Wounded Heroes

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Zine
Title: Wounded Heroes
Publisher: Sundancer Creations
Editor(s): head ed: Rac, associate eds: Dot, Diana Deshaun, and Devo
Date(s): November 1999
Series?:
Medium: print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: multimedia
Language: English
External Links: WayBack Archive link to zine flyer and online versions of the stories
main website
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
cover by Killa

Wounded Heroes is a slash 260-page (over 200,100 words) anthology with both cover and interior art by Killa. The zine's subtitle is, "Tales of the Big Guys."

In this case, the Big Guys are Jim Ellison (The Sentinel, Duncan MacLeod (Highlander) and Walter Skinner (X-Files).

History

At Escapade/Escapade 1999, there was a panel about fans of the bigger guys, arguing against the overuses of the Big Guy, Little Guy trope. The panel was one where women realized they weren't alone—that not everyone fell for the cute little guy in every fandom. They also had a chance to vent about how the little guys tended to have all the stories written from their pov.

After the panel, the energy stuck around, and the immortal words, "somebody should make a zine" might have been said.

half-flyer from DIAL #11, click to read

Description from the Zine Flyer

Are you tired of the little guy getting all the cuddles and care? The best parts?
Do you secretly yearn to see the Big Guy have his moment of pain?
See him fall apart? Suffer?
Then ©Wounded Heroes is for you....
an all-slash zine filled with stories about your favorite big guys,
shouldering life's adverse effects,
suffering so well, and getting a few good cuddles for their troubles.
[1]

Awards

  • Winner of the 1999 STIFfie Award for BEST ZINE in the Misc. Fandoms Science Fiction and Related Genre Category
  • Nominated for BEST ANTHOLOGY in the 2000 Golden Guppy Awards
  • Nominated for BEST EDITOR in the 2000 golden guppy awards
  • Winner of the 1999 STIFfie Award for BEST ART: MULTIMEDIA
  • Nominated for ARTIST OF THE YEAR, The 2000 Golden Guppy Awards

Content Discrepancy

At least one source places this story in the zine: Lost in the Loving: Lighting You Home........by Carson Kearns (15,000 words) (It is May, 1997 and Duncan MacLeod, seemingly possessed by a demon, has just taken the head of his young protégé, Richie Ryan. Has Duncan finally gone insane? Is anyone safe around him - including his lover, the 5,000 year old Methos? Is anything what it appears to be? How does Methos tackle bringing Duncan out of his traumatized state? How does he cope with his own legitimate fears for his own safety? Where in the world can Methos take his lover that will be safe for them both? Can anything finally light Duncan home - to sanity, the acceptance of his own actions, and the loving arms of Methos?)

But the story is not in the table of contents or in the zine itself.

Page count of the other stories adds up to about the right number without this story, so it seems likely that it was never in the finished zine.

But this author, Carson Kearns, appears on an early flyer: "Stories by the following authors: Barb G / Bone / Carson Kearns / Debra Fran Baker / Devo / JiM / Lyrica / MacGeorge / Mairead Triste & Aristide / Melina Clark / rac / Rhiannon Shaw / Virg Vaughn / Xanthe." [2]

The story description is here.

The link to this story online makes no mention of it appearing in a zine at any time.

The likeliest scenario is that the story was planned for the zine but never published in it.

Table of Contents

Summaries are from the publisher.

