Backstage Pass

Zine
Title:	Backstage Pass
Editor(s):	Franki Tollefson and Karen Droms
Organizer(s):
Author(s):
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Type:
Date(s):	October 1996
Topic:
Medium:	print
Frequency:
Fandom:	Highlander
Rating(s):
Warning(s):
Language:	English
External Links:
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Backstage Pass is an explicit het Highlander zine.

Controversies

At The Gathering III, a fan (the publisher?) gave a copy of this zine to the actors Jim Byrnes and Elizabeth Gracen in front of more than 1000 people. There were other production people associated with the show there, including the head writer and producer (Davis/Panzer.)

Very shortly after the con, the zine was advertised on alt.tv.highlander:

Karen and I are taking orders for our Backstage Pass 'zine, erotica inspired by Joe Dawson and the blues. We'll have copies for people at the con who want them, as long as you let us know beforehand that you're interested. The 'zine is over 150 pages long, with 16-17 stories by 6 different authors. We don't have an exact cost yet, but we figure somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-13.

Reserve your copy now! :)

Franki Tollefson and Karen Droms

A fan named BJ responded:

Hmmmm, now I think *this* is the kind of stuff Eric has been talking about. I could easily see how our wonderful little NG could get overrun with this kind of solicitation, and it wouldn't be fun. It's not that I have anything against this particular post - by itself. But I would hate to see our group become a marketing forum for anyone selling anything they

can possibly link to Highlander.

A fan, Vicki F, replied:

Well, yeah, but at least it answers the question of what was the name of the zine that I was looking at in the SJDKAHB party on Saturday night. This was it.

It was so funny waiting to see EG get to the interesting part when someone handed this zine to her and she started reading it onstage. Heh. It wasn't a long wait.  ;-)

Vicki F

Another fan, Jette, asked:

So, Vicki, I missed this bit - how DID she react?

Tis - ahem - *interesting* isn't it? <eg>

Jette

Vicki F responded:

Ooooooh yeah, interesting, yessiree Bob. Heh. You missed my, ummm, somewhat lengthy (okay, interminable) con reports, wherein I reported encountering this zine for the first time (at the SJDKAHB party after the concert) and the second time (watching EG check it out onstage, heh).

She was sitting there next to JB, and she opened the zine and and started reading with it laying in her lap, and you know how it gets right down to business on, like, page 2, and so I'm sitting there waiting, waaaaiiiiittiiiinnnggg...

And she bends over a little, to get closer to the page. Then she looks over at JB. Straightens up. Asks him, "Have you seen this?" Yeah, he's seen it. "Now I have something to read on the plane!" She hands it to her runner with the comment, "Don't lose that!"

If you knew what it was that she was looking at, it was very funny.

The day after this last remark by Vicki was posted to the mailing list (and two weeks after the con), two fans received cease and desist letters.

One of those letters was to Vicki for a single posted fic to the internet. It turns out that this letter was sent "in error" to Vicki and was rescinded. The aftermath of the second letter, the one to the publisher of the zine, Karen, is unknown.

This sparked discussion regarding showing fanworks to the actors and TPTB, the legality of fanworks, who had squealed on fans, and if this was proof that TPTB monitored the mailing list, and much more.

Further reading

• The Fanfic Flap, October 31, 1996