Frienz/Issues 15-16

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	Contents 1 Issue 15 (October 1991) 1.1 Issue 15: Sample Fan Comments; ; 2 Issue 16 (December 1991) 2.1 Issue 16: Sample Fan Comments; ; 3 References;

Frienz · Issues 01-02 · Issues 03-04 · Issues 05-06 · Issues 07-08 · Issues 09-10 · Issues 11-12 · Issues 13-14 · Issues 15-16 · Issues 17-18 · Issues 19-20 · Issues 21-22 · Issues 23-24 · Issues 25-26 · Issues 27-28 · Issues 29-30 · Issues 31-32 · Issues 33-34 · Issues 35-36 · Issues 37-38 · Issues 39-40 · Issues 41-42 · Issues 43-44 · Issues 45-46 · Issues 47-48 · Issues 49-50 · Supplements

Frienz is a gen and non-explicit slash Starsky & Hutch letterzine.

They contain letters, want ads, con reports, clippings, flyers, and occasional fiction.

Issue 15 (October 1991)

Frienz 15 was published in October 1991 and contains 20 pages.

cover of issue #15

TOTM: Should we start running ads? (Just as an aside, I keep cost down by keeping page count down.) Or, should we keep ads in a separate publication, like a Snitch? DOGS...episodes with dogs in them; episodes that are dogs; does Starsky like dogs; did Hutch have a dog as a kid; why cats are better than; name the dog SCENARIO: SH find a little lost puppy, they take it home, what does it look like, what do they name it? (or, for you non-"/" fen, who takes it home and etc.?)
"Gotcha!"—fiction by Ima Fool

Issue 15: Sample Fan Comments

The editor writes:

Three new fans in a supposedly "dying" fandom. This fandom is lazy at times, into other interests, involved in the unavoidably mundane, but we are not dying. Three new members of FRIENZ attests to that.

A fan responds to another's comments in a previous issue:

Now let's see if I can follow this— "it is possible to love more than one person. It is possible that there are many forms of love. More than one kind of love is possible with any of the persons loved. With me so far?" Gee, that's far too complicated for me to grasp. What's going on here? I thought you were trying to find a way for them not to have to go to bed, and here you are saying that even if married they could and maybe would still do it. Hey, I'm not against that either. Come on, Terri, what side are you really on in the eternal slash question? Not that this fandom needs to reopen the entire debate, I'm just wondering how you really see this relationship. I'm never quite certain, because you've written so many stories but seem to really put the premise as a whole down.

Regarding Distant Shores and artwork:

I always enjoy [J. Jones'] drawing and it was good to find more of it in 'Distant Shores', together with all those other very talented artists—just one aspect of a terrific zine. I've recently heard arguments in favour of 'sacrificing' artwork in order to reduce zine costs. Obviously a subjective choice and ultimately, of course, a matter for editor/author. I think it would be a most sad and serious loss both to individual readers and to fandom generally. Imagine, for example, if we had never seen that beautiful cover of 'Distant Shores.' SH fandom has been very rich and fortunate in its artists...in my opinion, I'd hate to lose the artwork...

On the comment quoted in a letter in the previous issue about women characters in the series:

I shouldn't have thought that a less than enthusiastic response to some of those adman lookalikes could necessarily be equated with 'a denial of our womanhood'. Those ladies are there partly because the idiom of TV programmes requires them - part of the package. But there were plenty of other women characters whom we - and S&H—can take seriously... plenty of a much more original kind for many of us to identify with. It could, be argued that it is those decorative replicas-of-a-type who represent denial of the much bigger definition of 'womanhood' which I (we? most of us?) prefer.

