Jane of Australia

Jane of Australia was a BNF and a very prolific writer and artist. 
She wrote and published simply as Jane, as well as under many different pseuds. The name used with most of her later art was "Jade."
The "of Australia" of "Jane of Australia" was used later by other fans to differentiate between the several Janes in fandom, especially Professionals fandom, including Jane Carnall and Jane Mailander.
Jane began her fannish writing in the early to mid 1980s and mostly wrote in The Professionals, Star Wars, and Starsky and Hutch.
When asked what her first Bodie/Doyle story was, Jane said: "I have no idea! I really can't remember! It wasn't "Old Longings," though that was one of the first opus. I just don't remember what the first story was." from Interview with Jane of Australia 
Some of Jane's Pros fiction is available at The Circuit Library.
See List of Fanworks by Jane of Australia.
See List of Fanworks by Kathy Keegan.
==Jane's Style==
Jane had a fairly distinct style. In The Professionals, she liked her Ray Doyle a bit fragile and delicate as a "fallen angel", "Okay, I was more of a Doylefan than a Bodiefan ... To me, the young MS looked like a fallen angel (and still does), which fascinates me utterly." -- from Interview with Jane of Australia and the bottom in his sexual relationship with William Bodie. 
Her stories and novels were very much loved for their intricate plots, and very much hated by the more realism-loving fans. Whether disliked or adored, she was definitely used as an icon by both sides in the fannish culture wars in the late 80s-early 90s. One fan wrote of this fannish divide and remembered the "...great Jane of Australia debate in which opinion seems to be pretty evenly divided between those who adore her work and those loathe it."from Discovered in a Letterbox #23 (2002)
==Zine Publishing==
 thumb| "What — or who — in the world is Nut Hatch?!" embedded [https://web.archive.org/web/20040805132209/http://www.leisuresoft.net:80/stardate/home1.htm here] |left 
In the early to mid-1980s, she began writing as J.J. Adamson. Along with her brother Mike Adamson, she began to publish gen fanzines under the press name, Entropy Express. she links the name J.J. Adamson and Jane in her 2002 ad for the reprint for The Compleat Alternative here 
The Adamson's empire grew to be mighty. See Nut Hatch Press.
==Relationship to Gerry Downes==
Jane's mother-in-law was Gerry Downes, the fan famous for her seminal slash zines. Jane explains this in From Alaska with Love "The Compleat Alternative is an authorized reprint of the Alternative saga, written by Gerry Downes in the 70s. Her daughter in law, JJ Downes (known as Jane in many fandoms), has brought the k/s classic back to vibrant life." -- Jane's ad in The K/S Press in 2002: the ad is 
In 2002, Jane, writing as Jennifer Downes"This piece, and all digital art on "From Alaska With Love," by Jennifer Downes." -- , wrote From Alaska With Love about her relationship with Gerry Downes.
==Fanartist==
===As Jane and JJ===
Jane's art and JJ's art were hand-drawn. See Empire Star #5 and Blue Eyes and Blue Jeans #2.
===As Jade===
In addition to her many pen names, Jane also created and sold fan art under the name Jade. It consisted mostly of photo-manipulations. Her art was sold as bookmarks, fridge magnets, trading cards, tote bags, and later, book covers for Mel Keegan:
See Starsky & Hutch, Highlander, and LOTR art pages.
She also published The Hunting Deskmate a 1992 or 1993 Professionals calendar.
Some other examples of Jade's art is here.
==Went Pro==
As early as 1988, Jane delved into the area of submitting her fanfiction to be professionally published as pro fiction. In the editorial to Fantazine #1, she wrote about herself in the third person explaining her decision to allow her fiction to be available to fans along side it being submitted to a publishing house, how some of her Pros fiction was only marginally related to the show itself, and how "Kathy" and others had encouraged a reluctant "Jane" to take this action: 
 
It wasn't until the late 1990s, however, that Jane had success in publishing many of her Professionals fanfic novels and as gay fiction under the name Mel Keegan. In some cases, Jane changed little more than the names as the original fanfic stories were AUs, not dependent on the source's setting. While she never publicly connected her professional name to her fannish pseud(s), it's an open secret in Pros fandom.
Both Jane's fanworks and her pro works were advertised and sold on the same website: http://www.dream-craft.com/melkeegan/home.htm. See The DreamCraft Connection.
