Sanctuary Moon

Zine
Title:	Sanctuary Moon
Publisher:	Wretched Hive Press
Editor(s):	Joanna K. Blaidd & Alexandra Jones
Date(s):	2003
Series?:
Medium:	fanzine, print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Wars
External Links:	Archive link This is the online flyer.
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

cover #1, art by X

Sanctuary Moon is a slash Star Wars anthology zine published in 2003 and has 185 pages.

From a zine ad: "Its main focus is exploring "the slashy relationship between Han Solo and Luke Skywalker."

Issue 1

Sanctuary Moon 1 features stories and poetry by Van Eijk, Angel, Joanna Blaidd, Vic Coopers, Caryn B., Alex Jones, Khylara and Gwendolen, and artwork by X.

The zine won the 2004 FanQ Honorable Mention for Best Slash Star Wars Zine. 'Time Capsule' by Alexandra Jones won the 2004 FanQ Honorable Mention for Best Slash Star Wars Story.

The first issue was dedicated to "Z.P. Florian for her pioneering role In bringing Star Wars slash "out of the closet.""

Issue 1: Editorial

Welcome to Sanctuary Moon! We're delighted (not to mention relieved!) to be presenting you with our very first Issue. It wasn't without a few snags In the making, but we honestly feel that what you now hold In your hands Is a pretty kick-ass collection of stories and artwork, all devoted to our two favorite guys.

You'll find stories covering a broad range of styles and themes, and we're confident that there's something here for everyone who loves Han and Luke. If you love alternate- _ universe stories as much as we do, turn to Fusion by Van Eljk, the romantic saga of two unlikely lovers.

If adventure's your thing, you've definitely come to the right 'zlne! Flip to Angel's fairy tale Inspired Sources of Power, Joanna Blaidd's Dragonfiies and Time Capsule by Alexandra Jones. Empire's End by Joanna Blaidd re-envisions the ending of Return of the Jedi, while Angel's Hunter in the Shadows is an exciting detour to the underworld.

On the other hand, maybe you're just looking for a good time. In that case, you're sure P' to love Vic Cooper's hilarious Whatever's Good for What Alls You (a story which was previously published on the web, but which we felt merited 'zine exposure and illos).

Van Eljk's Stop Thinking and Gwendolen's The Men in My Life are both lovely character vignettes, and last, but definitely not least, Caryn B has serenaded the romantics of the fandom (all of us. In other words) with her deliciously toothsome Feast for the Senses.

A few pieces of art have appeared before In other contexts, most notably Caryn B's Endor illo (on page 30). A detail from an earlier draft of this work has appeared on the web, but this Is the first time the finished Illustration has appeared In Its entirety. (Do check It out; It's Incredible!)

One last thing before we shut up and let you get on with spending quality time with n the boys: please consider taking the time to drop us a line, and especially, please let our contributors know what you thought of their stories and artwork. Don't hesitate to write just because you think you need to find time to write a long, analytical email; authors and artists appreciate even short notes that simply let them know that someone enjoyed their work. You can find email addresses for most of our contributors on the contents page, or If you prefer, you can write to them care of us, your editors at Wretched Hive Press.

Issue 1: Hansheep and Lukesheep

We've decided to include an editorial to explain why many Han/Luke fans have little stuffed sheep and think they're an integral part of the fandom. It does require a bit of explaining, since most people don't immediately think of sheep when they think of Star Wars. But it's hard to get the full Han/Luke experience without understanding the role of the sheep. They're mascots for Luke and Han. Little white sheep with blue eyes are the Lukesheep, and little black sheep with hazel eyes are the Hansheep. We always get them in pairs, of course; we wouldn't want to have a Lukesheep without a Hansheep, or vice versa.

One of the editors (Joanna) thinks that one reason we feel that the sheep are much more than just little stuffed animals is that there's all kinds of complex symbolism connected with them. The sheep are mascots for the boys, but in a way they are the boys. In some fandoms, people like to write and think a lot about what the characters were like as children. In this fandom, the sheep are kind of like little-kid versions of Luke and Han.

