SOMETHING UNFRIENDLY

Review by Sarah Thompson

Only two issues of this zine (as far as I know), and they're in two different formats: #2 is full-size, and #1 is digest-size. But whereas Standard by Several, Dr. Bellfriar's Memorial Journal, and Power #2 (the other U.S. digest zines that I know of) are made from ordinary letter-size paper folded in half, Something... Unfriendly #1 appears to be made from legal-size paper, halved, so that it's an almost square shape. It's a fat zine, nearly 300 pp., and the paper is neatly cut in half and bound in the usual way with card covers and heavy-duty staples. I've never seen another zine in this format. I have no idea why it was done this way and not as a full-size zine, unless because the printing was significantly cheaper for legal-size sheets than it would have been for double that number of letter- size sheets.

Carol mentioned this zine on Lysator as one that's particularly rich in good Tarrant stories. My own special favorite is her "Rules, Honor, and Chivalry" in #2. PGP, all survive (including Blake), but Avon and Dayna are badly injured. Tarrant goes back to his job as First Champion of Teel, with skills that Soolin has taught him, and uses his earnings to pay for security and medical care. Servalan finds them, and complications ensue.

I'm also especially partial to Sheila Paulson's "Mind-Tender" in #2, a P{GP in which an injured Avon is healed both physically and mentally by an appealing alien.

There's plenty of hc in these zines, but not much sex. In "The Face of the Stranger" in #1, Tarrant learns the hard way about betrayal through his doomed affair with an original female character. In "Blood Bond" in #2, Vila experiences (apparently unconsummated) love for another original female character. I wondered whether this story might be a sequel to someting in another zine, since it seems to start in the middle.

Contents of Issue 1

Editor/publisher: Cathi Brown (Lake Mills, IA)
Date: May 1988

Fiction:
Linda Knights, "Close Calls" (S3; Ta-hc)
Jeanne DeVore, "An Uncertain Future" (S5; O)
May Robertson, "Cat-astrophe" (S2; A)
Mary Gerstner and April Giordano, "Turnabout" (S3; Ta-V)
Mary Robertson, "A Necessary End" (S5; A-Se)
Linda Terrell, "What Are Legend..." (S1?)
Jill Grundfest, "Avon's World" (S2; A-hc; A-C)
Sophia Mulvey, "The Face of the Stranger" (S4; Ta/ocf)
Sheila Paulson, "Decoy" (Jabberwocky universe)
Alicia Ann Fox, "The Importance of Being Tarrant" (S4; alt-Blake; DW crossover; humor)
Cindy Rancourt, "The Interrogator" (S2; A-hc)
Dorinda Francis, "A Fate Worse Than Death" (S5; A)
Alicia Ann Fox, "Living in Harmony" (S1?; A)
L. A. Carr and Ann Wortham, "Echoes of the Future" (S2; A-B)
Sheila Paulson, "The Wings That Fly Us Home" (reprinted from Interface #6; S3; alt-Terminal; A-hc; A-B)
Leigh Arnold, "Valley of Shadow" (S3)

Nonfiction:
Cathi Brown, "Words to the Wise" (editorial)
Zine ads

Poetry:
Alyns Lawchilde, "Orac"
Mary Gerstner and April Giordano, "Avon's Nuts" (f, Jingle Bells)
Teresa Ward, "Then and Now" (f, That Was Then, This Is Now, by the Monkees)
Shoshanna, "To a Hero" (f, My Name is Luka, by Suzanne Vega)
Alison Knapp, "Utopian Heights" (f, Wuthering Heights, by Kate Bush)
Teresa Ward, "Lost Time"
Sheila Paulson, "Solitary-- Gauda"
Alyns Lawchilde, "Loss"
H. Saavedra, "Distorted Reflection"
H. Saavedra, "Out of Reach"
Dorinda Francis, "Paradox"
Dorinda Francis, "Resolution"
Teresa Ward, "The Ballad of Blake's 7" (f, Gilligan's Island)

