Those of us writing m/m slash now–we owe it all to this woman.
And you know what? She was not just a lifelong Trekkie, but she had a lifelong love for her favourite old-timey movie star, who just *happened* to be Conrad Veidt. She was such a huge fan of him that she bequeathed her lifelong Conrad Veidt collection to the Australian Film Commission upon her death (see here).
No. I am not joking. The woman who wrote the first published m/m slash fanfic was a lifelong fan of Conrad Veidt, who himself was, basically, slash/romance fiction come to life all by himself: androgynous, feminine, woman-loving, bisexual and hypersexual in his performances, and with a reputation of seducing repressed guys into bisexuality.
I am just slack-jawed in awe over all of all this. I can imagine Diane writing her first Kirk/Spock slash story with a photo of Conrad Veidt looking upon her benevolently as she wrote all that, Connie exuding all of his beautiful bisexual powers upon her in encouragement.
So, I thought it was just Star Trek fandom that could carry the badge of pride for bringing m/m slash fiction into existence, but I cannot help that Connie, the prettiest girl in Berlin would have had some influence over that, sending his (documented) powers of seducing repressed men into bisexuality across all these years… I really do mean it; I am in awe.
Diane was not only a Trekkie, but one of *us* as well–The Conrad Veidt fandom. The fans of this beautiful, androgynous, gender-and sexuality-bending star who brought so much bi/pansexual energy into all his talkie performances–and I have no doubt in my mind that he, Conrad Veidt himself, gave her at least some of the push into making slash fiction exist, and to making it in the genre we all know and love today.
I… I feel like weeping. Connie is–conceivably–one of the things that made slash fanfiction happen.
