Bondmates (Star Trek: TOS zine)

For other uses of the term, see Bondmate.

Zine
Title:	Bondmates
Publisher:	Hiccup Press
Editor(s):	Sarian, Linda Wan
Date(s):	2006, 2013
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

front cover, issue #1 by Shelley Butler -- An excerpt from a longer review below: "Wow! What a picture! I can totally understand why Linda chose it for the cover, as this is a prime example of Shelley working with all the skills and sense of composition she’s developed over the years."

Bondmates is a slash Star Trek: TOS anthology.

Bondmates 1

Bondmates 1 was published in 2006 and contains 138 pages. The cover is by Shelley Butler. Authors and artists include A.T. Bush, Kelly Reiger, Robin Hood, Jenna Hilary Sinclair, Nadja Lee, Kathy Stanis and Starshadow.

Some descriptions from the flyer and some are by Gilda F.

• No Regrets by Nadja Lee ("As I grew up, this wasn’t the future I thought I would have, but then as Spock would say, ‘No one can know the unknown.’" And "During a diplomatic mission, Spock fulfills his duties as ambassador while Kirk waits in their room and remembers their lives together on the Enterprise and after.")
• A Fuzzy Memory by A.T. Bush ("'Indeed. However, it is not the attack itself.… When I saw her floating in the water…the three breasts, a rather bedraggled, striped tail. I was reminded of an account— unfortunately, only a partial description—of your sexual encounter with such a creature. Is that memory factual?'” And "Still not completely himself after the fal tor pan, Spock is unsure why an attack on Kirk by a felinoid female should stir up vague recollections of a past event.")
• A Calming Love by Dale ("'Don't tell me what I can or can't talk about, Kirk!” The ambassador was becoming more belligerent, his voice...deeper and thunderous in volume was slurring a little more with his own anger. “I have a questiun!” Glancing around to make sure he had an audience, he continued, “Who's the 'Bitch' in your relationship? You, the mighty Captain Kirk...or his enigmatic Commander Spock?'” And "On Starbase 23 for a science convention, Kirk and Spock are informed that their presense there has more to do with the rebellion brewing on the planet.")
• Just Another Quiet Evening by Jenna Sinclair ("Spock must sooth his lover after Kirk returns from having to vote to convict a fellow Starfleet captain.")
• Dreams of the Heart by AbraxisDragon. ("What happens when James Tiberius Kirk—the tomcat of the universe who had bedded male, female, human and alien and had always walked away intact, had finally lost his heart; lost it to someone who never would, never could claim it… '(He) started making the rounds of the lowest dives he could find. His sole intention was to get 'Ensign Thurber was negligent.' Kirk stroked his top lip even as it quivered. 'What happened this time?' 'All three of the snakes we were transporting from Escalus IV escaped.' The captain’s arms dropped to his side. 'What?'") (also in Kindle My Heart #1)
• No Greater Gift by Nadja Lee ("While watching Kirk interact with other humans, Spock wonders if perhaps he has been unfair to his bondmate of many years in his insistance that Kirk be more a Vulcan bondmore than a human lover.")
• Unsundered by Kathy Stanis ("Kirk is troubled by the attention he feels Spock is paying to a visiting Vulcan female scientist, especially since he feels Spock has closed himself off from him and their newly-begun affair.")
• And the Hunter Home from the Hill by Starshadow ("After the fal-tor-pan, Spock struggles to remember and deal with newly awakened feelings as he and the rest of the bridge crew travel back to Earth.")

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

See reactions and reviews for No Regrets.

See reactions and reviews for A Fuzzy Memory.

See reactions and reviews for A Calming Love.

See reactions and reviews for Just Another Quiet Evening.

See reactions and reviews for Dreams of the Heart.

See reactions and reviews for No Greater Gift.

See reactions and reviews for Unsundered.

See reactions and reviews for And the Hunter Home from the Hill.

[cover art]: Wow! What a picture! I can totally understand why Linda chose it for the cover, as this is a prime example of Shelley working with all the skills and sense of composition she’s developed over the years.

I guess what I like most about this picture (and there is a lot to like!) is the composition. The central picture gives you the impression that it’s in a square, but that’s an illusion when you look at it carefully. There is actually only one ninety degree angle at the bottom left, and then there’s an interesting arch overhead that is embellished with additional lines that swoop over the heads of Kirk and Spock.... I find this utterly fascinating, how complex the actual outline of the central picture is, and that the secondary figures are, too. When you get a copy of the zine in your hand, just look at those three elements, the framing of the three pictures, and you’ll see several different treatments all blending together to provide a harmonious whole. There are Shelley’s signature flowers (I have no idea which flowers, as I am not a horticulturally inclined person), but all given a slightly different treatment, one from the other. I think they are even different flowers and leaves. Woven in with the flowers are space backgrounds, just touches of them, that provide a lovely support to the characters and the flowers, and then finally the swooping of the central arches and what I would call beveled frames. I note that the frame around Kirk is squared off and the one around Spock is circular. (This reminds me of the lines of dialogue at the end of Fetish by Jenny Starr, where Kirk tells Spock he is all angles.) But my point is that all of this is pretty darn complex and must have involved considerable thought before it was executed. And I’m not even talking about Spock’s hair or Kirk’s lips, but other things that I think we art consumers don’t even tend to think about. There is obviously a lot of work behind-the-scenes that our artists, and particularly Shelley here, engage in before putting pen or pencil to paper. By the time she got around to actually drawing Kirk and Spock, that was probably easy after all this geometric precision! (I also note that most of the flowers are clustered around the smaller Kirk picture, while there are just a few leaves around Spock. Not a random choice by the artist, that’s for sure! And beautifully executed.) Anyway, I do like the expression on Kirk’s face in the central picture; he is looking upwards, possibly to the sky, but also leaning back in Spock’s arms. A bit contemplative. And there is a younger Kirk in the lower right picture, with the ribbed knit collar uniform, looking thoughtful in a different way. Spock is smiling in the central picture (he’s got Kirk in his arms, why not?), but he looks considerably more severe in the smaller portrait to the upper left, with a touch of thought, maybe, in his eyes. Younger? Yes, I think the side pictures are younger versions of these two men, who have no clue that their initial meeting will lead to a wondrous union of souls and bodies. Younger Spock seems a bit resistant, stiff and stern, while younger Kirk is more open, softer, but still with no idea what Spock will eventually mean to him: just about everything by Star Trek III, right? And depending on your interpretations and the story you’re reading at the moment, much earlier than that, possibly.

