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blakes7-d Digest				Volume 98 : Issue 180

Today's Topics:
	 Re: [B7L] Slash (was: Zines available)
	 Re: [B7L] Um, did not mean to offend A.S.K.S.
	 Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
	 Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
	 [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
	 Re: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
	 Re: [B7L] Lost in Space  [for British fans]
	 [B7L] Re: unsubscribe
	 [B7L] CHEAP used B7 zines for sale
	 RE: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
	 Re: [B7L] Re: unsubscribe
	 Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
	 [B7L] Re: Ah, sweet love on Liberator
	 Re: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
	 Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 01:53:09 +0100
From: "Tom Forsyth" <Tom.Forsyth@btinternet.com>
To: "B7 Lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Slash (was: Zines available)
Message-Id: <E0yqpAc-0000IE-00@praseodumium.btinternet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Sarah T wrote:
> Since 1995 there has been another
> list, the Space City list, where people who would like to talk about
> slash and related topics can do so in peace.  Unlike this list, it's
> moderated, and attacks on other members are not allowed.  Also,
> because of the nature of the SC list, an age statement is required
> of all members.

SC isn't moderated. If anything, it seems less self-moderated than Lysator
to me. People do still complain that Lysator is "meant" to allow
non-explicit slash as well, but in practice everything slash-related tends
to go to SC, just to be safe (and to avoid flame wars). Everything explicit
- slash or het - should go to SC - hence the age declaration:

> If you think you'd be interested in joining Space City, send a request
> and age statement to the listowner, Susan Beth:  sbs@world.std.com. 
> Then, once you get on, you'll be asked to post a short introduction
> about your fannish interests.  (Something like, "Hi, I'm So-and-so,
> and I think Avon is hot stuff" is fine.)

Come on in. The water's lovely.


Tom Forsyth.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 02:20:42 +0100
From: "Tom Forsyth" <Tom.Forsyth@btinternet.com>
To: "B7 Lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Um, did not mean to offend A.S.K.S.
Message-Id: <E0yqpAg-0000IE-00@praseodumium.btinternet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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Edith S wrote:
> Of course, the other charms are less edifying- Cally's 
> shocking thinness, Blake's Afro(Welshfro?) Jenna's outfits, Vila's 
> sideburns and Avon's, um, leather.

Superb! Always wondered what you called Blake's hair. Actually, shouldn't
it be a "Taffro"?


Tom Forsyth.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 01:51:29 +0100
From: "Tom Forsyth" <Tom.Forsyth@btinternet.com>
To: "B7 Lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
Message-Id: <E0yqpAa-0000IE-00@praseodumium.btinternet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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Edith S wrote:
>   P.S. I seem to remember,sorta, that there was a book by the actor who 
> played Avon on the series. I think I read, once. My mother did a 
> periodic sweep of my room ( Carribean Catholics, you know) and 
> proclaimed ( the book, along with some commie lit I was also into at the 
> time)obscene and disgusting. Does anybody else remember this? Some of 
> the passages were enough to make a 15 year girl blush.

Yes indeed - "Avon: A Terrible Aspect". Proclaimed by all who have read it
as utter tosh. And nothing like the Avon we know, either. The general
advice seems to be that your mother was (1) right (I seem to remember
references to a rape scene?) and (2) acting in the best interests of your
literary upbringing anyway.

Avoid "Queen: The Eye", also by Paul Darrow, for similar reasons. The
computer game of the same name is also rubbish, though Paul only did
voiceovers for that, so it's not all his fault.


