Funny, whimsical and bizarre, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is a memoir about the “Queen of Geeks” Felicia Day and her rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame, which successfully launched her career and made her one of the most popular, as well as most influential, creators in modern media culture. In this book, we are taken on a journey through Felicia’s strange, yet unique, life and world, including her isolated home-schooled childhood, her rise to stardom, creating universally lauded web-series The Guild and becoming one of the faces of Geek & Sundry, as well her brush-ins with fandom, depression and controversy.
Reading the book does feel like hanging out with Felicia Day, and throughout you get to know and understand what it is that drives Felicia, where she comes from, and what her ambitions in life are. As you read each line, you can definitely hear Felicia’s unique voice and quirky sense of humour through the words written on the page, whether it’s her criticising her own fashion sense, her World of Warcraft addiction or recalling her most weirdest fan requests.
Yet, at the same time, she doesn’t shy away from being blunt and truthful about being an actress and the Hollywood industry in general; she recalls about being chastised by her coach (who she describes as being “the embodiment of a human turd”) during acting classes, and how, in an attempt to finance The Guild, one digital executive wanted to take control of what is her brainchild away from her and being quite sexist about it.
Even though The Guild was her baby and had been universally received worldwide, Felicia doesn’t shy away from the cold hard facts about how tough making the series was and how it was depressing letting it go after so long. She’s open and honest about her struggles through anxiety and depression, which is something that many of us can suffer from yet feel stigmatized by it and therefore don’t share.
In many ways, this book is sort of a love story about discovering a community through gaming and the Internet while still remaining proud and confident in ones’ own loves and passions (and geeky nerdiness), despite the negativity encountered in one’s own mind and/or through trolls. At the beginning of her book, Day refers to herself as “that quirky chick in that one science-fiction show” or as “usually the lone female on lists of prominent nerds.” Yet, throughout her career she has proven to be much more than that.
Yes, she had prominent roles on cult fan-centric shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural and Eureka and she famously played Penny in Joss Whedon’s online musical phenomenon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog. But it was really the Internet where Day found her voice, and through The Guild and Geek & Sundry, she’s been expressing her creativity, as well her love for gaming, to everyone and has inspired a legion of fans. Like Joss Whedon, she cares passionately about her fanbase and is very much in touch with her fans and what they want of her.
As Whedon stated in his foreword for the book, Felicia is “more than a self-made woman” and reading this book is definitely like spending an afternoon with her and getting to know what goes on inside her strange and brilliant mind. In a way, the title perfectly sums up the moral to Felicia’s story and why it’s inspirational to everyone: It’s about embracing what makes you different and having the bravery and courage to share it with the world, and that’s why the digital misfit that is Felicia Day is a talent not to be reckoned with.
YOU’RE NEVER WEIRD ON THE INTERNET (ALMOST) / AUTHOR: FELICIA DAY / PUBLISHER: SPHERE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
