E-Man-Uelle

Zine
Title:	E-Man-Uelle (E Man Uelle)
Publisher:	very casually affliliated with TASAS (#1, #2). In issue #3, the editor wrote: "As you will probably know by now these zines have nothing to do with TASAS, so I now go it alone." Starlight
Editor(s):	Fran Ward
Date(s):	1983-1987
Series?:
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

E-Man-Uelle (also E Man Uelle) is a slash Blake's 7 anthology.

It is the first known B7 all-slash fanzine... while badly produced and badly typed, these zines were the first to publish some B7 fan writers who later became better known in other fanzines and other fandoms: Julien, Jane Carnall, Julie Kramer, Shoshanna, Ros Williams, Bryn Lantry and others. These zines were stories pairing Kerr Avon with either Roj Blake (Blake/Avon) or with Vila Restal (Avon/Vila), which remain the most popular slash pairings.

The first known mpreg is in this zine. See Comfort.

The first two issues were published by TASAS. From issue #3:

I hope you have enjoyed the zine and it's [sic] somewhat cleaner stories, they say a change is as good as a rest, and I really don't want you to take a rest from buying this zine. As you will probably know by now these zines have nothing to do with TASAS, so I now go it alone. My grateful thanks to those who give me continued support and encouragement to keep putting this out.

Disclaimers and Copyright Info

"Money from these zines goes to the Cancer Research Charity, chosen by Paul Darrow, Mike Keating and Mike's mum."

"This zine is produced on a non-profit making basis and it is understood that no attempt is made to supercede copyright held by the BBC or by any other persons. Anyone wishing to reprint any of the material herein are asked to obtain written permission before doing so."

The age statement from the first two issues: "This zine is not knowingly sold to persons under the age of 18 years or without a written statement declaring that he/she agrees with the premise of the stories within."

The age statement from the third issue: "This zine can be obtained along with an age statement + a statement to say the purchaser agrees with the premise ot these stories."

Response Fanworks

"E-Man-Uelle's Revenge," a satirical four-page mini-zine was printed in "touched" #6. The subject was the story Comfort. See that page for more.

A Mystery

Sue Man Chew has a story in Beyond Antares R-Rated #5, with the note it was in an unspecified issue of "E-Man-Uelle." This story is "Avon — Towards Destiny" (Avon/OFC, Avon/Cally ("Avon violently rapes a woman in brothel, has an affair with Cally.")

All of the fiction is accounted for except for issue #5. Perhaps this story is in that issue?

The End of the Line

From the editorial in the last issue:

I'm sorry to see the end of the zine, it was the first to be so open, though even that seems to have been ridiculed over the past couple of years often by those who have the least to shout about. It may not have been the highest standard zine put out, but it's always been done with lots of heart and care for the characters and the writers themselves - in getting new people in print for the first time in many instances when other more well established publications wouldn't give them a chance, so, although I may not have large sales I can never be accused of being 'snobbish'!

General Reactions and Reviews

1985

[general comments on issues #1-5]: I appreciated your review [of "Contusions" in issue #5] - howled my way through it. At some point in my search for A/V last year, I came of course across E-man-uelle but I have never in my life read such a load of crap. You've got to admit, they were worth publishing just for the good laughs they 
can inspire. There are so many howlers it's hard to pick a favourite. There are, as you 
say, some flashes of utter brilliance, like Cestus' stories. But that long saga where Vila
 gets pregnant, dies, isn't dead...!! It's hilarious. Avon's tounge! What is Avon's 
tongue? Is it some new part of his anatomy we weren't privileged to see on screen? That particular typo surfaced so often I was gritting my teeth waiting for it to appear. I am very fond of my E-man-uelles now. And I hope Cestus comes up with the promised next three parts. But I equally hope the writer of "Comfort" kills 'em both off in the next issue - for good this time. There's one bit, I think it's in that particular saga, where one of the characters innocently remarks that Avon is a completely different person since he fell in love with Vila. That accorded with my opinion exactly, because I'd just been thinking that the character named Avon bore not the slightest resemblance to the Avon I remembered...

