Crossing Fandoms

Book excerpt: This book examines the fan-created combination of Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Supernatural as a uniquely digital fan experience, and as a metaphor for ongoing scholarship into contemporary fandom. What do you get when you cross the cult shows Doctor Who, Supernatural, and Sherlock? In this book, Paul Booth explores the fan-created crossover universe known as SuperWhoLock—a universe where Sherlock Holmes and Dean Winchester work together to fight monsters like the Daleks and the Weeping Angels; a world where John Watson is friends with Amy Pond; a space where the unique brands of fandom interact. Booth argues that SuperWhoLock represents more than just those three shows—it is a way of doing fandom. Through interviews with fans and analysis of fan texts, Crossing Fandoms: SuperWhoLock and the Contemporary Fan Audience also demonstrates how fan studies in the digital age can evolve to take into account changing fan activities and texts.