>
> I don't know how topical this is, but it sure is interesting...
> the "fiction based on characters" of Star Trek was discussed in an
> underground paper here in Richmond. Specific in the article was mention
> of a series of gay "romance" novellas involving Spock and Kirk. I'm
> not making this up. The article noted that most were written by lesbian
> fans of the show, and are not intended as parodies at all, but rather new
> twists on what some fans think was latent in the orginial (ie, Spock and
> Kirk had something unsaid going on). My favorite part is that there are
> two kinds of these books, referred to by authors and fans as "with
> plumbing" or "without plumbing" depending on the explicitness.
> I wonder how the industry feels about that, eh? Gotta love it...
> M o R
>
 
Actually the genre of fan fiction you are refering to is know as K/S
or slash. Frequently, the writers of slash aren't lesbians, but the
stories to feature sex between kirk and spock. You should check out
Constance Penley's essay in Cultural Studies (edited by L.
Grossberg). Or if you are more interested in the participatory
culture aspect of all this check Henry Jenkins work in Close
Encounters (ed by Penley et al.)
 
Personally, I'm interested in finding out if the article you read
this in was a west or east coast paper. Here in CA that type of
fiction is referred to slash or kinky sex, I've never heard anyone
use the with or without plumbing terms.
 
Andrea MacDonald