Battle of Hope

Zine
Title:	Battle of Hope
Publisher:	Devious Developments Press
Editor(s):
Date(s):	October 2004
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	multimedia
Language:	English
External Links:
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cover by Cat's Meow Creative Arts

Battle of Hope is a 220-page slash anthology with an AIDS/HIV theme. The color cover is by Cat's Meow Creative Arts, along with eleven pieces of interior art by K9, Hindman, and Shar. It is a charity zine.

From the Introduction

All of the stories in this zine end with happy endings -- we felt that it was important that our authors show that people living with the spectre of HIV can still live rich lives full of dreams.

Contents

• AIDS Walk Miami by Khylara (CSI: Miami (Horatio/Speed. Excerpt: They should be here, Speed thought as he continued to look around. Many of the walkers carried signs or pictures of their own lost loved ones. They should all be here. But they weren't, which was why he was.) (5)
• Test of Love by Sekhmet (Company Business (Sam/Pyiotr. Excerpt: "I went. I am sick." Pyiotr turned on the stool and faced his friend, his lover. "I have the virus.") (22)
• Whatever It Takes by Ashleigh Anpilova (Man from UNCLE Napoleon/Illya. Excerpt: "Fourteen words. Sixty-seven characters. Nothing really. Just a potential death sentence for one man—or, God forbid --. He made a decision and rose quickly to his feet, left his office, and headed for the Infirmary.") (34)
• All The Time in the World by LilyK (The Sentinel Jim/Blair. Excerpt: "I'm afraid not until we talk about your situation. There are some complications that you need to be made aware of, and instructionss that you must understand in order to maintain your health.") (77)
• On the Other Foot by Maiden Wyoming (Professionals Bodie/Doyle. Excerpt: "Once the plague had figured out its primary prey, other men died far more horribly and slowly.") (99)
• World Enough, And Time by Shadow (Smallville Clark/Lex. Excerpt. "Clark felt his heart sink. This was it, then. He kissed the top of Lex's head. He would never forget the taste of Lex's skin.") (103)
• Sleeping with the Enemy by K9 (Quantum Leap Sam/Al. Excerpt: "Sam couldn't remember when he'd leaped and felt so terrible on arrival. The cough seemed to tear his body like fire, blazing through every muscle and sinew.") (137)
• Always By My Side by Bast (Original Fiction Ennil Chasere/Alexius Belec. Excerpt: "I shrug and looked down at the commpadd. "Alexius, there's something you should know.") (137)
• On Hold by Grey (Due South (RayK/Fraser. Excerpt: "A fucking year? You're saying I've got to deal with this for a whole year before I know for sure one way or another?") (147)

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  interior art by Shar

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  interior art by Hindman

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  interior art by Hindman

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  interior art by K9

Reactions and Reviews

[On the Other Foot]: A clever twist on the story of AIDS, though with a few too many Americanisms for me to be totally comfortable. Probably not what you'd expect from the zine that it's in (it's not a heart-wrenching, tragic, everyone-gay-is-doomed story at all), which was a nice surprise to me! It's the only Pros story in the zine, and it's only three and a half pages long, so I wouldn't buy the zine just for the story unless it was available very cheaply, or unless you're into the other fandoms featured, but I wasn't sorry to have read it!