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I did have a literal shed of fan mail once. It was literally filled with, like, 25 of those giant mail cartons.

Fan mail is one thing, but fans you meet in person are a different matter entirely.

I never looked at fan mail, for some reason. My mother and grandmother handled my mail - although it's not like I was ever in the stratosphere of Kirk Cameron or Scott Baio.

Virtuality - connection without proximity - is a major attraction in both fandom and the Net. Nobody knows you're a dog through the U.S. mail, either. Fans could be utterly different in their fanzine persona, which may be why both fandom and the Net were invented by individualistic Americans.

I get a lot of fan mail from girls. It's interesting because it's not just the U.S. - you get things from people all over the world. They send these postage stamps and you're like, 'Where do you live?' It's crazy. I'll get letters from the troops, too.

The fan mail I get every day is incredible. It piles through the door from not just Britain but everywhere. It is so great to have that support behind me - everyone says I am an inspiration. It is great.

Before Twitter or Facebook, all the fandom that I knew about was anecdotal.

One time I got fan mail that was from Africa. It's really neat.

One fan wrote asking for a very specific autographed photo. He wanted me to pose in tight jeans and boots and even enclosed a sketch of how I should dress! A lot of them just say they wish they had a girlfriend like me. They're very endearing letters.

I've had fans do some pretty awesome things... I once had a fan do a mock proposal for me in Mumbai, inside a McDonalds... and I've had fans give me some precious things. I had one fan give me her mother's ring; I've gotten some pretty intense stuff. And I always get drawings and scrapbooks from fans, which is also pretty cool.