morgandawn: (Art Noveau Blue)
2019-02-03 05:21 pm

I Read the Gayest Star Trek Novel

Posted in full at: http://bit.ly/2Sm4t3k on February 03, 2019 at 09:14AM

I Read the Gayest Star Trek Novel:

We have loads more into on Fanlore:   https://fanlore.org/wiki/Killing_Time_(Star_Trek_tie-in_novel)

“There’s conflicting accounts of the official reaction of Pocket Books; some say they tried to recall all the copies of the first edition, some say they simply destroyed what had yet to ship. What is true is that later additions include over fifty significant changes to the novel. The more gay parts are removed, all physical affection between Kirk and Spock, even platonic, is removed. But the first edition can still be found, and a book that first retailed for $3.50 is being sold for $50 to $80 on eBay.

It’s a fascinating little slice of a history that underpins fandom as we know it today. Many fans around today could tell you the history of slash stories in the early 2000s, how some archives wouldn’t allow LGBT stories at all, how some would rate them NC-17–and how every fanfiction writer was terrified of lawyers coming after them for dabbling in copyrighted worlds. But before the internet, before fandom became a dominant market force, the interaction between fandom and the establishment was much more fluid. And while LGBT content was ultimately taboo, it was also popular with those who wanted to carry the torch, and the Star Trek fandom was in many ways a more tolerant place than the rest of the world; after all, homosexuality was medically classified as a mental disorder right up until 1987, a full two years after this book came out.

While no one intended for this incredibly gay Star Trek book to make it to stores, the fact remained that it did, and it exists as evidence of this complex time in fandom history, with benefits we’ve lost over time and restrictions we couldn’t imagine in this relatively taboo-free era of fanfiction. If you can manage to find a copy of the first edition, it’s worth a read.”

Tags:fandom history, star trek, fanzines, kirk/spock, DWCrosspost

Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
morgandawn: (Fanlore Our Story)
2018-09-08 09:41 am

Minotaur (Stuart) Memories

 This July someone posted about fandom history on Tumblr and it ended up pulling together some very sweet memories of minotaur 

You can read the original post here

And I've organized all the comments to date on Fanlore here.
morgandawn: (Starsky Hutch The Fix Hug)
2015-11-26 05:13 pm

Tumblr CrossPost: Starsky & Hutch, Slash and RPS

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANi4QUokO4s)

For those who don’t know much about the 1970s TV series Starsky & Hutch, it was noted for 3 things: tackling social issues and topics considered taboo on Prime Time TV, its levels of violence and the amazing chemistry between the two actors. In the pilot, the two characters are battling not just crime but also corruption within the police force and say (onscreen) to one another: “Out there, it is just Me and Thee.” A perfect recipe for both slash and RPS.

The amount of touching, hand holding and on screen caressing between the two actors was unusual and did raise some eyebrows. Because slash was still in its infancy in the 1970s,slash writers in SH fandom were deeply underground. RPF/RPS was so off the radar that when I came into the fandom in the 1990s, I did not know there had ever been any SH RPS until the late 2000s. No one wanted to talk about it.

In this video excerpt actor Paul Glaser talks about how he and his co-actor David Soul had intense feelings for one another, but were not comfortable with acknowledging them until much later in life. They essentially poured all their emotion into their characters on screen.

He also talks about how when real life parallels art (in this case what was happening on the TV screen), you create…. synergy.

If I had been into slash fandom in the 1970s and if RPS had not been such a taboo, I would have been all over that….synergy. It was not until Supernatural that I started reading RPS (”Supernatural: where RPS is the moral high ground.”) And Wincest. And wingfic. And MPREG. And A/B/O fic. And….

Ahem, I digress. Anyhow, I raise a glass to Starsky & Hutch. In a few days they will start their 2015 Advent Calendar.


Tags:starsky & hutch, early rpf, slash, DWCrosspost

Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
morgandawn: (Art Noveau Blue)
2015-11-08 09:23 pm

Tumblr CrossPost: Han/Luke

post-security: public
Posted in full at: http://ift.tt/1L51tsu at November 08, 2015 at 01:21PM










 

the-cimmerians:

stephrc79:

teawithsgtbarnes:

mamalaz:

astolat:

mamalaz:

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (deleted scene)

Seriously though, this scene. WHY DID THEY DELETE THIS SCENE?

And as they went away with Luke letting Han’s hand trail out of his, I thought, “…as though millions of Han/Luke shipper voices suddenly cried out and were silenced.”

