The Bondstone

You may be looking for The Bloodstone, a Star Trek: TOS zine.

Zine
Title:	The Bondstone
Publisher:	Quicksilver Press, then Ecto Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Paula
Cover Artist(s):	Anja Gruber
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	1984, revised and reprinted May 1993
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Language:	English
External Links:	at the "Liberated" archive, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

cover by Anja Gruber

The Bondstone is a slash 73-page Blake's 7 novel written by Paula and edited by Sheila Paulson.

It has a cover by Anja Gruber. The zine contains no interior illustrations.

It is the U.S. edition revised version of the story in Quicksilver Rising #2.

It has a sequel called "Stress Factors" in Southern Comfort 4.75.

The Editorial

It seems funny to be commenting on The Bondstone now, because it's been about ten years since I wrote the thing. Back in those days, American B7 fandom was small, most of us watched episodes that were blue and flickery - the infamous camera copies - and we’d never met Paul Darrow, Michael Keating or any of the other Blake's 7 actors, and didn't really expect that we ever would. I can’t remember what year I wrote this but it was either 1982 or 1983, a year or two before Scorpio 2. I think it was printed in 1984, but 1 wouldn't swear to it. There isn't a copyright date in the old zine.

The Bondstone was originally printed in Quicksilver Rising, a British Blake’s 7 fanzine edited by Yvette Clarke. It comprised all but three pages of issue 2. Since then, Ann Wortham printed the sequel to this story, Stress Factors, in an issue of Southern Comfort, but until now The Bondstone was never available in print on this side of the Atlantic.

Recently I was talking to my friend Joyce Muskat, who had never read the story and asked if she could. I loaned her my copy, and she promptly phoned with her comments on it, and in the course of the conversation, she suggested 1 get The Bondstone printed in America. I liked the idea. I'd always had a sneaking fondness for this particular story. Someone once told me they suspected (rightly) that I was a social worker, because I had a tendency to try to solve people's problems. After the events of Gauda Prime, the problems left to the survivors were certainly monumental enough to be beyond the capabilities of any social worker, but trying was fun. This story ran away with me. In fact, Vila ran away with it, once he had 'tenants', and the outcome was different than I had expected it to be.

When I took a look at my copy, I decided I wanted to do a slight edit of the story. I didn't want to do too much, and for those of you who have read it before, you'll see that no scenes have been deleted and no new scenes have been added. Several scenes have been expanded or fleshed out, and I couldn't resist using ten more years of writing experience to do a bit of a polish.

Blake's 7 has had a strong influence on me. I'm only rarely writing it these days, but it still affects me, up to a point It's the only fandom I left and came back to no more than three separate times, and even now, when my heart is really elsewhere, I have to admit I retain a sneaking fondness for this show. I made some really good friends through Blake's 7 who are still dear friends even though I'm busting ghosts these days. You know who you are.

I want to thank Joyce for encouraging me to take a look at an old story and give it a new life. Without her encouragement I don't think I would have taken the effort, though I'd thought about it periodically. Thanks also go to Bill Hupe, who agreed to print it sight unseen. I don't know how Bill does it, printing so many zines. I've been working on three, including this one, for MediaWest this year, and I have to say, three is more than enough. And finally, I want to thank my friend Carol McCoy, who has given me unfailing encouragement to maintain an interest in Blake's 7, and positive feedback and pep talks-and made me want to stay involved with Blake's 7.

So this is an old story for some of you (thought slightly revised) and a new story for others. I wish you happy reading. If Carol has her way, I'll someday write the third story in this universe and turn it into a trilogy, but for all I know that could take another ten years.

Reactions and Reviews

Does anyone here like THE BONDSTONE by "Paula"? That made a good impression on me, even the A/V bits—at least there was a good reason for it all.

The Bondstone is an adult novella first published in Quicksilver Rising around 1984. This edition is slightly expanded from the original.

The Bondstone is an immensely satisfying read for anyone who enjoys stories about intense emotional states. If you have read one too many stories in which declarations of caring, tearfulness and overt vulnerability are at the forefront you might be tempted to say oh please, not again, but it would be your loss. Fans of anguish, redemption and a happy ending should not miss it.

The story is set immediately after Gauda Prime, which all the fourth series crew have survived. The essences of Cally and Blake have also survived and Vila agrees to house them in his body until clone bodies can be built to re-house them. All this takes place in the first couple of pages, and the rest of the novella concentrates on exploring the results on the various relationships, not just between Vila, Avon, Cally and Blake, but also Dayna, Tarrant and Soolin. The emphasis in the sex scenes and elsewhere is very much on the sharing/caring plane.

I read this story on the train and was so engrossed in it that I almost missed my stop. The author manages the difficult task of writing a whole series of highly emotional scenes without ever (IMHO) toppling into the grossly sentimental. If you can accept the basic situation vis a vis spiritual essences, everything that follows has the ring of truth.

Vila and Avon feature most strongly, as a couple and as part of the group bond with Cally and Blake, but the other three crew members are also well drawn and not treated - as frequently happens with fanfic where the author is interested in only certain characters - as excess baggage with a few tired cliches to mouth. The scenes with Tarrant in particular are unusually sympathetically observed .

The only reservation I had with characterisation was a very minor one; Dayna says and does all the right things with a wisdom astounding in someone so young. However someone has to say and do the right things in order for the plot to progress, and when the writing is as consummate as it is here, Dayna can be as mature as she likes. If you like stories that leave you with a nice warm sentimental glow, do not miss this, especially if you are a Vila and Avon fan. If you prefer something harsher, give it try anyway.

The author says in the preamble that she wrote a sequel "Stress Factors" which appeared in Southern Comfort, but she doesn't say which edition. If some kind knowledgeable person knows where I can find it, please do tell. She also says she might one day write a third story in this universe; has anything yet appeared?

I read slash and I'm proud of it, and I can truthfully say your zine SOUTHERN COMFORT is the best all-around zine dealing with these relationships I have ever read. I know I'm giving your ego a boost, and I sincerely hope I am, as you deserved all the praise you can get. SHE WORKS HARD, PEOPLE. This one I've been waiting for ever since I heard at MediaWest that the sequel to "The Bondstone" was going to be in it. I even went so far as to corner "Paula" and get the lowdown on the story. Waiting for it was wonderful torture.