Lovers (multifandom zine)

Zine
Title:	Lovers
Publisher:	Chained-to-the-Typewriter Press
Editor(s):	DVS
Date(s):	1992-1993
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	multimedia
Language:	English
External Links:
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Lovers is a slash multifandom anthology.

It has a sister zine called To Friends.

From the Editorial in the First Issue

THIS ZINE:

1. Will come out at least once. Future issues depend on sheer chance. Luck. That sort of stuff. 2. Will have a blurb in front of each story telling something about the background of the story. Or the back. Or somewhere. 3. Will consider all slash, but it has to fit these guidelines: A. I have to have seen the show the story is based on. This may be more difficult than you thought—I've never seen Wizeguy, for example. B. No death stories. Nothing that depresses me. C. Has to fit in with the rest of the stories for that issue. D. I'm looking for something new and different and brilliant. 4. This zine will be on whatever weird paper I can find. 5. This zine will have different typefaces, because I am not doing all the typing myself and boy are there a lot of strange machines out there1 6. This is not intended to violate the copyrights of anybody. It is for fun, not for profit. Charges are based on price of paper and copying, and mailing, and fiddly bits like printer ribbons. 7. Please don't copy this zine after you've bought it so your friend can have a copy. If you can't afford it, write to me and we will see what you can trade for it. 8. One of these issues will have a Susan Crites Klingon story in it. It is a story about a triad. This will probably be the only triad story to appear in this zine. On the whole, I am not fond of them. There are, always, exceptions the rule, though. As Susan keeps telling me. 9. Price of this zine will be $13-00. This will include first class postage...

10. ART. I am not going to have any unless some artist sends me some. It would have to be something for a cover, have to have something to do with the interior contents (no pictures of Kirk and Spock if the issue is K/S-less) and have to be reproducible on a xerox machine. Most of the art inside will be borders and fillos by Gene Delapenia or yers truly. If the art was used previously in a zine, it will be so noted in the table of contents.

From the Editorial in the Second Issue

There are folks who do zines the usual way, and then there are those of us who are usually broke and/or full of odd ideas who end up doing it differently. To explain why some of these pages have no numbers and some of the stories have a blank sheet on the end, you must come face to face with the fact that this is a poor woman's zine. Yes, done on the thinnest of the proverbial shoestrings, by an editor who takes a look at what money is there on payday, figures out what can be spent on the zine, and some months doesn't do anything! When a story comes in and is typed up, it is printed off as soon as money comes available. So in June of 92, there were 75 copies each of three stories sitting around in boxes. As soon as enough stories come in to make a zine, we're ready to go.

Issue 1

Lovers 1 was published in 1992 and contains 113 pages. It contains five stories and one poem by DVS.

cover of issue #1

From an ad in The LOC Connection #40: "LOVERS 1 -- will be a zine containing stories from four different (H/MC, UNCLE, B/D, and K/S) fandoms. Cost will be approximately $15, ready about June. However, for those who only like K/S, the K/S story "Thief" can be had for $5 (price includes first class postage, USA.) Story, by DVS, is approximately 45 pages long, cover border by Gena Delapenia. "Thief" is ready now."

[About the story, "Thief"]: This is dedicated to the Out of Bounds crew, who put out marvelous zines down there in Texas... One of the last zines this intrepid crew put out was called Gypsies. Tramps and Thieves. A fan, who is in my notes as T.G.K., whom I have lost track of during the years, pointed out to me that there wasn't a single story about a gypsy, tramp or thief in it. Which is one of the reasons this story exists. I got to thinking about it... By the time this story was on paper, OOB was OOP, and so the story was eventually picked up by Eccentric Orbit. (That has to be one of the best titles for a slash zine ever invented!) EO, however, never got launched, so I'm also dedicating this story to all the great zines which never got beyond the planning stages. All that happened back in 1985/1986. It explains why I have a K/S story in this zine even though it has been 4 years since I wrote a K/S story. K/S was my first slash fandom, and I like the idea of beginning a zine with it. K/S is for beginnings. I went on to other fandoms just because I wanted to play with other combinations, but I still read and enjoy the K/S. This story is longer than the first version. I have discovered that I can NOT type a story of my own without editing as I go. I am hoping I improved it. There's white-out all over the copy I typed seven years ago. Technology has changed so much! And hey, there's still a story about a gypsy and a story about a tramp somebody needs to write!

