Lily Fulford

Fan
Name:	Lily Fulford
Alias(es):
Type:	Author, organizer, teacher, host, fan writer
Fandoms:	The Professionals, Eroica, ??
Communities:
Other:
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Lily Fulford was a longtime fan who passed away in June 2007. She was very well-known in the Professionals fandom community, as a writer and a supporter of the local version of The Professionals library (an effort to relieve the burden on the main Professionals library). She frequently made her house available for monthly gatherings (often over 50 fans) in the Los Angeles area, and ran writing workshops at Escapade for many years.

In the 1980s, she worked with other fans in the area to do early fansub-titles (later called scanlations, although these were produced as photocopies, without scanning) to the first 15 issues of the From Eroica With Love manga before fansubs were commonly understood in media fandom. These scanlations were still being circulated anonymously as late as 2008 until the commercial English versions were released.

Lily and Guy Fawkes

Lily also hosted an annual Guy Fawkes party, complete with fireworks, in her Southern California home (she had family ties to England). It was a multi-fandom slash party although the bulk of the fans in the 1990s were into The Professionals. There is a story that one year, actor Lewis Collins who played Bodie on the Professionals was visiting Los Angeles and, somewhat homesick, heard about Lily's Guy Fawkes party and attended. This led to a mad scramble as fans removed fan art and any evidence of slash fiction. From all accounts, fans pulled off a successful party while keeping the fourth wall intact.

The Guy Fawkes parties were also known for fan written round robin stories, where each fan writes a paragraph and introduces a new TV character. The stories were written over the course of the evening and would become even more hilarious and bizarre as the party went on. The stories were initially written sequentially on a typewriter and in later years a Commodore word processor was used (which would only allow you to delete the last line, something that was used by fans to create amusing situations as they'd ruthlessly wield editorial power over their predecessors final sentence).

The stories are now part of the Guy Fawkes series:

• Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot by We'uns - in the paper circuit library
• Why Gunpowder Treason by Why Not Us? - in the paper circuit
• The Fifth of November by Who, Us? - in the paper circuit
• The Fifth of November, Part 2 by We'uns - in the paper circuit
• The First of November by Who, Us? - in the paper circuit
• The First of November, Part 2 by We'uns - in the paper circuit
• Fireworks by Weel Nev'r Tell - on the Proslib CD (B7, Dr Who, Harry/Johnny, MUNCLE, Sapphire & Steel, S/H, ST:TOS, Tris/Alex, Wizards & Warriors, Zax)
• Gay Fawkes A Nonny Mouse - on the Proslib CD (Batman, B7, DM, Dragnet, Eroica, Girl from UNCLE, Hunter, MUNCLE, QL, ST:TNG)
• Please to Remember by Guess Who?:- on the Proslib CD (Avengers, B7, Dempsey & Makepeace, DM,Eroica, Girl from UNCLE, MUNCLE, RoS, S/H, Simon & Simon, ST:TOS, Zax)

Memories

Kathy Resch: "I was talking to Roberta B last night, and we were reminiscing on everything that Lily did for fandom over the years. Lily was such a key person in welcoming fans to the LA area, whether brand new fans, or people like me who moved here from somewhere else. All those wonderful parties she held! I met so many people at one of her parties who became good friends. Like Denetia, I first started going to the BBC (Blake's Bunch of California) parties, all those years ago.

Lily was instrumental in getting me into Professionals fandom. I'd been injured in a car accident, and was off work for four months. I was ready for a new fandom, and Lily was right there with three to four feet of reading materials, Professionals circuit stories. I read my way through Lily's library that summer. I'll always remember her generosity to a fan new to the area.

Lily was one of the people in this world who excel in getting people together, making those crucial connections that keep fandom going. She will be sorely missed." (2007)

Nancy B: "Lily was so very, very generous to us when we were getting into Pros fandom. I remember hauling foot after foot of Pros circuit stories off to Kinko's to photocopy. And all the Guy Fawkes Day parties and bashes at her house. I'll miss her." (2007)

Jane Mailander: "Ach, the rest room at CI5 is a glum spot this morning; Doyle's a bit sniffly and Bodie's not talking to anybody. "There was this woman," Doyle says, and nothing more can come out." (2007)

Morgan Dawn: "Lily was part of the Southern California slashfen group that met in rotation at various homes across the greater Los Angeles area. Some locations were up to 70 miles apart and fans thought nothing of driving 1-2 hrs to attend. In the 1990s the parties would pull, on average around 20 people. Lily's Guy Fawkes parties had much larger attendance. The group was very welcoming and friendly and took the time to greet new fans." (2010)

Morgan Dawn: " Lily Fulford was a slash fan long before I even knew what homoerotica was.....Lily Fulford was one of the many Southern CA slash fans who welcomed me (when I moved to the area) and offered me a social network and a haven. She hosted many fan gatherings in her home and was generous with both her time and person. And I mean really generous in a way that I've rarely seen. We last spoke at Escapade this year where she was happy to have recovered from her chronic health problems just enough to be able to attend. My condolences to her family and to her husband John who loved her and supported her love for fandom." (2007)

Joey Rodrigues: "In everyone's life there are people who are unique. People who created memories that make you smile. Lily Fulford was someone like that. Remember that I'm originally from paper zine fandom, been around for ages, but not nearly as long as some of the folks I met back in the mid nineties at my first Escapade and Virgule *if you remember those two slash cons you get a round of applause*. Lily was in slash fandom way before I knew it existed. When I finally discovered it and Pros fandom she was there, she liked the partner I liked and that was a rarity at the time. We talked with a lot of laughter and we made up instant stories. I remember one conversation where we pretended we didn't know who Starsky and Hutch were so we got folks to identify them as Bodie and Doyle. Yeah yeah odd we are. Lily wasn't conventional, she wasn't young. She was one of a kind, she went her own way. And I really appreciated her being there as a model for the older woman renegade of slash fandom. I'll miss you Lily." (2007)

lapillus: "She was never all that healthy, but she never hesitated to host a houseful of slashers and feed them. Her house was full of video tapes, books, and love. She was an Anglophile and visited there many times. She had many fandoms, but her first and best was The Professionals. Suzie Lovett prints of Bodie and Doyle had honored places on her piano. Every time she found me and Amy selling books at a con, she would always take home at least a hundred, if not two hundred, dollars worth of books. And she read them all. She was a great lady - a bit cantankerous at times, and she didn't know the meaning of the word whisper. I will miss her. Good-bye, Lily." (2007)