The Outlaw Trail

Zine
Title:	The Outlaw Trail
Publisher:	Our Little Secret Press
Editor(s):
Type:	apazine
Date(s):	January 1994-December 1998
Frequency:
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Alias Smith and Jones
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Outlaw Trail is a an Alias Smith and Jones bi-monthly apazine and letterzine that was born from a Round Robin (one which was mailed three times a year). It contains LOCs, articles and "other goodies."

There were 28 issues. At its height, there were 35 subscribers.

The members of the zine were more loosely organized until about October when it was suggested the group go to an APA format. When two new members joined, the leader wrote: "...with the additional folks, we might want to think about taking this to an APA format in 1994. I wanted to describe it here and see everyone thinks. With an APA format, everyone would write a LOC, like they would for this round, but instead of circulating it around the country, you'd send 10 copies and $2.00 to me or Carole, and we'd collate them and then mail them back out so you get all the LOCs at one time. You'd read the LOCs and write another and send 10 copies and $2.00 again. The money is for postage, and you can do these bi-monthly without it taking up a lot of time. Or, we can keep it on a RR format. It's up to you. Express your opinion so we know! Oh, and the story would continue to rotate as a round robin story."

Discussion was very "family-oriented" and gen. The subject of slash was raised in issues #7-#11, and aside from the presence of some small ads for slash zines, it was never mentioned again.

Changes in Definition

• issues #1-#3 were labeled "apa"
• issues #4-#15 weren't labeled as anything
• issues #16-28 were labeled "news/letterzine"

Issue 1

The Outlaw Trail 1 was published around January 1994 and contains 51 pages. It contains letters dated February 1991, October 1992, March 1994, several from January 1994.

cover of issue #1

• a fan votes to keep the zine as a Round Robin: "Afraid I'll have to vote to keep the Round Robin as it is. It took several hours to read, but that's the whole point. Spending as much time as I can with you guys." Another fan votes for the RR format, despite her complaining about how long it is between mailings: "Still, the hiatuses notwithstanding, I like the Round Robin format just fine. It's a tad more personal and immediate than the APA format. There's more real communication which is why I wanted to hook up with this in the first place." A number of other fans vote to go to the APA zine format as it will speed letters along and people won't have to wait so long between mailings
• a fan offers to copy off 16 issues of Duel Memories, but warns that the cost is $44 for the xeroxing and postage
• a fan writes: "Can you get to internet from Prodigy? I know you can for CompuServe and GEnie. If so, I'm on the internet... I'd love to find more ASJ fans on the net, but time is limited and I've been avoiding the computer side of fandom."
• about the current round robin story: "As for the length of the progressive story... we'll just let it go it's own way. If it turns out novella or novel length, fine, or short story, too. If it's real long we can publish it as a stand alone ASJ novella! And speaking of the story, I broke it off the RR and sent it along in a separate envelope so no one will feel compelled to hold TOT while they work on the story. And a couple of folks didn't want to write."
• a fan comments on the RR story, and the possible new format of the zine: "As for whether this should remain a RR or go to an APA, I'm easy either way. It seems that the holidays might have slowed down some of our group (understandable). Looks like the pace is picking up since the first of the year. Perhaps if the response time is maintained at around 10 days, it will still work out okay. I guess time will tell..."
• a fan writes about her computer use:

As for Prodigy, I too, was/am intimidated by computers and such. I remember we carefully followed there instructions to load the program and that worked all right. Prodigy was very user friendly--I think it was developed with people like us in mind. Unfortunately, they slipped a bit into technical stuff in certain areas, and I'm trying to figure things out. But once you get on the main menu area, hit the "J" key (that stands for jump--as in you can jump to any specific place you want to be) and then tap the enter key. A little window-will show up, and in you type TV BB (stands for Television bulletin board) then tap the enter key again. Once there, answer the questions they ask (and set back the date by a month so you can catch any older notes there.) They will offer you different topics—TV A-L is where you will find AS&J (if anyone is talking about it. It has been silent there for the last couple of months.) The thing here is that you really can't mess things up, so it is okay to go exploring and to learn by being adventurous. Go have fun! My number is HFGH88B... Apparently, I can access Internet through Prodigy, but I've been too timid to try—yet. I will later.... As for Compu-Serve, I'm thinking about it. I thought we'd give Prodigy a year to find themselves (and their prices) before we set off adventuring on that grand information superhighway!

• a number of fans write about how Pete Duel's suicide affected them and of the memories they have of when they heard the news; one fan says that "I'm definitely a Pete devotee. Devoted to the point of having attempted to hire a private investigator this year to try to find out for sure what happened on December 31, 1971 and why... Pete's death came at the time when it had the strongest possible impact on me -- I was 14 -- and I vowed then that when I was an adult, I would do everything possible to get all the information I could to settle my mind.... I'm still determined to find out what happened."
• fans write of the formativeness the show had on their development as young people; one fan says the friendship between the two became her role model and litmus test for how she viewed friendship in her adult life; another one writes that "I loved the way intelligence and creativity and uniqueness were celebrated on the series. As a teenager looking for my niche in the world, I got the impression from ASJ that there was a place for everyone, that everyone (even Kyle and Lobo) had something special to offer and would be welcomed into that gang for that special quality."
• a fan writes of her love of hurt/comfort:

Hurt/Comfort...hmmm...one of my favorite plot devices. I like it because I always want to be in the comforter's shoes, and I discover what kind of comfort the hero desires. H/C episodes on TV frequently have been the "hook" for me. Some of them have been shows I'd never watched before seeing a H/C advertised. If it's handled right, I've continued watching. True to this pattern, I think it was what hooked me on the ASJ fanzines.

• a fan writes that she wishes she still had all the ASJ stories she'd written in high school as they'd be fun to re-read; another fan writes that she has been a reader of ASJ fan fiction "for a couple of years, ever since I first heard about it. I was delighted to see that people were doing, right out in public, what I used to do so often in high school: my little circle [of friends] in high school did a lot of ASJ story writing."
• a fan explains that she wants to go to library school "so I can get busy preserving ASJ and my other beloved series and films for future generations who will give them the appreciation they deserve but never got in their lifetimes."
• regarding pseuds: "I am disappointed that so many people uses aliases themselves when writing ASJ stories. I never thought even about it. I used my real and for true name (except once and I had a reason), I know why Carole [a pro writer] didn't do so, but most of the rest of us don't have to worry about their publishers getting wind of things. If you must use a pseudonym, please keep it consistent so we can get to know your writing, (I seem to have noticed a very good author 'Monkeying' around in the last 'zine. You know who you are.)"
• this issue has some clippings, an episode guide, a small bit of art

Issue 2

The Outlaw Trail 2 was published around May 1994 and contains 32 pages. There were 12 members of this zine, still an APA.

cover of issue #2

• some business:

  A reminder: an APA only works if each member writes a LOC, commenting to the LOCs here, finds articles to share, etc.... then, take those and have them xeroxed (double-sided if possible to keep the postage costs down), running enough copies to cover all of the members. For right now that's 15 copies for your LOCs and other goodies. Then ship the copies to the editor/collator/ APA-master. Overseas members can still send me your LOC and goodies and I'll run copies here. Oh, don't forget to cover your postage. This time I covered it, but I can't do that after this one as the move is eating $$ like crazy. If you're APA arrives with a negative balance, please cover that ASAP so my bank is happy. First option: everyone sends 6 SASE'ed i $1.00 postage on them. (If the rates go up, donations as necessary.) Second option: we pay into a postage/envelope fund, and the collators keep track of where you are via the costs of postage and what you sent. When you hit negative numbers you add to the fund.

• more on this zine's format:

  I like the photo idea, but it's hard with the APA format... The primary reasons I wanted to move to the APA was l) to speed it up and remove the possibility of it getting lost in the mails and 2) to allow for overseas fans to participate. With the number of folks we have and the 3 months turnaround, if we add overseas postage time and cost it's gonna slow things down more. But, if folks can't work up the hump to get LOCs in, then we might as well go back to the Round Robin next time and I'll just xerox what I get ana mail it to [two names redacted] and any other OS fans and they can send me a LOC and I'll attach it to mine the next time I get the round robin.

• more on format from another fan:

  The APA format seems to be the better choice, at least you see it more than once or twice a year….

• a fan writes:

  I was delighted to receive my copy of "The Outlaw Trail": I con see the idvantages of the Round Robin, but the APA Is something to keep and re-read as often as you like, and I think that's a positive advantage, lowever, because the Round Robin has already got established, I feel as if I'm coming in halfway through a conversation…. Is it true that fans in Letterzines don't warm up readily to newcomers? I hope not! Like you… I'm thrilled to have discovered the 'western underground.'

• a fan writes:

  I like Man from UNCLE too, although I'm not sure how many similarities there are to AS&J. The combination of humor and drama is there, and the heroes clearly have complete trust in each other. However, there isn't the same sense of a close, caring relationship as there is in AS&J. It's more cool and professional.

• regarding pseuds:

  Pen names can come up for a variety of reasons. I did it on the advice of a professor, who told me publishers down the road might find it a problem, not to mention other academics.

Issue 3

The Outlaw Trail 3 was published around June 1994 and contains 35 pages.

cover of issue #3

• a fan writes:

  I would LOVE to see a collection ASJ music videos. I haven't been able to do anything since we don't have a stereo at the moment, but I'm hoping to fit that after we get to Colorado. If you or [name redacted] have any suggestions about the right combination of stereo and VCR's that would make the process easier, let me know. I'll be pricing equipment in September/October, so let me know!

