In regards to the rumors - I'm not surprised that they're circulating...

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Title:	In regards to the rumors - I'm not surprised that they're circulating... (The letter doesn't have a title. The title used on Fanlore is the first part of the first sentence of the letter.)
Creator:	Della Van Hise
Date(s):	December 1982
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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In regards to the rumors - I'm not surprised that they're circulating... is a December 1982 letter by Della Van Hise. It was a letter she had sent to a fan who'd inquired about the Naked Times 4/5, a zine she had paid for/paid an deposit on a long time ago. This letter was likely a "from letter" sent to many fans.

The fan passed the letter on to the editor of Communicator who then printed it in issue #10 in February 1983.

Note: if the zine in question was Naked Times 4/5 part one, then it had been published in roughly 1981. If the the zine in question was Naked Times 4/5 part 2, then it was eventually published in December 1984.

The novel Van Hise mentions is Killing Time that was later published July 1985.

The Letter

In regards to the rumors - I'm not surprised that they're circulating... I am, however, somewhat surprised at the content.

First of all, I do have every intention of sending NT4/5 to Britain and all other countries. Unfortunately, however, there are other factors involved - not the least of which is the fact that the US economy is now in a state of severe depression. Yes, yes, the politicians over here are calling it a "mere recession", but those of us who aren't employed as politicians or doctors or lawyers know otherwise. Just as a, matter of record, I know five people personally whose cars and homes are being re-possessed or foreclosed on...so you can get some vague idea of what's happening in the supposedly "great" United States of America. If I sound bitter, it's because, quite honestly, I am. When I finished high school and went into secretarial and computer-maintenance jobs, I was always told that "you'll always have a job here". To date, I've been laid off twice -and both times from jobs which would have made all the difference. I've never been fired - thank the gods - but getting laid off is sometimes worse. It's difficult to collect unemployment - what with the high percentage of unemployed persons trying to do just that - and, even in the best of times, unemployment benefits last less than one-solar year, *Sigh* To put it mildly, I'm now working two jobs, attempting to edit fanzines during my "sleeping" time - and essentially losing my mind because of the whole wretched mess. (Not meaning to say fanzines are a wretched mess - just the tine involved, etc.)

Now that I've given you my dissertation on the US economy, I'll give you the explanation of how it's affected me, 'Naked Times' and all other Pon Farr Press publications.

1) Since fanzines are strictly an amateur venture, they depend largely (in some cases, they depend entirely on an editor's ability to secure funds for printing them. In the case, of 'Naked Times', I've always taken advance orders - however, I need to point out that the $$$ taken in from advance orders is never enough to cover the entire cost of printing and mailing. In other words, an average issue of NT costs approximately $3,500 to print. That doesn't include postage, eireolopes, gasoline to the post office or anything else. Just printing. Okay, fine. With 'Naked Times 1-3, I was able to secure "small business loans" from loan companies who specialize in landing $$$ to people like fanzine editors and other folks who are borrowing less than $5,000. However - as I pointed out above - the economy over here is shot to hell - which means that almost every small loan company has stopped landing $$$ to small businesses. In short, only the so-called "rich folks" can borrow any money these days - and since the rich folks don't really need it but borrow it anyway, it leaves the rest of us (the middle-man and the little-man) out in the cold, so to speak. To put it in purely blunt and impersonal terms: advance orders covered the cost of printing half of NT4/5 (pages 1-135). That printing is already done, and the majority of copies have been mailed out to American subscribers - mainly because it costs 63 cents to mail a domestic copy, and over $5.00 to mail foreign copies. However, that it isn't to say I'm not planning on sending out my foreign copies. If just means that I'm not doing it as quickly as foreign subscribers wish I would/could.

I have never asked for anyone to send additional money to cover the cost of increased postal rates, I agree with you that the money sent in advance has gained adequate interest to cover that aspect. So, wherever that rumor started is questionable. As I said, I haven't asked for any additional $$$, nor would I want to accept it. But, by doing things my way, it's going to take a little longer. I don't like it. You don't like it, and neither does anyone else. But what it boils down to is the facts; you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. In other words, I can't spend what I don't have - and the reason I don't "have" it at the moment is because it's been spent on printing the zines. I'm covering the cost of postage out of my weekly paychecks - which doesn't go very far after the rent is paid and food is on the table. So....what else is there to..say?

In short and simple terms I am sending out the zines - just as quickly as humanly possible under present circumstances. I can't do any better than that as long as the economy is in the state it's in. If you know anyone else in the US, ask them about the "recession", and I think you'll find that it's not just limited to me and Pon Farr Press. With very few exceptions - such as "older" and more established families with 2-3 incomes, it's the same everywhere.

On a brighter note, I've just bad a novel accepted for publication by POCKETBOOKS - and am going to use the $$$ from that "to finish printing NT4/5,- 'Killing Time', and get the whole mass of it mailed out. So far, however, the publishing company hasn't forked over the $$$, so I can't be sure how soon that'll be. At my rate, it's something to look forward to - for all of us.

Believe me, no one wants to get this matter cleared up any more than I do. Unfortunately, our dear President Reagan is spending money up the ass for nuclear arms and unnecessary tactical weapons - and is letting the little-man's economy fall deeper and deeper into ruin. (As you can see, I didn't vote for the ex-actor!) We've got a budget in the billions of dollars for "defense spending" - and people who have never been "poor" in their lives are currently losing their homes, jobs, and their sanity. In my opinion, it's a high price for so-called "security" which already exists anyway. To put it mildly, I can't condone a president who sits in a big office, spending my tax money for defense spending when I'm working two jobs and still falling further behind.

Anyway... enough, of that, I'm enclosing a copy of my flyer which has been sent out
 to answer questions regarding my publication problems. I hope you'll pass it around and
that it'll be of some help to the folks over there. Please also pass along my own 
apologies for this mess. I love fandom and Trek and I'm not out to rip anyone off as
 we say in the states. It's just what I said before; I can't do what I don't have the 
funds to do at the moment. As soon as I get paid for the novel, however, I'm hoping to 
change all that and get things going on the right track again. In

In IDIC,

Della Van Hise

Fan Comments

Alayne Gelfand wrote a letter in which she defended Van Vise's reputation, and this letter. A fan responded:

The letter in Communicator from Della, which was published some time ago, was a personal reply to a previous letter of mine to her (which I passed on to Communicator's editor). When I wrote that letter to her, I had also waited 18 months for my zine. As that letter was sent to me in December '82, I had also been waiting 3 years? for my zine from Della. I can assure you that I am not the execution in this country or in Europe.

While I am delighted that you have received your zines, you are an American. No one, as far as I am aware, has had part 1 of Naked Times in Britain, and my three year wait pales into the insignificane compared with some people in this country. You say that we should give Della the trust and faith she needs. Trust, Alayne, is a two-way thing -- for people in this country she has done nothing to earn trust. I firmly believe that Della has no intentions of honoring foreign orders for Naked Times 4/5 and her statement that all foreign orders would be posed part 1 & 2 together frankly does not hold water. Rather than trust Della, I hold her to be dishonest and her treatment of British and European fans has soured many people to such an extent that they no longer preorder US zines, believing that they could be defrauded elsewhere also. If Della would care to refute this then I would be interested to hear.