Destiny of Science Fiction

Zine
Title:	Destiny of Science Fiction
Publisher:	Bob Sourk, out of San Diego, California
Editor(s):	Bob Sourk
Type:	newsletter
Date(s):	January 1975-Fall 1975
Frequency:	"regularly"
Medium:	print
Fandom:	science fiction, heavy Star Trek content (at least in the first issue), graphic novels
Language:	English
External Links:
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Destiny of Science Fiction is a "journal of news, views, and reviews related to the field of SF. Available for Art, Writings, News, or 20¢." There were three issues.

It has some cross-pollination with S.T.A.R. San Diego, a San Diego State University fan club.

Issue 1

Destiny of Science Fiction 1 was published in January 1975 and contains 10 pages.

front page of issue #1

It has a lot of Star Trek content.

"To celebrate our first issue, MEGA Productions Unlimited staged a partial eclipse of the Sun last Friday the 13th. Later, following a standing ovation, we topped it off with a modest meteor shower. Hope you liked the show. We aim to please."

• bits of news in the science field, also UFOS
• a detailed recount of a club meeting for "S.T.A.R. San Diego" that was held November 23, 1974 at San Diego State University
• clippings from various sources, some from San Diego State University's student newspaper ("The Student Paper"), "The San Diego Union" (see The Voyages Continue), "Los Angeles Free Press," "Calpirg" [apparently referring to CalPIRG Student Group].
• "Jefferson Starship was in town last month. They put on an adequate concert, but I think I prefer their records."

• "A completely notated music book of the Star Trek themes and background scores is estimated to be completed by December '74 by the STAR Organization. This estimate may be a bit off due to the great amount STAR has been putting into this year's Equicon/Filmcon."

• 

  meeting minutes for the November 1974 gathering of S.T.A.R. San Diego

• 

  You Are Receiving This Zine Because

Issue 2

Destiny 2 was published in Spring 1975, cost 25c, and has 16 pages. The cover features a Dave Stevens depiction of Commando Cody from the 1950s Republic Pictures serials. Sourk forgot to alternate the even/odd layout pages before publishing and the pages are all out of sequence.

"Slowly he creeps, step by step, inch by inch, around the corner, and "...ohmighod no! Itsa nother fanzine." "Yes you fool -- it IS another fanzine. Hidden away from the authorities on the snowy peaks high above San Diego I've experimented for months on my plot to overthrow fandom with the straw that broke the camels [sic] back. And at last I've succeeded. Watch now as I add this vinegar to the baking soda, and..." "Nooo..."

• Marmalade and Conventions -- convention reviews
• Buckminster Fuller Report Notes on a lecture, probably given at San Diego State University. "There are Honey beings and Money beings. We are told early that there is not enough to go around. It's either me or them (you)."
• Thought Waves on Larry Vincent, by William Lund. (Vincent, who as the cadaverous clown "Seymour" had hosted the Saturday night "Fright Night" movies on KHJ, had just died.)
• Lund follows the Seymour retrospective with some notes on upcoming films: "Paramount and Gene Roddenberry's Norway Productions have announced definite plans on making a theatrical movie based [on] the tv series Star Trek. Roddenberry shall be Executive Producer and will write the script for the movie. Work is now underway on re-constructing the sets and the starship. The original USS Enterprise was donated to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Negotiations are being made with the original cast, although there is a chance William Shatner, and possibly Leonard Nimoy, won't be back. Shatner said he enjoyed the show, but probably wouldn't do it again unless the other actors and actresses agreed to perform their characters again. Chances are that the majority of the original cast will agree, because they haven't done much since the tv series. Only Shatner and Nimoy have enjoyed a profitable acting career since the end of the third season of Star Trek."
• The Death of the Horror Film, by Paul Sammon. Discussing the increasing popularity of horror movies like Night of the Living Dead, Fearless Vampire Killers, etc., where the monster is not defeated and the good guys lose. "So mourn the heady victories, the unvanquishable hero, the happy ending. Darkness is upon us -- and the light of day has never been as dim, or weak. Evil lives!"
• Finally Absent (fiction) by James Hyde
• Plastic Pap, television reviews by Dave Szurek: while he feels that we might be going through a "golden age" of situation comedy (Good Times, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Hot L Baltimore, etc.), most tv is highly overrated and total crud. "But who can expect perfection in a medium which has usually reached for mediocrity at best?"
• Philosophy Corner, by T. Bathroom Wall: "To do is to be" = Sartre "To be is to do" = Nietzsche "Do be do be Do" = Sinatra.
• Why Are You Staying In, by John Franks: snarky response to an ad about re-enlisting in the Army. "This piece is dedicated to Colleen, and all the other innocents abroad."
• Book reviews (Samuel R. Delaney, Dhalgren; Karl E. Wagner, Bloodstone (a Kane adventure); A. Bertram Chandler, The Big Black Mark ("space opera without a doubt"); Michael Bishop, A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire (he compares it to Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness).
• Zine reviews (In the Shadow of the Monolith 39-42, Tales from Texas 3, Wyrd 4, Scuzmothre 2 ("Gary Hubbard spends five pgs on why he doesn't believe in reincarnation."), many others.
• Letters, ads, convention & other announcements.

