A request for the Hurt/comfort and fan history people

[wickedwords]

Hiya!

As many of you know, I am helping with Fanlore, and one of the things we talked about at our last meeting was how we wanted to bring in more fandom-related history. And personally, I can't think of anything more 'fandom' related than the history of Hurt/comfort fandom.

Unfortunately, since it's a panfandom metafandom that has existed since the dawn of time (i.e., back when media fandom first broke off from science fiction fandom), it's way the heck too much for any single person to do. Seriously, if I were the type of person to work on a phd in media studies? This could be my dissertation.

So I'd like to get some people to work on the History of Hurt/comfort fandom. Things I'd like to know would be: What were the big Hurt/comfort stories in your fandom? Did any of them have huge impact? Can someone talk about 'brain damage' stories, and 'illness hurt/comfort'. The Teddy Bear stories in Highlander, "Gentle on my Mind" in Sentinel and it's follow-up by a different author. What was Hurt/hurt called back in the early days? Was it really 'get 'em'?

All I have is oral history, man. And y'all know my memory is crap.

Comments

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Contact a H/C Trek zine. It was put out by Bev Volker and Nancy Kippax in the 70s and 80s. There were a couple of other's, too, weren't there?

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Man, my brain has wiped those sectors, which is why I am begging for help. Anything that could be added is awesome.

[tazlet.livejournal.com]

That's corrrect. "Contact" was dedicated H/C. If I recall correctly, Bev, Nancy and Martha Bonds together wrote at least one major story that could be considered anti-slash -- Kirk's career is destroyed by rumours of a homosexual affair with Spock.

[klangley56.livejournal.com]

"The Rack" (written under the pseud of "J. Emily Vance" and published in CONTACT #4 in 1977) created quite a stir, for its premise, its characterization, and its ending. The story prompted sequels--both their own ("All the King's Horses, All the King's Men") and stories by other fans (both authorized and unauthorized).

Eventually they reprinted the original stories in a collected volume. As explained in the editorial for that publication, the story was written "to show the danger of rumor--whatever the reason, of bigotry and personal prejudices, especially if they occur in places of authority."

Of course, authors' intentions and readers' conclusions often are miles apart, so maybe some fans did take it as anti-slash. I never got that from it, myself.

Interestingly, the editorial for #4 states, "CONTACT seems to have become known as the 'get-em' zine of fandom. It abounds with pain and the hurt/comfort syndrome. This was never our original intention. Granted, we all have that masochistic streak that loves to see our heroes suffer . . . but four issues of ONLY this may have run its course."

They go on to encourage potential contributors to explore other facets of the relationship, in hopes of generating enough material for another issue (in fact, they published through #8, with two special Christmas issues as well).

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

This is very cool to learn, and I may use some of it on Fanlore. Thanks!

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Bev, Nancy and Martha together wrote at least one major story that could be considered anti-slash

Heh. That's pretty ironic, don't you think. *g*

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

It totally is.