The Road to Hell and Other Stories
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Road to Hell and Other Stories |
| Publisher: | Waveney |
| Editor(s): | Judith Proctor |
| Date(s): | 1996 |
| Series?: | |
| Medium: | print zine |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Blake's 7 |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: |  cover by Suzan Lovett, also the cover of Those Who Favor Fire |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Road to Hell and Other Stories is a gen 79-page anthology of Blake's 7 fiction by Suzan Lovett, edited into British English and printed by Judith Proctor. The fiction in it was previously published in Powerplay #1 and #2 (The Road to Hell and Doppleganger), and Those Who Favor Fire (Lightbridge, Circle of Fire and Gemini Rising).
The art in this zine was largely previously published in Those Who Favor Fire – the front cover and two of the inside pictures are by Suzan Lovett (Those Who Favor Fire has more Lovett artwork not reproduced here). There is also one picture of Blake ('Magic Man') by Jean Kluge from Those Who Favor Fire. The back cover is a new picture by Whitby27.
Decision to Re-print
'Powerplay' was out of print at [the time Judith read 'The Road to Hell'], so I asked Suzan for permission to reprint the stories. She agreed, and also gave me 'Doppleganger' from Powerplay #2 and three wonderful stories which had originally appeared in 'Those Who Favour Fire', which is still out of print ... When I discovered a reprint of 'Powerplay', I nearly decided not to carry on with this project, but a lot of work had already been done, and 'Powerplay' still isn't readily available in Britain, so I decided to go ahead, especially as the other stories were still unavailable elsewhere. This zine has taken a lot longer to produce than I originally expected due to various unforeseen problems (none of which are Suzan's fault). Thanks are due to Tim Lomas for help with scanning and Pita Enriques Harris and Vega for help in sorting out the OCR files. The OCR files were pretty poor because of the quality of the print they were picking up from, and tidying them up proved to be a fairly major task.[1]
Judith Proctor's editorial
Judith Proctor's notes to the printer, includes a crossed out note '3p rate, unless you're feeling generous as I'm doing an awful lot at once...'
Contents
The Road to Hell is a AU story set after 'Hostage'. Originally published in Powerplay #1. 32,600 words
Lightbridge - After Blake has left Liberator, Avon looks in his cabin and finds something unexpected. Originally published in Those Who Favor Fire. 3,400 words.
Doppelgänger - At Avalon's instigation, Avon, shortly after 'Orbit' goes to seek the clone of Blake that was abandoned with Rashel in 'Weapon'. Originally published in Powerplay #2. 28,800 words.
Circle of Fire - A time travel story. Originally published in Those Who Favor Fire. 3,900 words.
Gemini Rising - A story about a young man and his growing dissatisfaction with life in the Federation and his determination to speak out against it. Originally published in Those Who Favor Fire. 6,600 words.
Reactions and Reviews
See reactions and reviews for Doppelganger.
See reactions and reviews for Gemini Rising.
See reactions and reviews for The Road to Hell.
See reactions and reviews for Circle of Fire.
See reactions and reviews for Lightbridge.
[See this fan's comments on the individual stories on their own pages.] [zine]: Add to all of this a beautiful cover featuring a very well-rendered Avon and two different aspects of Blake, as well as a few other nice pieces of artwork, and you've got one hell of a zine. In case it's not already blindingly obvious from the glowing comments above, I definitely recommend this zine, especially if, like me, you find the complex, ambiguous relationship between Blake and Avon to be one of the central attractions of the show... even when Blake isn't actually around. [2]
[zine]: Suzan spoiled us with the quality of her fiction writing, which was never less than excellent and usually far surpassed that, as she has a way of delving into character's psyches that leaves both the characters and the readers pierced to the heart. In B7 fandom, she often did things to the characters that led us to dub her "You Bitch" . . . but we meant it with affection. [3]
References
- ^ Editorial to the 1996 edition, by Judith Proctor
- ^ by Betty Ragan at Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 site
- ^ comment by kslangley at What was your first fandom?, August 28, 2016
