There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done: A WFB Congrats to Lynn Zubernis

ByAlice Jester

I remember the first time I met Lynn Zubernis.  It was at the very first New Jersey con in 2009.  There were about 400 of us there and it was Misha Collins’ first con.  We hit it off immediately and I ended up with a good friend that I would see time and time again through the years at numerous “Supernatural” related events.  At the time she and her then academic partner Kathy Larsen were only in research phase for their first academic “Supernatural” book, “Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships”, as well as accumulating stories for their groundbreaking look at this unique fandom, “Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls.”  I was stunned that anyone would consider building an academic and professional career by writing books about fans of a TV show.  I didn’t know that was a thing!  She opened up my world to amazing possibilities that engaging in this fandom could offer.  It has been a wild ride ever since.  

I still marvel over Lynn’s commitment, passion, and outright energy for “Supernatural” after all these years.   She’s emerged as a resounding voice of the SPN Family and that’s because she truly, truly gets us.  For some of us our fangirl “squee” flamed out years ago, but hers has remained stronger than ever.  That’s why I’m so thrilled to see the biggest launch ever happening of what is truly a crowning achievement, the release of “There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done: Actors and Fans Celebrate the Legacy of “Supernatural.”  This is a fitting follow up to her very successful “Family Don’t End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How “Supernatural” Has Changed Lives,” coming right as “Supernatural” itself is winding to an end.  


This is the biggest launch I’ve seen yet for one of Lynn’s books, and it is huge.  This weekend there was a YouTube Q&A session.  

There’s a feature in Entertainment Weekly sharing excerpts from Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, two people that Lynn has gotten to know very well over the years.  Now on Wednesday, there’s a virtual launch party.  It’s huge and all fans are invited (video of the party linked)!  


 

Lynn has been spotlighting each one of the contributors for her book on Twitter at @FangasmSPN.  There are too many to share here, but please take time to check them out on Twitter, especially the contributing actors.  Perhaps we’ll share those in another article.  I will share a few though that have become close friends of The Winchester Family Business, some even current and former writers.  





My Fun story about Lynn

I haven’t been able to spend much time with Lynn in the last few years now that I’ve cut back my con attendance as well as online presence, but still follow her fandom activities and she has remained a very close friend of the Winchester Family Business.  She has become very close friends with Nightsky and they have collaborated on multiple occasions not to mention roomed together at many cons, so she really means a lot to us.  Since this book as well as the others encourage sharing fan stories, I thought I would share a quirky one of mine.  

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I’ve had so many great times with Lynn through the years, but this one serves as my daily reminder of one of our encounters.  While attending the NJ con in early May 2013, I had a lot of fun with Lynn on the weekend and then after the con as well.  After sitting in with her for an interview with Ty Olson and conversation with Rick Worthy (a contributor to “There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done”) the day after the con, I got to drive her back to her home outside Philadelphia.  I spent an evening at her house where we dined on Philly cheesesteaks, checked out her “Supernatural” memorabilia and caught up on recent “Supernatural” episodes.  That part sparked a wild amount of chatter of two fan girls getting excited over all the delicious dynamics the show kept giving us in season eight.  But come on, “The Great Escapist” is one of the best episodes ever! 

Lynn had this issue at the time, there were a few rooms in her house being overrun by spider plants.  I mean, these things were multiplying like weeds!  She was cutting off the seedlings and planting them to give to her graduate assistants.  She had a particularly large one upstairs, one that she said was about 40 years old.  As I was packing up for my 8 hour trek back to Ohio the next morning, she came down with that large spider plant in her hand, determined to make sure it had a new home in the Buckeye State.   It took up about half of my back seat!  I was so honored by the gift and took it home with pleasure.  At the time, I didn’t have any plants.  

Fast forward, 2020.  I’ve got a lot of plants now, and they’re all spider plants.  My living room looks like a freaking jungle!  The original one sits on top of my entertainment center, still thriving and multiplying like rabbits.  There are “babies” dangling from the plant in all sorts of directions, adding that tropical feel to my decor.  I could make 2-3 more large plants with them.  There’s another big one next to that that grew from the original, another large offspring on the mantle, two others in my kitchen.  Two of the offspring have ended up at my mother’s home, and two others at my sister’s home.  I keep threatening my kids that when they move out, they will be taking some spider plants with them.  

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(The 45+ year old plant gifted by Lynn to me in it’s present day jungle form)

The kicker is that each time I water one of these plants, or put them on the kitchen table for a little pruning and purging of dead leaves, suddenly this furry beast, aka my cat, is diving into that plant.  She’s got some sort of spider plant radar!  I often see a few of these plants, the ones that could conceivably be in reach of a small cat, have some small nibble marks on the end of them. This little google search solved the mystery as to why these plants are such cat magnets.  “…according to some resources, studies have found that this plant does, indeed, give off a mild hallucinogenic effect to felines, though this is said to be harmless.”

Thanks to quarantine, we were finally able to catch the little plant nibbler in the act.  She’s crafty!  

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(One of the numerous offspring plants facing it’s day peril)

I smile though, because if you think about it, it’s kind of appropriate that of all items I received from Lynn, one would be the incredible multiplying plant.  It’s kind of a metaphor for the SPN Family, wouldn’t you say?  It just keeps growing, and growing, and expanding in many unexpected ways.  That’s why this book launch is so big now, because her sharing of stories, her outreach into the fandom, her connection with the actors, has impacted so many lives.  It’s made us feel like we’re part of something bigger.  

So, I’m throwing this out there.  Next time I go to a con or fan event, or if you’re passing through central Ohio, if anyone wants a piece of the Lynn Zubernis great multiplying spider plant, I’ll plant a seedling and pass it on, sharing that same gift she gave me all those years ago.  The gift that keeps on giving!  Strange how that sentiment works for fandoms just as well as plants.  That’s just another way the SPN Family continues to amaze.

Congratulations to Lynn and all the contributors to “There’ll Be Peace Where You are Done.”  The book is now released so order now!  

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