I love this about many of Shelley’s pictures! That you can look and really see so much! There’s a lot going on here, and nothing she chooses to add is random. It all adds meaning to a greater composition and a greater meaning. Wonderfully done! Great job, Shelley!

Bondmates 2

Bondmates 2 was published in 2013. Art: Shelley Butler, Emushi, Hogebon, TRacionn, Marianne Mueller, Starshadow. Poetry: S.R. Benjamin, Robin Hood, and Kelly Reiger. Descriptions are from the publisher's flyer.

• Skilled Mariner by Elise Madrid ("Are Captain Kirk and Commander Spock having marital problems? Has Kirk reverted back to being a two-timing toots again? What's Commander Spock going to do about it? Find out what happens." -- "With a quick turn, Spock sidestepped Kirk's rush and brought him to the mats again. This time, he threw himself onto Kirk in an attempt to keep him from continuing this charade of a match. --"He tried holding Kirk down, but Kirk was having none of it. He continued to struggle against Spock's hold, forcing Spock to cling more tightly as Kirk used every weapon in his arsenal to break away.")

• Learning Curve by Anne Elliot ("What do you do when you've been betrayed by the one you loved the most? Your career down the turboflush. Your friends turned against you. Finding his life in stasis, until someone from his past extends a hand to help him out. " -- "I haven't kept a personal log for nearly a year now, not since they tried to use it against me at the court martial. Having all my secret thoughts and feelings pored over by the prosecution team was one of the worst experiences of my life. However, the habit is hard to break and sometimes I need to talk to something, even if it just an inanimate pile of circuits (no offence, Computer). And, of course, today is the perfect time to start a new log; the last day in this God forsaken hell-hole of a Starbase and the day before my new posting - my new life, you could say.")

• Next to Godliness by M.E. Carter ("If an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, what happens? That is the question when Captain Kirk and Commander Spock meets with the Kessubite and Wl'lre'ln delegations for a summit on resource allocation. It should have gone without a hitch until a strange quirk that the delegates are afraid of puts a kink in their romantic interlude. Find out who wins." -- "Did you see it?" Carina Enfor demands when Kirk halts a polite distance from the two groups. "Isn't it simply dreadful?" Her tone sends Kirk's respect theory out the window and sets his teeth on edge. "Forgive me," he replies as calmly as possible, "but we saw nothing. In fact, we found nothing at all wrong. I'm afraid you're going to have to-" "Nothing wrong? How can you say nothing is wrong?" Livid with indignation, the Kessubinte leader rounds on her Wl'lre'ln counterpart. "Tell him, Mister el-Zoren. You saw it, too. Tell him!")

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

See reactions and reviews for Next to Godliness.

See reactions and reviews for Skilled Mariner.

See reactions and reviews for Learning Curve.

[zine]: (Warning, possible spoilers, but I've tried not to! )

This is a new zine, a wonderful new zine from Sarian, that has been well worth the wait. My review may contain a few spoilers, but hopefully, they'll just serve to ensure that everyone will want to read the stories. That is certainly my intention. This zine is great value for money. It has a beautiful Shelley Butler cover, with not one but three, count 'em, THREE, lovely illos of moments in our favourite Bondmates' lives! Sarian states in her editorial that both her K/S zines are a homage to the "golden age" of zines, and this one is certainly a treat to hold and read. There are some wonderful illustrations, some cute, some intense. My favourite is called Attractions, and is by Hogebon, an artist I don't think I've seen before. All the artwork has been reproduced on high quality photo paper, which is a nice touch, and the poetry pages all benefit from backgrounds and borders. Truly, the entire zine is a work of art. I don't always read zine poetry until much later, but the varied paper really makes them stand out. The Editor calls her poets talented and she's right. Some of the current best in our fandom, including S R Benjamin. I am always pleased to see this name in a list of contents and she/he doesn't disappoint here: the poems, or at least 3 of them, appear to run in sequence… and have different narrators.

But on to the stories. There are 3 in the zine, all of about 40 pages--really good, satisfying lengths and all by well loved K/S authors. Each name, seen in a list of contents, would have me buying the zine without a second thought. [See this fan's comments on the three stories in this zine on their individual pages on Fanlore]