Tom Forsyth.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 22:55:41 PDT
From: "Edith Spencer" <sueno45@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
Message-ID: <19980630055542.28655.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain

                                Hello, Tom-
         One thing about This list, you guys do not feel in any way like 
the stars are sacrosanct, unlike some discussion threads in the Trek 
Newsgroups. There you do not question the divinity of Shatner. Utter 
tosh- there is a turn of phrase! And yes, I suppose my mom was trying to 
protect me from myself- That book and the Worker weekly was a way for 
her to freak out. I did not want to be the good Carribean girl in 
participated in the pageants and parades, and get named "Miss Guyana" or 
"Senorita Panama" ( where my parents are from. ) What better way than to 
have weird, awful reading material in my room?
  As for the Lenin/Trotsky comparision, I was casting about for ideas- I 
should said something more along the lines of Che.

                                                   Edith Spencer
>Reply-To: <Tom.Forsyth@btinternet.com>
>From: "Tom Forsyth" <Tom.Forsyth@btinternet.com>
>To: "B7 Lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
>Subject: Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
>Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 01:51:29 +0100
>
>Edith S wrote:
>>   P.S. I seem to remember,sorta, that there was a book by the actor 
who 
>> played Avon on the series. I think I read, once. My mother did a 
>> periodic sweep of my room ( Carribean Catholics, you know) and 
>> proclaimed ( the book, along with some commie lit I was also into at 
the 
>> time)obscene and disgusting. Does anybody else remember this? Some of 
>> the passages were enough to make a 15 year girl blush.
>
>Yes indeed - "Avon: A Terrible Aspect". Proclaimed by all who have read 
it
>as utter tosh. And nothing like the Avon we know, either. The general
>advice seems to be that your mother was (1) right (I seem to remember
>references to a rape scene?) and (2) acting in the best interests of 
your
>literary upbringing anyway.
>
>Avoid "Queen: The Eye", also by Paul Darrow, for similar reasons. The
>computer game of the same name is also rubbish, though Paul only did
>voiceovers for that, so it's not all his fault.
>
>
>Tom Forsyth.
>
>
>
>
>
>


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 23:28:13 PDT
From: "Edith Spencer" <sueno45@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
Message-ID: <19980630062814.10709.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain

              To all,


       Hello! I apologise for the somewhat sleazy sounding subject 
header. It is not all that bad. I have post a similiar query on the 
Other List, so I will venture forth here- the question of love. Put 
aside any recriminations of fanfic and lets think about the series it 
itself ( God, I sound like one of my professors-"lets look directly at 
the text, please"). 
 Was it possible for Blake  to have loved anyone other than his cause? 
This is a somewhat serious question, because it wasnt really addressed 
on the show. He showed tolerance and some affection for the crew ( Avon 
is a special case, see below) but not too much emotional attachment ( 
Gan death really get to him). There did not seem to be a lot of implied 
romantic or platonic love on his part. ( I am kinda attached to this 
first question, because throughout college, I had a string of 
boyfriends- and I can safely say i did not love anyone of them. Not one. 
I was too involved with my studies and traveling. I had deep 
friendships, but I never really loved my boyfriends. And after telling 
them, it would hurt them and it would hurt me- then I would go back to 
my studies.)
Cally and Jenna- Would these two women put up with A, B or Vila? And why 
were they not close to each other- women bonding and all that ?
Vila- more unloveable than Avon, really, because at least Avon had 
style, which counts for a lot?(paraphrase Pulp Fiction.) Could someone 
so drug addled and drunk be able to love another person? Feel platonic 
love towards his fellow crew? 
Avon- Has Style(tm) which counts for a lot. Actually, I would like hear 
opinions on this- anyway you look at it, Avon loving/not loving someone 
is rather dangerous. Did Avon truly love Anna, or was she like a symbol 
or trophy to him, something he could not have easily, and in so his 
desire was made greater for her? (Like the fraud, iow)And he did care 
about the crew, despite his rather pithy remarks. But did he love them? 
Could he have love them? Would they had wanted to love them? Because 
with a person like Avon saying that he loves you...
 he would damn well mean it.
  Well, I will wrap it up for now; gotta go work for the man in the 
morning. Look forward to your comments!

