Newsletter Archive
We didn’t start our newsletter until September 2026, so unfortunately the majority of our back catalog episodes do not have accompanying newsletter features (yet?). We will update their episode pages and their pages here when, and if, they get back-written expanded material. All episode pages feature the original show notes, including sources cited.
The Wrong Fandom Had a Real-Life Kobayashi Maru Situation
Down and... safe? This week, V and Emily are joined by fandom scholar Lena Barkin (The Fanthropologist) to discuss an event that should, really, be as notorious in fanfiction culture as the Anne Rice debacle or Cassandra Clare kerfuffle: the Blake's 7 Slash Wars. This seismic, terrible fanwank is technically still ongoing, but hit its heyday forty years ago as the cast and crew of Blake's 7 hit back at fans -- like, specific, named fans -- who dared to write Blake/Avon slash. This supersized episode looks at the dangers of parasocial relationships, why fandom and media celebs should never cross the streams, and the nature of slash in the landscape of the 1980s. Lena brings an important POV as someone who is actively in Blake's 7 fandom today -- and is a slasher.
Brutus Was Totally Just As Cute As Caesar!
She doesn't even go here! This week, V and Emily are joined by a friend who, indeed, does not normally go here, but we're glad she did for this episode: Allegra Ponti from STAN Podcast. She is here to join our cafeteria clique as we discuss the 2004 movie phenomenon Mean Girls, and how the worldwide fandom for this movie a) destroyed Lindsay Lohan, and b) shaped our own high school experiences to varying degrees. (While we didn't have time to get into it in the episode, the Broadway musical and 2024 film musical are also big fandoms in their own right! Toxic femslashers rise!) We discuss the differences between American and British school culture, the 2000s cultural exports of the United States, and the continual cycle of Hollywood child sacrifices. Plus, another installment of V's teachers not knowing how to handle a very lesbian, very fannish child!