You have no idea how big a nerd I am.
Nope. Whatever you鈥檙e imagining it, double it. Triple it. Double it again.
When I eat too much, I briefly worry a xenomorph chestburster is going to pop out through my sternum.
I have a large collection of plastic dinosaurs.
I write science fiction and fantasy short stories. Sometimes I am even paid money for this, which means that in my nerd career, I have gone pro.
Nerd culture has a very strange relationship to money and corporations.
I can best illustrate this by comparing it to our other great fandom, professional sports.
If you鈥檙e a fan of [Local Sports Team] your primary relationships with that team and its sport are mediated through corporations.
The team is a corporation, another one sponsors the stadium, the TV and radio and websites that show games are all for-profit. There are pure expressions of fannish love for the team, like showing up shirtless and painted in the team colours, or holding a tailgate party. But for the most part, there鈥檚 a monetary relationship between the fan and the team.
Yes, Star Trek and Dr. Who and Harry Potter and comics and games and so on are all distributed by people looking to make money.
But then there鈥檚 the whole underside of the iceberg.
Fanfiction. Costuming, a.k.a. cosplay. Fan art. Filk songs. You can find all of these at SF conventions. Some of the largest, like San Diego Comicon, are for-profit, but the vast majority are regional gatherings organized entirely by voluneers.
Nerds aren鈥檛 content to just consume and discuss. They must make, and re-make, and re-mix, and discuss the remakes and remixes and scramble everything again. And then make it into a costume and wear it.
I don鈥檛 know why we nerds can become so dedicated. There are conventions for romance and mystery fans, there are forums and clubs for every sport and game. But science fiction fandom is weird and often glorious.
It鈥檚 also taking over the world.
There are nerds from Africa to China to India. We鈥檙e starting to share our nerd cultures with one another 鈥� a couple years back, a Chinese novel won the Hugo award for the first time.
We鈥檝e already taken over Hollywood. What鈥檚 next for nerds?