[About the story, "Hard Arguments"]: This story was the first one I ever did in this universe. I think I have seen one episode of the show—it was on at a time I couldn't watch and all I know of it I got from reading other fan stories. I want to apologize in case I got anything wrong! This is a strange fandom, but it explores love in a way the others don't because it brings up so many differences, the most obvious of which is age. I think a fan who knows more about the show than I do should investigate how love develops between a con and the man who put him in jail. Also, there are a lot of cultural differences between generations to play with, too. What this boils down to is that this is a story which only skims the surface of possibility and is anybody out there doing longer stories in this fandom? I never did like the title I came up with for this one. Hate thinking up titles, but....

[About the story, "Campaign"]: This story sprang from the lines above the title. ["Jax?" "Yeah?" "First thing is a drink." "Yeah?" "Then we plan our campaign." "Campaign?" "Yeah. How to get rid of some of these damn whites."] I think that episode does the most interesting things with relationships, with changes. It's the one that tells me that if Bodie can change about something as hard-to-change as race prejudice, then he could change other things as well.... This was done cut and paste—if things are sort of on a slant, please forgive. Also it was done on a primitive machine, which if it has a spell-checker, I haven't found it yet. Got to get some new software...

[About the story, "The Evergreen Affair"]: Once upon a time I wrote everything out longhand at the laundromat. Now, I have word cruncher machines and find I seldom write them out as I once did. THE EVERGREEN AFFAIR was the last story I wrote the first draft of entirely by hand. I found I had thought of some changes in the three years it sat in the drawer. For example, the first draft had about ten extra pages on the end. Mostly two sex scenes. After deciding that I had our heroes getting into the heavy stuff too fast, I also realized I didn't want the story to go so far as New York and a new mission, so I ended it where the story began. Of course, now I have ten pages of sex scene[s] I don't know what to do with.... Anyway, I'd like to dedicate this story, and the one after it, to O. Yardley, who, every year, puts out a Christmas tale, each one better than the last, and whose work I have always admired, and who has been very patient with my annual dumb questions letter!

[About the story, "First Foot"]: "First Foot" is also presented with thanks to Ellis Ward, who took the time to go through it and tell me what to fix/change and fiddle with. My biggest problem with Bodie and Doyle is an ignorance of things British and a numbing fear that I will do something so stupid in one of the B/D stories that folks in the United Kingdom will fall over their feet laughing at it!This is a special risk when dealing with holidays and everyday life. It's not only that there is a different word for practically everything (amazing we think it's the same language!) but for all I know, I could be confusing folks with my half-knowledge. I ask forgiveness now! Insecure? Moi? At any rate, this story, "First Foot", is plainly waiting for someone to write the scene which comes after. What happens when Bodie and Doyle do set out on New Year's Eve, bottle and baskets in hand? Will they find some body has got there ahead of them? How will Cowley take their news? How will it change things? Anyone who wants to write the sequel to this, feel free! Drop me a line, if you would be kind, and tell me how to get a copy (or, of course, encourage a second issue by sending it to ME!). I like holiday stories. There's a lot which can be done with Valentine's Day. Wasn't that originally a Roman holiday for slaves? I could be wrong about that....

• Thief (3) (also published as a standalone novel)
• Hard Arguments (Hardcastle and McCormick) (35)
• Campaign (Professionals) (43)
• The Evergreen Affair (Professionals) (58) (also published as a standalone novel)
• First Foot (Professionals) (104)
• The Para's Prayer, a poem which DVS asked others to write a story about (Professionals) (113)

Issue 2

cover of issue#2

Lovers 2 was published in 1992 and contains 70 pages (8 stories). All the stories are by DVS.

Each story is printed on a different color paper, and those colors are noted in the table of contents. The creator appeals: "Again, please do not copy this zine! If you can't afford it, (and who can afford everything, these days?) write and we will work out a trade."

