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Xena: Their Courage Changed Our World
Celebrate the rich tapestry that is Xena's legendary fandom, The Xenaverse! Warrior Princess is a cult classic starring Lucy Lawless & Renee O'Connor. September 04, 2020 is the 25th Anniversary of a show that changed lives forever. A phenomenal fandom - the Xenaverse - was born at the birth of the internet. It set the standard for all other fandoms to follow! Celebrate with us and discover the rich tapestry of the Xenaverse.It has taken an Amazon Village to produce this extraordinary history of the Xenaverse, the fandom born at the birth of the internet. In this 25th Anniversary Edition, we have fifty-eight authors who have written sixty-eight chapters outlining the evolution of the Xenaverse. There are seventy-one fan-contributed stories of lives changed forever. From fan fiction writers blossoming into published authors, interviews with artists and videographers, webmasters creating sites in the new digital frontier, filmmakers getting their start in the Xenaverse and going on to produce award-winning shows of their own, inclusive of LGBT+ fans, and greater good endeavors that have raised millions for charity...all from one incredible fandom.BATTLE ON!
545 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2020
20 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 19, 2022
I loved the show when it was on. Since it was “must watch TV” I wanted to read this book. Like all anthologies with different contributors, some chapters were better or more interesting than others, but it was still an interesting read. I enjoyed learning more about the fandom and how the actors, writers and/or producers responded to their fans. There were lots of interesting tidbits. I did not realize how many of my favorite authors got started with Xena stories.
November 7, 2020
This is an extremely heartfelt collection of essays by fans and about Xena: Warrior Princess fandom. It centres on the fans who found community on the early Internet, largely through reading and writing fan fiction.
My own relationship with XWP goes back to 1994 and the Hercules TV movies that started it all. I spent time on the various Xena websites, forums, and mailing lists but I never became a great fan of fan fiction. For me, so much of it was quite bad, and I found it difficult to read work that was largely unedited and riddled with typos and spelling and grammar errors.
That is also my main criticism of this book. The writing is uneven, the formatting is inconsistent, and it’s full of typos. But, as I said above, the work is extremely heartfelt. My favourite section is towards the end of the book where Xenites share their memories and thoughts from around the world, discussing what the show and the fandom have meant to them.
It’s a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a Xenite, and I love that the royalties are supporting charity. It looks great on my Xena bookshelf!
My own relationship with XWP goes back to 1994 and the Hercules TV movies that started it all. I spent time on the various Xena websites, forums, and mailing lists but I never became a great fan of fan fiction. For me, so much of it was quite bad, and I found it difficult to read work that was largely unedited and riddled with typos and spelling and grammar errors.
That is also my main criticism of this book. The writing is uneven, the formatting is inconsistent, and it’s full of typos. But, as I said above, the work is extremely heartfelt. My favourite section is towards the end of the book where Xenites share their memories and thoughts from around the world, discussing what the show and the fandom have meant to them.
It’s a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a Xenite, and I love that the royalties are supporting charity. It looks great on my Xena bookshelf!
January 3, 2021
I love this book, so chock full of memories of Xena, the tv show, the cons and fan fiction and how it all makes a community that helps the world. I think Xena and Gabrielle would approve of all Xenites have done through charity, through friendship and with love. People met and married their life mates, they brought their children up with Xena as an example of; "think don't fight," and that everyone is important and how each life means something even if you don't think it will.
Full confession I am in it, I wrote two stories about how Xena led me to writing again, and then led me to my shows Chatting With Sherri and Sherri's Playhouse.
It is a great big beautiful book full of wonderful stories and lots of the most important thing that Xena teaches, Love.
Full confession I am in it, I wrote two stories about how Xena led me to writing again, and then led me to my shows Chatting With Sherri and Sherri's Playhouse.
It is a great big beautiful book full of wonderful stories and lots of the most important thing that Xena teaches, Love.
October 21, 2020
This was a 5 star read for me, mostly because of my love of the TV show and the two main characters. I enjoyed learning more about the history of the fans of Xena- Xenites. Several of the author’s that I enjoy started as Xena fan fiction writers. If you are a fan of Xena and Gabrielle, you will enjoy this book. I read it on Kindle and have put the actual book on my wish list for Christmas or Birthday. Thanks to MaryD for this book and for your support of the Xena community.
December 10, 2021
Ah Xena 😍🤩
Though I’m a new fan to the show (a friend introduced me in 2015), it’s been so incredibly impactful ever since. I attended the first Xenite Retreat in April 2016, and met my boyfriend there. We are both from the Edmonton area of Alberta, Canada (we lived 45 minutes apart originally), and flew all the way to California just to meet at a summer camp for a 90s tv show. 😂 We’ve been together ever since. We are included in the romance chapter, but my name has been spelled wrong. 😐 The ever constant mistake of Caroline vs. Carolyn but my boyfriend’s MUCH MORE uncommon name is spelled correctly. 🥴😵💫
And this is where the book overall lost a star. It has SO MANY editing / formatting / spelling issues. It’s wildly inconsistent and I found it incredibly frustrating to read. I also just finished an introductory editing course so it was even more glaring. But honestly anybody who read it would notice them all. There were so many, it’s really in need of MANY professional editors. Hopefully when it is updated and republished for the 30th anniversary these can be corrected.