In all my days I’ve never shipped this till…

Welp, if I didn’t ship it before…

True story from ancient fandom corner: people did ship it, and that shit was stomped on harder than any slash has ever been stomped on. There were lawsuits. SW slash went WAY underground–even in the days when all slash was underground. There were ‘zines, but they were precious as carbuncles and basically if you had one or wrote in one you were like a fucking badass slash bandit.

As far as we know, no one was sued  for publishing a Star wars slash zine or fiction. The reason that Star Wars slash zine fandom went dark, had to do with two het stories published in 1981: the Swedish zine The Dark Lord and then later Slow Boat To Bespin. This led to Lucasfilm issuing a series of protocols requiring the publication of family friendly material.  These protocols  put a damper on Star Wars zine publishing overall because they were subjective and arbitrary.

Of course given the homophobia of the times that classified any gay material, even G rated, as adult, this meant that published slash in Star Wars fandom pretty much dried up until the late 1990s, when brave slash fans resumed publishing Han/Luke slashInterestingly, even at the height of the Lucas anti-sexuality crusade, two slash writers were able to obtain permission to publish a slash story using original characters.  It took some effort to get permission, including a letter of protest written directly to Lucasfilm.

One good thing that came out of the Star Wars fanzine crackdown - before the crackdown, Lucas had demanded that fans submit a copy of their zines to his offices. Eventually he grew tired of them and the collection was given to Ming Wathne, who added thousands of other fanzines from other fandoms and ran the Fanzine Archives, a fanzine lending library. In 2008, she donated the collection to the University of Iowa and is open to the public.

You can still read some of the late 1990s Han/Luke fic online. 

(cover of Elusive Lover 1, artwork by Zyene)


Tags:fandom history, fandom meta, star wars, slash history, han/luke, DWCrosspost, fanzine archives, fanzine history, university of iowa

Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2015-11-04 08:15 am

Tumblr CrossPost: DestielCon Day Two, Part One

post-security: public
Posted in full at: http://ift.tt/1Q4VHiA at November 03, 2015 at 10:38PM
 

wyntereyez:

…..Then I went to “The Evolution of Fanfic,” which interested me since I caught the end of the era where fan fic was something found in fanzines and sharing them was a very private, under the table thing.  I remember that I didn’t get into fandom until college, when I finally had internet access.  This panel felt very academic, and was interesting.  The very first slash story, for example, was a Kirk/Spock story that started as a writing exercise in which the writer didn’t identify the characters or their sexes, though the author said in her notes that’s who she was writing about.  Apparently, it’s online somewhere, and now I have to find it….  Anyway, the gist of this panel is that we all have it easy these days…

meedee:
The Star Trek story is called “A Fragment Out of Time”. You can read more about its history at Fanlore, the fan run wiki about media fandom.


Tags:fandom history, star trek history, slash history, destielcon, fanlore, DWCrosspost

Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2015-11-04 12:18 am

Tumblr CrossPost: spirkian:The cake.Star Trek K/S fans held their annual Kiscon...

post-security: public
Posted in full at: http://ift.tt/1NckOK9 at November 03, 2015 at 04:14PM


 

spirkian:

The cake.

Star Trek K/S fans held their annual Kiscon convention in Seattle this weekend. This is the celebratory cake, festooned with artwork from Courts of Honor. Courts of Honor was written by Syn Ferguson who was the guest of Honor.


Tags:Star Trek convention, fandom history, fanzines, Kirk/Spock, space husbands, DWCrosspost

Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
morgandawn: (Art Noveau Blue)
2015-10-01 06:13 pm

Tumblr CrossPost: meeedeee: ormondhsacker: Since some people apparently misunderstood what I was try

Posted in full at tumblr at October 01, 2015 at 11:11AM

meeedeee:

ormondhsacker:

Since some people apparently misunderstood what I was trying to discuss - well it started as a rant, but turned into a discussion somewhere along the way - in this post, I shall try to make my point clearer and tag everyone who participated. Whether they want to continue the discussion then I leave up to them.

So in no particular order of appearance: meeedeeeageorwizardry,doomhamsterbert-and-ernie-are-gaycentrumlumina,impostoradultflourish

My rant was born of a frustration that every time anyone tries to discuss why F/F fics and female centred fic in general are ignored to the extent that they are, a common argument to shut it down is ‘well, fandom is dominated by straight women so what do you expect?’.

