Phoenix (Beauty and the Beast zine)

For other articles with a similar title, see Phoenix.

Zine
Title:	Phoenix
Publisher:	Therion Press
Editor(s):	Nan Dibble
Date(s):	1992-1995
Series?:	yes
Medium:	print fanzine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Language:	English
External Links:
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Phoenix is a het Beauty and the Beast (TV) anthology with six issues.

It is a "fourth season zine."

Issue 1

Phoenix 1 was published in May 1992 and contains 187 pages.

The art is by Jane Freeman, Jan Durr, Lena Wood, and Anna Kelley.

The poetry is by Mayer and Sandie Dapoz.

cover of issue #1

flyer for issue #1

From the flyer:

a fourth season zine edited by Nan Dibble. This anthology carries the story of Beauty and the Beast forward from third season into the unknown, the romantic, and the surprising, featuring the work of some of the best writers in this fandom. Some stories focus on the developing romantic relationship between Vincent and Diana; others focus on other major series characters. PG-13, 188 pages.

• "The Naming Ceremony," "Flight," "Rags," "Lazy Sundays," "This Massive Darkness." by Maxine Mayer ("In these linked stories, Vincent and Diana advance in their relationship from Vincent's decision to invite Diana to Jacob's Naming Ceremony, through crises produced by Diana's acquisition of a cageful of finches, Vincent's jealousy about Diana's past lovers, and Diana's difficult realization that there is no life without limits, finishing with a powerful, insightful overview of Vincent's year since Catherine's death, in his own thoughts and words.") (1)
• Tomorrow, poem by Sandie Dapoz (10)
• The Road to Friendship by Rhonda Collins ("Diana's love for - and awareness of - Vincent are stronger than either of them wants to admit.") (11)
• No One Walks Like Vincent, poem by Maxine Mayer (also in Storms #1) (16)
• I dreamed of him again last night, poem by Sandie Dapoz (18)
• Sorority by Lena Wood ("Diana's sister, Susan, tries to find out what made "everything change" for Diana, in a strong story of sisterly love.") (19)
• A Gift to Remember by Anna and Wayne Kelley ("Diana encounters Kristopher, who wants to paint her portrait... and wonders who that strangely familiar woman was that she also met in the bookstore!") (27)
• Love Shall Not..., by Roxanne Shearer Koogler ("Vincent and Diana wrestle with the problem of how...or whether... to tell precocious Jacob about Catherine.") (36)
• House of Cards by Jena Snyder ("Diana sets off an unintended crisis by asking Vincent, "What's it like to kill somebody with your bare hands?") (43)
• Intimations of Mortality, poem by Maxine Mayer (54)
• Flight by Maxine Mayer (55)
• The Arrow, poem by Sandie Dapoz (60)
• In a Another Country by Nan Dibble ("Furious about the way Catherine treated Vincent - and the fact that Vincent still accepts it - Diana goes head to head with Catherine's memory within Vincent's heart.") (61)
• A Mother's Child, poem by Maxine Mayer (71)
• Sensations, poem by Maxine Mayer (71)
• Surcease of Sorrow by Toni Lichtenstein Bogolub ("Elliott and his wife, Emily, cope with the loss of their unborn child and find healing through their love.") (72)
• Rags by Maxine Mayer (84)
• Blind Man's Bluff, poem by Sandie Dapoz (99)
• Endless Night by Lucy Green ("Vincent and Diana's harrowing ordeal after he's bitten by a rabid dog.") (100)
• Starved, poem by Maxine Mayer (117)
• Recessional by Nan Dibble ("As Jacob's first birthday approaches, Vincent's mysterious injuries suggest he's re-enacting - in reverse - the events since the Trilogy -- with a surprising, magical outcome.") (118)
• Sometimes a Silent Answer by Michele Hawley ("How far can Diana persuade Vincent to go in protecting a child being sexually abused by her father?") (134)
• Phoenix, poem by Sandie Dapoz (145)
• The Tower and the Rose by Nan Dibble ("Returning to his own subjective country, the Other ("Dark Vincent") finds his tower destroyed and his chatelaine, Catherine, missing, and he's veryannoyed! A fable/fantasy.) (146)
• Lazy Sundays by Maxine Mayer (161)
• This Massive Darkness by Maxine Mayer (170)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

