Catch the Final Sunrise!

Zine
Title:	Catch the Final Sunrise!
Publisher:	Vendredi Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Deb Walsh
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	May 1977
Medium:	print zine, fanfic
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Space: 1999
Language:	English
External Links:	Read about the zine's history and download a copy here, Archived version
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The cover can also be seen at My Life in Fandom - Deb Walsh's Zines - Zine Title, ^{Archived version}

flyer from Warped Space #31/32, click to read

flyer from Alpha Newsletter #12

Catch the Final Sunrise! is an 84-page gen Space: 1999 AU novel written by Deb Walsh and published in 1977. It was her first zine.

From a 1977 Ad

CATCH THE FINAL SUNRISE is an illustrated 1999 novelette by Debbie Walsh. On June 25, 2006, the trinary star system of "Apollo" is explored for the first tine, and its fourth orbiting planet, later named "Pandora," is chosen for intense exploration. Spirits are high as Maya, Tony, and Alan break through the cloud layer into the atmosphere of Pandora, but something goes wrong... and Alpha is faced with one of its strangest and most difficult, challenges in its history. In the story Paul Morrow and David Kane return from their research project, Project Bergmann, to help out in Command Center, and first season characters meet with second season characters in an exciting new adventure. It will be offset printed and available in May.

From the Author

[About crafting the story]: My goal in writing this story was to bring the two season[s] of Space:1999 together into a unified universe. I had grand plans for an entire series of stories, listed at the end of the zine. I think I ultimately completed and published only one or two of them. One of the things I learned doing this zine are the perils of self-publishing. We didn't have terms like "beta reader" back then, but the people I asked to be my editors were really only interested in having their favorite characters in every zine. So by the time the zine was published, there were still some glaring problems, major plotholes, and laughable dialogue. I vowed I would never allow a writer being published in my to go through what I did with that one... [About creating the cover]: In 1977, Zip-o-Tone and presstype were the only way you could really add graphics to a piece of art intentded for a fanzine. I was thrilled to find a graduated grayscale that allowed me to add the darkening effect to the background of the cover art for 'Catch the Final Sunrise!' For it's time, it was pretty spiffy, and definitely eye-catching on the dealer's table.

I published my first zine in 1977 (a self-published novel that SUCKS bigtime, but at the time it seemed like a good idea - lots of art, anyway). I burned out a typewriter doing it - it literally caught on fire.

August Party '77 - I publish my first zine! Catch the Final Sunrise! is a self-published Space: 1999 novella. I learn a very quick and rather painful lesson regarding the difference between friends who edit and editors who are also friends, when a professional writer picks up the zine, flips through it, and laughs out loud then accuses me of plagiarism. Note: As of August 2010, I have yet to read any of her fiction. I also vow that no one published in one of my zines will have to undergo that reaction.

Reactions and Reviews

About the missing links between the season, I know the perfect place to find them. Deborah Walsh's zine Catch the Final Sunrise! promises to do the job of tying the seasons together fantastically. Try it, you might like it!

"Catch the Final Sunrise!" is the first "cross over" story to have appeared in print fandom. This novelette is the story that tells of how the format of Year 1 became the format of Year II. The story opens in the Year II setting with Koenig and the Command Center crew attempting to establish contact with an eagle that was carrying Maya, Tony, and Alan on a reconnaissance mission to a new planet. Things on Alpha have begun to malfunction, eagles won't take off, laser guns won't function, etx. Alpha is paralyzed. During this emergency Paul and Kano are called out of hiding and while the main story progresses we learn about Year I to Year II transition through the mental flashbacks of the Alphans. On the planet, Alan, Tony, and Maya are all suffering various ailments caused by the crash of their eagle. Tony's injured his leg, Alan is blinding, and Maya has amnesia. Between the goings on on Alpha we follow the efforts or the three on the planet is inhabited by an advanced race of people who are causing the trouble on Alpha... The story of "Sunrise" is a pretty good in essence and the writing's pretty good. There are a few scenes that seem to distort the characterizations a littl (would Paul really become angry at Sandra out of blind jealousy?.... would Koenig really go off to his quarters for a nap while Alpha is in the middle of a dire crisis?) but overall they are pretty well done. The main thing that distracts from this 'zine is the artwork. For the most part the sketches are at best only barely adequate. Good artwork would benefit this story a good deal. Following the story is a character listing, a glossary of terms, a chronology of the Year II episodes, a list of clubs and zines, and a letter from the editor/illustrator/author, Debbie Walsh. All in all, "Sunrise" isn't a bad 'zine. The story is already and is nicely put together. The few places of poor characterizations are more than made up for by the well done scenes and characterizations. If only the art could have been improved upon.

I just got my copy of Catch the Final Sunrise. It's really good. I feel like I've been waiting for it forever. Not that it took that long to come, you understand, I just wanted it so badly! Anyhow, the final product justifies all that anticipation. The story's so good. The characters are real. They interact like you'd expect then to. And, best of all, no matter who you love they are there. Nobody got slighted. I have to give Deborah Walsh a lot of credit. Just writing a story of that length is a big old job. But then she went and did all those pictures. Sit down and put your feet up for a minute, Deb. You deserve it.

[Takes place] 2511 days after leaving Earth orbit--fan fiction by Deborah M. Walsh--writer intended it to be before the Bringers of Wonder part one but the system of dating the stories is wrong all over the place--meaning from every known source and on screen dates and times don't help much either. Add to that the fact that on Earth hundreds of years would go by as the Moon sailed on in one year---well we have Earth dates and Moon dates and days after leaving orbit--it's enough to drive some moon mad! Clearly though, the writer here imagines that it is really the year 2006. Now perhaps that is Earth time but the writer also uses this as Alphan time. Appearing: Tony, Maya, Victor, David, Paul, Command Center, Shermeen Williams, Jackie and Cynthia Crawford, Mathias, Ben Vincent, Magus, Kate--an operative from Season One and somewhat in Season Two. New Aliens: Mackron of Viron, Gelon android in Viron control, Sivar--female android in Viron center. New Alphan personnel: Stan Lucas-Weapons Section, Morgan Hughes--now a 30 yr old Life Support tech, Peter Marlowe--medical corpsman, Bill Stevens--boyfriend of ex-Main Mission operative Tanya, Tanya as well as Paul and Kano joined Project Bergman in early 2000 (during the time of the METAMORPH). Story ends June 25th, 2006 and 2511 days after leaving Earth orbit. Also mentioned: Annette Fraser, Regina, Anna and Luke, Kali--Alan's one true love who died of some disease, Sally Martin, Mark Saunders, Carolyn Powell, Michelle Osgood, Petrov, Picard, Torrens, Mike Ryan, Greg Sanderson, Ed Spencer, Yasko, Zarl, Arkadia, Beta Cloud, Black suns and holes, chrysalis planet, Crytah---animal the Platho, Attera a single sun system with five ringed moons, among them the penal colony Crytah, Dorca and Dorcons, Kcredi--from planet Xlare it converts matter into energy, Piri, Scyrz--home of the Thraanal---a monster reptile.

Other Fans Write in This Universe

• "The Brewerie" by an unknown author: Tony and Victor story, perhaps in Project Bergman Quarterly Report
• "A Bond Between Friends" by an unknown author: about what really happened to Victor
• "Housewarming" by an unknown author: the move to Command Center from Main Mission
• "Children of Darkness, Children of Light" by an unknown author: a story about the psychological effects that having no children has on the Alphan women.