Minotaur

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Fan
Name: Minotaur
Alias(es): Stuart Carroll
Type: slash fan, fanwriter, vidder, archivist, moderator, sex advice guru
Fandoms: The O.C., Supernatural, Stargate Atlantis, The Fast and the Furious, CSI, NSYNC (popslash), X-Men, Buffy, The Sentinel, Due South, Big Wolf on Campus, LOTRips, Invisible Man, X-Files, Voyager, Dante's Cove, Doctor Who, Torchwood
Communities: slashdom.net, sandiegoslash
Other: Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers
URL: Website on SquidgeORG
on LJ
on Dreamwidth
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Minotaur was a slash fandom BNF known for his informative writings, presence on panels, and advice. Minotaur got into slash fandom in the mid-'90s when he joined the Paris/Kim Slash Party (PKSP) mailing list in Voyager fandom. He wrote his first slash story about six months later[1]. Minotaur passed away, far too young, on June 14, 2009 only five days after his last post.[2]

History

By the early '00s, Minotaur was (and remained) a BNF in the truest sense of the word -- he was known across multiple slash fandoms because of his contributions to fandom overall. He was a fan writer and an archivist, but was probably best known for his sex advice -- not in terms of how to have it, but how to write it. He earned a mention in the meta parody piece Deep Fanfic Thoughts, by Jack Handey because of it.

He was a staple panelist for years (1998 - 2004) at slash cons, giving frank, entertaining "gay boy tells all" talks that gave female slash writers a place to ask questions they might not be able to ask a non-fannish friend, while always being careful to stress that he was just one man, and that every man is different.

Online, he created the Sex Tips for Slash Writers page (and later the searchable MQA database based on it), an invaluable resource widely used by slash writers.

In his own words:

"Hello, my name is minotaur, and I'm a slashaholic..."
"So I've been looking back over my somewhat checkered career in slashdom - and quickly came to the conclusion that I'm something of a fannish butterfly. For those of you not in the know, that means I flutter from fandom to fandom, never lingering very long, but drinking deeply from whichever font I'm at. I started out in Paris/Kim, though the very first story I wrote was Ayala/Kim. Then moved on to Jim/Blair, where I hung out for quite a long time. Then came Duncan/Methos and Mulder/Krycek, with side jaunts into Richie/Methos and Krycek/Pendrell. Next up was Bodie/Doyle - which took a while, since there's sooooo much out there. Then Superman/Jimmy, which I'm still into even though there's only about a dozen stories available (including my two). After that I fell headlong into the Buffyverse... especially Xander/Spike, which segued neatly into Xander/just-about-anybody-except-Giles, with an emphasis on Xander/Graham and a special appearance by Jonathan/Devon. Somewhere in there were side trips into Dar/Tao - which took all of about 12 hours, since as far as I can tell there's not a single slash story out there, Obi-Wan/Maul - mostly due to the hysterical Sith Academy site, RayK/Turnbull - those Mounties really do need someone to loosen them up, Max/Kyle and Max/Michael - who could resist aliens with abs, and Dan/Casey - mostly for the snarky humor. The X-Men movie sparked a brief flirtation with Logan/Scott, which led to some other comics based slash, in particular the wonderful Sea and Sky series of Nightwing/Tempest stories. Recently I've been big into Darien/Bobby, since the show is just about the slashiest thing on since Sentinel, and VV is to die for." (2001)

In 1999 he participated in an ongoing interview series on the COCO CHANNEL. See An Interview with Minotaur:

I think the real strength of slash isn't the sex, it's that the writers and readers are taking these cultural icons and twisting them, looking at them in new ways, re-interpreting them and thus the things they have come to stand for...Slash is a wonderful example of the true power of the 'Web. Anyone with access to a computer can now reach out and potentially touch millions of lives. Slash used to be much more sub-rosa, you had to know someone who was in the know, or come across it at a con. Now it's *everywhere*. You don't have to half look for it anymore. With the power of the Web, people have unleashed their inner desires, put forth the fruits of their imaginations, and connected with other like minded souls. [3]

Fanac

As a writer

As a vidder

Vids include: (need titles and details)

As a resource

  • author and maintainer of the resource site Sex Tips for Slash Writers and the MQA, a searchable database of sex tips for slash writers (updates the previous site). The genesis was Friscon '97, where he was very nearly the only male in attendance, and got repeatedly asked "Can two guys do that?" So after the con, he began working on an advice website.

As a con-goer

  • A regular (and often the only guy) at slash cons such as Escapade, CON.TXT, Friscon, Bascon, Connexions, ConStrict, and Zcon.
    • As a sort of companion to his Sex Tips for Slash Writers site, he began volunteering to hold panel discussions on "gay boy tells all", where he would give a basic talk on the sorts of things he thought would interest female slashers and slash writers, and opened the floor to questions. For many women at the con, this was their first opportunity to directly ask a gay man questions about gay sex (at least without being embarrassed about it, or having to explain why they wanted to know), and the panels were hugely popular.

As an archivist

As a community moderator

  • Moderator of San Diego slash fan get-togethers through the sandiegoslash community on Livejournal.

Testimonials & fond reminisces of his life, and reactions to his passing

  • "and then your fingertips explode!" Cin1607 remembers Minotaur's description of the male orgasm: "The discussion had been about anal sex and the joys of the prostate when someone in the audience asked him to describe an orgasm from the point of view of the bottom. I wish I could remember all of it, but I do remember that, in the best story-telling traditions, he took the audience along for the entire ride. He talked about the ecstasy traveling through your entire body, with lots of "and then you can feel it move up your spine, and then it reaches your arms..." I seriously wish I could remember more of that part, but with his voice and body and facial expressions, he really created a sense of suspense and anticipation. I remember him tracing the orgasm down one arm with his fingers. And then he paused. We were all on the edge of our seats. And then he threw his arms out and his head back and waggled his fingers and said, "and then your fingertips explode!" And of course, the audience just howled over the whole thing. It was wonderful fun." [7]

In July 2018, a fan wrote about Minotaur in the context of slash history which resulted in a new wave of memories

[veronica-rich reblogged kronette]

Minotaur proved what impact you can have with positivity rather than just bitching and throwing shade all the time.

