Monday, January 17, 2022

Recently Read: Dancing with the Squirrels: Tales from Comics Fandom and Beyond, by Dwight Decker

 


Dancing is a unique short story collection: fan fiction written about comics fans and fandom. If this sounds too insular and circular, fear not. Dwight Decker's stories (in some cases, I suspect, loosely based or inspired by events and observations in his own life) are a joy to read. Created over many decades, but with a cohesive tone (and sometimes with connective chronologies), the stories range from fantastical and whimsical to poignant.

Especially entertaining is the roundabout story of a comic book collection built during WWII and the winding ways this collection, its owner, and its would-be destroyer, end up affecting and influencing comic book collectors and friends decades later. These good-natured tales will especially ring true to anyone who collected comics and was a part of fandom in the '60s and '70s, but all can enjoy.

The collection also features a chapter on the king of fan stories about fandom, author John Stockman (whose work Decker partially collected in the excellent and highly recommended book The Crackpot, in 2015) and a short history of comics fandom.

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