Alone Together
While working for Buzznet, Mark Oshiro took a dare. Long after the Twilight phenomenon had peaked, he decided to read the series and post reviews, chapter by chapter. He hated it — which was funny. But he came to love his colleagues’ next recommendation, and Harry Potter fans unanimously agreed: Seeing Oshiro turn into a fanboy was a vicarious thrill. Soon, suggestions were flooding in. Oshiro quit his day job to manage what has become the largest one-man book-club-slash-TV-party (MarkReads.net and MarkWatches.net, respectively) on the internet. These days, Oshiro posts 10 to 15 reviews per week, and regularly packs panels where his perspective — not that of the heterosexual white guy — is welcome. He’s been nominated for a couple Hugos (Fan Writer category), and his followers support this unbelievably meta career by commissioning videos of his initial response to a chosen episode or chapter (in order to avoid spoilers, fans use ROT13 to cypher their comments). Today, Oshiro turns the tables, checking fan reactions to his own forthcoming novel An Insidious Thing.
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