Poor old E-man-uelle. At least it tried. At least it was published, and proved that at least some people are interested in A/V stories.

About Ros Williams' stories. I have to admit, when I first read that long story that she had in E-man-uelle 4 or 5, it didn't make me think she was an 'obvious homophobe'. (I don't know her at all.) I was pissed off with Avon's behaviour, all that ridiculous guilt, and annoyed that he ended up with Cally, a very yukky twist to the story and totally unbelievable; everything was leading towards Vila, (not just because I'm biased towards A/V - I don't think!) but I felt the author had kind of ducked out at the last moment. If you've read any of her other stories, it seems to me she isn't really homophobic, more entranced by the idea but unable to cope with it. In at least one other of her stories (a humourous one) she has Avon believing Blake is in love with him and although once again she ducks out and makes them all perfectly uprightly heterosexual at the end, I don't think her treatment of gay sex is homophobic. I might be wrong! Pity - she's a good writer.

1992

I neither read nor collect slash, but I have seen parts of some for the Emmanu-elle pornzines, and you're right. I did laugh. For a real giggle-fest, in fact, try reading some of this schlock about, as two friends and I did during a 500-mile trip to a San Francisco B7 con. We could barely keep the car on the road for laughing so hard. What's funnier still is that the people who wrote it took is entirely seriously. During that car trip, one of group wondered, in fact (and Sherri [editor of "The Neutral Arbiter"], please feel free to cut this part if it's too ... well prurient) why the typos got worse the dirtier the story became. From behind the steering wheel, I theorized that it was harder to type with one hand.

1995

I'm not sure quite how to take your comments on the differences between American and British B7 fiction. Given that 90% of everything is crap, I will say that American and British fans managed to produce roughly equivalent quantities of crap in fairly different directions, but that I have never read anything quite as awful as E-man-uelle anywhere.

[...]

This is an off-the-top-of-my-head critical evaluation; I don't have the time to do the extended research that this topic obviously requires. But maybe the difference is that American stories tend to be glossier than the British? I don't mean production values; I mean a difference in emotional perception. The British writers tend to create dusty rather than sticky stories.

I wrote (in "touched") a series of killer reviews on E-man-uelle, in which I gave the stickiest stories (mostly by a character called M.C. who I wish was fictional but is [is not]) slush ratings. Lacking a proper field for critical comparison (like, I'd seen hardly anything else), I knew I hated the E stories, but did not know quite how much I loathed the sheer terminal awfulness of the writing.

The good slash or almost-slash I had read had been drier, quieter, nastier; it wasn't until our Annie got going with Southern Comfort that I read lots of sloppy slushy stories that were, nevertheless, really quite good.

1996

I went and read Cestus' stories, and realised with disappointment that they aren't as good as they were when I read them in 1984. But for the sake of historical completeness, I'm going to include them in the package anyway. Bear in mind two things; the zines they appeared in were edited by someone who was, I swear, nearly illiterate; among other classic errata, she habitually mis-spelled tongue "tounge" (in fact I think she must have inserted "tounge" in her spellchecker, once she got a computer).

The other thing is, that Cestus was working in the dark. At the beginning of 1984, you could count B7 slash zines on the fingers of one hand; three E-man-uelles and one American zine called Forbidden Zone. Oh, and a rather odd British zine called The Big Boy's Book of 1001 Things to Do in Zero Gravity with a Federation Handblaster, which I suppose takes the thumb of that hand as well. Of those zines, only the E-man-uelles focused on A/V, and primarily in a rather awful little series called "Comfort" by another illiterate known as M.C. (I am not going to waste your money posting them. But when I inveigle you to Edinburgh, I intend to make you read "Comfort" and watch you giggle.) So Cestus' stories are, effectively, the first A/V stories written.

1997

> You know, I keep hearing E-MAN-U-ELLE mentioned in such terms of awed loathing by longtime B7 fans that I may have to track down a copy someday and see if it really *was* that bad. It's hard to believe anything could achieve the level of awfulness this one seems to be credited with, but after reading the description of that story I'm beginning to understand.

