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Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2023: Week 47
Probe was a gen anthology zine that ran for twelve issues from 1974 to 1978.
Its main focus was Star Trek: The Original Series, with occasional issues dedicated to other fandoms and genres.
Probe was was published by Mpingo Press and edited by Winston A. Howlett.
Howlett is a black man, and his zine series contain articles, fiction, and meta that address and discuss racial topics in fandom and in society at large. Some examples are "First Prize, you think television is violent now? -- wait until tomorrow" in the first issue. and "Star Trek is a Racist Program, "a bold, controversial expose that no other 'zine would dare to print!," also in issue #1. Howlett stated that this second fanwork was satire.
Many of Howlett's fiction and commentary also address "women's liberation." One example, Terminal Case, was in the third issue. Howlett described it as "a Stunrod story featuring two views of women's liberation, both of them Black." One fan commented: "I especially appreciated the comments on Women's Lib. Couldn't really decide whether you're pro or con but, never the less, it provided food for thought. If I feel oppressed, a second-class citizen and victim of 'slavery', how much more intense must be the emotions of black Americans, particularly those that are women."
Howlett had very strong feelings about homosexuality, something he espoused at length in his review for Alternative: The Epilog to Orion which was printed in issue #9. This review generated strong controversy, mostly negative. Howlett addressed these reactions in a vehement open letter in the next issue where he (among other things) called homosexuality a "perversion" and an "abomination". This in turn caused much commentary, as well as the resignation and distancing of fans, including some of his own staff