Mostly V/D stories (one focuses on Elliot; another on the Other) taking off from the whole series. Occasional C sightings, but no SND. Standouts: Lucy Green's “Endless Night,” a riveting story putting V's life in jeopardy after he's bitten by a rabid stray dog. In Nan Dibble's “Recessional,” V re-experiences the physical traumas of 3rd season, in exact reverse order, as the first anniversary of C's death approaches. After that, things really get strange: even if the reader guesses what's evolving, the final revelation is still rock-you intense. And at the top is Maxine Mayer's “This Massive Darkness,” told entirely by V, trying to comply with D's request that he write his view of their first year together. The effect on him is cathartic...as, the reader finds-and witnesses V discovering for himself-was her healing intent all along. “Brilliant in concept and content, astonishing in insight, emotionally wrenching, stylistically beautiful, complex and soaring and triumphant,” said to guest reviewer Kathy Cox. Other fiction by Mayer, Dibble, Rhonda Collins, Lena Wood (with great art), Toni Lichtenstein Bogolub, Roxanne Shearer Koogler, Anna/Wayne Kelley, Jena Snyder, Michele Hawley. Excellent, moving poetry by Mayer and Sandie Dapoz. Strong art by Jane Freeman, Jan Durr, Wood, and Anna Kelley.

Issue 2

cover of issue #2

flyer for issue #2

Phoenix 2 has the subtitle: A Fourth Season Zine". This fanzine contains 13 stories plus many poems and illustrations and is 194 pages long. It was published in 1992.

From the flyer: "Live the love and laughter with Vincent and Diana as the dream of Beauty and the Beast continues!"

Contents:

• Journey to a Nameless River by Maxine Mayer ("what happens when Vincent agrees to escort Diana to his secret and nameless river?")
• Helios by Nan Dibble ("When did Vincent first see the sun, and what are his feelings toward it - then and now?")
• Shadows by Lucy Green ("What happens when Diana delivers to Vincent letters Catherine wrote during her captivity?")
• Connected by Maxine Mayer ("How does Diana begin to feel really a part of Vincent's life Below?")
• Out of Exile by Maxine Mayer ("Why does Vincent seek out Diana's help in coming to terms with his grief over Catherine's loss?")
• My Dread Lord by Maxine Mayer ("How does Diana react to Vincent's self-absorbed blindness toward her love?")
• The Other's Tale by Maxine Mayer ("What warning does the Other/Dark Vincent bring Diana to save Vincent's life...and his own?")
• Chess by Rhonda Collins ("What happens when Vincent loses a bet with Diana whose forfeit is that the loser must answer frankly whatever the winner asks?")
• Questions by Leslie Warstler ("How do Vincent and Diana respond to Jacob's perplexity at having no fur?")
• Three Can Play at This Game by Lena Wood ("what special insights does Diana's four-year-old niece, Alexandra, have about Vincent? A sweet and perceptive story.")
• Two Solitudes by Jena Snyder ("A tale of isolation transformed into joy; and "Games": a wicked, raunchy, funny tale of the games criminals...and lovers...sometimes play.")
• When Man Meets Beast by Inez Paskal ("A novelette in which psychological forces compel Vincent-disastrously!-to do what he really wants! Part one of two.")
• poetry by Sandie Dapoz, Maxine Mayer, Melissa Cook, Roxanne Koogler, Pat Farrar, Gloria Jones, Roz Levinson
• Art by Lena Wood, Jan Durr, Kriss Farver, Phyllis Berwick, Vickey Brickle-Macky, Nan Dibble, Jane Freeman, Sandy Tew.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