Believe me, it was worse. It's probably enjoyable as a pure turkey read -- if it weren't for that the author (and editor, presumably) had an interesting take on punctuation. Apparently, they didn't believe in it. Or they felt that they were rationed, could only have a couple of periods and commas to a page and rather than make the other sentences jealous, they just randomly chose where to place them. I also seem to remember Incredible Spontaneous Capitalisation. ("he went to the door, but Before he could open it...")

I never actually owned a copy of the zine, just borrowed it, and I have only very occasionally seen copies of it in used zine boxes -- but I have seen them including this novella. Yech.

2006

My first slash publication [that I read] was in 1984, one of the first "Blake's 7" slash zines, an awful thing called "E-Man-Uelle." The first issue of which came out sometime in 1982, typed, mimeographed, and stapled.

Issue 1

E-Man-Uelle 1 was published in 1983 and contains 26 pages of text (pages are single-sided).

cover of issue #1

from issue #1

This issue contains no editorial commentary or remarks.

• Companions, fiction by M. Le Fay (reprinted in the Special Issue (1)
• A Cry from the Heart, poem by M. Le Fay (reprinted in the Special Issue (10)
• Comfort 1, fiction by M.C. & K.F. (11)
• Dream Come True!, fiction by Topaz (not listed in the table of contents) (reprinted in the Special Issue (18)
• Phoenix and the Dragon, fiction by M.C. & K.F. (reprinted in the Special Issue (20)
• Comfort 2, fiction by M.C. & K.F. (23)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

See reactions and review for Comfort.

[zine]: Companions, the first story, is (by comparison with the rest) moderately successful. It's set immediately post-'Gold': Vila is worried about Avon's sanity and says a bit more than is sensible. About four hours later Avon works out what Vila meant and calls him in for a chat. It ends predictably, with excruciatingly poor dialogue and improbable characterisation. Antics somewhat badly choreographed. The second story is the first in a 5-part series, which stretches over 3 issues. Part I is immediately post-Orbit ("Companions" was written as a kind of prequel 'though they're both first-timers), in which Avon goes down on his knees to apologise, then omits to lock the door so that Tarrant can walk in on them both the next morning, Dayna walks in on a snog in the rec-room, then Soolin (with Servalan) on a conjugal embrace in a Federation base. In short, it's pathetic Mills & Boon.

Next is a short-short with a (supposedly) surprise ending. It's not really that much of
 a compliment to say that it's the most erotic story in issue I - but at least there's
 less dialogue.

A supposedly mystical tale, "The Phoenix and the Dragon" - in which Avon dreams of his lost lover. Very obvious, very uninteresting, bad characterisation, no choreography, and more than its fair share of typos.

And finally, part II of "Comfort. Full of daring little scenes such as Avon slapping Vila's stomach while Tarrant is sitting on the bed with then. If it were possible, I'd say it had gone down hill since part I. In short, it's boring.

In the Editorial M. LeFay (author of "Companions") apologises to the cast for the stories in this zine and says that 'no disrespect is intended, it's just that we of "E-man-uelle" are very broadminded.' In my opinion, an apology was necessary, though not for the sexuality of these stories but for the low standards in quality thereof. I've never been sure whether it's spelling or typos that cause the universal-E-man-uelle words such as 'tounge' (tongue), 'loose' (lose), 'fraze' and 'suprise'. Oh, dear....

[zine]: Listen, I remember when I bought my first slash zine. E-man-uelle 1. I was 16 and I was so ignorant I didn't even know what K/S was. It was advertised in Vilaworld as a "same-sex" zine, and since I knew most Blake's 7 fans were women, I supposed they would all be writing about women. Soolin and Dayna, I thought. Or maybe Dayna and Cally. (I'd never seen Jenna.) Maybe, I thought hopefully, just one Avon/Vila story. It arrived one cold snowy December day; I spent five minutes going on ten years fighting with the knot that was holding my hood on before I could sit down, open the envelope, and read the first story. Which was trash. But I got the authentic thump, somewhere in my guts, and I wanted more. I hadn't felt like this since I first read about Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane.