• a fan explains what an APA is to another puzzled fan:

  APA is amateur press association, and it was a format that was developed fay several amateur and alternative presses that aren't fannish. I guess it drifted into fandom and came into general usage. I didn't have a clue what it was either until I got involved in a STARSKY AND HUTCH APA and asked what the heck to stood for, too.

• a fan writes:

  I love the idea of compiling AS&J music videos. Are they hard to do? I've been tempted by ideas and songs, but never really knew how to go about making one. Any instruction could be rewarded by a video! :)

• a fan is a bit unhappy with this zine's format choice:

  Well, Cinda up and did it, making TOT into an APA. (*shudder* I hate acronyms.) I suppose I will learn to like it...if I have to. I noticed that Cinda (and maybe [name redacted]) took the easy way out and put in their old letters to start off the new format. Since all of us regulars had read them, it meant reruns for all. Being the last in line, as it were, the entire package was suspiciously familiar. (Except for the cover letter, of course.)

• a fan notices a fiction trend:

  In the fanzines, when I have seen people discussing Heyes and Curry being related, I have normally (though not always) found something else: The Kid becomes subordinate to Heyes, depending on him for wisdom and guidance. (Even if this isn't in the current scheme of things, it is referred to as being the way it was in their childhood.) I don't quite know how the Curry fans out there take this. I'm mighty partial to Heyes, but I find it objectionable to have the Kid be something less than a full adult.

Issue 4

The Outlaw Trail 4 was published in October 1994 and contains 27 pages.

cover of issue #4

• a fan is not a fan of the post office:

  Did the copies of Duel Memories get though okay? I'm getting down right paranoid about the post office. I calculated it for 1993 and I lost $234 worth of zines and video tapes, either sent out of coming to me. 1994 is already higher than that. Sigh…

• regarding the lost Round Robin:

  I'll get a copy of the whole round robin story to you with these issues. Sorry for the delay, but all this moving-school-work took more time than I counted on. And, with the second story lost (more on that in ToT #5), I was hoping that you could start a second go-round. Let me know! Actually, we could run more than one RR story at a time, if folks are interested. We'd just run the route lists backwards for the second story…

• a fan writes of MediaWest and the room lottery:

  It was fun a MediaWest, wasn't it! Are you going next year? How did you do in the room lottery? I lucked out & got a room. More than a few of my friends didn't land they are annoyed.) One lady goes there with the orders of a dozen other So. Cal. fans and regularly spends S3000-4000 on zines. Obviously, staying in another hotel is not a option for her. There is talk of a media zine con in August next year in Denver…

• about the transformational nature of canon and its creators:

  [name redacted] mentioned something in TOT 3 that I'd often thought about but usually dismissed, regarding creators (such as Roy Huggins) plagiarizing themselves, even cannibalizing their own works to construct new ones Artistically, one could argue that it's a form of "cheating." But on another level, it could be seen as the artist having a good idea - or. in this case, several - and experimenting with the best possible way of putting that idea across. It works in the TV medium, or even in film, but if I as a writer were to employ such an ethos, I'd be taken to task for it. That's why I think a writer, even of genre fiction, must be careful to find the best expression of an idea the first time around, because one doesn't have the luxury of a second chance -unless one starts writing under a pseudonym. <g>

• a fan writes of vids:

  I see comments on ASJ music videos in your pages. I'm not exactly sure what you're thinking of...using other songs and putting ASJ scenes behind it? Using Heyes and Curry's ventures into song for the music? Anyway, to do things properly takes expensive eguipment. Slicing and dicing the ASJ footage is fun, but I've had a lot of trouble remembering that it takes a little time (a few seconds) for the recording to begin when you are copying tape to tape. Also, putting music over a scene is relatively easy—if you can do it the same time as the video. Then all you have to do is hook in a lead from some music source into the audio input. If you have a stereo VCR it works the best. I've had decent results with a portable tape player cross-pollinating with a mono-VCR for horse videos for my folks. The hardest part is limiting the amount of times you copy the visual part—and that normally is the trickiest to do. The audio survives several generations. The video only about three before it gets so fuzzy it dies. (A Sony 8mm camcorder doesn't degrade the quality much if you can use it as an in between step.

• another fan comments on making vids:

  ...the basic equipment needed to make music videos are the same two VCR's and a dubbing cable you'd use to copy any videos, plus a stereo or tape deck. For an easier process and better results, I was told to look for these VCR features: flying eraserheads, audio & video insert, and a jog shuttle. Flying eraserheads are supposed to give smoother transitions between edits. The a/v insert allows you to lay down your music track on a videotape and then record your video clips over the same tape, or vice versa. This is a lot easier than trying to synchronize them separately, and also keeps your video from having to be copied down a generation to add the music. A jog shuttle allows you to select a specific frame of a picture. I just bought a Sony (model SLV-920HF) with these features that is selling for around $500 (I lucked out - I won a gift certificate in a radio contest for part of it!). At the top end of the scale, a more elaborate Mitsubishi goes for around $800… I'd love to see a collection of any music videos anyone else has done. I've picked up a few tips and a lot of inspiration from some folks at MediaWest who have been at this longer than I have. One group in particular, called California Crew, does super videos on all different fandoms, including several multi-media ones in which clips of Heyes & Curry occasionally pop up.

Issue 5

The Outlaw Trail 5 was published in December 1994 and contains 26 pages. Other than an editorial, it contains no other letters. Its content is comprised solely of clippings about the show.

cover of issue #5

• the editorial is mostly an apology for the lateness of this issue and includes this:

  The second round robin story was lost, and when I was informed, 1 couldn't locate it on disk either. So, I need someone to start a second round robin story. Carol, want to do another start? Paula? Carole? Anyone? Just send it to me and I'll get it on the road again. Oh, and if you could please let me know if you'd still like to be involved with the round robin story, I'd appreciate it. If you were on the list before and don't contact me, I'll assume that you DO want to participate in the second go-round.

Issue 6

The Outlaw Trail 6 was published in January 1995 and contains 49 pages.

cover of issue #6 -- " The art work for the cover is a sneak-peak of things to appear in JYMATG #10. It comes compliments of Laura Virgil, who is a wonderful artist. Her art enhanced many of the AS&J zines that got me hooked on fandom! I'm thrilled she's found us!"

• from the zine's "editor":

  a BIG QUESTION... would you like it if we took the AS&J stories and crossovers that appeared in Compadres and re-printed them in JYMATG? Did most of you get Compadres? PLEASE let us know about this in the next TOT as it'll make a big difference in the line up of JYMATG #10 and #11.

• regarding some progressive stories:

  The first progressive story will be in JYMATG #10 due out in late March/early April. I like "Things Get Progressively Worse" as a title, and if there are no objections, I'll use that. Now, we need a collective pen name... any suggestions? The second progressive story died along the way. The third one was started by [name redacted] and is out and about. I hope it will be done for JYMATG #11 due out this November.

• the editor suggests, for the first time in this zine, a TOTM:

  "What would Heyes' dream heist be?" or "Heyes and Curry discover that they are related to other 'famous' western heroes. Who are they?"

• fans have discussed Pete Duel's suicide throughout this zine, always in a respectful way, often in the forms of dreams they have had about it, sometimes recounting what they remember about it as children, and this fan writes:

  I find I can't read some articles about Pete and Ben and the series, especially the ones that talk in a very clinical way about Pete's suicide. I think the older I get, the less I want my myths messed with And Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry are just that for me—myths, legends, every bit as real as Robin Hood and King .Arthur. Which explains why I like those particular legends so much, I guess. And Pete messed up my legend when he killed himself. But I forgive him And I apologize in advance if I offend anyone by stating as much.

• a fan writes of a bit of writer's block, and of an original character:

  I hate to admit it, but I haven't written an entire ASJ story in over a year. I contributed to the progressive story. (Cinda, thanks for letting me see the end of it.) I even sent off a few other bits into the progressive black hole. (The second story got knocked in the trash by a cat or something.) I've started a couple and worked on some, but I just haven't been hearing Heyes whispering sweet stories into my ear of late. This does not mean I haven't been writing. I got into it seriously about September and wrote and wrote and wrote—short stories having to do with Daniel Lee Teal, who you might remember from Crosstime, my story where Daniel and friends go back to save Heyes. I even drew a picture of Daniel, which I will include if I don't have brain fade. Since Daniel is a product of my imagination (and a distant outgrowth of Pete's Heyes), I am pretty pleased to have a real drawing of him at last. I'm also working on a Highlander story that I started several months back. If I finish it, I will send it with this letter to Cinda who begged for a Highlander story to go in some 'zine or other. I had intended on getting it into Off With His Head, but I got sidetracked.

• a fan has some comments about some vampire media offerings:

  I have been taping Forever Knight for a friend of mine, who lives in an area that doesn't get it. It has some moments of humor, but what it really needs is some good writers. I also wonder why Toronto tilts so much around vampires. (They do a lot of filming with the camera tilted.) Oh, the show is about a vampire, Nick Knight, who wants to be mortal again so he has become a police officer in Toronto. He figures if he lives like a mortal, he will become human again. His only human friend who knows what he is, is the coroner. She helps him by digging bullets out of him and stuff. The story seems to be somewhat taken from the Vampire series (Ann Rice), though Nick isn't very bloody. He can fly, gets burned by sunlight and crosses, and his eyes turn funny when he's excited. (His teeth get longer too.) I suppose a few of you have seen Interview with a Vampire. I am avoiding that since I've always found Ann Rice's work to be more than a little revolting. (I do read vampire novels, just didn't like hers.) My friend who is seriously into vampires (see above), said it followed the book pretty well, but they cut out a lot of the sensualness—probably because of homosexual overtones. I understand they made the thing pretty bloody, which doesn't make sense when the vampires drink the stuff—why waste it?