As compared to P-1, the stories here are a more balanced mixture of mood, tone, and subject. There is lightness as well as depth here; gentle poignance along with powerful drama. Standouts among the 13 stories are Maxine Mayer's “Journey to a Nameless River” (V/D trek there and discover a special closeness) and Nan Dibble's “Helios” (V finds he's too fond of basking in the sunlight on D's roof: there's a price). Another special notice goes to Lucy Green's “Shadows,” a tender story which sends C's spirit on a quest to help heal those she left behind, and then enlists Diana to complete that task. The zine concludes with Part I of Inez Paskal's novel “Where Man Meets Beast,” which guest reviewer Kathy Cox found “a page turner from start to startling middle.” Concluded in P-3. Also fiction by Rhonda Collins, Jena Snyder, Leslie Warstler, Lena Wood. Strong poetry by Sandie Dapoz, Maxine Mayer, Melissa Cook, Roxanne Koogler, Pat Farrar, Gloria Jones, Roz Levinson. Art by Lena Wood (with a striking portrait of Diana), Jan Durr, Kriss Farver, Phyllis Berwick, Vickey Brickle-Macky, Nan Dibble, Jane Freeman, Sandy Tew.

Issue 3

Phoenix 3 was published in 1993 and contains 176 pages. Art Information: Jan Durr, Pat Farrar, Kriss Farver, Rosemarie Hauer, Jackie Kapke, Inez Paskal, Sandy Tew.

cover of issue #3

Contents:

• Where Man Meets Beast, conclusion by Inez Paskal
• Always Possibilities by Janet Kilbourne
• Another Life by Jacqueline Kapke (sequel in issue #6)
• The Power of Night by Rhonda Collins
• Where Man Meets Beast 2 by Inez Paskal
• Duty by Maxine Meyer
• Masquerade by Gloria Jones
• poetry by Sandie Dapoz, Roxanne Shearer Koogler, Dibble, and Mayer, Gloria Jones and Pat Farrar

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

Standouts here are Janet Kilbourne's gritty, insightful story, “Always Possibilities” in which D forces V to face what protecting those he loves has cost him...and why it must stop. Jacquelyn Kapke's substantial novelette, “Another Life,” recounts V/D's courtship and marriage. While they're expecting their first child, they get some disturbing news. In the conclusion of Inez Paskal's novel “Where Man Meets Beast,” V searches for missing Jacob...and his peace of mind, lost in part 1 (published in P-2). Other fiction by Maxine Mayer (“Duty,” in which V decides to play hookey... and, by some coincidence, so does D), and Gloria Jones, whose “Masquerade” is an outrageous story of V being forced, by D, into a suit for the visit of her half-blind great aunt, with memorably ridiculous accompanying artwork.

Issue 4

issue 4, Rosemary Hauer artist

Phoenix 4 was published in 1993 and contains 190 pages. Art Information: Rosemarie Hauer (cover and illos); Jan Durr, Kriss Farver, Sandy Tew, Lena Wood, and Marsha Young. Poems by Melissa Cook Baird, Dibble, Mayer, Gloria Jones, and Roxanne Shearer Koogler.

Contents:

• A Distant Inner Galaxy by Toni Lichtenstein Bogolub
• Power of Night by Rhonda Collins
• Dustbowl Cafe by Maxine Mayer (and Nan Dibble?)
• other fiction by Ron Holla, Michelle Wilson, Lena Wood

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 4

Stronger than P3, standouts here are Toni Lichtenstein Bogolub's “A Distant Inner Galaxy” in which tortured telepath Cassie (who first appeared in Bogolub's SND novelette Ad Astra), once Joe's beloved foster sister, tries to help Diana and Joe identify and capture a cop-killer. Rhonda Collins' splendid “The Power of Night” dramatizes the uneasiness of empaths V/D about coming to know each other too well during an excursion to the unpeopled deeps of the tunnel system. The zine concludes with the rowdy Mayer/Dibble collaboration, novella “Dustbowl Cafe” in which, in an alternate timeline, Diana, owner of an isolated Arizona cafe, is puzzled by the mystery of amnesiac/handyman Vincent, whom she rescued from a wrecked van. Then Gabriel, wife Catherine, and bodyguard Snow-a romantic triangle-arrive and in less than 24 hours, Gabriel's been murdered. This story, like Bogolub's, leans rather heavily on the upper border of PG-13.

Issue 5

Phoenix 5 was published in 1994 and contains 156 pages.

flyer for issue #5

page two, flyer for issue #5

The art is by Sandy Chandler Shelton, Marsha Young, Jan Durr, Dragon, Sandy Tew, Rita Klemp, and Rosemarie Hauer (cover). It includes a color plate frontispiece by Victoria Brickle-Macky.

