The Captain's Woman

Zine
Title:	The Captain's Woman
Publisher:	BaReMi Press
Editor(s):	the first issue: Barbara Setzer and Rena Leith Weber (#1), Barbara Setzer the second and third issues: Rena Leith Weber and Michael Rightor
Date(s):	1980-1981
Series?:	yes
Medium:	print zine, fanfic
Size:
Genre:	het and gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Captain's Woman is a het and gen Star Trek: TOS anthology with three issues.

a 1980 flyer, click to enlarge

From Datazine #3: "A trekzine devoted to action, adventure, and love, not necessarily in that order. In the tradition of passionate romance, swashbuckling epics, pulse pounding suspense, and heart-rending drama."

A Gateway for One Fan

A Star Trek fan named Marnie S. talked about this zine in a 2012 interview. Her comments give her opinion about this zine, but more importantly, illustrate the isolation and difficulties some fans had in finding fandom and fanworks:

We lived way out in the country, we lived behind a farm, I had very little close contact with — I had no contact with fandom per se, with a young child and one car. So if I wanted a car, I had to drive my husband into work for an hour, and then home, and then back, to pick him up, and so it was not something that you would do willingly, and who was going to watch the baby? So, I did not have that contact until some years later, when we lived in Texas. We had moved down to Texas. And the first movie came out, there was a resurgence, my first son was — my second son was born, and I — they had a mommy and me type — a mommy drop-off. We lived, again, out in the boonies, in the outskirts of Round Rock, Texas. But they had a thing where in the morning you could take your young child and drop them off for three hours, and I had three hours to— free! Haahh! So I would drive into Austin, and find the science fiction bookstore, and had my entry, and they happened to have a fanzine from a local Texas fan, The Captain's Woman. (whispered) Oh, bleah. (laughter) (whispered) Bad. (speaking) It was, wow! The quintessential Mary Sue zine. However, it just whet my appetite. I had before that, at the science fiction bookstore, found the novelizations of the original episodes, you remember all those, and the animateds.

Issue 1

The Captain's Woman 1 was published in February 1980 (second printing in September 1980) and contains 103 pages long. The art is by Rena Leith, Bonnie Reitz, Barbara J. Setzer, and Jean Setzer.

It was edited by Barbara Setzer and Rena Leith Weber. Another fan was mentioned in the editorial as a future editor, but this did not occur.

front cover of issue #1, -- "I believe this zine was the first fanzine to feature a true 4-color cover."

back cover of issue #1, B. Setzer

[The editorial]:

Welcome to the first issue of 'The Captain's Woman'. This is out [sic] first effort at putting together a full fledged fanzine and it has certainly been an experience, both enjoyable and frustrating. The fun and sense of accomplishment does far outweigh the difficulties, however, so the second issue is in the works.

We wish to appologize for having two Part I stories in the zine. We realize that is considered a dirty trick to get you to buy the next issue, but we did not intend it as such. While in the developing stages, both stories were intended to be considerably shorter but as Mary and Barbara continued to write and develope [sic] and change the storylines, both got longer as the time left to the printer's deadline got shorter. Not wanting to rush the plot and under- develope [sic] the characters, we opted for splitting the stories into two parts. We have to admit, however, that Kara was intended as a continuing character anyway, if the response from readers is favorable.

On a different note, we wish to say a little bit about our title which we're sure some of you are wondering about. It was originally chosen because it considered it 'catchy', nothing else. It seems to have turned out as a satirical comment on Kirk's women as three of the protagonists in the zine are the strong, aggressine [sic] type, opposite to many of the women seen on Star Trek. This does not mean that we are strictly a feminist zine; this issue just seemed to turn out that way. Our interests are still in the action adventure, romance, drama, etc. stories.

Any letters critiquing the zine, individual stories, characters, etc, are appreciated. The feedback will be helpful in improving future issues and we are considering a "letters to the editor" section in the next issue. We are also interested in story and art submissions. Any topic sill [sic] be considered except K/S stories and very explicit sex. Stories having well done, tasteful sex are fine, but must be appropriate for a zine not requiring an age statement (ie R rated or less).

If The Captain's Woman' is successful, we have discussed doing an X-rated supplement. We do wish to state that we have no objections to the K/S stories except that we disagree with the basic premise. That is the only reason we are not interested in printing them.

We wish to thank several people for their help, without which this zine would not have been to the printer on time. They are Charlotte Taylor who helped with the editing; and Elisa Dubroff and Carole Geffen who did a substantial amount of the typing. We are also promoting Mary Pasel to the ranks of full fledged editor, as she spent as many sleepless nights as the two of us, doing a large share of the workload. Also we are very grateful to Mike Rightor for sharing the finacial [sic] burden of the printing of this zine.

Live Long and Prosper.

