Lasting Fame
is an unfinished Jem fanfic by Zeroninety.
Years have passed since the 1980s. It's currently 2012 and the former pop-stars that made up Jem and the Holograms have long since dropped out of the spotlight. They're all doing their own thing, except for the ever-mysterious lead singer Jem. Jem seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth and no one has heard of her for years.
Jerrica Benton, the woman behind "Jem", is now in her 40s. She has had a successful career being both a manager and running a foster home. But her life as Jem comes back to haunt her when Jem and the Holograms are put into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At 19 chapters, Lasting Fame is a Dead Fic that was cancelled before it was even published. Zeroninety lost the inspiration to write it but still posted it online. Several of their other short fic's are set in the same universe as Lasting Fame.
Lasting Fame provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Kimber has been struggling with alcoholism for years. She was doing okay for a few months but relapsed when her daughter mentioned that her step-mother was pregnant.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Minx and Techrat have a voltaile relationship due to their contrasting personalities.
- Beneath the Mask: It's implied that Pizzazz is a pretty miserable person who masks it by acting pompous and bitter all the time.
- Bland-Name Product: We have such examples as Knocked Up At 13 (16 and Pregnant), VTV (MTV), Don'cha Love The 80s? (I Love The 80s), Rambling Rock (Rolling Stones), OurTube (YouTube), and VNN (CNN).
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Pizzazz is a doting mother to her son because her own father was emotionally neglectful and her mother abandoned her at a young age. However, Pizzazz ends up being too doting. She smothers her son.
- Dead Fic: Lasting Fame was supposed to be novel-length, however only 19 chapters were written. The writer lost interest in writing but decided to post the fanfic anyway.
- Discreet Drink Disposal: When Stormer asks for wine, Pizzazz gives her scotch instead. Stormer pours it into a vase behind Pizzazz's back.
- Drives Like Crazy: Roxy drives very fast.
- Escapism: Jerrica used Jem as a way to escape her stressful life and her troubled past. She was supposed to be Jerrica's inhumanely perfect alter ego, but eventually Jerrica got too into being Jem.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Ba Nee married pretty quickly. According to Ashley she got married a month after meeting her husband, but that's probably an exaggeration.
- Geeky Turn-On: Hearing Minx talk about technology does this to Techrat.
- Incompatible Orientation: Years ago Stormer had kissed Kimber, but Kimber turned her down.
- Interrupted Suicide: Kimber threatens to kill herself but is stopped by Synergy.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Eric is Pizzazz's son Stephen's father. Or so Eric had been told. When they meet as adult, it's obvious they have no relation. He's actually Rio's son.
- My Beloved Smother: Pizzazz is one. She paid her son's landlord so that they'd evict her son, just cause she wanted him back home.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A few are mentioned, such as the deceased "Dominic Lerner" being a stand-in for Michael Jackson.
- Not Actually His Child: Pizzazz had told Eric for years that they had a son together. When he finally meets Pizzazz's kid face-to-face as adults, it's clear to Eric that the boy isn't his. He's obviously Rio's son.
- Rags to Riches: Harvey, Pizzazz's father, grew up poor but as an adult he became a multimillionaire.
- Suicide Watch: After she threatens suicide, Jerrica refuses to leave Kimber's side for several days.
