Galileo Shuttle Logs

Zine
Title:	Galileo Shuttle Logs
Publisher:	STAG
Editor(s):	Tina Pole, Catherine & Margaret Richardson, S. Meek & Yvonne Parkin
Date(s):	1982-1984
Series?:
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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Galileo Shuttle Logs is a gen Star Trek: TOS anthology by Tina Pole and published in England.

Issue 1

cover of issue #1

Galileo Shuttle Logs 1 was published in 1982 and contains 74 pages of poetry and fiction from the Galileo Con writing competition. The front cover is by Wendy Hodgson.

• Editorial (1)
• Scrambled Ends by J.A. Lawrence (Judy Blish) (the humorous and popular Wizard of Oz meets Trek parody which she read at the con.) (2)
• By the Sea Wall by Jayne Turner (23)
• Syllogisom by Lynette Muir (24)
• A Slip in the Reckoning by Glen David (25)
• The Shell by Josephine Timmins (35)
• To Await Knife and Alter by Kate Davies (36)
• STAR TREK II - T.W.O.H. by The Committee (Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor) (68)
• Confession by Kelly Mitchell (71)

• Winner Fiction - Glen David
• Winner Poetry - - Jayne Turner
• 2nd Poetry - - Lynette Muir
• Commended - Josephine Timmins, Kate Davies and Kelly Mitchell.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

This zine contains the prize winning stories and poems from the first GalileoCon plus 'A Sort of Trek Something' by J.A.Lawrence which is the first story in the zine. Ms. Lawrence is, as many readers will know, a pro-Trek writer, author of 'Business as Usual During Altercations' in Mudd's Angels. I enjoyed that story and was therefore disappointed with 'Scrambled Ends', Humour is, of course, extremely subjective but this piece was far too confused and introduced far too many characters to find any single target. The Enterprise crashes (!) on a fantasy planet and Kirk and the crew set out on the yellow brick road to somewhere, meeting almost all of the guest characters from the series on the way. I found some of the jokes off key. I don't think Charlie Ellis or Miri could ever be made funny. In addition, the whole story is somewhat perfunctory in style and much too 'scrambled'.

Contrast this with 'A Slip in The Reckoning' by Glen David, where the humour comes firstly, from the accurate use of data, in this case the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and secondly, from the gentle style, exactly suited to the character of Aelf the Book and his extraordinary encounter with the gold and the blue angels. At the solstice it is Aelf's task to write up the Annal and compute the date of Easter for the following year, a vital job on which more hangs than you might think. The year is 773 A.D. and the A.S. Chronicle says, "In this year a red cross appeared in the sky after sunset". The whole is handled with the author's usual deftness and I found it one of the most amusing of her humorous stories and a worthy competition winner.

Poetry, too, is, in part, a matter of subjective appreciation but however one defines poetry, there must he some form or discipline which makes it poetry. This need not be rhyme, of course, and in the case of the winner and second, is not. However, 'The Syllogism' by Lynette Muir (placed second) has a firm backbone of argument to give it shape and an economy of words to give it form. In contrast, 'By the Sea Wall' by Jayne Palmer is diffuse and rambling, full of confused images. On a simple level, I could not tell who was the speaker and although I presumed Spock was being spoken about, I was not certain. I suspect the judges were deceived into thinking that a plethora of words constitutes poetry.

The longest story in the zine is 'To Await Knife and Altar' by Kate Davies, which introduces the half-Klingon first officer, Commander Kerlaan. (Spock is removed from the Enterprise - promoted, in one line!) Kerlaan, apart from looking Klingon is also "Quite remarkably beautiful"....dangerous stuff and at this point in the story I found myself pausing at the edge of the crevasse of cliche and wondering If the author was going to fall into it. She does. Kerlaan is a thoroughly nasty Klingon, and I strongly suspect would not have passed Starfleet's psych tests to become an ensign, let alone commander. She turns up to dinner in a diaphanous garment (designed by W. Theiss?) and eats and drinks too much.

On a more serious note (the author handles Kerlaan's first appearance in similar style to the reviewer), Kerlaan has a disturbed background which makes it even less likely that she would ever have gained admittance to the Fleet. The point of all this is that the creation of new characters for the Enterprise crew is a delicate business requiring far more care than is bestowed here and greater length, especially for a new first officer. This is a responsibility shared by both writer and editor(s), and I am reminded of a comment in C21 by A.H. that currently editors seem not to be doing their job in this respect.

The plot is somewhat fragmented and designed to show that Kerlaan isn't as bad a character as all that. The action flows quite smoothly but we are given the usual stereotype Klingon; "The Commander's face was suffused by the fearsome predatory grin that only a Klingon can muster."

There is one obvious plot manipulation, Kerlaan and a rescue party are set down a mile away from their destination and must walk. This is so that certain members of the party may perish in an earthquake. I'm sure the transporter is more accurate than this.

As far as style is concerned, the writing is competent, although there are some infelicitous touches. I'm not sure that the expressions 'two bit hooker' and 'scrubber' would survive into the twenty-third century, to other drawback was the errors in spelling which seemed to be limited to this one story, a reinforcement of my editorial argument. It's not a disaster if the writer can't spell, it is if the editors can't! If this review sounds harsh, it's because with greater care from both writer and editors, this could have been a much better story. The idea for the character was good, the interaction with the crew was interesting and all in all an opportunity was lost.

Finally, 'Galileo Shuttle Logs' is £2.29 inc.p&p and is probably worth it for Glen David's story alone, purchasers will find it an interesting read and since tastes very, may well appreciate some of the contents more than I did.

Issue 2

Galileo Shuttle Logs 2 published in November 1984, contains 87 pages of stories from Galileo Con fiction and poetry competition. Edited by Lesley A. Wood.

cover of issue #2

From an ad at the back of Star Voyage: "Contains entries from the Gallileo Convention Fiction Competition....ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS ZINE TO GO TO ' THE NORTH OF ENGLAND CHILDRENS CANCER RESEARCH FUND' (The Galileo Con Charity)."

From the editorial:

This zine has been presented in a way that the stories and poems will reach you in the same manner that they reached the judges. No attempt has been made to edit the material contained within. I will apologise in advance for the typo's I know will appear - after a hard days slog at work these hands were on automatic; and utterly convinced that somewhere aboard the Enterprise lurked a Captain Kikr. I hope you will read and enjoy without falling over too many errors.

• Bitter Ending by Soo Skevington (1)
• Silent Spirit by Ann Smith (15)
• Enterprise Symphony by Margaret Summers (16)
• And So the Beach by Angela Churm (16)
• The Reason by David Russell (17)
• How Could I Forget by Ann Smith (26)
• Riders of the Night by Kathy Yates (27)
• Old Wounds by Kelly Mitchell (46)
• Miracles Make Strange Companions by Ann Smith (47)
• The Poor Little Space Freak by Bethanne Baldwin (54)
• Spock of Vulcan by Barbara Gill (55)
• After V'Ger by Janis Bowers (66)
• Nemesis by Kelly Mitchell (68)
• Alternative by Elaine Leeke (69)
• The Homecoming by Kelly Mitchell (70)
• As Long as We Remember by Kelly Mitchell (70)
• Genesis by Janet Carrol (71)
• The Final Frontier by Sue Harrison (71)
• Spacequest by Lynette Muir (71)
• Prelude by Ros Calverly (72)
• A Saga of the Enterprise by Bethanne Baldwin (87)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

In issue 2, I enjoyed Spock of Vulcan by Barbara Gill, which deals again with Vulcan traditions. In this story, Spock must return home for a traditional ceremony which will make him recognised as a full Vulcan.