Book Review: The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks

In an era when representation in nearly all strata of geek culture—from convention demographics, to video game playing, to comic book reading—is at least approaching the fifty-fifty mark in terms of male-female consumption, it only makes sense for there to be a source out there to make entering this potentially unfamiliar female terrain more accessible.  Welcome Sam Maggs’s A Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks (Quirk Books, 2015), a useful and cleverly written handy helper for all female-identified individuals who are interested in learning how they, too, can join the geek conversation.

Cover of Fangirl's Guide...

The book is a quick read and includes many useful tips (the chapter on conventions is particularly useful for all of you fledgling Geeks on the Street!).  The illustrations, by Kelly Bastow, add character to the how-to guide instructional manual feel of the overall work.  Sam Maggs, an associate editor for the excellent website TheMarySue.com, has a friendly and conversational tone throughout, which I think will help new “Geek Girls” feel welcome to the awesome party that Geekdom is.

As a lifelong geek girl, and one who has brought her geeky interests into her academic and professional careers, I think this book is an important first step toward finally eliminating the distinction that “nerds are boys” and “girls should be girly.”  I particularly agree with the comic book recommendations at the end of the book; I read almost all of these titles and can say with some authority that they are worth picking up.

Photo from Jacket of Fangirl's Guide...

To all my geeky lady friends out there: if you are looking to join geek culture or to up your geek game, make sure to peruse Maggs’s book.  We fangirls have got to stick together and this book reminds us of the useful tools we can implement in order to do so.  So, as Maggs suggests, let’s get out there into geekdom and let’s all be friends and support one another’s awesome geekiness. 

Until then, geeky girls, Dr. Kelly is wishing you a Glorious Geek Day!

Review by Kelly I. Aliano, PhD