"San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats" open thread!

Haaaa, oh god. I loved it so very much.
Was already jealous about not getting to go to Comic-Con, so it was pretty awesome having this come out in the UK to read.
Loved all of the new characters, and the way their stories intertwined. Great to be able to develop such a big group of characters so well in such a short space of time, especially when it's a foregone conclusion what's going to happen to them all. The between-chapters segments with Mahir and Lorelai were really effective, adding a whole other layer of tragedy on top, and then you throw in another bloody dog POV chapter and I'm a mess. Really sweet but heartbreaking little book.

I also loved all of the stuff about geek culture. I loved the references, I loved the look at the fandoms and how enthusiastic they are, especially the main Browncoats group. I loved the heroism of the main characters, and the way that fandoms had brought them together and meant so much to them. But I also loved that the novella had some bits about the negative parts of geek culture - the section about Elle, the female sci-fi star, and the way the fandom had affected her life, the way she was treated as a female sci-fi star, as well as how it affected her relationship, really added something interesting to the story, and made it that much more of a great look at geek fandoms. Felt like a proper love letter to geek culture, as well as a kickass-zombie-tragedy-thing.