Fantazine

Fantazine is a slash fantasy and/or AU Professionals anthology.
==Only a Vague Connection... And Kathy Twists Jane's Arm==
From the zine: 
==Issue 1==
Fantazine 1 was published in 1988 and contains 172 pages.
The art is by JJ.
MYSTERY: The zine contains a story called "Dreams of Long Ago" which is labeled the last story in Jane's series. The zine's flyer, however, lists and describes a story (which is the fourth in the series) called: 
From the editorial by Keegan: 
* My Heart, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick (Raven/Bodie) (4)
* Dreams of Long Ago by Jane ("Bodie and Doyle take a trip to Ireland to visit the place where their past-lives selves lived and loved, and they almost meet their own deaths. While they sleep, and dream, Kinamus iron Hand meets the Druid youth, Bran, at the Beltaine feasts, and woos him away from his elder masters.") (Part 5 of the Dreaming Stone aka the Kin/Bran series. This was the last in the seires written by Jane. Wally wrote a sixth related story.) (6)
* Rites of Passage by Jane of Australia ("The Syrae estate is upset by the unexpected arrival of a young man and woman whom Bodie recognizes: they are his sister and brother. But what should have been a joyous reunion is sour. Teal and Una are not at ease in Morhod; their customs and beliefs are widely at variants with those of the Syrae. Worst of all, Una fascinates Raven with her likeness to her elder brother: Bodie is not unaware of his mate's fascination, and when he sees Raven and Una together he believes the worst. Raphael must work a kind of magic all his own.") (It is story #9 of the The Hunting Universe, also in The Lost Hunting Stories) (66)
* Legacy, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick(Kin/Bran) (118)
* Twilight by Jane, who wrote on the title page that it was "inspired by MS's Hound Of The Baskervilles...") ("A series of murders in Devonshire take the vampyre Changelings west from their London home to investigate, and their suspicions prove to be true. A Changeling is at work in the English countryside, and behind him he leaves young victims, cruelly suffering. Chabrier and Mario Rinaldi are telegraphed, and they, Bodie and Doyle solve a murder mystery with terrible ramifications.") (Later published as original fiction. Twilight by Mel Keegan, from a post at ) (120)
* Shadows, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick (Kin/Bran) (162)
* Warmth, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick (Kin/Bran) (163)
* Freedom, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick (Raven/Bodie) (174)
 
Image:fantazine1-1.jpg|from issue #1
Image:fantazine1-2.jpg|from issue #1, the hand in the shirt thing is a riff on a photo reference 
Image:fantazine1-3.jpg|from issue #1
Image:fantazine1-4.jpg|from issue #1
Image:fantazine1-5.jpg|from issue #1
==Issue 2==
Fantazine 2 was published in June 1990 and contains 168 pages. 
The art is by JJ.
Regarding purchase, from a flyer: "Ask about bulk-buy prices. Do your circuit a favour!"
Regarding the art in 1988, from the editorial of Cross My Heart #4: "The 'art situation'... means that FANTAZINE #2 may come out illustrated by someone else if another available artist can be found, or it may be lavish graphically but be sans art, or we may reprint previous art." The art situation must have improved, as there are several pieces by JJ, including a fold-out on the last page.
The editorial contains a long comment about "safesex" and Fancy Dancing, see that page.
Also from the editorial, close living means spreading germs—even to one's pseuds!: "Before anyone says anything—we're late! In fact, we're late by a full fortnight, and even taking this date is going to be a scramble. It's wintertime, which means colds and 'flu and... you get the picture. At any one time, out of five or six people here at The Nut Hatch, three or four us can be waaay under the weather, not to say downright ill. The whole fault is JJ's. She's the one who picked it up, and breathed on the rest of us! So you know who to blame (just kidding)."
