The Cult of Fanfiction
March 17, 2026
1 hr
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209 of 222
March 17, 2026
The Cult of Fanfiction
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Amanda Montell Episodes Around March 17, 2026
Episode 209 of 222 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
The Cult of Fanfiction
Summary
Long before publishing executives "discovered" the internet, a very dedicated group of fans had already built their own literary universe complete with sacred terminology, power hierarchies, and enough drama to make the actual source material blush. This week, Reese and Iman sit down with the iconic Christina Lauren duo, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings (@christinalauren), to dissect fanfiction's glow-up from AO3 comment sections to genuine big business. We're getting into the culty dialect (slash, ship AU, canon, OTP), the plagiarism scandals, the parasocial power trips, and the Fifty Shades pipeline that proved E.L. James wasn't the only one who could monetize her Twilight feelings. Press play, culties, your kudos await.
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