Thanks to Lynn Zubernis and Katherine Larsen, the “Supernatural” fandom has Fangasm to keep updated with all the latest news of the CW hit show that is entering its 14th season. Zubernis is a clinical psychologist and professor at West Chester University and Area Chair for Stardom and Fandom for the Southwest Popular Culture Association. The talented author took time out to tell how her book “Family Don’t End with Blood” has touched so many lives.
The love in this “Supernatural Family” is shared not only by the fans, but by its stars Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins. Touching chapters have been written by these beloved actors include a story from Rob Benedict that will bring tears to the eyes. According to Zubernis, the powerful stories just keep on coming and another book is in the works.
I’m working on another book right now because the powerful stories just keep on coming. A woman came up to my vendor table at a con recently and told me, tearfully, that she had been reading Rob Benedict’s chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, in which he takes you moment by moment through the stroke he had at a convention. Because she had just read that, she recognized immediately when she herself had a stroke, and got help so quickly that she’s fine! I’ve heard so many stories about how much the book has helped people, and I try to pass them on the actors and fans who wrote the chapters so that they know too. Meanwhile, I’m working on a new book that focuses on the women of “Supernatural”, tracing the complicated evolution of female characters on the show, exploring the impact on the actresses who portrayed them, and on the fans who were inspired by them. Probably it will have Wayward in its title somehow.
I hope that people will pass the word on about Family Don’t End With Blood, so it can reach as many people as possible and maybe make a difference for them too. Or pass your copy along to someone who needs it, that’s what it’s all about!
Colleen Bement: Tell the SPN Family about the very moment that spark hit you to write Family Don’t End with Blood. What inspired you?
Lynn Zubernis: I actually thought about it for quite a while before I actually began the project. Ever since I’d written and published Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, I’d had lots of people write to me or come up to me at conventions and tell me that the book and the fan community – and “Supernatural”– had made a big difference in their lives too. Because I’d shared my own story in that book, I think people felt comfortable being very honest in divulging their own personal stories to me and trusted that there would be no judgment. By the time a few years had gone by, I had been privileged to hear all these amazing and powerful stories and I started thinking, everyone should hear these stories.
Other fans who are looking for inspiration and trying to find something to keep them going through the hard times should hear these stories. That’s what inspired me to create a book of all of them so that I could share them with the rest of the fandom and with the rest of the world. Secondarily, I had more to say myself after publishing three books (at the time) on “Supernatural” and fandom. I was astounded at how much my own life had changed, and wanted to share that also. People kept asking me, “what happened after Fangasm ended?” and this was my chance to write a little mini-sequel.
CB: How in Crowley’s Hell did you score those personal chapters by Jared, Jensen, Misha, and the rest of the favorites?
LZ: That sort of seems miraculous now, to be honest! Originally Family Don’t End With Blood was going to be fan stories. I had gotten to know Jared, Jensen, Misha and the rest of the cast a bit by this time since they had all contributed to my other books, so we had kept in touch. I can’t say enough about how incredibly supportive they all were from
day one – they all took time to share their insights in the books and they all were eager to read them too, which was shocking to me.
One day at a convention, Jared asked me if I was working on another book. I said yes, and told him my idea. He paused for a minute and then said, “you know, I have a story too.” I thought I must be interpreting wrong, but asked, “are you saying you want to write a chapter?” He said yes, and the book changed in that moment.
Honestly, I had underestimated how much “Supernatural” and the whole experience and community that comes with it had changed the actors too. I don’t know why, because in retrospect it’s clear, but being on the fan side of the fence, I just didn’t realize. I thought well, if Jared has been changed in big ways, maybe some of the other actors have too. Maybe they would also like to write a chapter.
To my absolute amazement, almost every one of them did have something to say – some powerful, important way that the show and the fans and the cons had changed them.
I worked with some of them for almost two years putting their chapters together. They’re not writers (except Jim Beaver, and Rob as a songwriter), so this was hard for them, and scary. Actors don’t often put their real genuine selves out there; especially not down on paper. I started getting the rough drafts and I was blown away by their candor, their honesty, and their courage. They wrote about insecurity, lifelong doubts, identity crises. Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts. They went there.
I am so honored that they trusted me with their personal lives and stories – I think they understood that if they weren’t real and didn’t speak up and speak out, the book wouldn’t have the impact on readers that we were all hoping for. I know they are all so touched that it has. When people who have read the book say it’s helped them ‘always keep fighting’, or that they keep it by their bed for the nights that are the darkest and it helps, that means so much. That’s why everyone wrote it.
