In the first return guest spot on The Other 51, author and professor Alysa Auriemma is back.

Brian promised Alysa the chance to talk about her love of Chris Evans, and so there is a lot of talk about Chris Evans. A lot of Chris Evans talk. Then there’s a super-deep dive into the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Things get super nerdy, folks.

But buried in all of this is an important question for writers — what is the role of fandom in our work? Is it like sports writing, where fandom is traditionally a very separate thing? Or can fandom play a role in how we conceptualize and write stories?