Murasaki Journal

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You may be looking for Murasaki!, a Sulu fiction zine or The Murasaki Probe, a club zine out of International Falls, MN.

Zine
Title: Murasaki Journal
Publisher: STERB = Star Trek Enterprises Radcliffe Branch out of England
Editor(s): John T. Hind, Michael N. Rossiter
Type:
Date(s): 1973-1976
Frequency:
Medium: print
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links:
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Murasaki Journal was a Star Trek: TOS club zine out of England.

A 1976 ad said it contained "ST and humour."

The fourth issue describes the two editors as "John Hind and Michael Rossiter, previously of Radcliffe-on-Trent Junior School but now compan[y] directors with amazing stacks of share certificates, land and cash."

Issue 1

Murasaki Journal 1 was published in February 1973.

Issue 2

Murasaki Journal 2 was published in September 1973.

Issue 3

Murasaki Journal 3 was published in February 1974.

Issue 4

Murasaki Journal 4 was published in September 1974 and contains 40 pages.

cover of issue #4, Heather Lennon

The art is by Heather Lennon and John Hind.

It was first available at 1974 British Star Trek Convention.

From the copyright statement: "Not to be printed in part or full for personal gain. Pages may be copied for personal study if £1 sent in five days to STERB. Signatory in all countries to the Berne convention."

From the editorial:

This 'zine was begun in Late 'May (25th, May, 1974, 3:56pm, and an odd number of secs. seconds!) Once again we put on our cotton frocks with the big bows down the front, and splattered Timothy Whites sun cream on our skin to protect us from the Roneo ink. This is our fourth effort at a 'zine. We hope to become perfect around issue thirty. Meanwhile, you'll have to bear with us until 1992, when STAR TREK will be in it's twentieth season and there should be about thirty movies completed, and ten animated seasons, etc, etc, etc. William Shatner will be about sixty-one and Dee Kelley... Captain Kirk will be collecting his Star Fleet pension and Mr, Spock will be too old for Pon Farr.

  • Front Cover by Heather Lennon from the STAR TREK Animation episode 'Yesteryear' by D.C. Fontana
  • Editorial: Star Spot (3)
  • Table of Contents (4)
  • You received this zine because... (5)
  • The Celebrations, story by Heather Lennon (6)
  • Useful scraps of odd info by M. Rossiter (9)
  • Crossword by J. Dunham (10)
  • Silly Things to Do Concerned with the First British Star Trek Convention by John Hind (a checklist of in-jokes) (11)
  • Star Date Probe by Michael Rossiter (continued from issue #3, non-fiction, attempt to sort out the order when episodes happened in relation to each other using star date clues from dialogue) (12)
  • Crossword answers (15)
  • Maiden Nonsense by J. Hind (satirical song lyrics "sung by Spock on "Plato's Stepladder, "reprinted from the 1973/74 STERB Yearbook) (15)
  • Test Your S.T. Knowledge (16)
  • The Confessions of a British Stare Truk Convention Planner by Jenny Elson (satirical and full of mostly incomprehensible in-jokes, it is "about" 1974 British Star Trek Convention) (17)
  • Defence for the 3rd. season, essay by John Hind (18)
  • Scenes we would have liked to see (19)
  • What Are They Talking About ("an idea swiped from "Tholian Web" 'zine") (21)
  • Klingon History/The 3rd Klingon Civil War, part three by John Hind (parts 1 and 2 were is issue #3) (23)
  • Dear William & Co.: A Course in Writing Successful Fan-Letters to Star Trek Stars Such as Bill Shatner, Etc. by John Hind and Michael Rossiter (parody) (25)
  • Star Trek - What does the future hold for us? by Michael Rossiter ("So far, Earth has had "two world wars, According to 'Star Trek' we will have another world war and various other wars. The first World War: 1914-1918 6 million were killed. The second World War: 1939-1945 11 million were killed. The third World War: the 1990s 37 million will be killed. We don't seem to to be able to look forward to a very happy future as you can see: The Eugenics/Third World War in the '1990s, and then the Genocidal War in the early 21st century.") (26)
  • Journey to Babel, script review by John Hind (27)
  • Katy Owens Biography by Michael Rossiter (it is C. (Cathy) Owens in the table of contents) (29)
  • S.T. Comics by Michael Rossiter (about the Gold Key comics) (30)
  • U.S.S. Boobyprize - S.T. humour, parody (32)
  • S.T. Comics Continued (33)
  • Checkmate (or, Touche): "What might be called a story" by Jenny Elson (RPF in which the actors switch places with the characters) (34)
  • What We Think So Far of the Animations, article by Michael Rossiter (36)
  • And More and More and More - Humour and Advert (one ad is for eight Star Trek episodes recorded on a single "eight track two speed tape recording" for £1) (37)
  • Ear, Ear, Ear, closing notes by the editors (38)

Issue 5

Murasaki Journal 5 contains 60 pages. The editorial states it was published "76 months" after the last one, which would make it late summer 1980. This, however, must be one of the many in-jokes in the zine. The date on the contents (art and fiction) is 1976, and that is the copyright date at the end.