Here’s a little inside info that’s amusing. During the time that the actors were working on their chapters, from time to time I’d go to a con and I always take a copy of one of my books through the autograph line to have it signed so I can auction books for charity.
During that year, every time I approached an actor who was signing, instead of a smile and a hey how are you, I’d get a suddenly pale face and an evasive look and them protests of “I’m almost done, honest, I’m working on it, I was just super busy with X and Y but I’ll have a draft to you by next week for sure, the following week if not”. One time the woman behind me, as we were walking away, asked: “Are you their professor or something?” It kinda felt like it for a while there. But the good news is, they all came through with flying colors!
CB: Your Twitter bio is fascinating. You’re a writer, a professor, and a psychologist? Holy cow! Tell us more about yourself and why you’re a fangirl.
LZ: And I’m tired! Those four pieces of my identity actually mesh pretty well at this point, but they didn’t always. I’m a licensed psychologist, which is something I’m passionate about and work I love doing. I was a clinician for years before I switched over to teaching other people how to be therapists; I never thought I’d be a professor, but I love it. And while it keeps me very busy, it also gives me the flexibility to pursue the other things I love – writing and “Supernatural”. (I can hear my children protesting, but I’m just talking non-family loves right now). I’ve always been fannish (as in, loving television shows and films and books), but I was never a participatory fan until “Supernatural”.
When I discovered the community of fans known as fandom, and the whole vibrant amazing online world, I was blown away. I became so fascinated by what I saw as the healthy positive impact of being a fan that I decided I had to research and write about it because too much of what was out there was so pathologizing. Finding the fandom community was life-changing for me because it was the first time I found a group of people who I could be real with. As women especially, we’re socialized to hide behind a pleasing persona – in fandom, I could be all the things I really was at times, whether that was sad or angry or lustful or lonely or just plain overjoyed. It was a revelation and incredibly validating. I wanted to share that with the rest of the world and dispute the research that pathologized fans and fandom.
So indirectly, “Supernatural” and fandom led to me being a writer. I had always written what was essentially fanfiction (though I didn’t know it at the time), but I had never given a passing thought to trying to get published. That was a learning experience for sure, but ultimately a rewarding one! Fandom facilitated being a writer, but being a
psychologist and having that credential also helped. I never anticipated the value of my
Ph.D. being in part that introducing yourself as Dr. Zubernis sometimes opens a door, but I was so determined to write those first books that I tried it anyway. At first, I felt torn between my professional self and my fangirl self, but over the years as the internalized shame fell away, it’s been easier to combine the two more smoothly.
CB: Do you have any social causes that are close to your heart?
LZ: As a psychologist, I’m very passionate about fighting the stigma around mental health so that more people can feel comfortable opening up about their challenges. That’s the only way anyone ever gets help – if no one knows you’re depressed, no one is going to reach out and help you. That’s why Family Don’t End With Blood was able to help so many people, and why a portion of the proceeds of every sale goes to help two
charitable organizations that are doing great work out there –Random Acts, the charity
that Misha Collins started, and Attitudes in Reverse, which works to open up that
dialogue around depression and suicide.
I’ve helped with several RA projects and I’m on the Advisory Board of AIR. I was on the Board of the non-profit Council for Relationships in my hometown of Philly for years also, helping to make mental health services accessible to everyone. A fair amount of my non-fandom research is focused on LGBTQ+ issues, and that is also something I’m passionate about. Several of my books take a feminist slant on fandom and the reasons why women are so often shamed for being passionate about something (among other things), which is a pretty damn relevant topic right about now too.
CB: Besides what is obviously one of the greatest shows ever created, “Supernatural”, what other fandoms are you a part of?
LZ: I like to call myself fandom monogamous because “Supernatural” is so all-
encompassing that it takes up most of my fannish passion. It’s the only fandom I’m part
of in the sense of participation. In the past, I’ve been a fan of shows like “X-Files” and
“Buffy” and “Star Trek TNG”, but I was never “in” fandom with any of those shows (that was a different time of course, with fandom only beginning to develop communities online with “X-Files”). I do watch a few other shows right now that I enjoy – “The Magicians” I love, and I really enjoyed “Dirk Gently” when it was on. But again, I’m not in those fan communities, I just enjoy the shows.
Grab your copy of Family Don’t End With Blood today
Follow Fangasm on Twitter
Find more on Fangasm’s website