On the Double Interview with Cybel

Interviews by Fans
Title:	On the Double Interview with Cybel
Interviewer:	On the Double
Interviewee:	Cybel
Date(s):	1987
Medium:	print
Fandom(s):	Star Trek TOS, slash
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There was an interview with Cybel in On the Double #4.

Excerpts

I first came across K/S about a year and a half ago when I ordered the first few issues of NAKED TIMES. I had known this subgenre of STAR TREK existed since the mid 1970's, but had never come across any examples of it. To my surprise, I not only liked a lot of the stories and poems in these issues, but over the next year, I found myself re-reading them over and over again, especially DESERT HEAT (by [Gayle F], THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS (by Alexis Fegan Black), AN ANGUISH TO PAY (by Teri White), and THIS DEADLY INNOCENCE (by Leslie Fish) among others. If there is a common thread between these stories that turned my curiosity into an obsession, it is a combination of good writing and believability. I suppose I'm basically an incurable romantic — I found I was a total sucker for stories in which two people I love, have loved for years, are able to come to grips with their own love for each other despite all obstacles. Gender really is an insignificant issue when compared to issues such as commitment, loneliness, personal integrity, self-sacrifice, etc. The latter, trade name love, are what K/S is all about. In the last 6 months, I have not only started writing K/S, but I have been amassing a huge number of zines and devouring their contents. Every issue of NAKED TIMES is more beautiful than the last. [Gayle F's] artwork, especially the covers of FIRST TIME and CHOICES, is exquisite. Speaking of CHOICES, also written by [Gayle F], I have never read a more beautiful or erotic work in any field. And poetry! "The Most Human", by Barbara L.B. Storey (NOME 8); "Progressions", by Flora Poste (PROGRESSIONS); "Fallen Eagle" by Robin Hood (STARRY SEAS, EARTHLY PLANES); "Imbroglio" by Dayle Palko (NAKED TIMES 20); and so many others touched me deeply and inspired me to write poetry of my own.

Most of the K/S I have come across is very positive in attitude and values. Thankfully, there does not seem to be much S&M for its own sake out there, at least in the zines I have come across. For this, I thank all you editors. I'm also glad that there is so little trivialization of the K/S relationship in the genre. After all, the emotions that are involved here are anything but trivial. This does not mean there is no place in K/S for humor, but I like to see humor arising naturally from the people and situations rather than existing as the sole purpose of a piece. Happy endings are by no means mandatory.

S/f and fantasy have always been a big part of my life. Everything I have ever written or tried to write falls into one or another of these categories. I discovered THE LORD OF THE RINGS in the mid 60's, before most other people knew it existed. ELFQUEST ranks as one of my all time favorite works. I loved STAR TREK when it was on in the late 60's, but I was totally unaware of fandom until the mid 70's, when I came across the James Blish paperback renditions of the series stories. By then, it had been so many years since I had seen ST that I barely remembered some of the episodes, and the physical details left in my mind were fairly sketchy. As a result, as I read the books my imagination took over and created images so much more real and richer in detail than anything that had actually existed in the series that I virtually recreated ST in my own mind. Later, when Trek again started showing in my area, I enjoyed it even more than I had originally.

The first thing I ever tried to write was a ST story, but it never went anywhere until I sat down and finished it recently, more than 10 years after its inception. It was my discovery of K/S that finally inspired me to get down to some serious writing. In some ways, this fact still surprises and confuses me, but the more I think about it, the clearer the reasons become. For one thing, ST is about people I know and care about as deeply as I care about my own family and friends. Because I care about them as people, I want to see them happy and fulfilled as people. Then, too, since I love both Kirk and Spock and have shared 20 years of my life with them, I can believe in their love for each other, no matter what form it may take. As the old saying goes, it doesn't matter who we love or how we love, but that we love. So, as long as anyone wants to read what I write, I'll go on writing (even if the anyone is only me).