A fan in 2015 wrote: 
===Mapping Jane's Professionals Fanfic to Mel Keegan's Professional M/M Gay Books ===
* Aquamarine by Jane in Fantazine #5 (1993), later published as "Aquamarine" by Mel Keegan 
* Breakheart by Jane in Other Times and Places #6 (1995), later published as Breakheart by Mel Keegan
* An East Wind Blowing by Jane in Fantazine #4, published as "An East Wind Blowing" by Mel Keegan
* A Madrigal by Jane (1987), later published as "Fortunes of War" by Mel Keegan
* The Perfect Gentleman by Jane (1991),later published as "Dangerous Moonlight" by Mel Keegan
* The Swordsman by Jane (1993), later published as "The Swordsman" by Mel Keegan
* Twilight by Jane in Fantazine #1 (1988), later published as "Twilight" by Mel Keegan 
* Unfinished Melody by Jane (1988), later published as "Nocturne" by Mel Keegan 
* Flood Tide by Madelaine Ingram (1992), later published as "Storm Tide" by Mel Keegan
* Ice, Wind and Fire by Kathy Keegan in Cross My Heart #1 (1987), later published as "Ice, Wind and Fire" by Mel Keegan
* Nothing Left to Lose by Jane and Madelaine Ingram (from a story by Kathy Keegan) in Leather and Blue Jeans (1993), later published as "Windrage" by Mel Keegan
* The White Rose of Night by Felicity Granger (1994), later published as "The White Rose of Night" by Mel Keegan
* Witchfires ("Legends" aka "Witchfire" series #1) by Madelaine Ingram in Cross My Heart #5 (1990), later published as "The Winds of Chance" (aka "Legends: The Fall of the Atlantean Empire")
* Hellgate
==Interviews==
* Interview with Jane of Australia (1997)
==Pseuds==
Jane published under many pseudonyms, something she often denied.
In a late 1990s interview, she said she had written up to 500 stories using various pseuds. "Combining all fandoms I've written for, under all pen names, going back to the first fannish story I produced ... (pause for thought) ... I have no real idea, but it would have to be between 300 and 500 individual stories, some of them no more than 3ppm some 500pp." -- from Interview with Jane of Australia 
=== Pseuds: Probable and Confirmed===
JJ and Jade "It's a new brush-name for an old artist (or at least a well-known one!) who has been seen in the pages of NHE publications for around 25 years. It's JJ ... back again, with a suite of skills that consumed around a thousand hours on the learning curve, and then another couple of hundred on this portfolio alone! You may have seen JJ's digitals in SHAMAN by Toshua, or in the RAINY DAYS: THE EARLY STORIES anthology, or on the DOUBLE OR NOTHING webage [sic], or on the FROM ALASKA WITH LOVE website, which celebrates the classic "Star Trek" titles produced in the 1970s by Gerry Downes. A certain fixation for digital artwork has inspired JJ to strike a new brush name: Jade." -- About the Artist (2002) , Kathy Keegan, Madelaine Ingram, Jade, JJ Downes, J.J Adamson and Jennifer Downes "At the present moment in the unfolding of the universe, Nut Hatch and its gen-fanfic partner, Entropy Express, is actually three core people: Jennifer Downes, Mike Adamson, and (when he can find time away from work!) Dave Downes, and at the hub of the press, being the dog's body, chief-cook-and-bottlewasher, old workhorse, around whom the whole thing revolves, it's Jennifer, long known to most of fandom as JJ Adamson." -- Home , JJ Adams, Felicity Granger (Felicity Granger is confirmed by Jane herself in the online version of a fic. - Passages, author note at the end of the page. ) Other rumored aliases: Shawn Gedge, Jack Heston, Viv Alexander, Adam Jenson, G.W. Conrad, Jane Sterling, and Peta Brock. Also some pro names: two are Michelle Goddard, "DEEP WATER that paperback novel by Michelle Goddard ... aka Jane! In 1992, Jane's thriller, DEEP WATER, was produced by the small Australian publisher, White Heron Press ... " -- and the one that dare not say its name... "WHAT ARE YOU WRITING NOW? A short story (Callisto Switch)." and "...a story I'm about to write, "Callisto Switch" -- which has nothing to do with Xena, and is a pro SF story, incidentally -- popped into my mind one day in May, and I didn't "get the ending" that would make it work writing, till July!" -- two comments from the 1997-ish Interview with Jane of Australia and "CALLISTO SWITCH IS A SURPRISE FROM WAY OUT IN LEFT FIELD! WHEN WAS THIS ONE WRITTEN? WHAT DOES THE TITLE MEAN? I was actually in Fairbanks, AK, when I wrote this one. It would have to be something like 1998 or maybe the year after." -- 2005 comments by Mel Keegan 
===Jane Talks About Her Pseuds===
Statements by Jane from articles, interviews, and website promotions.