From the editorial:

With thanks to Ruth, for proofing (if it's here, tho, it's not her fault, as I had half this done before it was drafted!) and for selling #1 at Media West, to Susan for proofing, pushing us all along and moral support, which is generous because she isn't even a slash fan, to Linda who is selling #2 at Virgule, to Jo Ann,who also proofed, to Gene for the borders, and to everyone who was kind enough to LoC the first issue and thereby improve the second. You will notice that there are some partial pages and a blank page in this issue. The partial pages, in the long story, are the result of the ancient software and are unavoidable at this time. However, note that you are not charged for the dread white space (said white space is against my religion--most folks know wasted space is a pet peeve of mine and that I never shut up about it, especially zines with double spaces between paragraphs, unreduced text, margins of more than one inch and....) --it is something unavoidable, but necessary because I can cut costs that way. Note that I am charging the same price for this issue as for the first one, even though this one is 8 pages longer! The full page blank is the result of the method of production. In order to spread out the costs, each story is printed off as it arrives. This means stacks of stories sitting around taking up space for months, but also means the minute the last story is in, all that needs to be done is the binding and zip! We're ready! It also means an odd paged story has a blank page. As I said above, we absorb this cost! LoC's appreciated! Last time, folks told me not to use the bold face on the bright paper ("Thief" was hard to read), to cut down the number of typos, not to pen corrections in the margins as it is distracting, do something about tha typos, get more writers, don't get more writers, get a proofreader (do you detect a pattern here?) and keep the colored paper.

[About the story, "Brother,"] I'm terrible at thinking up titles. I used to have a list of wonderful titles I thought up, but I found the right story never came up for them, while I had stories that to this day I don't know what they are called, because I let the editor think up the title. And some I thought of a real good title later, after it was printed. That's the most frustrating, because I think of it by that title, and not by what label it ended up with. which brings us to the point. As I type this, I have no title for this Simon and Simon story. I can't say I have felt the need for one, for a working title (most my stories have working titles, if only the little code Mr. Computer wants in order to store the things!) because this is the only S&S story I ever wrote and I just thought of it as "That Simon story". I shall ask those wonderful people who have volunteered to proof the stories if they can think of anything.

[About the story: "Giving"]: Giving" was the first story I did on a computer. It was done in hot summer weather, on a borrowed Apple, and I didn't like it. I didn't like the word processing program, I didn't like the printer and I didn't like having to fight the kids to get anywhere near it. I happily went back to my old Olympia manual typewriter with the sguare letters which I loved and several other people said they found distracting. What a difference a few years makes. The IBM clone and the increased options have made all the difference in the world. In fact, if I had to retype one bit more than I have to now, I probably wouldn't be doing a zine. So remember, Technology is our Friend! This story also was born out of the thoughts about gift giving which came to me after some interaction with a person who was not raised in a gift-giving household. Giving gifts is actually guite difficult, and it is very much culture-based. I can see Spock buying a gift but not being able to give it. Come to think of it, giving a gift is an emotion-based act. To give a gift is either something from the heart, or it is something from a cultural expectation. Sometimes, people just give gifts because it is expected. Some just give gifts because they want something back along the same line at a future date. Spock had to be given an opportunity to give. I know it's just a fraction too sweet, but I rather like the idea of Spock, hoarding his gifts and his love, and giving both at once. But I always was a sucker for a happy ending!

[About the story, "The Hot Springs Affair]: As you can probably tell, this is one of those stories which is born when the author takes a vacation and spends too much time sitting on a certiain rustic porch, eating strawberries, watching the dash and splash of the mountain stream, and letting the imagination roam.

[About the story, "The Hot Springs Decision]: This was born when ye author spent too much time sitting beside the pool dabbling toes in the warm water. Although after writing this, no fan will ever be able to look at the pool steps aqain without having interesting mental visions....