• Editors' Page (ii)
• Revenge Is Sweet Part (part 1) by Barbara J. Setzer (Spock and a pirate captain...) (1)
• Black Jac by Rena Leith (Jac Stylton, an old friend of Kirk's, accused murderer, was desperately wanted by the Romulans.) (43)
• Simon's Law, cartoon by Barbara J. Setzer (55)
• The Vulcan’s Dilemma (part 1) by Mary A. Pasel (Spock and McCoy, prisoners on a hidden Romulan base, discover its commander's secret.) (56)
• The Healing by Debbie Krajckik (86)
• Darwin's Theory by Bonnie Reitz (An Irish-Comanche woman and a Klingon man on as espionage mission.) (88)

• 

  from issue #1, artist is Barbara J. Setzer, from "Revenge is Sweet": "Captain Luran was one of the most infamous pirate captains to travel space. Kirk had had no idea that he, or rather she, was a woman. 'A very beautiful one at that,' he thought. She really didn't look capable of owning such a reputation. Standing only 5'4" with a mane of golden brown hair, she was darkly tanned with large bright, turqoise eyes. Her beauty was that of a sleek, powerful animal She was also, as they say, stacked."

• 

  from issue #1, Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  from issue #1, Rena Leith Weber

• 

  from issue #1, Jean Setzer

• 

  from issue #1, Bonnie Reitz

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

First must tell you we really enjoyed The Captain's Woman. One of the best I've read!! Even with the frustration of the continued stories. And I don't think there's even a guestion of slant or feminism, just good stories. Many thanks.

Wow!! I just finished The Captain's Woman and am totally speechless. I have not read any Star Trek material this good in a long time. The "Revenge" story. Part I, was my favorite. I love the fact that there could be another captain that has a strong personality in the Federation. Plus, the captain's a woman. I see many similarities be tween her and Kirk and the sidekick and Spock. I also like the fact that this story- proves that there are other people ^ndother ships in the world besides the Enterprise.

I like the Vulcan story also, but I don't think thatitlgas well written as the "Revenge." It didn't miss by much, and I can hardly wait to read Part II of either story. I like the fact that Bones shows the spirit that is needed to become a doctor on a starship instead of a partner in banter with Spock. I would love to see this line developed in the future. Cartoon -was super. I could picture Kirk yelling, or should I say screaming, at Scotty through the intercom system.

I bought a copy of your zine. The Captain's Woman at Febcon. You asked for comments and criticisms, so here goes. First of all, the title threw me for a minute. At first, I expected the zine to be a novel, probably dealing with Marlena Moreau. After I finished the first two stories, I decided a better title would be The Captain's Women! Yes, the title is catchy, but it is misleading. [The title is intended to convey the idea of the type of woman Marlena is—hot-tempered and independent—so we don't feel it's misleading. - Rena] The biggest fault to me with the zine as a whole was the number of spelling errors. (I teach junior high English and I have an overwhelming desire to red pencil everything.)...On to the stories themselves...While both stories had obvious flaws, they were good enough that I want to read the conclusions of both of them. The main problem in "Revenge is Sweet" is wordiness...You're explaining thoughts too com pletely. [She's an engineer, and they tend to explain EVERYTHING! - Rena] You have a good action story here, and you're cluttering it up with too many distracting adjectives and too much explanation...In other words, tighten up your story. The other problem with the story is that I can't find enough motivation for Kara to(l) knock Spock out of danger on the bridge of the decoy ship and(2) trust him enough to try to escape with him instead of trying to get rid of him as excess baggage immediately..."Black Jac" was totally unbelievable. [Hey! Wait a minute! - Rena] There was motivation for Stylton to strangle the Romulan commander not to declare his undying love for her. Her reactions were logical; his were the reactions of a deranged mind. [That's the general idea! His grief drove him over the edge, his mind snapped and he fixated on S'atria. He saw her as his salvation in a warped universe. Hence the references to her image blurring and his seeing her as a fantasy creature. - Rena] "The Vulcan Dilema" is good except for some wordiness problems similar to those in your story. As in your story, I want to find out what happens to those people so both of you have created good characters. ... I thoroughly enjoyed "Darwin's Theory."...I'd love to see more stories about her (Kate Little Hawk) and Kellic, too, if it can be managed [Yeah! Me, too! - Rena] ... You're probably saying, if she's so damned smart, where are her stories? Good point. The problem with me is that I don't have one good creative idea in my head. I leave that to people like you two.

Pat - We'd like to invite you to try writing a story for us, anyway. We'll be glad to work with you. A fanzine is like a friend—if the relationship is good, there's room to grow. Try your hand at writing. You can learn from us, and we can learn from you. -- Rena

We appreciate the critique. It is understandable that the title could be construed as misleading, but we do point out in all our advertising that we are a general trekzine. We also have flyers with story synopses available on any of our zine table that can be read before purchase. We know, however, that zine buying is often rushed at a con, and flyers are easy to overlook. As far as the spelling errors and typos are concerned, we were so far behind schedule to get it printed for Febcon that neither Mary's story nor mine were proofed by Rena, the copy editor, because she was not readily accessible (1200 miles away). I can't believe "Dilema" got by us. My only excuse is that I'm an engineer, and no one told me I needed to know the English language. I have been threatened with being handed over to Kara if I ever attempt to final proof something again; so from now on, I'm sticking to the business end of the workload. Enough said on that. I agree that "Revenge", Part I, was too wordy and tended to explain too much. I made a conscious effort to avoid both in Part II. I hope I succeeded. I disagree that some of Kara's actions had little motivation. Remember, Spock is a valuable piece of merchandise, so she would want to keep him in one piece, if possible. Overall, considering that "Revenge" is only the third story I've ever written, I am pleased with how it turned out. The more I write, the more polished I should become, in theory at any rate. And this is the whole idea of putting out a zine, unless you count the insatiable desire to see one's name in print. Well, talk about my tendency to wordiness and over- explaining .... - Barbara

The Captain's Woman #1 arrived, was read and enjoyed. I should have written you right after I read it. At the moment, I only remember my critique in the most general way. I liked your "Revenge is Sweet" the best. I liked the way the story was developed. Weak point was description and occasional awkward phrases like "she was also, as they say, stacked". "The Vulcan Dilema" was interesting, but very hard to believe in terms of Zakar's reaction to Spock (his awakening telepathy). "Darwin's Theory" was fun though I don't usually enjoy Trek fiction that doesn't deal with one of the show s characters and, preferably, the big three. I'd rather read regular sci-fi for that.

