The History:
Watching Star Trek reruns in the 70s, I fell in love with Spock all over again. I envisioned and wrote my own tragic ST epic movie before they actually filmed one, and before I knew others were writing fanfiction. I discovered that through the book Star Trek Lives, and immediately got myself connected with Trek fandom. It was underground for the most part, especially the erotic stories. Fanzines were a relatively new phenomenon, so I got to be a big fish in a small pond as a writer and artist. It was truly fabulous to have my work loved!
I was a “Spockie” not a “Kirkie.” I had fantasies about Spock and many of the interesting female characters and even wrote a couple of stories. But I also had a Spock and Kirk story and once I wrote that, it was pretty much it, because even though I liked a lot of the women better than I liked Kirk, Spock wanted him most.
There was some heterosexual Trek fanfiction already, but I was there when Kirk/Spock relationship stories morphed into K/S erotica. I was there when the virgule mark / for K/S began to be called slash fic. I was there through the raging controversy about slash, how it was wrong, how they would never never never, how it couldn’t possibly be good writing, etc. I feel what I wrote wasn’t only fun, and sexy, but it did actually help change opinions and maybe lives. This was not a little deal back then. Women (most of the writers were female) were in fear of losing their church, their job, their marriage because they liked writing and/or reading erotica about the characters they loved. I say erotica rather than porn because the vast majority of the stories were about the relationship as well as the sex. As fandom and slash fic developed through other fandoms, there was also more porn for fun too.
The first splintering was when Star Wars came out. Many writers and artists moved to SW or created for it as well as Trek. Simultaneously, Starsksky and Hutch was a big hit of TV, and writers who wanted some gritty realism moved there (yes, I know, don’t laugh-it was true at the time). I like Starsky and Hutch as a show, and reading the fanfic, but was only interested in Trek until….
In the late 80s I was introduced to Blakes 7, a tragic Space Opera series with wretched effects and great acting, especially from the exquisitely sarcastic anti-hero Avon. The stories varied from ridiculous to fabulous, but the premise was great, a corrupt Federation being tackled by a band of rebel fighters of varying degrees of commitment and criminality. I still illustrated Trek for a while, but mostly wrote B7.
And I also revisited the great series Wiseguy and began writing in that. There were other series that I liked to read (Miami Vice, Highlander – and later Criminal Minds and Supernatural) but I didn’t write them. I much preferred the male couples because the women seldom had an equal relationship. I did like Scully but wasn’t enough of an X-Files fan to write fanfic. I am still a fan of La Femme Nikita and loved the attraction of opposites relationship there. While I never wrote fanfic for it, by this time I was also doing fan music videos and did do several of those.
Meanwhile, fanfiction worlds grew enormous and the internet became the main source of it. Free online stories took over, and people with no clue of the history of fanfiction were outraged that some people actually sold fanzines. The nerve. Most people who published only covered their costs.
Fanfiction has been defended in court cases as folklore. Gene Roddenberry basically gave his blessing to K/S in Time magazine. In the 90s TV show producers became aware of slash fic and warned their actors about it. After about a decade of futile warnings to not be too bromancy, they have headed in the opposite direction and sort of embraced it. Supernatural outed slash fic on national TV. Hannibal’s creator, while not promoting slash, proudly called his show fanfiction. If you read a pro novel about Jane Austen’s characters, or Sherlock, or Scarlett O’Hara, you’re reading fanfiction.
For many of these decades, there was not a lot of this sort of romantic m/m relationship available in mainstream publishing. There was Mary Renault. There were a couple of Sherlock novels, if I recall correctly. There was the breakthrough bestseller novel, The Front Runner (Paul Newman ALMOST starred, but he and the studio decided it was too soon). There were a few controversial novels by gay men. And there were a few popular films daring to challenge preconceptions. Now there is erotica of every sub-genre and gender you can imagine readily available.
I believe my fanfiction is some of my best writing. There are also links to some of my fan videos, with thanks to friend and fellow vidder Morgan Dawn.
By clicking these links you acknowledge that you are over 18 years old and understand the stories contain adult material, primarily m/m.
Star Trek Stories, writing as GayleF: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayle/pseuds/GayleF
There are stand alone stories, but the order of the Cosmic Fuck series, as I dubbed it, is: Desert Heat, Beyond Setarcos, Night of the Dragon, and Between Friends.
This link also contains several fan videos.
Blake’s 7 and Wiseguy stories, writing as Sylvia Knight: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayle/pseuds/Sylvia%20Knight
The order of the B7 stories is Shards, Descending Horizon, A Friend in Need, and On the Edge.
Uncertain Changes is a standalone.
Avon being sarcastic: The Sharp and Sardonic Wit of Kerr Avon | Blake’s 7 – YouTube
The order of WG stories is St. Christopher’s Lie (by Marie Blackpool, on her page), Hard Truths (with Marie Blackpool), Playing With Fire, and Twisted Outside In.
The original TV version of the Sonny and Vinnie confrontation to (reruns don’t have Knights in White Satin): NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN WISEGUY VINNIE AND SONNY EPIC SCENE HD – YouTube
Artwork and General Info: Gayle F – Fanlore