Issue 2

E-Man-Uelle 2 was published in 1983 and contains 55 pages.

cover of issue #2

The editorial:

Well, hello again fans. I’m ever so pleased that we have reached issue two of E-MAN-UELLE, and that's it's been so well received by you that have bought it. Oh if only you know the heartache which went on behind the first release of this zine, you know, shall I, shan't I, will the rest of fandom lynch me for it? Will the actors concerned read it and feel I'm violating the characters they in essence created and lynch me? I’ve heard that a couple of them have indeed picked this zine up from somewhere but I'm still alive to tell you all about it, so I guess it’s OK.

As you can see M.C. has excelled herself with a lovely long part of COMFORT and I warn you now, get out your hankies, you've no idea, how difficult it’s been to type it without seeing the pages blur and wiping the eyes so frequently! It’s a lovely story and even before you all read it and ask it there’s going to be more, well.... that’d be telling wouldn't it.

The short story in the middle I take no part of any responsibility for, it was written, so I'm told, at 3am after a boozy session dawn the pub! And it shows! (sorry ladies!!)

Well, I guess you've read enough of my prattle, so I'll let you get on with the zine. Read and enjoy in the spirit of IDIC.

• Comfort 3, fiction by M.C. (2)
• The Short Straw, fiction by Her and Me!! (reprinted in the Special Issue (12)
• Comfort 4 (The Sounds of Silence), fiction by M.C. (14)
• The Eulogy, poem by Temple (reprinted in the Special Issue (55)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

See reactions and review for Comfort.

[zine]: Part III of "Comfort" is set post-"Blake". No real explanation (apart from some mumbling about a clone) is given as to how all of them except Soolin survived, nor how the real Blake came riding to the rescue just in time, you're supposed to enjoy the slush and forget the fact that it's almost the worst-written story I have ever read. Oh yes - and Vila gets raped and Avon doesn't and one can hardly suppress a yawn.

"The Short Straw" is supposed to be hilarious, and you can see they tried. Laboured humour about Friday - or is it Saturday ? - nights on Xenen Base. Who cares? Part IV of "Comfort", or "The Sounds of Silence". A better alternative title might have been "Let's Feminise Vila". Back on Earth and the revolution is accomplished in two or three days, to let Avon and Vila get on with the sexual aerobics. (Incidentally, the single position they use is physically impossible for two men. One is tempted to wonder if M.C. had ever heard of anything but the missionary position.) Vila becomes pregnant with Avon's child, Avon and Vila get married, the baby is born, and Vila dies. Avon is very upset, but manages to cheer up after listening to a 26th Century pop song. (Guess.) (This is the worst—written story I have ever read.)

Issue 3

E-Man-Uelle 3 was published in 1984 and contains 60 pages.

cover of issue #3

cover of issue #3

From issue #3: "I hope you have enjoyed the zine and it's [sic] somewhat cleaner stories, they say a change is as good as a rest, and I really don't want you to take a rest from buying this zine. As you will probably know by now these zines have nothing to do with TASAS, so I now go it alone. My grateful thanks to those who give me continued support and encouragement to keep putting this out."

• Comfort 5, fiction by M.C. (2)
• untitled poem by Temple (reprinted in the Special Issue) (25)
• 'And With My Body I Thee Worship,' fiction by Cestus (reprinted in the Special Issue) (26)
• Triangle, fiction by Cancer (reprinted in the Special Issue) (32)
• The Image, poem by Temple (reprinted in the Special Issue) (39)
• Imagination or Fact, fiction by Ann Onymous & Dubonnet (reprinted in the Special Issue) (40)
• Desire, fiction by M.C. (reprinted in the Special Issue) (44)
• Self Appraisal?, fiction by M.C. (reprinted in the Special Issue) (50)
• Out of Mind, fiction by Temple (reprinted in the Special Issue) (51)
• Nights, fiction by Temple (reprinted in the Special Issue) (58)
• Editorial (60)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

See reactions and review for Comfort.

