Southern Seven/Issue 010

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Southern Seven is a long-running gen Blake's 7 anthology of art, fiction, and poems.

See more at Southern Seven.

Issue 10

cover of issue #10, Leah Rosenthal

a flyer for issue #10

Southern Seven 10 was published in May 1995 and has 251 pages (170,992 words).

The art is by Leah Rosenthal, Jane Mailander, Karen River, Whitby27, Kathryn Andersen, and Jacqui Topp.

• Letters of Comment (3)
• Fleeting Visions, fiction by Teresa Ward & Cami ("Tarrant is stunned by the sight of a familiar face in a crowd and his crew mates begin to think he's losing his mind as he becomes obsessed with his "vision."") (7)
• It's a Long Way to Cygnus Alpha by Judith Proctor (filk, It's a Long Way to Tipperary) (27)
• Aliens! An 'Orbit' Alternate, fiction by Alicia Ann Fox ("A unique twist on the perennial "Orbit" alternative...") (28)
• Coyote and Wolf Play Bone-Toss, fiction by Jane Mailander ("A different take on Avon and Vila's natures and relationship!") (31)
• Women Who Love Men Who Don't Have a Clue, poem by Rebecca Ann Brothers (31)
• In a Dark Time, fiction by Catherine S. (37)
• A Little Lower Than the Angels, fiction by Jean Graham ("Tarrant's mission is almost over when everything goes wrong, yet again.. .getting shot was only the beginning of his bad luck...") (42)
• Pack Up your Tool Kit by Judith Proctor (filk, Pack Up Your Troubles) (47)
• Ship of Fools, fiction by J.R. ("Avon and his crew are rescued from Gauda Prime by the person they least expect to see...") (48)
• My DSV Coupe by Jane Mailander (filk, My Little Deuce Coupe, by the Beach Boys) (67)
• A Matter of Choice, fiction by Joelle Augustine (68)
• Night of the Living Chimichanga, fiction by Leah Rosenthal (72)
• This Old House, fiction by Jane Mailander ("Vila and Avon host the ultimate do-it-yourself show...!") (73)
• Winning Is the Only Safety, fiction by Kathryn Andersen ("A Blakes 7/Highlander crossover which finds Avon and Vila struggling to survive after the massacre on Gauda Prime...") (also in Refractions #1. (An earlier version of this story appeared on the HLFIC-L mailing list.) (90)
• Resolution, fiction by C. S. Kinsey (98)
• Where Is Terry Nation When You Need Him? by Jane Mailander (filk, Where Is Dirty Harry When You Need Him, by Leslie Fish; reprinted from Xenofilkia #34) (100)
• Links in the Chain, fiction by Mireille, also here ("After Gauda Prime, the survivors of Avon's crew realize they will never be safe from Servalan and determine to take action...") (101)
• Phoenix, poem by Rebecca Ann Brothers (113)
• Twist of Fate, fiction by Carol McCoy/Cami ("Tarrant determines to leave the Liberator, and does so, only to find that leaving everything behind isn't so easy...") (114)
• "Lucky" Chance, "In Which Servalan and Baby Tarrant Come to the Liberator, and Vila Has a Bath", fiction by Lucifer (Winnie the Pooh parody (119)
• A Little Relief, fiction by Samantha Hayman (124)
• Avon: A Terrible Fruitcake, poem by Kerr Fruitcake (125)
• An Evening Aboard the Liberator, fiction by Megan K. Smith (multiple crossovers) (124)
• Impossible Dreams, fiction by Rebecca Ann Brothers ("Roj Blake doesn't understand why he is being pursued by members of the Resistance. After all, he's a simple, model citizen...") (126)
• Little Sister, fiction by Michelle R. Moyer (134)
• Jenna's Lament (Star One) by Judith Proctor (filk, Red River Valley) (141)
• Twisted, fiction by Sandi K. Almany (Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek: TNG/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/Star Wars crossover) (142)
• Alien Smith and Jones, fiction by Michelle Rosenberg (Alias Smith and Jones crossover) ("An accident strands Blake, Avon and Vila in the Old West, where Vila is mistaken for the dreaded Kid Vile!") (reprinted from Wide Open Spaces #10) (146)
• From Those Left, poem by Samantha Hayman (176)
• The End, fiction by Sandi K. Almany (177)
• In the Wake of Ruin, fiction by L.S. Willard ("Vila knows that he's only been allowed to escape Gauda Prime in order to lead Servalan to Orac, but he has to try, anyway, and he isn't about to leave Avon behind...") (reprinted from Horizon #11) (178)
• Blake's Seven Saturday Morning, fiction by Megan K. Smith (187)
• Alpha Blues by Judith Proctor (filk, Bound for Botany Bay) (188)
• Once Upon a Time in Outer Space, fiction by Linda Terrell (Knight Rider crossover; reprinted and revised from Frak #10 and Magnificent Seven #3, where it appeared under the name "Reaping Purpose") ("A sentient ship with a penchant for pilots with curly hair seeks out Blake and his crew in order to lend them its help and expert is against the Federation...") (189)
• My Little Servalan by Jane Mailander (filk, Surfer Girl, by the Beach Boys) (197)
• Avon's Christmas Wish by Leah Rosenthal & Ann Wortham (filk, tune from Have Yourself a Loony Tunes Xmas Album) (198)
• The Story Thus Far, fiction by Megan K. Smith (unknown page)
• Return, fiction by Jill Sylvan (unknown page)
• Peas in a Pod, fiction by Marian Mendez ("Tarrant is devastated in the face of his brother Deeta's death and thinks back on their childhood...") (unknown page)
• From the Log of the Hellhound: One of My Kind, fiction by Katrina Larkin & Susanne Tilley ("Dafydd Kildragon is determined to shut down yet another mutoid processing facility, but this particular facility appears to be turning out more than just the average mutoid...") (unknown page)
• The Southern Seven Writing Contest, with art by Leah Rosenthal, Karen River, and Whitby27
• Haiku for a Lost Orphan at Gauda Prime, poem by Linda Terrell (unknown page)
• Cally's Song, poem by Megan K. Smith (unknown page)

