The Fix #1

Table of Contents

The Fix was a long-running, mixed slash and gen (but mostly slash) Starsky & Hutch fanzine. There were a few gen stories in the first twelve issues, which were reissued in The Fix Collected. The Fix ran for 22 issues from 1987 to 2002. It featured original art, stories, poems, cartoons, and articles. This is the first issue.

Archivist Note: The early Fix zines were published before terms like “shipping” had been recognized in the 2010s. Common terminology in fandom for relationship fics included “&” for gen stories and “/” for slash stories.

Cover of Fix #1

The Fix No.1 was published in October 1987 and had 58 pages.

Published by April Valentine‘s Amapola Press in Baltimore, Maryland.

Cover by Merle Decker (above)

Nectar and Ambrosia (editorial) (following)

Guidelines (following)

Letter from Tabby Davis (following)

“Lost” Part 1 by Lynna Bright
(originally published in 10 installments in The Fix, it is complete on the archive)

ART: Hutch Portrait by SVE

“Hunger” Part 1 by April Valentine writing as Laura Scott Butler
(originally published in 3 installments in The Fix, it is complete on the archive)

ART: Starsky Portrait by SVE

Secrets by Sue-Anne Hartwick

ART: Starsky Illo for Secrets by Arleen Geller
“I’ve always had a sixth sense when something was troubling Starsky… little gestures… a certain frown… a look in those midnight-blue eyes… silences that stretch out too long. Like now.”

ART: Starsky and Hutch on the Beach by SVE

By the Sea, by the Sea by Molly D. Brown

The Carillon Calls by Mary Louise Fisher

ART: Hutch illo by Arleen Geller

To Know by Ellen Morris

ART: Hutch for Death Dream by Jean C.
“…His eyes were stony…”

Death Dream by Elizabeth Lowry

ART: Starsky and Hutch Standing, illo 1 for Death Dream by SVE
Starsky stepped down beside him. “They found her family.”

ART: Starsky and Hutch on the Couch, illo 2 for Death Dream by SVE
“Starsky… sat next to Hutch, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, knee to knee .”

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Price: THE FIX IS $5 per issue plus $1.25 postage. Subscriptions (1 year) are $15 plus $3.75 postage.

Copyright, 1987, by Amapola Press (April Valentine) for the authors and artists. This is an amateur publication, not intended as an infringement on the copyrights held by anyone. No reprints or reproductions may be made without written permission of the editor.

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Introduction

NECTAR & AMBROSIA…

Welcome to issue number one of THE FIX. As fanzines go, this one is a bit different. Published every 4 months, it will provide a “fix” of SH for those of us who love to read about and discuss the characters of Starsky and Hutch. It is not a letterzine in the traditional sense, like BETWEEN FRIENDS or THE WHO DO WE TRUST TIMES. Besides letters, THE FIX will carry fiction—in abundance, I hope. LoC’s will be published and other topics will be discussed. I’ve been thinking that perhaps SH fandom has outgrown the need for a classic letterzine. This is a small fandom, and to continue to thrive, our forms of communication need to continue to grow and change with our needs and tastes. We do need some way of keeping in touch with each other, and I hope lots of us will be participating, one way or another, in THE FIX.

What kinds of stories fit THE FIX? Just about anything. Vignettes, poetry, scenes we didn’t see, what-ifs,“&”, “/”, crime drama, character study—things that might not fit the more specific guidelines of other, longer SH zines. New writers are welcome to submit their efforts; although I won’t be publishing absolutely everything that is sent, writers who are learning will be encouraged. Editing will probably be minimal, but it’ll be done where necessary. I want to keep FIX to about 60 pages, so stories that are extremely long won’t fit. I’m not opposed to running a lengthier story in installments. Since there will be a new issue every 4 months, the readers won’t have to wait too long. I have fairly eclectic taste and I’d like to be able to provide something for everyone. Experimental forms or themes are also welcome, and so is humor.

I know that there may be some questions caused by including both “&” and “/” stories in a single zine. I wouldn’t expect someone to buy a copy of a zine that she wouldn’t want to read in its entirety. My feeling is that there is little enough SH fanfiction; skipping something means we have less to read. But I’m not aiming to encourage endless debates about will they or won’t they, or to change anyone’s mind. This and future editorials will provide a rundown of the ‘orientation’ of the included stories, so that if you don’t want to read something you’ll disagree with, you can skip it. I’m open to a variety of themes but I cannot publish what is not submitted.

All of us should be able to agree that any Starsky and Hutch story must include an aspect of their relationship, that no matter what the plot or theme, readers want very much to see the characters relating. Are our favorite episodes ones that deal exclusively with S&H on a case? Or are the ones we watch over and over again those that highlight the relationship, either through hurt/comfort or other means?

This issue’s fiction touches on a variety of themes. “Lost”, by Lynna Bright, is an alternate universe, set in 1843, but featuring characters we all recognize. This one is to be continued… “Hunger” is the second story in Laura Scott Butler’s “Some Kind of Love” universe (that story was published in NO PANTS, NO BADGE, NO GUN, (available on this archive) which explores the evolution of the S/H relationship beginning before the SH pilot episode. This story will conclude next issue. In “Secrets” as well as “Hunger”, mention is made of the characters becoming or having been lovers, but contain no explicit scenes.