[zine]:

Part V of "Comfort". I never could make out whether this one was boring or hilarious. Vila returns from the dead in time to stop Avon from joining him, Jenna reappears with Vila's father - who is naturally, a thoroughly nasty Alpha - homophobic, wife-beater, child abuser, and who eventually ran off abandoning Vila, Vila's mother, and Vila's younger sister (now Blake's live-in girlfriend) to one of the non-aligned planets. Confused? Good, because so was I, when I wasn't hating every paragraph. Ah. And at last, "And With My Body I Thee Worship", a readable story. More than readable - it's excellently written, genuinely interesting, skillful characterisation. Begins with a tense standoff between Vila and Tarrant, broken up by Avon. The reasons for Avon's seduction/domination of Vila are believably presented, as well as the reasons for Vila's submission. Not only that, but it's the most erotic story which E-man-uelle has ever printed. "Triangle" is, for E-man-uelle, moderately well written even if unbelievable as far as I'm concerned. Blake sees Avon and Vila 'together' and promptly goes off into a jealous huff, wondering: "Why Avon? Why not me?" He finds an excuse to pick a fight with Avon, beats him up, and then is happily seduced by Vila who has really been in love with Blake all the time. "Imagination or Fact" is another 'comedy' - which, in mitigation of its faults, was a first draft never intended to be published. The dialogue isn't up to it, but the sequence of events is quite funny. Besides, I like "Let's slag Tarrant" stories. The next story is absolutely awful - a Vila/Tarrant tale of which I did not believe one word. "Self Appraisal" is a Blake/Blake clone story that wasn't meant to be hilarious. The last pair of stories are by the same author. "Out Of Mind" is an Interesting idea which she didn't have the skill to exploit properly - an alien sends Avon into Vila's head and Vila into Avon's for a while, to teach them honesty.

"Nights" is just post-Duel and it's equally bad and boring but a trifle soggier. (Too much sherry in the sponge.) Impossible to take seriously, thank Goddess.

Issue 4

E-Man-Uelle 4 was published in 1984 and contains 77 pages. The cover is by Kiera.

cover of issue #4, Kiera

From the editor: "This zine is now a private publication and can be obtained along with an age statement + a statement to say the purchaser agrees with the premise of these stories..."

From the editorial:

As always there comes the time in all Editorials for the grovell [sic]. Please heed as I am in desperate need of submission, as always I know. Actually I'd be interested in hearing from you artists out there, as I'd like some pictures to put in further issues of the zine, nothing too explicit, half the fun of these zines, while having it written graphically you can still use a lot of imagination.

As you'll have noticed there is a K/S poem in here this time. It actually won 3rd prize at a convention in '81, just thought I'd make a little change, but don't worry it won't become a habit, there are plenty of K/S zines around and this zine will still be mainly, or more probably from this time on, totally dedicated to B7 stories.

Well, must dash now, please send me stories, poems etc. If you can't be good at least be CAREFUL.

Note: the pagination doesn't match the table of contents. Below are the actual page numbers.

• untitled fiction by Ann Onymous & Ambergris (1)
• Discovery on Dhangi, fiction by M. Le Fay (12)
• ...But for Us There Is the Night, poem by Stephanie Lucas (Star Trek: TOS, Kirk/Spock) (40)
• Partners in Pain, fiction by Coyote (Issue #3's editorial notes that "Coyote" is from "the States.") (42)
• Editorial (79)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 4

[zine]:

[untitled] Vila meets up with a pair of old 'friends' who raped him once or twice. Avon also meets them, doesn't think much of them, and informs Vila that he was raped too and that turned him homosexual. They then go to bed. It's a charming and not too pretentious little piece. ""Discovery on Dhangi", by the same author as "Companions", Avon and Vila are sent down to pose as lovers on a heavily male dominated gay orientated planet. The action and the dialogue have been slightly improved from the last time she used them, but the background is not well thought—out.