* The Sword by Jane (possibly incorporated into an original fiction novel see a post at ) ("It is Fourth Century Britain and, hunted by barbarians on their eastern flanks, the Romans have left the province to fend for itself. Saxons are raiding deeper into Celtic lands and the chiefs are uneasy. Into this world of struggle and the fight to survive are born two boys: Derai is a peasant freeman's son wanting desperately to be a warrior. Baedann is a warrior already, prideful and yet vulnerable. The two enter into a stinging, destructive rivalry until one terrible night changes everything. A whole navel, historical rather than fantasy, set against the bloody tapestry of Romano-Celtic Britain, lovingly researched from the perspective of an Arthurian-fancier.") (6)
* Wintersong, poem by Harmony, based on The Hunting (106)
* Silverwing by Barbara Jones ("Who is he? Is he human? Is he from this world, or another -- or from another time? All Bodie knows is, he is being hunted by someone so sad, and there seems only one solution... a ghost story with a haunting difference.") (108)
* Awakening (Out of Darkness), poem by Harmony, based on The Hunting (116)
* Raphael (Kevin's Song), poem by Harmony, based on The Hunting (117)
* Labyrinth by Madelaine Ingram -- Witchfires Series #2 -- (not to be confused with another story with the same title by one of this author's pseuds) ("Beydr and Raedal travel to Karnossus, in the land-girt sea where the daughter colonies of elder Atlantis have begun to spread and divide. There, they discover a riddle, a maze, and the threat of sudden death. The first sequel to Witchfire, which appeared in Cross My Heart 5. As Beydr and Raedal always knew, Mohan Ashtoc has learned what became of his willful seventh son; and Raedal'e existence is no longer a secret. Both young men are prized and hunted, but not for the same reason.") (118)
File:fantazine2-1.jpg| from issue #2, JJ, Derai of Whitestonecliff
File:fantazine2-2.jpg| from issue #2, JJ, Raven, Syrae-an
File:fantazine2-3.jpg| from issue #2, sample text
File:fantazine2-4.jpg| from issue #2, JJ, Derai and Baedan
File:fantazine2-5.jpg| from issue #2, Bodie, Doyle and Murphy
==Issue 3==
Fantazine 3 was published in April 1991 and contains 163 pages. It contains art by JJ.
In the editorial of Fantazine #3 (1991), the editor pleads for some art submissions: "Once again, art is solicited, but we've given up hoping to get it! Doesn't anyone out there draw?!"
* A Voice in the Wind (Raven/Bodie) by Joan Enright (4)
* The Stars Burn Cold (Raven/Bodie) by Joan Enright (4)
* Phoenix by Madelaine Ingram Witchfires Series #5 (Summary from the flyer: "The Quezelus sails on Vaal. Beydr and Raedal meet the Fate they have always known they rush toward, but Astoc and the Legion are not the sum of their worries. There is the sea itself, and even the Power of Zeft may not stand against it. This is the final part of the Beydr/Raedal saga.") (6)
* The Loves of Philip Mark by Joan Enright (Summary from the flyer: "The sometimes Sheriff of Nottingham, oft reviled, oft misunderstood, proves tenacious indeed, surviving to find love with mysterious young man named Raymonde, whom he meets in the forest, and wins against the odds. Based on the Robin of Sherwood episode.") (76)
* Raven/Bodie: Another Life by Joan Enright (set in The Hunting universe) (page 105)
* Sir Guy in Love by Joan Enright (107)
* Magickal, Part 4 (Zax/Scully) by Jane (page 10) ("Magickal, Part 4" follows Parts 1-3 in Cross My Heart 1, 2, and 3. The sequels, Parts 5 and 6, are in Cross My Heart 8 and 9. These stories were collected in a single zine Magickal. The stories are set in the world of Facelift, the futuristic movie in which MS played Zax. The pairing is Zax with a Bodie-clone called Scully.) (Summary from the flyer: "In the aftermath of the People's Revolution, Scully's anarchist friends believe they have won and secured their rights to co-exist in the chaotic post-holocaust future. But he and Zax have underestimated the Numbers from other cities. The ramifications of the Revolution are far-reaching and unexpected.") (108)
File:fantazine3-1.jpg|inside page from issue #3
File:fantazine3-2.jpg|inside page from issue #3
File:fantazine3-3.jpg|inside page from issue #3
File:fantazine3-4.jpg|inside page from issue #3
File:fantazine3-5.jpg|inside page from issue #3
File:fantazine3-6.jpg|inside page from issue #3
==Issue 4==
Fantazine 4 was published in April/May 1992 and contains 161 pages. The art is by JJ. This zine also contains several black and white publicity photos.
It premiered at the 1992 MediaWest*Con.
All the stories in it are standalones and are not in any continuing universes. Some of the stories, however, have sequels in Full Circle #1.
