Subject: Re: [VP] A whole flock of new neighbors!
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1999 18:44:39 -0700
From: sta
To: VenicePlace <veniceplace@jbx.com>

Er...ummm...Howdy Neighbors...don't mind me....I'm just your 
average Lurker type......I'll do my best to keep my cats out of 
your trash cans......

Okay, since y'all asked, I'm 28, live in Tucson...and am 
hopelessly addicted to slash in most forms....and fandoms...my 
obsession is The Sentinel...however, I am rapidly becoming a S/H 
junkie......

*sigh*  I really love my life...

So if you see a RedHead peeking in your window...it's just 
me...don't worry....I'm harmless....Twisted, yes...but still 
harmless.....I promise....

JadeRyan

Adored by minuscule hounds
we present a curious grin
and pledge to journey on
with the vision of a demented pig
dancing on the snowy lawn.
--JadeRyan, Tucson, AZ, 1998

Come visit JadeRyan's House of Mystic Wonders
http://www.geocities.com/~jaderyan


Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 00:33:10 -0700
From: sta
Subject: Re: [VP] and how did YOU get into slash?

Hi again...it's just me...the wierd looking redhead....decided it 
was ime to Dish the dirt....

1-How did YOU get into slash?

I have no idea how I got into reading slash.....it just sort of 
happened.

No really!  Oh, you want details anyway?  Here goes..

I have always been a character-driven reader and later, writer.  
That's why I love watching TV.  Plot?  Who cares?  My thought is 
that if you have a viable character (or two or more) that grabs 
your attention (among other things), then the plot will pretty 
much take care of itself.  

I remember when S/H was on during it's first run (I was a really 
young kid) and I used to watch it all the time with my dad.  Used 
to watch CHiPs too.  Never thought the traditional "heartthrob" 
was ever that impressive (ie, I used to drool over Starsky and 
Jon Baker, instead of Hutch and Ponch...What can I say?  I've 
always been a bit twisted. IN my defense I should also point out 
that my obsession was a total facial thing.  Hey I was only 7-8 
at the time.  I didn't get the concept of "a Great ass" until 
after I hit puberty.)  

Fast Forward about 20 years, when the local library in town got 
'Net access.  To make a long story short, I got addicted.  So a 
year later I got my own computer. Now in all this time, I had 
heard that there were fan fic Zines out there, and that some 
souls were convinced that Kirk and Spock belong together, and not 
Kirk and the bimbo of the week.  Was I shocked?  Not really.  I 
have always maintained that to each his/her own.  Just because it 
didn't work for me in my personal life didn't mean that I thought 
it was icky and gross.  

I was very interested in the concept of Adult fan fiction.  I 
mean face it, fan fic is a way for all of us writers to be 
selfish when it comes to our involvement with the characters.  I 
can write a story with Jim and Blair (from the Sentinel) and not 
have to really worry about character development because the 
character has already been created.  Now, Yes, I might Tweak the 
character a bit to make him (or her) fit the story that *I* want 
to tell...but for the most part, it will be a character that 
other Fans of Blair and Jim will recognize and enjoy reading 
about.  Of course, the reverse can be true and it can be limiting 
for the same reasons.....But I digress.

So I started reading fan fiction.  Mostly Star Trek, initially.  
Got tired of TOS real quick probably because it was a show that I 
watched when I was real young and it was difficult to look at a 
childhood TV hero in any kind of sexual light.  So I moved to TNG 
(a show that was created after I became an adult)....and read and 
read and read about damn near possible pairing in that universe 
(I think enjoyed one called "The Conquest of Worf" best, along 
with a Riker/Troi pairing that involved Riker under Troi's desk, 
servicing her with a candy bar while Troi was trying to maintain 
a normal conversation with Picard at the same time.)  That led to 
ventures into the Other Trek Sub-groups. Figured out that I 
enjoyed Voyager fiction best.  Toyed with a PWP that involved 
Harry and Seven's first time, along with Tom and B'Elanna's 
established relationship.  Never did finish that one.  But 
somewhere along the line I read a Tom and Harry Story that was 
titled "Tom, Dick and Harry" (I think)...IN any case, that became 
*THE* Pairing for me. Until I got a bit bored and found slash for 
some of the other fandoms that enjoy (Batman, H:TLJ, KF:TLC etc).

