Avon, Blake and Vila are playing Dementia. It's a card game with a complex set of forfeits, but if Avon wins, he knows exactly what forfeit he wants from Blake. Can Blake decide whether he wants Avon to win or lose?
Blake wants his memories back, but he could not know that the quest for his missing past would have such disastrous consequences for himself. Nor could he have imagined what Avon would suffer at the hands of Blake's twin brother.
Immediate sequel to Identity Crisis. (As a pair they won the Stiffie award for best Novella at Media West 1996.)
Emptiness. That was all Blake could see in his eyes. Emptiness, and death. If ever there had been laughter in Avon, it was gone. If there had ever been love, it was dead. If there had ever been Roj Blake, he was evicted. The cold wind of nothingness blew, and Blake shivered.
The medical computer says everyone is under extreme stress. Cally and Jenna have to decide whether they are willing to follow its recommendation that everyone indulges in a little sex. But who gets to sleep with which men?
It always feels like a dream to Vila when Soolin visits him in the night. A fleeting relationship, until one night he follows her back to her own room.
Blake dug his knees into the sand, leant forward on his haunches and before Avon had a chance to react, gently touched his lips against Avon's, lingering only long enough for the sensation to register. He sat back again and looked away to the rocks.
Eventually, Avon spoke.
"How long have you known?"
Blake, still staring at the rocks considered his answer for a while, made to speak, stopped, and then started again, "I've always known."
A bleak story set around Oscar Wilde's poem. The Federation are going to hang Avon for the crime of murdering Blake. As Vila watches Avon's death approaching, the story tries to examine the nature of love.
Forbidden Star is an A4 zine with a colour cover and comb binding. Editor - Judith Proctor
This zine is now out of print.
Last updated on 30th of September 2001.