[thebibliosphere reblogged systlin]

Ugh, I still remember when he died. It was like a mass grieving across the fandoms. I was only 22 and I forget exactly how I ended up on his lj but he was just so damn open and funny and willing to talk about things that were rarely talked about in a healthy and informative manner. His writing taught me a lot, both in terms of basic human anatomy but also just how to tell a damn good story.

[alixsinclair-emt reblogged kronette]

Minotaur loved answering questions of any type and he had a fantastic sense of humor. He did a wonderful panel at BasCon about various positions and what can and can't be used for lube. 😁😁

[headstomp] reblogged thebibliosphere]

I didn't know Minotaur had passed, and learning this just hit me like a punch to the face. His site was so instrumental to a younger, more confused, still very curious me, and although I barely touched on most of his work beyond the tips for slash writers, I'm not surprised at all to learn of the impact he had. Prior to his guide and works like it, it was really a Wild Wild West out in the 'how does this even work' world of non-cis-gay-men writing slashfic.

[rsasai reblogged ardwynna]

Minotaur was someone I remember teaching me about Sex when I was first starting to write. His funny, remarkable, and helpful words resonate with me even now.

[aylathebunny reblogged yogi-bogey-box]

I was a teen in Hercules fandom when I first found Minotaur's guide. I had read m/m slash, but he made a passing reference to f/f slash and my brain broke. I hadn't realised that that was possible. (Legit, I thought Xena and Gabby were Gal Being Pals.) I literally had no clue that lesbian relationships were a thing (also, I had no idea divorce was a thing until 7th grade for the same reasons:) because I had no examples in my (yes, fairly sheltered if way liberal) life. I had het relationships...

[teabq reblogged calystarose]

Minotaur was a GIFT. Beyond his lessons for writers, I will always remember him saying we must never forget all the flamboyant gays, drag queens, and butchest of dykes who took the beatings so that the rest of us could have rights. #fandom history #slash #Minotaur #LGBT #LGBT history #also him pointing out how useful the height difference between a hobbit and a human could be #that's another fond memory

meeedeee reblogged savedmeta

My favorite memory of Minotaur is being roped by him into room party at Bascon (a slash convention held in San Francisco) where he and I kept beaming fanfic to one another via our new Palm Pilots (it was a thing back then). He insisted I overcome my dislike of RPS by having me read out loud an Iron Chef RPS story. And taught me that you can connect to more people by beaming your joy and enthusiasm into the void. #fandom history #my fandom history #life lessons

[ esprix ]

Stuart died today.

I can't believe I just wrote that.

I talked to Wyatt after getting the heads up about the posts on his Facebook. The only thing I could think to do was call Stuart's cell phone, and Wyatt picked up. How surrealistically morbid.

[…]

So, yeah. I'm just stunned. I can't really process this yet.

I met Stuart at Gaylaxicon in 2004, and together we started San Diego Queer Sci-Fi. We had a booth at a couple of Prides, and he started a book club and the monthly movie outings. He came to Myke's weekly gaming night, and we had a pretty good gang going. I got him involved with Conjecture, and he used to scout out artwork at other conventions if he thought I would like it. He also dragged me (somewhat kicking and screaming) into slash fandom, even taking me to CON.TXT last year, which is the last time I got to spend time with him in person (although I would often call him when I felt homesick for San Diego, despite his impending move to Seattle). I found out a whole new side of him at the con - it turns out he's quite famous in slash fandom for not only being one of the few men, but also for his insights into m/m relationships that straight women never had a resource for before. It was a real treat to see his contributions to the community, and how much he was loved there.

Stuart was infamous for hating having his picture taken, but I took this one the night before I left San Diego in 2005 as all my friends were playing board games at a local coffee shop […]

It's still one of my favorite pictures, and now one of the few I have of him. Still, every time I see it, I can still hear him saying, "What's your damage, Heather?"

I will miss you, Stuart. I will miss you very, very much.

You can read the full responses at History of Slash (Tumblr_Essay)

In 2019, PerpetualGayle wrote a tribute on Twitter, talking about his willingness to educate and his coding for the The Slash Page Database Project:

Without his example as both a kind person willing to educate and as a programmer willing to code, fandom as we know it now wouldn't exist. I can't code for shit, but thanks to Minotaur, I don't have to. His kindness, however, I can always pay forward, and I do the best I can.[9]

References

  1. ^ Interview with Minotaur/WebCite, Wayback machine, February 2000. Accessed June 14, 2009.
  2. ^ "Sad news". ConneXions at LiveJournal. 2009-06-14. Archived from the original on 2024-06-21.
  3. ^ An Interview with Minotaur, February 2000.
  4. ^ Minotaurs' friends, Archived version
  5. ^ archive link
  6. ^ WayBack machine
  7. ^ Comment in Cin's LJ
  8. ^ WebCite, Archived version
  9. ^ PerpetualGayle op Twitter: "The Fanlore entry on Minotaur explains how a lot of us first found out about him. Sex Tips for Slash Writers. Which he put together after going to a con, being one of the ONLY men in attendance and likely the ONLY gay man, and fielding a lot of questions: https://t.co/k834YuonVy", Archived version
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