Shadowplay (Blake's 7 zine)
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Shadowplay |
| Publisher: | P.I. Press |
| Editor: | Jude Wilson |
| Author(s): | Susan R. Matthews |
| Cover Artist(s): | Karen River |
| Illustrator(s): | Karen River |
| Date(s): | January 1988 (separately), 1989 as series single volume |
| Series?: | yes |
| Medium: | print zine, fanfic |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Blake’s 7 |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Shadowplay is a 122-page gen Blake's 7 novel by Susan R. Matthews.
It was edited by Jude Wilson. Regina Gottesman edited the first two installments in the series.
The art, including front cover, is by Karen River. The back cover is blank.
Series
It is part of a series that was published separately, and then in 1989, as a single volume:
"It Helps If You Know What's Going On"
From the editor:
SHADOWPLAY is the third and final in a series of three novels starting with (The Mind of a Man is a) Double-Edged Sword in 1983, and continued in Mascarada in 1985.
With this, as with each of the previous works, my editor and I have done our best to provide a complete and self-explanatory novel at each stage. By this point, however, there has been so much divergence from aired Blake that one might reasonably be too confused by the differences to be able to enjoy the story, unless one has already read DES and Mascarada. The following brief synopses are provided in order that Shadowplay can be read and, it is hoped, enjoyed, without necessarily having to read the previous novels beforehand.
"And More Scribbles"
From the author:
Writing a note for SHADOWPLAY is an unusual opportunity for me to reflect on how different Blake's 7 fandom was when it all started. When the first novel in this series was published, in the earlier days of the genre, the best we could hope for was camera copies of the episodes, and the first Scorpio convention had just happened in Chicago. Now - the answer to so many wistful hours of day- dreaming- I am making my very own first-generation tapes, every Sunday evening, off my local PBS station (but don’t quote me on that, Lionheart might be listening!). Things have changed.
The only thing that hasn’t changed, really, is how I feel about Kerr Avon, Roj Blake, the Liberator, all the crew (yes, all of them, even Tarrant, even Soolin). I hope that I have changed myself, a little, ever since I started writing Blake's 7 five years ago. I hope that I’ve become a better writer. I hope that I've provided a clearer picture of the picture in my mind.
[...]
For you, the reader, as always, [this is] the best work that I have to offer, with my heartfelt hope that you'll find the story at least entertaining, and at best, emotionally satisfying.
Thank you all for your interest and for your continued support. You've been the best part of Blake's 7 fandom for me since the beginning.
Sample Interior
Reactions and Reviews
Unknown Date
There are two sequels to "The Mind of Man" and both have some good points, but are inferior to the first....the third one Shadowplay has some of the best ideas of the three (a dangerously desperate faux-Scorpio crew, and Avon being forced to relive the worst moment of the torture from the first - this *should* have been explosive) but the whole work is so diffuse, the characters so bland (even Blake and Avon are almost placid this time around, and Cally - tranquil to the point of stupefaction and hugely pregnant in the bargain - has nothing in common with the TV character but the name) that these threads can't have the impact they should have. It also introduces Avon's small son. There ought to be a rule banning this - I have yet to see a story where giving Avon children wasn't a mistake.[2]
1996
'Shadow play' is the weakest of the trilogy, but still a good read.[3]
References
- ^ Sarah Thompson at Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 site
- ^ by Sally Manton at Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 site
- ^ quoted anonymously from Virgule-L (Jan 1, 1996)