Where Are They Now: Leslie Fish

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Title:	Where Are They Now: Leslie Fish
Creator:	Linda Frankel
Date(s):	May/Summer 1988
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS, filks
Topic:
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Where Are They Now: Leslie Fish is a 1988 essay by Linda Frankel. The subject is Leslie Fish.

It was published in On the Double #7/8 and is part of a series "of articles about people who used to be prominent in K/S fandom, but are no longer active." The very short-lived series was popular. One fan said: "I loved the "Where Are They Now" article. MORE, MORE, MORE! If they know we miss them, maybe they'll come back!"

Some Topics Discussed

• Fish's work with Off-Centaur Publications, filking, songwriting
• her Kirk/Spock fanfiction
• her opinions on Star Trek: The Next Generation
• her work and relationship with C.J. Cherryh
• Fish's desire to "go pro"
• Fish's interest in the Harry/Johnny fandom
• a possible mention of the Mad Max zine, Outrider
• Fish's feeling (which appears to be entwined with that of the author of this essay) that fandoms become boring and one has to move on, especially in the now-boring Kirk/Spock and Star Trek: TOS arena
• the assertion that when a fandom is boring to you, then it is boring and dull to everyone else

From the Essay

Since moving from Chicago to the Northern California Bay Area, she has gone to work for Off-Centaur Publications which produces tapes of filks and other sorts of music that interests fans. Leslie is a musician/songwriter for them, and she says she has produced more songs, vocal tracks, instrumental tracks and tunes for other people's lyrics in the past five years than she had in her entire previous musical career. She thus has less time for writing or going to cons. Off-Centaur pays her way to go to cons where they sell their products, but those are usually SF cons, not media oriented cons. She has managed to get to one K/S con and enjoyed herself tremendously, but is not very much in contact with K/S fandom.

On the writing front, Leslie has met with notable success. She is currently working on a MEROVINGEN NIGHTS novel, a shared universe based on C.J. Cherryh's novel, ANGEL WITH A SWORD. Stories by Leslie written in this universe have already

appeared in MEROVINGEN NIGHTS anthologies. C.J. Cherryh became interested in Leslie's writing when she saw Leslie's Mad Max novel which is about to be released in fanzine form . A story of Leslie's has also appeared in the prozine, NIGHT CRY. These pro publications have enabled Leslie to join Science Fiction Writers of America.

Fans of Leslie's Trek writing, may be glad to know that she has heard from Lori Chapek that THE WEIGHT is finally being pubbed. She also informed me that the Andorian novel for pro publication that she wrote with Roberta Rogow, is currently being revised. It had been rejected for too much talk and too little action. Now Leslie and Roberta have been working hard on upgrading the action content in the plot in preparation for re-submission.

When I asked Leslie about her opinion of TNG, she was ambivalent. She thought the show had possibilities, but more needed to be done with Data. Data is the character who she believes has the most potential. She has an idea for a TNG script that would focus on him, but needs an agent in order to sell it.

She didn't have much good to say about any of the female characters or about "the kid". She added that one thing had not changed in Trek. "Roddenberry's women and children are still idiots," she said, just as they were in the old series. Leslie's most hostile words were reserved for Yar. Yet unlike the fans who condemn her for behaving in too macho a manner, Leslie believes that she is far too emotional for a woman in her position. Comparing Yar to real-life female mercenaries, she said "if you're that much of a hysteric your buddies would frag you". No female mercenary would ever behave like that. "I'd like to see a female security chief who acts like one," Leslie declared. Thus her general opinion seemed to be that Yar isn't nearly macho enough!

Her major fannish interest is in H/J. She likes the psychological honesty in H/J fiction. In comparing it to K/S, she speaks disapprovingly of the Harlequin Romance mentality that characterizes much of K/S. Since Harlequin Romances know nothing of the sexual psychology of men they are extremely unrealistic. They are also dishonest because they refuse to recognize that their heroines are primarily feeling lust. Too many young women are brought up with the myth that sexual desire is "love at first sight", Leslie complains, and this is reflected in K/S. H/J, on the other hand, is very direct about sex. There are no holds

barred in H/J zines.

As one of the K/S pioneers, Leslie feels that her expectations for K/S have only partly been met. There are some K/S writers who are creating K/S that is genuine and erotic, most notably [Gayle F], but many of those who write K/S have slipped into the sort of sentimentality she most feared when it all began. Leslie continues to read K/S when she can get hold of it, but would prefer to see more K/S material that is like what is being pubbed in H/J fandom.

Another problem that Leslie perceives in K/S writing is that there are no new themes. People are still writing first times and dealing with the early development of the K/S relationship, but there really isn't very much that goes beyond that. She believes that K/S is in something of a cul de sac. New directions are imperative if K/S is to survive.

Naturally, I asked Leslie why she stopped writing K/S. Well, her commitments to Off-Centaur and pro writing have pretty much caused her to drop all fan writing, but burn out was also a factor. She stopped having new ideas for K/S stories. Leslie is not the kind of writer who will continue churning out the same story over and over again with minor variations, long after any genuine inspiration has stopped. Nevertheless, Leslie does hope to come back to K/S and fan writing in general after she is established as a pro writer, and can set her own schedule.

Will there be a K/S by then? I'm sure we all hope so, but not if it's asphyxiated by the monotony of continuous repetitions of the same themes. Leslie Fish is neither the first nor the last fan to find the majority of K/S boring. Over the years, many of our best and brightest have burned out by becoming bored with K/S, and transferring their interests to other fandoms such as H/J, B/D, Miami Vice, Blake's 7 or what have you.

The only way we can stop this from happening is by trying to maximize originality and diversity in K/S, so that more members of our community will have their tastes represented in K/S fiction. More willingness of editors and fans to be faced with controversial concepts would also be helpful in making K/S stronger. Leslie Fish's views serve to remind us that in any creative endeavor, imagination must be given free rein.