[About the story, "A Different Game"]: "A Different Game" was frustrating also because I am and am always haunted by the certainty when I write B/D that I am making an utter fool of myself. This mostly has to do with the British version of the English language. I can be typing merrily along, be struck by something and spend the next hour huddled oyer the keyboard, eyes scrunched shut, trying to remember if the Brits call an oven an oven or if they call it something else. I haven't the details of the culture which would allow me the confidence to just write these damn things. This one was deadly, with all the "at home" sorts of things to think of, and further, it dealt with a character change in Bodie. This is one of the stories which get started because of my response to another story (in this case, a genre of stories) in which I found something which did not sit well inside--just a vague uneasiness which burbles up later into a sort of "well, this is more what I think it would be like" base for a story. This is one version of what I think would happen if Bodie and Doyle set up house together.

• Leap (the author explains why she finds Quantum Leap the saddest, most frustrating show on TV) (Quantum Leap) (6 pages)
• Priorities (Hardcastle and McCormick) (8 pages)
• Brother (It's amazing some of the things you see on a stakeout! This one has Rick hopping mad) (Simon and Simon) (8 pages)
• Giving (K/S - "What happens when a Vulcan, from a culture which does not give gifts, wants to give one?") (Star Trek: TOS) (10 pages)
• The Hot Springs Affair and The Hot Springs Decision ("A tiny resort in the Colorado mountains holds the key to Illya's future - and eventually Napoleon's.") (Man from UNCLE) (18 pages)
• A Different Game by DVS ("When both Bodie and Doyle are hurt in the Brixton Riots (1981) the future looks bleak. Bodie's secrets hold the key to their future. Coming to terms with a disability is just as hard as coming to terms with love.") (Professionals)(64 pages)
• The Other Game: A Post-Game Wrap-up by DVS (Professionals) (6 pages)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

See reactions and reviews for Giving.

See reactions and reviews for A Different Game.

Issue 3

Lovers 3 was published in Fall 1992 and contains 64 pages.

It is a novel called "Found Among Stars: Discoveries" and it was published before issue #2.

The story is an original fiction novel by DVS about a Vulcan and human male/male pairing with a surprise appearance by Kirk and Spock.

cover of issue#3

From an ad in Come Together #1:

This is a one-story zine and can't be described as K/S because K & S only show up towards the end. This story is about a Human/Vulcan male pair who are opposites in almost every way, and yet they find they are completely suited to each other. This story has just a bit more sex than the average DVS story.

From an ad in The Monthly:

"Found Among Stars: Discoveries" is the only item in LOVERS #3. It is 64 pages, moderately reduced, 48,000 words by DVS. This is one of those DVS K/S stories which also focus on another Human/Vulcan male couple. K/S develops in the last third of the story! There is also more sex in the usual DVS story so AGE STATEMENT REQUIRED.

Comments on other stories in this 'verse, from a fan in 1994:

DVS wrote 4-5 stories set in that universe, some of which featured the employees of a particular Vulcan company, and they almost always feature a Human and Vulcan male (once she had a Vulcan female and Human male, for variety). She always does fascinating things in her work - power themes, culture conflicts, etc.

From the zine's editorial:

Dear all,

As you know by now, the ChttP zines come with the author of said item nattering on about the background of the story. I wish more authors and editors would do this, as I find the causes and the reasons behind writing to be most interesting. Those of you who are not interested in endless s.f.a. should skip this part.

Back in the days when editors were looking at my stories and sending them back with a polite version of "nobody wants to read this sort of thing, sorry," and I was getting not only burned out from all the rejections but slightly burned out on K/S, I had this idea for a story. It was vivid in my mind, the tall, pale Vulcan and the short dark Human, both of them with faces which hide everything from the world, and both of them, in their own way, hiding not-yet-awakened sensual natures. Only no real story would evolve from these images. You know how it goes, sometimes there just isn't anything developing from a good idea, no matter how much you sit in front of the keyboard and mumble?

So I set it aside. Seven years later (maybe these things come in cycles I) years after I wrote what I thought was my last K/S story, this thing sprang into my head, shoved out the B/D I not only was supposed to be writing but had a firm deadline on which I subsequently missed, and insisted it be written. I figured that now that I was no longer dependent on far away editors, the little part of my brain which had not let me go forward because it was sure to be rejected pointed out that it was safe now, and pow, there it was. Odd.

