Anne Elizabeth Zeek
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Anne Elizabeth Zeek |
| Alias(es): | Gerald Roberts, Andrinia Lewis, Elspeth Mosher |
| Type: | Fan Writer, Fanzine Editor |
| Fandoms: | Star Wars, multimedia, Pern, Man From Atlantis, Dracula, War of the Worlds |
| Communities: | |
| Other: | |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Anne Elizabeth Zeek was an early Star Wars fan writer and editor, known for her Circle of Fire Star Wars stories and for editing the multimedia zine Time Warp. In 1982, she won the FanQ award for 'Best Star Wars Writer'. In 1985 her Circle of Fire stories were collected in Collected Circle of Fire, and in 1986 her Star Wars stories were collected and published in a single volume The Compleat Zeek.
Anne's involvement in fandom began in the late 1970s, when fans expressed the wish for more letterzines. In response, Anne and Regina Gottesman published Right of Statement, featuring letters and fanzine reviews. 4 issues were published in 1979. Anne and Regina published together until 1982, when they split to work on different publications. Also in 1982, Anne won the FanQ Award for 'Best Star Wars Writer.'
Anne passed away April 9, 2020 of complications from COVID-19.[1]
In Her Own Words
In 1982, when Anne was nominated for a FanQ award, she submitted the following bio to The Annual Fan Q Awards Nominations Booklet:
"...has been involved with active fandom since about 1976. Shortly after being exposed to the wonders of an active fan life, she started writing fanfiction. Before she knew it, she was attending cons, editing fanzines letter hacking, and....but then, the same thing has happened to just about all of us, right? As for the fandoms she's been involved in--the main reason she ever got involved with ST to begin with was her lifelong sf/fantasy involvement. From there, an active interest in ST and SW was inevitable. She's also, to a lesser extent, been involved with Pern fandom, MAN FROM ATLANTIS, DRACULA, and such. (Not to mention all those lovely things she'd love to be involved in if she had the time. Things like THE AVENGERS/THE NEW AVENGERS, RAT PATROL, etc.). She's been published or has stuff coming up in TIME WARP, SEHLAT'S ROAR, INTERPHASE, GUARDIAN, WARPED SPACE, TWIN SUNS, PERN PORTFOLIO, DRACULA, PEGASUS, EQUAL SPACE, STARWINGS, IMPERIAL ENTANGLEMENTS, ALDERAANI IMPERATIVE, OUTLAND CHRONICLES and others. She's been nominated for the Fan Q's before, in 1978 and 1981."
Slow Boat to Bespin
In 1981, Anne wrote a short Star Wars story exploring what might have happened between Han and Leia after 'Empire Strikes Back' which created some controversy. Her story "Slow Boat to Bespin: as it could have happened" and its parody companion piece "Slow Boat to Bespin 2: as it probably occurred" by Barbara Wenk were published in Guardian #3, a fanzine that published adult fan fiction based on Star Wars and Star Trek characters. Boldly Writing argues that "neither [story] was any more explicit than countless female crewmember-beds-Spock stories that Star Trek fans had been writing for years." Notwithstanding, in September 1981, Maureen Garrett head of the Official Star Wars club, sent a cease and desist order to the publishers of Guardian claiming that issue #3 of the fanzine had violated the informal policy of George Lucas to tolerate fan fiction, provided it was not 'pornographic."[2]
Also see: Open Letter to Star Wars Zine Publishers by Maureen Garrett.
Road to Damascus
In 1991, Anne and Deborah Laymon were hard at work on a War of the Worlds zine called "Road to Damascus," a zine that was never published. It may be her last fanwork. Zeek comments on "Road to Damascus":
Deb and I have now plotted out at least three two-hundred-verging-on-three-hundred page volumes of an episodic "novel" with the overall title of The Road to Damascus. Quite a change from five years of deadly silence, eh? Now I've got the stories, and the characters, and the plots, and the situations --and nowhere near enough hours in the day to produce it all, not with a job as all-out time-consuming as mine. And this fan universe would, none of it, exist without the inspiration WOW provided.[3]
References
- ^ In Memoriam, Archived version
- ^ "McCardle, "Fan Fiction: What's All The Fuss?"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-20.
- ^ from The Blackwood Project #11, see Proposed Zines for a flyer of this anthology