 
===Mel Keegan Talks About Pseuds, and Jade===
From a 2011 interview: 
In 2018, Keegan mentioned Jade several times:
===Kathy Keegan: I Am Not Lanie Stone, Madelaine Ingram, Kathy Snow, and Jane Carnall===
In 1991, some fans became confused with Jane and other fans' names, enough so to have her make this statement (as Kathy Keegan) in 1991's Encore!: 
===Jane: I Am Not Kathy Keegan===
In 1990, Jane wrote in the forward to Clan of the White Fox 
From an Interview with Jane of Australia in the early 2000s: 
===Kathy Keegan: I Am Not Mel Keegan===
In 1993, Kathy Keegan wrote in Fantazine #5: 
===JJ Talks About Kathy Keegan and Barbara Jones===
The editorial of Fantazine #5 (1993) includes a long author's foreword by JJ regarding this zine, and the state of the press due to "attacks," and her statements state that she is not Kathy Keegan or Barbara Jones: {{Quotation| 
Most importantly, I have to tell you, Nut Hatch has dwindled to just two people now. It's just JJ and Barb. Kath's domestic problems are too pressing for her to come back ... and I regret to say that the maliciousness that's been directed toward us lately has impacted very heavily on Angie and Pam. Neither of them have a constitution like Arnold, and (probably wisely), they've decided to drop out. It's always painful to be attacked, verbally or in print. Some of us have been enduring this for ten years, and all of us are both sad and depressed that it continues to happen. We won't fight; we don't have the energy, the killer instinct or the endurance, which probably makes people see us as easy targets. Also, we're highly visible, which makes us a large target! And we're fairly successful in several fields, which means that it's natural that we'll draw fire. Someone once said, 'they only tackle the one with the ball." But rationalising why you're being rubbished is not the same as being untouched by it. Our instinctive reaction was to go to ground, send out subscription refunds and close the press at once; Angie and Pam just walked out, but Barb and I decided to keep going at least until we've seen out our commitments. 
[...]
The 'fallout" from this is that Nut Hatch is now down to two pairs of hands, and we're going to be slow!! 
===Madelaine Ingram Talks About JJ, Jane and Kathy Keegan===
From Cross My Heart #6: 
===Jane Talks About Shawn Gedge===
From the "translator's notes" of Bound to Please: 
===Kathy Talks About Jane===
From the editorial of Fantazine #1 (1988), Kathy wrote:
Also from the editorial of "Fantazine" #1, Kathy wrote: 
===Kathy Talks About JJ, Jane, and Barbara Jones===
From the editorial of Fantazine #5 (1993): 
In the zine, The Hunting Companion #1, Kathy Keegan, wrote that "all the fiction is by Jane; all the artwork by JJ; there are poems by Barbara Jones and Sue-Anne Hartwick, as well as by Jane, and music by JJ. Non-fiction is by Kathy Keegan, who edited this opus." When Keegan goes on to say that "it is as self-indulgent for the reader as for those of us who put it all together..."
In the first volume of "The Hunting Companion" #1, Jane made another comment about occupying several bodies: "I get to write two segments for the price of one here, so I'm going to switch hats and become someone else entirely."
===Jane Reviews Kathy Keegan's Zine ===
Summary from the 1994 flyer for Flesh and Steel, where Jane, as Kathy Keegan, reviews her own novel:
===Denial, Legal Threats, and Fan Discussion===
In 1991, Jane threatened legal action against by Jane to Sandy Herrold which threatened legal action, 1984, mentioned by Sandy on Virgule-L, quoted with permission, on November 24, 1996: 
This discussion regarding the belief that Kathy Keegan and Jane were the same person, as well as someone who'd gone pro after repurposing her Pros fanfic caused the editor, Linda Terrell, in Short Circuit #5 to include: "NUT HATCH PRESS has made a formal request that it be noted that "Jane" is NOT "Keegan." So Noted." 