The editorial is mostly about the minutia of printers and production problems, but also contains information about this zine's contents, as well as problems with an agent: 
* Well Met by Moonlight, poem by Andrea Vyland (Raven/Bodie) (4)
* An East Wind Blowing by Jane ("Following 'The Sword.' Always restless, Baedann and Derai cannot resist the call to arms issued by a young warlord in the westcountry. They find themselves in a land held under siege from the Saxon, yet a land filled with love and the strange magic which is wrought by the Druidai... Arthur, the Bear, chieftain of a clan of Celts, general of an unruly, wilful army which will seldom follow orders; Kai, the Saxon who was left for dead as a child, raised by the Celts as Arthur's brother, only to become so much more; LIud, who was like a father to both of them - the veteran warrior with the silver hand and unshakeable honour; Mark of Cornwall, built like a bear, he has the heart of a lion in battle but is stubborn and unprincipled out of it; Rolf The Preacher, a former never and pillager who placed his faith in the God of Abraham, only to find his beliefs shaken once again; Connach, lately returned from Eiru, a powerful Druid - almost the last of his kind; Arthur's kinsman and his guide through a time of hardship; Cerdic, the Saxon warlord whose eyes are fixed on Celtic lands; Yorath, the Jute, Arthur's uneasy ally; Rowena, daughter of Yorath, in love with Arthur and dealt a bitter awakening when she discovers for herself the truth... ...Baedann and Derai find themselves in the midst of a ferment of passion and upheaval, where powerful men and mighty egos clash, love is battled for, hard won and jealously guarded, and where the key to the survival and liberty of the Celtic peoples is the young Arthur Of The Britons." "For those of you who have long wanted to see slash stories on Arthur/Kal, here, you get your wish!") (Arthur of the Britains/The Sword, pairing is Baedann/Dera) (later published as original fiction An East Blowing Wind by Mel Keegan, from a post at ) (6)
* A Kind of Magic, poem by Barbara Jones (sequel in Full Circle #1) (B/D/Highlander) (92)
* Eye of the Lion by Madelaine Ingram ("An archaeologist, Doyle's high school friend, returns from Africa with an artefact, a hand carved statue of a lion, clad in gold leaf and set with ruby eyes. Bodie has only to see it to be caught in the grip of terrible fear...for he has seen it before, and he knows the awesome power which surrounds it. Doyle struggles to understand what Bodie's warnings mean. The truth soon becomes apparent.") (110)
* The Sovereign Voyage of Sinbad by Kathy Keegan (Rashid/Hassan) ("Yes—at last!—a sequel to 'Arabian Nights'. Rachid and Hassan have made good with their own ship; now. Captain Sinbad is in the same port of Charak, and he approaches Rachid with an offer his former mate and Hassan cannot refuse. They will sail in company with Sinbad's ship to deliver Princess Fenzileh and her dowry to her betrothed; but the girl has other plans, and she has friends, one of whom is a pirate named Kabir.") (136)
File:fantazine4-1.jpg|from issue #4
File:fantazine4-2.jpg|from issue #4
File:fantazine4-3.jpg|from issue #4
==Issue 5==
Fantazine 5 was published in May 1993 and contains 150 pages. It has art by JJ, Baravan, and Karen Eaton.
"In the Future Tense, Part 3" is a sequel to In the Future Tense. The centrepieces of the zine are AQUAMARINE by Jane, and THE SILENCE OF KNIVES by Kathy Keegan— two B/D SF novellas that are vastly different.
The zine includes a long author's foreword by JJ regarding this zine, and the state of the press due to "attacks," and her statements that she is not the same person as Kathy Keegan or Barbara Jones: 
At the end of the zine, JJ added: 
Summaries below are from a 1993 flyer printed in Cross My Heart #10.
