Linda Frankel

Fan
Name:	Linda Frankel
Alias(es):
Type:	LoCer, essayist, fanwriter
Fandoms:	Star Trek: TOS, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robin of Sherwood, Sime~Gen
Communities:
Other:
URL:
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Linda Frankel is a long-time fan who wrote much fiction and non-fiction, mostly in Star Trek and Darkover. She was a very frequent LoCer to The LOC Connection and her letters and reviews often took fiction to task for what she said was propagating damaging and irresponsible views regarding sexuality, specifically homosexuality. She was a fan who often pushed the boundaries of others' comfort levels regarding assumptions about social mores.

She wrote a regular column in Not Tonight Spock! called "Sexuality in K/S Fiction." She also wrote some of the only Robin of Sherwood slash.

Her Own Words

From a 1980 letter in the Sime~Gen zine A Companion in Zeor addressing Jacqueline Lichtenberg:

Does the fact that I like ["Unto, Zeor"] so much better than ["House of Zeor"] mean that I'm not and never have been a Trek fan? Obviously not. As I've said before, HoZ is one of the most infuriating books I've ever read. Now Jacqueline is telling me that if I were a proper Trek fan I wouldn't have wanted to throw it at her when I first read it. (That's precisely what I wanted to do, but she wasn't available, so I threw it at the wall instead. It bounced back ~ resilient copy.) I can only assume that it was tailored to irritate me enough to write to Jacqueline. I've never done that before. You see, I saw UNTO through a kind of precognition and considered HoZ an insult to Simes. They're too good to waste on an ordinary novel. I must be a mutant Trek fan. Jacqueline didn't consider me in her Kraith survey because I was never attracted to Kraith. I'm still not, but that's a different matter entirely.

From a 1990 interview in The LOC Connection:

It all started when I wrote a letter to Jacqueline Lichtenberg complaining about homophobia in her first pro novel. She sent me a wonderful response, and included a flyer for THRUST, the first K/S anthology zine, which had just been published at that time. Naturally, I ordered it. I was soon put in contact with Pon Farr Press, where the first NAKED TIMES was still in the planning stages. I wrote my first K/S poem for NAKED TIMES 1. Yet I had unrealistic expectations for K/S zines at that time. I also found great resistance on the part of editors to menage stories, or to stories that dealt seriously with gay issues. There was absolutely nowhere I could publish them. As a result, I stopped reading K/S for five years, though I continued to write it for myself. I was convinced that there never would be an audience for my kind of K/S. I re-entered K/S fandom in 1985 to find the world of K/S zines had changed. While there was still resistance to the kinds of stories that I wanted to write, there were now a few editors who were willing to risk publishing them. I dusted off an old manuscript of a menage story from 1977, and it was finally published. At that point. I decided not to give up on K/S prematurely. I am in K/S to stay. I still have the same standards for K/S as I have for professional fiction, but I have learned over time that the very best writer can perpetrate a poorly conceived story, and that the very worst writer can surprise me with a brilliant masterpiece.

Zines

As I Do Thee | Black Magic | Candlelight and Flames | Charisma | Contes di Cottman IV | Jumeaux | Daring Attempt | The Eighth Domain | Fever | First Time | In the Wilderness | Kaleidoscope | Moon Phases | Naked Times | Naughty Bits | No Holds Barred | Not Tonight Spock! | On the Edge | One Night Stand | Otherwhere/Otherwhen | On the Edge | Pastaklan Vesla | Playfellows | Shades of Grey | The Shadow Twin | Saxon Chronicles | Starstone | T'hy'la | Turn of the Wheel | Way of the Warrior | Within the Mirror | Zeor Forum