Over time, an elaborate mythology has developed in the fandom about the meaning and function of the sheep. The sheep love and admire "their boys" and want to grow up to be just like them. So Lukesheep practices channeling the healing Force, and Hansheep smuggles things (typically things like candy bars). The mascots let us see the "inner child" emotional facets of the characters. The illos Sayaka did for us show the dual nature of the sheep beautifully — they're sheep and they're the boys, all at the same time.

Hansheep and Lukesheep here. Our

sheepmoms have passed out from working too hard on the zine. We kept offering to help but they said no, they could do it all themselves. We knew they couldn't but they wouldn't listen. Now they can't finish, so we're jumping on the keyboard to get the job done. This is why we're so important to the fandom, 'cause we will always pitch in and do anything for our beloved boys. Even if we have to write a whole zine for them all by ourselves.

Joanna used a lot of big words, but we'll tell you what you need to know about sheep: The boys are the center of our bright universe. We love and admire them and think about them all the time. We especially admire the way the boys love each other and stick by each other no matter what.

Also we like to guard things, like zines and pictures of our boys. And if anyone threatens our boys in any way, we immediately call for our weapons (blasters and lightsabers). The sheepmoms think we shouldn't have weapons, but of course we have to practice with them so that we can learn to use them as well as Luke and Han.

We're small sheep, but inside, we're just like our boys. We like the way Sayaka drew us in these illos 'cause she showed how we dream of being exactly like the boys in every way. She showed how we take care of each other, and how Hansheep will even give Lukesheep his vest for a blanket or smuggle treats to give to Lukesheep.

Now we hope our sheepmoms wake up in time to finish the zine and take us to MediaWest, where we can have SheepCon, our own tiny convention where we get together to snuggle and catch up on all the news from the fandom. If the sheepmoms don't wake up soon, we'll have to finish this whole zine and go without them.

• Feast for the Senses by Caryn B (Han tried to convince Luke to go on a vacation.) (1)
• Tawny Blue Confusion, poem by Angel (14)
• Empire's End by Joanna K. Blaidd (A different version of Endor.) (15)
• Hunter in the Shadows by Angel (Luke contracts a virus.) (33)
• Stop Thinking by Van Eijk (Han thinks about Luke after Tatooine.) (47)
• Time Capsule by Alexandra Jones (Han gets a gift from his dead father.) (51)
• The Men in My Life by Gwendolen (Leia and Han drift apart.) (81)
• Fusion by Van Eijk (83)
• Sources of Power by Angel (Han's badly hurt - Luke tends.) (125)
• The Smile, poem by Khylara (137)
• Dragonflies by Joanna K. Blaidd (Han has a very delicate 'problem.') (141)
• Whatever's Good for What Ails You by Vic Coopers (153)

Issue 1: Inside Sample

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  inside page from issue #1, X

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  inside page from issue #1, Caryn B.

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  inside page from issue #1, Alexandra Jones

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  inside page from issue #1, Alexandra Jones

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  inside page from issue #1, Alexandra Jones

• 

  inside page from issue #1, Alexandra Jones

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  inside page from issue #1, Sayaka

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  inside page from issue #1, Sayaka

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  inside page from issue #1, Tina

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  inside page from issue #1, Larrkin

• 

  inside page from issue #1, Alexandra Jones

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  inside page from issue #1, Larrkin

• 

  inside page from issue #1, Sayaka

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

Someone on the Han/Luke ML asked me for my opinion of this zine months ago and I apologize to her for not getting back to her on that, but the reasons are here.

I bought Sanctuary Moon when it was first published, what was it, a year ago, a year and a half? Either way, I finally finished it last night. I started reading it the moment I got it and I'm a fast reader, but I couldn't stay with it. I kept putting it aside for months at a time and I'd have to start all over when I came back to it. It just couldn't hold my interest.

This is such a tremendous disappointment because I was hoping for something like the Elusive Lover zines which were so excellent. There were some of the same authors and artists and I truly expected something of the same quality. What an utter letdown this turned out to be.

To give credit where it's due, the artwork in general ranges from funny to breathtakingly beautiful. The cover itself is a fine example (look on the side of the page to see it). A good portion of the artwork is done in anime style, which I’ve never seen in the Han/Luke fandom, and I loved it; it never failed to make me smile or laugh. I can find no fault with the artists here; well done ladies/guys.

