Liberator Popular Front
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| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Liberator Popular Front |
| Dates: | 1978-1986 |
| Founder(s): | Anne Lewis, Anne Harding (later Mrs. David Jackson), Janet Ellicott, Jill McCaul, also Audrey Waller and Jane Passfield |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | U.K. |
| Focus: | Blake's 7 |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Liberator Popular Front was the second Blake's 7 fan-run fan club. It was preceded by Seveners.
This, and Horizon, were also the two largest. [1]
The club published:
- Liberator Popular Front Newsletter
- Orbit
- the first edition of The Quibell Abduction
- Liberator
- Tales from the Rebel's Return
It also co-sponsored (with Horizon) The Teal-Vandor Convention.
There is some conflicting info about this club in fan comments below.
A Tanith Lee Interview Regarding Blake's 7 Avatars
In an unknown issue of this zine, there is an interview with Tanith Lee regarding her use of Blake's 7 characters in the pro book, Kill the Dead.
According to Tanith's interview some years ago for LP], Myal Lemyal is based on herself. I quote from my own precis of the interview:
- "...KtD. Are the main characters Avon and Vila?"
Parl isn't much like Avon but I think there are extraordinary echoes of Paul. It sounds as though there are copyright problems which are causing her to be very cautions re what she says nowadays. The Americans have read or seen a recent interview of hers, used by Jenkins, which appears to contradict the one she gave to Liberator Popular Front. I had to send a friend in the U.S. a copy of the original to prove my points. You'll recall Silver Sky was written for Paul, not Avon. KtD is an interesting story, although the chapter when the dream dissolves and Parl tells all is disappointing after all that dramatic build-up. Apparently Tanith was a newspaper journalist and I think she uses the wrong technique at times in this story -- she writes a mystery so we have no real opportunity to enter Perl's mind until it's almost too late, thus we lose some of the poignancy. However, the finale with Myal is superlative. Myal is my favourite character in this story. He is beautiful but coincidentally not like Vila. The nearest I can compare is a playful, fey, modern version of Legolas. [2]
- It would be foolish for a pro writer to use a copyright character in a novel. Parl is based to a point on Paul Darrow. I have a habit of using personalities in this way -- as images, a sort of hologram, not the actual people. Myal is not based on Vila or Michael Keating but on myself as a male projection in a talented, accident-prone mood (note the name - My Al, Le My Al...) The confusion over this arose as I can identify with Vila and have occasionally said so..."
Descriptions
1978
WHAT IS THE LIBERATOR POPULAR FRONT?
The Liberator Popular Front is a group of BLAKES SEVEN fanatics who live in and around London. We meet one Sunday in every month. Dues are 25p per meeting] most of which goes into victualing the members. Later on, we plan commemorative trips to Basingstoke (scene of "Children of The Stones"), etc. Right now, we mainly site around and exchange ideas about our favourite TV series. AND ANY MEMBER WHO VALUES THEIR LIFE BUCKLES DOWN AND WRITE CONTRIBUTIONS FOR LIBERATOR. OR ELSE! If you would like to attend and can make it along to an East London location on a Sunday afternoon, phone Anne Lewis on [phone number redacted] evenings and weekends, for details. [3]
1993
LPF was Liberator Popular Front (Tooting Popular Front was on TV at the time, wasn't it? Repeating again now, lovely!). Club run by Audrey Waller and Jane Passfield (two of the best editors around, and Jane wrote excellent fiction and poetry) with a lot of input from Tim Pieraccini (more excellent fiction and some prodigious scripts). The club commenced before Horizon, I think, and was larger for a while. When Interest began to flag, before the series was shown in the US, Audrey and Jane decided to close LPF - also, they no longer had the time to deal with it. I correspond occasionally with Audrey, who is still a fan, but have no idea what has happened to Jane. Newsletters were quite serious, heavy on analytical LOCs and articles, with some short fiction, rather like the Avon club newsletters. [4]
LPF was "Liberator Popular Front" which began as a joke by a group of fans who wore T-shirts at cons and then decide to set up a club. This happened in 1980. It was a good club and produced a lot of lively debate. (The name was probably a joke from the Citizen Smith TV series which featured the "Tooting Popular Front"). Anyway, the club closed in 1986.... Anne Lewis: sadly, she died in 1982. [5]
References
- ^ In 1982, it was the largest, according to a blurb in the prozine Terry Nation's Blakes 7: A Marvel Monthly #15 (1982)
- ^ as reported by Ros Williams in Horizon Letterzine #8 in January 1994
- ^ from the zine Liberator #2
- ^ from Horizon Letterzine #5 (March 1993)
- ^ from Horizon Letterzine #5 (March 1993)