Karmen Ghia: What are you working on these days?

Minotaur: I'm actually deep in the middle of a complete redesign and update of the Sex Tips for Slash Writers Site. It's not going as quickly as I'd like, as Real Life keeps interrupting my hobby time. I've also got a couple of stories sitting on the back burner, patiently awaiting the return of the muse. Both of them are crossovers - one with Jim Ellison and Alex Krycek, the other a Supes/Jimmy and Mulder/Krycek.

KG: Okay, I'm sorry for the mundane questions but how long have you been in Star Trek fandom?

M: In Star Trek? Since I was a young kid. I remember watching the show in syndication every night at 6:00, begging my mom to let me eat dinner in front of the TV.

KG: I guess I could be your, ah, older sister because I can remember the original run. Oh well. I really like your Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers site (http://www.gis.net/~minotaur/Tips/index.html). How did you become the slash gay sex guru?

M: I'm a guru? Don't you need to be transcendent or something like that before you can be a guru? Anyway, when I went to my first slashcon a couple of years ago, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that I was the only guy there. I'm still amazed that there are so few guys into this stuff. So there I was, sitting innocently minding my own business, with all these insane (in a good way, mind you) women wandering around talking about queer sex.... the next thing I knew, I was being shoved up against a wall and peppered with "Can two guys..." questions. Well, ok, it wasn't a wall, but you get the idea. So when I got home, I sat down at my computer and started building the Tips site.

KG: And an invaluable and educational, not to mention entertaining, resource it is. Are you enjoying it?

M: Loving every second of it. The really cool thing is that I'm starting to get questions about sex from non-slashers. I have no idea how they find my site, but nearly every week I get a couple of questions from obvious 'danes. Many of them sound like they're from youngsters - high school age or thereabout, and I'm a little nervous about answering them, but I figure someone has to tell them the truth - not what the churches and schools and media want them to believe, but what's really going on.

KG: It's tough being young and uninformed. There's only so much you can learn reading the Nifty Archives and Tommyhawk1's _Long Shuttlecraft Mission_ story. I read a few stories off your site and really enjoyed the Superman story. You mostly write Voyager slash? I read some Alaya/Kim on your site that I found pretty damn sexy. What Star Trek genre (TOS;TNG;VOY;DS9;B5) have you written the most in? Do you think that will continue or is the grass starting to look greener somewhere else? And if so, where?

M: To tell you the truth, I'm kind of over Star Trek. I never liked TNG, DS9 is done, and VOY is getting stupider and stupider with each episode. I've got the remaining three chapters of the Ayala/Kim stories all plotted out in my head, and if/when I ever get them actually written down, I doubt I'll write anymore in the ST universe.

KG: Well, I'll miss you and I really hope you'll finish the Ayala/Kim stories (just reread them; they're wonderful). What was your earliest story?

M: _Crossed Signals_ was the first story I ever finished writing in my whole life.

KG: It's a great story, too. How long have you been reading FanFic?

M: Only a couple of years. I actually discovered slash back when I was thirteen, but forgot about it for many years. Then, when I got my first computer, I rediscovered it.

KG: How much and how long were you reading slash before the 'hey-man-I-wanna-do-this!' light went on?

M: Six months to a year. Very soon after I rediscovered slash I joined the late (and much lamented) Paris/Kim Slash Party mailing list, which had a few free-flowing round-robin sort of story things going on, to which I contributed. Then I got this idea for _Crossed Signals_, and wrote it in two days.

KG: I'm not sure PKSP is dead, I thought I just saw it on ONElist. Could you list as many as you can remember of the stories you read prior to writing your first story?

M: No bloody way. I downloaded and printed out dozens, hundreds of stories in my initial rush of enthusiasm. Plus, I'm horrible at remembering titles and authors.

KG: I guess I only read R'rian's TOS archive before I dove in. How did you decide to start writing what was in your head? What was your motivation?

M: The story was so insistent this time. I've had other ideas for stories, mostly of the bored-in-an-airport-why-aren't-I-doing more-with-my-life-I-should-write-the-great-American fill-in-the-blank-novel... but this time I could *hear* the voices, see them moving around and talking, feel their frustration and need. Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, rather) wasn't a choice, it had to be done to get them to shut up and leave me alone.

KG: I can dig it. What writers, slash or otherwise, do you feel have influenced your slash writing?