                                        Edith Spencer


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 21:33:00 +1000
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
Message-ID: <19980630213300.63867@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On Mon, Jun 29, 1998 at 11:28:13PM -0700, Edith Spencer wrote:

Some fascinating questions, to which I will not do justice, but I'll
say *something*, anyway.
 
>  Was it possible for Blake  to have loved anyone other than his cause? 
The impression I get was - no.  Cause came first.

> Cally and Jenna- Would these two women put up with A, B or Vila? And why 
> were they not close to each other- women bonding and all that ?
Jenna felt hostile towards Cally from the start, because she was an
"alien" and couldn't be trusted.  Therefore there was a long way to go
before they could be close.  I don't really think either of them were
the kind to get close anyway; Jenna because she had learned in her
tough life not to look "weak", and Cally because she was doubly
isolated because she was cut off from her people, and, depending on
what Auron culture was really like, could have found it difficult to
relate closely to non-Aurons anyway, them not being telepathic.

> Vila- more unloveable than Avon, really, because at least Avon had 
> style, which counts for a lot?(paraphrase Pulp Fiction.) Could someone 
> so drug addled and drunk be able to love another person? Feel platonic 
> love towards his fellow crew? 
Well, I wouldn't call him quite drug-addled and drunk.  He was a lot
worse in fourth season than he was earlier, probably because there was
very little hope, and nowhere to go.
Vila is a coward, but he isn't a Bastard (TM)

> Avon- Has Style(tm) which counts for a lot. Actually, I would like hear 
> opinions on this- anyway you look at it, Avon loving/not loving someone 
> is rather dangerous. Did Avon truly love Anna, or was she like a symbol 
> or trophy to him, something he could not have easily, and in so his 
> desire was made greater for her? (Like the fraud, iow)And he did care 
> about the crew, despite his rather pithy remarks. But did he love them? 
> Could he have love them? Would they had wanted to love them? Because 
> with a person like Avon saying that he loves you...
>  he would damn well mean it.

He did love Anna.  He loved her enough to die for her; the tragedy was
that she didn't love him enough to do the same - but it was she who
died and not him.  Thing is this.  Anna obviously didn't start off
loving Avon: he was just another undercover job.  But if she did love
Avon, she was caught between a rock and a hard place: no matter what
she did, she would have to betray someone - Avon, or the Federation.
One interpretation was that she tried to compromise between the two.
No, Anna was never a trophy for Avon.  He's not a trophy collector.
People here have already talked about the fraud, and why it wasn't the
money per se that he was after.

Yes, if Avon actually finally did say he loves someone, "he would damn
well mean it".  Partly because it would take a heck of a lot to
actually bring him to say so much.  (You'd have to practically pull
teeth in order to get him to admit he was *friends* with someone -
loving would be N times harder)  He did care about the crew.  So what
is the difference between caring about them and loving them, then?  Is
there any?  What kind of love are you talking about?

If you look at Terminal, you see, that when it came to the crunch, he
was prepared to die rather than see the Liberator and the crew fall
into Servalan's hands - and it wasn't just the Liberator he was
protecting.  On the other hand, we see in Orbit, that he is apparently
prepared to kill in order to save his own skin.  What a turnabout.  Is
it?  Can it be reconciled?

Gotta go.
Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Vila: I can't see Blake throwing himself on that, can you?
Avon: I can't see him finding the right place.
						(Blake's 7: Duel [A8])
-- 
 _--_|\	    | Kathryn Andersen		<kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
/      \    | 		http://home.connexus.net.au/~kat
\_.--.*/    | #include "standard/disclaimer.h"
      v	    |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha!  |	-> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 12:02:20 +0100
From: "Dangermouse" <master@sol.co.uk>
To: <jim.bartlett@bbc.co.uk>, <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Lost in Space  [for British fans]
Message-Id: <199806301142.MAA08081@gnasher.sol.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

----------
> From: jim.bartlett@bbc.co.uk
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: [B7L] Lost in Space  [for British fans]
> Date: 29 June 1998 15:37
> 
> Just to confirm what Harriet Monkhouse, Anne Lane, and Diane Gies via 
>  Judith have said. I've just got hold of next week's Radio Times, and 
>  Lost in Space is indeed listed as being on BBC 2, Friday 10th July at 
>  7.15pm. It's preceded by the 'Mark of Gideon' episode of Star Trek, 
>  which was also postponed. Game, set and match, I think!

