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Intellect is delighted to announce the release of their new Journal of Fandom Studies. In celebration of the event, issue 1.1 of the journal is currently available to download entirely for free from the journal's webpage.

The Journal of Fandom Studies seeks to offer scholars a dedicated multi-disciplinary publication that promotes current scholarship into the fields of fan and audience studies, exploring the issues surrounding the production and consumption of popular media (including film, music, television, sports and gaming) within a wide range of disciplines and fan cultures. Articles examine wide-ranging factors such as gender, the ethics of and historical perspectives on fan practices and fan studies.

The journal aims to be inclusive, embracing all fan objects and practices across a range of time, periods and cultures, which also mirrors the desire to include multiple voices, academic fan and producer, with the prospect of discovering new and emerging forms of fandom.

The first issue, encompassing interviews, personal reflection and traditional scholarship, is dedicated to Forrest J. Ackerman and his Famous Monsters of Filmland, who actualized the potential embedded in personal identification with mass culture text, encouraging the creative energies of fans, and the participation of marginalized groups.

In this issue:

Mark Andrew Hain: Feasting our eyes on the accursed ugliness: Famous Monsters, Lon Chaney fandom and undoing male masochism   

The article examines the influence of fan periodical Famous Monsters of Filmland and its editor Forrest J Ackerman in keeping silent-era star Lon Chaney in cultural memory and expanding audience use of his star image.

Bob Rehak, Materializing monsters: Aurora models, garage kits and the object practices of horror fandom   

Model kits, statues and toy based on horror-movie icons have played a key role in fan activities. These 'object practices' suggest that material incarnations of science fiction, horror and fantasy texts are essential to their cultural persistence and commercial viability.

Natasha Ritsma: Lurking in the shadows: Famous Monsters of Filmland and its female fans   

The relationship among Forrest J Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland, the social and historical context in which it was circulated and the gendered fan culture featured and promoted in this material document.

Matt Yockey: Monster mashups: at home with Famous Monsters of Filmland   

The article explores the ways in which Forrest J Ackerman modelled social practices for the readers of Famous Monsters of Filmland, inspiring them to assert agency in the home via consumption practices shaped by affects of fandom.

Henry Jenkins: I was a (pre-)teenage monster   

A vivid reflection of Jenkins's own past as a youthful monster fan and dedicated reader of Famous Monsters.

Issue 1.1 also contains a selection of the interviews that Matt Yockey conducted with Forest J. Ackerman in the last six months of his life.

Issue 1.1 of the Journal of Fandom Studies is currently available to download for free: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jfs