Some of the 1991 discussion in Short Circuit: 
A fan in 2008 wrote: 
A fan in 2015 wrote: 
===More Fannish Discussion Links Regarding Pseuds===
* Discovered in the Christmas Tree, Day 3 in January, January 1, 2012; reference link
* Seeking Pros list makers and readers of (name redacted) books, March 11, 2012; reference link
* Pros Finder, March 12, 2012; reference link
* Random Thursday, post by Istia, October 1, 2015; reference link
Lists of pseuds/fics:
* 
* , Prosfinder March 12, 2012
* , January 2012
* Seeking Pros list makers and readers of Mel Keegan's books, March 11, 2012
==Jane's Spectacular Gafiation ==
Jane left fandom in an intricate, long (3703 words!), and angry flounce on May 17, 2006 which was posted as a message to Zinelist using the specifically created email: janeslastmessage@yahoo.com ("To the folks who choose to set themselves up as accusers: you may be happy to know you're rid of me. The email address at the head of this letter says it all.") Source: Zinelist (May 17, 2006) link to the Fan History Wiki page, accessed January 10, 2009, now offline It is likely this message was sent to other venues, as well. 
This flounce was a 27k open letter addressed to "fans at large." The rant touched upon (among many other things): 
* her unhappiness with fan complaints over unfilled zine orders which Jane attributed to malice and fandom's unwillingness to stand up to negative elements
* Mark Twain and Dickens quotes
* "the woman from Denver," aka "Ms. Denver" and this "ugly American's verbal dysentery"
* email problems
* being unappreciated
* gossip
* fans as "rabid dogs"
* the 1% of fans who needed be to scolded and the other 99% who put up with them
* Jane encourages fans to skip print zines and upload fiction to fanfiction.net
===Jane's Spectacular Gafiation: Some Excerpts===
===Fan Reaction to Jane's Flounce===
Fan reaction to Jane's open letter on Zinelist was sparse and consisted of those who supported Jane, those who felt her letter was self-indulgent and poorly-conceived, those who were baffled by the bit about "the Denver woman," and those who had no idea who Jane was. Morgan Dawn's personal notes, accessed October 6, 2014, included with permission.
 
 
==Fanworks==
See List of Fanworks by Jane of Australia.
See List of Fanworks by Kathy Keegan.
A listing of all of Jane's Professionals fan fiction written under the various fannish pseuds can be found here.
==Gallery of Art Samples as "J.J."==
File:Blueeyes2art1.jpg|from Blue Eyes and Blue Jeans #2 (1996) 
==Gallery of Art Samples as "Jade"==
File:Cascadevisions.jpg|cover of Cascade Visions
File:Shaman.jpg|cover of Shaman
File:Mu.jpg|cover of Merging Universes
File:Eternal_wind_by_jade_2.jpg|art for Eternal Wind
File:Eternalwind_by_jade.jpg|art for Eternal Wind
File:Shbmrk06.jpg| Sample bookmark for sale
File:Legends.jpg|cover of Legends
File:Jadedream.jpg|"Digital Dreams" art sold on CD
File:Mason.jpg|cover A Year with Mason
File:Menage_.jpg|cover of Ménage a Enterprise
File:Perfectgentlemen.jpg|art for Perfect Gentlemen
==Reactions/Reviews==
Comprehensive reviews of Jane's body of work are rare, and almost never in the pages of letterzines, the most common form of public fannish discussion before the internet. Most fannish commentary can be found on the pages of the fanzines that Jane herself published.
For an interesting discussion about Jane's work in its time, see commentary regarding the circuit story Old Longings.
Many fans enjoyed her fiction and her stories frequently appear on rec lists.
However, some fans had mixed emotions about Jane's use of pseudonyms, the overwhelming AU nature of her universes, her characterizations (especially of Raymond Doyle), and the repetitiveness to some of her stories.
===1993===
===1994===
===1996===
===1997===
===1998===
===1999===
===2001===
===2005===
===2006===
===2008===
===2011===
==References==
Category:Fanwriters