Art by William Rotsler, Scott Shaw, Barry Alfonso and Sheryl Birkhead.

There, that ought to hold the little Bug-Eyed Monsters. What?! We're not off the air yet?! Oh hell, there go the ratings!! *CLICK* Hey Edith, see what else is on, heh? And bring me another Bheer. - Not Insane, Bob"

Issue 3

Destiny 3 was published in Fall 1975, cost 35c, and has 16 pages. The cover art is "Trilobite" by Steve Garris. The back cover and page 5 both feature "Wash-and-Werewolf" by Bill Stout.

"Welcome to the belatedly last issue of Destiny SF #3, published by Bob Sourk... I'm dropping this project in order to start on a much grander scaled one, The Science Fiction Bazaar, an adzine for you know what, and available for a dime. All subscriptions will be automatically transfered [sic] over to it, but refunds are of course available on request. All authors within, whether living or dead, have little touch with reality, so, Give the Univese [sic] Way; there's hope only if you're here. Good bye Ruby Tuesday."

• Shulay the Agaraggae by Bob Sourk. A convention report of sorts.
• Millions Now Living Need Never Die! by Robert Anton Wilson. A plan for DNA control.
• W.R. Wilkins, Communique (poetry)
• Barbara Houlton, "How to Read Science Fiction for Free" - Houlton suggests availing yourself of public libraries, including inter-library loan.
• Two stories by Jon Inouye, "Cloning Clown" and "Fadechild"
• Zen Mysticism, by Dave Clark (humor)
• The Plan for Everything, by Lily-Sabina Fairweather; a proposed regular column. According to a radical biological interpretation, Mr. Spock may actually be very emotional; he is almost always the one who has the high poetic intuitions, while Kirk is the one who behaves like a classic Rationalist.
• Violence - Yes! by Paul Sammon. "What keeps movies going? Two things -- the kiss & the knife." Discusses the necessity of violence in American cinema, to "appeal to and stimulate the beast-child we daily repress".
• Pool Scene Poetry - four-word impressions of the 1975 Comic Con
• Al Fry, "Fact or Fiction," science fiction and the feeling of tapping into a deeper or more internal reality. Discusses "energy exchange points" at various places on earth, and alien visitations.
• Dick O'Malley, "Dungeons & Dragons" - history and intro. Using fantasy, science fiction and comic book characters and situations in game plans. Mentions an attempt to adapt the Cal Tech steam tunnel network into a dungeon with horrible skuretygard monsters lurking around every corner. Sourk adds a bit about sitting in on a game at UC San Diego's Fantasy and Science Fiction Society. "Anyway, after much swashbuckling and daring-do, I got eaten by a dinosaur; and that was that."
• William Lund, Thought Waves: "It's a bright new season on (fill in the name of network here) this fall. We have the best crap in the world for your pure erotic (pant, pant) and masochistic (kill, kill) pleasure. For a Stupor Season watch (insert film clip here). So tune in this Fall when you feel like barfing." With a few exceptions, he names When Things Were Rotten, Fay, Barbary Coast among others. Mentions Space: 1999 and Nimoy setting to host and narrate The Coral Jungle. Friends and co-workers of actress Barbara Colby offer a $15,000 reward. [Her murderer has yet to be found.] "For all you Star Trek fans, the movie will definitely feature the cast from the tv series (i.e., Nimoy, Shatner, Kelley, Doohan), as well as ten roles to be filled by box-office stars along the lines of The Towering Inferno and Earthquake."
• Ken Krueger, "Don't Feel Bad David, It's Nothing To Get Upset Over" -- a few words about David Gerrold and autographing remaindered books.
• Bob Sourk, movie commentaries (Idaho Transfer, Luana, Schlock, The Last Days of Men On Earth, Rollerball, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and A Boy and His Dog). Reprints interview with screenwriter-director L.Q. Jones in Iconoclast (Dallas, June 20-27, 1975).
• Book reviews: Peter Mandler does a counter-review of Delaney's Dhalgren, and Sourk looks at Harlan Ellison's The Other Glass Teat
• Conquering Urge, poem by Jim Pianfetti
• Frank Catalano, "Coming Apart at the Seams" In-depth essay on Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom.
• Steve Simmons, "Shadow Wings". An Indiana expatriate asks: Why are there so few fantasy/science fiction conventions in Southern California?
• Convention reviews, fanzine reviews, letters and classified ads. Art by Steve Garris, Bill Stout, Barry Alfonso, Sheryl Birkhead, Nancy Lund, William Morse, Owen Nesbitt and William Rotsler.