Postscript

You may be looking for Postscripts, the V zine.

Zine
Title:	Postscript
Publisher:	Requiem Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Rebelcat
Cover Artist(s):	Lorraine Brevig
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	September 2005
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Starsky and Hutch
Language:	English
External Links:	Postscript
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

cover by Lorraine Brevig

Postscript is an adult het 252-page Starsky and Hutch novel by Rebelcat. The cover art is by Lorraine Brevig, and there are no interior illustrations.

Many fans consider this zine to be a nearly-perfect example of a well-done het novel in a fandom where the focus is almost entirely on the relationship between the two men.

From the Author

I posted the original version of this story on fanfiction.net in 2004. Then I took it down, and a revised version was published as a 'zine in September 2005. I'm now posting it on my own site - with slight editorial changes. Nothing significant, mostly just fixing the typos I missed the first two times around. ..."Postscript" is one of the first stories I'd ever written, in any genre, and by far the most ambitious. I hadn't read much fanfic at this point, and as a result I managed to hit just about every fanfic cliche there is - right down to the lovable dog. But I have a warm place in my heart for this story. There are so many reasons it shouldn't work - and yet it does. Cliche'd or not, this story made me very happy while I was writing it, and it still makes me happy when I re-read it. I hope it does the same for you!

From the Publisher

The primary story thread is centered on a case Hutch is working on, involving the hunt for a serial killer. Secondary threads include Starsky's future as a cop, the relationships both men have with each other, and with the women in their lives, and how all of these impact each other.

Excerpt

"Starsky accelerated around the corner, sliding into a showy skid for no reason other than the sheer joy of it. The recently tuned Torino was responding perfectly, and the feeling of power and speed thrilled him. Perhaps he wasn't so quick on his feet anymore, but when he was behind the wheel of his car it didn't matter. He was in control.

The LTD was nowhere in sight, but he could easily predict where it was likely to be by now. Hutch was nothing if not a creature of habit, nearly always following the same routes whenever he drove anywhere. Starsky turned onto a side road, paying no attention to speed limits. If he timed it just right, he could make it to the intersection just before his friend. He laughed, anticipating the look on Hutch's face.

Hutch had just pulled up to the light and was patiently waiting for it to cycle through, when he caught a flash of red in his peripheral vision. Glancing to the right, he was shocked to see a station wagon pulling out to pass a transport just as a familiar red and white striped car came barreling down the road behind it. The Torino swerved into the oncoming lane, directly into the path of a blue Pinto. Aghast, Hutch braced himself for the inevitable collision, but miraculously the Torino slid past the nose of the Pinto and up onto a sand dune at the side of the road. The car angled sharply to the side, seeming momentarily to defy gravity as it popped up onto two wheels.

Sand sprayed into the air and the Torino dropped back onto all four wheels with a jarring thud as it turned back towards the road behind the Pinto, which in turn had come to a screeching halt next to the shocked driver of the station wagon. Bouncing over a series of small humps by the edge of the road, the Torino was briefly airborne before regaining asphalt. The driver of the transport leaned out of his window and hollered something that was answered with a careless wave of the Torino driver's hand.

The Torino skidded around the corner and came to a stop perfectly parallel to Hutch's LTD, the driver's doors no more than four inches apart."

Reactions and Reviews

She's... written one of the very few het stories I can really get behind, the novel Postscript. The relationships she develops between Hutch and his pregnant wife, and Starsky and his new girlfriend are beautifully detailed and believable, and she does it without sacrificing the real closeness and partnership between the guys....She totally earned her Paula Wilshe award.

What Stuck With Me and Why: I also read this one as a WIP, and think I made a small contribution to it via suggestions in comments. Anyway, mostly I love it because it's a story of how a friendship can stay true even when everything else changes. A lot of fic is about reattaining or hanging onto the status quo so that the relationship can just stay as it always has forever, and we can all feel comfort in that. No matter what happens, Starsky and Hutch stayed partners and best friends and lovers and whatever keeping the streets of Bay City safe. This is a story set in a universe where that isn't true, and our boys have to figure out how to make all this work when they're no longer working together, and when they have other people in their lives and OMG a baby on the way how did that even happen? And I love it. I love watching them realise that no matter what comes their relationship is worth whatever time and effort it takes to sort it out. I also love that the women are different, and each have their own personalities and view points, and aren't always okay with their significant others living a grand homosocial romance with someone else, and that doesn't make them bad people. It's a really satisfying "What happened next" sort of story. Plus it's very funny and has an exciting plot with like train crashes and shit.

Another actual novel, just perfectly captures the characters' bond and introduces entertaining, realistic romantic interests while keeping the detective stuff in line with the show. And as an aromantic, it's hard to get me on board with romance, especially when I prefer to read two characters in a gen/platonic setting. But I really love it, I read the whole thing in two days lol.