OBLAQME in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery MeritasM in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in Menery Meritas in M ISSME NMMBER FIME IN THE OBLAQME SERIES OBLAQME M MI N VENERY VERITAS M M M ISSUE NUMBER FIVE IN THE OBLAQUE SERIES M M A BLAKE’S 7 ADULT FANZINE M M M M PUBLISHED BY: M M M OBLIQUE PUBLICATIONS M M P. O. BOX 43784 M M TUCSON, AZ M M M USA 35733-3784 M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M Oblaque V is available in print. M M Send SASE to the above address. M M Or, send an email to [email protected] M M http://www.oblique-publications.net M M Other publications are also available. M M M M M Age statement required with order. M M M M WARNING: THIS ZINE CONTAINS SAME SEX, ADULT M M ORIENTED MATERIAL. IT WILL NOT BE SOLD TO M M M ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. M M M M Oblaque V: in venery veritas is an amateur publication, copyright May 1991 M by Oblique Publications. All rights reserved. This copyright is not intended to M M infringe upon nor conflict with other holders of Blake’s 7 copyrights including M M Terry Nation and the BBC. No reprints of any type are permitted without express, M written permission of the publisher and individual contributors involved. M M MMMMM MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM MC ONTENTS VENERY M M Incipit 4 M M M. Fae Glasgow M M M IN VITRO M M Glass House 15 M M K. Thomas & D. D. M. M M Heatstroke 19 M M Gael X. Ile M M M EST QUAEDAM FLERE VOLUPTAS M M Cat’s Cradle I 29 M M Sebastian M M Cat’s Cradle II 40 M M Sebastian M M M VENERY M M In Medias Res 47 M M M. Fae Glasgow M M M SUA CUIQUE VOLUPTAS M M Lights Out, A Game of Tag, Part III 65 M 2 M Caroline Dare MMM M M In Vino Veritas 73 M M Cally Donia M M M FINEM RESPICE M M And Dreaming, Awake 85 M M Emma Scot M M Caveat Emptor 95 M M. Fae Glasgow M M M M VENERY M M Ante Mortem 115 M M M. Fae Glasgow M M M THE DOME CYCLE M M Should Auld Acquaintance 128 M M M. Fae Glasgow M M M VENERY M M Terminus 144 M MM M. Fae Glasgow MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMMOBLAQME M: in Menery Meritas LMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM MMMMM MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM MI NTRODUCTION M ‘In venery veritas,’ theme of this fifth issue of Oblaque, M M is also a twist of the well-known Latin phrase ‘in vino M veritas’—in wine, the truth. Well the truth, veritas, seems M M simple enough, but venery is rather more obscure. It is M M not a word much favored today—indeed my dictionaries M M all refer to it as archaic—but it does possess the distinction M M of having two different meanings each deriving from M separate Latin roots. The first meaning is the gratifica- M M tion or indulgence of sexual desire (from venus or love), M M while the second is the practice or act of hunting; the M M chase (from venari or to hunt). Even more interesting, the M M possible Indo-European base for both venus and venari M is wen meaning to strive for; desire. How appropriate for M M this zine! Oblaque V is filled with stories of venery M M documenting the tremendous back and forth struggle M M between Avon and Blake, the terrible sexual tension that M M continually threatens to annihilate them, and the con- M nection between them that they cannot seem to sever M M even over distance or time. M M Contributors to this issue include Sebastian, Caroline M M Dare, and K. Thomas & D. D. M. Everything else is by the M Glaswegian (who else?). Spelling is, as usual, the odd 3 M mixture of old and new British spellings, New World MMM versions of words, and long bits that are ‘completely made up’ (the Glaswegian’s contribution). Punctuation is also on the idiosyncratic side. Oh, and for those who have been asking. No, the Glaswegian does not use a thesaurus; neither does she use a dictionary while she is writing. If a word is not forthcoming from her tiny brain, then she makes one up on the spot. ‘ Ardure’ in Caveat Emptor is a perfect example of this process. It is now declared to mean the noun form of arduous and it sounds very nice when paired with the real word ordure. A last word of thanks to LDM who generously moved his computer working time to days and left me the evenings for the inevitable final crunch before deadline. Caroline K. Carbis, Editor *For the new reader. The slash mark ‘/’ is called an oblique stroke in Britain. Thus, when you write slash fiction in Blake’s 7, you oblique Blake’s 7 and get Oblaque. Quite simple really. MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM OBLAQME M: in Menery Meritas MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM MENERY: INCIPIT MMMMM M. FAE GLASGOW MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLM MV ENERY ‘Incipit,’ or here begins. Yes, here begins the M M first of the four Venery tales. Here begins the M M telling of Blake and Avon and Vila and their M tangled, tangled relationships, from Avon and M M Blake’s first meeting to their ineluctable ren- M M dezvous on Gauda Prime and beyond. M M Here begins the hunt. M M Here begins desire. M Here begins Venery. M M M M M M M M M M M M M INCIPIT M M M M. FAE GLASGOW M M M M M M M M 4 H E WAS GOING TO HAVE AVON. he could. He knew it. Knew that he could take MMM M He had known that from the very first all that bitterness and pain away, make Avon instant his eyes had feasted upon that whole once more, give him light to leaven the transparent armour of cynicism which barely darkness, give him hope to make the road veiled the wounded core of the man. Avon less long. He could do it. He would do it, even needed him. He knew it. Knew it with such if Avon, in what Blake thought was surely depth and conviction that it went beyond pain and fear and festering wounds, fought reason, as far beyond reason as the chasms him on this, even if Avon thought that crawling of the mind could take it. Nor had it been into a hole and pulling his skin taut around some sure and gentle knowledge seeping himself was the best way to deal with what- slowly into his bones, settling down into the ever tragedy had filleted him like this. Blake empty spot so cosily prepared for it. Oh, no, could mend him, could suture the gaping it hadn’t been like that at all. Staring at Avon, wounds, could ease the pain… it had happened, abruptly, between one breath Amidst the hollow echoes of the prison and the next, a sudden shift in the Universe ship, amidst the sussurous whispers of those and his life and death were combined into the trying to form new rules to fit this mobile form that was Avon. Avon: cold, hard, shat- purgatory, he would sit and watch, feasting tered Avon, turning haughty shoulder to him, his eyes on Avon’s beauty, drinking from him elegant profile cutting him out, ignoring him as flood after drought.