Home to Roost (Star Trek: TOS zine)

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Zine
Title: Home to Roost
Publisher: IDIC
Editor(s): Sheila Clark & Valerie Piacentini
Date(s): 1989
Series?:
Medium: print
Genre:
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links:
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Home to Roost is a gen Star Trek: TOS fanzine published in Scotland.

It is a reprint zine, publishing stories by Sheila Clark and Valerie Piacentini that had been first published in non-ScoTpress zines.

The first issue of this zine series was the first zine published by IDIC.

Why IDIC and Not ScoTpress?

From the second zine's editorial:

We have been asked why, when we're already putting out zines through ScoTpress, we're putting out IDIC zines. There are several reasons - for example, clubs usually do put out zines; members who write like to have their stories in a club zine - but the main one is quite simply one of theme. ScoTpress is our own press and regular buyers of ScoTpress zines know that we have a fairly tight policy for theme of story, based on our personal preferences. This policy means that we have had to reject some very good, well written stories on the grounds of theme. IDIC's policy, however, is to consider anything except explicit sex. This means that IDIC can put out zines on a wider range of subject than we accept for ScoTpress, thus catering to those who prefer more variety in their reading matter. Some of the stories that are in the HOME TO ROOST series were originally submitted to other zines because we were members of the clubs involved; others, however, were submitted there because their themes were outwith our policy - even although we wrote them (i.e. Janet didn't like the theme and vetoed them).

Issue 1

over of issue #1

Home to Roost 1 was published in March 1989 and is 99 pages long.

From a 1989 ad:

On a planet in unexplored space, nothing mechanical works; Kirk meets Finnegan again; Kirk has been captured by Klingons and badly injured. The prognosis for his recovery is not good; and others.

From the zine's editorial:

Hello, and welcome to this, the first zine put out by IDIC.

We are getting some submissions for IDIC sines, but so far we don't have enough to put out one consisting of new stories. However, three or four months ago, Rosemary Irving asked me about a story Valerie and I had had printed in America fully ten years ago, and it occurred to us that over the years, Valerie and I had, between us, submitted a fair number of stories to other editors - some in Britain, some in America. With the possible exception of two that were reprinted, these have long been out of print - in most cases the zines involved were put out in the 1970s. Rosemary's inquiry reminded us of the existence of these stories, and we decided to gather them together and reprint them for IDIC - hence the name of the zine. These stories have come home to roost. We have done a minor - very minor - edit to some of the stories when we retyped them for this zine. Several were written a long time ago, when we were both very inexperienced, and when we looked at them again, we felt it showed. One off the stories in this issue is a 2-pager that was originally written as a competition entry for the American zine Contact; the first half page was the set piece which had to be explained. We are in the process of compiling a second issue of our stories from other zines, to be put out within a month of this one (we hope), and - with luck - there may even be a third in the autumn. We hope you enjoy them. As usual, we are looking for submissions of fiction, poetry and artwork; either original series or Next Generation. Since we are also putting out zines under the ScoTpress name, please indicate on your manuscript that this is a story submission for IDIC....

We are looking for action-adventure stories, preferably with some character inter-relationship. Alternate universe stories are acceptable. No X-rated stories, please! Anything else will be considered, as long as it is primarily about the established Trek universe characters or races - for example, we would consider a story that was wholly about Klingons or Romulans as these races appear in Trek. We are not, however, in the market for stories that are solely about totally original characters or races of the writers' own creation as this is entering the realms of original Science Fiction rather than Star Trek.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

I thoroughly enjoyed this zine. Of the six stories in the zine, I had only read "Always Tomorrow," and would therefore recommend it to anyone new to Star Trek fandom, and also anyone who (like me) hasn't been involved in fandom in a long while. My personal favourites are "Crossroads," "To Fear No Evil," and "Always Tomorrow," which is one of the best stories of its kind that I have ever read. [1]

In Crossroads, Kirk has taken himself off on leave alone - the others being occupied - and he is delayed in a space terminal. He is feeling lonely and morose, when he meets Finnegan, who is apparently a reformed character. Finnegan offers Kirk a job which would allow the Captain to settle down and marry. Kirk is very

tempted... I am not going to tell you the rest of the story, because it would spoil your read.

Always Tomorrow is by far my favourite story in the three zines. It is quite long, spanning a number of years. It is essentially a hurt/comfort story; it lias a very interesting ending. Kirk has been very seriously injured and is forced to resign from Starfleet after a very long period of recovery in which he is forced to readjust his life; this is a painful process for him. Both Spock and McCoy resign also. Kirk apparently makes a complete recovery, and the three go to work as undercover agents for the Federation. However, Kirk is actually under a medical death sentence because of an unresolved problem from his injury. Spock learns about this, but decides that the information should be kept from Kirk to improve the Captain's quality of life. With McCoy's approval he places a block on the Doctor's memory so that the emotional Human will not inadvertently alert Kirk to the fact that something is wrong. As time passes, the strain of his burden of knowledge begins to tell on Spock. [2]

Issue 2

cover of issue #2

Home to Roost 2 was published in April 1989 and is 98 pages long

From a 1989 ad:

Dr. Nimmo passes off Kirk's head as imaginary; Spock's mind has gone. The only possibility of a cure is highly unethical; a chilling little story of Vulcan logic -- to say more would give away the punch line; a diplomatic mission to a new world; and others.

From the zine's editorial:

Hello everyone, and welcome to this second issue of HOME TO ROOST.

As with the last issue, all of these stories were originally printed more than ten years ago in various zines, some of them in America, and all have been out of print for years. There's not terribly much else to say about these stories. Totally Illogical was the result of a suggestion by Ann Looker's son, who at the time was about ten years old - Ann and I were both going to write something baaed on the suggestion, but I came up with mine first and she ended up not doing one. The story originally went to Alnitah, however, because of the source of the inspiration. Just one thing for those of you who are bothered by typos - all the misplaced apostrophes throughout it are deliberate.

We do have enough stories left to produce a third issue of HOME TO ROOST later this year, probably in time for Midcon in October. It will be a little shorter than numbers 1 & 2, and will include two stories that have already been reprinted once (though not by us).

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

Very difficult to select a favourite here; but I think Reverie by Valerie Piacentini just has it. James T Kirk, Admiral, is just retiring. These are his thoughts on retirement. It has a positive ending with hope for a happy future. A curious little story in this collection is Totally Illogical by Sheila Clark; here Star Trek and its universe is Spock's dream, as a small boy. [3]

Issue 3

cover of issue #3

Home to Roost 3 was published in July 1989 and is 74 pages long.

From the zine's editorial:

Hello, everyone, welcome to this third and last issue of HOME TO ROOST. It's shorter than the other two, because we've now run out of stories that we had printed by other editors. Two of these stories - EXPOSURE and TEETH OF THE LYNX - have been reprinted already in this country, the one in an issue of Janet Hunt's CLASSIFIED ASSIGNMENTS [4] and the second in ALNITAH COLLECTED [5], but to the best of our knowledge both of these zines are now out of print. We can only apologise to anyone buying the zine if in fact they already have both of these stories.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

See reactions and reviews for The Teeth of the Lynx.

References

  1. ^ from IDIC #5
  2. ^ from IDIC #12
  3. ^ from IDIC #12
  4. ^ Actually that zine is slash, and the editor meant Computer Playback.
  5. ^ It's actually in Alnitah #4.
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