Not in Scotland, it isn't - here it's preceded by golf...

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:26:18 +1000
From: Sven <avatar@zeta.org.au>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Re: unsubscribe
Message-ID: <3598D969.B8745896@zeta.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

unsubscribe avatar@zeta.org.au

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 08:44:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: Susan Clerc <sclerc@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] CHEAP used B7 zines for sale
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.980630082956.29148A-100000@alpha.bgsu.edu>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

	FOR SALE _CHEAP_: two original zines and a bunch of photocopies of
Out of Print zines (I checked Linda Knight's web site for current
availability). These are mostly older zines, perfect for someone into the
history of B7 fandom or interested in how fan fic tropes develop. Prices
are at the bottom. 

Originals:
	Interface 11
	Input 4

Copies:
	Amare 2
	Avon On-line
	Avon's 8 Collected
	Dark Between the Stars #4
	Desperado
	Down and Safe #7*
	Laughing Mutoid*
	Liberator Dreams*
	Magnificent 7 #8,9
	Mirage
	Plain Man's Guide to Alien Invasions II
	Quicksilver Rising #3*
	Reflections in a Shattered Glass
	Seven Live On
	Standard by Several #1
	Stargate #3
	Strategies

Titles marked with an * are $1 each (they're tiny). All others $3 each.
Postage will be extra and depend on how many zines you want.

Sue
sclerc@bgnet.bgsu.edu		http://www.bgsu.edu/~sclerc/Blakes7.html
"Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?"

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 15:02:30 +-200
From: Jacqueline Thijsen <jacqueline.thijsen@cmg.nl>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: RE: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
Message-Id: <01BDA438.1DD71280@cmg71700449>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

On Mon, Jun 29, 1998 at 11:28:13PM -0700, Edith Spencer wrote:

Some fascinating questions, to which I will not do justice, but I'll
say *something*, anyway.
 
>  Was it possible for Blake  to have loved anyone other than his cause? 
The impression I get was - no.  Cause came first.

> Cally and Jenna- Would these two women put up with A, B or Vila? 

I think that by the time Jenna and Blake left the liberator together, she did love him. Blakes' remarks in "Blake" would seem to indicate that he felt something like it about her.

Jacqueline

------------------------------

Date: 30 Jun 1998 15:17:09 +0200
From: Calle Dybedahl <qdtcall@esavionics.se>
To: Sven <avatar@zeta.org.au>
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: unsubscribe
Message-ID: <isvhpjf2qy.fsf@godzilla.kiere.ericsson.se>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Sven <avatar@zeta.org.au> writes:

> unsubscribe avatar@zeta.org.au

*sigh* It's time to repost the instructions, isn't it? Not that I
think that anyone who needs them will actually *read* them, but...

In order to subscribe to the list in single-mail form, send a mail
with the single word subscribe as the subject to blakes7-request@lysator.liu.se

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In order to unsubscribe, send a mail with the single word unsubscribe
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To change from one form to the other, unsubscribe from one and
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-- 
		    Calle Dybedahl, UNIX Sysadmin
       qdtcall@esavionics.se  http://www.lysator.liu.se/~calle/

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 21:24:59 +0100
From: "Julie Horner" <jihorner@dial.pipex.com>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
Message-ID: <002401bda465$2ae450a0$fc4895c1@orac>
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

From: Tom Forsyth


>Edith S wrote:
>>   P.S. I seem to remember,sorta, that there was a book by the actor who
>> played Avon on the series. I think I read, once.
>

>Yes indeed - "Avon: A Terrible Aspect". Proclaimed by all who have read it
>as utter tosh. And nothing like the Avon we know, either. The general
>advice seems to be that your mother was (1) right (I seem to remember
>references to a rape scene?) and (2) acting in the best interests of your
>literary upbringing anyway.