Loved the Highlander show, knew that there was slash out there 
for it but at the time, I didn't *get* it so I never read that 
fandom.  Discovered The Sentinel fandom, and became obsessed.  
Completely.  Hopelessly.  Totally.  The only writing I have done 
for slash, or fan fic at all has been in that fandom.  In fact, 
while I have been known to still enjoy Straight Adult fan fic, TS 
pretty much converted me to total slashism.  I would rather read 
slash then straight, for the most part.  Of course the fact that 
I can think of S/H in terms of adult relationship can be 
attributed to a CrossOver by CandyA with S/H and TS.....She just 
established the S/H relationship in a manner that I could *get* 
as an adult.  Now When I get the chance to see the show, I am no 
longer slash impaired...<g>.....

2- Why did it appeal to you?  How do you deal with it?  What 
compels you to write it and read it?

basically....hmmm... I guess it's because there is an underlying 
relationship in all the slash pairings that I read.  And while 
the relationship isn't a novel thing between two men (or two 
women) in the REAL WORLD (it happens all the time), the depiction 
of that kind of loving relationship in fiction isn't very 
prevalent.  I guess for me it makes the characters more viable to 
me, more accessible.  I mean, in all honesty, at this point in my 
life, my life would be a ratings bonanza for the Jerry Springer 
show.  Every time I think that things are on an even keel, 
something else happens.  And when I feel the urge to climb up on 
the roof with a slingshot and take potshots at all the neighbor's 
windows, I go and read a really well done story and it makes me 
realize that there are these two characters that have even more 
problems in their life to deal with and they are doing a decent 
job of maintaining their equilibrium.  Yes I know that these are 
fictional characters, but I personally think that writers 
generally write what, or in this case *WHO* they know.  Character 
traits are generally based on someone the writer knows in RL.  So 
somewhere, someone is having an amazing love thing going on, and 
if they can keep track of the important stuff, then who am I to 
mope?

wow.  That was exceedingly personal.  Sorry.  I digressed.  
Again.

Of course there is also something to be said for a really hot 
PWP.  Gorgeous men, preferably naked.  Taking each other to the 
limit.  Yeah.  There is definitely something to be said for 
PWP's.

3- Are you in the closet about it?

Not really.  My Ex hubby knew about it when I first became TS 
obsessed, but he didn't get it.  He also didn't buy the argument 
that it was basically the same as him looking at Porn with two 
women, only I enjoyed reading about two men in a relationship.  
He would just walk over to the computer look over my shoulder and 
shake his head and smile and say that I was reading my "smut" 
again.  My mom's partner knows that I read slash.  She isn't as 
bad as my Ex is, she just doesn't understand the reading part.  
She says that I should go watch some "good, gay porn."  I keep 
telling her that I'm not visual.  I guess if she knows about it 
then my mom does as well.  Mom wouldn't care as long as I did it 
on my own time and not in front of my kid <g> (duh mom).  My dad 
and stepmom? Nope.  No Way.  They don't know, and they don't want 
to know.  My Roommies both know, I converted them both to TS and 
one to Slash in general.  So they are okay about it.  So it's not 
a secret but it's also not something that I just tell everyone 
about.

Well that's it.  That's the dirt.  Oh and Flamingo?  You don't 
have permission to be killed until you have finished Total 
Eclipse.  It was the first thing that was strictly S/H that I 
read and you can't just leave it.  So there.  <g>

I'm going back to the corner now.

JadeRyan
