Fan the Fame

June 15, 2019
Content creators strive for subscribers at a Canadian gaming con. Newly minted gamer-girl celebrity 18-year-old ShadowWillow is building her brand by capitalizing on her rumored relationship with 21-year-old Code of YouTube Team Meister fame. Seventeen-year-old Lainey--Code's sister and put-upon roadie--intends to reform her brother by revealing his off-camera racism and sexism--even if that reformation involves destroying his career--while also getting closer to sad-sack love interest LumberLegs. Overflowing with righteous indignation, Lainey wants to fight "rape culture and misogyny" but seems oblivious to collateral damage. Finding solace in online gaming, 15-year-old SamTheBrave--overweight and embarrassed by his dermatillomania--wants to share his fledgling stream with Code at LotSCON but discovers bullies are everywhere and heroes are rare. In contrast to the established digital demigods, Sam displays the most genuine geeky passion. A comic/gaming convention is a temporary, isolated, and intense world, but this fictionalized Blizzard-like con seems unmoored from both reality and fandom. Priemaza revisits Legends of the Stone from Kat and Meg Conquer the World (2017) to discourse on sexism in gaming (through the much-too-eloquent Lainey) and doggedly dissect how to gain internet fame but offers little in the way of frivolous fun. Most characters are white, and whiteness in the gaming world is called out. Celebrity has never felt so calculated. (Fiction. 14-18)

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August 1, 2019

Gr 10 Up-In this stand-alone companion to Kat and Meg Conquer the World, high school senior Lainey is the younger sister of Youtube Legends of the Stone (LotS) gaming sensation Codemeister. Lainey acts as Cody's production assistant, despite being increasingly disgusted by his objectification and harassment of girls. But at gaming convention LotSCON, Cody repeatedly brushes off Lainey's concerns about his behavior. Also at LotSCON is up-and-coming female Youtuber ShadowWillow, whose popularity has skyrocketed after a stream with Codemeister that generated rumors about their relationship status. Shadow would rather be recognized for her skills, but she's willing to play along with the gossip if it means driving up her subscriber count. Meanwhile, SamTheBrave, a socially isolated streaming newbie with a skin-picking condition, works up the courage to share his channel with Codemeister. When Cody humiliates Sam and Lainey captures this incident and others on film, she is faced with a weighty question: what if the only way to save her brother from himself is to publicly expose-and destroy-him? While occasionally heavy-handed in its messaging, this novel explores a wide range of complex questions surrounding gaming, misogyny, Internet fame, and call-out culture. The LotS world-somewhat akin to Minecraft-and its fan culture are described in compelling detail, and the POV characters are well-developed. Sam's journey to self-acceptance, informed by the author's own experience with a skin-picking disorder, is particularly well done. VERDICT A worthwhile look at gaming, fandom, and feminism that will find an audience among fans of Jen Wilde's Queens of Geek or Whitney Gardener's Chaotic Good.-Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia

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