I had trouble with "Black Jac" because of that, since it was a heavier story emotionally. The color xerox came out well. I know they're a lot of trouble to fiddle with.

[Gayle F's] art appears on the back cover of this issue, and (cross your fingers) the cover of #3, if our print run is sufficient to support the cost of color separation. Barb purchased a GORGEOUS painting by Gayle (I'm jealous!), and we want to do it justice.

NOTE: We have continued to misspell "Dilema" on the letters page because it was spelled that way in issue #1 to which these letters refer. This error has been corrected in reprint.

Thank you for the big welcome and the Star Trek fanzine. It was a real treat to find a beautiful color cover on the front of The Captain's Woman. Captain Kara strikes a very independent pose which is representative of all the women in the zine stories. It is very refreshing to see Star Trek women as they would appear in the twenty-third century, barring any backslides of our progress. The stories were fascinating. My favorite was the "Vulcan Dilema", Part I. It best displays the so important friend ship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. It was nice to have McCoy show his backbone in the main part of the plot. Miss Pasel handled the humorous and caring interplays of Spock and McCoy very well. I liked the action in all the plots. I do wonder if "Black Jac" should have a sequel. [I agree. In trying to maintain point of view, I think I lost part of the story. - Rena] Something is missing in the background of the plot. What did the Captain decide on the Enterprise? Has Kirk given up his search for Jac?

Are we to conclude that Jac went to the Great Beyond, [Yup. - Rena] and Kirk called off the investigation of the Romulans? [Nope. - Rena] There were too many unanswered questions at the end. Overall, I think The Captain's Woman offers a long overdue view of our favorite characters and the action plots with women who can stand on their own in science fiction. [We agree. - Rena] Captain Kirk has some very real challenges on his hands in this zine. Congratulations on your first fanzine. [Thank you. - Rena] I shall be looking forward to your next issue, live long and prosper.

Yo! Ohboyohboyohboy! Got the zine! En joyed. Never saw a multi-colored zine cover before. NICE. (Color xerox?) Enjoyed "Revenge is Sweet," buckling swash on a galactic scale. (Tsk on the title.) The character of Kara has immense appeal. That she won the loyalty/respect of a Klingon first officer is an interesting note in itself. Long may you be spaced out.

103 unreduced xeroxed pp with 10 poor cartoonlike line drawings illoing the stories. Brightly colored ink and water color drawing on cover, presumably of the zine's name sake. If you are looking for Marlena and the Mirror Universe, stop right here, because the cover is the only place she appears. The editors freely admit choosing a "catchy" name with no evident qualms about possibly misleading the unwary buyer. The bulk of the zine is taken up by two continued stories another low blow for purchasers of this somewhat expensive effort. "Revenge Is Sweet", by editor Setzer, has a fragile plot which hinges on an incredible sequence of coincidences (and this is only part one), but shows promise of good writing potential and decidedly original plot twists. "The Vulcan Dilema" (sic) by Mary A. Pasel, suffers from misspellings and grammatical errors not apparent in the other stories, a constant annoyance to the reader but again, has a most interesting and original storyline. It has to do with Spock's and McCoy's capture by Romulans, their "liberation" of a Vulcan among their captors, and the problems with the latter after Kirk rescues them. B. Reitz's "Darwin's Theory" features a strong female protagonist reminiscent of Rogow's Dirty Nellie series, but even more unconventional. Kate "Little Hawk" is an investigative agent hired by Star Fleet to look into a sabotage in a plant producing a substance needed by both the Federation and the Klingons. When she is assigned a Klingon agent as a partner in this case, the fun begins. Good writing, strong story, excellent sf detail, by far the best material in the zine. I look forward to many more "Little Hawk" adventures. The remaining story, "Black Jack" by Rena Leith, features another strong woman—and weak man — in the Trek universe. In fact, though the editors deny any intentional feminist design, three of their choices provide strong female leads, though the one in "Revenge" is weakened by out-of-character advances to members of the E crew — so far. What this zine needs is offset and some print reduction, filling up the wide white spaces with what we pay for; a stronger editorial hand not among the writers; a proof reader; and a dictionary.

As is, the cost is much too high proportionate to content. But the hooks are well set on the serials, and I look forward to issue #2.