At any rate, it was a bit different from my usual current project in that this has more sex bits. I can't tell if it comes from the example of the Harry/Johnny zines or if it was just suited to the subject, but I was rather surprised! I hoped I captured the screw-your-brains-out frenzy which often comes at the start of any new relationship, and which might come even more intensely to two repressed types. I am assuming that it all settles down and the two of them go on to have further adventures. Kirk and Spock may cross their paths again, who knows.

Originally, this story was to be one of two in one issue with a Crites Klingon story of two Klingon warriors who meet while doing their compulsory duty to the Empire and who then have their pairing torn by family loyalty, illness and the structure of society. Klingon slash has about as much popularity as non-K/S Human/Vulcan slash. These zines are going to have a small print run and be for those of you who like a well-written but slightly different story. So the Klingon story will be out later, possibly as issue #5 or #6.

[...]

Not intended to step on the toes of anybody's copyrights, this amateur production is and is a no profit project done for the pure love of it. Age statement required. This is not for folks under the age of oh, say, 21!

This story is presented in reduced print, to save you money, and contains more than 48,000 words. There are no illustrations, I because I know no artists and haven't the ability to reproduce great art anyway. The border on the cover was done in 1981 and given to Ann Crouch at Star Con Denver that year for use in one of her projects. I don't know if she used it, because the notes don't say what zine it might have ended up in, and it may not have been used at all. It made a nice cover, anyway.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

[1992]: This is a slash novella mainly involving a human/Vulcan pair named Tai/Stenor. It's 60 pages, the last 10 involving K/S. The print is reduced, and the story is more than 48,000 words [editor's blurb). At $8 it's very reasonably priced. T/S are a very interesting couple; the plot is entertaining. However, FAS needs more development. I think it should be 100 or more pages, with more Kirk and Spock. It would be possible to keep the same plot, but flesh it out more -- especially the K/S part. Currently K/S is just 1/6th of the story. For that reason I wouldn't recommend it to people that are ONLY interested in K/S. I wish some artist would read this story and illo the characters so we could SEE what they look like and then D.V.S. will be forced to write a sequel. Of course, I want Kirk and Spock in the sequel with Tai and Stenor.

[1993]:

I wanted to like this Human/Vulcan slash novella, but I really have to say that it would have worked better as a short story about Kirk and Spock being introduced to K/S by this other couple. I like reading good stories about interesting original characters, but the dramatic focus of FOUND AMONG THE STARS is in the K/S section. It's conflict which makes a plot interesting, and there is precious little conflict in this novella until Kirk and Spock enter the narrative. Before that point everything goes too smoothly. There is no suspense.

It's not that DVS's characters are uninteresting. Ta[i], the human character, has unusual background, but I think that the way DVS uses this background represents a missed opportunity. Ta's father separated himself from 23rd century Terran society in order to create a traditional tribal environment for himself on an island. He was fleeing from machine technology, but it's not clear what he was affirming. The only aspect of the tradition of Ta's father that is revealed is mutilation. I feel that this is a caricature of tribal tradition. I don't see the point of giving Ta this particular background, if it's only going to serve as a straw man to be knocked down. DVS might have used Ta's background to explore what value there might be in tribal tradition. I would have liked to see a Ta who was more ambivalent about his past, and a plot that focused on that ambivalence. Perhaps there could be a sequel in which Ta and Stenor encounter a planet colonized with the purpose of re-creating an African tribal culture like the planet Kirinyaga developed by SF writer Mike Resnick.

In the realm of nit-picking details, I was bothered by the idea that sonics can't deal with semen. That problem would be encountered fairly frequently. Surely someone would have long ago pre-programmed the sonics or modified their design. I did like the idea of naming Ta and Stenor's ship after a weed. Weeds are hardy, and can survive most anywhere without intervention. I imagine that a ship that is like a weed wouldn't malfunction and would require very little maintenance.

[1994]: Have you read "Lovers" #3? It's a DVS novella, "Discoveries" - classic Trek, as she calls them "non K/S human/Vulcan slash", set in the same universe as that story you enjoyed [in No Holds Barred #5]. (The one about the screwed-up Human and Vulcan with development problems.) The novella is excellent - I highly recommend it.

