The Ring of Soshern

The Ring of Soshern (often mistakenly referred to as "The Ring of Shoshern") is a slash K/S 40-page (single-sided, single-spaced) novel by Jennifer Guttridge. It was originally a privately-circulated Kirk/Spock story, and possibly the first of its kind.
It was written in 1968, and passed around among friends. In 2009, a fan, Kathy Resch, said: "The first known K/S story was Jennifer G's "The Ring of Shoshern"; the author says that she wrote it in 1968. It was a "pass-around" circuit story for quite a number of years after. -- comment by Kathy Resch on Zinelist, quoted with permission (September 25, 2009) Once in the wild, fans began to distribute it further than its author probably intended. Many fans remember it being a little more available (available being very relative) starting in 1973 or 1974.
==Its Appearance in "Alien Brothers"==
In 1987, "The Ring of Soshern" was published in Alien Brothers, a highly controversial print zine. Many fans claim this was done without the knowledge, much less permission, of the author. This was reported during outreach for the Foresmutters Project in 2002. Morgan Dawn remembers this topic coming up on the KirkSpockCentral mailing list in 2013, and at least two fans stated that they believe the editor had obtained permission. And that given that the editor/publisher was unpopular at the time, her publication without permission would have certainly become widely commented and widely condemned. But there was little commentary at the time of the printing in 1987 or in the years after. Morgan Dawn's notes, accessed November 1, 2023.. Given the difficulty of communication in the pre-Internet days and the passing of both the author and the publisher, the exact nature of the permission, if any, will remain unknown.
==Another Pioneer==
Audrey Baker was another earlier pioneer. A fan in 1985 wrote: "A word here about the stories of Audrey Baker: She may well have been the first K/S writer. My Love Has Wings was written about 1970, before she knew about fandom or had read any Trek fiction." from Not Tonight Spock! #8 (March 1985) 
A fan in 2007 said: 
==Introduction: From the "Unauthorized" 1987 Printing==
From the editor of Alien Brothers: 
==Dates==
"The first known K/S story was Jennifer G's "The Ring of Shoshern"; the author says that she wrote it in 1968. It was a "pass-around" circuit story for quite a number of years after. comment by Kathy Resch on Virgule-L, quoted with permission (September 25, 2009) 
It was circulated privately in Great Britain, at least by 1973 (date on one early copy).
Jenna at Beyond Dreams Press notes that "my personal information from contact with the author dates that story several years earlier, to 1968 and possibly slightly before that."Jenna Sinclair, A Short History of Early K/S or How the First Slash Fandom Came to Be], citing as source: "email with the author, who referred to her original dated manuscript." (Accessed 13 October 2010) Because it mentions pon farr, it could not have been written earlier than mid-September 1967. 
While the episode "Amok Time" was not shown on BBC until November 25, 1970, Guttridge was a well-connected fan and would have received literature describing the episode -- perhaps even a copy of the script -- long before that. If she attended Worldcon in 1967 she could have seen the episode two weeks before it aired on NBC.
==Contents==
===Title===
"The Ring of Soshern," as revealed in the story:
From the story: 
===This Story, and "The Premise"===
It became one symbol of the stress and conflict in Star Trek fandom over the idea that Kirk and Spock could have a sexual relationship. Most fans in the 1960s and early 1970s would not have accepted this premise. Many copies were purposely destroyed. "A certain K&S relationship fan in the southern U.S. bought up as many copies as she could find and burned them -- a singularly, reprehensibly unfair form of censorship!" from "The K/S Completist" column in Not Tonight, Spock! #2 
The story is often cited as one of the example of an informal K/S circuit that pre-dated fanzines. (A few Star Trek fanzines, including Spockanalia and ST-Phile, actually appeared as early as January 1967).
"“Ring” contains many of the elements K/S fans have come to know and love: pon farr forces their first sexual encounter in a cave on a prehistoric planet fraught with danger. The sex is brutal and unromantic at first, and both men regret the necessity for it, yet Kirk refuses to let his friend die in pain and humiliation. Hurt/comfort abounds for both Kirk and Spock. “The Ring of Soshern” is well written, truly a trailblazer in many ways. What today may appear clichéd was definitely cutting edge in 1975." from The K/S Zine: The Time of the Beginning 1976-1985 
=="Unauthorized" Printing and Alien Brothers==
According to a fan writing in The K/S Press, Guttridge never intended the story to be published and had meant it to be a pass-around story.
The story was later published in the zine Alien Brothers. Many believe that this was done without the author's knowledge, and that Jennifer Guttridge did not learn of the publication until decades later. This was reported during outreach for the Foresmutters Project in 2002. However, who this was reported to and how it was communicated in 2002 has not been recorded. Most fannish communication in the 1980s took place via mailed letters, so the prominent ads placed in the letterzine Not Tonight Spock that announced the publication of the story might not have reached the author or even if they did, communication between author and publisher might have become garbled over time and distance.
The version published in Alien Brothers contains a few minor spelling and grammar corrections (ex: 'Kirks'" being changed to "Kirk's", "payed" to "paid") that are typical of copy-editing. Three stylistic changes were made, and they may have been due to changing fandom practices between the time the story was written and when it was published Alien Brothers in 1987.
The three changes are:
1) Jennifer used the word "half bred" and the Alien Brother's story used "halfbreed."
2) Jennifer used "Star Fleet" and the Alien Brother's story uses "Starfleet". "Starfleet" is the more modern term. Franz Joseph's "Star Fleet Technical Manual" is an example of how the term didn't have a fixed canon spelling early on.
3) Jennifer used "Pon Farr" and Alien Brothers used "pon farr" -- no capitalization.
In retrospect many fans are pleased that the story was finally published, irrespective of whether the communication between publisher and author was garbled. In the fan written history Legacy:
==Gallery: Early Copies==
Image:ringofsosearly.jpg|first page of an early typed copy, provenance and typist unknown
 Image:Ringofsoshern.jpg| cover of a printed copy, title is missing "The" -- this copy is not the same as the other one in this gallery
==Gallery: From Alien Brothers==
Jennifer Guttridge's story did not have any illustration. The art below is a sample by Juanne Michaud, created for the story when it was printed in Alien Brothers.
 
Image:alienbrothersone.jpg|photocopy, modified Dover clip art by Jana Desorcy 
File:Alienbros juliannmichaud.jpg|original printing
Image:alienbrotherstwo.jpg|photocopy
Image:Alienbrotherssix.jpg|photocopy
Image:alienbrothersthree.jpg|photocopy
Image:alienbrothersfour.jpg|photocopy
File:Alienbrothersfive.jpg|photocopy
 
==Reactions and Reviews==
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==Further Reading==
* The Foresmutter's Project
* Star Trek fanzines and sexual freedom (2009)
==References==
Category:2019 Featured Articles
Category:Star Trek TOS Slash Zines
Category:Star Trek TOS K/S Fanfiction
Category:1968 Zines