Those Who Favor Fire (Blake's 7 zine)

For articles with a similar title, see Those Who Favor Fire.

Zine
Title:	Those Who Favor Fire
Publisher:	Ellen L. Kobrin and Billie Phillips
Editor(s):
Date(s):	very early 1989
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Those Who Favor Fire is a slash 120-page anthology. The cover art is by Suzan Lovett.

cover by Suzan Lovett, also the cover of The Road to Hell and Other Stories

Inside the zine are two Lovett illos with sonnets attached, portraying Avon as Scorpio and Blake as Aquarius. Apparently there was also a companion piece, Vila as Cancer, which was not used in the zine.

flyer

Other interior art is by Billie Phillips, Gayle F, and Jean Kluge.

A Sort of Con Zine

As per the "Freedom City" program book, this was a sort of con zine for Freedom City.

It differs from other con zines in that it was created well in advance of the con, in part for the sale proceeds went to support the "Guest Fund." . Con zines are also generally "fluffier" in content, but not this one. It was filled with content from many BNFs.

The zine itself does not have a date on it, nor does it mention the con in any way.

Freedom City Convention held April 28-30, 1989 during the thick of The Blake's 7 Wars.

Scorpio, Aquarius, Cancer

The zine has several Lovett pieces. One of them portrays Avon as Scorpio and the other portrays Blake as Aquarius.

Apparently there was a companion piece, Vila as Cancer, which was not used in the zine.

From the Editorial

Welcome to Those Who Favor Fire. There was an inevitability to it; sooner or later, the two of us had to do a zine together. That it finally turned out to be Blake's 7 is fortuitous; had the madness struck a few years earlier, the zine would be Trek or S & H. (No, we're not fickle-and aren't you glad we stayed relatively sane until now?)

Certain acknowledgments are due and proper. To paraphrase the immortal Yogi Berra, our thanks to Marion McChesney for making this zine necessary. Seriously, thanks to Marion for printing our cover and title page, and for sending Linda Knights' story our way (and for her own contributions too). Especial thanks to Suzan Lovett, without whom the zine truly wouldn't have been possible - a fact that can be readily verified by a perusal of the Table of Contents. She was our nexus; she is our pepper-upper, our moral support, and our good friend. A side note here: Two of Ellen's poems, "The Watcher" and "Visionary," are Suzan's fault. The art came first; the poems are interpretations.

Thanks too, of course, to the rest of our contributors.... (Yes, the list of contributors is figuratively incestuous, or nepotistic, or whatever other slightly wicked word you'd rather use. So be it.)

Thanks to Robert Frost for our title. We hope he's smiling broadly in his grave. Speaking of grave, the majority of the zine is rather...heavy. Well, now, we're a couple of serious-minded individuals (stop laughing, you guys). There was a certain inevitability to that aspect of the zine also.

[snipped]

We welcome your comments and letters, and we guarantee that you'll most likely not receive a written answer. One of us, at least, is notorious as one of Fandom's worst correspondents. However - if you're reading someone else's copy of this and you want your own, SASE to Ellen L. Kobrin...

Contents

• Gemini Rising, fiction by Suzan Lovett (1)
• Knight Fall, poem by Billie Phillips (14)
• And Wrath Did End, fiction by Ellen L. Kobrin (15)
• Visionary, poem by Ellen L. Kobrin (20)
• Like a Thief in the Night, fiction by Marion McChesney (21)
• Beginning of the..., poem by Ellen L. Kobrin (24)
• Circle of Fire, fiction by Suzan Lovett (25)
• The Devil With a Computer, fiction by Linda Terrell (inspired by Janet Morris' "Heroes in Hell" series) (33)
• The River, poem by Marion McChesney (reprinted in Powerplay #6) (44)
• Perchance to Dream, fiction by Ellen L. Kobrin (45)
• Lightbridge, fiction by Suzan Lovett (59)
• Gethsemane, poem by Ellen L. Kobrin (66)
• The Sleep of Death, fiction by Ellen L. Kobrin (67)
• The Road to Gauda Prime, poem by Marion McChesney (70)
• Be But a Story That They Tell, fiction by Linda Knights (71)
• Beyond the Horizon, poem by Ellen L. Kobrin (103)
• The Watcher, poem by Ellen L. Kobrin (104)
• Much Abides, fiction by Billie Phillips (105)

Sample Interior

• 

  frontispiece

• 

  Scorpio by Suzan Lovett -- "Remember the Suzi Lovett picture, "Scorpio" which had Paul Darrow dressed in black leather so tight nothing was left to the imagination? It was also called Avon in a condom. Well, the New Zealand fan who was so rabid about slash was running an art show and I was helping. This came up in the auction and she refused to put it up because Paul would be offended. I told it it had two bids, she had to do it. She said to put it at the very end. Before we had a chance to do anything, Paul walked up behind us, saw it and reached over and took it out of her hand. "I'll auction that one," he said with a definite twinkle in his eye.

