FireTrine Press
| Zine Publisher | |
|---|---|
| Name: | FireTrine Press |
| Contact: | Jean Hinson and Pat Friedman |
| Type: | slash fanfic |
| Fandoms: | Star Trek: TOS, K/S, Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| Status: | defunct |
| Other: | |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
FireTrine Press published zines in the latter half of the 1980s and into the early 1990s.
The zines were K/S, Beauty and the Beast (TV) and one multifandom slash anthology series, Satyrnalia.
FireTrine Press zines were sold directly by Hinson until 1995.
After that, they were sold via their agent Bill Hupe.
By 1997, problems with Bill's successor, Peg Kennedy led Hinson to announce in a letter to the K/S Press #12:
To those of you who have ordered in the past from Bill Hupe and Peg Kennedy, my zines are no longer available from Peg: her copyright permission has been revoked.
FireTrine Press Ceased Publications: 1995
In July 1995, a fan implored fans to support The Zine Connection, and others by Jean Hinson in order to keep Hinson from gafiating.
Everyone: Just wanted to pas on some disturbing news that recently reached me. One of our most consistent and enduring zine editors is thinking of ceasing publication due to lack of orders and more importantly, lack of interest.
Jean Hinson, who publishers Way of the Warrior and "The Zine Connection" among others, under the name FireTrine Press is considering getting out of fan publishing.
How about sending a SASE for some flyers, If not, how about just dropping her a line to tell her how much you have appreciated her zines in the past and want her to continue.
Zine editors: Jean cannot keep tZC up to date without you sending periodic updates on your publications.
See last page of CT for her address. Come on people, lets keep Jean in fandom.[1]
This earnest letter was too late, as Hinson had ceased publishing her zines earlier that year.
A fan wrote:
Jean: I truly wish you would reconsider your intention of ceasing publication. Ever zine adds to world of diversity. K/S in particular, enriching it thus, enriching me (if I solely speak for myself.) "Way of the Warrior" has it's own place in that world, and I for one, would sorely miss it.
I think I have fallen into the trap of taking things for granted, and I sincerely apologize. I can't and won't speak for someone else, but still I don't think I'm alone when I say that it would be a loss. [2]
Hinson's Comments in June 1996
A year after folding The Zine Connection, Hinson offered her opinions on why she (and others) felt that K/S fandom, as well as print zine fandom, were floundering. She named lack of feedback, lack of venues for feedback, zine piracy, the Internet, skipping the postal service:
For a long time now, response from the readers of slash zines has been dropping off, yet everyone I know says that there is a shortage of new zines.
One of the reasons for this apparent anomaly is that there is a severe shortage of dependable advertising forums, probable due to a falling off of subscriptions (the reason for my cancellation of TZC.)
Another reason might be that there seems to be a new generation of zine readers, who are too impatient to wait a few weeks (we used to wait YEARS) for a new zine, so they buy only at cons. [3] The problem with that is that not all zine editors attend cons any more; we can't afford it. The mail is our only contact with our readers.
I suspect that are other reasons for the lagging response from readers, such as the pirates (an old problem), and now I understand that transfer of stories is taking place on the Internet.
Zine editors (and zines) are becoming an endangered species, I'll spare you a lesson on the economics of zine production - ask any zine editor what it takes to produce a new zine.
But for those of you who weren't around when zine fandom began: I've said this before, but I'll say it once more. Production and readership is a symbiotic relationship: one can't exist without the other.
You - the readers of fanzines - are the reason zines exist. When you stop communications with the editors, whether with comments or complaints, we begin to wonder why we're doing this. And when we have to wonder too long, we begin to find other things to do.
Zines
Beauty and the Beast
- The Faces of Darkness (1991)
- The Promise (Beauty and the Beast (TV)) (1989)
Star Trek: TOS
- Between Friends (1990)
- Impact (1985)
- Nightmare Road (1991)
- Nor No Man Ever Loved (the US edition) (1989)
- Off the Wall (1991-1993)
- Sojourns (1988)
- Twilight Trek (1990-1992)
- The Way of the Warrior (1987-1996)
Other
- Satyrnalia (1992-1997)
- The Zine Connection (1991-1995)
References
- ^ from Come Together #19
- ^ from Come Together #21
- ^ Many fans had been burned by the long wait/non delivery of zines in the mail by some high-profile publishers such as Pon Farr Press, and had scaled back on getting zines in the mail, choosing instead to buy them at conventions.