[These are comments by the editor, Barbara, regarding the above review]:

Dixie Owen sent us a copy of her review of our zine which appears in Mainly Trek #2. Since it is copyrighted, we cannot reprint it here. We do want to give you the gist of it, however. Dixie felt that the title and the appearance of Marlena on the cover [Marlena is NOT on the cover. - Rena] was misleading and that we had no "qualms" about doing this to the "unwary buyer." The continued stories were considered by her "a low blow." She stated that she considered the cost of the zine too high [Not with a color cover, the protective plastic and binding. - Rena] for the content which included "ten poor, cartoon-like line drawing illos." Her comments on "Revenge" were "a fragile plot line hinging on an incredible sequence of coincidences" and "showed promise of good writing potential." On the "Vulcan Dilema," she said it "had original plot twists" and an "interesting and original story line," but that misspellings and grammatical errors were a constant annoyance. She thought "Darwin's Theory" was well written with a "strong story" and "excellent SF detail" and was the "best story in the zine." She looks forward to more Little Hawk stories. She commented that we "need offset [I disagree. I've run an offset press, and the quality is OFTEN inferior. - Rena], print reduction, less white spaces, a stronger editorial hand, a proof reader and a dictionary." [Most of these complaints have been cleared up in issue #2. - Rena] Dixie considered "the hooks well set on the serial and looks forward to issue two." In response, we wish to restate our stand on the title. Also, Marlena Moreau was not on the cover. I'm not that bad an artist that I would draw such a glaring non-likeness. We also feel her inclusion of Bonnie Reitz's illos in her judgement of "poor, cartoon like" speaks for itself. We like Bonnie's art style a lot. [We used her "Sword Lady" for this issue's cover. - Rena] It has been our intention all along to improve our art quality with each issue. Our decision to reduce our page size was made last April, long before Dixie's review was written, and we also reiterate our explanation of our deadline problem. Now we close with a more biased opinion. - Barbara

Issue 2

front cover of issue #2, see credits below

back cover of issue #2, Gayle F..

The Captain's Woman 2 was published in August 1980 and contains 152 pages. Front cover by Bonnie Reitz (Sword Lady), C.L. Crouch (Border Design), Barbara J. Setzer (Colorist). Back cover by Gayle F. Other art by Becky Barnes, Michael Verina, Jean Setzer, and Rena Leith.

It was edited by Barbara Setzer, Rena Leith Weber and Michael Rightor.

The first (only?) printing was 200 copies.

[from the editorial by Michael]: The Captain's Woman, as many have noted, tends to deal with strong assertive females. This is in no way intended to reflect on the male of the species as inferior [Hah! -Barbara] [Double hah! -Rena], simply because that is not true.

[From the editorial by Barbara]:

We would like to thank everyone who bought The Captain's Woman #1. We sold out our first print run of 100 copies in one month. Elated by the success of the first issue, and as more orders came in, we decided to reprint #1 without the glitches in the first edition.

The print run of The Captain's Woman #2 is limited to 200 copies. As you can tell, we have made some changes, hopefully for the better. For one thing, we have decided to reduce our type size. We realize some people will welcome this as a way to reduce costs, but others won't like it because it makes the zine harder to read. Unless there is a loud protest, however, we will continue this format for The Captain's Woman. What we do for our other zines will depend on the amount of material involved. There have been some comments to the effect that we don't use offset. We would like to point out that printers vary. Our printer, and we feel that they are the best for us, will not use offset for a print run under 500 'cause xerox is far less expensive. Since their xerox 9500's reproduction is of comparable quality to offset, we will continue to use xerox until such time as our print runs reach 500 copies or we buy our own offset press.

We also feel that the quality of our art has improved tremendously and will con tinue to do so in future issues. Last spring we discovered a wealth of artistic talent in Austin, and you will be seeing more and better pieces. We are happy to be able to do some half-tone reproductions and will do more as money permits.

One thing that we have been anticipating is being able to do a color cover using color separation instead of color xerox. We have a beautiful [Gayle F] color piece that we have been dying to print, so maybe next issue. If our print run can be increased to 300, the color separation process would be cheaper per copy than Xerox.

[From the editorial by Rena]:

I complained last time because I didn't get a chance to edit, type, proof or write an editorial because we were running so close to deadline and because I live 1200 miles from Barb and the printer. I will never complain again. Michael (Rightor, the third member of our triumvirate) and I did all the typing and most of the proofing while I did all of the final editing (Yes, you can blame me for the errors this time).

[...]

As far as future issues go, I am pleased to report that Kara will return, possibly next issue, Mary Basel has two more Zakar stories planned, and Bonnie Reitz has agreed to do more Little Hawk stories.

As for me, I'm still experimenting. "The Changeling" was intended to be a longer story, but, because of other demands on my time, I ended it at a convenient spot. 'Weya's a character that I, personally, would like to write more about. Also, I may just write "Black Jac" from S'atria's point of view to clear up some of the misunder standing and, as Judy Decker mentions in her letter, to answer some questions most readers had.

But for the next issue, I'm outlining a story now in which Kirk finds himself with a "captain's woman" he could do without! Nancy Sidemar specializes in xenobiology and daydreams. Somehow, her duties aboard the Enterprise are always getting in the way of her imagined existence as the sultry temptress, N'annci, a woman who brings men to their knees with desire for her. Her main interest: the pirate captain, James T. Cirque.

Please continue to send letters of suggestion and commentary. Stories and art are, likewise, appreciated. If a writer prefers, I will read and make suggestions on a copy of the story and return it to the writer for work or approval. We enjoy working with creative and intelligent people. Live long and prosper.