The layout is both nicely done and clever, with excerpts from the story shown in black boxes on the side. I rather liked that. It gave it a different feel from other zines I've read and it was eye-catching. On the whole it was easy on the eyes and easy to read, a big plus.

I did find a couple grammar/punctuation errors, but nothing huge and I suspect it was just a general slip-up in what looks like a zine that was well edited with catching those things in mind. High points on the grammar/punctuation/spelling part.

Okay, so the zine's artwork blew my mind and the format was in most cases, technically speaking a wonder to behold. But as I've said before, a zine can have all that and still fall resoundingly flat. And this one is a perfect example of that.

To begin with, there were parts of the format that weren't good. For one, the editors seem to want to conserve space, keep the cost of printing down. At least that was the impression I got because at least once in every page, many times twice, the spacing between the letters was condensed for a paragraph, so you had a single paragraph that looked squished together in comparison to all the other paragraphs on the page. This happened on every single page, most noticeably on page 151 where it was obvious they were trying to make room for the graphic. As lovely as the graphic is, the text shouldn't be sacrificed for it. It looks bad all around.

The copy of the zine I received had two back pages, an extra text page and a number of the pages were badly put together for the body of the zine. The holes punched in them for the spiral binder where done differently from the rest of the pages and caused them to sick out a good quarter of an inch further from the others. I had to make a trip down to Office Depot and use their paper cutter to fix it so the zine would fit on my bookshelf without bending the pages. It was also discovered too late that many of the graphics in the zine reacted badly to being touched, the ink smearing and running. Fortunately I've managed not to mess up any of mine, but that's not something you should have to worry about with a zine, especially when it's one of that zine's few redeeming features.

Honestly, I could've lived with any or all of that if the stories had been good. I can put up with a lot from a zine if the stories are good. With only a very few exceptions, these weren't.

After reading through the entire zine over the past couple days, I have to conclude that some of the fault lies with the editors. Throughout nearly every story there is a great "fear of 'said'" as it's become known. (You can find a good, clear rant about this at Ten Little Peeves by Sandy and the Bitkahs. It's number two, below Epithets.) Han and Luke and every other character never say anything, they growl it, grunt it, sob it, scream it, yell it, sneer it, shriek it, snarl it and so on and so forth ad nauseum. I was grinding my teeth by the second story. Since this is such a prevalent mistake throughout the zine, I greatly suspect that much of the blame can be laid at the feet of the editors and not the authors, since I've read stories by a few of these authors before and I never noticed this phenomenon in their work.

Another serious problem in many of the stories was the multiple points of view. Many of the stories suffered from this. You spend the first couple pages settling in to a story from Han's point of view, when suddenly it switches to Luke, and then Leia, and then the no-name tech who has a random thought about the Luke/Han relationship. Horribly poor story telling there. I can understand in a very long story if the author chooses to tell different chapters from different points of view, but to switch in the middle of a chapter? Multiple times? No. And no again. Rule of thumb: find a point of view and stick with it. Another thing that made my jaw clench when reading this zine.

Then there were the Chewbacca translations. I admit that this is a personal peeve, but I can't stand it when authors translate Chewbacca's words. I've read so many good stories where we get the gist of what he's saying by the other characters' reactions and responses, it makes the story stronger, in my opinion.

Aside from those problems, I found that most of the authors don't have a very good grasp of the characters themselves. Han's dialect is over-exaggerated, Chewbacca gets used as a yenta or he's just background material, Leia and Han's romance is tossed aside without a good explanation, and Luke tends to veer towards the Blair Sandburg-fanon end of the spectrum.

Let me explain that last one. Blair Sandburg, from The Sentinel, has become a caricature in too much of fanfic these days. He's best described as whinyhelplessbottom!Blair. That's what drove me from Sentinel fandom, soured me on Stargate SG-1 fandom (because Daniel has somehow become the second coming of Blair) and now it appears that Luke is headed that way. How a Jedi Knight can become a whiny, helpless bottom in the first place would've confused me before reading this zine, but in far too many of the stories, that's the direction in which Luke is leaning. It's not a drastic character assassination, not yet, but in stories like the AU "Fusion," all the warning signs are there. Luke's innocence and naivety are pushed towards the ludicrous, giving the character an effeminate feel, Han becomes supermachoman!Han, and you start seeing descriptions of Han being so much bigger than Luke, dominating him physically. It's enough to make me cringe.