• a fan describes a new purchase:

  Last summer, I bought something I couldn't afford but feel I can't live without: a laptop computer. (It's on my lap right now.) I took it on vacation with me in September and had it running almost constantly (when I wasn't hiking or stuff). It can power up off my truck without draining my battery. It takes about an hour to charge and a couple hours to discharge. It is light and has a good keyboard. I can lounge on my bed to write or in the back of my truck (camper shell). The only problem I have had with it is when I broke the screen. (Don't do that.) It was going to be about $500 to fix it, but I complained enough to get it covered under warranty. These things are VERY touchy. Also, there is a design flaw in my computer which contributed to the crack (hence, the warranty coverage). It is a Panasonic 386 with what works out to be 120 MB hard drive (it is compressed). It has everything my 'big' PC has, except a color monitor and mouse. (It could have a mouse, it just doesn't. WordStar doesn't need a mouse, and it keeps me from wasting time playing minesweeper.) I highly recommend getting a laptop to anyone whose main use for a computer is writing!

• a fan explains music videos:

  The ones I've done and that other fans have shown in the competition at MediaWest consist of a song and visual clips from a TV show or shows. "Musical interpretation" is the most common category, in which you just use clips that illustrate the words of the song. There's also a comedy category, and something called "constructive reality." I haven't seen one of those, but I heard about one of a baseball game where they used a song about baseball and clips from lots of different TV shows where the characters were playing baseball and edited them together in such a way that they formed two teams and an actual game where you could really keep score. That's very complicated and not done very often.

• a fan describes another kind of video:

  A friend of mine's husband was extremely creative and put together some extremely hilarious videos. The most memorable, as I recall, was "Jesse James versus the Saucer Men from Mars." He used footage from 'The Long Riders," ASJ and "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers." I don't have contact with the people anymore, but I believe I've got a copy of the video. My favorite 'bcere from it involved a dub-over of the Beatles' "Help" in a saloon scene. Sounds really dumb, but it's priceless. I'll see if I can find it. if anyone's interested in seeing it. I always got a laugh out of it. 1 should warn, though, this guy's sense of humor was dark.

Issue 7

The Outlaw Trail 7 was published in March 1995 and contains 59 pages. There are fifteen members. Each one is asked to make 20 copies of their submission for the zine.

cover of issue #7, Laura Virgil

• the editor suggests these two TOTM for the next issue: "Heyes and Curry settle down with ladies from other western series… who would they be?" and "What's your favorite fight scene and why?"
• a fan writes:

  I'd love to see the music video you mentioned with the westerns und the aliens, what a hoot... and all of [name redacted], too! I adore music videos, and would dearly love to do them myself, but I just can't afford the equipment at this point. Another sigh.

• a tentative mention in this zine of slash, a testing of the waters (which seeing from subsequent letters, didn't go over very well) :

  As far as I know there is very, very little slash in Alias fandom. Brigid did a zine that includes all the old Alias slash (all 4 stories) and a few new ones, but I think that's the sum total of it. She's planning a second issue, if she can stories, but I have my doubts. It not my thing either, but she's a good friend and I don't hold it against her—often! She and my cuz [name redacted] are into slash (they like straight fiction, too), so they've been dabbling in it with the series I've addicted them to.

• another fan addresses slash:

  I see by your notes that there are a lot of new western 'zines. I even see one that is supposed to be R rated. I would like to submit Winter Visit to that one (sort of gives something away, don't it?) but I don't like the word 'slash' on you description. If that means that the 'zine is going to have Heyes boffing the Kid, I want nothing to do with it. I was able to ignore the slash fiction you put in your 'anything goes'-type 'zine, but ASJ same sex stuff really bothers me! The one and only story I read about two paragraphs of turned me off to the whole thing. Of course, some of it is that in order to write the junk, you have to do this little thing called rewrite ASJ. It's easy enough to write a story with two people doing that, but it isn't Heyes and Curry. Can you verify whether they are planning true slash? If so, then I don't even want to see the 'zine, let alone add to it. Sounds like I have strong reactions to the stuff. Well, I don't think I would mind homosexual relationships appearing in a story—just not between a certain pair of good-looking western men. I wonder what the rest of TOT contributors think about this?

• more on slash:

  I've been active in different fandoms for a total of about 12 years now though, and the fandoms for shows that have a strong friendship buddy element, such as WILD WILD WEST, MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., STARSKY & HUTCH, generally have a large slash contingent. I've never understood this, but there seem to be a lot of people who choose to see the characters as gay, even though the series stated otherwise. I think the whole thing got started when STARSKY & HUTCH first went on the air. There was a scene in the opening credits where there was an explosion and Starsky was blown forward and either Hucth caught him or the explosion threw him down on top of Hutch (anyone who has caught the show since it came on TNT, please feel free to correct me...) and a lot of the TV critics took that as meaning they were really lovers. They chose to interpret it in that way and wrote articles to that effect. I always thought they read too much into that scene and took it out of context... I could never understand what was so terribly wrong with the idea of two men being fast friends and being able to depend on each other, without being gay, for a while there, there seemed to be the idea that the only way this could be possible was if they were brothers. I don't care if it's out there as long as I don't have to read it. I know it's not a popular point of view in these tolerant times, but I personally do not like or buy into the concept of Jim and Arte, Napoleon and lllya, Starsky and Hutch, Riggs and Murtaugh (LETHAL WEAPON), Heyes and Curry, any team of buddies you might name, being secret gay lovers. I believe in the outdated concept that two men (or two women for that matter) CAN be partners, buddies, friends, can care deeply for each other, without being lovers. But then, I also belied people tend to have their minds in the gutter too much these days and try to read sex into everything.

• floppy disks!:

  [An overseas fan] asked for copies of some of my stories she had missed, I sent them to her on a floppy disk. I hadn't really paid attention to how much those things are holding these days. Sheesh! I can now back up my entire novel [the big one) and still have room to spare! It used to take me several. I didn't give her a novel, but I did give her copies of the ASJ stories she had missed and the few Highlander-type I've done. I also gifted her with two originals to fill the space. I ended up sending her what would have been about ten pounds of stories (if printed out) for a little over a dollar (postage)—overseas yet! It certainly is the cheap way to send stories! I translated all of them to WordPerfect. I use WordStar due to having learned it years ago and never wanting to have to make a change. I am avoiding WordPerfect though I have had to learn Word at work. Word has some nice features, but I like not having to use a mouse. Considering how I usually write—with my laptop on my lap—there's not a lot of room for a mouse unless I run it across my knee or something.

• from a fan who has apparently not watched enough television to know that all plots are "borrowed":

  A Small Circle of Friends sounds interesting and distressing at the same time. Distressing because that kind of plot thievery always bothered me in the 'real1 world of television. In fact, I know for sure that at least one ASJ story was lifted right from The Virginian (The Girl in Boxcar Number 3). Others borrowed heavily from Maverick and Western movies. I like to see original plots, thank you very much. Oh well, I'm not saying you can't publish or anything. I hope it helps get writings out of writer's block and develops some new talent.

• a fan writes;

  There's another quote I like that Cinda mentioned once in a COMPADRES editorial: "Television is where you start from, not where you end up." That really applies to fans, and what we're doing here with TOT and with the zines.

• a fan wonders:

  It seems we're all reaching the age where mortality— or at least accidents and sickness—are catching up with us. Does this mean we won't live forever? what will happen to Heyes and Curry when we're gone?

Issue 8

The Outlaw Trail 8 was published in May 1995 and contains 43 pages.

cover of issue #8

• possible TOTM for the next issue: "The most unusual spot for the boys to hole up for a while?" and "If you could send the boys back in time, where and when would you send them, and why?"
• on music videos:

  Music videos - I love them too. And an the idea of music that might suit the series or maybe be a background for a film, Aloma suggests country or country-rock. I've nothing against that, and I like the Eagles' sound, but can we broaden it to include rock? I realize it's out of period, but the music Jon Bon Jovi did for his "Blaze of Glory - Young Guns 2" album proves that it can work. "Miracle" would possibly be the most appropriate off that album.

• in response to a comment in the last issue:

  As to what will happen to Heyes and Curry when we're gone ~ an English professor I once had made a pretty good case for the fact that figures of fiction and myth are already, by their very nature, immortal. Santa Claus is a good example. Is he real? In a sense, he's more real than you or I: People will, after all, believe in him long after we have all turned to dust. And believing is where the realism is, not in the flesh and blood. Put not your faith in stone... That's not exactly the Biblical quote, but I think it's a close enough paraphrase. Any Bible scholars out there?

• regarding slash:

  Re your strong reactions to so-called slash… I haven't read any. I might like to see some just to know how slash-y it is. On principal, I don't care what anyone writes, I simply reserve my right not to read it And if it's badly written in the first place, I wouldn't waste my time. Otherwise, Live and Let Live, that's what I say.

• some other comments on slash:

  I don't like the concept of slash either, but STARSKY & HUTCH has so much touchy-feely stuff in it, a lot of which is really funny, that you have to wonder if they were making fun of the idea at times. Somebody could make a hysterical music video with those clips if they could find the right song.

