Breathless Anticipation
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Breathless Anticipation |
| Publisher: | Bandersnatch Press |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | Pam Spurlock |
| Cover Artist(s): | Pam Spurlock |
| Illustrator(s): | Sandy Schreiber |
| Date(s): | May 1990 |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Real Ghostbusters |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Breathless Anticipation is a gen 78-page Real Ghostbusters novel by Pam Spurlock. Original cover sketch: Pam Spurlock. Inking and layout design: Sandy Schreiber.
Summary
Adventure! Excitement! Caves! Medical equipment! No rats! Yes, our favorite boys in jumpsuits are back! The Real Ghosbusters (with a friend from the Nearly Fatal Attaction days) find themselves in the hills of Viriginia, where they discover a spiteful specter who has a close encounter with Peter--which has nearly terminal results. Can Ray, Winston, and Egon liberate their colleague from the effects of this most unusual possession? Did "Nurse Nellie" leave her fork in the cave? And why aren't there any rats in this story? [1]
Reactions and Reviews
Breathless Anticipation has lured more people into Real Ghostbusters fandom than any other zine at present." [2]
Don't laugh: There really is a fandom for The Real Ghostbusters (yes, the animated series-okay, okay, cartoon-based on the film, Gbostbusters), and it seems to be growing. Pam Spurlock's novella, Breathless Anticipation, is one of the reasons most often cited by RGB fans to explain their having joined the ranks of the faithful (well, as faithful as we fickle fans are likely to get). A friend lends them the zine, they read it, and they're left with an insatiable craving for more. In fact, so frequently does this occur, one might wonder whether there isn't some sort of spell on the doggone thing...The town of Bell Hollow, Virginia has a problem-Over the past few months, there have been several mysterious deaths, allegedly caused by a cave in the hills that's reputed to be haunted, or cursed, or both. At a loss to discover the cause, the townsfolk finally call in the Ghostbusters to investigate. When they do, Peter Venkman becomes the next victim, and the team is caught in a life-and-death struggle to defeat the entity and the curse, and save their stricken comrade.
Pam says in her introduction that her intent was to combine the Ghostbusters and gut-wrenching fiction. This she has done to perfection. Drama and humor are skillfully interwoven into a tale with enough action and emotional content to satisfy the most discriminating fan. Her plotting and dialogue are excellent, and she has the guys' "voices" down cold. Their actions and reactions, as well as those of secondary characters, are very human. "Fannish angst" is minimal, yet the emotional impact seems all the greater for this restraint. This impact is enhanced by the authentic, vivid descriptions (I found the scenes set in the hospital downright unsettling; her descriptions of hospital sights and sounds are unnervingly accurate and evocative).
One of this story's strengths is also its weakness, at least from a fannish point of view. Pam has added a member to the ghostbusting team: Nurse Nell Dietrich. It's only logical that the business as postulated in the series would require more than four guys to handle the workload, if only to give everyone an occasional day-or weekend, even-off. It's also just plain common sense for them to bring someone on board who's skilled in dealing with medical emergencies, given the dangers inherent in their work. And Nurse Nellie is a well-drawn, three-dimensional character. She's no Mary Sue (well, if she is, she's a damned good one, and if Vonda Mclntyre can get away with it, so can we fans). She's a believable and likable addition to the team.
However, most fans (at least, most of the ones I know) will freely admit that they read fan fiction because they want to read about their favorite characters and their relationships with one another. The addition of this invented character to the mixture, especially in such a pivotal role, changes and dilutes those relationships, detracting somewhat from fannish enjoyment of the story. But this drawback doesn't prevent this novella from being the proverbial Cracking Good Read.
The zine is cleanly laid out in a pleasant, easy-to-read typeface, with a minimum of typos and glitches. The cover is a team effort-Pam Spurlock did the original sketch, and Sandy Schreiber did the inking. While the design is a bit static and lacks the sheer intensity of the zine's contents, it does show something about the story within, and it works quite well. The likenesses are good (a big plus in fannish art, these days), and Sandy's linework is, as always, stylish and bold. There is no interior art.
I have one friend who absolutely loathes the Gbostbusters films, so I wouldn't recommend this zine to her (unless I happened to be in a particularly vindictive mood). I would recommend it to just about anyone else-be they an RGB fan or not-who enjoys a good story, and who can accept the Ghostbusters premise. I'd warn 'em, though, that they might get ensnared by that spell I mentioned earlier, and find themselves wandering around mumbling, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts," as they doggedly search for more Real Ghostbusters fiction. After all, it has happened before. [3]
The guys get called down to Appalachia to deal with a vicious ghost. The scene with Ray and the cats is too cute for words, also.
Verdict: recommended. [4]
References
- ^ from the publisher
- ^ from Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine? #5
- ^ The reviewer gives it "5 trees". The reviewers in Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine? rated zines on a 1-5 tree/star scale. See that page for more explanation.
- ^ Labidolemur's Recommendations (early 2000s)