It also contains poetry by Dibble, Melissa Cook Baird, Sandie Dapoz, and Roxanne Shearer Koogler.

• Tyger, Tyger by C. Rhonda Collins ("Rhonda Collins' expansion of the pivotal episode "In the Forest of the Night," Rolley and Vincent, in their belief that all hope is lost, have more in common than either of them knows....")
• All That I Have by Janet Kilbourne
• Promises to Keep by Janet Kilbourne ("Diana persuades Vincent to do with her what he'd never dared do with Catherine....")
• Veritas by Nan Dibble (" Diana knows a secret she doesn't dare tell Vincent... a secret that's eating her up alive; a secret she can keep only by retreating into a silence Vincent won't tolerate.")
• Tunnel Rat by Ann R. Brown ("Young Jacob finds an unwholesome playmate, an embittered, crippled street kid who seems immune to the tunnels' magical prospect of belonging.")
• Lisa's Back by Jackie Kapke ("The dancer's return to the tunnels sparks Diana's jealousy... and leads Diana's relationship with Vincent to a new level of intimacy.")
• The Beast Within by Ron Holla (""The Beast Within," the beast in question... is Diana's rage after her sister, Susan, is attacked.")
• Kindred Spirits by Nan Dibble and Maxine Mayer ("Just as Diana and Vincent begin to discover love, Snow and Gabriel return, seeking revenge: they're vampires!")
• Kilkenny Cats by Jena Snyder ("A substantial excerpt from Jena Snyder's B&B-based novel "Kilkenny Cats," the road to love for Megan/Diana and Tomas/Vincent isn't made any smoother because he's fully human: he's on the run from the police and the IRA... and he's the prime suspect in her investigation of a series of brutal murders!")

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 5

This volume in this fourth season series is diverse, with a broad spectrum of storylines covering a wide emotional scale. British writer Janet Kilbourne offers two stories. "All That I Have" tells of Diana helping Vincent recover from his overwhelming grief about Catherine's death by forcing him to reenter The Cave and again confront "The Other" who alone remembers what once happened there. Kilbourne's "Promises to Keep" has D virtually shanghai-ing V, by motorcycle, for a weekend in an isolated cabin in CT, a bittersweet but memorable experience for them both.

In Dibble's "Veritas," during a moment of profound but unwelcome insight, D realizes why V lost his bond with C. She finds it nearly impossible not to be totally honest with V, yet can't tell him this truth she knows would shatter his new-found peace. Ironically, it's V who teaches D how to distinguish between what's really the truth and what's merely a fact.

Rhonda Collins' story "Tyger, Tyger," an expanded retelling of the episode "In the Forests of the Night," offers insights into what V and Rolley felt during that difficult time. Collins finds dramatic parallels between Rolley's drug addiction and death wish and V's slow decline into the raging darkness of "the Other," despair, and death. Rolley is able to save himself with the gentle guidance of Father; V also recovers his hope, with the help of D's less gentle guidance.

In the Continued Classic "Tunnel Rat" by Ann R. Brown, young Jacob befriends and brings Below a hostile, initially unappealing crippled street waif whose friendship and adoration of Vincent are initially disruptive but finally heroic, when the tunnels are threatened by a flood. This is a strong rendition of a child's acceptance of the healing that the love of the tunnel people could give. Jackie Kapke's "Lisa's Back" tells of jealousy and conflict set off by the dancer's return to the tunnels, causing a rift between Vincent and Diana whose passionate reconciliation leans heavily on the upper limit of PG-13. Ron Holla's "The Beast Within" tells of D's battle with her own "beast" when her sister is attacked by a serial rapist/murder...who is strongly portrayed as he tries to appease his own personal demons. The zine concludes with "Kindred Spirits," a novelette by Dibble and Maxine Mayer, based on the assumption that Snow and Gabriel are vampires...who again pose a threat to the tunnel community as Gabriel seeks to reclaim "Julian" and Snow seeks revenge. Also a section from Jena Snyder's sort-of B&B novel Kilkenny Cats (D's become investigator Megan Rourke, and Vincent is Tomas, a normal-appearing man hunted by the IRA and the police).