Art:
Sheila Paulson front c. A on GP
p. 72 A on GP (same as cover)
p. 106 ocm, Se
p. 108 A
p. 114 Hugh (ocm)
p. 128 A
p. 144 V
p. 220 A
Cathi Brown p. 9 C
p. 16 Ta
p. 22 A
p. 64 B
p. 77 V
p. 90 Ta
p. 97 V
Lynne Witten p. 37 O
p. 183 Scorpio (in Portfolio)
p. 185 Slave (in Portfolio)
p. 187 Zen (in Portfolio)
Mary Robertson p. 41 A & cat; illo for "Cat"
Mary Gerstner p. 46 Ta
p. 199 Liberator (in Portfolio)
Dorinda Francis p. 49 A
p. 150 C
p. 189 V (in Portfolio)
p. 191 B (in Portfolio)
p. 193 J (in Portfolio)
Suzan Lovett p. 56 B on winged horse; illo for "What Are Legend..."
p. 60 A-B; illo for "What Are Legend..."
Kathryn Anderson p. 67 B
p. 71 Ta
p. 74 A
p. 104 Ta
p. 148 Ta
p. 223 A
p. 229 Ta
p. 242 C
p. 252 B
p. 260 D
p. 262 Se
p. 179 S3 crew (in Portfolio)
p. 181 B-J (in Portfolio)
Ruth Landry p. 73 C
p. 172 A-C-cat cartoon
p. 173 Tr (in Portfolio)
p. 174 A (in Portfolio)
p. 175 V as jester (in Portfolio)
p. 177 Se (in Portfolio)
back c. PD in "I Love Texas Women"
Suzie Molnar p. 80 illo for "Avon's World"
p. 84 C, B; illo for "Avon's"
p. 86 A, B; illo for "Avon's"
Denise Loague p. 152 A, B
p. 168 V
p. 195 J, B, C (in Portfolio)
p. 197 Se (in Portfolio)
Gayle Feyrer p. 157 B
p. 164 A
Theresa Buffaloe p. 202 A
p. 212 A, B
p. 218 B
Dani Lane p. 272 illo for "Valley"
p. 284 Ta
p. 286 A-C

Contents of Issue 2

Editor/publisher: Cathi Brown (Lake Mills, IA)
Date: 1990

Fiction:
Linda Knights, "Interview" (S3; A)
Sheila Paulson, "Mind-Tender" (S5; A-hc)
Sophia R. Mulvey, "Food for the Gods" (S3; A-Ta)
Sue Williams, "That's What Friends Are For" (S3)
Janet Walker, "The Price of Friendship" (alt-S4; V)
Sue Williams, "Flight of Destiny" (S1; Spacefall)
Gin Turpin, "Resurrection" (S4; Dorian)
K. Rae Travers, "The Message" (S3; Ta)
April Giordano, "Sure as Hell" (S5; humor)
Jill Grundfest, "Invictus" (with apologies to William Ernest; S2; A-hc)
Alicia Ann Fox, "Weight of the World" (S2; J)
Sophia R. Mulvey, "Time Distort" (S2; V crossover)
Kaye Dunham, "Blood Bond" (S3; A-hc; V/ocf)
Sheila Paulson, "Clone" (Jabberwocky universe)
Mary Gerstner, "Distorted Images" (S4; Blake; A-B)
Cami, "Rules, Honor and Chivalry" (S5; A-hc, D-hc, Ta)

Nonfiction:
Cathi Brown, Editorial
Zine ads

Poetry:
Tyndara Meffe, "Inheritance" (B-G)

Art:
Cathi Brown cover B
p. 41 V

p. 64 A
p. 112 B
p. 159 V
p. 192 C
p. 205 Se
p. 212 A
p. 217 B
p. 229 A
p. 249 So
p. 252 B (same as cover)
p. 255 Ta
Denise Loaque p. 1 C, V
p. 94 C
p. 117 A
p. 151 D, Ta
Sheila Paulson p. 2 A
p. 9 B, G
p. 80 Ta
p. 108 B
p. 146 C
p. 161 Hugh; illo for "Clone"
p. 172 Dorn; illo for "Clone"
p. 183 Ta
p. 223 J, B, C
Suzie Molnar p. 51 C
p. 87
p. 234 V
Sue Williams p. 52 A
Gin Turpin p. 68 Dorian
Kathryn Andersen p. 98 V
p. 241 D-V
Mary Gerstner p. 226 A-B on GP

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