May I ask how Gene came to read your story? I'm especially curious because I came to fanfic in the late 90s when we all lived in fear of C&D letters and OMG don't let the creators know it's a thing and I assume this was during the zine era?
Hello, my friend
Yes, this was in the print zine era – I’m going to say ‘77 or ‘78. As best I and my friends can recall, the C&D letters did not plague fandom creativity until the 80s. When they began appearing, they featured greatly in the departure from active fandom of many of the old guard, who had been around since the beginning.
The 60s and 70s were a fabulous time to be doing creative work in fandom, because Gene welcomed the development of fannon. There was an active dialog going on between fan work and the studio during the original run of the series and the animated series. The actors also read fanfiction and even contributed to some of the earliest fanzines. I wrote about this here, here, and here.
So many people have asked me how on earth I was showing Gene my slash that I figure I better write a follow-up post to flesh out that story! It’s on my to-do list for the next few days. When I post it, I will tag you.
Thanks for the ask! I’m so glad you have remained in fandom all these years!
LLAP