* Love Is, Love Was, Love Will Be, poem by Wally (6)
* The Silence of Knives by Kathy Keegan ("Centuries in the future, the Empire of Earth has spread through many star systems and allied itself with other worlds to become stronger. One of the principal sources of its strength during the expansion is its Starfleet. Young people are conscripted to serve a five year mandatory enlistment, from seventeen to twenty-two years of age. There are no exceptions to this rule. The life is rough, the training is hard and the discipline is notorious. Starfleet is allowed an 'acceptable casualty rate,' in training and on the battlefield. But when the son of a very rich man is killed in training by a brute of an instructor, law or no law, his father Is determined to be avenged. Enter Ray Doyle, a specialist in his trade. The trade of the Master Assassin. Like everyone else, Doyle went through his 'five year hitch,' ten years ago. He knows the ropes. Now, on contract, he will return to Starfleat, find the man who killed his employer's son and ...settle accounts. He is assigned to a unit aboard a Starship for re-training and familiarisation; his platoon sergeant is a men called Bodie. Soon Bodie is caught up in Doyle's web of intrigue. The end of this one may astonish you!") (8)
* Captive: The Other Side, poem by Jane (90)
* In the Future Tense, Part 3 by Wally ("Here, our futuristic Bodie and Doyle are up against a particularity nasty drug in this sequel short-story to Wally's successful novel.") (92)
* Dream Sonnet by Barb Jones (102)
* Prick Up Your Ears by Susan Douglass ("A short fantasy tale about elvenktnd and humankind, which ie something of a reversal ...I Plus short Vampire fiction by Susan Douglass, promised for this zine by the deadline date.") (103)
* Raven/Bodie 'Toons by Karen Eaton (106)
* Aquamarine by Jane, later published as original fiction Aquamarine by Mel Keegan; WebCite, from a post at ("Closer to home, two centuries from now, after global warming, the sees have risen up and the earth is a water world. Bodie is a research scientist working on e man-mud a Island paradise; Doyle is his pet project; or, his project and his pet, if you prefer! He is an Aquarian, the first of a new breed of Men, genetically engineered to be able to live and breathe underwater. Doyle will need all his skills and abilities when things start to go wrong. It begins with the theft of a pleasure craft and, acorn-syndrome fashion, explodes from there.") (107)
 
File:fantazine5-1.jpg| from issue #5, Baravan
File:fantazine5-2.jpg| from issue #5, Karen Eaton
File:fantazine5-3.jpg| from issue #5, sample text
File:fantazine5-4.jpg| from issue #5, Karen Eaton
===Reactions and Reviews: Issue 5===
==Issue 6==
Fantazine 6 was published in May 1995 and contains 159 pages.
From the publisher's foreword: 
Jane's comments from the zine regarding her story, "In the Season of War": 
* Midnight's Master by Andrea Vyland (4)
* Midnight's Passion by Andrea Vyland (5)
* South of the Border by Wally ("An American bounty hunter ruthless and efficient, arrives in a small Mexican town to perform an unpleasant task, and there he meets a young man, an artist with dire family trouble... Spanish blood runs hot, and it soon becomes plain that this is a matter of revenge. Bodie- the bounty hunter- is unaware of quite what he is getting himself into when he takes on the commission, but one thing he knows for sure; he is much too captivated by the gentleman, Rasmond Doyle, to turn down this unlikely offer of employment. A not-so-simple job leads to so much more. Two genres, the classic Western and the not-so classic romance, roll into one. in this absorbing tale.") (6)
* In the Season of War by Jane ("The borderlands between Mithgaard and its warlike neighbours have never really been at peace, and since Bodie - the youngest son of the Thendir clan of the Seregae - was born there has been constant skirmishing. Following a terrible battle, he is sent deep into Chaal to find the shaman, Jirrel, who knows the secret charms and herbs that cure and heal. But before ever he arrives at the fortress of Glangaran, Bodie makes the acquaintance of a young scholar named Raymond, of the Doyle clan of the Rethac. Emotion flared instantly between the two...but there are problems. To begin with, Raymond is married; his wife is about to be executed; Glangaran is rife with intrigue and deadly deception, and a battle looms that could be the end of everything ... or the beginning of a new life. A whole fantasy novel in a new universe, from a favourite writer.") (29)
* Showfolk by Karen Mercer ("It's the Twenty-third Century. Earth has colonised a hundred light years of the galaxy, and far, far across the stars ... one still can't escape The Moral Majority! Driven out of the homeworlds, the MM'ers have taken their message of 'a return to family values' to the colonies, and they still can't win an election on fairly. Rival candidates keep getting assassinated, and in every colony where it happens, the starship Troubadour is found. It's crew is a very bad touring theatre company, regularly rubbished by the critics... and a misfit. An ex-Imperial Marine named Bodie. The ship arrives on Borax is during an election campaign and ex-Sergeant Bodie is in big trouble. He's the prime suspect of the Imperial! But he's in luck...the officer in charge of the local ISC is an old friend, one Raymond Doyle. Science Fiction merges with hilarious comedy.") (150)
File:fantazine6-1.jpg|sample interior page from issue #6
File:fantazine6-2.jpg|sample interior page from issue #6
File:fantazine6-3.jpg|sample interior page from issue #6
==References==
Category:The Professionals Slash Zines
Category:Facelift
Category:1980s
Category:1990s