• From The Trekless Wastes (editorial) (iii)
• "It's the Avon Lady" (iv)
• Attrektions and Retrektions (letters of comment) (v)
• Revenge Is Sweet Part II (Spock with Kara) by Barbara J. Setzer. Art by Barbara J. Setzer (35 pages) (Spock's only link to Kirk is the pirate captain, now a Federation prisoner.) (1)
• The Changeling (Spock meets an abandoned girl, then takes her to Vulcan to be raised.) by Rena Leith. Art by Rena Leith (35)
• Challenges by Mattie Jones. Art by The Enterprise Connection (45)
• From The Galactic Who's Who (15th Edition) by Kim E. Neidigh. Art by C.L. Crouch (67)
• Guiding Lights by Kim E. Neidigh. Art by J.Setzer (68)
• Farewell by Kim E. Neidigh. Art by C.L. Crouch (Kirk leaving the Enterprise) (70)
• The Vulcan Dilemma Part II (conclusion) by Mary A. Pasel. Art by Becky Barnes (Spock finds Zakar in Spock's bed and the warrior is not alone.) (71)
• The Last Word by C.L. Crouch (89)
• Hunters (Spock and Zakar) by Bonnie Reitz. Art by Bonnie Reitz (A tale of a werewolf and two Klingons after a bizarre mass murder.) (90)
• What Is The Sound Of One World Dying by Connie Crouch. Art by Connie Crouch (Chekov and Zelaph) (105)
• In Fond Delusion by Jarbella Gelansus Porlsuu, Rigel I (currently in the male phase) Translation by C.L. Crouch (139)
• An Awakening by Michel G. Rigtor. Art by Micheal Verina (During Spock’s second year at Star Fleet Academy, he got his first real taste of non-Vulcan life, an experience that would haunt him for many years.) (140)

• 

  Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  Rena Leith

• 

  The Enterprise Connection

• 

  C.L. Crouch

• 

  Becky Barnes

• 

  B. Rietz

• 

  C.L. Crouch

• 

  Michael Verina

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

[comments about issue #1 and #2 combined]:

Feel honored! You are holding in your little hand one of my very few and farbetween LOC's. Yes, I went to my purse, picked up a pen, sat myself down and began to writel Here it is! My views on The Captain's Woman 1 and 2. What did I think of TCW 1 and 2? Where to begin (how about the beginning?)?

The color covers went over great. I especially enjoyed Bonnie Reitz's cover on 2, though your cover on 1 isn't bad. I adored the way you have 1 and 2 bound. The way I (wo)manhandle my zines, I need the plastic cover (and the black stripping is so good). I hate it when zine spines start to fall apart when you first get them. No matter how good the zine, I'm really turned off by it, and usually don't buy anything by that.publisher again.

Now to the insides! The type, I am one of those people who don't mind reduced print-type when it means that the zine can put more stories in itself. My eyes are bad, but that doesn't mean I can't read your new type. Speaking of type, I want to compliment you on ho few typos I found. I can't [sic] spell, and my gramar's [sic] rotten, so I don't mind id [sic] a word or punctuation is wrong. I probably wouldn't know anyway! I do typing for Yeoman Press, and I know how difficult it is to type page after page after page...and not make mistakes. And then when you go proof it, you're so used to seeing the story that it all looks perfect (but, of course, it's not, so someone always finds a mistake you overlooked!).

The stories—in TCW l—Revenge Is Sweet. The Vulcan Dilemma. and Darwin's Theory are my favorites; in TCW 2—again Revenge Is Sweet & The Vulcan Dilemma and Hunters and Challenges. I really enjoyed reading about a strong woman character who knows exactly what she's doing, why she's doing it, and has enough principles to stick it out, no matter what the consequences. Keep Kara coming (I always wondered if you got a Vulcan drunk, could you seduce him. Thanks for the answer.) (Keep Sunar coming. OH! Those shoulders!) I thought Zakar was a riot. Out of the two zines he had my favorite line "My bed was too small." I just about died laughing when I saw that! I could just see Spock'e eyebrows elevate about 10 feet when he saw the 'unusual lump' in his bed then found out what it was! Hee Hee Hee Hee! Speaking of Zakar, those pictures by Becky Barnes (in TCW 2) of Zakar are fantastic. I can just see the mischief peeping out of his eyes, in the set of his shoulders.

Darwin's Theory by Bonnie Reitz (and also The Hunters) have some of my favorite aliens in them. I adore Klingons! (Nu Ornamel, Kershu, etc....) I think they're really fascinating. Most stories that they're in have them as the bad guys, but i always knew they weren't that bad. All bad guys in these situations aren't bad from their own points of view. Both stories gave differing interpretations of them. Though both sets of K's were chauvinistic! True K's! (How about the males?)

Well, I'm running out of space, so here's hoping TCW 3 is as well put together as 1 and 2. Also that Menage a Trois is the same. Keep up the good work. Love to all!

