An Important Message for All Lionheart Readers

Open Letter
Title:	An Important Message for All Lionheart Readers
From:	Beth Blighton
Addressed To:	Beauty and the Beast (TV) fans, readers of Lionheart
Date(s):	May 1994
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Topic:
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An Important Message for All Lionheart Readers is a 1994 open letter by Beth Blighton.

It was printed in Lionheart #10 (May 1994).

Blighton had written a similar, though much angrier, letter in 1991 called All I can see of fandom is something that was once beautiful which has now become painful and almost unbearable..

The Letter

As you may already know, Lionheart has taken an awfully hard hit in its membership numbers. We are still down by nearly 75 subscribers and are at only half the number we had during our first year of publication. It is for this reason (and others which I will go on to explain), that after much soul-searching, I have decided that this will be the last year for Lionheart. Pat and I have spent many hours discussing what possible future Lionheart might have, and we are sorry to say that we've come to the conclusion that it would be neither financially nor emotionally wise to go on.

Therefore, we have decided we will hold our August issue until September (in the hopes that Ron Perlman will return from Europe in time to give his interview with David. Mr. Schwartz and I have discussed these matters so, he is apprised of the situation.) We then intend to make September's issue a double issue, and sadly, September will be our last.

So there you have it. The truth is, the financial health of Lionheart has been eroded by a serious downturn in memberships, and my emotional commitment has been deeply undermined by continuing events in this fandom. I don't know any other way to put it than to simply tell you I'm tired . . . and hope that at least you can appreciate the honesty of the sentiment (which is more than you've gotten from most departing newsletters...)

Please know that we have every intention of fulfilling our final September issue. This notice is not some sort of "Look, there’s a baby wolf!" diversion to keep you guessing until the next missed commitment. We've said we will do it, and it will be done. But we wanted our readers to know the facts before all manner of rumor and innuendo become the "official version" instead.

In all honesty, yes, I was deeply hurt when Lionheart didn't make the final Tunnelcon III Fan Q ballot (and further saddened by the fact that the long defunct International Fan Club did). But I'm not so petty and childish as to "take my marbles and go home" simply for that. Rather, that was what I'd call the final nail in a coffin that had been closing for some time.

Perhaps, the biggest mistake I ever made was becoming so "hooked in" to the pulse of everything that goes on in this fandom. Because, while it means that I'm usually one of the first people to hear the good news when there is some, it also means that a lot of the shit inevitably ends up in a flaming paper bag on my front porch. And while I've been counseled time and again by the more intellectual-minded of our number to let these things just roll off my back, I find that I simply cannot. Nope, I'm ruled by my heart, I'm afraid, and I have this nasty emotional attachment to justice in an unjust world. Quixotic and foolish as that may be, I find my Taurean constitution simply too stubborn to change. Hell, that's the very thing that’s kept me here this long!

So, when I hear of incidents like Tunnelcon being forced not to invite Stephen McHattie because his fictional character killed off a vocal, fringe group's fictional character, it bothers me. When I receive a copy of a flyer sent out by self-appointed leaders of our fandom urging people to deluge Spelling Entertainment with letters (and be damned sure to tell them what "we" will and will not accept in any possible future Beauty and the Beast movie they might foolishly choose to offer us), I cringe. When I see the resurgence of some fairly negative people with some equally negative influence back simply because they finally smell a whiff in the air of some possible, intangible power to be had again, I truly want to run screaming into the night. Like Stephen King's It (or possibly more like Misery's Annie Wilkes), some of the Pennywises of this fandom’s childhood seem to be returning to wreak havoc yet again. And I can’t escape the sinking feeling deep in my stomach that I’ve seen this all before and some things simply haven’t changed.

What has changed is us. We've changed. We've proven that fans of all "denominations” (for lack of a better word) can get along and be constructive, decent and fair to one another. We've proven that vocal, my-opinion-is-worth-ten-of-yours-you-Philistine-schmuck chaos doesn’t have to rule. And if nothing else, I hope that when Lionheart goes, that our fans and readers will at least be able to take that comfort with them. Please, please remember that Lionheart did work. It did succeed at what it set out to do. The ideals that Lionheart subscribed to are manifest in you. You carry those ideals forward for all of us. And whether Lionheart goes out with a whimper or a roar (which I'm sure will be open to interpretation by some), the truth is that all that was good in Beauty and the Beast fandom did finally win. You're proof of it. And if, in the end, the nastiness and pettiness does begin to rise again, you must know that it's nothing more than the conqueror worm getting its due. After all, they’ll inherit the corpse of this fandom, while you carry its heart... always.