  • The Reluctant Patient......................... by Bone (6200 words) Jim/Blair (Sometimes even heroes are brought low by the most innocuous of things, and when they are, they rival the Devil in temperament. When Blair finds himself in the unenviable position of playing nursemaid to an injured Jim, all hell—and heaven—breaks loose.) (3)
  • Looking Back, Looking Forward.............by Melina Clark (9800 words) Duncan/Methos (On very rare occasion, someone comes into your life and changes your destiny forever, giving you something so precious that you're certain you can never repay them in kind. After the death of Richie Ryan, Jim Ellison helped Duncan MacLeod find the courage to face life again. When Duncan has the chance to help Jim set his own life back on course fifteen years later, Duncan can't turn away.) (11)
  • Highlander Haiku ... mediations on the nature of immortality by Luminosity (23)
  • Guardian Angel.................. by Barb G. (10,500 words) Mulder/Skinner (Caught between a rock and a hard place—this is a position Walter Skinner has found himself in all too frequently because of Mulder and the X-Files. When their powerful enemies have yet another twisted scheme in mind, Skinner won't play, leading to a nightmare beyond his imagination. Abandoned and in the midst of hell, Skinner discovers that fallen angels can sometimes be more than minions of the devil.) (24)
  • Raised a Warrior ......... Duncan MacLeod's journey, poem by Devo (24)
  • Waste Places................by Virg Vaughn (18,200 words) Jim/Blair (It's another day on the job for Jim Ellison, and another crime to investigate. But this one is different—it touches Jim in ways that are deep and unsettling. All he wants to do is protect his fellow policemen from the horrors they'll find as the investigation unfolds. But....who will protect him from the horrors that rise up from within himself? If he wants any peace, this stubborn Sentinel will have to learn to trust his Guide.) (38)
  • Reflections..................... by Rhiannon Shaw (18,300 words) Duncan/Methos (Duncan MacLeod is wandering, reflecting upon his feelings for an irritating old Immortal, when recently met Matthew McCormick crosses his damp and drizzly path. This most unexpected and surprising twist in his life helps him to reevaluate many things—including his other relationships.) (60)
  • Silverbacks...................by Debra Fran Baker (3550 words) Mulder/Skinner (Skinner was a sight Mulder had never expected to see walking through that door....and when he did, it couldn't have been worse timing. From the moment he saw Mulder, passions flared and things get progressively out of control, but out of the fiasco may come an opportunity for something good—if they choose to take it.) (79)
  • The Wall........................by Xanthe (21,600 words) Mulder/Skinner (When Skinner disappears on a mysterious personal mission, Mulder follows him, setting off a chain of events that force the assistant director to confront a truth that could destroy him. As Skinner's past unfolds before Mulder's eyes, the FBI agent is forced both to re-evaluate his own feelings for his boss, and to make a desperate attempt to save Skinner's life.) (84)
  • Eye Me Mine, poem by Luminosity (112)
  • Shadows and Light.................... by Mairead Triste and Aristide (8400 words) Jim/Blair (Jim is restless, his romantic relationships aren't working out...and when Blair casually highlights the intimacy of their odd relationship, Jim is mortified. Running away from the light of this new discovery doesn't help; the shadow in him wants out. But he's guarded it well, shackled and padlocked it back into place, the rut of his life. Who will win, need or truth, and can he survive either one?) (113)
  • Jim's silence .......... Jim Ellison's story, poem by Devo (124)
  • Afterimages................ by rac (19,600 words) Duncan/Methos (Disaster visits Walter Skinner's personal life, and coping with it leaves him floundering. Duncan MacLeod never asked to be involved, but fate intervenes. Together, they come face to face with some painful issues as their lives intersect between prevarication and grief, need and revelation, and both men must find new ways of thinking in the midst of change.) (125)
  • The Truth Is In Here, poem by Luminosity (150)
  • Heroes and Other Endangered Species........by MacGeorge (35,000 words) Duncan/Methos (Duncan's heroic tendencies are anathema to Methos, and he doesn't hesitate to let Duncan know it, once again. This time, Methos' words do sink in, but they're more deadly than Methos could have imagined. Duncan retreats to the one spot that's provided him with solace and peace over the years: his wilderness cabin. But nature cannot be predicted, and the arrival of those who love him combines with serious crisis to create an unforeseen situation. It seems Methos and Duncan are not too old to learn something new about what makes a person a hero.) (151)
  • Blood, poem by Luminosity (194)
  • Therapy..................... by JiM (11,700 words) Mulder/Skinner (It's all over - the good guys won but success has an unexpectedly flat taste all its own. Mulder has gone looking for a real life but is drawn home when Skinner is shot in the line of duty. Slowly, gently, the two men begin to build a relationship. This can be considered a prequel to the first Houseboat tale, "Don't Rock the Boat".) (195)
  • Breaking Point ......... Walter Skinner's life ode, poem by Devo (210)
  • Mermaids Singing.....................by Lyrica (41,600 words) Jim/Blair Mulder/Skinner (The comfort zone—this is how Jim would describe his relationship with Blair; warm and unthreatened. That is, until three suits from the FBI show up one day and shake his world to the core. And most unsettling of all, it isn't the gorgeous, petite redhead who poses the largest threat. It's the two tall, disparate men with her that offer Jim irrefutable evidence he can't ignore. The jury's still out on everybody's reactions; what's the verdict going to be?) (211)

Art Gallery

Interior art by Killashandra.

Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for Shadows and Light.

See reactions and reviews for Heroes and Other Endangered Species.

See reactions and reviews for Mermaids Singing.

The Reluctant Patient: This was published previously in a zine, so I haven't read it before, and its Bone! A hysterical, first-time by Bone! Jim is just too funny in this, I think this is my new favorite story now.[3]

References