[2010]:

It is a one story, small zine by the Chained to the Typewriter Press which I am sure is totally out of print as it is dated 1992. It may be in the library but I haven‘t checked due to the fact that I am running late for this to make a midnight deadline! I‘ve never written a review before so bear with me.

I refound this zine as I was rummaging through my book shelves which are plentiful and full. DVS aka Vivian Gates has always been one of my favorite K/S writers so I curled up with 2 dogs and a cat to have a good read. I was not disappointed.

Stenor and Tai could not have been more different. Stenor was the head of the Vulcan Corporation known as TROK. Their purpose to supply archaeological digs with the tools and supplies necessary for the scientists to do their job. These ̳digs‘ were new and/or established all across the galaxy. Interstellar archeological data was shared with TROK along with regular monetary payment and that plus the reputation of 'on time‘ delivery and high quality of goods, made TROK the successful business that it had become over the years.

Stenor‘s bondmate, having fulfilled her duties and produced an heir wanted her freedom. Stenor himself wanted to explore the stars and spend his later years piloting a TROK supply ship. Freedom was also desirable for him.

There are some excellent dialogues between Stenor and his grown son Sim‘aton...very stiff, very reserved, very Vulcan as we have learned from the world that Spock inhabited until he left for Starfleet. Even Sim‘atron‘s stiff disapproval of his Father‘s wishes was so reminiscent of Sarek‘s disapproval of Spock when he sought another career.

We are soon introduced to Tai...the mutated human from earth. Stunted in size due to radiation, but bright, alert, with long dark curls and an intelligence too humble to admit to, he has worked for Trok for 10 years and was fluent in Vulcan, standard, and the business of his employer. Since Stenor, though older than Spock or Sarek, still was chained to his 'time‘ in Pon Farr, he needed another bondmate.

It is Stenor who turns to Tai with a request... that they experiment to see if they are compatible. They sure were, they were compatible in the test cabin in the desert, and in Tai‘s little room in the warehouse (of course when no one wasn‘t around to mentally pick up on their 'experimentation‘. And later on, even on their exercise equipment on the ship as they travelled through space.

Achieving their goals of independence and star travel and marvelously hot sex, as they soar towards their next stop, they receive a request from a space platform for help. Evidently, they picked up an injured Vulcan and were unsure as to using the standard 'slapping around‘ that would have awakened him. Transferring him to their Ship, Stenor succeeds in reviving him and they nurse him back to life only to hear his story of a Starfleet officer‘s kidnapping...the famous Captain James T. Kirk. Their present company is Spock. Tai knew that everyone on Vulcan was acquainted with Capt. Kirk and his Vulcan first officer.

It is Stenor and Tai together who bring K and S to recognize the significance of their link and the possibility of a full out bond. It is Tai and Stenor‘s very mentally- vocal lovemaking that arouses Spock and Kirk to experience what the bond truly could mean to them.

I liked this little novella because it showed a side of Vulcan life and culture that is not normally considered in the K/S of most zines. DVS‘s wonderful prose is used so effectively in weaving a truly Vulcan story and also Tai‘s story of living on a radiation contaminated island. But she doesn‘t neglect our boys. As K and S are delivered safely to the Federation, Stenor asks Tai if perhaps he would be interested in doing more 'favors‘ for the Federation. It also has some really, really great sex...always a winner.

If any of the newer/younger subscribers to the K/S Press are interested, there is a plethora of Vivian Gates stories in the earlier print zines...T‘hy‘la etc. She is an excellent author with a bit of a different slant on our boys. It would be worth your while to spend some time looking them up.

Issue 4

Lovers 4 was published in 1992 ("the last few days of the year!"). It is an 85-page novel by Susan Crites called "Trial by Friendship." It contains no interior illustrations.

It involves two original characters set in her Games of Love and Duty and No Peaceful Roads Lead Home Klingon universe.

From Media Monitor:

This zine is in the Trek universe, but is not set on the Enterprise. It is a story of love, and includes both straight and slash elements. The characters find their own solution to a knotty problem, and the ending is happy-I think any story about Klingons needs to have that specified.