But now, it's getting time for me to move on. I've spent nearly seven years drawing exclusively for Beauty and the Beast I stopped counting at 300 drawings. And it seems as if, for the time being, that well has dried up. In the last year or so, I've only been able to put out a handful of drawings for B&B. In fact, I feared that the talent itself had dried up completely. And after so many years of drawing the same beautiful subject, I did begin ta wonder if I was capable of drawing anything else ... in other words, my confidence locked itself in the bathroom, yet again.

But in the last month, I decided to try my hand at oil painting, at new characters in new fandoms, and to my utter surprise, IT CAME BACK! The dread turned to joy, the work turned to fun! The confidence is still in the bathroom, of course, but at least its unlocked the door. I've been able to do more work in the last four weeks than I've been able to do in the last eighteen months, and I'm learning more and more every day.

This doesn't mean I will never be able to do Beauty and the Beast ewer again. In fact, I only hope I can take what I've learned doing these other pieces and be able to apply it to my B&B work to make it only better. I am so grateful for all the gifts I’ve received from B&B, the friends, the art and most of all, the inspiration. If it weren't for Ron Perlman's Vincent, for those eyes, that voice, that chest... I never would have picked up a pencil again those many years ago. I've gotten more from this fandom than I could ever possibly give back, and I can only hope that you will find it in your hearts to be happy for me in this decision to try something new.

As I look ahead to doing this final issue, I can’t help but to look back. When B&B first came on, my son was still a baby. Well, he’s eight now and nearly up to my shoulder. He’s picking up his colored pencils now, and pursuing his fannish dreams with drawings of Jurassic Park. Sometimes it seems like I’ve missed some things in his life, important moments that I’ll never get back. Maybe every mother feels that way, but I know I don’t want to miss any more. And that, more than any other reason, is why I must cut back, slow down, and let go of some of the responsibilities I've carried for oh-so long in this fandom. I just hope you will all understand and can find it in your hearts to wish us well.

We hope to make our last issue of Lionheart our finest. We would love to hear from all of you. We want your voices to be the final ones heard as we close the book on this chapter of our fandom. Please come join us in our farewell edition of Lionheart and let this be the wrap party of all wrap parties. We look forward to hearing from you. And a deep, heartfelt thank you to you all... Be well.

Fan Reactions

In the July 1994 issue of The Helpers Network Gazette, Nan Dibble addressed fans regarding Blighton's final departure:

I'm about to commit my annual (more or less) editorial. As many of you now know, Beth Blighton of the marvelous artwork, wicked sense of humor, X-rated zines, and Lionheart, has decided to retire from fandom at the end of the year. In the most recent issue of Lionheart, she ascribes her decision to the backbiting, divisions, and general decline both in numbers and highmindneess in this fandom. I've received several calls from people seriously dismayed and depressed at the prospect of Beth's unique voice leaving us. And she definitely will be missed, by me as much as anyone. But she's entitled to go: she's certainly paid her dues with nearly five years' love and imagination invested in B&B. However, it's unfortunate that Beth felt she had to publicly do the equivalent of stomping off in a huff, blaming her departure on the fact that the good old days, when everybody was loving and numerous, are now gone.

I'm afraid I have news for Beth and for anybody else who's convinced things are going downhill at a breakneck pace. The good old days are a myth.

[See more of this essay at The good old days are a myth. We've always been a contentious fandom.]

The closing of the newsletter and Beth's departure prompted one Gazette reader to write a farewell poem for the September 1994 issue of The Helpers Network Gazette, an excerpt of which is quoted below:

Your calendar hangs on my wall,

Your nightshirt's on my back.

I can find you in my T-shirt drawer

And my "favorite drawings" stack.

You say you're giving up on us~

You're tired, you're done, you're through.

Don't leave us altogether, Beth

'Cause we can't forget you! ~ Pat Farrar