Gordon Carleton

Fan
Name:	Gordon Carleton
Alias(es):
Type:	fanartist, fan writer, convention organizer
Fandoms:	Star Trek, Starsky & Hutch, Star Wars
Communities:
Other:
URL:	Facebook
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Frequent Con Attendee; 2 Essays & Meta; 3 A 1976 Fannish Autobiography; 4 Publications; 5 A Tiny Sample of Carleton's Art 5.1 1974; 5.2 1975; 5.3 1976; 5.4 1977; 5.5 1978; 5.6 1979; 5.7 1980; 5.8 1981; 5.9 1982; 5.10 1983; 5.11 1984; 5.12 1985; 5.13 1991; ; 6 References;

Gordon Carleton is, among many things, a fanzine illustrator, writer, caricaturist, con organizer, and puppeteer.

illo of Gordon Carleton, the artist is Phil Foglio

He published zines under the name T'Kuhtian Press and was one of the co-founders (along with Lori Chapek-Carleton whom he married in 1976) of MediaWest*Con. Gordon described his romance with Lori as one to the good things to come out of the disastrous Ourcon. ^[1].

Both Lori and Gordon were members and drivers of The Michigan State University Star Trek Club.

He has been a contributor to, among many others, Warped Space, Interphase, Menagerie, Pegasus, The Other Side of Paradise, The Star Trek Songbook and Beta Niobe Revisited.

Other fanac:

the slideshows City on the Edge of Whatever Slide Show and Supraman
the coloring book City on the Edge of Whatever Coloring Book
the Landing Party Six concept, and his persona: Girc'N
the "Star Trash" series ("The Man-Hatchery," "Journey to Babcon," and "Controllian Grid")
posters: Transporter Malfunction of the Month and Readers of the Lost Joke
con skit participant and creator: The Gumby Plays, many skits at MediaWest*Con

From the 1977 songbook for Solar Sailors:

Gordon Carleton.... is a closet T'Kuhtian married to a famous Trek-fanzine editor who is said to have carried him off in the dead of night. She keeps him locked up in an enchanted cave in Lansing, Michigan, where he draws splendid illustrations, night and day, for her fanzines. Gordon is the only fanzine artist known to have gone to Baskin-Robbins in a Wookie [sic] suit. Rumor has it the fur was his own.

portrait of Gordon and his wife, Lori, from Menagerie #11
a caricature by Gordon Carleton of Gordon Carleton printed in Paladin #1 in 1980
Gordon and Lori Carleton in 1976, one of the "Tablecloth Drawings" in Menagerie—this one by Phil Foglio, a fabulous line-up of BNFs
Gordon and Lori Carleton in 1976, one of the "Tablecloth Drawings: The Last Supper" in Menagerie—this one by Carleton, a fabulous line-up of BNFs

Frequent Con Attendee

Gordon was a frequent convention organizer and/or attendee.

Essays & Meta

STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Paramount (1983)
media no world con (1983)
Who Knows What E-Mail Lurks In The Hearts Of Fen? (1994)

A 1976 Fannish Autobiography

Gordon Carleton and Lori Chapek-Carleton were the "Featured Fen" in Menagerie #11. From Featured Fen -- Both Carletons: Gordon Carleton:

I saw a few episodes of Star Trek when the show was still first run. My memory of it is vague--what I recall is a lot of "nebulous clouds" so I probably caught "Obsession" or "Metamorphosis" first run and in repeats. I'm sure I saw a few other episodes too but at that time certain parental influences limited my Trek viewing ("You don't want to see that--CLICK!")
Anyway, I was hooked. Hard as it was at the time, I gathered information. Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek was out of print (I found someone who had a coverless, dog-eared copy). I bought a few of the Blish books and discovered those inaccuracies, I taped fragments of episodes and filmed them in black 5 white TV in Super8 (I had permission to use the school's videotape recorder, but the school was out of videotape! I couldn't afford to buy it myself). I stayed up all night before the day of my high school senior humanities presentation splicing the films and trying to cooI got so sick in fact that, had I not recorded the narration, I never could have made it through. I had constructed my first model of the USS Enterprise as accurately as I could at the time (the only color picture I had was the one on the AMT box and you know how accurate that is!). The model broke on the way to class. The room could not be made dark enough to see the film. The tape was at least audible. I still have the research paper. It's awful. But it got a 4.0 in my English class, where I also turned it in, senior year.
Even all that didn't deter me in my new quest. I went to STAR*Con 1 in Detroit. I went to STAR*Con 2 in Detroit. I discovered conventions were good for meeting members of the opposite sex. I also covered it for the State News [the Michigan State University student newspaper]. I have an interesting collection of photos from that one -- I keep meeting people in those photos I didn't know when I took them.
In Fall of '74 three young ladies showed up on the State News display advertising office where I hung out) to take out an ad for a new Star Trek club. I went to the second meeting. I observed. By the third meeting, Lori Chapek (one of the young ladies I had first seen in my office and had observed and judged competent at the second meeting) had announced the formation of a fanzine. Jane Clinkenbeard offered some artwork and a cover with a title -- WARPED SPACE. I presented three graphics I had kicking around.
Gene Roddenberry appeared on campus. Leonard Nimoy appeared on campus. I discovered such events as club meetings and lectures were good for meeting members of the opposite sex. I discovered meeting members of the opposite sex wasn't all that great for me. I went to a New York Convention. I saw Gene and Majel drunk. I met a friendly gopher and listened to some well known sf writers sound pretty drunk and stupid. I discovered meeting Michael McMasters ^[2] was not great for getting to know friendly gophers better.
I went to more conventions. I drew more pictures. We did more issues of WARPED SPACE. We put on Ourcon. Ourcon means different things to different people. To some people it means "debt." To me it's the point where I really started caring for Lori Chapek. A few conventions later we were married. Naturally it was a Trekkish wedding. Everyone in the wedding party wore an IDIC. You get the idea.
We still do WARPED SPACE. I still do Trek art for whoever. We still watch Trek. I suppose, in a way, we are Trek. After all, isn't that what fandom's about?

