OBLAQUEST A BLAKE’S 7 ADULT FANZINE ISSUE NUMBER THREE IN THE OBLAQUE SERIES WARNING: THIS ZINE CONTAINS ADULT ORIENTED SAME SEX MATERIAL. IT WILL NOT BE SOLD TO ANYONE UNDER AGE EIGHTEEN. Published by: Oblique Publications PO Box 43784 Tucson, AZ USA 85733-3784 [email protected] http://www.oblique-publications.net Send SASE or email for information. Age statement required. Oblaquest is an amateur publication, copyright © June 1989 by Oblique Publications. All rights reserved. This copyright is not intended to infringe upon or conflict with other holders of Blake’s 7 copyrights, in- cluding Terry Nation and the BBC. No reprints of any type are permitted without express, written permis- sion of the publisher and individual contributors involved. CONTENTS I IV THEN GOD CREATED AVON… CUPID STRINGS HIS BOW… ReOrbit: The Darkness Drops 4 Hell 74 M. Fae Glasgow Adrian Alexander ReOrbit: Stony Sleep 9 In the Beginning 76 M. Fae Glasgow Edi N. Burgh Flow Gently, Sweet Afton 15 Lament, Part I 79 Leigh Graham Cally Donia Hauf Fun, ’Hale Earnest 31 Lament, Part II (Love’s Great Adventure) 85 Cally Donia Cally Donia II ReOrbit: The Second Coming 89 …AND SUNDRY BASTARDS M. Fae Glasgow He Who Laughs Last… 40 V B. Sassenach …WHILST AVON STROKES HIS BEAU Appearances 47 The Warm Patch 95 Sean Charles Adrian Alexander The Price to Pay 56 The Room 99 M. Fae Glasgow M. Fae Glasgow III Something to Live For 103 GRATUITOUS SEX Sean Charles You’re It: A Game of Tag, Part I 64 The Ties That Bind 121 Caroline Dare L. A. Scotian The Forest For the Trees 68 VI Emma Scot AND SO IT GOES: THE DOME SYCLE A Complete Ball’s Up 71 Gael X. Ile For A’ That 125 M. Fae Glasgow PREFACE Oblaque. Pronounced OhBláke! and deriving from the combi- nation of “/” (called an oblique mark in Britain) and Blake’s 7. Oblaquest. The third issue in the series. Welcome readers to Oblaquest. We hope this What won’t you find in Oblaquest? Two stories issue meets with your approval and interest. And if that were promised for this issue. The Southern Con- it doesn’t, then may it at least generate a definite opin- tingent wasn’t happy with the third part of the Sis- ion. We at GBH Productions look upon the Oblaque terhood Trilogy and the Glaswegian needs more series as a forum for strong writing, an outlet for hard, time to rewrite Shakespeare. Look for both in slightly over-the-edge slash fiction that deals with Oblaque IV. emotional and psychological themes. An indifferent And speaking of IV, it’s already in the planning reaction to our work means we’ve failed. stages. We like to think ahead and try to write stories Not that we want to limit ourselves to only those for specific themes or sections. The results aren’t al- sorts of stories; indeed we haven’t. In Oblaquest you ways what we expect—they certainly weren’t for will find adventure stories (which are also slash), love III—but we do try. stories (there is always a place for some soppy ro- All the usual suspects need to be thanked: the mance), PWPs (“Plot? What plot?” also known as Southern Contingent, the Glaswegian, our gratuitous sex), humourous vignettes, plus the usual Macintoshes (we’ve got three now), and, of course, dark, emotion-wrenching pieces that make you sit LDM. back and say, “Now that’s what good slash writing is all about.” —Caroline K. Carbis, Editor Standard Spelling Disclaimer Standard Vocabulary Disclaimer The editor no longer makes any effort to standard- We highly approve of authenticity in dialogue. ize spelling. She will accept the proper spelling of a English characters should avoid pronouncing blatant word (American—although the Glaswegian disputes Americanisms. However, there are times when cer- this), British (because English characters obviously tain people let certain Scottish regionalisms creep into would only say dialogue with British spellings of both description and dialogue. Editors can be toler- words), and, with some reluctance, variant Scots- ant and allow ‘coorie’ to stand as is, but the line must English. If something looks peculiar to you and is be drawn somewhere and ‘oxter’ is where it is at. not due to editorial incompetence, then it probably For once in her life, the Southern Contingent can is the Glaswegian’s own particular perversion. She smile sweetly and truthfully say, “Don’t blame me, I claims spelling is optional! didn’t write it.” I THEN GOD CREATED AVON… Ah, yes…Avon. The stories in this section consider how our favourite character might change and why. And does he truly change? The first two tales are part of a trilogy of three examining the possible consequences of