Blended Spirits

Zine
Title:	Blended Spirits
Publisher:	AllGen Press
Editor(s):
Date(s):	May, 2002
Series?:	No
Medium:	print zine, full-size
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	The Sentinel
Language:	English
External Links:
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Blended Spirits is a gen Sentinel anthology zine. It has 109 pages, a color cover by Nancy Janda, interior b/w art by Corinna Hansen, I. M. Mueller, Hindman, Suse, and Lupe Backe.

Some excerpts are here.

Art has been included on Fanlore with the publisher's permission.

Contents

• A Kind of Madness by Chrys
• Brass Ring by Virginia Foster
• The One Left Behind by JET
• At Home by Anna Kelly
• Passion Be Not A Thing of the Past by Jody Scherr
• Innocence Lost by Lyn
• Then Come the Wild Weather by Gemini

Art

• 

  cover of zine by Nancy Janda

• 

  art for "Then Come the Wild Weather" by Lupe, who says of this piece, "It took me a long time to complete, mostly because I was stuck working on the leaves and the trees. I hadn't painted trees before so I started out painting each individual leaf. After the second or third week I realized this was not a practical thing to do. I then discovered the sea sponge method of laying in paint and finished off the rest of the trees in a couple more days." larger version at artist's page

• 

  art for "Then Come the Wild Weather" by Lupe. She says: "It describes the following scene close to the end of the story: 'They couldn't do much about their wet clothes, but they retrieved the space blankets they each carried and were soon seated next to each other with the blankets around them, preserving every bit of body heat possible.' larger version at artist's page

Reactions and Reviews

What I like best about this zine is there's a little of everything in it. I think everyone will find something that appeals, and all the stories are clearly edited and well-crafted. A definite pleasure to read. "A Kind of Madness," by Chrys, is a flashback story mixing a past mission of Jim's with the present. I'm not a fan of flashbacks, but I liked the resolution, not your typical explosion-talking out-happy ending kind but something realistic while still gentle. "Brass Ring," by Virginia Foster, is a filling-in-the-gaps story for TSbyBS. It has some of the scenes from the episode along with what came before and after. I like the author's take mostly, and found some new ideas in it, even if it stretched my belief a little bit when it got emotional. :> "The One Left Behind" by JET, looks at survivor guilt. It's also a little more...mushy than I care for, and yet JET makes it easy and soothing to play along with. I loved the climax of the story, just felt it ended way to quickly after. "At Home," my offering, is a little Blair-gets-sick-and-comforted piece. "Passion Be Not a Thing of the Past," by Jody Scherr, is a poem in the abstract vein. "Innocence Lost," by Lyn, does this kind of story right, letting you get to know a character along with Blair so that when the character's killed, you feel for Sandburg. It's a sad story and could have used more comfort, but had a good message that was well-developed. "Then Come The Wild Weather," by Gemini, is almost two stories in one: I enjoyed the one of B&J having fun camping together, but mixed throughout is a very different plot of something bothering Jim, something which isn't explained very well even at the end. It felt like a story that had no real climax, but it was good up to then, with nicely done characters. The art is also a mix, from some very neat illos (particularly the last one in the zine) to a picture that makes Blair look rather frightening. But it's always nice to see a zine that took the time to get illos, not even just stills. That reflects the effort Beth B seems to have put into the zine, from the nice layout to a lovely cover.