Legacy Interview with Darien Duck

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Legacy Interview with Darien Duck
Interviewer:	Legacy
Interviewee:	Darien Duck
Date(s):	2007
Medium:	print, CD
Fandom(s):	Star Trek TOS, slash
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

In 2007, Darien Duck was interviewed for the zine Legacy.

See List of Star Trek Fan Interviews.

Some Excerpts

I first heard of fanzines while reading “Star Trek Lives!” by Lichtenberg, Marshak and Winston. The first zine I actually saw was Entercom #1 (a gen zine) which was being assembled around the time I found our local Star Trek club, Excalibur. I travelled with the club to the New York Star Trek convention, winter 1980, where I found K/S zines being sold. I think my first K/S zine was “Nome”. Certainly the whole idea of Kirk and Spock being lovers seemed perfectly logical to me.

I remember the excitement and anticipation while waiting in the snow to see the first showing of the first movie. And how angry we were that there was that prolonged flyby, instead of the interaction of the characters, which was always the heart of Star Trek to us. Whoever that editor was, we thoroughly despised him... They really expected us to accept whatever they dumped on us, and that to me was an insult. I’ve enjoyed some of the movies, released later, and even bought several on DVD. It was hard to try to write stories after the second movie, as far as I can remember now.

First of all, remember these were pre-computer times. Stories were typed, if you were lucky on an electric typewriter, if not, on a manual one. Editing involved cutting and pasting and whiteout. Then, you needed to find a business that would photocopy the pages, and if you could afford it, collate them. When Phoebe (my co-editor) and I began our series, “Another K/S Zine,” we knew that explicit art work would complicate the process, so decided to exclude the art. We found several businesses to make the copies for us. Some of the staff were curious enough to read the stories and told us they were looking forward to the next job we gave them! I think that graphic art would have been viewed differently. We took the zines to conventions to sell, also flyers for the zines. We never had a problem driving across the US border from Canada, since what we were officially taking was display material for our Star Trek club. Only once was a zine confiscated and that was one we mailed to a fan in England. I don’t remember the reason given for the confiscation, but it was likely “obscene or pornographic material”. After that, the fan received her zines wrapped in Christmas or birthday paper, and at a substitute address.

I remember the hostility of certain fans against the K/S zines and that idea. Some were loudly vocal, telling anyone who’d listen how disgusting it was. At conventions, we always hoped that our tables in the Dealers’ Room would not be near those of those hostile fans. If my zines were accessible, I’m sure more memories would surface.