M: Hopefully none. I've read a lot of slash by a lot of writers, but hopefully I didn't imitate any of them...

KG: Who is your favorite character in slash to write about? Read about? And why?

M: It really depends. I'd rather read a well written story about a character I don't like than a poorly written one about some guy I adore. Right now I'm pretty obsessed with Superman/Clark Kent. The more I think about him, the more sure I am that he's got to be pretty screwed up in the head, and that makes him interesting to write about. Not just because it gives you more to play with, but because it's so much at odds with the standard perception of the character.

I think the real strength of slash isn't the sex, it's that the writers and readers are taking these cultural icons and twisting them, looking at them in new ways, re-interpreting them and thus the things they have come to stand for.

KG: Exactly. In some ways I feel we can thank the rotten writing on TOS, which I'm most familiar with, for that. Perhaps Voyager will go on and on for the same reason. So there IS something to look forward to. What pairings make you feel warm and cozy when you read and why? When you write them and why?

M: None in particular, it really depends on the way they're written. One pairing that should never be warm and fuzzy though, is Mulder/Krycek. I'm definitely in the anti-Skippy camp.

KG: What parings turn you on when you read them and why? When you write them and why?

M: Again it depends on the writing. I've read some *really* hot stories, and some that leaves me cold as yesterdays pizza. Helen in Hell does pretty good with the sex, IMHO, as does Aristede.

KG: As I'm reading the interviews, I realize how badly organized those questions are so thank you for answering them so coherently. Do you have some special technique for writing slash? Something that inspires you?

M: I don't know. Really, all the stories that I've written have either come to me in dreams, or just appeared full blown (so to speak) in my head. I don't know where they come from, though I wish I did so I could get them to visit a little more often.

KG: Do you have any thoughts or feelings about K/S?

M: Anh.. doesn't really do anything for me. I know it was the original, the one that started it all, and I was a terrible Spock fan when I was younger, but the combination doesn't really appeal to me.

KG: I've burned out on them as a couple but still slash them with Chekov or McCoy. Lately, I've been slashing Chekov WITH McCoy; I'm sure it's the autobahn into hell but what do I care? Do you have any thoughts on the future of Slash on the Web?

M: More, more, more. Slash is a wonderful example of the true power of the 'Web. Anyone with access to a computer can now reach out and potentially touch millions of lives. Slash used to be much more sub-rosa, you had to know someone who was in the know, or come across it at a con. Now it's *everywhere*. You don't have to half look for it anymore. With the power of the Web, people have unleashed their inner desires, put forth the fruits of their imaginations, and connected with other like minded souls.

KG: It's an amazing community. One of the best things I did last year was go to Friscon and bond. I felt like I was in with the in-crowd for a weekend. Do you work with a beta reader?

M: No, actually I don't. I know this will probably come off as arrogant, but the stories I've written come out of my imagination, out of my experiences and dreams. Once I get the bloody thing written down, I don't particularly care what happens to it. I put them out for people to read, and if they like them, fine. If they don't, shrug. I don't write for readers, I write (on the rare occasions that I do) to get the story out of my brain.

KG: What is the motivation to write slash? One can't sell it; one can't even eat it.

M: Perhaps because the original writers of these shows and characters aren't giving us what we really want to see. So we take control of the stories and make them happen to please us. Or perhaps it's about women taking control of erotica - which has traditionally been produced by males for males. All I know is that it's fun, and I've met some really groovy people through it, and I'm not about to stop anytime soon.

KG: You're very cool. Would you like to put your website address and/or recommended URLs here?:

M: Sure - the Sex Tips for Slash Writer's site is at:

http://www.squidge.org/~minotaur

KG: What five stories would you recommend as an introduction to slash to someone just starting to read it?

M: Torch's M/K stuff above all, both "Ghosts" and "Lovers". "Solitary Creatures" (Sentinel) by Aristide, "A Little Touch of Harry in the Night" (P/K) by CKC, The "Playboy of the Delta Quadrant" series, (P/K), the author of which escapes me at the moment, and finally, my own "Three Proofs", a Superman/Jimmy.

KG: What recommendations do you have for new slash writers?

M: If you get the writing part down first, the slashy bits will follow.

KG: Do you have any comments on the subject of writing and how it all starts and what it all leads to or any other subject?

M: Well, aside from leading to madness and social ostracism, I've always thought writing was pretty harmless.

KG: Ah! Thank you, Minotaur.

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