Hauntings and Others

Zine
Title:	Hauntings... and Others (on cover), Hauntings and Others (inside), Hauntings and Others... (on flyer)
Publisher:	Felix Press
Editor(s):	Nanci Loser
Date(s):	November 1992
Series?:
Medium:	print, zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	multimedia
Language:	English
External Links:	flyer printed in What If...; note changes in published zine
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Hauntings... and Others is a slash multifandom anthology.

An age statement was required for purchase.

From the zine: "HAUNTINGS AND OTHERS is dedicated to the dreamers and speculators, the ones who answer the never ending "WHY?" with a resounding "WHY NOT?!""

Ads

From an ad in On the Double: "Short story collection for Halloween. Ghosts, vampires and other denizens of the night are featured players in these stories. The atmosphere may or may not be eeirie (sic), but any terror is purely of the psychological variety -- i.e. no slashers running loose, people coming out of closets dressed in hockey masks!")

A flyer lists two stories that did not ultimately make it into the zine:

• Lady Catherine's Ghost by Anne Carr and Merlyn X. Smith (Professionals) ("Bodie and Doyle run into a very noisy and persistent specter.")

• All Things Indivisible by Portia Lindsay/E.J. Pelham-Stewart ("Alinor De'Vere had sworn she would never be parted from her one true love...and not even death has managed to stop her until the unfortunate focus of her affections is helped out by Robin and the Merries.")

The Editorial

by pen and candlelight, with the full moon shining overhead. . . .

HAUNTINGS. . .

Well, OK, to be strictly factual, it was done by IBM computer and with a diet Coke firmly in hand at all times, and a 100 watt bulb overhead, but you get the idea. This is an atmospheric zine!

Here it is at last, HAUNTINGS AND OTHERS. We ended up with an eclectic collection of stories. The final mix was somewhat different from what I'd anticipated. Though not planned to be that way -- I ended up thinking that this zine should be subtitled "Vampires & Others". These particular children of the night seem to be an, excuse the term, ah, eternal favorite of writers (and hopefully readers too!). Though all the authors worked independently of each other for the most part, vampires just kept turning up all over the place! Rest assured, though, we've got a couple of very engaging ghosts too, and even one of the gods of the Old Religion makes an appearance!

There are seven short stories inside, and you'll find familiar fandom writers (Nancy Arena, E.J. Pelham-Stewart) as well as entries from new writers (Merlyn X. Smith, T'Alizan and Portia Lindsay). There's even an entry by Ye Old Ed. Editing, where it has occurred, has been for grammar, punctuation, spelling; content was left entirely up to the authors. The number seven is no accident, by the by -- in many occult and magical systems seven is the "perfect" number. Six working parts and one chief, so to speak (13 is often chosen for the same reasons).

A word about a couple of stories that aren't here: Unfortunately, LADY CATHERINE'S GHOST is not in this issue — due to unavoidable delays in the finishing off of the piece (Anne Carr has turned pro and those commitments come first) by Hauntings' press time. However, it will be published next month in Issue No. 2 of Free For All . E.J. Pelham-Stewart pulled her Robin of Sherwood piece, BY ALL THINGS INDIVISIBLE, despite much protest from me, due to the fact that E.J. just wasn't happy with the way the story turned out; she, in particular, didn't think it did justice to the characters we know from Robin of Sherwood. I thought she could make it work in time to go to press, E.J. felt she needed more time. The author had the last word.

Finally, in HAUNTINGS, you will find familiar media figures (Bodie and Doyle, for example) alongside of characters from more obscure fandoms (Tris and Alex) and characters you've never met before -- original fiction (Divren and Asha), etc. HAUNTINGS continues in the tradition of Felix's other publication, "Free For All", in that it was designed (within its occult framework) to offer a variety of stories, both fandom based and original, as long as the writing was done well. And I think that particular standard has been upheld by every writer in the zine.

From the Acknowledgments

To all the authors, AS ALWAYS - a huge THANKS, because without you, there wouldn't be any zine to publish. And a BIG THANKS to everyone who ordered the zine — because without you there wouldn't been any reason to publish the zine, either! Your (and this means every one of you who purchased a copy) patience, good humor, graciousness and good will, both in general and in the face of production delays in particular, are -- as always -- much much appreciated!

I'd also like to thank my boss, The Attorney, who, though he'll never read this zine, naturally (thank the gods!), nevertheless, came to the rescue when my original printing arrangements conked out on me -- by decreeing that I could "make copies, of those short story things you and those other fan people write in your spare time, on our machines, as long as you buy all the paper, do the work, and only do it when nobody else wants to use the machines." It took a while to hit a weekend when "nobody else wants to use the machines," but one finally opened up and here is HAUNTINGS as a result — full of "those short story things you and those other fan people write in your spare time...."!!!

And finally, again, as always, my biggest THANK YOU of all, goes to Nancy Arena -- my partner and long suffering roommate, who had to spend yet ANOTHER year living with a zine-crazed editor, and once more went into the breach and did so uncomplainingly, with tremendous support, encouragement and just plain old hard work -- all done while meeting professional writing commitments of her own.