But there’s no evidence to support this claim and a good deal of circumstantial evidence that indicates the opposite might be true. Hence my rant about a reference for the straightness claim.

My interest is not and never was about women who read fanfic as a source of porn, there are problems in this kind of borderline fetishisation but it is not for this post nor did I intend the other post to go in the direction of discussing porn preferences. (Kindly don’t go there with this post. I know it’ll be difficult but please make another post and tag me in it. I’m sick of this discussion getting derailed into smut land). My focus was on all the rest of the fics, the relationship ones, the romantics, the angsty, the plot based action fics and so on, they too get ignored in a way they never would if it was an M/M or even just M/F fic, even when they’re not about people’s OTP.

But for some reason fandom is so obsessed with two white boys bonking that they’re incapable of seeing beyond the porn in fanfic, which raises the question why a space that is supposedly welcome to LGBTQIA people perpetuates the homophobic hypersexualisation of same gender pairing that the rest of society is so eager to do.

My interest in the sexuality of fandom is actually marginal. It could be an interesting thing to examine, but it is in no way high on my list. My one and only interest in it is insofar at this enforced heteronormativity of fandom is used as an argument to shut down discussion. And being of a particularly non-straight sexuality does not exempt a person from perpetuating this mindset - most whom I have seen use it have been identifying as bi or pan, but this is anecdotal evidence - 

The reasons for reading and writing slash (and no, I don’t fucking mean smut I mean fics with same gender pairings that’s what the term slash means, it does in no way exclusively cover smut fics no matter how much homophobes would claim that jeeze) are multiple and varied and no single study could ever remotely cover everything and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of how academic research works or lying. But saying that there should be no protest, no questioning, no examination of why F/F fics are ignored, of why the supposed heteronormativity of fandom is used as an argument to shut a mere attempt at debate down, is further alienating and shoving under the bus those (female) fans who are uncomfortable with these mechanisms, because in doing so they’re being told, once again, that they’re unwelcome in fandom.

As usual, the topic threads are so complex that it is hard to track what is being said. I often feel like we are talking past one another (which, when you read the diverging threads you will understand that we often aretalking past one another)

Several questions have been posted and they don’t always intersect
1. Where did the myth start that fandom was comprised of straight women? (history question and answer)
2. Why does the myth still persist? Why are people relying on outdated research?  (history and current research question)
3. Is there new research going on that will give us better data about the makeup of fans (current research question)
4. Are there methodological limits on what kinds of data  we can obtain? (current research question)
5. Does the discussion of why women write slash run the risk of over emphasizing some aspects of our culture (gender politics) and de-emphasizing  other aspects (female sexuality) (sociological /gender politics question)
6  Even assuming fandom is mainly queer/bi why does femmeslash constantly get sidelined in favor of male/male slash ?(sociological /gender politics question)
7. Does the continued  discussion of fandom’s gender makeup or motivations for writing  slash marginalize those who want to discuss why femmeslash is being ignored? (sociological)

I am certain there are some that I missed or that I oversimplified or linked to the wrong posts. But it may help further the discussion if we indicate what aspect that we’re focusing on.
 

_____________________________________________________________
To answer #6 (so sorry about the numbering):
 Even if fandom was predominantly heterosexual, I don’t see how fans can rationally use this fact to shut down discussions about why there is a lack of femmeslash* 

Just because one is heterosexual does not mean one would not be interested in femmeslash.  Just as not all heterosexual women are interested in m/m slash.   So to use the presence of heterosexuality to shut down discussions of femmeslash makes about as much sense (to me) as using Chinese grammar rules to shut down discussions  of English grammar rules.   

Keep in mind that I come from a  slash (M/M) perspective and from a time where enjoyment of male/male slash placed you - whether you were heterosexual or gay - outside any norm. We might as well have been speaking Martian back then. (”So…you’re straight but you like to read about men bonking? Wait, you’re gay and you like to read about men boking? No, wait, you’re bi and you like to read about men bonking? Stop it!  Just. Stop it!! What’s wrong with the lot of you!!!?”)

Back in 2013, when the AO3 census survey results were posted, there were similar discussions. And I found this one quote that pretty much summed it up for me:

“There are so many things that set us on our course of sexuality, and only a few of them are the things people mean when they talk in labels.” 