I just had another look and I think (1) is open to interpretation actually.

I am assuming that this refers to an early scene when Avon senior
deflowers a young girl while her mother lies semi-conscious in the
next bed.

I can't lay my hands on the book right now because it is in the next room
where sprog is sleeping, but I seem to recall that the heroine
says something like " I didn't object when he removed my shift..."
then goes on to "I had never been loved before and would never again be
loved so well"

OK, awful prose but that doesn't make it non-consensual.
IRL it would probably cause a few righteous tut-tuts - a man of
his age etc. etc., but it hardly reads like rape.

Julie Horner

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 08:17:28 +1000
From: "Afenech" <Fenech@onaustralia.com.au>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: Ah, sweet love on Liberator
Message-Id: <22100549092257@domain2.bigpond.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello everyone - smile -

Edith asked:
>  Was it possible for Blake  to have loved anyone other
than his cause? 

Demonstrably he could, I think, though as Kathryn wondered
it depends perhaps on what sort of love we are talking
about. 
If considered in a general way then there is evidence
enough that Blake loved particularly - he   loved his
brother and sister, after he had become a resistance
leader, enough to risk committing a Category Four crime by
going outside the dome to hear news of them. Also he
clearly was *very* fond of Ushton and Inga -smile -
His crew? well I suppose it depends upon how you interpret
the evidence, or your perception of Blake . He turned the
liberator back into danger and went himself to rescue
Cally. He threatened Del Grant he would come after him
personally if Grant was responsible for anything happening
to Avon. He mourned Gan. If you perceive nothing but
fanatical adherence to 'the cause' in Blake then these
actions might be interpreted as just his attempts to keep a
useful crew together. But... to my eyes there is a great
deal of warmth of spirit about Blake which never suggests
to me an indifference to his fellow beings, just the
opposite. He cares that the generality is oppressed and he
also cares for those who are closest to him.

As for the enigmatic one...
Edith also asked: 'Did Avon truly love Anna...'
How can it be doubted that he loved Anna - if she had been
a trophy glamorised by unavailability anyone so pragmatic
as Avon would have cut his losses when she was lost to him
irrevocably. But that is not what he does. Instead he
remembers and finally endures five, five! days of
Federation torture just in the hope that it'll finally
bring Shrinker to him and allow him the opportunity for
vengence on her behalf. If this is not a suggestion love in
this self-proclaimed I look after myself, first last and
always Avon I wonder what it might be? 
Did he love the crew - smile - ah well, there are many
sorts of love but very probably he did, in his own
particular way, on and off - smile - It seems to me that
someone who platitudinises about sentiment being the death
of you if allowed to influence rational judgement might
very likely be prone to it, rather than the opposite. If he
was as unsentimental as he likes to suggest he would not
give it much thought perhaps? Nor would he - the ever
cautious usually - try so hard to dissuade them from the
dangers he realised he was going into in 'Rumours...' and
'Terminal'. He is determined to brave these dangers alone,
which is suggestive, to me anyway. As Kathryn pointed out
he tells Vila to leave him on Terminal rather than let
Servalan have Liberator where he supposed the crew to be,
safe, and more it is the threat to kill Tarrant which stops
him attcaking Servalan - I think - tho' memory is a bit
hazy here. With Avon its everthe actions which are more
illuminating than the words - smile - 
But again, it depends on interpretation of the evidence,
what seems to suggest caring to me, can suggest just the
opposite. I have read enough fan fiction to know this right
well - smile -
Perhaps the complete answer to all of it lies in 'Rescue'.
Dorian's plan was formed about the understanding of the
bonds between them all forged from all they had shared? The
feelings between them all are understated as becomes a
story in the British tradition but they are clear enough,
well I think so - smile - 
Pat Fenech