One very irritating event is the inclusion of a K/S poem which is bad even K/S poetry goes. Furthermore, this is a Blake's 7 zine. I wish I could think that we weren't meant to take such lines as "Jim, so softly, it's good, so good" and "Oh, Spock, please be careful" seriously. "Partners in Pain" is a well-written, well-characterised story of the 2nd season, and Avon are trapped on a heavily male dominated, gay male orientated world. It's heavily S/M with a detailed description of Avon's sexual torture at the hands of his captors, (in fact, the S/M parts are the best-written - the Blake/Avon parts awful.)

Issue 5

E-Man-Uelle 5 was published in 1984 and contains 52 pages.

cover of issue #5

sample page from issue #5

• Contusion, fiction by Ros Williams (A/C)
• With All My Worldly Goods, I Thee Endow, fiction by Cestus (A/V)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 5

"Contusion" by Ros Williams is horrible. One of weirdest things about it is that it's skillfully written by an obvious homophobe. It made me feel sick. It's not so much the events (Avon is captured by the Federation, sent to a maximum security prison and raped by the guards and the sadistic governor Venn. He uses their 'perverse desires' to engineer his escape. When he returns to the Liberator, Cally listens to him talking in his sleep and retreats in disgust because he enjoyed it. He manages to convince her that he loves her as much as ever and he didn't think of her on Veskill because to do so would have degraded her. They settle down for a nice heterosexual existence happy ever after. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH.) as the whole tone of the story, I found it completely offensive. But - to take the taste away - the sequel to "And With My Body I Thee Worship". "With All My Worldly Goods, I Thee Endow" is what a 4th season A/V relationship might actually be like. I can't quite believe that even Avon could remain so emotionally detached from someone he was actually sleeping with. It's interesting seeing the relationship from two different viewpoints - Avon's during a bout of insomnia, Vila's when he wakes up after Avon's left in the morning. It's quite simply an excellent story - the only disadvantage for E-man-uelle is that having a golden writer like Cestus around shows up the dross all too clearly.

Then of course there was Contusion. Hmmm. Have just gone back to T6 and re-read your (scathing!) review of E-man-uelle. I am influenced by your opinions.... So I would like to read E4, and possibly E3 as well. Or so I think, from reading what you say. Back to Contusion. Well-written, indeed. The lady has talent. Misuses it, perhaps - Completely offensive, no. Of course, I don't have to agree with anyone else's views - that's not what I mean. As I said, I am uncritical. So I liked it - that's not to say that I like its viewpoint or conclusion — which sounds contradictory, if not actually hypocritical. Well, perhaps I am the latter. Certainly the former. Getting confused again, methinks.

Issue 6

E-Man-Uelle 6 contains was published in 1984 and contains 73 pages. The cover is by Julie Kramer.

front cover of issue #6, Julie Kramer

From the editorial:

I never thought I'd get to E-Man-uelle no.6, who'd ever thought that there was this much interest in these types of stories in B7 fandom? Well, makes a change from K/S doesn't it? They say one is better than a rest any day.

[...]

Glad to see that for the time being Jane Carnall will continue with her mag and I'm pleased she's been able to find the time to write some stories for my little effort. Let's just hope that one day zines like this will be commonplace and not as thin on the ground as they are now.

One piece of good news for Christmas, I recently sent off £60.00 to Cancer Research made possible by the money collected from E-Man-Uelle sales even though they have been down this year so it's good to have been able to send so much. There's just enough cash left now to get more paper and ribbons for the printer for the next edition.

• Initiation, fiction by Julie Kramer (1)
• No Alternative, fiction by Julie Kramer (9)
• 84 Hours to Xenon, fiction by McNeil (22)
• First Encounter, fiction by Julie Kramer (26)
• Trust, fiction by Jane Carnall (Avon/Vila) (38)
• The Dersan Hut, fiction by McNeil (43)
• I Want You, fiction by Jane Carnall (Avon/Vila) (45)
• Behind the Scenes, fiction by Julie Kramer (49)
• All the Difference, fiction by Julie Kramer (59)
• Editorial (72)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 6

"Initiation" -- well-written, excellent dialogue, neatly choreographed, but I just cannot believe Vila-fucks-Avon stories -- especially not first-timer ones.