*This is not to say fans are not shutting down discussions. 
_____________________________________________________________

More thoughts on #1:

other commentators have pointed out that  historical data about the sexual preferences of slash readers has been incomplete. Not only were there no surveys, even if there had been, many of the participants who might have identified as gay or bi would not have answered truthfully. This has everything to do with the lack of acceptance and self awareness of being bi or gay in the US in the 1960s-1990s.  

Anecdotally, some of the “formerly heterosexual fan pairs” that I met in slash fandom in the 1990s have now gone on to marry or become partners.  So the outward expression of their sexual preferences  has changed over time as our society has grown more accepting of the expression. This would skew any survey and statistical results - if there had been any. So the "slash readers are primarily  heterosexual" statement is neither 100% correct nor 100% false - from a historical point of view.  We can try to extrapolate backwards from today's data*, but we cannot know for sure.

*those who gathered the more recent data would also be the first to point out how limited their surveys were - both in terms of scope and methodology.


Tags:slash history, fandom history, fandom meta, femmeslash, DWCrosspost
Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)

morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2015-02-18 08:41 pm

Help Me ID This Slash Convention (We Think Connexions 1998)

I know this was a US slash convention and was in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Links should take you to the full size version/.

mystery1
myster2

edited:

Possible candidates (1998-2000)
*Connexions - one fan remembers this as being the 1998 program
*Eclecticon
*Friscon
*Mountain Media Con
*Revelcon
morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2014-09-25 09:23 pm

Why Is There No K/S Art Gallery?

 

The original of this drawing arrived in the mail today. I wish we could put together a traveling gallery of all the stunning K/S fan art to take to fan conventions. Until then, enjoy this low resolution version.

From Fanlore, the fan run, non-profit wiki about media fandom

Pieta back cover First Time #46, [artist: Shelly Butler]. The pose, which is an art classic, was used decades earlier in the drawing by Wendy Pearson accompanying the poem Pieta in Starbase M.T.L. #6. One comment on the work: "The image is a reflection of the glorious sculpture, Pieta. Here, a long-haired Spock lovingly holds an angelic Kirk on his lap. Notice Spock’s hand delicately and gently placed on a vulnerable Kirk’s belly. Kirk’s blissful, sublime expression relates to their intimate relationship, and a soft light seems to shine on him.

Another fan wrote this: “The impression I get from Pieta is that Spock is preparing to infuse the man in his lap with something great, mysterious, and ultimately very powerful. Dare I call it by its name? Love.”

 More art commentary is here.

The drawing won a STIFfie Award in 1997.

PS. I did contact a few of the fandom archives about displaying fan art - while they can preserve/archive fan art, they do not have space to display it. That is typical of most special collections.

PPS. How awesome is it that there are "a few...fandom archives" in the US? 

morgandawn: Fandom is my Fandom (Fandom is my Fandom)
2014-02-17 11:59 am

California Slashers MeetUp Groups

The MeetUp Group for Nothern California is here (note: it says East Bay, but there are events around the SF Bay):
http://www.meetup.com/Slash-Fandom-etc-Meetup-East-Bay/

The MeetUp Group for Southern California is here:
http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Slash-Fandom/

The Los Angeles group has also started a tumblr account here:
http://laslash.tumblr.com/
morgandawn: (Cat Basket Going To Hell?)
2013-10-12 08:58 am

Early Vice President RPF

Just in case you were wondering how long it takes for RPF to become publishable...figure about 60 years for het and 100 years for slash (although I am dubious of the slashy claim of the second book, unless you consider it UST).

The Amorous Intrigues and Adventures of Aaron Burr (1861)

Blennerhassett; or, The decrees of fate; a romance founded upon events in American history (1901)

So now you know.....

morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2013-09-29 01:38 pm

"Dear TPTB: Good Luck With That"

TPTB on the British TV show Blake's 7 have had an adversarial relationship with slash fandom.  One actor kept confusing his TV character with himself (reportedly saying: It's that fiction where my co-star is always raping me.") Needless to say it was one of the many reasons (but not the sole reason) that Blake's 7 fandom imploded in the late 1980s.

Enter a new set of  "creators". These are ones who bought the TV show rights in the early 2000s.  They've been pushing for a reboot and are in negotiations for a new series to be shown on XBox Live (recast with new actors, of course).