• another fan comments on slash:

  SLASH: To each their own, of course. The first slash I was ever made aware of was about 15 years ago -- some friends were into the Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" movies, and one in particular in which David Soul played a "bad cop." Somewhere, someone in fandom started writing a series of stories about Harry/Soul character. I remember sitting at a friend's apartment and reading it out of sheer curiosity. The most memorable scene was Harry and whatsisname getting it on (in an anal retentive manner, if you catch my drift) on a bench in front of the Magic Castle at Disneyland with children looking on. My second viewing was an U.N.C.L.E. story (about the same time via the same person). It involved Illya being tortured by THRUSH. Of course, Napoleon had to rescue him and the only way the cuffs would come unlocked was through intimate physical contact. (Go figure. I don't remember the mechanics of the cuffs, just that's how it worked.) lllya had to admit to Napoleon that he had always been in love with him. I found it wholly unbelievable then and still do. I realize there's a real world and, as they say, "some of my best friends..." Still, if you've got a friendship—buddies, per se - I don't see that just because they're extremely good friends they automatically have to be gay. But, you're right, Aloma. I work in a very repressive, staid, boring, right-wing, politically-correct law firm. There are a couple of young female associates who have been dubbed, rightly or wrongly, as gay because they're very good friends and do everything together. Everyone thinks they're gay (except me --I don't care one way or the other).

Issue 9

The Outlaw Trail 9 was published in July 1995 and contains 45 pages.

cover of issue #9, Laura Virgil

• this issue contains a movie outline written by a fan
• a fan wants to replace her computer:

  My old Radio Shack Tandy is soooo far out of date it's sad. Something new, fast, large memory, and a built in modem would be nice.

• a fan writes of a music video in a racy way that is quite unlike other comments in this zine:

  Speaking of music videos… there's an old John Denver song, "Home Grown Tomatoes" and I've always wanted to do a video of… I can't believe I'm admitting this!… butt shots. Multiple series, multiple rumps… it just seems to fit so nicely…

• regarding slash:

  I have only glanced at one slash ASJ story. I read enough of it to know that the author made the story work by changing the characters. If you use the names and some of the descriptions, it doesn't make it ASJ. I think the Devil's Hole fanzine description is a little less than clear. If someone wanted to make an R and X rated ASJ 'zine—with straight sex for Heyes and Curry—then I might be interested. Any other characters that want to be gay can be so, though I'm not exactly fascinated by intra-sex relations. For some reason I have the feeling that many women are interested in reading male to male and many men find female to female stimulating.

• another fan comments on slash:

  I'm not into slash at all, but I think there's a misconception that should be clarified. It is my understanding that the characters in slash fiction are not necessarily intended to be gay. In the TV shows and movies they are all clearly heterosexual, and I don't think the slash writers are changing them to make them gay so much as they simply want to take the partnership bond to a physical level. I heard an interesting theory about this at MediaWest this year. Someone told me Walter Koenig speculated once that some fans put a favorite character on such a high pedestal that no woman is good enough for him. The only person who is good enough is someone else they've elevated to the same high level, and that can only be the co-star/partner. I don't know how valid this is, but it sounds like there's some sense to it. [Name redacted] also had a reasonable idea, that maybe some writers use it as a shortcut to injecting some emotion into a story if they're having trouble doing that some other way (hmm, maybe I should try this after all!).

• regarding slash:

  I do have to say that the title of one of the slash zines advertised in TOT is a scream - DEVIL'S HOLE! Really! Having read the title of that one, I immediately thought that RIDE 'EM COWBOY must be a slash zine, too. Apologies to Donna Pleasants! Then there's the menage a trois angle: JUST YOU, ME AND THE GOVERNOR. (Sorry, Cinda!) And certainly, the idea of western slash gives new meaning to the name "Big Mac." Then there's the cross-over angle, with "Ramrod Rowdy Yates" ... okay. Enough! (So I don't like Heyes & Curry slash. At least I've got a warped sense of humor to compensate!) Actually, there were lets of slash Starsky & Hutch videos around about 10 years ago. I was subjected to ail of them at an AS&J party back then and some of them were funny, I have to admit. Most were just stupid or disgusting.

• regarding music videos:

  Simon & Garfunkle recorded a song based on this poem, too. Obviously, I associate this with his death, so I was happy to see songs that focused more on the good memories. By the way, Ramona has done a very nice music video to that John Denver song she wrote about. I just started working on a video about Pete to the song "Black Velvet." I know it's about Elvis and not all of it fits Pete, like the southern references, but I was listening to the song one day and it just brought images of Pete to mind - even though I would never compare Pete to Elvis. It's interesting how sometimes you can re-interpret a song in a totally different way from its original meaning. Since everyone's coming up with such good songs for ASJ, maybe someone can help me out in another area. I've been dying to do a Mountie music video with clips from DUE SOUTH, BORDERTOWN, & DUDLEY DO-RIGHT, but I haven't found the right song yet. Any suggestions?

• a fan recounts some nasty fannish experiences:

  Someone commented (and as many times as I've gone over TOT#8, I can't find the reference again) that they thought they knew me from Blakes 7 fandom, yes, I was in it and went to a gazillion conventions. I really enjoyed it until it started getting nasty. I was friends with a number of people, a good portion of who took sides over an issue into which one of the actors got personally involved. I did not take sides, nor did I dump any friends. However, because I stayed neutral I got blasted with obscene phone calls at all hours of the day and night, pelted with unbelievably insulting and obscene mail (including letters involving physical threats) and, in an attempt to really hurt me at a really basic, psychological level, as part of a totally personal and entirely hateful attack I was put on the mailing lists of hundreds of weight loss programs (I'm not a small person and never have been - that's what lovely, inherited and incurable thyroid disease does for you… so, by then I'd heard it all, and it rolled like water off a duck's back. Unable to get a rise from me, I was baited in every possible way to turn on and attack my friends, but I refused. They're still my friends, and I will defend to the death their right to their opinions -- regardless of whether I think they're right or wrong. The mental deviants responsible who did this to me were too stupid to realize that I was defending them as well, for the same reasons stated in the immediately previous sentence. They also didn't realize they were making themselves ripe for a very, very possible libel and slander suit. My old Grandpappy (really) used to say, "don't ever say anything in writing that you don't want used against you later." My old Grandpappy was right…. Which brings me to another point, if I have a beef with fandom in general, it's that when fans argue, they don't simply disagree, they ATTACK, and they attack hard, and nasty, and love to eviscerate each other. I got out of AS&J fandom some years ago because I was blamed for a really nasty personal attack a local longtime friend of mine (who's no longer a friend for a number of reasons) pulled on another fan. I was blacklisted and castigated and pretty much put through the ringer. So, as much as I wanted to be in on TOT, I was kind of hesitant for the above reasons. Just for the record, I won't involve myself in personal attacks, nor will I respond to any. I will be happy to discuss and debate topics concerning the show, but if my opinion varies, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm right, nor does it mean I'm unbending, it just means I have a different opinion. I certainly hope everyone else feels the same way. In other words, if someone is spoiling for a fight, leave me out of it.

• a fan comments:

  I've only seen HIGHLANDER a couple of times, but that was one of the first questions I had -- where the heck do they get their swords?

Issue 10

The Outlaw Trail 10 was published in September 1995 and contains 55 pages.

cover of issue #10, Fliss Davies

• the editor writes:

  One last thing... an issue has come up within AS&J fandom that we think you all need to be aware of. Cinda received a note in the mail, and has excerpted a section of it for your information: A fan found an AS&J fanzine in which Pete and Ben are portrayed as male lovers, etc. Have you seen such material? Anyway, there's talk of going to copyright holders to take some sort of action to protect Pete's and Ben's names. The zine in question is Devil's Hole, which we have advertised here in The Outlaw Trail. We're agenting the zine, know the editor and the writers involved, and had absolutely no problem with the contents. The reason we bring this up is to clear up a couple of points: Pete and Ben are not portrayed as male lovers. Heyes and Curry are, and as far as we're concerned the characters are not the same or equatable to the actors. If the stories had been written using Pete and Ben we wouldn't be agenting it. We believe that there's room in fandom for all viewpoints and interpretations. If we don't enjoy a particular kind of fan fiction we simply don't buy the zines and don't read those stories. We're not Trekkers, but we do embrace the IDIC principle. Therefore, if you find the slash ads in TOT offensive, please, feel free to let us know and we'll package them separately from the letterzine or not include them in your issue, but we refuse to be censored. We believe that a threat like this jeopardizes all of fandom, not just AS&J slash. If a few fans can dictate the appropriate content of zines based on their individual opinions, who's next? We think it's a shame that we have to be more fearful of ourselves than the Studios. We're hoping that the offended parties will calm down, think a little and allow everyone to read and write whatever they enjoy. After all, we thought that was what fandom was all about to begin with.

• this same fan writes:

  I lasted eight years in fandom before getting broad-sided in a fan war. Not fun. That's one reason Jody and I decided to air the AS&J slash thing up front. I respect those who don't like slash, those who do, and those who don't care one way or the other. I think this crew is a real live and let live bunch, and so far everyone's opinions have been respected, if not always agreed with, and that has been a real pleasure given the sh*$ Jody and I have been seeing in other fandoms.

• regarding music videos:

  Yep, "Richard Cory" and "American Pie" are both songs that I associate with Pete. In fact a lot of songs relate to Pete for me. The video I'd like to do as a kind of personal catharsis would be set to Linda Rhondstat's (did I spell her last name right?) "I Cried a River." Oh boy! I might just have lo go to Media West in '96 just to see the Due South, Bordertown, and Dudley Do-Right video! Hmmm... I can't think of anything off the top, but now it'll be haunting me as I listen to songs, so if something pops up I'll pass it along! Great idea, though!

