Brent Spiner’s explosive and hilarious novel is a personal look at the slightly askew relationship between a celebrity and his fans. If the Coen Brothers were to make a Star Trek movie, involving the complexity of fan obsession and sci-fi, this noir comedy might just be the one.

Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

Featuring a cast of characters from Patrick Stewart to Levar Burton to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, to some completely imagined, this is the fictional autobiography that takes readers into the life of Brent Spiner, and tells an amazing tale about the trappings of celebrity and the fear he has carried with him his entire life.

Fan Fiction is a zany love letter to a world in which we all participate, the phenomenon of “Fandom.”

One day on the Star Trek: The Next Generation set, Brent Spiner gets some fan mail that is pretty disturbing - a severed male pig part and a disturbing letter from Lal, Data’s daughter. As Lal’s threats intensify he turns to various people for help in tracking down the deranged fan while also lusting after both the gorgeous FBI agent assigned to his case and her identical twin sister who is a bodyguard.  Throw in a screenplay writing detective, a mail room clerk with aspirations of being an agent as well as members of the cast and the stage is set for an interesting story.

I picked this up because of Spiner’s name and my love of all things Star Trek. Part autobiography (apparently) there are demonstrably true life events described - such as the announcement of Roddenberry’s death - and those one hopes were true such as the encounter Spiner has at the cemetery with two fans during Roddenberry’s funeral. And part fiction with the story of an obsessed and homicidal fan creating the setting for large chunks of retrospective anecdotes from Spiner’s childhood relationship with his stepfather and early pre-Star Trek life this is very much a celebrity fan fiction tale. This is very much a first person story told exclusively from Spiner’s point of view as every scene involves him center stage. If you are expecting a lot of tidbits involving the rest of the cast those are not here, the rest of the cast make very minor appearances in this tale. If Data or Brent Spiner were your favorites on the show then this, fiction as it is, may give some insight into the man, though not really any insight in to the character.  If you are looking for a real understanding of the “phenomenon of Fandom,” I personally do not see a “love letter” and the closest any scenario comes to a real understanding is the, one hopes, real scene of the two fans in the cemetery just before Roddenberry’s funeral.  Overall, not a bad story and one likely to sell on the strength of Spiner’s name but to my mind it would have worked much better with all fictional characters set in a totally different fandom. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon