Grope

You may be looking for Grup or Grip.

Zine
Title:	Grope
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Ann Looker
Date(s):	June 1976
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover by Michael Eason

back cover by Robin Hill

Grope is a het (and some slash) explicit parody 52-page anthology published in England in June 1976. Artwork is by Michael Eason (front cover), Beth Hallam, Helen McCarthy, and Robin Hill (back cover, other).

"Grope" is a sister zine to Alnitah, and eight other "Gropes".

The Editor Speaks

Soliciting material for a issue in this series, the editor writes:

Contributions of stories or artwork appreciated BUT 1) I like a piece of writing to be a story with a PLOT rather than simply a turn-on 2) Some of the sexiest stories I have read are some of the least explicit. I prefer them that way. Same goes for artwork. As suggestive as you like but my printer suffers from heart trouble, and I don't want to give him a heart attack.

Contents of Grope

• Linkage by Ann Looker (also R & R #6/7 and Grope Flashback) (1)
• ARTIGROPE (19)
• This Side of the Mirror by "Lotta Jung" (25)
• Cliche in Triplicate by Robin Hill (31)
• Standing Orders by Ann Looker (slash and het) (34)
• Tail Piece by Margaret Draper (51)

The Gropes

• Grope (June 1976)
• More Grope (November 1976)
• Son of Grope (February 1977)
• Deep Grope (May 1977)
• The Gropes of Roth (May 1978)
• King Grope (September 1978)
• Grope Flashback (May 1980)
• Bedside Grope and Queen Grope (July 1981)
• Graveside Grope (May 1983)

Gallery

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  "Spock de Milo," see Imitation

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Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for Standing Orders.

Two zines sharing ALNITAH'S high production standard are GROPE and MORE GROPE. They were conceived (if you'll pardon the expression) as the British answer to American fandom's "Adult Trekzine" GRUP, and treat their principle subject -- the sex life of the "Enterprise" crew ashore and aboard -- with some welcome irreverence as well as the expected romanticism.

[zine]: All are long out of print and difficult to obtain. I sincerely hope that #8 won't be the last, since I quite enjoy the sly humor and artwork, and the offbeat but mature writing. You won't find any too serious/dramatic, overwritten, overly sentimental, sophomoric tear-jerkers here. The editor herself said, in the "Editor's Postscript" to SON OF GROPE: "...the zine as a whole is not meant to be taken seriously, though certain individual stories may bring a tear to the eye, a lump to the throat, a wrench to the gut, or up yesterday's dinner! GROPE began as a light-hearted romp and, I hope, will continue in that spirit. The stories and poems...do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor nor are they intended to present a workable Star Trek universe—not even I think that the big E can function with its First Officer permanently on heat!" Some American readers may find some of the British writing hard to get used to. It should be noted, too, that the majority of stories are not K/S. In this case, the ability to appreciate Infinite Diversity certainly pays off!

[zine]: GROPE (#1) contains little of specific interest to the K/S fan, except possibly for the suggestive cover: a naked Spock, seated on a log in a forest, pensively watching someone beam down (looks like it might be Kirk), and also possibly one of the five stories, a rather infamous one in which Kirk gives Spock a public flogging. This story, "Standing Orders", was reprinted (and somewhat rewritten, I suspect) from OBSCZINE , that odd little British zine which I'll be mentioning in my next column. The story concerns Spock defying direct orders, risking his career and life, to rescue Kirk, who is probably already dead. Spock allows himself to be captured and mistreated by the unpleasant natives, in order to be taken to Kirk. They escape. Admiral Fitzpatrick discovers Spock's insubordination, but rather than the expected arrest and courtmartial, he orders "a cheaper and quicker" way which "will very likely, achieve the same results". Kirk is ordered to "flog Mr. Spock, schoolboy fashion, with a cane on the bare buttocks...one hundred strokes" in front of the Admiral (watching on the view-screen) and the entire bridge crew, who are ordered to watch. Kirk is stunned. Later, he weeps, and wants to refuse, knowing how painfully humiliating and degrading this will be for Spock, but Spock will not let him refuse and incur a charge of insubordination himself. The entire bridge crew offer their support to the extent that, when Spock must stand naked, bloody, and aroused in front of the Admiral and crew, they, too, take off their uniforms, Uhura included. She poses provocatively for them, and showing their own erections, they almost jeer at the Admiral. He has become the laughing stock, not Spock. After Spock is finally allowed to leave, bloody and in pain, he goes into an induced pon farr, but is successfully aided by Uhura. (What an interesting K/S story it would have been had it been Kirk instead!). Afterwards, he recuperates. He wonders whether to transfer, but Kirk and McCoy reassure him that he still has the crew's respect. When he hesitantly returns to the bridge, they stand in respect to him, and he can see that their respect and solidarity has been intensified by the experience. Back on Starbase Six, the Admiral and his friend, Doctor Amir, are well pleased that their test proved the psychologists wrong, and that Spock is indeed "fit to command humans, any time, any place." The Admiral is proud of the way the Human crew reacted to the situation. GROPE also includes "Linkage", in which Kirk, Spock and McCoy are captured by a group of savage and rather sadistic women who hate Romulans. Believing Spock is one they mistreat him, and cause him to go into yet another induced pon farr. His agonies are transmitted to Kirk, to whom he is tied. Eventually, when they return, he is helped by Chapel. There are a few other pieces, including a Sulu/Uhura post-MIRROR, MIRROR story, and "'Artigrope"—A gropish look at the arts', which includes such items as an illo of the "Spock de Milo" statue, the Botticelli Spock, the Rokeby Spock, and a clever takeoff on a poem, Masefield's "Cargoes."