Brent Spiner’s explosive and hilarious novel is a personal look at the slightly askew relationship between a celebrity and his fans. If the Coen Brothers were to make a Star Trek movie, involving the complexity of fan obsession and sci-fi, this noir comedy might just be the one.
Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.
Featuring a cast of characters from Patrick Stewart to Levar Burton to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, to some completely imagined, this is the fictional autobiography that takes readers into the life of Brent Spiner and tells an amazing tale about the trappings of celebrity and the fear he has carried with him his entire life.
Fan Fiction is a zany love letter to a world in which we all participate, the phenomenon of “Fandom.”
I was really looking forward to this. I love Star Trek and Next Gen was the first series I really watched properly. Data was always one of the better characters, in my opinion. I was looking forward to some insights into the show and the actors behind the famous characters.
However, that's not what I got. I got a frenetic, confusing, multiple-red-herring story about a stalker fan - a very real issue for many celebrities, of course, but never really given any weight here. The first letter is treated as a joke, and then the second one arrives and Brent is immediately panicking and terrified. His colleagues don't have much part in things; LeVar is mystical, Michael threatens to hit him, Patrick is surprised that Brent's being targeted over him, and the ladies are there. Only Jonathon is anything like his fans would imagine him, and he's only in a couple of scenes.
Because this novel is mostly about how many women find Brent irresistable, and how fascinating the episode The Offspring was. Literally everyone Brent meets throughout the novel wax lyrical about it. (It was a good episode, but I didn't think it was this amazing. Plus it would have been a year old when the novel was set, and not repeated...)
Not a horrible novel, but not nearly as good as I was hoping. Maybe the next one will be better.
Fan Fiction publishes on the 5th October, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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