From an ad in The Monthly:

Keiba and Ktas, junior officers on a Klingon starcrusier, come from different backgrounds. Their friendship becomes a personal one, but it is soon challenged by illness, distance, and conflicting loyalties.

From the author's website page:

Two young Starservice officers from a warrior culture become friends, and more than friends. (I'll just place the notice about explicit male/male interaction here, okay? To make sure I'm not misleading anyone.) Finding a true friend can sometimes be hard, finding a life partner harder still. But keeping that relationship alive through the challenges of life can be nearly impossible. The first outing for this was as a printed fanzine, set in my version of Trek's (TOS) Klingon Empire. This incarnation is the post-NextGen retrofit.

From the zine:

We started Chained to the Typewriter Press years ago, Susan and I. We, as well as ChttTP, changed through the years. We started out producing Susan's Klingon stories. Then there was a six year period when we didn't produce anything at all, and it was during that period that Susan wrote this story. At the time, however, there was no place to send it. K/S was the only slash fandom putting out many zines, and it takes a rather large leap to include this in that genre —Kirk and Spock are mentioned only once, and not by name! For the last three years, ChttTP has been producing multi-media slash zines.

This story fits in no category. It has too much slash for the straight folks and not all slash fans will like the straight elements. But it is a good story. Susan tells a good yarn! Because this doesn't fit in any slot, we'd like to ask you, if you like it, to tell a friend about it.

A few notes about the story. It is set in th© classic Trek universe of the first three seasons, and Susan's Klingons are the originals, a la Kang, and not the later movie and TNG versions. It is also set in the Klingon universe she created for Games of Love and Duty and No Peaceful Roads Lead Home. These are available in reprint/xerox from Poison Pen Press. If you liked these Klingons and can read a good story that ISN'T slash, please write for that address.

As usual, this is done on a shoestring. If for some reason there is a blank page or partial page, it was because it was cheaper to print it that way. You are never charged for blank bits!

You will find less typos than usual. The author is better than I am at this sort of thing.

Also from the zine:

I suppose you could say this story had its beginnings twenty years ago in 1972, back when I was a student at — hold your breath — Baptist Bible College. (The infamous Rev. Jerry Falwell was expelled from this institution a few years previous to my attendance for being TOO LIBERAL in his theology 1) (It also had something to do with his riding his motorcycle through the dorms, as I understand....)

At some point in the history related in the Old Testament, a group of ambassadors were sent to some kingdom of nonbelievers (I could look it up, if anyone is deeply interested) who disdained the contact. They were not killed, but sent home with their beards half-shaved off, which was a terrible sin and disgrace for some reason I do not recall. This seems to have stuck in my memory.

Later in the decade, I broke away from my nonsecular roots to the fannish life, and had some vague idea for a story in which a young Klingon fellow was subjected to a cruel practical joke by parties unknown, resulting in some damage to his facial adornment, in which he afterwards found a friend because that party stood up for him when others were in a mocking sort of mood. This predated my friend and partner Caro's interest in the slash genre. Several years later, I gave this idea a second look from that point of view, and wrote one short story about Keiba and Ktas.

Caro has gone on to make a (psuedo)name for herself in several slash fandoms. I have remained on the border, not due to a lack of interest in the subject matter, you understand, but because I find it difficult to write in other people's universes, adhering strictly to already established characterization.

Since my story here is a previously unknown genre, I'm not sure how it will be received by old-time "/" fans. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock do have a walk-on of sorts. And I suppose B/D people could conceivably picture this as a VERY alternate universe, although I've got some details wrong. The tall one has the curly hair, and neither of the boys have green eyes. Sorry. (They are both smart asses, though, if that helps.)

Some of you may know my fannish writing career took a turn toward Klingons at a fairly early stage. I think they are an interesting, possibly mis-interpreted people, and I've done a lot of imagining about how I think their world and history shaped their racial psyche. So it wasn't hard for me to jump from one short story to a second, then a third; all of which went together into the novella you have in your hands.

