To Friends

Zine
Title:	To Friends
Publisher:	Chained-to-the-Typewriter Press
Editor(s):	Caroline Hedge
Date(s):	November 1993
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:
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To Friends is a 133-page slash anthology of Bodie/Doyle stories.

It is sometimes referred to as a special Lovers edition.

The zine was printed on multi-colored paper: pink, orange, white and lavender.

An age statement was required to purchase.

"Write for prices. Please, do not copy this zine. If you can't afford it, remember, we can always work out a trade!"

About

From The Monthly:

A B/D slash zine, most stories by DVS, but with a few gems from others for variety.

From Media Monitor #34:

This zine is a memorial to Jean Schnedler, who died in July of 1993. I wanted to produce a zine which was about Bodie and Doyle as friends WITHIN the slash relationship. Each of the stories has something about friendship in it. Or not.

The Forward

It was odd. When I put out the word to the writers I knew (and some I didn't thanks to suggestions by several friends!) that I was looking for stories which emphasized friendship, what I had in mind were stories which focused on aspects of friendship WITHIN the slash concept. Stories where love made friendship better, where maybe sexual love was rejected in favor of just plain friendship.

I wanted a memorial zine to Jean which was also a salute to the friends we make in fandom. I met Jean through a friend, and she in turn introduced me to others. The funny thing was, although I had thought I had made it clear I was looking for slash stories, when I asked for stories with friendship in them, some automatically assumed I DIDN’T want sex, or that I wanted straight sex. I got a couple of submissions and inquiries which were not at all what I had in mind. It really is strange that even in this fandom, we can assume that friendship and love/sex are separated, somehow.

I didn't help by giving the authors six to eight weeks to come up with a story. The real irony there is I promptly got 1) distracted by the mundane reality and 2) sick, and the whole thing didn't get done until eight weeks after the deadline, which means the writers could have done LOTS more, and I would have more than just a few lonely islands of poetry, story and cartoons amongst the DVS stuff. And, 3) there was a delay because without one of the stories which had been promised, DVS had to cough up another one.

At any rate, I hope every one of you has in her life love and friendship, and if for some sad reason you do not, there is, at least, fandom, with the marvelous stories of two men who become entwined in each other’s lives, people who take risks for one another, who are together, good times and bad. I like stories with a happy ending, and so did Jean. These stories are for her, and for all of us!

Contents

• Forward and Comments (2 pages)
• Buying the Merc by DVS (12 pages)
• Lovers, poem by Gene Delapenia (1 page)
• After Christmas by DVS (is a sequel to her story "Under the Tree", published in the circuit zine Under the Tree and also in Proslib) (7 pages)
• Building Justice by DVS (21 pages)
• Heartsease, poem by Rachel Duncan (1)
• I Know What You Think I Am by DVS (4 pages)
• cartoon by Karen Eaton (1)
• Limericks, poem by DVS (1 pages)
• On the Brink by Alexfandra (7 pages)
• Purpose Built by DVS (8 pages)
• La Morte Joyeuse, poem by Rachel Duncan (1 page)
• The Amateur Cracksman by DVS (crossover with Raffles) (5 pages)
• The Flat by DVS (61 pages)

Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for The Flat.

[zine]:

We've talked off and on about 'kinks' story themes or genres that we like so much that we will accept a lower level of writing quality than we would from a story that didn't ring our bells so loudly.

When you recommend stories to other people, or review a zine (especially informally, just reviewing it quickly as you loan it to a friend), do you keep your and your friends kinks in mind?

For example, I just finished DVS's new zine, To Friends. Not a bad zine, but until the last story, nothing in it really grabbed me. Loved the last story. Once I reread it, I realized I loved it because it had my fav plot: they are fucking, but they aren't talking about it, and they have major misunderstandings about what their sexual relationship means to both of them. (ooh, I love that one-- I love that one like some people like death stories or someone unnamed likes 'sucking chest wounds.')

So, in giving the story to someone else, I wouldn't necessarily recommend the last story any more highly than the rest of the zine. If I had reread it, and not noticed any kink related reason for liking it better, then I would recommend it as the best story.