• a fan writes:

  Oh, and I'm happy to xerox the AS&J stories from Gone to Texas for anyone who wants them! That was a spiffy one-shot.

• homosexuality as an unnecessary "element":

  I found your remarks regarding Walter Koenig's speculation—that some fans put a favorite character on such a high pedestal that no woman is good enough for him ~ a fascinating concept, psychologically speaking. Also the bit about elevating a same-sex relationship to a physical level without necessarily adding the element of homosexuality There's a scene in The Outlaw Josey Wales that sort of embodies that for me—wherein Clint Eastwood as Josey blood-bonds with Chief Dan George's character. (At least I think it's Chief Dan George. I don't remember.)

• regarding music videos:

  Those music (and other) videos sound interesting. I'd like to see them. I've kicked around the idea of doing an ASJ music video using the Eagles' song "Outlaw Man" that I mentioned last time. My VCR has a feature where you can dub over a soundtrack, so I could make a video copy of various ASJ scenes and dub the song over it, but it would be a little more involved than I care to get into right now. The video clips and the song would have to be timed out precisely so that the whole thing would fit together, and that sounds a little messy, especially since I've never done it before!

• regarding some do-it-your-self canon preservation:

  Speaking of copying videos, I just found out about something called a dubbing enhancer I thought some of you might be interested in. Apparently there are several different models out there and they go for around $30-35. It's like a small switchbox on a cable you attach between your two VCR's when you're copying a tape, and it's supposed to boost the video and audio signals so you get a cleaner picture and sound on your copy. We all hate to lose so much quality when copying down through multiple generations, but I'm not sure how effective they really are. I just got one and I admit it's hard for me to see more than a very small difference, but other people like them and think it makes a big difference.

Issue 11

The Outlaw Trail 11 was published in December 1995 and contains 30 pages.

cover of issue #11, Laura Virgil

• there is much chat about various round robin stories regarding their status and often demise
• a fan has written some original fiction she'd like to share:

  My recent novel involves humans with wings who can actually fly. Yes, I know it wouldn't work, but this is fiction so anything can happen. I have an image of how the wings attach and stuff. Funny thing, I got to thinking about it more recently and realized they would have to attach differently. I'm glad I don't have too try to give any medical explanation of how it would work. Let the reader make it up as they go along! (If anyone wants to read any of my non-ASJ novels or short stories, I am willing to mail out disks—much cheaper than printed copies—to anyone who is willing to give me some feedback. I write in WordStar but can make copies in ASCII or in WordPerfect if I have to.

• a fan is still hoping Devil's Hole isn't filled with too much slash, and also makes a comment that illustrates how many fans of small fandoms openly offered and accepted photocopies of stories in mixed media zines:

  [Name redacted], how is Devil's Hole doing? Are there really a lot of people interested in that 'zine? Are there stories in there that are NOT slash? Is there a way of getting my hands on those? I would like the ASJ stories from Gone to Texas since you're offering.

• regarding music videos:

  I agree that the song "Desperado" fits the characters here. In fact, it was one of the earliest songs I used for videos - twice. I used the Eagles' version, but I also like Clint Black's recent recording. One video is ASJ - hurt/comfort scenes and buddy moments. The other is a YOUNG RIDERS video about Hickok, which I ended with a freeze frame shot of the aces and eights Dead Man's Hand Carol mentioned in her last letter. I guess the YR people had a morbid sense of humor because they seemed to like making that hand turn up on the show.

Issue 12

The Outlaw Trail 12 was published in January/February 1996 and contains 57 pages.

cover of issue #12

• some fannish cross pollination, and a desire to fill in the blanks:

  Actually, Highlander is what's got me wishing for AS&J from beginning to end. My current obsession with the former is due to a strange dream that came seemingly out of nowhere and was cast with characters from the show. It was a "keeper dream", one whose details stayed with me for days after having it. On top of that, I had a second dream, probably due to the first sticking with me, and in the end, the only way to get either of them off my mind was to write them down. Unfortunately, the creator in me demands 1 make a story of it, and then, in order to do that, I go looking for more details on the characters. Thafs the other way I get challenged to "pay attention!" to a show. Fortunately, in this case, USA channel is running the older Highlander episodes. Since I got hooked on this series after it had already run a season, I had missed some of the details. Now the blanks are being filled in, at least as many blanks as the series chooses to fill. I still haven't found out just where the Immortals come from, or why they start out as infants, or why they are still coming...but that's for a different fan club, right?

• a fan wants to know something:

  Do others of you feel embarrassed when confronted with your ASJ interest? I had to keep telling myself it was all right to buy three of the videos at once. No one would think it the slightest bit odd, would they? I think it is because I have been teased about it recently and because I was so very obsessed as a teenager when the show was on. (I didn't exaclty tell everyone that I was a fan, though I know I did some stupid things around that time that made it pretty clear.)

• regarding fandom wars and feuds:

  A lot of the problem with fandom is the number of people who seem to think,"Everyone must see things MY WAY! Everyone must march in lock step to MY point of view!" l can relate to a lot of what [name redacted] said in one of the more recent TOT issues. I want to make it clear that I am not (as I'm sure she is not) condemning all fans, just there is that "dark side of fandom" that you want to stay away from if you can, the people who accept only one take on things [theirs), the people who try to destroy each other over some minor disagreement or petty feud. It's not always easy to keep clear of this stuff, although I've always tried. Unlike certain factions of fandom, I am not a person that likes making enemies, but even so I have still managed to make some through no intent of my own. If you have been in fandom for a number of years, you know what I mean. There are certain factions within fandom that make the Hatfields and McCoys look like...well... Heyes and Curry!

Issue 13

The Outlaw Trail 13 was published in March/April 1996 and contains 43 pages.

cover of issue #13, Laura Virgil

• each fan is different:

  I was glad to hear someone else is a bit intimidated by the memories of our fellow writers. I, too, watch for the sheer enjoyment of the show. One reason I stopped writing Star Trek stories is they were analyzed to death. I felt like saying, "Gee, guys, it's just a story!"

• another fan writes of The Blake's 7 Wars:

  Like you, I enjoyed it until it got nasty, they is stopped being fun. I second everything you said about not wanting to get involved in fights -- it's only a tv program me, for goodness sake!

• a fan writes:

  I occasionally feel embarrassed about my fannish activity, but I get over it pretty fast when I see sports fans…

Issue 14

The Outlaw Trail 14 was published in May/June 1996 and contains 54 pages.

cover of issue #14

• a fan recounts some last minute zine production:

  July was Mountain Media Con. [Name redacted] and I were binding and prepping zines until 2 PM of the first day of the con! Last minute everything, but we had a great time. We're already looking forward to going back next year! We debuted three more zines there, too: Compadres #11 (multi-media); The Last of a Breed (gen Due South); and Green Floating Weirdness #14 (gen War of the Worlds). Mt. Media is a terrific little zine con and we officially invite you to come next year!

• fans write of computer tech wishes and realities—one is saving up for a laser printer, there are many word-processing program woes, and this fan writes:

  Congrats on the new PC! Get thee a modem, gal, and we can chat online. I'm on Compuserve, which is, of course, accessible through the Internet, as well. Wouldn't it be kewl to do live conferences?

• a fan asks:

  What do you know of a program/fandom called The Professionals? Anything? A friend of mine, a multi-published author, has gotten into it in a big way lately and is working on a long story. I only ask because I know the show is British.

• a fan is happy to:

  ...see some new names on the list last issue". Welcome to [three names redacted] (who I remember from the old COCAH letterzine -- cheerio!) I'm looking forward to hearing some new voices.

• regarding fandom:

  You mentioned sports fans in comparison with our fandom participation. It has always mystified me why it's considered a perfectly normal hobby by the general public for a sports fan to know every little bit of trivia and statistic about their sport, collect cards and memorabilia, attend fantasy sports camps and so on, while similar activities in media fandom are frequently considered odd. You don't hear people telling baseball or basketball fans to "get a life." It's really the same type of hobby as TV or movie fans, just on a different topic. How did we get such a bad rep? Maybe it's because sports fandom is more widespread and has been around longer. Give us a few more years and perhaps our hobby will be "legitimate" enough so we won't have to be embarrassed about it any more. Or maybe somebody needs to start a Superbowl fanzine!

• regarding fandom and its presence in "real life":

  Fannish involvement - Since several people have brought it up, probably the most embarrassing two things that ever happened to me, in regards to fandom and the real world and the further embarrassment of having to explain it were both at my last legal job. A friend (who worked in the same department at the same place) and I were both going to the same convention in Denver (a combination Star Trek/Star Wars/Blakes 7/Dr. Who convention, as I recall). We went to inordinate lengths to not let anyone know - because of the reaction we knew we'd get. Of course, we were going to be gone at the same time, but I made an effort to let it be known I was going on vacation to Denver to visit friends. The friend said she was going to visit cousins in New Mexico, I think. We thought we were being very clandestine. While we were gone, it turns out, our department had had a staff meeting and our boss announced to everyone that WE were "Trekkies" (which we weren't) and had gone to a Star Trek convention "to see Mr. Spock" (!! - Nimoy wasn't even there!) and everyone had a good laugh at our expense. When we got back, we were grilled over and over about it - by lawyers, paralegals, administrators, etc. - and whether or not we wore our pointed ears. The only thing we could figure out as to how anyone found out was that the friend had a bad habit of leaving her personal, handwritten correspondence out on her desk so that she could write during slow times (she also had a tendency to leave it out in the open while she was gone to lunch). Closest we could figure was that someone unscrupulous (which covered just about everyone in that department) read her letter in which she was telling someone else in fandom that we were both going to this convention. The other embarrassing thing that happened, years before at the same place, was someone in from deeply in Man from UNCLE fandom sent a large, large package (about the size of a copy paper box) to me at my work address and COVERED it with UNCLE stickers, photo stickers, sayings, etc. - the return address was even listed as being from Illya Kuryakin! Suffice to say this did not go over well at a staid and straight-laced law firm! I nearly got bugged to death about that one by the office services guys and anyone they told (which was just about everyone who worked there - hundreds of people). Of course, were I to even comment about any of them them because of their even more bizarre sworn fealty to the Dallas Cowboys and I'd have been accused of blasphemy and drawn and quartered at the very least! Go figure…

• a fan writes of trading fannish goods, and of music videos:

  If you're interested in other scries, old or new, I've got tons of stuff. Music videos, bloopers, episodes, etc. from quite a few shows. Let me know what you're looking for and maybe I can help! And speaking of music videos. I am always on the lookout for fannish music videos from a variety of shows... if you have any you're willing to trade, please, please let me know! It goes without saying that I would be especially interested in fannish music videos using Western series (I've always wondered if anyone ever did a music video using "Renegades, Rebels and Rogues," a perfect song for many of our favorite Western heroes). But I love lots of fannish series and enjoy most fannish music videos. [Name redacted] had mentioned in one of the previous issues that she had a fan-made video which contained some AS&J stuff called "Jesse James vs. The Saucer Men From Mars." I can testify that this video is very funny (although crudely done by today's standards) but would caution anyone who might want a copy that it contains some sick humor (as [name redacted] herself warned). The part to watch out for is when Pete Duel sings "Suicide is painless." Ouch.

• regarding pro writers, fan writers, and a sort of fan casting:

  Carole Howey's writing wasn't familiar to me before I joined up with "The Outlaw Trail," but when I saw that she was an AS&J fan and she wrote professionally, I went out and bought her novels. It's long been a well-known habit of professional authors who are fans of Blakes 7 to write B7 "avatars" into their professional work. In Blakes 7 fandom, it started with Tanith Lee, who wrote a book called "Kill the Dead." The two main characters of that novel were obviously avatars of Avon and Vila from Blakes 7, and the author herself admitted an infatuation with the character of Avon. Anne Rice, of course, has admitted a long time ago that she fancied Rutger Hauer and considered her character of Lestat to "look" like him. I've heard of other authors who were Star Wars fans and based heroes in their pro books on Han Solo or Luke Skywalker. I even read a romance novel recently that seemed to feature Duncan MacLeod in the role of the hero (complete with a young redhead who could have been Richie if he was a little bit older... I suppose the heroine could even be considered to have been a Tessa). Obviously, it is a fairly common phenomenon. So, I have to admit that I wondered right off if Carole might have used Heyes and/or Curry avatars in her pro writing. I wasn't disappointed, as any of you who have read her pro work know. I think Joshua Manners in Sheik's Promise is my favorite hero SO far.

• regarding Mary Sues and happy endings:

  I've read a few good post-amnesty stories that were certainly enjoyable, I'll admit. Carol Mingst's series with Ruby comes immediately to mind as one that was very-well-done, although the last installment with both Heyes and Curry happily married off, settled down, and surrounded by hordes of children was totally unbelievable to me. Up until that point, I found the series at least plausible and there was plenty of action in the previous installments to keep the story moving along. Perhaps it is just a fannish longing to see "our boys" have a happy ending... but a happy ending doesn't necessarily require marriage and children! I hesitate to say it, but maybe to some degree it's the dreaded Mary-Sue syndrome. I really don't like to scream "Mary-Sue" in this fandom, because I have to admit that most of the heroines I've seen in the fan stories have been well-drawn and not particularly Mary-Sues. Carol Mingst, again, does do a great job with writing good strong female characters. A. G. Artis has written some great AS&J romances, too.

Issue 15

The Outlaw Trail 15 was published in July/August 1996 and contains 44 pages.

cover of issue #15

• something on tech:

  I've heard of these image-grabbers for PCs, but I'm not sure how good the image is. I've been told if s slightly less good than a telepic, in which case it might not be such a great thing, but it does sound tempting.

• regarding a fan's question in a previous issue:

  What do I know of the Professionals? Well, what do you want to know? I'm writing to you separately and will enclose an episode guide that a friend obtained from the Internet. I used to watch it when it was on, I remember it as being England's attempt to do a "Starsky and Hutch", but although it was stylish it lacked the warmth, and the two lead actors didn't get on so well - one of them in fact didn't want to do it at all!

• explaining Pros fandom:

  You asked about "The Professionals." There is a large fan network here in the Stales. Some zines available, although I believe the largest amount of fan fiction is published as part of a "lending library." They call it the "circuit," I think. I know several heavy duty Pros fans if your friend needs some contacts.

• regarding fandom:

  Fandom - it is strange how it's respectable to have other hobbies, even to be a film buff, but not TV. Give it ten or twenty years, it'll become respectable eventually. I've become more secretive over the years (is this a bad sign?) and now just tend to say I do drawings or write stories, rather than saying what they're about!

• regarding fandom:

  Boy, I'll tell you, I'd like to know how we (TV/film fans) ended up being the "weird ones" when the guys I know at school who are really into sports seems lot stranger to me. I think some of it has to do wit the fact that film fans were seen as having been 'constructed' by the Studios when they embarrassed the star-system. I guess fans were seen as being dupes. But if you look at the actual history, the Studios who were doing silent films were getting fan mail for their stars before the stars were allowed to have public personas, so fans came first. The amount of fan mail was one reason some of the smaller, independent Studios adopted the star system.

• on gathering old stories:

  If you don't have the AS&J stories out of Ghost Riders #4 let me know and I'll xerox them for you. To bad the back issues of Wide Open Spaces aren't available! When I came into fandom in the late 1980s (this year is my 10 year fan anniversary) I was only able to get WOS #9 and #10. What I wouldn't give for the AS&J stories in #1-8!!

• a fan writes:

  I'm trying to set up an AS&J list-serv. If you're on-line and would like to be included, let me know!

• regarding re-vidding:

  California Crew did a good, multi-media music video to the song Renegades, Rebels & Rogues last year (yes, there's a clip of Heyes & Curry in it!). That doesn't preclude someone else from doing another one. I've seen several instances where different people made videos to the same song. Case in point: three of us at MediaWest this year showed Star Trek: Voyager videos to the theme from Gilligan's Island! That's such an obvious one to do, I guess it was bound to happen, but I've seen others where it was really interesting to see how different people interpreted the same song, with a different fandom or just in a different way.

Issue 16

The Outlaw Trail 16 was published in September/December 1996 and contains 64 pages. This issue notes there are 22 members. This issue lists, for the first time, several AS&J website addresses.

cover of issue #16

• a fan in England describes an event:

  The TV channel Bravo have been putting on a roadshow for S&H throughout-October, since the series has been running through most of this year. I had to go along, of course, which was easy as one of the venues was right on the old doorstep at Manchester, in Piccadilly Gardens. It was great. They had this huge double decker bus with the Torino painted on one side, Starsky & Hutch on the other, and an absolutely beautiful portrait of Huggy Bear on the back. (No fair to leave Dobey outl). But in the bus, downstairs you could sit and watch the S&H pilot in a wildly 70s decorated interior, and upstairs a competition for which you dressed real 70s and the winner got a sweatshirt. Also they had lookalike (kind of) actors doing little skits and scenes for the crowd, and the absolute undisputed star of the whole show, the Torino (or one of them, anyway), was there, who attracted all the camera attention going! I had one or two snaps of myself standing by the car done, and I'll try and get a copy done on the end of this LOC for everyone to see. Apparently, the day before had the real crowds out, along with a lovely sunny day, but the 3rd saw no sunshine and wasn't ideal to be standing around in any kind of Mexican cardigan, Starsky-style or no! (Not that I went in that, I had the old leather jacket along for the weather) Some great face masks and stickers were handed out - immortals such as 'You've been Hutched by Bravo!' were a riot.

• a fan is working on her dissertation in media studies:

  Yeah, this semester I examined all of the academic work that discusses zine fans, but they all focus on Star Trek fans, and a lot of it discusses Star Trek slash fan fiction. All in all what is being said is okay, but it's so darned superficial.

• a fan offers to tape shows:

  If anyone wants tapes of these episodes, let me know. I'll charge $5 and provide the tape and the postage. I feel kind of silly having anyone mail me a blank tape when I can pick them up for less than the postage around here.

• another fan is eager to help:

  I am always looking for fannish music videos, too. I will be happy to clone anything I have for other folks.

• a fan writes:

  I was excited to see everyone handing out their online addresses. It's so much quicker and easier to answer letters online.

• regarding hurt/comfort and one fan's thoughts:

  It's disappointing to hear that Ouch!, at least at this point, is lacking in ASJ stories. I could do with a good ASJ wallow about now. What's happened to all the hurt/comfort writers in this fandom? Now, I'm the first to admit that I don't want to see every story consist of nothing but Heyes writhing in pain while the Kid wrings his hands and boo-hoos, but a little hurt/comfort here and there, especially with a plot attached, can be very satisfying. Hurt/comfort in ASJ fandom seems to focus on Heyes, more often than not, I've noticed. I was telling Laura the other night about the older zine Just You & Me, Kid, and one long story therein where poor Heyes has appendicitis and spends most of the story flat on his back in horrible pain, in constant danger of dying, while the Kid tries desperately to save him. All well and good until the end when the Kid gets shot and almost dies...and gets something like a page and a half of angst compared to the fifty or so pages Heyes got! Not fair! And I'm primarily a Heyes fan, too. There was another long story in that same zine where virtually the same thing happens: they both get hurt, but Heyes is the one who gets all the comfort and the angst and almost dies while Curry just copes with it and goes on. Poor baby. Makes me want to write a real wallow for the poor boy.

Issue 17

The Outlaw Trail 17 was published around January 1997 and contains 42 pages. The zine has 27 subscribers. One fan writes that the zine "more closely resembles a Manhattan phone directory than a letterzine."

cover of issue #17

Many fans are talking about "the Internet page." This is "The Alias Smith and Jones Tribute" site. It was created and maintained by Deborah Menikoff. The address: http://www.panix.com?~menikoff/alias.html.

• a fan mentions the upcoming AS&J forum, "the Email loop, shortly to become, I understand, a cybercreature known as a Listserve."
• a fan remembers the show's from when she was a child:

  ASJ was a Saturday afternoon kind of thing for me. If no one else was home, I'd push the tape recorder up to the TV and tape it so I could listen to it later (this was pre-VCR days in the household). I listened to them for years after the show was no longer on. The one I listened to most was "Never Trust An Honest Man". I don't know why that one. It may be because that tape lasted the longest -I still had them 10 years later when I went to college but I haven't clue where they are now. Of course, now I have a VCR so I don't need them.

• a fan comments:

  I also saw my name on the fan fiction bibliography [from the newly-created AS&J's website, The Alias Smith and Jones Tribute, that fans are flocking to]. Now my name is on the World Wide Web twice: both times involved with ASJ stories. The other had to with the Fan-Q award from 1995….Okay, so ya see I heard tell there was this free trial thingy for the internet provided by Pacific Bell, where I work. So I says, what the heck and signed up. Actually, what I did was take my laptop to work and challenged the local network expert to get me set up. He downloaded the software to his PC, copied it to floppies, loaded it on my laptop, set everything up for me, and got me online -- hence, my E-mail address at the top of this letter. I've only been on it a couple of times at home, but already sent letters to [two names redacted], whose addresses I had handy…. I hope it doesn't become too habit forming. The first month free won't last forever.

• a number of new members of this zine comment on how they only recently became involved in fandom and it was because of the internet—one fan writes:

  I should also introduce myself as the author of "Deb and Catherine's AS&J Snark-A-Thon" on the website. This is where Deb and I watch episodes, making a point of noticing things like False Eyelashes of the Old West and Bad Kojak Background Music, and I take notes between fits of laughter and later turn it into narrative. Our most popular category, of course, is Hannibal Heyes Hair Moments. You'd be amazed at the amount of attention you can pay to his hair. Not to mention the rest of him. And the Kid's pretty darn cute, too.

• a fan writes:

  One of the best things to finding TOT and the Internet page is being able to communicate with others who understand how I feel and to find out more about Pete and Ben…. Knowing that there are so many others who feel as I do has made me feel really good.

Issue 18

The Outlaw Trail 18 was published around April 1997 and contains 29 pages.

cover of issue #18

• a fan in England asks others to keep her in mind:

  The website and tribute page info is fascinating, but a plea to all you internet people - please don't forget that not all of us are hooked up yet, we might not know what you're talking about if you refer to something from one of these pages, so please do explain when you do that.

• a fan remembers:

  Oh yes, coping ASAJ pre VCR! I remember sitting in silence with the tape recorder, an old reel to reel one, in front of the T.V. Did I say 'sitting in silence,' you could occasionally her the odd giggle or sigh stifled.

• a fan comments (and it is a bit of a what the future holds in terms of fannish communication and print zines):

  I've been so busy talking to some of you via e-mail that I almost forgot that I needed to do a LOC. The listserv continues to be delayed? Once that gets going, I suggest that you fix it so that only those who are subscribed can post messages. I was on a list last year {the Monkees one) where we started getting spammed with get-rich-quick schemes and other unwanted advertising until the people running the list fixed it so those things were blocked out.

• a fan writes:

  Since I am the blank slate of this fandom in some ways, the rest of you may be amused to know that I finally rented Mulch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a movie I'd never seen before. As I told some of my e-buddies, I was pretty blown away, not only by the character/situation similarities, but also by that fact that AS&J lifted actual lines from the movie, The one that comes most directly to mind is "Just keep on thinking, Butch/Heyes - it's what you're good at." And there was the time in Bolivia where Sundance turned to Butch and said, "Which one am I, Smith or Jones?" Yikes. I mean, I'd been warned, but I went around for a day or two thinking, "Great. I've fallen in love with a copyright violation."

Issue 19

The Outlaw Trail 19 was published around July 1997 and contains 48 pages.

cover of issue #19

• announcement:

  The listserve is up and running thanks to the University. Now I have to add names to the list and the University has to do whatever magic it does to make it work. You should get a message when they've done their part!

• a fan comments on the main ASAJ website:

  The internet has played no small role in my getting back into this series again, but more on that later! A special note to Deb Menikoff to THANK YOU for a great job with the web page—to anyone reading this who doesn't have web access themselves, Deb's web site is worth going to a library, an "internet cafe" or anywhere else you can just to check it out! And an extra side order of "thank you's" to Deb for using her editorial discretion to keep the site from becoming "The Pete Duel Death Page"—I think it'd be impossible in any forum on this show not to talk about Pete's death at all, but I'm glad to see the conversation being directed into other areas. I'd like to think that Pete would be pleased to know that people are enjoying and appreciating his work, not just talking about his death…. How did I find out about the group? Via the internet, but not in the "usual" way—I don't think the web page was even a twinkle in Deb's eye before I sought out the group. A routine search on the series name had yielded a very curious line about award-winning fan fiction, a story called "House of Whorers" by one Carol Mingst, appearing in a publication called "Just You, Me, and the Governor," issue #9, no less! It didn't take a genius to figure out that this had to be something strictly AS&J-related ... and I set about to find out who the publisher was. MediaWest (on whose page the award listing had been posted) didn't know, but suggested I contact an e-mail address (Peg Kennedy's, I think it later turned out to be). I tried it but never got a response, so the only other clue I had was the author's name, which thankfully wasn't as common as "Smith" or "Jones"! A little more internet searching and I had what looked like a match—and sure enough, it turned out to be the right Carol Mingst, who directed me to Cinda, and the rest, as they say, is history! Carol, my apologies for "stalking" you! But I'm sure glad I did, and that you were so nice about it!!

• a fan describes her path to this fandom:

  When AS&Jwas repeated by the wonderful BBC in 1995 I couldn't believe my luck! Everything I'd seen Pete in was in pre-VCR days but now I could get everything on tape! Now my husband watched with me and was understanding about my interest (he used to enjoy it too in the 70's but not altogether for the same reason!) When he started trying to coax me to get connected to the Internet at the beginning of this year I must confess I wasn't too keen. He used all sorts of bribery and corruption, "There might be something about Pete Duel" and "There's bound to be an AS&J site" etc, I must admit I wasn't convinced. When we finally got connected (Yes, I gave in to the bribery - well. I was desperate!) the first name that he typed in was Pete Duel. When the AS&J site came up (thank you, thank you Deborah!) I couldn't believe my eyes! Anyway, from there I found Cinda and TOT and here I am!

• another fan describes her journey:

  Firstly, to answer Cinda's question about how we found TOT and all things ASJ, it was definitely the Internet for me. When I got a PC at work that was connected, it was the first thing for which I went "surfing". I laving tried for years (o find some kind of fan club, I had almost given up hope, and could hardly believe ray luck when I found the "Tribute" page at my second attempt! My knowledge of the Net and computer skills have increased by leaps and bounds since then. Although I have been a fan since the 70s, it was the showing of the programmes by the BBC about 1983 which spurred me on to find out more about Pete in particular, although I clearly did not look in the right places, as I had no idea that there was a UK fan club for all thai lime. 1 am now making up for twenty five years of deprivation. I think that the experience of finding others who feel the same about something often leads to the comment "I thought I was the only one", I recently read that Marilyn French was amazed to receive stacks of letters when "The Women's Room" was first published, all saying exactly the same thing.

Issue 20

The Outlaw Trail 20 was published around September 1997 and contains 59 pages.

cover of issue #20, Linda Rendall

• this issue reprints an article from the February 22, 1977 "Daily Express" called "Learning to love-- with a little help from Starsky & Co." Subject: fandom and crushes and how they "teach" young girls about romance in a safe way.
• a fan writes:

  Really glad to hear that the webpage is getting a lot of traffic! It's a great page, and I love the fact that people are still out there, thinking about the show and interested enough to go surfing to find something on it!

• a new subscriber writes:

  It has been very interesting to receive my first two copies of The Outlaw Trail, but slightly alarming to discover that most -- if not all -- the members of the Gang are female. Did AS&J appeal mainly to women, or is it that women are more likely to join fan clubs. Than again, apart from being male, I'm perhaps our oldest member, since I am now rapidly approaching my 70th birthday. For thirty years, I was an assistant librarian at Edinburgh University, here in Scotland… I enjoy walking the hills, building a model railroad in my back garden, and of course, watching AS&J on the Telly…. Strangely enough I didm not particularly like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" -- perhaps because, being a railroad enthusiast, I disliked that way they treated that poor Conductor!

Issue 21

The Outlaw Trail 21 was published in November 1997 and contains 67 pages. The zine has 36 subscribers.

cover of issue #21, Linda Rendall

• this issues consists of a very, very long letter about the deaths of Princess Diana and of Mother Theresa, and of the fan's ear problems
• a fan contemplates:

  As to whether ASJ as a fandom may appeal to women more than men, I had always thought that as a Western, it would appeal to both, certainly when I was growing up watching the show, you had men and women, young and old, there were no age or sex barriers, but that was not really "fandom" as such. Since I have been involved in fandom, it does seem to be a mainly female thing, you don't see many men involved in the hands-on aspects of fandom such as writing fan fiction or doing artwork, that seems to be almost overwhelmingly female. I don't know if the men are content to read the stories, etc. and not participate, etc. or what. I would say that most men probably consider themselves above such foolishness if not for the fact that most general literature has been written by men. But then I'm not a person who has been able to participate in the conventions, I can't afford to travel to Mediawest, and some people say, "Your ignorance is showing! If you did go to the cons, you would see plenty of men there." So it may be that a lot of men are interested in fandom, but feel it's a little silly and maybe "unmanly", like a schoolgirl with a crush, they may prefer to just observe because it gives them plausible deniability...a man who accompanies his wife to a con can pretend he's just there for the ride, or to look after his wife, make sure she doesn't spend too much money or go too far overboard with her silly obsessions, etc. And too, a lot of fan fiction the way it is generally done (fandom-as-usual) probably doesn't appeal to men very much. But then, a lot of fandom-as-usual doesn't appeal to me very much either, and I'm a woman, so I don't know what that says about me. There is also the fact, which I was not really that aware of until recently, probably because I was about 10-11 when ASJ was originally on, that it had .a large teen idol/hunk show aspect to it and that Duel and Murphy were marketed as "hunks", so in areas of the country and the world other than the one where I lived, you probably had guys who were in their teens/twenties and older who liked ASJ but were embarrassed to say so because in their area or their crowd, it was seen as a show that girls and women watched, something like ER, today.

• Heyes and Curry's friendship as one of the strengths of the show?:

  There have been lots of shows since then with that as a central theme, from Starsky & Hutch, through Simon & Simon (as their theme song puts it, "they're more than brothers, they're best of friends"), to Fraser & Ray on Due South (that's classic Ray, not new Ray;)) and Herc & lolaus, as [name redacted] mentioned. When a show gets it right, that relationship can really click with viewers. Hey, Ihe biggest hit show in the U.S. a couple years ago was titled "Friends." From the time we're little, we all want friends. I think we want to see that reflected in the shows we watch.

• a fan writes of her future plans to buy a computer:

  See some of you soon in cyberspace (is that what it's called?)

Issue 22

The Outlaw Trail 22 was published around January 1998 and contains 21 pages.

cover of issue #22, Linda Rendall

• a fan wonders about fandom and gender:

  I only go to a few fan conventions (all of them fan zine conventions) myself, but I can say that at those cons, men are few and far between, and those I do see are often dealers, selling photos and memorabilia. But I do hear that at the Star Trek convent ions there are about equal numbers of men and women, and at the movie memorabilia shows and conventions I have attended there were more men than women. There just seems to be something about fan fiction that makes it a woman-centered activity. Why, I don't know.

• a fan explains a term:

  Ah, the Hunk-Off... at Mountain Media. Basically it's where a whole bunch of women get together in the panel room and campaign for their favorite TV hunks as The Hunk... It's a good-natured shouting match that's a of fun to watch (if you don't have a favorite you're passionate about defending) -- one year a small group of us lobbied for Diefenbaker (the wolf from Due South) and made it to the second to last cut.

Issue 23

The Outlaw Trail 23 was published in February 1998 and contains 20 pages. The membership has taken a large decline, and there are only 20 members.

cover of issue #23, Linda Rendall

* a new member writes:

Until May of 1997 I had never heard of fandom or fan fiction (probably sounds old and familiar), but thanks to the Internet I have caught on quickly. I have been writing fan fiction since my teens though I didn't know it had a name…

• a fan writes of a popular online site/section of a site:

  I was reading snarks last night on the WEB page. I've got to try doing that at some point (snarking). I love the comments about the Kid's hair looking like a dead sheep or the way Roger's eyes disappear into bags (too many nights in Dark Shadows?). I know some of you out there don't have WEB access. I have printed out snarks in the past so I could pass them around. Maybe one of us could do that and route around the stutf for the computer access challenged.

• a fan comments on a Highlander con and her comments emphasize how new the internet is to fans: fandoms (as in the comment above) generally have only one main website, hence "the WEB page" terminology:

  On another note, there is a Highlander convention in Anaheim in April. The convention will have just about all of the stars, a mock up ol the dojo. Joe's bar. etc. I read about it on the Highlander WEB page but could find out mote if anyone is interested. I think one day was $45 and weekend memberships ranged around $100 and up. There was something called Holy Ground Seating available, probably meaning seats closer to the stars. I enjoyed the one Highlander convention I attended in 1995 but probably won't find an excuse to spend that kind of time and money in Anaheim.

Issue 24

The Outlaw Trail 24 was published in March/April 1998 and contains 14 pages.

cover of issue #24, Linda Rendall

• content is unknown after the editor's introduction

Issue 25

The Outlaw Trail 25 was published in May/June 1998 and contains 16 pages. It is a slim issue, only four letters.

cover of issue #25, Linda Rendall

• the editor writes:

  Fannish. Well, we had 13 new titles debut at Media West and the con went very well, sales-wise. In fact, we sold out the first day and came home with orders tor more zines than we actually took to the con! We've never had a year like that. It was exciting and a little scary. And we just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all their support.

Issue 26

The Outlaw Trail 26 was published in July/August 1998 and contains 14 pages. It has just three letters.

cover of issue #26, Linda Rendall

• a fan comments:

  Glory, our TOTs have gotten mightily thin these past few months. Though, as I've been guilty of not contributing for much too long myself, I'd make the effort this time around.

• a fan comments:

  Wow, that last Outlaw Trail was a bit slim! I hope we get more contributions for this one! I now have a computer at home so I have started a few writing projects. It is easy to talk about writing but actually getting down to it is much more difficult.

• a fan writes of some fannish cross pollination:

  I attended an S&H con in mid-June. Lovely folks, very friendly. But what does this have to do with A&J, you say? Well, I wore this denim jacket onto which I'd embroidered all things AS&J, and wow, did it get some attention. I've always upheld that A&J were the ancestors of S&H, and there were plenty of ASJ fans at the con to prove the point. I've worn it at other cons, but nowhere did it get the attention that it did there. Only goes to show the connection, huh?

Issue 27

The Outlaw Trail 27 was published in September/October 1998 and contains 24 pages.

cover of issue #27, artist is Shiloh, dated 1988

• from the editors:

  Well, as the year draws closer to a close, Jody and I have sat down and had a long talk about the future of The Outlaw Trail. Due to the drop off in letters of comment we've decided to cease publication of TOT after the December issue. However, we're not giving up in AS&J! Never! So we're also planning to expand the Alias Smith and Jones section of Duel Memories, the newsletter for the Pete Duel Commenorative Fan Club. We invite you to subscribe to DM, and to send in letters of comment on the series. Basically we're collapsing TOT into DM, since much of the information in both publications is the same. We hope we'll have your continuing support.

• a fan writes:

  So, how is everyone doing, and I do mean everyone?! We just don't hear from all of you nearly enough to know how you all are, or where you are, or even who you are! I know I'm perfectly chatty, but there is always room for more letters. Where is everyone these days?

• a fan joins in for the first time, but at the tail end of this zine:

  I've been feeling somewhat apprehensive about writing my first loc. Add to that the fact that I'm a natural born procrastinator and I've been a while putting pen to paper, or rather fingers to keyboard. To echo what so many others have said, I've been a fan of Alias Smith and Jones since the first episode I saw all those years ago, which was 'The Legacy of Charlie O'Rourke'. I mourned the show's cancellation, but sorrowing ended when I found it many years later on CBN, mangled though it was. A few more years went by and there it was on FOX, mangled not at all. I remember thinking that I couldn't possibly be the only one left who still enjoyed the show, and what a pity it was to have no means of communicating with other fans. That changed when my husband, determined to convince me that Internet access was a necessity, called me into the den one night and told me to look at the monitor. A web site! I picked myself up off the floor, suggested he go walk the dog for an hour or two, and dove in. That led to my ordering one of the 'Just You, Me, and the Governor' zines, which led to my ordering all of them. I found a copy of The Outlaw Trail in with the zines (thanks again, Cinda), and here I am. I've enjoyed reading TOT over the months. It's been a pleasure to answer the want ads and in so doing to meet a couple of wonderful friends.

Issue 28

The Outlaw Trail 28 was published in November/December 1998 and contains 22 pages.

cover of issue #28, the art is dated 1987, and artist is Shiloh

• a fan writes:

  Now it's clear that the computer is going to replace many things that we know and are familiar with right now. Some of us are enthusiastic about that than others. We don't know all of what's going to be yet, but a lot of what we can see of it from here kind of concerns me. We are facing the same situation, just substitute the computer for the car, and make a few other substitutions and really think about it. I was hoping of go on for at least a couple of more pages, seeing as it is the final issue of TOT, but it turns out that's about all I can think of right now. Well, at least maybe this issue will be a few pages longer than they've been lately. So I guess that's it for TOT. Sorry it couldn't have been longer, but it's been a fun rid, and maybe I can catch up with other members of the gang a little later on in the pages of Duel Memories.