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Our Founding Mother
Nov. 13th, 2005 02:25 pmI am an inveterate collector of trivia and last night I came across some old notes. Ever wonder how slash came to be called slash?
In 1967 the first TVshow-inspired fanzine was published called "Spockanalia", which was centered on Star Trek (The Original Series), and unofficially approved by Gene Rodddenberry who knew he needed fan-support for his show. It was actually helpful in getting the series renewed for a 3rd season when fans wrote in by the thousands to keep Trek on the air. It was he who unleashed the genie from the bottle by not hindering the publication of the first fanfics.
In 1974, an Australian writer named Diane Marchant wrote a vignette called "A Fragment Out of Time" where she very circumspectly wrote about 2 lovers, one of whom was male. In 1975, in follow-up essays, she made clear that it was a story of Kirk and Spock making love. This came to be known as Kirk/Spock or K/S and then any fanfic dealing with 2 same-sex lovers was called slash. If ever there is made an award for the year's best slash I think it should be called the Marchant or the Diane or, if she had a nickname, something like the DeeDee or Shy Di. After all science fiction has the Hugo (for Hugo Gernsbeck) and mystery stories have the Edgar (after Edgar Allen Poe).
I recall the ruckus among Trekkies regarding the then outrageous idea that Kirk and Spock might be more than just good friends. And this was in the days of printed fanzines that were sent through the mail and therefore were not very explicit. We've come a long way baby. George Lucas was outraged that someone might slash his characters and threatened to haul writers into court but the fanfic genie was lose and there was no putting it back in the closet.
In the 30 years or so since then the printed fanzines (which were relatively expensive and often devoured by the Post Awful Monster) have been mostly replaced by the Internet where the freedom and anonymity of the web has allowed the fics to become ever more explicit. For more fanfiction history go here.
Whither fanfiction? In another 30 years, with advances in computers and CGI, we'll probably be making our own fan-written movies and shows that will be barely discernible from the actual shows with real actors. In a century those holodecks and holo-brothels of ST and B5 might permit us to actually "live" the stories which raises a certain point made in "B5: River of Souls"--what happens when "you" are actually performing in someone else's story? A scary thought.
In 1967 the first TVshow-inspired fanzine was published called "Spockanalia", which was centered on Star Trek (The Original Series), and unofficially approved by Gene Rodddenberry who knew he needed fan-support for his show. It was actually helpful in getting the series renewed for a 3rd season when fans wrote in by the thousands to keep Trek on the air. It was he who unleashed the genie from the bottle by not hindering the publication of the first fanfics.
In 1974, an Australian writer named Diane Marchant wrote a vignette called "A Fragment Out of Time" where she very circumspectly wrote about 2 lovers, one of whom was male. In 1975, in follow-up essays, she made clear that it was a story of Kirk and Spock making love. This came to be known as Kirk/Spock or K/S and then any fanfic dealing with 2 same-sex lovers was called slash. If ever there is made an award for the year's best slash I think it should be called the Marchant or the Diane or, if she had a nickname, something like the DeeDee or Shy Di. After all science fiction has the Hugo (for Hugo Gernsbeck) and mystery stories have the Edgar (after Edgar Allen Poe).
I recall the ruckus among Trekkies regarding the then outrageous idea that Kirk and Spock might be more than just good friends. And this was in the days of printed fanzines that were sent through the mail and therefore were not very explicit. We've come a long way baby. George Lucas was outraged that someone might slash his characters and threatened to haul writers into court but the fanfic genie was lose and there was no putting it back in the closet.
In the 30 years or so since then the printed fanzines (which were relatively expensive and often devoured by the Post Awful Monster) have been mostly replaced by the Internet where the freedom and anonymity of the web has allowed the fics to become ever more explicit. For more fanfiction history go here.
Whither fanfiction? In another 30 years, with advances in computers and CGI, we'll probably be making our own fan-written movies and shows that will be barely discernible from the actual shows with real actors. In a century those holodecks and holo-brothels of ST and B5 might permit us to actually "live" the stories which raises a certain point made in "B5: River of Souls"--what happens when "you" are actually performing in someone else's story? A scary thought.
