Chameleon Universe

Fanfiction
Title:	Chameleon Universe ("Summer's Ending")
Author(s):	Chameleon (J.M.)
Date(s):	early 1980s
Length:	336 pages, though different versions are shorter
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Starsky and Hutch
Relationship(s):
External Links:
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Chameleon Universe is a very early pass around Starsky & Hutch 336-page explicit slash novel by Chameleon (J.M.)

It begins when Hutch is eighteen years old and follows his life through the show and beyond.

This fic was written by the same author who wrote The Pretender.

Various Title Uses

This story is also referred to as "Chameleon" and "Summer's Ending."

The Typing

sample text showing handwritten overlay

There are multiple versions of this novel, most in binders. Some versions are missing certain chapters. It's possible the author edited it down, since lines are definitely missing from these versions. Some fans feel that the unedited version reads better. The original novel was typed by Elaine Hauptman.

Some of the chapters in single versions were typed on different typewriters. Some pages have part of the text handwritten; it is unknown if this is either to make clear faint letters, or to revise actual text.

Style

The story, in many ways, reads like original fiction. Aside from some mentions Hutch's blondness, Starsky's curly hair, Duluth, Hutch's car, Hutch's brass bed, and Hutch's apartment at Venice Place, the characters are barely recognizable as characters from the show, at least compared to other Starsky & Hutch fanfic, both early and modern.

Police work is barely mentioned: At one point, one of Hutch's lovers asks him if he's still a cop. In another chapter, the events of "Ballad for a Blue Lady" are recounted in an almost distant way.

The characters of Huggy Bear (mentioned), Jack Mitchell (has a few lines), Captain Dobey (mentioned), and Vanessa Hutchinson (has a few lines) are barely present.

Zines

Some of these stories appeared in early zines, such as Code 7. Some stories also by Chameleon were also published in other zines, but do not appear as chapter titles below. It is unknown if these stories are in the same series or not.

The two stories not listed as chapter titles by this author in other zines are: "Travels to Tintern," in Renascence and "Time to Remember" in Mind If I Join Ya?

Some Sample Pages

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Chapter Titles in "The Chameleon Universe"

• Summer's Ending (The story begins with Hutch as a child on his family's farm in Minnesota where he witnesses his grandfather's death (heart attack or stroke).)

• David (When they are seventeen years old, Hutch and Jack Mitchell travel to Europe together. When they arrive in Paris, France, Hutch meets an older man named David Mitchell (Jack's cousin). They become lovers, Hutch tells him he is not going home to attend medical school, and David dumps him.