Sadly, their attitudes are still stuck back in the 70s stone ages: "I think slash is distasteful. The actors that are represented do not appreciate it. And some produce this stuff on the web. I think it is bad taste. It has no reflection or bearing on what the show is and it is not a tribute to Terry Nation's legacy. I think it is an abomination. I think what is an abomination is the pornography. I have no problem with fan fiction, but I do have a problem with pornography." Asked what he planned to do, he said: "They will find out how I am going to clamp down on it. The moment you start doing something of an extremely dubious nature of the pornographic variety or for a commercial benefit without acquiring the rights, I and my partners will take a dim view of that."

Of course this was 10 years ago...perhaps they might have mellowed a smidge.  But really, does anyone care? We didn't when the show was airing, I doubt we'll listen 20+ years later. Certainly not when TIIC call large swaths of potential fans purveyors of an abomination.
morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2013-09-20 10:28 pm

Dear Diary....

This week I scanned this zine for the authors and their families.

The zine, The Rack, was a response to the K/S premise by carrying forward the then current views about homosexuality into the Star Trek future with devastating consequences. It made quite an impact when it was published in 1980. And it, in turn, created more response fic.

As the authors explained: "We have stated that many readers were emotionally upset by the tragedy of THE RACK. Some expressed their feelings through Letters of Comment, while others were compelled to write their own stories, poems and vignettes, ideas inspired by the heartwrenching, difficult-to-accept ending... Other stories, published elsewhere, were also inspired by our novella. Mariann H, in TRIAL (NEXUS 1), delivers an alternate ending which had its own impact on fandom. While we don't agree with her premise, we know Mariann's story did satisfy those for whom the unhappy ending of THE RACK was difficult to handle....People have been compelled to analyze the story, write alternate endings for it and continue to request we reprint ALL THE KING'S HORSES. Working on THE RACK, its sequel and this 'zine has been a unique and important experience for us as writers. The stories have touched our lives, becoming part of us in a very personal way — we've learned a lot about people in general, fandom and the art of writing"

morgandawn: (Cat Basket Going To Hell?)
2013-09-14 04:43 pm

Leading Men In Their Hottest Sweaters

Because everyone looks fantastic in a Christmas sweater! I’ll even bet Mr. Spock has a matching one…

(The last image is a drawing by Vel Jaeger an excellent Star Trek fan artist from the days of fanzines, stone knives, bear skins, and knitting needles. You can see more of her art on Fanlore here: http://fanlore.org/wiki/Vel_Jaeger)







morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2013-08-30 05:02 pm

The First Post To The First Slash Mailing List

The Date: October 19, 1992 ("it was (almost)  20 21 years ago today")
The Poster: [personal profile] sherrold*

Context: the first pan fandom slash mailing list, Virgule-L, was in its infancy. Safe spaces for women to talk about slash online were rare. And most fan fiction was distributed in print fanzines (which is why fanzine reviews like the one Sandy wrote were so important as a single fanzine cost $15-20 or around $25-35 today's dollars.) Fan run conventions were the only way to meet other groups of fans and mailed letters and phone calls were the tenuous tethers that strung these fan groups together. The mailing list - and the Internet - was about to change...everything.
****************
Well, welcome to my adventure in mailing! I hope to have this set up soon as a 'real' mailing list, with it's own address. Until then, I only know one way for one of you to write to everyone at once. Just reply to a letter from the list, and answer yes, when it asks, 'reply to all'.

So far there are 7 of us. I'll let everyone introduce themselves.

I am Sandy Hereld, I write as Alyx (often with a friend who used Alys) the pen name is *not* a secret. I started in "/" fandom in trek, moved to Pros, and now am very crazed about B7. I still love Pros, and like a lot of different fandoms, including Wiseguy, Starsky and Hutch, and Muncle.

I helped run a slash con here in town last week, Virgule, and hope to make Escapade this year (in February, in Santa Barbara--one of the list subscribers co- runs it--memberships still available), but not Revelcon. Maybe, if I get a new job, Media West. I've never been there, and I've always wanted to go.

I just finished a great Multi-media zine called Homosapiens Too. It has an interesting variety of fandoms and crossovers; even more important, there wasn't a single story that stunk (though I liked some better than others, of course.)

Page count is
Pros/Booker 18pgs (Bodie/Booker)
Erioca/Muncle 5pgs (Erioca/Illya)
Batman 4 (Batman/street punk)
Nightflyers 6+ (cartoon, from the movie)
TNG 5pgs (Beverly/symbiote)
B7/TOS trek 5pgs (Blake/Spock)
Dangerous Liaisons 7pgs (Valmont/Danceny)
Damiano 2pgs (from the R.A. McAvoy books)
MUNCLE 2pgs the usual
Star Wars 4 (cartoon, original characters)
Pros 4pgs the usual
B7 50pgs (Blake/Avon)
Perhaps I should mention at the there was a contest for most outrageous crossover pairing.