In several pieces, the reader may provide her own interpretation of the relationship. They are Elizabeth Lowry’s “Death Dream“, “To Know” by Ellen Morris (making her SH debut) and “Carillon Calls“, part of the longer work, Passages of Time by Mary Louise Fisher.

And “By the Sea, By the Sea” by Molly D. Brown is this issue’s “/” romp, nothing heavy, definitely no police work in this one, just a sexy good time.

That’s about it. Deadlines and guidelines for contributions follow. I’ve had fun doing this first issue and I’m looking forward already to the next one. Now, sit down, curl up, and enjoy an SH FIX.

April

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Guidelines

LETTERS OF COMMENT

LoC’s are welcome… encouraged! The only editorial guideline I’d like to offer is: be constructive. Let’s keep it friendly and remember to allow for differences in individual tastes. Please keep your letters to 2 typed pages. Discussion of any aspect of SH, including news of the actors, is fine.

EPISODE OF THE ISSUE

For those of you who prefer a specific topic, take on the Episode of the issue. Analyze it, critique it, mention your favorite scenes. Writers and artists, listen to your muse and do something creative. Illustrate a favorite moment, or redesign one. Write a scene we didn’t see, a what-if or spin off, tie up loose ends.

WRITERS

The suggested Episode of the Issue is just that, a suggestion. Contributions of stories and art can be on any subject; see the editorial for specifics. Please include SASE with all submissions.

ARTISTS

Pen and ink work is preferred, to keep production costs down. If you want to work in pencil, though, contact me and we’ll discuss it. If you’re available to illustrate stories, let me know—or you may find yourself being asked anyway. Just feel like drawing the guys? Fine. Portraits and especially illos showing both of them are welcome.

CONTRIBUTOR’S COPIES

Artwork, three poems, or a story of three pages or more will get you a contributor’s copy of THE FIX. Submissions will be handled in the same way as for any other anthology zine; if accepted they will receive any needed editing.

The Fix Guidelines were printed within the above illo. We’re presenting them separately to facilitate readers’ different access to print media.

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Letter from Tabby Davis

From Tabby Davis, West Sussex, England

What a great prospect—being FIXED several times a year! And what a perfect title for an SH letterzine. THANKS to April for the enterprise and WELCOME and bon voyage for the new venture. FIX and SNITCII together should make a marvelously complementary duo.

“What kind of SH stories would you like to read?” asks the flyer. Quick answer: whatever is available and good. Subjective reply, huh. What I mean is that I would not exclude anything in advance. Perhaps it’s simpler (and still subjective) to say what doesn’t appeal so much— (a) ‘Mary Sue’ stories and (b) those really impossible situations which one is invited to take seriously. From which category I exclude fantasy and fun.

I really like the ‘missing scenes’ and those stories which extend and elaborate an episode, taking us on and in from where the tag left us. So much scope there. And I like those stories which focus on a particular aspect/possibility arising from some episode. Here’s something Robert Browning wrote, quoted from memory, which is close to what I mean—

“…for don’t you know
We’re made so that we mark
First when we see them painted
Things we have passed a hundred times
Nor cared to see…”

It’s his eponymous painter talking there, Fra Lippo Lippi, but what applies to painting is true also of writing in this context. I’m thinking of stories which turn a spotlight of inspired insight on the obvious; and sometimes, seeing the obvious doesn’t happen at once, can’t be taken for granted. For example, in “The Psychic”, there is a built-in situation which is never made explicit in the aired episode, but which is wonderfully brought to life in “Foster Child of Silence and Slow Time“, by Suzan Lovett in CODE 7 #4. I love to read that kind of story. I appreciate the stories which open my eyes to the possibly hitherto unobserved nuances and depths. For the same kind of reason, I so much enjoyed Teri White’s CODA which is full of the kind of stories I have in mind, stories which take those 50-minute episodes (over here, we see SH without any interruptions for commercials) and give us the missing pieces which the constraints of a TV time-slot don’t allow.

And I do like the light-hearted stories, too. The early fanzines, like first season, seemed to have quite a lot of those. “El Monte Blues” by Katherine Robertson, for example. Or another one by Rayelle Roe which featured SH as Christmas elves—in L.A. VESPERS I. So many more. The list could go on. And on.

And there are also all the undercurrents of fourth season, offering a very rich writing area. It all makes me think of student days and a question which seemed to feature on a lot of general papers: “All periods of history are of equal intrinsic interest. Discuss.” The same postulate could be applied to SH? The possibilities just don’t run out. Something tells me that, in THE FIX, we have something very promising to look forward to. SH fandom has never been long without at least one letterzine. Figures. And what an appropriate launching date in ZebraCon 7. Don’t they say that seven is a magical number?

Tabby was the contact person for British subscription information for The Fix.