Publications

A Tiny Sample of Carleton's Art

1974

from Warped Space #1
from issue #1/2, . I met a friendly , gopher]] and li
from Warped Space #1/2

1975

from Warped Space #8, the Landing Party 6
from Warped Space #10
from Warped Space #13

1976

from Warped Space #16
from Warped Space #16
from Warped Space #20
from Warped Space #20
from Interphase #3: "Fandom took an immediate fancy to the imbecilic Mr. Gumby and began incorporating his characteristics into various stories and illos, no matter how inappropriate. Artist Gordon Carleton once dressed the entire Mego crew of the Enterprise in gumby atire, which inspired the infamous final illo of my story "The Tinman" -- from Paula Block in Syndizine #3 (1982)
from Beta Niobe Revisited
from Fanzine Review 'Zine #1

1977

from Showcase #4
from Sehlat's Roar #5
from Sehlat's Roar #5
from The Other Side of Paradise #2
from Obsc'zine #1
from Eel-Bird Banders' Bulletin #2
from Interphase #4: "One of Gordon's wonderful comic-style episode spoofs, this one of "The Tholian Web." Lovely little throw-away lines, like Kirk's "I had a whole zine to myself..." ^[3]
from Zebra Three #3

1978

from Obsc'zine #3 ("For Alice," which is likely Alice Jones)
from Naked Times #1
from King Grope
from City on the Edge of Whatever Coloring Book
Enterprise Incidents #6
from Fantasia #2
from IDIC #6]]
from Skywalker #1
from TrexIndex #4/5

1979

from Sing a Song of Trekkin'
from Warped Space #40
from Matter/Antimatter #2
from Pegasus #4
from Syndizine #1, "And Now For Something Completely Different..." foldout centerfold portraying John Cleese
from Syndizine #1

1980

from The Pits #1
from Dracula
from Facets #3

1981

from Syndizine #2
from Pegasus #5
from Gateway #1
from The Bedside Grope and Queen Grope
from Diverse Dimensions #1: "Hoth Surprise"
from Warped Space #45
from Warped Space #46
from Warped Space #46

1982

from Twin Suns #3
from Twin Suns #3
from Strange Justice, some Harlan Ellison adoration
from The Princess Tapes #2, commentary on The Other
from Alnitah Omnibus #2

1983

from Warped Space #48, E.T. gets his phone bill
from Facets #9/10

1984

from The Wookiee Commode #1

1985

from Warped Space #52
from Steele Files
from Abode of Strife #5, one of the characters portrayed here is The Romulan Commander

1991

"Readers of the Lost Joke"
from The Compleat Dirtie Nellie

References

^ "'Ourcon' means different things to different people. To some people it means "debt." To me it's the point where I really started caring for Lori Chapek. A few conventions later we were married. Naturally it was a Trekkish wedding." -- from Menagerie #11 (1976)
^ from Hailing Frequency #7 (1978): "Fans of "Star Trek" were shocked and saddened by the accidental death of Mike McMasters at his home on September 6, 1978. A brilliant talent, he is best known by fans for his replica of the Enterprise bridge, blueprints, and lectures. We at QUESTAR will remember him for the help he gave us at our mini-con last year. Besides being a dealer, he also gave a talk on the new bridge set that is being used in the "Star Trek" motion picture. We will miss him."
^ from Karen Halliday's Zinedex

[1] "'Ourcon' means different things to different people. To some people it means "debt." To me it's the point where I really started caring for Lori Chapek. A few conventions later we were married. Naturally it was a Trekkish wedding." -- from Menagerie #11 (1976)

[2] rom Hailing Frequency #7 (1978): "Fans of "Star Trek" were shocked and saddened by the accidental death of Mike McMasters at his home on September 6, 1978. A brilliant talent, he is best known by fans for his replica of the Enterprise bridge, blueprints, and lectures. We at QUESTAR will remember him for the help he gave us at our mini-con last year. Besides being a dealer, he also gave a talk on the new bridge set that is being used in the "Star Trek" motion picture. We will miss him."

[3] rom Karen Halliday's Zinedex

[1]

[2]

[3]

Fan
Name:	Gordon Carleton
Alias(es):
Type:	fanartist, fan writer, convention organizer
Fandoms:	Star Trek, Starsky & Hutch, Star Wars
Communities:
Other:
URL:	Facebook
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Frequent Con Attendee 2 Essays & Meta 3 A 1976 Fannish Autobiography 4 Publications 5 A Tiny Sample of Carleton's Art 5.1 1974 5.2 1975 5.3 1976 5.4 1977 5.5 1978 5.6 1979 5.7 1980 5.8 1981 5.9 1982 5.10 1983 5.11 1984 5.12 1985 5.13 1991 6 References