What exactly is slash, and while we're at it, what is "canon?"

From AprilValen@aol.com

I was once asked at Eclecticon (while doing a panel on slash) if 
a relationship between 2 characters in a fan story was only slash 
if it went against the canon of the show.  Umm... I don't know of 
too many shows where the two lead characters are both male and 
sleeping together, so if you show me a program where they are -- 
that would be a slash relationship which is "canon" (which means, 
set down in the aired universe of the show.  Starsky comes from 
New York -- that's canon.  If you write him as hailing from 
Florida instead, that's against canon... and a whole other 
discussion. <g>  Now of course, female slash fandoms have 
arrived, too -- and I guess it practically is canon in Xena, 
Warrior Princess (for some reason the powers that be are less 
afraid to show homoerotic friendship and affection between 2 
female characters).  But by this definition, if you wrote a story 
about Scully and Mulder from X-Files having sex, it wouldn't be 
slash -- not because it isn't canon, but because they aren't the 
same sex.

From Virginia Call:

>From what I understand, "canon" means those bits and pieces of a 
information that are shown or stated in an episode, which makes 
them 'true' in the series.  We know exactly what kind of car 
Starsky drives, that his mother is alive, that he has a younger 
brother, etc. etc. because those are shown in the episodes.