The shaky characterization aside, far too many of the stories also had huge plot and sheer believability issues. Even the good stories such as "Time Capsule" and "Dragonflies" suffered from what appeared to be either the author or the editor trying to wrap up the story too quickly. A rather good plot is built up and suddenly it's wrapped up in a few paragraphs and I ended up feeling like I'd been left hanging. They were resolved, but it was a poor resolution.

Then there were the stories that had weak plots to begin with, like "Fusion" and "Sources of Power" where both the authors showed an incredible lack of medical knowledge, a point that invalidated about half the story in the latter case. A little research would've gone a long way in these cases.

"Fusion" itself was probably the worst story out of the lot. I love AUs, especially in Star Wars, and this one had a great idea behind it, it was just executed (and that's a good word for it) very poorly. This story is a poster child for telling instead of showing. The author uses exposition like a club, beating the reader over the head with it. Instead of revealing the plot through character actions and interactions, the author just lays it right out within the first couple pages, nothing at all left to the imagination. The plot itself is a clumsy, predictable thing and handled badly all the way through. Characters aren't developed, dialogue is cumbersome and the bad guys are just used as battering rams to get to the next part of the story. There was very little believable about this story, especially the sex, which is extremely purple; it read like something a sheltered twelve-year old might've written. (Speaking as someone who wrote as a sheltered twelve-year old, trust me, it's comparable.)

The best of the lot is something of a tie between "Empire's End" (by jkb) "The Men in My Life" (by gwendolen )and "Dragonflies" (by jkb). The plots are tight (at least up to the end where I have a minor problem in "Dragonflies" with the wrap-up, but it's still very readable) and the characters very much in character. All three were written by authors who participated in the original Elusive Lover, but then so was "Fusion" so there doesn't seem to be a correlation. Again I suspect the editing process let down the authors in many cases.

Overall, I can't recommend buying this zine. I'd wait until the stories are out on the web (which they probably are by now) and find the better stories to read. The artwork should be out soon as well. The artist (X-Arts) who did some of the breathtaking artwork for this zine and other EL ones doesn't seem to be on the web anymore but you can see some of her old artwork on the Elusive Lover site.

If you really want to buy it, and I can kind of understand that if you're a big EL follower like I am (I'm not even sure I want to sell my copy, simply because of the artwork), then you can find it at Agent With Style.

ETA: I've since been informed that this zine did not come from the same place (editors, publishers, etc.) as the EL zines. My bad and please excuse the confusion. I've also been told that the first round of printing had many mistakes (spacing, page placement, etc.) and people who bought their zine from the first round were allowed to return it for a new copy free of charge. I didn't get that message but I'm happy to hear about it; good job on the editors' parts.

Issue 2

Joanna K. Blaidd

Sanctuary Moon 2 was published in 2005 and contains 182 pages.

It contains 10 stories + 4 poems, 34 illustrations, and a CD with 7 songvids.

The artwork is by Joanna K. Blaidd, Susan Sayaka, Jean Kluge, Tina, Alexandra Jones, Karen River, Morgan D., and Lia Salas.

This is the online flyer.

• Not Quite Epiphany ("When Han and Luke can’t figure out what to do with overwhelming lust, a little jeopardy gives them a push in the right direction.") by Vikki R.
• White Flag by Vikki R. ("sequel to Not Quite Epiphany")
• Storm-Tossed by Vikki R. ("Celebrations, hangovers and rainstorms - it has to lead to revelations, doesn’t it?")
• Electricity by Lady Ra

• Reasons, poem by Khylara
• Jedi Embrace, poem by Khylara
• What If?, poem by Khylara

• Sky-walking, poem by Angel Sparrow
• V for Victory, fiction by by Angel Sparrow
• Illugi's Saga, fiction by by Angel Sparrow

• River of Stars, fiction by Joanna K. Blaidd
• The Fallen Light, fiction by Joanna K. Blaidd
• Stranded, fiction by Van Eijk
• Bridges, fiction by Morgan D.