• First Step (takes place in October 1965, Hutch has a lot of casual sex with men he picks up in bars.)
• Conversation With Kris (takes place in October 1969, Hutch has a casual affair with a man named Kris, and that relationship turns into platonic friendship. Hutch tells Kris that he has decided he'd probably better get married to a woman (Vanessa) so he doesn't get found out as a homosexual. Kris is skeptical.)
• Intermezzo (takes place in 1971, Hutch is married to Vanessa.)
• Sunday Morning 3 a.m. (takes place in March 1973, Hutch goes to Starsky's birthday party, drinks too much, and listens to Starsky making love to a woman, masturbates, and feels a lot of guilt.)
• Starsky: Book of Revelations (takes place in 1977, Starsky observes Hutch having sex with a man in an alley. Starsky is repulsed. He asks Hutch who the man is, and Hutch is embarrassed and angry. Starsky goes to a bar to pick up a man to have sex with, thinking this will help him understand Hutch. Back at the hotel room, Starsky leaves the erotic encounter when he decides he can't go through with it; Starsky is indeed turned on, but it's Hutch he wants. Starsky and Hutch become lovers.) (later published in Code 7 #4)
• My Opening Farewell (takes place in 1977, Hutch breaks up with his boyfriend, Mike.)
• Third Day (takes place in 1977, Starsky penetrates Hutch anally.)
• Realities (takes place in 1977, three weeks after "Starsky: Book of Revelations, Starsky and Hutch fight about Hutch's relationship with Mike [chapter appears to be out of order and probably comes just before "My Opening Farewell" chronologically. Hutch penetrates Starsky anally, and it doesn't go well. Starsky begins to have doubts.)
• Gambit Declined (Starsky and Hutch appear to have things worked out sexually. Starsky wants to live with Hutch, but Hutch flips out and cites bad experiences.)
• Take It to the Limit (Hutch runs into his old lover, David Mitchell, again. Mitchell tries to seduce Hutch, and Starsky and Hutch fight a lot. Mitchell and Hutch have sex. Starsky and Hutch fight some more: subject Hutch's inability to commit. This chapter takes place during "Ballad for a Blue Lady," and is the first time characters from the show and police work is shown or mentioned.) (later published in Code 7 #4)
• Homecoming (takes place early 1979, Hutch's sister (Lindy) calls him, and he goes home to Duluth to visit her and her two kids. Hutch ruminates on the meaning of family, and there is a flashback to when he is married to Vanessa and finds out he has a low sperm count. Hutch tells his sister he's gay and in love with Starsky. His sister is super-understanding.)
• One Night Stand (Starsky is angry that Hutch went to Duluth. Hutch has sex with his old boyfriend (Mike). People take drugs.)
• I've Done Enough Dying Today
  • Mike's Story Part 1
  • Hutch's Story Part 2
  • Starsky's Story - Part 3
• Teo Torriate
• One Way to Spend a Saturday: Sleeping Bags & Kentucky Fried (takes place in 1979, continues the previous chapters of lots of conversation and explicit sex.)
• Threshold of A Dream (takes place in 1979, Starsky's shooting in the episode "Sweet Revenge" is barely mentioned, Hutch picks up Starsky at the hospital and drives him to their freshly-painted white house and carries him over the threshold.)
• Silent Stars Go By (takes place Christmas 1979, they have lots of committed, holiday sex.)
• Christmas Day
• The Quilt (takes place in 1979, Lindy visits and gives them a quilt which signals her acceptance of their relationship.) (later published in Renascence)
• To Have and To Hold (takes place in spring 1980, much fluffy sex and conversation)
• Ssssh! (takes place in June 1980, much fluffy sex and conversation)
• Best of My Love ("aka Mush 'n' Gush for Terry Bear") (takes place in August/September 1980, much fluffy sex and conversation)
• Enter Joshua (takes place November 1980, Hutch is worried Starsky is going to have an affair with another man.)
• More Euphoric Sentimentalism (Hutch orders two rings engraved with their names.)
• Succotash (takes place late December 1980, Starsky and Hutch get a cat.)
• The Education of Succotash Hutchinson (takes place late December 1980)
• The Long Run (takes place late January/February 1981, a man named Joshua hits on Starsky, Starsky fends him off, Hutch is jealous. Hutch shares a chicken leg with their kitten named Succotash and takes too much Valium. Starsky suggests the two of them go see a counselor. There is much about their counseling sessions. )
• Joshua Anthony (?) Peters (Starsky ends up sleeping with another man he's been lusting after and it is a mixed experience. This appears to drive him back into Hutch's arms for all time.)

Reactions and Reviews

2003

I got a copy of Summer's Ending by Chameleon. It was in really really rough shape (the copy I mean). It was the LAST of the old zines that I managed to find and obtain. I thought, hmmm. I have time. I shall type this huge story neatly and print out a clean copy for myself. Well I got 100 pages into the story and infidelity showed up and I got queasy. Oh no. I persisted in typing but that requires too much depth of reading to gloss over the bits that you don't want to read, so I stopped temporarily. I thumbed through the copy and boy there was more and more and more and now I have a block against even finishing the story. I WILL get to it. I know I will read it because it is also an excellent concept and well written but not now.

I think that is an indication of how well written a story is when you read it in spite of things that you personally do not care for - like unfaithful partners.

2005

When I first started in each fandom I read everything I could get my hands on as fast as I could get my hands on it. As I have said in previous emails...I am not a critical reader...I can like some incredible dreck. I read everything and enjoyed most of it. There were some stories that I didn't like. I have been typing up Summer's Ending chapters and not liking the story at all so long periods of time pass between chapters. It hits all my 'I hate it" buttons but I have read it through. Typing it rubs my nose in it a bit too much.

2006

There is another story by Chameleon (Summer's Ending...a huge novel length story in many parts/chapters)... that had a gay Hutch and a belatedly gay Starsky that didn't make me angry just made me unhappy with their promiscuous and detailed not very nice relationships with other gay men.