ROADS NOT TAKEN

Review by Sarah Thompson

Lorna's zine is full of goodies! This is a "What if?" zine, containing stories in which the events of the aired canon take a different turn-- AUs, but in a different sense from the AUs of Pattern of Infinity , which feature the B7 characters in historical settings.

Probably my favorite story in the zine is a very short one. It takes up two pages and could have been squeezed into one. In "Wish," the terrified Vila of Orbit wishes that he were with Blake instead of Avon, and we see what might have happened if he'd gotten his wish.

"Last Rites" is the story in which our Terminatrix snuffs the entire human race! At Star One, Cally, Avon, and Blake are killed and Jenna and Vila decide to run, with disastrous consequences. A similarly dire ending is hinted at, less clearly, in "The Machine," in which Muller's android is not destroyed.

For fans of het romance, Alice Aldridge's long and well-written Travis/Jenna tale is strongly recommended. I believe the second and third parts were in Gambit.

And for slash fans, there's a very intense, unusual (gen but with a slashy feel) A-B story by Teri White. (Hi Teri! Are you lurking out there?) On GP, it is Avon rather than Tarrant who goes down with Scorpio, and who Blake finds lying injured in the wreckage. Blake takes a strangely possessive attitude toward Avon. There is, as I recall, a happy-ending slash sequel in =The Big B7 Zine=, but by a different author and much less dark in tone than the original story.

The zine is very attractively produced and profusely illustrated.

Contents

Editor: Lorna Breshears
Publisher: Tater Tot Press (Knoxville, TN)
Date: 1991

Fiction:
Dee Beetem, "If You Didn't Want the Answer" (S4; A-O)
Jean Graham, "Next on My List" (S1; alt-Cygnus Alpha; A-J)
Roxie Ray, "Not Quite Terminal" (S3-S4; alt-Terminal-Rescue)
Peggy Hartsook, "Judgment Day" (S5; sequel to "Pilot of the Storm" in Forgotten Seven)
Summer Jackson, "Chance Communication" (alt-S1-S2; A-J)
K. Ann Yost, "The Possibilities" (S1; alt-Breakdown)
Cami, "The Machine" (S4; alt-Headhunter)
Lee Vibber, "Just Say No" (S4; alt-Blake)
Jean Graham, "In the Country of the Blind" (S1; V)
Teresa Ward, "Resurrection, Part I: There's No One as Free as a Dead Man" (S3-S5; Tr)
Teresa Ward, "Resurrection, Part II: Extenuating Circumstances" (S5; Tr)
Teri White, "Rogues" (S4; alt-Blake; A-B)
Marian Mendez, "From the Very Beginning" (S1; alt-Spacefall)
Ann Wortham and Leah Rosenthal, "Fortuneteller" (S1; V; reprinted with slight revisions from Magnificent Seven #3)
Lorna Breshears, "Last Rites" (S2; alt-Star One)
Leigh Moto'oka, "Wish" (S4; alt-Orbit; B-V)
Rebecca Ann Brothers, "Delayed Reaction" (S4-S5; alt-Blake)
Jean B. Hubb, "The Sensible Thing to Do" (S1; alt-Spacefall; A-J)
Lee Vibber, "Remission" (S3; alt-Terminal)
Alice C. Aldridge, "Necessary Sacrifices" (part 1 of 3; post-Pressure Point; alt-S2; Tr/J))

Nonfiction:
Lorna Breshears, "Front Words"
Zine ads

Poetry:
Angela Reese, "Happy Endings" (f, Maybe, from Annie)

Art:
Derrin front c. Tr-J
back c. V
p. 111 Tr
p. 129 V
Leigh Moto'oka p. 5 cartoon illo for "Happy Endings"
p. 43 So-hc; illo for "Judgment"
p. 63 Ta-V; illo for "The Machine"
p. 139 illo for "Last Rites"
p. 149 B, V
p. 181 A, B, Ta, Deeta; illo for "Delayed Reaction"
Nan Nelson p. 7 A
p. 115 GP B
T. L. Condon p. 15 A-J
p. 71 V
p. 147 J
Linda Garlick p. 19 Ta
p. 25 So
p. 45 A
p. 51 A
p. 69 A
p. 91 V
p. 151 A
p. 191 C
p. 198 Se
Teresa Ward p. 83 Tr
Leah Rosenthal p. 135 illo for "Fortuneteller"
Jean B. Hubb p. 187 A-J; illo for "Sensible"
p. 205 J-Tr; illo for "Necessary"
p. 223 illo for "Necessary"
p. 239 illo for "Necessary"

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