Shadowplay (Starsky and Hutch zine)

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Zine
Title: Shadowplay
Publisher: Gunther's Industries Press
Editor(s): Carol Davis and Merle Decker
Date(s): October 1989 (at ZebraCon)
Series?:
Medium: print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: Starsky and Hutch
Language: English
External Links:
Shadowplaysh.jpg
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Shadowplay is a slash 235-page Starsky and Hutch anthology edited by Carol Davis and Merle Decker. It has art by Jean C., SVE, TACS, Merle Decker, Carol Davis, Paula Smith, J. Jones and Suzan Lovett.

Submission Requests

Submissions were requested in the March 1987 issue of Who Do We Trust Times: "Shadowplay — a proposed S/H zine is now asking for submissions. Our theme is the space between realization and understanding and the steps that lead up to both. If you would like more clarification on that last statement, please drop us a line and we will attempt to confuse you even more. The stories can be detective oriented, or not; humorous, or not; terrible [sic?] romantic, or not; and definitely graphic, or not. We are interested in stories that are not first-time, as we already have a couple of those. Of course, if it is first-time and is wonderful (or even good), we'd love to consider it."

From the March 1987 issue of Tell Me Something I Don't Know! #3: "The shadow in human affairs is the gap that two people must bridge. In any relationship, no matter how close or caring, total communication is an abstract ideal at best. You can say one thing and hope, or even believe you are being understood — but are you? Or do you even want to be? Such is the theme of SHADOWPLAY. SHADOWPLAY is an S/H anthology zine that is still looking for submissions. The writers' deadline has been changed to July 15, 1987."

The September 1987 issue of "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" says the submission deadline is now December 1987.

Regarding Feedback

In early 1990, one of the editors of this zine wrote of feedback, the lack of it, and of a proposed zine that ended up not making it off the ground:

Yes, those who create, no matter how insignificant others believe the creation to be, like a little feedback. In the case of fandom's response to said creations we're talking about LOCs. No, I am not going to scream and shout; I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to not sitting down and writing to a zine ed. Merle and I got no LOCs on 'Good Kisser', nor did we expect any. When I got promises from people at Zebra that they would send LOCs for SHADOWPLAY, my natural instinct was not to hold my breath. Luckily, I didn't. I will not pretend that no LOCs trickled in, we did get 5. I suppose we should be thrilled. Now, in case no one knows what happens to LOCs when a zine editor gets them — this is the accepted route. They are xeroxed and passed on to the contributors (unless there is a notation that the LOCer wishes otherwise). They don't even have to be signed. The reason LOCs are important is not so much the fact that the editors see that fandom is completely indifferent to their work if they don't get any, but it is usually the only way the authors get any feel for what those reading their pieces thought about them. How else can they judge what people are interested in reading? How will they know if they're on the right track? Why the hell should they bother to continue writing if no one cares? Will there be a SHADOWPLAY 2? I doubt it. We're doing' Flesh Wound' not only for the fun of it, (there isn't that much work involved in an unedited publication aside from typing), but we're hoping to make up some of the money that we lost in our larger zine. Profit? I dare anyone to find one. Speaking of 'What Do You Mean It's Only a Flesh Wound', we have three stories so far. Our deadline is the Ides of March. If you'd like to see this thing published, some of you might think of submitting some stories. We've badgered all the folks in our immediate area and gotten promises, (and that's as good as the story in hand), but we'd like to hear from some of you other authors out there. In case anyone missed our ad in SNITCH, this is going to be another FRIENZ size, unedited goodie. Will you get to read an LOC on your work? Well, I won't promise a thing.[1]

Contents

From the zine's editorial: "Between the idea and the reality... That you are holding this zine in your hands is a miracle. The editors, two card-carrying procrastinators, are just as amazed as you are. We wish to thank everyone who paid more attention to our deadline that we did, and got the stories and artwork to us about a year ago."

Gallery

Below is a small sampling of the zine's extensive interior art

  • "Last Dance" by Suzan Lovett. This is one of five illustrations that accompany the story "Labyrinth".

  • "Sunday in the Park with Starsky" by Suzan Lovett for "Labyrinth." The composition of this drawing is different from a typical fan drawing - the characters are being viewed from behind and the flowers in the foreground pull the viewer's attention away from their faces and towards their other...assets.

  • "Lovers" by Suzan Lovett for "Labyrinth." The original drawing was most likely in colored pencil; however, many zine editors would print only in black and white to keep costs lower.

  • SVE

  • Merle Decker

  • Merle Decker

  • Jean Clissold

  • J. Jones

  • J. Jones

  • J. Jones

Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for Labyrinth.

This zine contains an excellent story called "Labyrinth"; it's wonderfully angsty and has gorgeous Suzan illos. It also has a VERY angsty, mystical story called "Fatal Charm".[2]

References

  1. ^ from Frienz #8
  2. ^ In 1995 Michelle Christian posted a list of recommended Starsky & Hutch zines to the Virgule-L mailing list. Excerpts are reposted here with permission.
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