Jenna/Cally

Jenna/Cally a femslash pairing of Jenna Stannis and Cally from Blake's 7.
==Fandom==
Like all the f/f pairings in Blake's 7 fandom, Jenna/Cally is a rarepair. For example, the tag for this pairing on AO3 shows only 19 works (as on 2020). Nevertheless, it is the most popular femslash pairing in the fandom. 
The first known J/C stories are probably the poems "Homesick" and "Telepath", both by Bryn Lantry, published in the issue #7 of the multifandom slash and femslash zine "touched" in March 1986. The first known prose story is "Kindred Souls" by Aislinn, published in the issue #8 of the same zine in July 1986.
==Comments by Sally Knyvette==
From a 1987 interview with Sally Knyvette, the actor who portrayed Jenna: 
==Fanfiction and Tropes==
Many J/C stories follow same patterns than f/f Blake's 7 stories with other pairings. They tend to be short, sometimes less than 1000 or even 500 words. PWP stories and sex scenes in general are relatively rare. The relationship is usually portrayed as warm and friendly, but rarely intense; "the women are generally presented as sensible, rather than romantic, in their approach to sex". Nova in (Re)Making Space for Women 
Jenna/Cally sometimes appears as a background pairing in Blake/Avon fics or has Blake/Avon as a background pairing, though stories that focus exclusively on Jenna/Cally also exist. Other f/f pairings with Jenna involve her with Servalan or OFCs. Changing by Jane Carnall, Jenna/OFC fic from "touched" #4, is credited by Nova as the first femslash fic in Blake's 7 fandom. Nova (2002) 'Re(Making) Space for Women: A guide to f/f slash in Blake's 7 fanzines' Sleer as Folk 308–322
* by myfavouriteplum
* The Deepest Hold by Viv Martella's Ghost
 
In her essay about Blake's 7 femslash (Re)Making Space for Women Nova pointed out the following Jenna/Cally tropes:
Friends to Lovers: Majority of Jenna/Cally stories that are not Established Relationship fall under Friends to Lovers category, while the stories that make use of the initial distrust between them are very rare.
* "Her Name Upon The Strand" by elviaprose (2014)
* "Temperature Spike" by emmaliza (2020) (Heat Fic; a rare example of a J/C story where Cally's biology is significantly different from human biology) 
In Vino Veritas: In a small subset of J/C stories the characters become closer over drinks.
* "Customs" by Barbara T in The Unique Touch #2 (1988)
* "A Friendly Drink" by J. D. Reece in Southern Comfort #5.5 (1990)
* "Bar Room Waltz" by Aralias (2015)
Background Pairing: A lot of J/C fics include their relationship as a side pairing, with either other relationships or a non-romantic plot being central. Blake/Avon is the most common main pairing in such stories, though some fics also pair Jenna or/and Cally with other characters (usually as past relationship or unrequited attraction). Jenna/Cally stories also often feature background pairings between other characters.
* "Kindred Souls" by Aislinn in Southern Lights Special #3.5 (Avon/Cally fic with past Jenna/Cally and Blake/Avon). Also published in "touched" #8 (1986)
* "Sisyphus" by Bryn Lantry in The Other Side #3 (Blake/Avon with background Jenna/Cally) (1987)
* "Command Performance" by M. J. Dolan in Southern Comfort #6.5 (1991) (Aliens Made Them Do It story, mentions a number of past relationships that the heroines had with their crewmembers)
A subset of such fics are the humorous stories that pair up all the main characters:
* "Everybody Gets It in the End" by Kerrvert in Southern Comfort #5.5 (Jenna/Cally, Blake/Avon, Vila/Gan, Orac/Zen) (1990)
* "The Great Orac" by Leah Starsky in Southern Comfort #8.5 (Jenna/Cally, Blake/Avon, Vila/Gan) (1994)
* "The Beginner's Guide To Blake's 7 Slash" by Manna in Red Rose #3 (Jenna/Cally/Dayna/Soolin, Blake/Avon, Vila/Tarrant) (1998)
* "Blake's Seven Go Camping" by Linda Norman in Tales from Space City (Jenna/Cally, Jenna/Cally/Servalan, Avon/Vila, Blake/Avon, Blake/Travis) (1998)
Parallels with B/A: Some stories that have both J/C and B/A pairings compare and contrast those two relationships. Some fans also brought up parallels with B/A as one of the attractions of J/C pairing:
* "Metaphorically Speaking" by Nova in Bend Me, Shape Me (2000)
* "The Impossibility of J/C" by Ika in Sleer as Folk (2002)
* "Shipping" by Ika 
* "Opportunity Knocks" by shimere277 (2006)
"Girls Own Adventure": The subgenre defined by Nova as stories where "lesbianism is one of the strategies used by the writers to position the B7 women, rather than the men, as heroes and leaders." Such stories more often than other types feature Jenna and Cally as main characters and their relationship as the main pairing. In some of them Jenna and Cally leave Blake's group and start a new life for themselves.
* "A Different Path" by Bryn Lantry in The Unique Touch #2 (1988)
* "Tangents" (also past Blake/Jenna) by Bryn Lantry in The Other Side #8 (1992)
* "To Shoot the Moon" by Jane Mailander in The Other Side #9 (1993)
Poetry: While poetry is rare in the modern Blake's 7 fandom, many known J/C stories of the 1980s and 1990s were written in the form of short poems.
* "Homesick" by Bryn Lantry (also past Cally/Zelda, Blake/Jenna) in "touched" #7 (1986)
* "Telepath" by Bryn Lantry in "touched" #7 (1986)
* "Evaporation" by Judith Ellison in Different Destinies (1989)
* "Alien Eyes" by Khylara in On the Edge #1 (1993)
* "Beautiful Rebel" by Silver Srebryanyi in Sappho #1 (1994)
==Fanart==
There is almost no J/C fanart in the zines and very little fanart in general. Most Jenna/Cally arts were created in the 2010s.
File:Gambitusseven-6.jpg| artist is Mary Gerstner, from Gambit #7 (1991)
File:Jenna and Cally manip.JPG|Illustration for the Ika's story "The Impossibility of J/C" in Sleer as Folk, manip by Pat Fenech
File:Jenna and Cally kissing.jpg|Art by I Fought Space. "Jenna/Cally in 18 - which was supposed to be a surprised kiss… Jenna’s blushing… that can be surprise, right?" comments by the artist in drawing-blog-of-fun tumblr, January 09, 2016
==See Also==
* Cally/Jenna tag on AO3
* Jenna/Cally in the Hermit Pairings Index, from the list of pairings in zine stories compiled by Sarah Thompson and based on data from her A Guide to Blake's 7 Erotica. Last updated in 2001.
* List of Blake's 7 Femslash Stories‎
* (Re)Making Space for Women: A guide to f/f slash in Blake's 7 fanzines for the analysis of pre-2001 B7 femslash stories, most of them Jenna/Cally
 
==References==
Category:Femslash Pairings
Category:Blake's 7 Relationships