by Lane Chasek
Brent Spiner’s literary debut, Fan Fiction: a Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events, is one of the most baffling books I’ve read this past year. Is it a memoir? A mystery novel? A parody of fanfictions? Turns out, it’s all three. In addition, Fan Fiction holds the title for most postmodern book written by a Star Trek alum (so far). Brent Spiner (known to most as Lt. Commander Data of the USS Enterprise) pushes the celebrity memoir genre in a bizarre new direction, one which combines fact, fiction, and fandom into a bloody, campy, nerdy potpourri.
Fan Fiction begins with a brief chapter describing Spiner’s start in acting—his flight from Texas, his failed attempts to make it big in New York, and how he eventually landed the role of everyone’s favorite emotionless android with a heart of iridium-gold alloy, Data. This first chapter is the only part of the book that’s 100% factual. What follows is a Hollywood noir worthy of Tarantino. Spiner discovers a severed pig’s penis and a threatening letter while on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, sent to him by a psychotic superfan who wishes to take his life. Spiner, with the aid of a ravishingly beautiful FBI agent and her equally ravishingly beautiful twin sister who acts as his bodyguard, must uncover the identity of this would-be killer before it’s too late. Other Next Generation cast members play bit roles in the plot, providing plenty of trivia and fan service to the Trekkers and Trekkies who will inevitably read this title.
Making use of real places and real people from his life, Fan Fiction is just that: a fanfiction about Brent Spiner’s acting career by Brent Spiner. Though Spiner casts himself in the leading role, he’s far from the Mary Sue you’d expect from a typical fanfiction. Neurotic, paranoid, terrible with the ladies, haunted by memories of a wicked stepfather—though Spiner is a television star living in Hollywood, he’s still very much the awkward, nerdy kid who got bullied in Hebrew school back in Houston. And whereas the android he plays on Next Gen would have deduced the identity of Spiner’s stalker in a single forty-minute episode, Spiner is as inept as any average joe would be if placed in this situation. He flaunts his flaws, insecurities, medical ailments, and love for Laurel and Hardy shamelessly, and he succeeds in turning himself into a likable, realistic protagonist.
Though not the most well-written book by a Star Trek cast member, Spiner succeeds in telling a story about celebrity, fandom, and the blurred lines between reality and fiction which, despite its occasional awkwardness, is a fun experiment in genre hybridization. Most celebrity memoirs tend to play it safe—and bland. Spiner created something with a lot more flavor.
My favorite quote from the book:
“Her lifeless body collapses onto my chest like an overstuffed sack of fan mail.”
Lane Chasek (@LChasek) is the author of the nonfiction book Hugo Ball and the Fate of the Universe, the poetry/prose collection A Cat is not a Dog, and two forthcoming chapbooks, Dad During Deer Season and this is why I can't have nice things. Lane's current pride and joy is an essay he published in Hobart about Lola Bunny and the latest Space Jam movie.