In spite of all that though, this book was amazing. To have the history of a 25 year old fandom written down like this, curated by the fandom itself is really really cool. I don’t know of any other fandom whose history has been documented so thoroughly, who is still so active 20 years after the source material ended. 😅 I’ve been in the CSI fandom a long time and it doesn’t come together like this. The fans span from children all the way up to people 70+ and will continue as the love is passed down. These people come together in a way that is unique to Xena to take care of their own and anyone who asks for help. And the book covers so much of it. Being a new fan means I wasn’t there for so much of it, I was three years old when it began airing. The history aspect of it all was my favourite part, though I found most of the “this is how Xena changed my life” stories to be dull. 😳 I know this show has impacted so many people. A few of them were touching, but many were rather generic “she taught me to be strong” stories.
When I first started watching the show I thought it was a dead fandom, because it had been over for so long. When I came across the Xenite Retreat on Tumblr it opened up this brand new world and this is such a phenomenal keepsake and tangible history of a show and a movement that has massively influenced pop culture but it almost always forgotten. Fanfiction, internet fandom, mainstream lesbian publishing and more can all be traced back to Xena and this book takes you through it all. I teared up at the end, when MaryD speaks about passing the torch to a new generation of fans. This show will live on forever in the hearts of those who need it most. 🖤
To a Strong Amazon Nation!!! ⚔️ Battle On!!!
Though I’m a new fan to the show (a friend introduced me in 2015), it’s been so incredibly impactful ever since. I attended the first Xenite Retreat in April 2016, and met my boyfriend there. We are both from the Edmonton area of Alberta, Canada (we lived 45 minutes apart originally), and flew all the way to California just to meet at a summer camp for a 90s tv show. 😂 We’ve been together ever since. We are included in the romance chapter, but my name has been spelled wrong. 😐 The ever constant mistake of Caroline vs. Carolyn but my boyfriend’s MUCH MORE uncommon name is spelled correctly. 🥴😵💫
And this is where the book overall lost a star. It has SO MANY editing / formatting / spelling issues. It’s wildly inconsistent and I found it incredibly frustrating to read. I also just finished an introductory editing course so it was even more glaring. But honestly anybody who read it would notice them all. There were so many, it’s really in need of MANY professional editors. Hopefully when it is updated and republished for the 30th anniversary these can be corrected.
In spite of all that though, this book was amazing. To have the history of a 25 year old fandom written down like this, curated by the fandom itself is really really cool. I don’t know of any other fandom whose history has been documented so thoroughly, who is still so active 20 years after the source material ended. 😅 I’ve been in the CSI fandom a long time and it doesn’t come together like this. The fans span from children all the way up to people 70+ and will continue as the love is passed down. These people come together in a way that is unique to Xena to take care of their own and anyone who asks for help. And the book covers so much of it. Being a new fan means I wasn’t there for so much of it, I was three years old when it began airing. The history aspect of it all was my favourite part, though I found most of the “this is how Xena changed my life” stories to be dull. 😳 I know this show has impacted so many people. A few of them were touching, but many were rather generic “she taught me to be strong” stories.
When I first started watching the show I thought it was a dead fandom, because it had been over for so long. When I came across the Xenite Retreat on Tumblr it opened up this brand new world and this is such a phenomenal keepsake and tangible history of a show and a movement that has massively influenced pop culture but it almost always forgotten. Fanfiction, internet fandom, mainstream lesbian publishing and more can all be traced back to Xena and this book takes you through it all. I teared up at the end, when MaryD speaks about passing the torch to a new generation of fans. This show will live on forever in the hearts of those who need it most. 🖤
To a Strong Amazon Nation!!! ⚔️ Battle On!!!
March 30, 2024
I loved this book. I really didn't know what it contained.
So much history of the show, the fandom, the stars, brought back lots of memories.
I had no idea there was still active fandom going on!
Incredible, touching stories from so many people whose lives were impacted by
this show and the Xenite Community!
This book directly led me to finally sign up for Xenite Retreat.
Highly recommended if you are/were ever a fan of the show!
So much history of the show, the fandom, the stars, brought back lots of memories.
I had no idea there was still active fandom going on!
Incredible, touching stories from so many people whose lives were impacted by
this show and the Xenite Community!
This book directly led me to finally sign up for Xenite Retreat.
Highly recommended if you are/were ever a fan of the show!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews