The Return (Quantum Leap zine)

Zine
Title:	The Walton
Publisher:	Jim Rondeau
Editor:
Author(s):	Barbara E. Walton
Cover Artist(s):	<=minds-i-view=>
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	February 1995
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Quantum Leap
Language:	English
External Links:
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The Return is a 96-page gen Quantum Leap novel by Barbara E. Walton. The cover is by <=minds-i-view=>.

cover of zine by <=minds-i-view=>

This author also wrote a official tie-in novel called "Odyssey."

Parts Posted to "ql-archive"

• "Ruthie and Al" by Barbara E. Walton (Al meets his future 3rd wife (pre-MI) in 1954. NOTES: Related to other fanfic, "Fires that Forge."
• "Ruthie's Story" by Barbara E. Walton (Ten-year-old Ruthie Minkin discovers more than a new neighborhood around the corner from her shul. NOTES: Ruthie's point of view of previous story, "Ruthie and Al."

Summaries

The story centers around Sam's Leap into a Jewish community, where he meets up with Al's third wife Ruthie, a woman he still knew even though he was still married to Beth.

When Sam leaped into Micah, a young man in a very orthodox Jewish community, in the midst of a time period when the Jewish Defense League was butting heads with the Black Panthers, he knew he would have more trouble than he might be able to handle; and they multiply too fast for even Ziggy to handle.

“A post-Mirror Image novelette. In another time-line, Ruthie Minkin would have been Al’s third (fourth?) wife. She still had been a fellow orphan, close friend and lover to Al when they were growing up. But later they had drifted apart before Al had learned much later of her suicide. But here was Sam, in western New York in 1973, to save a young man from being murdered, and here was Ruthie, alive, just before her suicide...or was it murder, too?”

Reactions and Reviews

This is a novella by the woman who wrote the QL novel Odyssey. It's post-Mirror Image, and does something interesting with how Al's life has changed due to Beth's return to him. The story centers around Sam's Leap into a Jewish community, where he meets up with Al's third wife Ruthie - a woman he still knew even though he was still married to Beth. It deals with the usual issues of prejudice against the Jews, but the look into Al's past is interesting."

"The Return" is an excellent 'zine, with many details that give it a real QL feel. Great characterization -- apart from the obvious (Sam & Al), I particularly enjoyed Tina and her 'pointos' -- and good behind-the-scene rationalizations... Thoroughly enjoyable. And the publisher got my copy to me in less than three weeks: a definite plus!

The Return is, far and away, the best fan-written QL story I have read so far, and it is as good or better than any of the “official” novels published by Ace Paperbacks. [Barbara has an official QL novel coming out in February, 1996 called Odyssey. - Ed.] Ms. Walton’s grasp of the series' characters is exceptional, and the characters she has created for her story are complex, beievable human beings.

In this post-Mirror Image story, Sam Leaps into a Hasidic community in western New York State in December, 1973. There, he encounters Ruthie Minkin, who would have been Al’s third wife, had Sam not reunited Al and Beth. Sam tries to prevent a potentially fatal conflict from being set off by a militant adolescent in the group and some bigoted townspeople. Sam also learns that Ruthie, who was Al’s friend and lover before he met Beth, will drown in January, 1974, under mysterious circumstances. Sam and Al try to find the key to Ruthie’s psyche that might help them prevent her death. Meanwhile, in Al’s time, Ruthie’s appearance creates tension between Al and Beth that threatens their marriage as Al tries to resolve his feelings for Ruthie.

The main strength of Walton’s story is that she refuses to over-simplify her characters or to provide pat solutions to their problems. She shows prejudice from both Jewish and Gentile perspectives. Al, Sam, Beth, and Ruthie are exceptionally portrayed with all their doubts and flaws. Her descriptions of her characters’ dreams, memories, and inner musings are insightful and vivid. And Walton shows that not all the changes Sam caused during his Leaps resulted in completely happy endings. Sam may have saved Al and Beth’s marriage, for example, but it still has a lot of rough edges to it, even before Ruthie turns up.

The Return is a gem. A handsome cover by <minds-i-view> is the icing on the cake. I recommend it without reservations -- a definite A story.