Interstellar Mail

Zine
Title:	Interstellar Mail
Publisher:	the same folks who put out Rim of Starlight
Editor(s):	Marion Beet and Julie Robinson
Date(s):	1978-1980
Series?:	yes
Medium:	print
Size:	A4
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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Interstellar Mail is a Star Trek: TOS anthology of fiction written in an series of letters written between the characters of Star Trek. They begin during their at the Starfleet Academy. Additional letters are interposed throughout the zine, broken down into the different interludes in the main characters’ lives.

There are at least two, though probably five or six more according to the page count of the collected zine.

Issue 1

Interstellar Mail 1 was published in 1978 and contains 44 pages. Includes art.

Issue 2

Interstellar Mail 2 was published in 1980 and contains 35 pages. Includes art.

Collected Issue

Mike Braun

Interstellar Mail Collected is a gen 160-page Star Trek: TOS collection of previous issues. It was published in 1981.

From an ad in the Mos' Eastly program book: "Popular demand has urged us to present a complete issue of the correspondance of our ne'er-do-well comrades: Adam, Ben-Ari, Benjamin and Boru. This volume will include the fateful meeting of the Unholy Four (Five), their pilgrimage through Starfleet's lower ranks and on to the fame and fortune of officers' country. All out-of-print letters, plus new letters recounting the latest (mis)adventures of our Foursome and their cohorts also appear."

• Academy Years (fiction written by Susan Hochman, Margaret Clark, and Rochelle Hausman and are "from" these characters, all of whom are OMCs: Rachel Adams, Emily Andrews, Maureen Boru, Leah Benjamin, and T'Prea Wzthklfm.) (5)
• First Assignment (49)
• Inmates, Friends, & Other Sentient Lifeforms (93)
• Fearsome Foursome (129)
• P.S. (157)

Reactions and Reviews: Collected Issue

The theme of this zine is stated clearly on the first page: "Have you ever noticed those anonymous crewmembers running a-round the halls of the Enterprise? Well, they live...work, love, hate, eat, drink, and write letters. We have reached into the Interstellar Mail and have extracted a series of correspondence to prove our point." I was delighted with the idea, wondering what kind of diverse lives the editors had invented. But, aside from two letters by Mindy Glazer's Fiona Feldman and Rich Kolker's Rich Relker, I was disappointed. We never learn how these characters "live, work, love, hate...." From their days in the Academy to their lives as starship officers, the four or five main characters are preoccupied only with getting in and out of trouble, partying, poker, drinking, and men. One is constantly hit over the head with the "Gee, aren't we such perfect little* devils? (wink, wink)" joke. A few letters describing some crazy escapades would've been fun to read. But page after page of the same "crazy little incidents" (practical jokes, misunderstandings, etc.) was just monotonous. There is too much cuteness, too many cutesy parenthetical asides, and cutesy slashed words. Plus, the incidents and characters themselves are contrived, forced, and repetitive. These characters are not real. One can barely tell them apart. These are caricatures, not characters. They tend to be obnoxious, silly, immature people, and one is mystified how they got their Lt. Commander stripes. Upon the death of one of their beloved Academy buddies, one of the them informs the others of the death in one or two sentences and blithely proceeds to talk about her desire for a promotion. There is no further mention of it, no reactions of the others to the news. Too many opportunities are missed. Why not also write about their impressions of the Academy, of the aliens they've met, of a starship? What kind of adjustments have they had to make to Academy, and later, to starship, life? What area of study are they interested in? Do they have any doubts about their decision to enter Starfleet? What about their work? What kind of adventures have they participated in as part of a starship crew (reading these letters, one would think starships never visit any planets)? Since we are with these people from their Academy days to their lives as top Starfleet officers, we should expect to see some changes, some growth. But these characters are indistinguishable from their days as Academy cadets. I honestly tried to like IMC. I know this zine was done with love and pride because it shows. It's nicely bound with neat offset (but too many typos), with amusing, if sparse, art by Mike Braun. But I cannot recommend it."

If you are a fan of the early Dorothy-Myfanwy T-NEGATIVE stories before they set their caps for our heroes, you will find IMC a delight. It purports to be letters written back and forth amongst women of StarFleet Academy suitemates, which include one incredulous Vulcan. Authors are Susan Hochman and Margaret Clark, who began this delightful madness as notes to each other to stave off boredom; fandom is the richer for their decision to make a whole zine out of their humble start.

The story begins as the suitemates gather for their freshman year, their reactions to each other and Fleet, expressed mainly through letters home, and continues as they stay in contact through vacation times an on into their various careers. The nature of their complicated pranks and problems changes with their maturation through the years, but are always entertaining. Of course I don't really believe that Captain Kirk would be as tolerant of weird goings-ons aboard ship where any error could endanger all their lives, but the authors manage to keep an authentic distance between the lowly "boots" and the lofty positions of the senior officers and make it all seem plausible. Not all the roomies end up on the E, I hasten to say, but spend enough time there in transit and whatever to shake up the Captain's sanity a few times. The story closes with Kirk's promotion to Admiral — and his desperate letter to a retired McCoy concerning his recurring nightmare of having all these kooks assigned to his crew at once. Good story, well done, always fun to observe the bridge crew from the lower reaches of the ship.