Orbit. It’s a chilling view without a happy ending, but for those who insist on an optimistic finish, M. Fae Glasgow was blackmailed into writing a third story. You can find it in the soppy, romantic section of this issue. Leigh Graham’s work is set several years after GP and the title truly says it all. The final selection began as a humourous piece and changed direction midway through. Some writ- ers just can’t make up their minds. REORBIT: THE DARKNESS DROPS M. Fae Glasgow TURNING AND TURNING IN THE WIDENING GYRE events, a crushing wall of sand, suffocating him, driv- THE FALCON CANNOT HEAR THE FALCONER; ing him in and in upon himself, helpless as the out- THINGS FALL APART; THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD; line of his very being was lost, unwinding, unknitting, MERE ANARCHY IS LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, the stitches dissolving, the warp and weft of what made him a man spiralling off out of his reach, and all HE WAS UNRAVELLING, COMING UNDONE, THE DETAILS OF he could do was watch, the impotence of breakdown HIS PERSONALITY TENDRILING OFF INTO THE VOID AND NO straightjacketing him into a facsimile of lifelessness. MATTER HOW FRANTICALLY HE STRETCHED OUT AFTER THEM, Under the bright, bright lights of the Scorpio, every HE COULDN’T REACH THEM, COULDN’T RECAPTURE THEM, SIM- facet of him exposed, he stared as the final dismal frag- PLY COULD NOT REEL HIMSELF BACK IN. Even his vision ment of his self-containment flowed off upon the cur- was distorted, the world edged with black, the light rent of his sanity, leaving him alone, shackled in the gone from his sight, turned into texture to be felt by incoherent and incohesive dungeon of his mind. his fingertips like a blind man learning to recognise And all the while, Vila watched. his own face. There had been a moment, a brief, pierc- ingly fragile moment, when he had felt his brittle shell THE BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE IS LOOSED, AND EVERYWHERE hold, keeping him safe and complete within, but then, THE CEREMONY OF INNOCENCE IS DROWNED; that too, was riven, Vila’s anguished face exploding THE BEST LACK ALL CONVICTION, WHILE THE WORST on his mind, the knowledge of what he had almost ARE FULL OF PASSIONATE INTENSITY. done causing his own undoing. Another man, his friend, crouched huddled and cowering in the casket He had, of course, a bottle in his hand, and from of the storage bin, tears streaking his face, fear and whence it came, no-one knew. The Scorpio had none, hurt and disillusion turning him the pasty white of so the only possibility had been filching it from the newly dead. And it was Avon’s fault, the unfor- Egrorian’s base. Wherever he had ‘liberated’ it from, givable almost becoming reality in his hands, black- Vila was well on the way to drinking it to the dregs. ening his soul, the abhorrent almost done, in the voice He staggered gently, almost dancing rather than fall- and by the hands of a lover. ing, subsiding into one of the flight couches. He lay His fault. there, eyes hard and bitter, staring at Avon, who The guilt of years pressed in upon him, hundreds seemed to be staring at the inside of his own mind. upon thousands upon millions of things, myriad tiny “Always safe with you, eh? An’ what did you 4 OBLAQUEST M. Fae Glasgow REORBIT: THE DARKNESS DROPS mean by that, I ask you? Dead bloody certain it wasn’t irrecusable grip, dragging him off to the sleep cu- what I meant, right?” bicles. “Get in there, Vila, and sleep it off. Don’t come “Vila…” Dayna started, warningly, looking at Vila back out until you’re sober and fit to be with. And with annoyance and Avon with concern. get off Avon’s back. I don’t know what you did to “Oh, don’t ‘Vila’ me, my pretty thing. The worm, him on that shuttle, but you’ve obviously just sent as they say, has turned. He finally drove me to it, him over the edge. I hope,” he snarled, displaying didn’t you, Avon. An’ it wasn’t the trying to kill me real fury and unexpected concern for Avon, “that that did it, no, I expect survival at any cost from him, you’re satisfied, because if he doesn’t pull himself always have done. It was the way he tried.” He out of this, I’m going to kill you. Always supposing I stumbled to his feet, face worn and serious, coming can get to you before Dayna, that is.” to lean against the front of Avon’s console. “Why’d Vila curled himself up in a miserable fœtal ball, you do that, Avon?” the same hunched horror he had been in on the Avon stirred himself from the nightmare behind shuttle, another death sentence passed on him.