Sam Maggs book, The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks (2015 207 pages), is in many ways an odd book.

It’s very difficult to know who this book is aimed at, as from the PR blurb you would get the impression that the book is aimed at the over eighteen female market. On the one hand you get the distinct feeling that the book should have been aimed at those who are starting their geek career; in that case there are some handy tips and a general theme of ‘it’s ok to be geek’. If this were the case then one would expect the target audience to be around twelve, certainly the language used and tone would support this. However, there are references to not wearing full cosplay as it may well contravene your work dress code and speed dating at conventions.

If you’re an adult geek, let’s say that you have reached the hefty age of twenty; you will have probably already defined your favourite genres, as well as your commitment and interaction with them. So, you probably do not need the advice about dress code, in fact there is little in the book that you would need once you hit adulthood.

The book does push a broadly feminist agenda and I have no problem with this. Women have become a serious percentage of the geek community, whether you’re looking at games, films or TV and I’m not just talking about having a girl crush on Willow (Buffy, not the film, but you go with your own desires) or wishing that the Hulk were pink and fluffy. It’s that misplaced misogyny which creates so many barriers for females to be taken seriously in fandom. As an avid online gamer I am often appalled by the treatment of women in competitive games and doubly pleased when said female kicks the idiots arses.

The book is broken up into four chapters, It’s Good to be Geek, [Fandom Intensifies]: Geek Girls Online, Geronimo! How to Survive Conventions and Aim to Misbehave: Geek Girl Feminism. It is prefaced with an introduction, wherein the author sets out her thoughts and philosophies, which is inclusive of male geeks and finished off with a number of resources and acknowledgments. The majority of the specific information is aimed at an American audience, unless you’re lucky to have attended something like the San Diego Comic-Con. As it is, the book only contains listings for Cons in America and Canada.

I come back to my initial problem, just who this book is aimed at. If you're too young some of the information is irrelevant or inappropriate. On the other hand, I can’t see many people over the age of sixteen to eighteen just deciding to join the wonderful world of geekdom.

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Charles Packer