My favorites were:

The Right Place
To Be (Bodie/Booker) by Arcane Annie & Stew--Bodie quits in a huff after an Operation Suzie, and is too embarrassed to go back; Booker has quit somewhat similarly. Seeing how stupid the other's foolish pride looks, they both learn things about playing roles and 'what really matters.' They also have pretty good sex.

Do Blond's Really Have More Fun? (Erioca/Illya) by Barbara T. This definitely is set at a time when Solo and Kurykin are having some problems. The crossover is a fascinating one, and it works. (Anyone needing Erioca explained, just e-mail me. It is a pretty new/small fandom, but growing fast.)

Brand New Day (Spock/Blake) by Jane Carnell follows immediately after Blake's pod makes planetfall after Star One. A great Blake, and if not a totally convincing Spock, it's close. Worth it for this scene alone.
--Blake "What do you like?"
"Anal penetration,"
"Which way round?" Blake inquired.
"I am a telepath. It hardly matters. Whichever way pleases you."


Valmont (Valmont/Danceny) by Stew -is a romantic, but very plausible retelling of the movie Dangerous Liaisons, all from Danceny's POV. For any that have read the book, you know it is told solely in letters and diary entries, so this collection of Danceny's diaries is very faithful to the original feel. It is also an amazingly concise retelling, squeezing 2 hours into 6 1/2 pgs.

Submissive It Ain't (Pros) is basically just a sex story, but one firmly based in the very different personalities of Bodie and Doyle. Nice idea, beautiful sex, slightly weak ending.

Puppeteer (Blake/Avon) by Bryn Lantry is a convoluted but beautiful story where: the action is in the emotions, everyone has multiple motives, and no one truly knows their own minds, much less understands their crewmates. A bit alternate, set sometime in the months before Star One but after Blake has already got the idea in mind, this is a wonderful character study of Blake and Avon, with Vila and Cally in strong supporting roles. Not my favorite type of story -- I think I prefer something a bit more straightforward, but undeniably compelling and well written.

The other stories weren't dogs either...

The Muncle story, Hanging In Time, by Y.J. is a very disturbing portrayal of the hurt-comfort syndrome in Illya,

The Batman story will appeal to anyone who liked "The Dark Knight Returns"

With All My Symbiotes
-Susan Douglas- has some nice female slash.

Why Couldn't It Be Me has gotten a certain amount of press as "Biblical slash." It does have two biblical characters in it, but it is just a vigniette, and has no overt slash content.


A few caveats: I disliked the art in the first story, and was indifferent to the rest. I had a hard time reading the 2 cartoon sections; I thought the penning needed to be clearer, and the xerox needed to be darker for those sections.

With those few quibbles in mind, I recommend the zine highly. It has an interesting collection of stories set in an amazing variety of universes. The editor is joining a growing number of publishers and putting the word count down -- 80,700, with 40,700 of it in Bryn's B7 story.

It is available from Manacles Press here in the U.S. at  [address removed]. There is no U.S. price on the zine; it says to SASE Manacles Press, and I can't remember whether I paid $15 or $18 at the con.

From Australia, it is available from the publisher...[address removed] $12 within Aust, $20 posted overseas airmail. (I assume that's $Aus)

*reposted here and everywhere with permission
morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2013-08-12 09:16 am

Fans Come In Many Shapes, Sizes and Persuasions

And fans defy stereotypes. Here is a sweet little poem about K/S (written by someone with a male sounding name) and published in STAG, a gen UK newsletter (or N/L)  sometime in the late 1980s. Hopefully if you click on it you'll be able to read it full size.

Picture 1

You can read more about the UK fanzine publishers ScotPress here on Fanlore. And they have posted some of their early Star Trek zines on their website here.

morgandawn: Fandom is my Fandom (Fandom is my Fandom)
2013-08-09 01:07 pm

Snady Rec-A-Thon and Comment Day

Reposted from [personal profile] movies_michelle: Today is Snady's birthday. "...One of the things I know Sandy loved most about fandom is less watching the shows (which she referred to sometimes as "homework") than the community of fandom. It was the interacting with other people about things she loved, stories she liked, bitching about the things that made her crazy, whatever.