"No Alternative" -- It's a hackneyed plot (Avon gets doped up on an aphrodisiac and must have sex to survive. Vila offers himself and is reluctantly accepted) but does have a couple of fresh touches, and no 'forced climax' during the rape.

"84 Hours to Xenon" -- I can seldom find anything good to say of Vila/Tarrant stories, and this one is no exception. Poor technique and a cringing dialogue -- though the sexual aerobics are at least possible. And superbly psychologically correct (albeit, I think, subconsciously) in portraying Tarrant as a heavily closeted macho queer.

"First Encounter" -- absolutely marvellous. One of the first E-stories to simply take a basic gay background rather than pussy-footing around of "I don't know why I want you because I don't usually fancy men." A pre-The Way Back" story, set on Earth, Vila Restal attempts to burgle the apartment of Kerr Avon, gets caught and events follow as might be expected. It's skillfully written, the dialogue and psychology pack a punch, and I loved it!

"Trust" -- intended as a sequel (sort-of) to M. LeFay's "Companions" in issue 1. Post-Orbit. The parts which aren't written as a sequel are better than the rest, but on the whole it's mediocre and unmemorable.

"The Dersan Hut" is badly written, unplotted rubbish. Blake/Avon told poetically from Blake's viewpoint.

"I Want You," another maddening unoriginal plot. Avon and Vila are alone together on an uncivilised first-season planet. Just to make things simpler, the natives think Vila's Avon's catmite, so they only supply one bed. During the night, the predictiable occurs. Cringeworthy moments, but most just a bland, harmless paste of cliche.

"Behind the Scenes, or A Thief's Progress" during the second season. How to (and not how to) seduce a computer. Some quite marvelous lines and a minimum of awful moments. Skillfully written.

"All the Difference" -- Tarrant rapes Vila. Avon finds out (and besides comporting Vila and threatening Tarrant) winds up in bed with Vila. Just to reassure him, of course. It is very good.

The overall standard of writing has risen amazingly since issue #4, and this issue also contains stories genuine gay sf fans can read without diving for cover and screaming (with laughter or pain: I'll leave you to guess.)

P.S. seven out of nine of these stories were written by authors who later wrote stories (printed earlier) for "touched". We all have to start somewhere.

Issue 7

E-Man-Uelle 7 is not dated. It contains 62 pages.

cover of issue #7, not credited

From the editorial:

The threat of the cost of paper and especially printing ribbons is going up so I hope the sales of this little zine will keep up though I may have to raise it to £2.00 in the new year.

Nice to see our Australian cousins have a slash zine out of their own. And I never thought the idea would catch on!!!

Preta-na-ma in IDIC.

• Editorial (non-numbered page)
• Cross Dominance, fiction by London Bates (reprinted in The Other Side #3) (1)
• Cubicle 23, fiction by Sebastian (51)
• He Shows Nothing (on behalf of Blake), poem by Julie Bozza (62)

Issue 8

E-Man-Uelle 8 was published in 1987 and contains 72 pages. It is a novel by Bryn Lantry called Puppeteer. A different version of this story is in Homosapien Too.

cover of issue #8

The editorial:

(First of all I'd like to help this story along with a short explanation -- in Bryn Lantry's own words - of it's [sic] basic plot. I must admit I was glad that I had it. Puppeteer is a long and slightly weird 2nd Season story. It concerns Blake, Avon, Cally, and Vila living too close for comfort on a mission and finding out more than is healthy about one another. Avon, bored, starts playing Machiavellian games, discovers Blake is homosexual and profits from the information, etc., etc. As he gets Blake infatuated with him we're not sure whether he genuinely longs for Blake's friendship or is merely trying to crack him up - until the end when, of course, Avon finds too late he is tragically involved.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 8

See reactions and reviews for Puppeteer.

Issue 9

E-Man-Uelle 9 was published in 1987 and contains 66 pages. It is subtitled, "The Final Chapter."

cover of issue #9

The three stories by Shoshanna were printed out of order.