[comments about issue #1 and #2 combined]:

The Captain's Woman 1 & 2 were great! Those are my kind of stories! You have a unique zine, well written, with nice artwork. It's one I can leave laying around where my kids can read it if they like! A rare thing! If a few guys write stories, fine, variety is the spice of life. I glued No. 1 together, one page at a time. [Publisher's not: by the time this' request for CW 1 & 2 was made we had sold out of 2 and the reprint of 1, so we made a xerox copy, unbound,of both issues and mailed them to her for a predetermined fee. It was unfeasible to reprint again for as few requests as had been received.] Now I need to add a back and cover! Thanks so much for doing ail of it for me. I'm glad I didn't have to miss any of No. 1!

[comment from the editor, Michael]: Glad to hear, it's okay with you for guys to write ST stories. Only, kidding, but just be cause I'm not ga-ga over Kirk or Spock (or Scotty or McCoy, etc.) doesn't mean I can't appreciate some of the characterizations and developments included therein. Anyway, I'm sure glad The Captain's Woman 1 & 2 found a soft spot with you, as well as for your kids. We have high hopes and aspirations fpr'future issues as well. Stay with us as we conquer (WHOA, Boy, getting a bit high-handed there!) new vistas of fanzinedom!! — Michael

First things first...your zine was really good. Concerning your zine—my major source of distress was lack of information in the two continued stories as I love getting into characters and those were the kind that I could get into....

Zakar is a great character-definately [sic] a Vulcan to enjoy, wouldn't you say? A pleasant combination of two of my favorites: Romulans and Vulcans. Another Vulcan I liked was Sunar— I thought it a shame that one did not see more of him and was very pleased to see your comment when I went back and read the letters and comments., Even the little you had of him was very appealing— I, for one, hope he has a much larger part or at least appears again. I also like weir stories so your zine has really been a goldmine to me. All three characters in Hunters appealed to me a great deal—once again the most distressing thing was that it was too short.

Occassionally I get really distressed with zines and then one like yours comes along and keeps me spending way too much of my hard earned money trying to find more like it. Challenges had some interesting ideas but was not one of my favorites. The same was true of What is the Sound of One World Dying. The only thing that I really did not care for was page 89, I did not understand what the drawing was about besides the obvious and the characterization of Spock bothered me.

Great Heavens! Such an incredible leap from #1 to #2! (Stick it in your ear, Dixie Owen!) Stories, artwork (ARTWORK!), Michael Verina—*sigh* Color cover came out well (except those red lips — AGH! PTIU!) "Fat, fancy border turned out magnificent.

Oh, if you do decide to take my 3rd story—PLEASE send back the artwork (except motley crew of aliens). After seeing #2's, am ashamed of it. Can do better, (with backgrounds yet, even). Eeeeeee, Zakar on p. 79 is a sensuous-looking devil! Golly my very FIRST letter in a zine. Smooch on the answer to it [Does that mean you want a kiss on the reply, or that I qualify for one for having written a reply?—Lonely-hearted Michael]. **Sniff** nicest thing anybody ever said to me. **Snuffle** Bawdy joke—hmph. Liked Michael's story (Captain's Woman's Man? If you ain't the Captain that's liable to get you SHOT buster). Barb—liked part 2 better that part l (eeek!) You say der's another one yet? LIKED C.L. Crouch's illos-especially pp. 110 & 126. Story idea different, too.

Issue 3

cover of issue #3, by Gayle F, a four color-separation process. A fan in 1999 said: "Kirk and Spock in full color, slightly more than waist length, wearing 'fantasy medieval spandex' outfits (like some of the Nome covers), and raising an ornate chalice between them. The zine itself is gen, but you'd never know it from that cover. The editors probably thought it was inspired by Kraith, not K/S. <g>"

The Captain's Woman 3 contains 101 pages. It was published in September 1981.

Art is by Barbara J. Setzer, Rena Leith Weber, Bonnie Rietz, Rebecca Barnes, Janice Liedl, and Barbara P. Gordon.

It was edited by Rena, Barbara, and Michael.

[from the editorial by Barbara]:

Well, here we are again, folks. I imagine many of you were beginning to wonder if you would ever see this issue, and at times, we were wondering, too. A lot has happened to the three of us over the past twelve months, forcing us to delay all our zines. Now things are finally settling down so we should be running on schedule again with CW 4 which will be out in May, '82 (for MediaWestCon 2).

[snipped]

As you can see this issue is very different from the last, namely the full color cover, and the new type binding. We plan to continue this format with The Captain's Woman from now on. As a matter of fact, I already have the cover for issue 4. It is a beautiful piece by Sat Nam Kour [sic]. For those of you not familiar with her work, you are in for an experience.

I also have another announcement to make. As of this past month (August) BaReMi Press is now a printer as well as a zine publisher. We own an A.B. Dick offset press which has allowed us to price CW 3 quite inexpensively (considering the zine's size, color cover, & art reproduction work). We do a volume business in the sense we publish several magazines a year (we will be printing, for Rena, a quarterly science fiction magazine, as well as other special issues), so we can spread the cost of the press over,several projects. We are also looking for work from fandom so if any of you publish a zine or knows someone who does, please contact us for a bid on your job. In most case, I have little doubt that it will be substantially lower than your present printer. We have the advantage of being very familiar with zines unlike your run-of-the-mill printer so we know about convention deadlines, art reproduction, small budgets, etc., and we won't look at you funny when you bring in strange artwork and then ask you to explain why Kirk and Spock have their arms around each other. We also have an experienced pressman; Michael has four years' experience with the reproduction section of the Department of Natural Resources in Indiana. The bottom line here is that we hope to offer you high quality, low-cost service with a rapid turnaround time tailored to each editor's specific needs. And we won't disappear overnight with your money (an experience too many editors have had). If you are interested, please write us and I will be happy to send you more detailed business policies.

