friendly ratings than sex from the MPAA in a culture dominated by superhero franchises that are primarily aimed at boys...'We champion the culture of teenage boys every day—giving them all the comic book heroes, sports stars and porn any human could conceivably consume. Can’t we give teenage girls one thing without demonizing them?'”

What judgments on fandoms and audiences have you seen? 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.