skygiants

In related, Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun - murder of unpleasant author at sf convention - might be kind of cozy?

Yes, except I remember it being garbage about actual fan culture, even for allowing for the differences between when I read it, when I started attending conventions, and when it was written in 1988. (Which was sad when I realized, because the title is a gift from the B-movie gods.) Diana Wynne Jones' Deep Secret (1997)?