I would like to re-emphasize that we are still looking for art and story submissions. If you are interested send me a SASE for our editorial policy; if you are an artist, send a xerox copy of an example of your work. Thanks for buying Captain's Woman I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did putting it together. All comments are appreciated.

[from the editorial by Michael]:

Here it is—issue 3, one year after number 2 came out. I know you've drooled over the front cover [CLEAN IT UP!] by [Gayle F] glanced briefly at the table of contents page, and come to the conclusion that you were misled and deceived. Because where, after all that time and innumerable flyers and eager anticipation (well, hopefully, there was some eager anticipation out there, somewhere, .. maybe?), you may ask, is my story, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall"? Interesting question. I do have it. Really. It's just that, somewhere between the writing of the. story and the time when it was supposed to be typed for final copy—I did the following things; packed and helped Rena move to Boulder, Colorado [see above editorial], packed and moved myself (partially, at least) to Austin, Texas, and typed a major portion of this very issue. All of which has led to the temporary loss of my manuscript, so it became somewhat difficult to try and rewrite my entire story in the 37 minutes I had left before it went to press, at least if we still intended to have it ready for Denvention. I lost. On top of this, with the acquisition of an offset press to do our own production, I've been a little busy. However, Marlena Moreau will definitely appear in CW 4, posthumously if need be. Now, whereas that is not intended to be morbid, it does mean I will stop at NOTHING(!!) to see that it gets into print.

[snipped]

There is little else for me to say. There is actually a lot to talk about but I'm too worn out. The last seven days have been spent chained to a typewriter and I want a break. Any thing of critical importance can be found in new CW flyers. I'm finished. Peace and Long Life — Michael

• From the Trekless Wastes (editorial) by Barbara, Rena and Michael
• Attrektions and Retrektions
• Break Even by Bonnie Reitz (1) (reprinted in The Worlds of Bonnie Reitz)
• At My Side, poem by Patricia Dunn (17)
• Logic's Creed, poem by Patricia Dunn (17)
• Whom God Hath Joined by Kim L. Neidigh (18)
• Surak's Time, poem by Jim Green (21)
• Romulan Incident by D.E. Dabbs (22)
• Getting There by Kathleen Gaitley (32)
• Turnabout Command by Jay Marchand (34)
• Uhura, poem by Patricia Dunn (52)
• Enterprise, poem by Patricia Dunn (52)
• /!#&$%?!& by Rena Leith (53)
• Man Trap, poem by Linda Jeffrey (59)
• The Captain's Woman Story Contest by Mary Pasel (60)
• Lurker in the Darkness by Kim L. Neidigh (61)
• The Survivors by Kathleeen Gaitley (67)
• Someday, poem by Gene S. Delapenia (69)
• She's a Woman: Enterprise, poem by Gene S. Delapenia (69)
• In the Mind's Eye by Bonnie Reitz (70)
• For Miri, poem by Patricia Dunn (85)
• On the Edge of Forever by Patricia Dunn (85)
• Alicia by Susan Wolfe (86)
• On Amanda's Death, poem by Rebecca Zertuche (89)
• The Price of a Dream, part one by Barbara J. Setzer (89)
• The Encounter (no author listed) (102)
• Free Spacers' Press, ad (103)
• art by Gayle F (front cover), Bonnie Reitz, Rebecca Barnes and Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  inside art for issue #3, by Bonnie Reitz for the story, "Break Even"