From the editorial:

Hiya'all,

Well, I guess the title of the first story could say it all. I regret this, but Emanuelle won't make a tenth issue. I stop here at no.9. I was hoping to get a couple more stories to go into this issue and, what I was hanging on for all this time but, it wasn't to be and so it's in the larger print

I will be doing more slash stories as and when I have enough to put a zine together. Though I'm looking for decent A-Team and Battlestar Galactica stories, with a bit of Vice thrown in or any others that catch my fancy. It'll be called TABOO. There'll never be a deadline date for it, and it's also still very much on the drawing board. I've only a few stories now. But if you're interested then drop me an sae plus IRC's if applicable.

I'm sorry to see the end of the zine, it was the first to be so open, though even that seems to have been ridiculed over the past couple of years often by those who have the least to shout about. It may not have been the highest standard zine put out, but it's always been done with lots of heart and care for the characters and the writers themselves - in getting new people in print for the first time in many instances when other more well established publications wouldn't give them a chance, so, although I may not have large sales I can never be accused of being 'snobbish'!

I must admit that I'm now not all that keen on B7 slash, I read other pairings these days. BUT, the Emanuelle's will still be on sale for those that want them, so just because I'm not putting out any NEW issues, they'll always be here. Just tell people to drop me a line for costs, which may change only due to the cost of postage, ESPECIALLY you poor folks overseas, which is the only charge which goes up.

That's it for this last Editorial. So let's keep this short and sweet now.

Goodbye and, thanks for all the fish!!!

• In Lieu of Regrets by Ellis Ward (1)
• Provisional Surrender by Ellis Ward (8)
• Remembrance by Margaret Bennett (17)
• Delusions by Chris Kessler (19)
• The Darkness of the Separate Will by Shoshanna (reprinted in Southern Comfort #5.5) (reprinted in Southern Comfort #4.5) (36)
• Decisions by Shoshanna ("Decisions" is first slash story the author ever wrote.) (Avon/Blake) (32)
• Repercussions by Shoshanna (reprinted in Southern Comfort #4.5) (44)
• Delta by Sean Charles (57)
• Cost of Intensive Care by Merlin (62)
• Limerick by Erica Leonard (66)
• Kerr Avon, poem by Shannon (66)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 9

[Decisions]: Prequel to "Trial." Similar to the Sylvia Knight stories in the way that it works the A/B romance into the interstices of the aired canon.

[Decisions]: One of the very first slash stories I read (and still one of the very best!) was in SLS 4... it was a story of this sort, set just after Gan's death. The events of the story cause the message Blake leaves before teleporting down to 'The Host' a carefully worded private message to Avon which absolutely rocked me: verbatim, the same words as shown on tv, but with so much more meaning! If anyone has *not* seen this story, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Special Issue: Comfort

E-Man-Uelle: Comfort

• contains the five-part serial, Comfort by M.C. that was issued in previous issues.

Reactions and Reviews for Special Issue: Comfort

See reactions and review for Comfort.

Special Issue: Reprint

E-Man-Uelle: Short Stories is a reprint (likely 1984) of stories & poetry other than the "Comfort" series from previous issues.

• Companions, fiction by M. Le Fay (A/V)
• Dream Come True, fiction by Topaz (B/V)
• The Phoenix and the Unicorn, fiction by M.C. (A/B)
• The Short Straw, fiction by Her & Me!!(Ta/V, A/D/So)
• 'And With My Body I Thee Worship', fiction by Cestus (A/V)
• Triangle, fiction by Cancer (B/V)
• Imagination or Fact, fiction by Ann Onymous & Dubonnet (A/V)
• Desire, fiction by M.C.(Ta/V)
• Self Appraisal?, fiction by M.C. (B/B clone)
• Out of Mind, fiction by Temple (A/V)
• Nights, fiction by Temple (A/B, J/?)
• untitled poem by Temple (?/?)
• The Image, poem by Temple (?/V)
• A Cry from the Heart, poem by M. Le Fay (A/V)
• The Eulogy, poem by Temple (A/B?)