• 

  sample text

• 

  Billie Phillips

• 

  Suzan Lovett

• 

  Suzan Lovett: a fan in 2013 wrote: "the art's almost all suzan lovett, which means it's almost all pretty good, although some slightly dubious choices were made at points. is that blake wearing a tight t-shirt... and symbolically spilling his 'water'? hmmmm."

• 

  Gayle F

• 

  Suzan Lovett

• 

  Jean Kluge

• 

  Billie Phillips

Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for Gemini Rising.

See reactions and reviews for Circle of Fire.

See reactions and reviews for Lightbridge.

See reactions and reviews for the illo Scorpio.

[Much Abides]: Another PGP. Nothing much happens (Blake is still unconscious, Avon talks him out of it) but the voices are terrific - Avon traumatised but still acidic, Vila wavering between guile and heartbreak - and Blake is allowed (for a change) to give *his* side of the separation, leading to an ambiguous but almost hopeful ending.

[zine]: This is an all-A-B gen zine, highly recommended. Very slashy! :) It's especially good for Blake fans, since IMO several of the stories are much more about Blake than about Avon. The three wonderful stories by Suzan Lovett (including my alltime favorite gen A-B story, "Ring of Fire") have been reprinted by Judith in The Road to Hell, but it's still worth looking for a used copy of the zine, for the other stories and for the yummy art.

[zine]:

so, the art's almost all suzan lovett, which means it's almost all pretty good, although some slightly dubious choices were made at points. is that blake wearing a tight t-shirt... and symbolically spilling his 'water'? hmmmm. [snipped]

[See this fan's review of Gemini Rising at that page.]

Ellen L. Kobrin, "And Wrath Did End"

this is the one where avon cries in a cupboard :(

now, admittedly, part of the way i show my love for avon is to talk about how he's a big loser. so 'avon goes to cry in a cupboard' is the kind of thing i'd say jocularly (and he does look so sad and angry when blake says 'you really do hate me, don't you?') but... that doesn't mean i actually think it happened, jeez. also blake was apparently very upset by what avon said, too, and it made him feel like crying. and i just- you know, what? no, it didn't. he was just really pissed off.

but anyway - they have a chat in the cupboard about how avon doesn't hate him at all, and then they don't make out.

which is honestly the most bemusing thing about the whole fic. are you sure they don't make out? isn't that the point of avon breaking down because he loves blake this much? i don't even know.

etc...

[More info and many photographs in the original review as posted]

[zine]: An all Blake and Avon anthology from many years ago, containing two of the best B7 short stories I've ever read: "Gemini Rising" and "Circle of Fire", both by Suzan Lovett (whose gorgeous artwork also fills the zine). To reveal what either story is about would risk spoiling their surprise twists--suffice it to say that these are stories no B-A fan should miss.

[zine]: Watching the B7 series [after only learning about the show through the visuals in music vids] did the best thing possible to my pocketbook. I no longer swallowed any zine with a B7 character or ship on the cover. I began to remember the quality authors and stories and arrow in on the ones where I could hear the rhythm of his burr-toned speech and watch him pace and move and the change of expressions on his face. These stories are so rare and yet, so precious when found. "Those Who Favour Fire" is among the best of this type of zine.

[zine]: Oh, yes, isn't Those Who Favor Fire a wonderful zine! I particularly like the Suzan Lovett story, which has the neatest time-travel paradox I've ever seen applied to B7 and the kind of appallingly tragic ending that I love to wallow in. Someone once suggested (I think it was Jean Lorrah in a long—defunct apa) that the reason why time travel was never used in the canonical B7 universe was that in this grim universe (as opposed to, say, the Star Trek one), you can never undo your mistakes. Lovett manages to preserve that idea and have the unavoidable tragedy play out in a slightly different way instead.

[zine]: "Those Who Favor Fire", a non-slash, non-explicit zine which for me had the flavor of slash without ever even going so far as to let anyone even get into bed together...the emottional tone was right, the Suzi Lovett illos didn't hurt, and the poetry was GOOD--a rarity in my experience. Still one of my favorite zines, even tho' it's totally non-sexual.

I have read it, and have been promoting it for years to slash fans as a zine with slash relationships, lacking only the sex scenes. And yes, the art is *very* interesting!

[zine]:

"Those Who Favor Fire". This is the official Freedom City zine. It has well-balanced stories but they tend to be on the heavy side. TWFF contains artwork which compliments the stories and has readable text (not reduced, the eyes appreciate that!); and is blended with a variety of story lengths.