Faces of The Fans: MaryD 

 ( A FOF interview )

Canberra Xena Gang - When and why did you come up with the idea of creating a Xena Webpage? How much time elapsed between having the idea, creating the website and making it available online?

MaryD - It was after watching “Sins of the Past” on Aussie TV for the first time.  I had previously seen a couple of episodes that were sent to me.  Xero had been trying to get me to watch it, so after I relented, she sent “The Prodigal” and “The Titans”.  I hated them.  She didn't give up and asked me to tape “Sins” for her.  So on the 14th December 1996 I sat down to make sure I was taping the right thing and I was hooked in the first 15 minutes.

Right place, right time, right strong female character.

I went online, found a couple of sites and thought to myself to create a site dedicated to Xena for Aussies and a place to put my wallpapers/montages.  I was doing artwork for my favourite show “Star Trek Deep Space Nine” . After watching “Sins”, I thought an episode montage would really work for this show.  I had the idea of the site in my head for a day and then did something with it :).  AUSXIP was born 15 December 1996.

I found the Xenaverse mailing list and a couple of others and I jumped into the fandom.

(click here for an example of an earlier Ausxip page : http://www.ausxip.com/flashback/1996/index.html) 

MaryD’s comment -  It's not the first first page but around January or Feb 97 :)   It was really very simple.

CXG - Were there many websites related to Xena around at the same time that Ausxip was born?

MaryD - I found three good ones:

Tom's site - www.xenafan.com

Whoosh - www.whoosh.org

Logamanency - not sure of the address of where it's moved.

CXG - Was Xena airing in Australia at that time you created the website?  If not, how did you know it existed?

MaryD - Technically no. I saw the first two eps via video tape so it wasn't until Sins that was shown on tv did I get hooked.  You can blame my friend Xero for telling me about the show and being persistent enough to get me into it.

CXG - Was Ausxip an instant success?   Did you ever think, back then, that Ausxip would be the huge success it is now?

MaryD - Nothing is ever an instant success :).  But then it all depends on how you measure success.

It was a success for me because I was being creative.  Doing stuff like montages/artwork relax me and let's me focus on that instead of thinking how bad my day had been and if that idiot on the road had cut me off or whatever irked me that day.

I just wanted to be a part of the fandom, do my art and have fun.

I didn't think I even thought about whether it was successful or how successful it would be.

CXG - How fast did it grow as a website?  An analogy now: when we first met Gabrielle, she was a young, innocent girl, who knew she was destined for great things, however unsure she was of those things.  On her travels with Xena she blossomed into the great Battling Bard of Poteidaia.  We see Ausxip as the Battling Bard of Xena websites.  So could you give us an insight to the 'village girl' website that Ausxip used to be?  What was it like when it first started?  What was featured?  How did you manage to get the information?

MaryD - Yeah that's a good analogy.

Well in the beginning it was just my montages (the first one was for “A Solstice Carol”), news about the show in Australia, some bios about Lucy and Renee, a few things about the show, some pics and links to the best Xenaverse sites.

Over time fanfic was added, Xena news, artwork from other artists, screen-captures, reviews etc.  It evolved and it's still evolving.

(link to former pages:  http://www.ausxip.com/flashback/ )

MaryD’s comment - if you get to this section of the site you will see the slowly progression of it.

CXG - How many hours of your day do you spend working on the page?

MaryD - On average about 2-3+ hours.  Sometimes more.

CXG - How do you cope with having a job/family and so on? What do you do for a living?  Do you have any pets?  Are they as well trained as the dog from “Old Ares”?

MaryD - I work as a network admin/graphic designer/web designer.  I have one cat and she's not trained. :-)   You do not train cats, they train you.  She has me well trained so I stop what I'm doing and give her what she wants. Works well :).

CXG - Do you have a lot of help of friends with the different sections of the page, or is it mostly you own sweat?

MaryD - Mostly my own sweat the majority of the time.  I get help from CindyT with the artwork from other artists section, and Mesh who takes over when I'm gone.  Mesh looks after downloads/themes for the Renee site (she totally redesigned that site and it looks absolutely stunning).  I think that's it for the “staff” of AUSXIP :).

The regular contributors are amazing because they send me articles, scans, video clips, screen-captures, news bits.  They are the backbone of the site because without them, the site wouldn't be the same.

CXG - You have lived the dream of many Xenites.  So tell us, what was it like to be introduced to Lucy and Renée?  What was the atmosphere like?  Tell us about their “auras”.

MaryD - It was something very personal and special for me and saying that doesn't even come close to how I felt.  Ever had the feeling that you were so happy and overjoyed that your heart was ready to jump out of your chest and do a jig of its own?  That comes a little close to how I felt.

CXG - How did you become involved with the Virtual Seasons?  Who came up with the original idea?

MaryD - I was approached by Judi Mair and Carol Stephens to be on the editing staff.  I was then asked to do the title montages along with Calli and Judi.

I believe Sue Beck (Swordnquil) came up with the idea for the Subtext Virtual Season.

CXG - If there were another four seasons of Xena, do you think the story lines would be similar to those of the Virtual Seasons?  Are you going to be involved with the movies the Virtual crew are creating?

MaryD - Yes and Yes.  Missy Good is a part of our writing team and has said it would have been similar.  Yes I will be involved with the movies.

CXG - You have such a creative flair...  Why don't you make music videos?  Have you made any before?

MaryD - I don't have the time :).  I'm sitting back and enjoying videos of the talented artists.  There are some extremely talented people in this fandom and it's a real joy to watch all this great stuff being created.

CXG - Do people donate to Ausxip to keep it up and running?  Obviously it's very popular and must use a hell of a lot of bandwidth.  Do you have help paying for that?

MaryD - No.  I pay it myself and, yeah, it's a bandwidth hog.  It generates around 300-400 Gb a month.

CXG - Do you read much fanfic?  What genre is your favourite?

MaryD - Not as much as I used to.  Classic fic is my favourite :).  I also like Ubers but they have to be true Ubers.

CXG - When did you get the idea to write  “In the Blood of the Greeks”?  How did you manage to get it published?  Have you ever been published before?  Is writing something you would like to pursue?

MaryD - Late Feb 2000 the muse came back and hit me in the head.  Eva and Zoe were born and “In the Blood of the Greeks” was finished around March/April 2000.  At the time I was approached about publishing the story.  I thought cool, that would be cool, so it was published.

I've had 10 fanfic stories published in a fanzine (printed) called “Eridani” before I came into the Xenaverse.

Published one short story for a magazine here in Sydney back in the 1980s.  Had several non-fiction stuff published by local papers.

I've been writing since I was 8 years old so it was a goal of mine to have a book published.  I've had 3 books published in the Eva and Zoe series with another 2-3 on the way.