• 

  from issue #10,  ?

• 

  from issue #10, Whitby21

• 

  from issue #10, Leah Rosenthal

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 10

[Impossible Dreams]: You also made a pitch for comments on "Impossible Dreams." Well, since I have the zine and had already read it, you'll get some comments. I liked a lot of things about this story, and there was one thing that bothered me a bit. I liked the way you portrayed Blake from his confusion over why people sought him out for political chitchat (the comment that he didn't think it was his devastating good looks and irresistible charm was great) to his curiosity to his later shell-shocked response to the massacre. This is a clearly damaged man, part of him wanting to remember (writing down his dreams), part of him not wanting there to be anything wrong. It also made me wonder something that I hadn't ever thought of before. Was Blake happy not knowing? Happy in the ignorance of the mind-wiped? At the end, it seems pretty clear that he doesn't want to forget ("take no more from him"). It's an interesting question with regard to the population in general. How happy are they in their ignorance, going about their work in a peaceful stupor? I just never thought about it in relation to Blake before. The one thing that I didn't really "get" was the poetry at the end. Maybe it was me, or how I felt when reading the story, but I felt it was either too long or not enough to the point about its connection to the story, or Blake's state of mind if that was the point. I rather like poetry with stories but I guess I didn't make the connection with this one. Liked the story though!

[Coyote and Wolf Play Bone-Toss]: My favorite story in the last Southern Seven was a really wild (gen) AU by Jane Mailander, "Coyote and Wolf Play Bone-Toss," a retelling of "Gambit" in the form of a Lakota Sioux tale. Sometimes the characters were in animal form and sometimes in human, but whatever one imagined that they looked like, it wasn't British actors! It worked for me. Now I'm trying to figure out if I could make something similar work in an Asian setting. But I'm not terribly optimistic — I think probably Jane Mailander, always notable for her wild imagination as well as her writing skills, may be one of the few writers who could pull off something like this.

[zine]:

My very favorite story in this issue is "Coyote and Wolf Play Bone Toss," definitely the most far-out AU I've ever seen!

I also really like Michelle's "Links in the Chain," despite what she does to Avon. This one's a must for Vila fans. "Little Sister" is excellent too; it's a behind-the-scenes look at some of the events of "Rumours."

"A Matter of Choice" would be an adult story if only it didn't stop a little too soon. :) And the "Women Who Love Men..." poem is an amusing take on B7 het romances.

This is a good issue for Tarrant stories. I especially like the one by Jean Graham, and there's nice A-T interaction in "Twist of Fate."

"Impossible Dreams" is a very good PWB Blake story, illustrated by my favorite art in the issue, Leah's depiction of Blake looking up at the stars.

Also especially recommended is "In the Wake of Ruin."