A fan from the UK mentions her trip to the US and some fanfiction:

It was fascinating (to coin a phrase) to drive through the country [Tony Hillerman] writes about so vividly -- to visit the town of Shiprock, and the Navajo reservation. A part of America I could willingly spend much more time in. It's a funny thing, but my very first S&H story, one that is so appallingly bad that I don't let it into daylight, was set on Mesa Verde. It was nothing like I had imagined it. Another good reason to bury the thing. However -- we did get it right in the V&D series, later -- SUNDANCE is not going to need a rewrite -- and as for involving S&H with the Native American culture, I did dabble in that with HOUSE OF CARDS... Only because we knew from ROSIE MALONE that Starsky had spent time with the Huichol Indians, however. Otherwise I am not sure how we could have made it fit...

Issue 16 (December 1991)

Frienz 16 was published in December 1991 and contains 18 pages.

cover of issue #16

TOTM: favorite hurts

Issue 16: Sample Fan Comments

From the author of the just published zine, Distant Shores:

I'd like to take time to thank everyone who voted for DISTANT SHORES in the Huggy Awards. It's so hard to express exactly what those awards mean to me... DISTANT SHORES was totally a labor of love and to have it accepted and praised so much was thrilling and so very satisfying. I know I've said it elsewhere, but after working for all those years on a project and then submitting it for public consumption, pulling it out there to be examined and criliqued by the toughest audience in the world... having so many nice compliments reminds me of the reason I began it all in the first place. The reason we all do this. We do this to share our feelings about two very special characters. There isn't enough Starsky and Hutch; there will never be enough. So we have to create our own. And to know that someone else, that a lot of someone else's, saw in my story the same things they love about Starsky and Hutch... that's about the best thing that can happen to an author. The response to DISTANT SHORES has been more wonderful than I ever anticipated. So many LoC's, so many kind comments. It's been very, very gratifying and I thank each and every one who took the time to write and who voted in the Huggy Awards. And I also want to say that I adored Paula Smith's version, "Distant Snores", the musical. I've never been spoofed before. For those of you who didn't get to see the play at ZCon, the script will be published in FIX #11.

Regarding h/c:

Hurts are good, because they allow the characters to touch, often areas of their bodies that they wouldn't ordinarily be touching. The comforter then can be tender, caring, worried... hurt one and hurt the partner, too. What could be more enjoyable? Hurt/comfort seemed to develop a bad name in this fandom after awhile — I guess too much of a good thing is always possible. I'm not talking about pain for the sake of pain alone, I'm not talking about being sadistic to our lovely characters. But injuries and hurts can break down barriers, let the characters open up to each other, say the things that might not be said otherwise. Hurt/comfort came before slash, and it can be the bridge between the two extremes. Hurt/comfort has always been a classic plot device, even with male-female relationships. How many times has the stalwart hero finally ended up in his lady's arms when some pain finally allows him to show his vulnerability. Vulnerability is important to show the humanity of the character. I don't like to see these guys weak or wimpy, bemoaning the problems they have. But when they are vulnerable, they are so touching...

Regarding injuries to characters as permanent or disfiguring:

...if handled right, I think anything could be acceptable to the readers. Personally, I wouldn't want something so horrible and traumatic to happen to them that I couldn't stand to see them like that. Permanent scarring is allowable... up to a point (I don't like burns, or amputation). I struggled with permanent brain damage to Hutch, but had to strike a balance between something realistic and something I could live with [in Distant Shores]. But if we decide to put the characters in life threatening danger, we risk (and they have always been willing to risk) permanent damage. What would it be like to see Starsky with a scar... on his beautiful face? If we flirt with blindness or paraplegia, wouldn't it be more truthful to go all the way and have something like that happen, rather than pulling a trick out of the rabbit's hat at the end to put everything to rights? It's it more interesting to deal with the characters as they attempt to pull their lives back together after something like that? It all depends on the writing. It could be maudlin, implausible... or it could be touching, beautiful and inspiring. So many of the best SH episodes had as their basis hurt/comfort, I think it's a theme that should at least be acknowledged and allowed lo appear in our continuing fanfiction. ^[1]