Story Descriptions

From the zine:

The Haunting of Hadlington Hall (or, The Ghost That Wouldn't Die): This story ended up with two titles because author E.J. Pelham-Stewart couldn't decide which one she liked better and so I went with both! This story has a humorous bent and features a very likeable A/U Bodie and Doyle as they meet for the first time under rather, for Bodie at least, shall we say, er, trying circumstances? And things get even more complicated with the entry of a very noisy ghost into the proceedings. . .

Numbers Up: This is a whimsical piece done by Anne Carr. She got to wondering, one day, what Bodie and Doyle would find when they first got to heaven and this humorous story purports to give us the answer!

So Few Ever Notice: A bit of background is due on this one. In 1987, Nancy Arena and I wrote and published a novella called TYGER TYGER, which told the story of a rock group called Matrix, who just happen to be vampires, and their brand new lead singer, Alex Logan — an initially very confused — though appealing — human being. This is an alternate Tris/Alex universe — with Nancy A's permission, I started spinning this tale of vampire musicians based on her original characters of Tris and Alex, then added the rest of the band on my own. She got intrigued by the story and, as I said, we ended up co-writing the TYGER TYGER novella. TYGER TYGER got Tris and Alex very much together, but bassist Nigel Porter was falling apart and his relationship with second lead guitarist, Marco Serrafano, was strained, at best. I've had a lot of people ask, over the years, "WHAT HAPPENED WITH NIGEL AND MARCO? ARE YOU GONNA' WRITE A SEQUEL OR WHAT?" Well, SO FEW EVER NOTICE isn't the whole of the sequel to TYGER TYGER, but it turned into a definite precursor to one, and it does, at least, give the start of the answer to the question: "What happened to Marco & Nigel?' (To answer another question I get a lot — yes, copies of TYGER TYGER are still available/ it's never gone out of print.)

I Will Remember: This story by Portia Lindsay actually falls into E.J. Pelham-Stewart's "Janra" universe — Janra is George Cowley's daughter and her untimely death is recounted in an earlier story of E.J.'s titled "Renaissance." I WILL REMEMBER is the most recent in the "Janra" series and is a rather somber story, indeed.

Forever Is: This is an off-beat and original little piece done by a new author, T'Alizan. At first glance it might seem like a typical little vampire tale. The author, however, throws in some background twists that make this story and its characters a bit...different from the vampires one usually meets.

The Other Half of Forever: This is a quirky and original love story by Merlyn X. Smith. (Merlyn is also the author of the popular A/U Bodie & Doyle "Transformations" series). Shy, seemingly conservative Brendyn Dunne, finds that life gets very interesting and somewhat complicated, indeed, when he makes the acquaintance of his brand new upstairs neighbor — Nathan Smith. Nathan is the walking, breathing antithesis of shy and conservative, and he shakes up Brendyn and brings old secrets to light, in no time flat. And there's a great deal more to Nathan than his long hair and penchant for playing loud rock music at all hours of the night, would seem to indicate. . .

Night of the Hunter: My thanks to Nancy Arena for permission to formally publish her delightfully off-beat and very sensual Tris/Alex story, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. As I said, this particular short story falls within the orthodox Tris/Alex and rock group Paradox universe fully explored in the novel FOR ALL THE GODS DEPARTED, and belongs to the FATGD canon of side stories. A few of you may have read this in rough copy previously, but I think the Tris/Alex fandom is small enough so that this will be a new story to most readers, and well worth being published in a

zine. In any event, when Alex decides to see how Tris is spending Halloween, he finds out more than he ever bargained for...

Contents

• Editorial and Acknowledgements (non-numbered pages)
• The Haunting of Hadlington Hall (or, The Ghost That Wouldn't Die) by E.J. Pellham-Stewart ("When an artist named Doyle, who just happens to be a vampire and a writer named Bodie, who doesn't believe in ghosts, let alone vampires, meet up with the thoroughly angry result of an exorcism that didn't work....things get more than a little strange.") (slash, B/D, AU) (Professionals) (1)
• Numbers Up by Anne Carr (slash, B/D) (Professionals) (19)
• So Few Ever Notice by J.P. Ryan ("When Nigel meets something a great deal more destructive than fairies at the bottom of the garden, Tris and Alex really should pay attention.") (Tyger/Tyger, RPS/Tris/Alex) (21)
• I Will Remember by Portia Lindsey (Janra-B/D) (Professionals) (51)
• Forever Is by T'Alizan (Ash /Divren, original fiction) (53)
• The Other Half of Forever (originally titled: "Nathan") by Merlyn X. Smith ("When a new tenant movers into the apartment upstairs, shy, conservative Brendan Dunne finds there's more to bother about than his new neighbor's long hair and penchant for playing loud rock music at all hours of the night.") (Brendyn Dunne/Nathan Smith, slash, original fiction) (62)
• Night of the Hunger (slash, Tris/Alex) (80)
• zine and con flyers (92)

Reactions and Reviews

Another zine I enjoyed was Hauntings & Others: Basically, a good romantic read of Vampires & such... only a few B/D stories, but I love Tris/Alex, and the sequel to Tyger Tyger was in there... LOVED it! Also enjoyed the original fiction. (Again, Vampires) Nothing gory... completely romantic.