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Rebecca Barnes

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Rebecca Barnes

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Barbara J. Setzer

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Barbara P. Gordon

• 

  inside page from issue #3, Barbara P. Gordon

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

This zine presents a strange dichotomy in appearance. The cover is an outstanding four-color Gayle F illo, and the zine itself is encased in wraparound perfect binding. The increase in total expense this could have caused is minimized by the editors doing their own printing on a newly acquired offset press. Unfortunately, the printing quality is extremely poor. The text is legible , but almost all 102 pages are marred by spearing, specks, join lines, and/or miscentering. One of the co-editors uses half her editorial as a solicitation of printing work from other zineds, promising high quality service, which makes Tigriffin wonder exactly what their reproduction standards are. ‘Break Even’ – stories centered around a touch, sassy female of mixed ancestry are legion in Trekfic. Generally, the heroine is the author’s hidden personality prototype come to cardboardy life. This story is an exception that proves the rule. The multi-talented Little Hawk is set against equally able protagonists and a decidedly difficult problem, with the result that the reader cannot assume her victory is a foregone conclusion, and keeps turning the pages with interest n the outcome and admiration for the writer’s skills. “Whom God Hath Joined’ – a good idea, adequately written. Zephram Cochran and the Companion are captured by a Klingon landing party, with the predictable results. If the events had been less predictable, or the insights of the Companion more alien, the story’s impact could have been stronger. ‘Romulan Incident’ – an excellent story, made so by its focus on an individual’s attitude toward a Romulan brought aboard when his ship is destroyed. The conclusion is emphatically not the sentimental outcome promoted by most fan writers, but a moving one just the same. ‘Getting There’ – this two-page vignette should have been expanded into a real story. Its theme, changes in career opportunities and advancement possibilities for female members of Starfleet, is too complex to do justice to in the brief space allotted. Well done within this limitation, but it is hard to be satisfied with good when great was possible. ‘Turnabout Command’ – good use of characterization and dialogue keep this story moving along quickly. The bridge crew turns up missing, due to the Enterprise accidently crossing a kind of transporter beam and the second shift, which includes Uhura, Riley, and Chekov, must take over. One noticeable flaw was Uhura’s failure to explain their emergence to a Romulan commander when he challenges their actions and presence near Romulan territory. It might not have averted the ensuing battle, but would have fulfilled a requirement for fleet command the Tigriffin thought was law – don’t be afraid to explain your motives, and think of battle as a last resort. Good story otherwise. ‘/!#&$%?!&’ -- the adventures of Ensign Nancy Sidemar, prone to fantasizing on duty and off, which gets her into predictable troubles. It’s light in tone, not overdone, and ends with ‘to be continued’ before the reader’s interest wanes, a sign of knowledgeable writing AND editing. ‘Lurker in Darkness’ – this story conjures up an interesting speculation, but it is difficult to tell what, if any, points the writer was trying to emphasize. A Vulcan researcher falls afoul of an alien mind-energy device he is attempting to restore, purportedly by tapping into the energy barrier of the galaxy. This comes across as an effort to legitimize the story by tying into an aired Trek, rather than a logical plot thread, because the ensuing results have little in common with those shown in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before.’ This writer has ability but needs practice and advice on how to construct a story for optimum results. ‘The Survivors’ – another vignette. This one stands well on its own; a warm look at Uhura in her retirement years before being visited by Spock. Particularly effective ending line. ‘In the Mind’s Eye’ – another story of a half-breed, this one a male. His charm as a protagonist lies in his attitude towards himself; though he possesses mental abilities that are impressive even to other telepathic races, he does not consider himself to be a super-normal hero type – a thoroughly refreshing change for Treklit readers… When his ship is attacked by Klingons, he allies with the survivors of a Romulan vessel in similar straits, to the horror of most of his crew; the Romulan war ended a mere six years ago. The crew of the Romulan vessel is a collection of the most fascinating, likeable aliens since the new crew additions in ‘Entropy Effect.’ … Best of Zine Award. ‘Alicia’ – wired, but not overdone story of a Vulcan taking a human wife, who is not what she seems. An interesting idea, saved from sticky sentimentally by telling it with Amanda as a narrator. ‘The Price of a Dream’ –with few exceptions, it is a very bad idea to run part of a story, to conclude or worse, continue it, in the next issue. It does injustice to the continuity of a good story and effectively destroys a poor one because the mind mercifully deletes painful experiences from the conscious memory. In this case, one would probably pick up the next section without undue confusion, but only because the plot consists almost exclusively of clichéd happenings presented with much hackneyed conversation. A disappointing ending to a fine zine. Overall contents: good, some wasted space, especially around the poetry. This white space is particularly prone to show the smears and specks from bad printing. Art: poor to excellent, the best thing that of Reitz and Barnes. The art tends NOT to suffer from the poor reproduction so evident in other places, which copies that makes for such low general quality in the reproduction area. Value: still a very worthwhile investment.

The Proposed 4th Issue

While it never got off the ground, the fourth issue appeared to be fairly complete in this announcement: "... is in progress and is scheduled for publication in May 1982. Includes stories by Reitz, Leith, Setzer, Pasel, Rightor, Dabbs, Neidgh, and others. Art by Barnes, Clark, Setzer, Gordon, Leith, and others. Full color cover by Sat Nam Kaur."

The proposed fourth issue was to contain winners/entries for a story contest, something that had been announced in the third issue:

!!ANNOUNCING !!!

THE FIRST CAPTAIN'S WOMAN STORY CONTEST ~ ALL ENTRANTS WELCOME

Below is a scene in search of a story. The Captain's Woman is seeking would-be and aspiring writers to supply the remaining portions. The only specification is that the scene written below must be included, verbatim, within the text of the story. There are no length limits or any other qualification, with the two exceptions that are standard Captain's Woman policy. Those two qualifications are that we do not allow Kirk/Spock stories, nor can there be any scenes of an explicit nature. Your imagination shall be the only thing restricting your ability. The winner will have his/her story published in the Captain's Woman in the next issue (Number 4, scheduled for May, 1982 publication). The deadline for all submissions, no exceptions, will be March 1, 1982.

Kirk was startled out of his sleep by a rustle in the bushes. Quickly grabbing the weapon at his side, he jumped to his feet, fully alert. In the moonlight he could make out a tall, slender form coming toward him with a spear. Suddenly the features of the man be came clear and Kirk shouted in shocked recognition. "Spock!"

The Vulcan seemed to hesitate at the sound of his name. In the brief pause. Kirk was given time to regain his wits and move clear of the lethal weapon that was suddenly thrust at him. "What the hell!? Spock?"

Spock paused again, eyeing Kirk, and then shouted in an unintelligible language. A dozen or so figures broke from the bushes and charged Kirk.