Ruth Kurz

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Fan
Name: Ruth Kurz
Alias(es):
Type: fanwriter, fan artist
Fandoms: Harry and Johnny, Starsky & Hutch, Simon and Simon, others
Communities:
Other:
URL:
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"Ruth Kurz's Rick & AJ hugging got an award at ZebraCon for Best Dramatic Illo in the non-S&H, non-Professionals category. (I thought it was an erotic illo, myself, but a friend told me it can't be erotic if they have their clothes on— I don't believe that.) ... I love Ruth's artwork SO MUCH. It certainly enhances these l/z's and our lives. [1]

Ruth Kurz was a prolific writer and fan artist.

She had a big part in creating the Harry and Johnny slash fandom (i.e. Harry Callahan/John Davis from the Dirty Harry movies). She wrote much of the fiction and created a shared universe with canon, such as a timeline, for that ship, and recruited other fans to join.

She was also a very active and enthusiastic artist, writer, and LoCer.

Ruth passed away in January 2019.

Ruth's Comments About Her Journeys in Fandom

1993

Discovering slash, I was reading Mary Renault and other popular books before I discovered fandom. K/S was my intro there, then S/H H/J, Pros, and everyone else.

I've always loved the characters, not the actors. David Soul was the first whose other roles I began to collect. I now enjoy the other roles of Martin Shaw, too.And others. Still it is the characters who feed my fantasies. [2]

Later that year, she wrote:

I've been enjoying [a recent discussion] on how we did or didn't see slash as kids watching early TV. As TV didn't have much to be slashed when I was a teen, I was busy falling in love with swashbucklers in books and thinking the movies never did them justice. I also wrote my own versions of comics like Boys Ranch and Batman, always writing myself into the stories to save my favorite characters. On Batman, my first favorite was Robin, but as I grew older I started seeing the Batman was MUCH better. Then I went to high school and was hooked on Scaramouche and Captain Blood. NOT on Stewart Granger, who wasn't as good as my imagination for those characters. Slash had to be shown to me as an ooooold woman in her 40s and it was K/S followed quickly by S/H which led me into H/J and Pros. As a child, books kept my imagination working overtime. [3]

Branching out:

I discovered K/S fandom about the time Teri White was deeply involved with S&H fandom. I read her entire K/S collection with great joy and discovery, but she talked S&H and asked for some illos. One cannot stare at two pairs of blue eyes, drawing them, without getting hooked. That led to H/J and the realization that the Mother Church did not have to be ALL. [4]

1994

Dodging the mundanes:

Being found with slash in your possession by mundanes of any kind is always a bit embarrassing. The police and post office seem to get uptight about a lot of things, whether they are illegal or not. Yes, I was a cop and if I had been the one to find it I would have chuckled, but perhaps I am the exception. When H/J was in its prime, one reader wrote a very cute vignette called The Kurz Curse. It was about someone trying to xerox H/J zines on the company copier, and suffering a crick in the neck from looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching. And SHE was a cop.[5]

Using her legal name:

Yes, ten years has made a big difference [with using pseuds and real names in fandom] although I had already started pubbing H/J under my own name for many moons. Maybe I was too dumb to be paranoid, but it did seem silly to me to bother with a pseudonym. until Karen B and crew were openly openly threatened by some anti slash people. [6]

Thanking an author, and being grateful for feedback:

I remember being totally wrapped up in H/J at the time, and the stories coming to me were ego-boo that people wanted to "play in my backyard." Your story was especially interesting as I was also an SH fan. It is still one of the most popular in the H/J series, and it certainly invited a lot of people to want and write sequels.

I know how much feedback means to me whether as writer, artist, or editor and wanted to pass that on to the people who had done so much to make the H/J universe so much fun. I got the idea from other editors who printed out LOCs either in their zines or in separate booklets. It always meant a lot to me. I am so glad you liked getting the feedback, too. Thanks again for being part of "my" universe and for saying such nice things. You made my day.

[...]

Most LOCs only say "I liked it" and not why. Even in a small, almost family-like fandom like H/J was back then. But for the most part the LOCs said more, possibly because it WAS such an intimate group -- at least, they mostly all knew me, so the LOCs were part of personal correspondence. [7]

Writing in the the first person:

I don't resent stories in the first person, but I find them very difficult to write. Teri made me write one H/J story in first person (MARCH) and it was like sweating blood for me, while it is probably very easy for someone else. She was being a true writing friend, getting me out of the usual and trying other ways of doing things. I still prefer third person with a limited point of view.[8]

Utilizing the typewriter, and thoughts on typos:

Yes, long before computers entered my life I did the entire H/J series on manual, simple electric and finally Selectric II. It was edited, reedited and proofed before it was printed. There are still errors, but not many because it is my belief that any error or typo interrupts the reader's train of thought, spoiling the story. Computers are a LOT easier, but every story still needs proofing, editing, reediting by more than one person. Quality is still a valuable part of any zine. [9]

Art Gallery

Ruth has given blanket permission for her art to appear on Fanlore.

Harry & Johnny

Starsky & Hutch

Star Trek: TOS

The Professionals

  • Pros Art by Ruth Kurz.jpg
  • Pros Art by Ruth Kurz2.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz 3.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz 11.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz Cat Study.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz Cat Study 5.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz Cat Study 6.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz Cat Study 7.jpg
  • Pros Fan Art by Ruth Kurz Cat Study 8.jpg

Other

References

  1. ^ from Simon and Simon Investigations #2
  2. ^ comments at Virgule-L, quoted with permission (March 25, 1993)
  3. ^ comments at Virgule-L, quoted with permission (August 28, 1993)
  4. ^ comments at Virgule-L, quoted with permission (Nov 7, 1993)
  5. ^ from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (April 5, 1994)
  6. ^ from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (July 17, 1994)
  7. ^ from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (September 18, 1994)
  8. ^ from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (September 23, 1994)
  9. ^ from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (October 27, 1994)
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