“I am utterly convinced of the truth of my argument, beyond a shadow of a doubt. But I’m not trying to persuade you. I have no vested interest in influencing your opinion either way. Only you can decide, based on the evidence I’m presenting, what you believe in your heart to be true,” (James, Chapter One).
What a journey this story was! I’ve been following this serialized novel since January so I came a little late to the game, but it hasn’t stopped me from eagerly awaiting for Monday to come (even more so during the pandemic) so that I could read more of Gottie’s theories as she dug deeper into her fandom rabbit hole and took all her readers with her.
An Unauthorized Fan Treatise is the fictionalized blog of Margot (Gottie) Garcia, a fangirl of the new NBC hit show Loch & Ness and she is very certain that two of the stars, Rob Hennings and Nathan O’Donnell, are secretly dating. Gottie starts her blog so that she can prove through the actors twitter and careful social media postings that they are in fact together. But as Gottie continues investigating the love life of these actors she discovers more secrets, from the dark web to falsified documents to murder, and Gottie’s going to write about it all.
James understands fandom. Even fictionalized this is the most accurate depiction of fandom I’ve ever read about and I would love for James to write more based around fandom. James understands the obsession, the memes, and the love and sometimes scary world of fandom. Of what can happen when you piss off the wrong person in your fandom, if you ship something no one else does, if your opinion differs or your theories don’t align with the rest of the fandom. Fandom can be a beautiful thing, but it can also be toxic.
I loved reading this story, I loved that it was serialized, and I love that James has kind of created a new kind of subgenre. An Unauthorized Fan Treatise is a fictionalized true crime novel, using multiple social media sites such as Tumblr, Livejournal, and Twitter the story just felt so real. I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction, that this show didn’t exist and neither did Gottie because James’ narrative is so compelling and it feels so real.
And the absolute best thing about this book? It’s still available to read online! Though James did mention in her Author’s Note that she is planning on publishing it as a physical book, so I have no idea how long you’ll be able to read it. But I am very excited for a physical book of this story and if James will make any changes with it being a physical book (I have a few ideas, but let’s just wait and see what happens before I start spewing off theories and become a regular Gottie).
An Unauthorized Fan Treatise reminded me of my fan days in good ways and bad and I loved every minute of it. We need more fangirls writing about fandom and I hope James continues. If you weren’t a fangirl and are interested in the world fandom I suggest reading how James came to writing An Unauthorized Fan Treatise and some of the fan theories she includes on the list, they’re a rabbit hole of their own. And if you want a gentler way in, read Gottie’s story, you won’t regret it.
Publication: October 14th 2019 – May 11 2020
Publisher: WordPress
Pages: ??? (it’s a serialized story on WordPress
Source: EBook, READ IT HERE!
Genre: Fiction, YA, Serialized, Mystery, LGBTQ*
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
“Gottie is a fangirl for Loch & Ness, a TV show about paranormal detectives. She’s convinced that two of the male actors are secretly dating, and she’ll stop at nothing to prove it. When her online investigations accidentally uncover far more than she expects, she becomes complicit in secrets beyond just a romantic conspiracy theory.
An internet thriller told in a ‘true crime’ style recollection of events, the novel includes social media extracts such as modern Tumblr posts and early-noughties LiveJournal blog entries.
Read along or subscribe for email updates on the website. ”
Sarah O'Connor 