• Lowlands, songvid to music by Dream Academy, by Lyn (AO3 link)
• Believe It Or Not, songvid to music by Joey Scarbury, Mudd
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, songvid to music by Elton John, Angel Sparrow
• I Miss My Friend, songvid to music by Daryl Worley, Angel Sparrow.
• Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind, songvid to music by Lovin' Spoonful, Angel Sparrow
• Return To Me, songvid to music by October Project, Angel Sparrow
• My Hero?, songvid to Holding Our For A Hero, music by by Frou Frou, by Azonia

Submission Request for the Never-Published Issue #3

WRETCHED HIVE PRESS ANNOUNCES... SANCTUARY MOON #3 [is] open for submissions now!

Further erotic adventures between Luke and Han, scheduled to premiere at MediaWest*Con in May, 2006. We're looking for stories, poetry, artwork (including comics, manga and humorous cartoons). Stories can range in length from vignette to novella, and we're open to all types of story-lines, including angst, humor, romance, adventure, or any combination thereof, and ratings can range from G to NC-17. (This goes for art as well as stories.) Alternate-universe and canon-based stories are equally welcome.

The main focus of the `zine is on Luke and Han's relationship, as seen from a slashy point of view. We're looking for strong characterization and well-written stories that focus mostly on the two guys. The slashy aspect need not be explicit; we'll happily consider pre-slash stories and PWP's alike. Sanctuary Moon is a mainstream slash `zine (if that's not a contradiction in terms!), which means that the stories should generally portray a monogamous relationship (or one that's moving in that direction). Kink, bondage and S/M will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Please remember that these are only general guidelines, though, and that they're fairly elastic. We are *always* willing to make an exception for the right story, so please don't hold back from submitting your work just because it seems a little off the beaten track. Send it along to us, and even if we can't give your story a home in Sanctuary Moon, we'd still love to hear from you.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: Stories, poetry, and artwork, including comics/manga and humorous cartoons. The focus should (obviously) be on a slash relationship between Han and Luke, but the plot can be angst, humor, romance, adventure, or any combination. Alternate Universe and Canon stories are equally welcome, and ratings can range anywhere from G to NC-17.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: TEXT FILES: Text files should be submitted as .doc or .rtf files, if possible, and with no special formatting (such as tabs, bolding, italics, extra returns, etc). Use *asterisks* or another searchable character to indicate words or passages you wish to have italicized, and include a single hard return at the end of each paragraph. Our layout program will do the rest. :-)

ILLUSTRATIONS: You can submit illustrations to us the old-fashioned way (by mailing them to us), or you can submit digital image files in the following formats: TIFF, JPEG or EPS. We prefer color artwork to be scanned at least 300 dpi for the best possible reproduction; it can be submitted either as RGB or CMYK files. (Note: due to budgetary restrictions, we can only accept a limited number of color illustrations per issue, so check with us before sending.) Grayscale art should be 200-300 dpi, and should be saved as a grayscale file rather than RGB to save on disk space and prevent printing complications. Line art should be scanned at 600 dpi and saved as a bitmap image. If you have questions about any of this, please don't hesitate to get in touch; we'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

You can reach us at [email protected] (Note: please do not send large files to this addy, as our mailbox can't take the strain. If you wish to email an illo file, just let us know and we'll give you an alternative email address where you can send it.)

DEADLINES: Story submissions must be received by November 31, 2005. Artwork and poetry must be received by April 1, 2006.

CONTRIBUTOR'S COPIES: Like most `zines, we can't afford to pay our contributors, but we do offer a free copy of the `zine to every contributor who provides us with:

a story, or stories, totaling 3,000 words or more

any three poems

any three illustrations

a combination of the above

Smaller contributions will net you a 50% discount on the final cover price (not including shipping).

QUESTIONS? Get in touch! You can reach us at: [email protected]

SPREAD THE WORD: Please feel free to forward this information to anyone who might be interested in contributing -- and thanks! :)

COMING UP: We have another `zine in the planning stages at the moment. The new zine will focus on Luke Skywalker and feature stories in which Luke must heroically face danger, capture, torture or other extreme situations. Submissions can run the gamut from classic hurt/comfort to darkfic, kinkfic (including consensual BDSM) or perilfic (stories focused on danger and suspense but with minimal hurt), may have any rating from G to NC-17, and may be slash, het or gen. Title and release date to be announced. Submission requirements will be posted in a future Wretched Hive Update, or you can get in touch with us directly at [email protected]