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 21:45:27 +0100
From: "Julie Horner" <jihorner@dial.pipex.com>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Ah, sweet love on Liberator
Message-ID: <003301bda468$0862f920$fc4895c1@orac>
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

>On Mon, Jun 29, 1998 at 11:28:13PM -0700, Edith Spencer wrote:
>


>>  Was it possible for Blake  to have loved anyone other than his cause?
>The impression I get was - no.  Cause came first.
>
>> Cally and Jenna- Would these two women put up with A, B or Vila?
I just watched some early episodes again and two things which struck me:

(1) In Cygnus Alpha when Blake returns safely after the first teleport
experiment, Jenna positively _flings_ herself at him and gives him a big
hug, saying "We were so worried". A bit of a girly reaction I would say
unless she had actually started to form an attachment to him.

(2) In Time Squad, it seems to me that from the first moment Avon saw Cally
he liked what he saw. I saw it for the nth time on Saturday and this was the
first time it really struck me - he never takes his eyes off her.

My theory is that as until then Jenna was the only woman in the crew then,
if the hypothesis in (1) is correct, another woman aboard the Liberator
would be of more than passing interest. Avon would probably assume (and
rightly) that his chances of impressing the new arrival were greater than
those of Vila or Gan, so of course he would be  interested.

I don't mean to make Avon sound shallow (heaven forbid!). I agree
wholeheartedly with the sentiment that says when Avon loves he REALLY loves.
Also I think that as he got to know her better he held Cally in very high
regard and probably viewed her as more of an equal than almost anyone else
in the crew. But initially maybe he was after something a bit more
recreational. And hey where's the harm in that - the boy had had a hard
time!

Julie Horner

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 18:59:22 -0700
From: Helen Krummenacker <avona@jps.net>
To: Julie Horner <jihorner@dial.pipex.com>
CC: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] a reply to the post about Guilt
Message-ID: <359997F9.3F7@jps.net>
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Julie Horner wrote:
> 
> From: Tom Forsyth
> 
> >Edith S wrote:
> >>   P.S. I seem to remember,sorta, that there was a book by the actor who
> >> played Avon on the series. I think I read, once.
> >
> 
> >Yes indeed - "Avon: A Terrible Aspect". Proclaimed by all who have read it
> >as utter tosh. And nothing like the Avon we know, either. The general
> >advice seems to be that your mother was (1) right (I seem to remember
> >references to a rape scene?) and (2) acting in the best interests of your
> >literary upbringing anyway.
> 
> I just had another look and I think (1) is open to interpretation actually.
> 
> I am assuming that this refers to an early scene when Avon senior
> deflowers a young girl while her mother lies semi-conscious in the
> next bed.
> 
> I can't lay my hands on the book right now because it is in the next room
> where sprog is sleeping, but I seem to recall that the heroine
> says something like " I didn't object when he removed my shift..."
> then goes on to "I had never been loved before and would never again be
> loved so well"
> 
> OK, awful prose but that doesn't make it non-consensual.
> IRL it would probably cause a few righteous tut-tuts - a man of
> his age etc. etc., but it hardly reads like rape.

No, I remember the rape scene-- that part wasn't too graphic, the rape,
that is, but the rest of it was pretty spine chilling. One of the bad
guys, Sabbat, had been rejected by Rowena (Avon's mom, a real nutcase)
and held a grudge-- when he was given the go ahead to move against the
family, Avon's stepfather was killed after being told his life would be
spared if he didn't protest. Rowena was raped, then murdered, and Anna,
her stepdaughter watched on, giggling, because she was utterly stoned-- 

I thought the worst part of the book as far as characterization went was
making Anna a not-too-bright drug addict. It's hard to reconcile that
with the intelligent, focussed woman we saw in the series.

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End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #180
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