Frontiers (Star Trek convention zine)

Zine
Title:	Frontiers
Publisher:	"Produced for Frontiers '90 by FIB"
Editor(s):
Date(s):	undated, but possibly 1990
Series?:
Medium:	print
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS & Star Trek: TNG
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Frontiers is a gen Star Trek: TOS (mostly) and TNG zine. It is a 156-page con zine for the 29th Star Trek convention in the UK.

It contains two pieces of uncredited art.

Contents

front cover

• The Supplicant by Gillian Cheseldine (1)
• The Insult by Gillian Cheseldine (31)
• The Long Silence by Sandy Catchick (52)
• SoQ Hegh by Lilian Lewis (61)
• Not in Front of the Captain by Linda C. Wood (62)
• Time on Our Side by Rosemary Hull (63)
• Death of a Starman by Joanne Clayton (64)
• Soliloquy by Miri Rana (65)
• Maelstrom by Linda C. Wood (66)
• Reminiscences by Oriel Cooper (72)
• The Visitor by Oriel cooper (73)
• All I Ask by Bo Maxwell (74)
• Reflections on the Holodeck by Oriel Cooper (77)
• A Dream of Iowa by James Swallow (80)
• Wanting the Stars by Gillian Cheseldine (18)

interior art, uncredited

• Share Your Pain with Me by Wendy Scott (83)
• Conflict of Emotions by Andromeda Halpin (84)
• Cosmic Thoughts by Linda C. Wood (103)
• Yellow Eyes by Sandy Catchick (105)
• Sarek and Son by Gillian Cheseldine (106)
• A Desperate Situation by Oriel Cooper (108)
• Ian's Song by Kyle Hanson (114)
• Less Than Human...? by Kyle Hanson (115)
• Alone by Miri Rana (116)
• Middle Man by Sandy Catchick (117)
• Memories by Lilian Lewis (118)

interior art, uncredited

• Integration by Linda C. Wood (119)
• Lady of the Galaxy by Heather Hanlon (127)
• Remembered by Heather Hanlon (128)
• Measure of a Man by Judie Von Der Fecht (129)
• The Gift by Judie Von Der Fecht (130)
• The Spirit of Star Trek by Christine J. Jones (131)
• Sarek by Christine J. Jones (132)
• Bigotry by Sandy Catchick (133)
• Trek Ballad by Terry Moran (151)

Reactions and Reviews

This zine contains the entries for the fiction/poetry competition at Frontiers '90. I have always liked the idea of having a zine like this ready tor the con. It gives the chance to have read the stories, and so to appreciate the prizewinners duly; however, this is not always possible, as compiling a zine of this nature involves a considerable amount of work. FIB are to be thanked for undertaking the task on behalf of the Frontiers committee.

Being a competition zine, the contents are mixed, 8 Classic Trek stories, 2 TNG, and 25 poetry entries. The standard is extremely high, although the winning TNG story by Mary Soon Moore has not been printed.

'The Supplicant' deals with Sarek's second marriage after Amanda's death, 'The Insult' with Worf's reaction to being the object of a crush. Gillian Cheseidine is a new author to me; she makes good use of her own characters, and I will be interested to see more of her writing. Sandy Catchick's 'Long Silence' deals with the events of Journey to Babel from Sarek's point of view, and her 'Bigotry' describes the aftermath of 'Balance of Terror'. Linda Wood was the winning author in the Classic Trek section. 'Maelstrom' has the Enterprise returning to the centre of the galaxy, 'Integration' describes very movingly how a meld between Kirk and Spock finally restores all Spock's memories after Voyage Home. Also winners were Bo Maxwell, whose 'All I Ask' deals with Kirk's thoughts before the trial at the end of Voyage Home; and Oriel Cooper, who in 'Reflections on the Holodeck' shows Data's attempts to understand the death of Tasha Yar, and who in 'A Desperate Situation' uses the classic cave scenario to depict a well-drawn exchange between McCoy and Spock. Andromeda Halpin also takes Sarek as her main character, and explores how he would survive pon farr while Amanda is seriously ill.

The poetry covers a wide range of themes, and is also of a high standard; Rosemary Hull and Sandy Catchick were worthy winners in this section.

This zine would be well worth buying simply as a souvenir of an extremely good convention, but is it also an enjoyable, varied collection in its own rignt. Some readers might be put off by the mix of series, but if you have been avoiding TNG fiction until now, this would be a relatively painless way of sampling it, with only 2 of the stories being TNG. Possibly when the new series has been more widely seen, and fan writers have become more accustomed to the characters, we will begin to see a wider range of fiction.