The Phone Booth

The Phone Booth is a 56-page slash Starsky & Hutch anthology pass-around theme zine. 
While not dated, it was most likely issued in the early 1982. While it is an early S/H fiction zine, it is not the first.
It is a theme zine; all the fiction, poems and cartoons relate to the theme, "phone booth." 
One issue suggests the number of originals that were printed; someone handwrote "#9 ... 11 of 15" on one page.
==Sister Zines==
* The Phone Booth
* Fly United
* Cucumbers and Crisco
 
==From the Editors==
==Table of Contents==
* Groundhog Day by Anonymous/Alexis, part of The Groundhog Day Series
* Incorruptibles by Anonymous (related to In the Gym, later, became a part of My Lover, My Hero) (13 pages, by far the longest story in the zine)
* 555 by Anonymous/Alexis Rogers (online title is "Fifty Five Cents")
* The Starsky Connection by Anonymous
* Superman by Anonymous
* Disconnect by Anonymous
* Home by Anonymous/Ruth Kurz (a sequel to "One Man's Dream" in One Shot)
* Reach Out and Touch Someone by Anonymous
* Ka-Ching! by Anonymous
* Top Secret by Anonymous, poem
* Phony Tip by Anonymous
* Ten, Twenty Times by Anonymous
* Emergency Call by Anonymous
* Public Utility by Anonymous
* World Series by Anonymous
* Alternate by Anonymous/Pam Rose (reprinted in Trace Elements)
* Drop Seat by Anonymous
==Gallery==
 Image:phonebooth1.jpg|interior page
Image:phonebooth6.jpg|interior page
Image:phonebooth7.jpg|interior page
 
Image:phonebooth4.jpg|interior page
Image:phonebooth5.jpg|interior page
==A Second Challenge Issued==
A submission request for a second issue was printed on one page of The Phone Booth; this zine became Fly United: 
==Reactions and Reviews==
 
==The Phone Booth and S/H Fanfiction History==
Slash underground and drawerfic had, of course, been circulating among small groups of friends before "formal" zines were printed. One example of some fans' familiarity with the topic of S/H fiction in these pass around stories are comments about Trace Elements in the widely-read S and H. Several reviewers in #37 spoke of the stories in "Trace Elements" as having already too-familiar slash plots or execution. One fan wrote: "But she takes it beyond and beneath the usual first-time story with her insights into the characters." Another fan said, "This story contains no surprises. There is nothing here that hasn’t been done before and more creatively." Another fan described the story, What's a Partner For? as "a standard post-Sweet Revenge first-timer."
Even though their circulation was small, and one needed to be a member of the right fan community to know about them, more formal zines were soon to follow. These were publications that could be purchased by any fan in possession of the publisher's address. 
Forever Autumn was the first S/H fiction zine published. It was issued in the UK in March 1980. 
Next, a single slash story was published in the second issue of Ten-Thirteen in February 1981. 
It is commonly understood that the first full S/H fiction zine published in the U.S. was Code 7 in Summer 1981, and then Trace Elements in 1982. 
Hanky Panky, though a letterzine, contained much art and fiction. That zine began in January or February 1982.
Some other very early slash zines were The Phone Booth (the front cover art is dated 1982, one piece of inside art is dated 1981), Fly United (likely mid-1982), Cucumbers and Crisco (likely 1982). All three of these zines were very roughly produced and considered pass-around zines.
A single slash story, A Handful of Sand, was printed in September 1981 in Daily Reports #2. 
There was contradiction regarding which full S/H fiction zine was first, Code 7 or Trace Elements, but this was based on semantics and definition. This is because the editors of Code 7 issued an announcement in June 1981 that the Code 7 had been canceled. There is an announcement regarding Code 7 in S and H #22: 
The reason? According to some fans, "Code 7" was at the printers when Karen B heard that anti-slasher fen were threatening to send the zine to the stars and to the producers of the show. She pulled the zine at the last minute and removed all the names. 
In reality, the editors of Code 7 secretly published their zine, anonymizing the authors, and distributed it to a select group of people. Because of this, some fans did not consider it a 'real' zine.
The exact nature, scope and reality of the threat is difficult to ascertain. There were many veiled references in later issues of S and H about fans betraying other fans and how the anti-slash sentiment was driving good writers away from the fandom (or at the very least underground). See S and H issues 21-30. Yet even those rumors were hotly disputed in later issues of S and H. (See issues 30-38) 
Because Code 7 #1 was an underground publication, some fans consider Trace Elements the first "published" US S/H zine, but also understand that Code 7 was printed and distributed many months before. 
The secrecy regarding the publication of Code 7 is given a nod in this statement: 
A fan in early 1982 gives a wink to fellow fen regarding "Code 7": "I haven't seen that much S/H to date -- just one excellent zine (that doesn't exist, of course)." from Hanky Panky #1 (January or February 1982) 
In 2001, a fan wrote: 
Later issues of Code 7 were offered publicly in letterzines and authors and publisher info was included. 
Ironically, many years later, Code 7 was available at Agent With Style, a highly visible zine agent and publishing business.
As early as these Starsky & Hutch slash zines were, Star Trek: TOS K/S has them beat by several years (and in the case of drawerfic such as The Ring of Soshern, My Love Has Wings, and Green Plague, by at least a decade). Some Starsky & Hutch fans would have been aware of these stories as there was a fair amount of cross-pollination between the two fandoms.
The first K/S novel was Gerry Downes' Alternative: The Epilog to Orion (around August, 1976, though it appears an earlier drawerfic was passed around several years earlier.)
The first fiction Kirk/Spock anthology was Thrust (around the middle of February, 1978)
An early K/S fiction series was Yea, Though I Walk by Katy Young (1978). Also see Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn (1980) by Pamela Dale.
==Slash and George Lucas==
Some fans felt that the hullabaloo over slash publications was related to a late summer/early fall 1981 controversy that had been heating up in the Star Wars fandom, and George Lucas' attempt to control fanworks and adult material. For more on that general topic, see Open Letters to Star Wars Zine Publishers (1981).
Very shortly before Trace Elements was printed in spring 1982, a fan wrote: 
==References==
 
Category:Starsky & Hutch Slash ZinesCategory:1982 Zines