Review: 12 Books About Comic Con, fanfic writers, & fan illustrators, no matter what fandom you're a part of
By: Bonnie Lynn Wagner Oct. 04, 2018
Happy Comic Con Week!
Whether you're going to be home this weekend scrolling social media feeds and watching YouTube videos wishing you were at SDCC or sitting in an hours-long line waiting to get into a panel or meet a favorite actor and looking to kill time, here are some books (or ebooks for your phone!) that you can whip out and read.
These will put you in the spirit for sure!
Some of these books take place at various Comic Cons (including both NYCC and SDCC!), while others are about the fans and fanfiction writers and fan artists that make up the fabric of fandom!
Check out my video for full summaries about each book, or keep reading for an abbreviated version:
1) THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO UNREQUITED LOVE by Sarvenaz Tash
Graham and Roxy have been BFFs ever since discovering a mutual love of Harry Potter as children. Now, they're teens and both obsessed with The Chronicles of Althena. Graham is hopelessly in love with Roxy, and when he finds out that the creator of their favorite series will be at NYCC, he decides that he's going to get them both tickets to the panel AND finally confess his love!
2) SHIP IT by Britta Lundin
Claire is obsessed with the TV show Demon Heart.She writes slash fiction and believes the two main characters, Smokey and Heart, are destined to wind up together. She freaks out when she finds out that the actors will be in town for the local Boise Comic Con and, during their panel, asks if her OTP will become reality. It sets off a chain reaction when one of the actors, Forest, denies that his character is gay. The studio does damage control by inviting Claire on the road with them as they hit up all of the comic cons in the nation as their special VIP guest, and Claire decides to use the opportunity to convince the showrunner and the cast that her ship should be canon!
3) GEEKERELLA by Ashley Poston
I love that this is a fairy tale retelling that takes place at a convention. How geeky cool is this!? Instead of ballgowns, we have cosplay outfits. Instead of trueroyalty, we have hotshot actors playing royalty with adoring fangirls world-wide. Heck, we even have a Magic Pumpkin food truck! It's just so fun and different.
I'm already super excited for next year's companion novel THE PRINCESS AND THE FANGIRL, out April 2019 from Quirk Books!
4) ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS by Francesca Zappia
One of the BEST books I read last year! Eliza is the creator of the most popular online webcomic, Monstrous Sea.She's made enough money that she can completely pay for college without any help, but her parents aren't invested in her online life. They think she's strange, that she needs to go outside more and make "real" friends, that she should apply for scholarships so she can afford college. They have no clue how famous she is. She also doesn't tell anyone at school due to crippling social anxiety. When she finds out that Wallace, the new boy at school is the #1 fanfic writer of her comic, it's a little awkward, but the two of them wind up becoming great friends--even though Wallace has no clue that she is the creator of Monstrous Sea.
5) FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is the #1 most popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow fandom. She writes slash fiction in a reality where Simon and his nemesis are in love. Now that she's in college, she has to learn how to balance fandom with everything else and how to live in reality as well. FANGIRL was so popular that Rainbow Rowell published CARRY ON, Cath's fan fiction, and is publishing a sequel entitled WAYWARD SON in 2020.
6) QUEENS OF GEEK by Jen Wilde
Two stories collide at SupaCon. Charlie is an actress doing the comic con circuit and showing her friends just how over her ex she is. When she discovers an actress she's always had a crush on is in attendance, she decides to finally take a chance and see what might happen. Meanwhile, Taylor is at SupaCon with her best friend Jamie, whom she is secretly in love with. The two of them are at the con to meet Taylor's favorite actress and everyone's paths will cross...!
7) DON'T COSPLAY WITH MY HEART by Cecil Castellucci
Edan's life is in shambles and completely out of control. She only ever feels in control when she's cosplaying as her all-time favorite character Gargantua from Team Tomorrow. Gargantua is a villain and a total bad-ass, but she's alwaysin control. Through a summer spent at conventions taking on Gargantua's persona, she's finally strong enough to start making sense of her own life.
8) SCARLETT EPSTEIN HATES IT HERE by Anna Breslaw
Scarlett is obsessed with Lycanthrope High, and when the show is cancelled, her world implodes. She is a fanfiction writer and, with nothing left to write about, starts writing about her classmates on the show's fanboards. But if anyone at school ever finds out what Scarlett truly thinks, she'll be in a LOT of trouble...!
9) THE FANDOM by Anna Day
What if you found yourself sucked into the world of your favorite series? What if that world could be dark and tragic, and the only way out is through death? When Violet and her friends are in an accident at Comic Con, they wind up in their favorite book series + movie franchise, The Gallows Dance, they find themselves in exactly this predicament, and it's up to them to decide how their story will end if they ever want to return to our world...
10) BOOKISHLY EVER AFTER by Isabel Bandeira
Even book lovers have conventions these days! While industry professionals have the annual Book Expo (BEA), fans can attend its sister BookCon the same week. Phoebe loves books. She has a book review blog and has been to BEA. She'll line up in front of a bookstore hours before it opens--in full costume--to meet her favorite author. She's not good at talking to boys, though, and she decides to turn to her beloved books to figure out how to talk to her crush. If her favorite heroines can do it and snag their guy, why can't she?
11) I AM PRINCESS X by Cherie Priest
May and Libby used to write a comic called I AM PRINCESS X. When Libby died in a terrible car accident, their comic died, too. It's been a few years, and something weird is happening: Posters and stickers and graffiti about a mysterious Princess X are popping up all over Seattle. There's even a website: www.IAmPrincessX.com, with a mysterious, popular new webcomic. Could Libby be alive? Or is something more mysterious at play?
12) THE FANGIRL'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: A Handbook for Girl Geeks by Sam Maggs
The one is non-fiction, but if you've ever wanted to go behind the scenes of a convention or if you're going for the first time and want to pick up some tips, this is the book for you! There's never been a better time to be in fandom. Conventions are booming and being a geek is celebrated, not shunned. You can find your friends and "home" on a convention show floor! If you're new to fandom in general, there's even some great terminology in here! This book has everything you need and more!
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