I am not done with these guys, I give you fair warning. There is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a manuscript of a sequel to this story around my house somewhere, plus a few notes. The good news is, I kind of know where it probably is. The bad news is, that's probably the basement, which we've been working on straightening up and renovating since about 1985.... Ail of the above intended to say, hope you enjoy what you are about to read!

Smiles.

Online here: online 'retrofit' version with the preface:

I know you came here expecting fanfic.

You will find you don't recognize the characters and setting, although the latter may feel somehow familiar. That's because this was written and pubbed as a fanzine, as most of my older work was, and like most of that O. W., it is set in my version of the Original Star Trek universe.

I have changed that, for this posting, for two reasons. One, the mental socio-map I drew up about the Klingon Empire was almost nothing like the expansion and background that was officially worked up once Next Gen got going. I'm egocentric enough to like mine better, but I won't bang bumpy foreheads with them about it any longer. Two, it's remotely possible I might one day decide to continue on in this universe, so I might as well start as I mean to (maybe some day) go on.

Other than names, though, I haven't changed anything, although you will see by the rather outdated techno bits that I, like almost everyone else in the world, did not anticipate the coming computer revolution accurately....

DISCLAIMER: Copyright to all original stuff very much claimed by Susan Crites. This story is rated an explicit R in spots and should not be read by the innocent. It also contains homoerotic material and serious angst. Do not take internally.

It has a 2006 online sequel called Seasons:

What happens when you finally get the thing you want most--but then come to realize you aren't worthy of it? The continuing story of Teiba and Ktas adjusting to civilian life in the s'ruessef clan. New complications in the mix of family business and daily living come with the accidental acquisition of a female Terran, supposedly a common sex slave, but one with a mysterious past. Poly and m/m relationships, nothing wildly explicit, but heavy on the angst.

Issue 5

cover of issue #5

Lovers 5 was published in May 1993 and contains 132 pages. On the cover, "F & SF all B/D issue."

The publisher calls it the most popular Chained to the Typewriter zine. This issue required an age statement to order.

From the editorial:

Welcome to the B/D issue of Lovers.

These stories both have SF or fantasy elements. The first one is by Ellis Ward, the second is by DVS, and they are not at all alike.

There is no art except the cover, and it is a plain zine, but we hope you find the contents makes up for the lack of flash in other regards.

Special thanks is due to Ellis Ward, not only for getting the story in long before deadline, but for her camera ready, PERFECT submission. For anyone editing a fanzine, it doesn’t get any better than this!

• Killing Notes by Ellis Ward ("A mystery begins when a CI5 agent is attacked -- by an animal? Other deaths follow, and Bodie and Doyle might be next!") (53)
• Suitable Gravity by DVS ("[Suitable Gravity] is about a CI5 agent (Bodie) who joins Doyle on a trip to Mars, and trouble doesn't stay behind on earth!") (75)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 5

See reactions and reviews for Suitable Gravity.

See reactions and reviews for Killing Notes.

[zine]: ...which leaves a truly wonderful and succulent 'Lovers 5' to share. Just two stories, one fantasy based 'Killing Notes' by our Ellis Ward, and one Sci Fi 'Suitable Gravity' by DVS. I LOVED THEM! I've been re-reading the zine all week. Sometimes I feel like an emotional vampire, re-reading to suck all the warm flowing emotions out of a story before I put it aside, an empty husk, and go on to the next one! (How lurid of me!)

[zine]:

One science-fictiony/fantasy Pros story I really did enjoy is the one by DVS in Lovers 5 (can't remember the title, *think* this is the write number of Lovers, but it's out on loan in Tucson...). It was one of those stories that just hit me the right way, was well done, and I actually went back and reread it. I can't say anything much that's nice about the first half of the zine (it was two novellas rather than a bunch of short stories), because it was an Ellis Ward sort-of-maybe-maybe-not pseudo werewolf-cum-Jekyll-and-Hyde mishmash that didn't seem to me to have any internal logic and really wasn't put together well at all.

But then, Ellis' stories are rarely amongst my favourites, so perhaps people who normally like her work were better disposed towards this than I was.