So, can I ask this of everyone? Post a rec of something, anything, you enjoyed today, whether it was a story, vid, photo, meme, discussion, whatever. Whether it's new or old. If you've been meaning to go back and leave a comment on a story, go do it now, even if it's just to say "Love this!"

My rec contribution today:
The NightVale Twitter account which contains such quotes as:

"It is good to help children achieve their dreams, but dinosaurs are now becoming a real problem. So let's dial it back just a bit."


My comment contribution:
The incestuous courtship of the antichrist's bride by fleshflutter



morgandawn: (Star Trek My Fandom Invented Slash)
2013-08-09 11:39 am

Oh the horrors of the Internets!

To give some context, when I started on the Internet (1994) no one talked about slash in any of the public forums. There were few websites and even fewer devoted to fanfic and none devoted to slash.  There was no central search function (you found websites by clicking on links and then following them to other links. A true treasure hunt).

In 1995, when one fan posted a list of fanzine publishers to her website  (under password protection) there was an outcry and she took it down. On one mailing list newsletter, there were requests that fans not mention author or publisher names when reviewing zines, even in private one-to-one e-mail. I was a member of a slash mailing list (the first one as far as we know) and in order to join we had to give our real names, affirm our gender and promise to never reveal the existence of the mailing list (its name was Virgule-L and boy if time travel existed would I be in trouble for just mentioning it. Shhh, don't tell anyone and maybe the mods won't notice).

By 1999, fandom had exploded messily all over the Internet and slash fanfic archives and mailing lists were popping up all over. LJ didn't gain traction in fandom until 2004, but in 1999 you could find a lot of slash on the Internet. By 1999 there even were a few search engines that offered up substantive slash results such as Alta Vista.  Still, the concept of slash in the Internet was disconcerting for many fans. For more reading:
Internet Fans Controversy Du Jour (1997) by Sandy Herrold
Slash and the Arrival of the Internet


From a fan in 1999:
"Well, due to a recent job change, I was required to purchase a personal computer. I’m not on the net and of course the first thing I did was to go to the Star Trek sites. I was very amazed and shocked to find out how easy it was to locate “slash” and K/S pages on the web. I did not realize how easy it was for anyone, and I mean anyone, to find out about K/S by simply typing in Star Trek on the search page and going to all the sites. And while I admit that it was a benefit to me, since I downloaded many of the stories to my PC, I was more than a bit dismayed that it was on the web so openly. It left a rather bad taste in my mouth. It cannot be argued by anyone involved in this wonderful fandom that we are a unique group. And while everyone [here] finds nothing wrong with the idea of K/S, there are many, many people, including Star Trek fans, who do and they can be quite radical and vocal in their opinions on the subject. The fact that it is now so openly displayed on the web, for anyone to see, will only add fuel to their fire and perhaps threaten our special fandom. As someone who has been involved in K/S right from the very beginning, I have to say that the one thing that meant a lot to me about being involved in this fandom was the privacy I had when I ordered my zines. Except for the occasional lost zine, there was no chance that anyone else except the editor and myself would read the zine I ordered....And while there is a certain advantage to just screening up a web page and downloading a story instantly and for free, I think it is negated by the fact that it’s displayed so openly. When I was going through those web pages, I noticed that none of the main K/S editors and authors had contributed any stories or pictures on those pages. I think it’s bad enough that both Bill and Leonard have been questioned in public about the subject of K/S (certainly something that has to be uncomfortable for them, no matter how graciously they may handle such questions), but to give people who object strongly to our special fandom a chance to see it openly displayed with “no holds barred” on the net I think is just asking for trouble. K/S is a big part of my life (albeit a private one) and I would hate to see it end or have people involved in it feel ashamed because now due to new technology, it is literally available to anyone with a PC (just think of the number). I am sure that there is going to be a number of people who are going to disagree with me on this subject, but it is something that I feel very strongly about. I think that if K/S is to survive, it must remain underground. ...Can you imagine what Paramount might do if and when they find out about K/S being so openly displayed on the web? Especially since then they are already trying to shut down some Star Trek sites, because they feel it is a violation of their property rights to the series. I shudder to think what they might do if and when they find out about the “slash” sites. We don’t need any more nails in the coffin. K/S is not for everyone, so it shouldn’t be available to everyone. But it is and I think that is cause for worry."