Writes caitlinsdad, “This authentic knockoff designer bat-bag is equipped with a Bat Signal, Bat Proximity Alarm, Bat Taser, Bat Phone, and plays the Batman TV Theme.” Sounds Bat-tastic. Instructions on how to make your own are at Instructables. (Time Travel and Rocket-Powered Apes)

Congratulations, writers of Beautiful Bastard, you just got a five-book deal for creating hot, steamy Twilight fanfiction. 

Sitting alone (or with a friend) in your room, coming up with various ways your favorite characters could bump into each other and have sex, did you ever think you’d get paid for it?  Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings will wonder no more. Simon & Schuster have picked up their Twilight fanfiction, The Office, for a two-book deal.

Over the past few months, a situation has developed. I have become completely engulfed in my love of tea. Tea has become the bowtie to my Eleventh Doctor, the Dumbledore to my Harry, the flowing raven hair to my Jon Snow. One might call it an offset of Anglophilia, an active side-effect of watching one too many shows that air on BBC, but I have accepted my fate.

Luckily for me, we live in a magical age where getting overly emotional about things like fictional characters and hot beverages can by some crazy random happenstance mesh, to be accepted by some group of lovable weirdos on the Internet, and I happened to stumble into what I will refer to as the “tea fandom” at the perfect time. One mythical night, not too long ago, I was introduced to my new favorite trend in warmed-up flavored water: fandom teas.

If this isn’t enough of an explanation for you, go here. (The Frisky)

We want it. We want it a lot. (via Fashionably Geek)

Well this is very interesting. PBS’ Off Book series recently touched upon the wonder that is fan art and fan fiction. It’s a really respectful look at the trend while speaking to Brad O’Farrell (Keyboard Cat), Adam Juresko (No Supervision), Jonah Block (Biotwist), Sam Spratt (Gawker), and Fred Seibert (Adventure Time). There’s just one thing we find lacking here and as you can probably guess from that list, it’s women. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a great video, but considering how many women are hugely into fan art and fanfic, it seems a glaring omission (in the Sherlock section alone). They even mention Adventure Time’s character designer Natasha Allegri’s fan art illustrations of the gender-swapped cast that eventually got its own episode…but didn’t choose to speak with her. Like we said, really interesting video, just lacking a certain obvious voice.

(via Laughing Squid)

I think that all writing is useful for honing writing skills. I think you get better as a writer by writing, and whether that means that you’re writing a singularly deep and moving novel about the pain or pleasure of modern existence or you’re writing Smeagol-Gollum slash you’re still putting one damn word after another and learning as a writer.

(I just made [Smeagol-Gollum romance fiction] up. I imagine it would go something like: - Neal Gaiman, when asked whether fanfiction is useful for honing writing skills. Left, a picture of the author with Cthulhu on his head.

To read how it would go something like, click on.

Last year I wrote about my frustration with the publishing industry, and discussed ways for fandom to make a space for itself in the world of publishing and beyond. As it happens, the Twilight fandom was already way ahead of me: Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotic novel by E.L. James, is a NYT #1 bestseller and an e-book phenomenon that began its life as a hugely popular fanfic. With over 250,000 digital copies sold, the trilogy that opens with Fifty Shades recently sold print rights for 7 figures in an astronomical bidding war.

But Fifty Shades isn’t just “mommy porn,” as many have dismissively labeled it, purportedly due to its popularity with Manhattan wives and mothers. Fifty Shades is a phenomenon within a phenomenon within a phenomenon: that is, it’s the mega-hit from a group of successful published pro-fics which have all come out of the immense Twilight fandom.

Thank you Andy Cohen, thank you. You made dreams come true last night on on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live! when you coerced Ralph Fiennes to read erotic Harry Potter fanfiction while in his pajamas. I don’t know how this happened and I don’t care. This now exists. Hit the jump to watch.