The art is by John Hind, Frank Robinson, MR, YT, Paul Dakeyne and Barry D'Alowar.

cover of issue #5, "sketched, inked and thrown together by JH"

"MURASAKI JOURNAL - the International Magazine for Butch Trekkers. Worldwide Sale (Publisher's Estimate): 5,550,000-ish. Vol.1/No.5."

This issue was not even as close to bawdy as the satirical editorial by Terry Compliance promised:

We have collected together the best of Star Trek stories, poems, humour and articles ever to be printed under one cover. There is Stephen Holbrooke's "Ode to a Chemist," Cath Owens' impressive but obscene-ish "Deelayed Me," and Muriel Elson's "Star Trek Gave Me Bladder Pangs." Our greatest thanks go to them and all the other contributors. Some readers may be understandably shocked by some of the permissive material in this zine, but please thry to remember that what may not be your kettle of fish many be both dirty and good fun to someone else. We have to suit all tastes whether they be illegal or not. We are also in this zine reporducing several electro-stenciled pages of full-frontals These are to attract readers away from EMANON and ALNITAH. Read on, and have fun.

The table of contents capitalizes some things and not others and for no particular reason. It is also incomplete.

  • art credits (2)
  • PROLEGOMENA, editorial (3)
  • An act of creation, fiction (4)
  • THE UPSIDE-DOWN PAGE (8)
  • artwork: marta (9)
  • POEMS (10)
    • Fantasy Planet by John Hines
    • Love Lies in Bondage by Michael Rossiter
    • Ode to a Vulcan by T'Jock
  • quagmire by John Hines and Michael Rossiter ("a review of Star Trek in Comic and Annual form") (11)
  • POEMS (13)
    • Ode to Leila by John Hind
    • H'Lama Chaga by T'Gool
    • Ode to the Enterprise Crew by Sub-Commander Tal by John Hind, Michael Rossiter and Madge
  • The story without an end, not credited (14)
  • ST QUOTES (15)
  • they all get on my wick (16)
  • APOLOGY and STATEMENT (17)
  • episode ratings (18)
  • POEMS (20)
    • Celluloid Star by John Hind
    • Planet No. Eight by John Hind
    • Strapperbybe by John Hind
    • We're Coming to See You by John Hind
  • ST Up-manship: How to Make an Impression on Star Trek Fandom (21)
  • OUR PEOPLE WILL BE FREED, story by Jacqueline Clarke (24)
  • episode ratings (cont.) (28)
  • ST QUIZ (29)
  • saag (30)
  • STAR DATE PROBE (31)
  • silly story: "Pakistani Stapling Break" (32)
  • THE OFFENDER, fiction by Ian Smart (33)
  • poems (40)
    • The Traveller by SallyAnn N. Griffin
    • Peace at Last by SallyAnn N. Griffin
  • REVIEW of SPACE: 1999 by Michael Rossiter (41)
  • artwork: the keeper (43)
  • "THE WRITE YOUR OWN PAGE" PAGE (44)
  • Woe to the hand of fate, fiction by Peter "M.M." Maher (45)
  • ANSWERS (46)
  • graffiti and poems by Helen Bycroft (47)
  • POEMS (48)
    • Kirk's Women and Himself by Katrina Fletcher
    • LOGICALIMPROVISATIONS by John Hind
  • one solitary spaceman, poem by Barbara Rapheel-Bowelman (49)
  • PLANETFALL ACCOMPLISHED, poem by Michael Rossiter (50)
  • surprise article! (51)
  • GRAFFITI and POEM, He Walked Her Away by Michael Rossiter and John Hind (53)
  • The Cheerio Letter by Cythnia Waterfall, STERB Secretary (in which she resigns) (54)
  • EPIC POEM by Michael Rossiter and John Hind (55)
  • you received this zine because (56)
  • QUOTES? (57)
  • apology (58)
  • INSIDE BACK COVER (59)
  • actual back cover (60)