Subject: Re: [VP] Another test: This is rather bizarre...

Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 18:26:27 -0800

From: waliss

By the way, I just moved into my new apartment at VP last weekend and have been enjoying the posts. Flamingo told me that this was a very nice group of people and she was right! And believe me, this place with it's sunshine and warm weather sure beats Oregon where I am from with all it's rainy cold!

Janie

Subject: Re: [VP] Hello!:)

Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 21:09:24 -0800

From: waliss

Hi,

I am also very new and am really enjoying myself. Flamingo sponsored me in as well -- she's really been very nice. I have not read one post on this list that bothered me. Everyone is just great!

Janie

Subject: Re: [VP] Re: Why not other partners?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 20:49:19 -0800
From: waliss
Could there be a more loaded topic to discuss? It's possibly the most emotional one. Why can't the authors feel completely free to write anything they want? And why did we get a comment from someone who said that S&H Fandom was too rigid and that they could go elsewhere and write in other fandoms and be welcomed with open arms? Then we lose the benefit of some great writing. (Although, in K/S which is where I am from for years - I don't recall any stories that paired them with others and that was how they ended up. But I've kind of done a mind dump of K/S anyway since I discovered this fandom. :-))
And I am talking only about slash.
As a reader, I am so new to S&H fandom that I still am enjoying the relationship. I guess that if I read a ton more of the same basic premise, that sooner or later I will get a little bored and want to read stories that explore other partnerships for our guys. But I love them both, although I favor Starsky -- so maybe if you love them both a lot, you can stand to read a story where they might end up elsewhere other than with each other, as long as they are happy.
But since I am so new, as I read along in Total Eclipse, for instance, I got really upset about the other relationships. But not because I was mad at the Writer for putting them in -- I had a genuine very emotional reaction that I welcomed because that's why I read - I want the emotion and I want my buttons pushed. And what about the drama? Where would TE be for instance without the other relationships helping to define the issues that are being explored in that story? That is why I am very fond of how that one is coming along - delighted in fact - because there are some extremely interesting things going on in there that are unsaid/unwritten but that I
have faced in my own real relationships during my life. But I have to admit that it makes me nervous - how it's going to come out and will they be together. (Flamingo, Flamingo - you're torturing us! - But it feels good - keep it up!)
I am such a newbie in S&H that I haven't read any print zines yet (I'll be getting some of them to read soon, I hope) but there are other (a very few, I will admit) stories on the internet that either hint at other relationships for either S or H or come right out and have them. Whether or not they end up happily with each other at the end, these other relationships are hard to deal with sometimes as the reader - but *********I think someone mentioned Cost Of Love. That was a hell of a fully developed "other relationship" for Starsk. It was very hard for me to read. Then there is The Last Charade - where we have Hutch out having other relationships. Yes, I know they end up with each other later, but I guess that is what we are talking about -- why there aren't more stories where they don't.
I for one as the reader would like to have a choice. I guess that if I picked up a story and ended up sad at the end because S&H weren't together, I could just say to myself, okay, this is just one story --- I've got 25 others that I can read where they do. I hope there is room for everyone in this fandom, and that when people read a story, they can take it entirely on it's own merits and try to get something and learn something from every one of them. You know, if that writer were your best friend, you'd read their story and probably respect and accept it. So maybe we should think of all of our very valuable writers in that way and treat them accordingly no matter what premise they are doing at the time.
And authors: has anyone ever thought of doing two versions of the same basic story? Or do some of you actually have little gems in your closets where the ending was quite different from the one you posted or published? This came to mind because of the gen H/C story "Times and Seasons" which I think fairly begs for a slash version. (I'd sure like to hand that assignment out because I know just who I'd ask to do it!) I think the same thing holds for the problem of S&H either ending up with each other or not -- two versions to compare would be interesting, I think.
Janie