Issue 6

Phoenix 6 was published in 1995 and contains 145 pages. Art information: Art by Rosemarie Hauer, Jan Durr, and Klemp. Poetry by Maxine Mayer, Dibble, Rita Klemp, Baird."

• Journey's End by Rhonda Collins (also in Beauty and the Beast)
• Similarities by Lydia Bower
• Rightfully Mine by Lydia Bower
• A Parent's passing by Jackie Kapke
• The Crusade by Melissa Baird and Marsha Young
• Distant Thunder by Jackie Kapke
• Wither Thou Goest by Gloria Jones
• Another Life by Jackie Kapke (sequel to a story in issue #3)
• Copycat by Lena Wood
• Legacy by Nan Dibble
• Thoughts Beyond Imagining by Nan Dibble
• Sebastian by Nan Dibble

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 6

Despite the page count, this is a BIG zine, with ten stories, two novelettes, and considerable poetry and artwork. Smallish but legible typeset type in columns, through most of it, serves to keep the zine compact.

Fiction by the usual gang, with the notable addition of Lydia Bower, a new writer whose "Similarities" and "Rightfully Mine" are particularly enjoyable (see also Bower's new zine, Lifesongs). In the former story, Vincent and Diana confront his claws...with a pair of clippers, which he may or may not choose to make use of. Diana makes clear to him that he's fine by her just as he is (to put it mildly) and that his similarities to humanity are much more important to her than his divergences from that norm. In the latter, after explosive reluctance Vincent finally admits to himself (and Diana) his true and long-denied feelings about Catherine, the bond, and their chaste relationship.

In Jackie Kapke's "A Parent's Passing," Father is stricken by a stroke and speaks comfortingly to nearly everyone Below who dreads being without him, as Diana and worried Vincent look on. In the provocative and imaginative "The Crusade," Melissa Baird and Marsha Young theorize about what might have happened if Vincent continued to feel closest to Catherine in the act of killing...even after she was dead. In Jackie Kapke's "Distant Thunder," Vincent and Diana have a romantic, sensual interlude on her rooftop until they're driven indoors by a storm.

Gloria Jones' "Whither Thou Goest" is a continuation of a previous story, Jackie Kapke's "Another Life" (from Phoenix 3), in which amnesiac Catherine, now married to a doctor with whom she's had two children, encountered Vincent in Central Park. This present story tells how she's unable to leave it at that, believing this shadowed figure holds the key to her forgotten past.

Lena Wood (see also her new zine Dark Thresholds) presents "Copycat," in which Diana sets out to stop a murderer threatening to strike at someone in the cast of a rock musical about the legendary monsters of history...including the Beast. All Vincent's ambivalence about theater (he watched performances here with Lisa) and the public perception of the monstrously different become entangled with the story's plot. This story's headlong action, imaginative evocation of backstage life, and perceptive descriptions of the characters make it very good reading indeed. Virtually a novel in its own right, Rhonda Collins' "Journey's End" is a continuation of the storyline of her first Vincent/Diana series, in which married V/D are trying to come to terms with his having been forced to kill Modred, a son he never knew he had, and his difficult reconciliation with the Other because of this action. There is also a prospect of another child...and not Diana's...which they must confront.

Nan Dibble contributes two stories and a novelette. "Legacy" tells how severely wounded Elliot drags himself Below and Vincent sets out to heal the man's corrosive grief and recover the best of his own memories, which he's afraid of losing to time. In "Thoughts Beyond Imagining," Diana finds herself forced to speculate on the meaning of the fact that Catherine never revealed her pregnancy to Peter Alcott, the one person she could have safely confided in. And in the novelette "Sebastian," Diana takes in a stray cat who, health and confidence renewed, sets out on a campaign to oust rival Vincent from Diana's loft. Vincent is forced to reexamine his ideas about "catness," and therefore about himself and his possible relationship to Diana, by this determined small aggressor feline. He decides that the best response would be for Diana to treat him like a cat, so that Sebastian will realize Vincent has rights, too. This leads to unexpected developments....

As always, this series is provocative, thoughtful, and often romantic, and the writing and presentation are good to excellent.