About the TOTM: favorite hurts:

Do I prefer (prefer!?) bullet wounds, disease or other injury? Would I like (like!?) to have something disfiguring?... It isn't easy to decide this, but I think I prefer it when one of them gets shot, because it is the quickness, the unexpectedness, that affects me most. In "Shootout", to pick this one as example, the scenes where S&H enter that restaurant - the scenes before the shooting - are always the most touching for me. I see Starsky's exuberance, and Hutch's fond indulgence, his gentle teasing, and while watching them I never cease to think that I know something they don't: that only a few minutes later that peaceful scenario will be shattered. Starsky will spend the rest of the evening helpless and in pain, and Hutch will have to put up with two killers all by himself, while having to fear for his partner's life. Stories like this one make me think about mortality - theirs, the one of my husband, the one of my friends. Things can happen so quickly, can't they? One moment I might joke wilh a beloved, the next moment my life might never be the same again.

A fan is optimistic:

STARSKY & HUTCH fandom dying? Nah. . .not from where I see it, either. We may be small, but we're still going strong. And if we don't have the zines to prove it lately, that's okay. I'm willing to bet there are stories being passed around without benefit of being published in zines. The fanfic is still alive, as well. It's just harder to find, that's all.

A BNF, Terri, explains her position on slash:

As for where I stand on the 'eternal' question — I'm where I always have been. I see both sides. I write both kinds. I am not putting the premise as a whole down, only aspects of it that I personally cannot agree with. Such as the attitude (found, thank goodness, in only a few fans) that '/' is the only way to go. And that nothing else is worth reading. Yes, I have come across this. All I can say to these people is — you don't know what you're missing! I also object to the belittlement of females, both in the show (the bimbo syndrome) and in fanfic. Where are the strong female characters, the sympathetic characters (like Minnie), the women who reflect us, the fans, the writers and readers? No, I'm not talking about Mary Sue. Unless it's well-done, that should stay in private fantasies! Okay? It was never a case, for me, of finding a way for them not to have to go to bed — rather the reverse. In order to write S/H convincingly, I had to convince myself that it could happen. I never had trouble with the other idea...

A fan writes about the TOTM, what kind of hurt:

I prefer injuries (as in bullet wounds, knife wounds, bruises, lacerations, broken bones, etc.) to diseases. I don't know why. Possibly...it's because these are the injuries most likely experienced in police-work on the streets. I tend to inflict these things on Starsky, so I guess that gives him the edge for 'Best Sufferer'. But then again, he's best at comforting, too. Hmrrm. Disfigurement (see DECORATED FOR DEATH for prime example of this!) is not something I could personally do, but the odd tasteful scar is okay. (I love the Dr. McCoy idea — that man could cure a rainy day!) I must admit I have a tendency to 'copy' damage we saw on screen, then cube it. For an example, see the V&D version of THE FIX, VORTEX. Or THE PLAGUE, in TOUCH AND GO. (Why am I using V&D as examples? Because we have always felt freer to inflict payne&aguny on them, that's why. So we did. And do. I mean, has there ever been a story in which Starsky gets crucified?) I guess we never felt the show went far enough—couldn't, with the restrictions of TV at the time. Another few years on, and we had HILL STREET BLUES showing us the gory details. No deodorised violence there.

A fan, Tabby Davis, writes of the sequel she wrote for Decorated for Death:

The damage which I found very hard to take was what happened to DMS in 'Decorated for Death'...was partly why I wrote that post-DFD story, restoring two blue eyes (having received DFD author's prior blessing). I know — wish-fulfillment fantasy. But WFF is permissible when it builds on the existing fantasy?

A fan has reservations about a term:

I've sometimes wondered whether those two ideas, IDIC and 'mundane' could really be reconciled. IDIC suggests a generosity and a breadth of perception/understanding a tolerance; which doesn't go with the labeling implicit in 'mundane'.