JACKIE!
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | JACKIE! |
| Publisher: | |
| Editor(s): | |
| Type: | |
| Date(s): | 1981 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | scanned here: JACKIE!, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
JACKIE! is a 20-page zine published by fans in the UK.
The contents were created in 1979 and were compiled in this 1981 publication.
The zine is a satire about the kind of officious fan who was prone to joining clubs like the “Society,” as well as commentary on Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
The zine was published by various conspirators of the fictitious “The Jacqueline Lichtenberg Appreciation Society,” This "Society” was created by a group of British fans (Christopher Priest, Peter Weston, Kevin Smith and other members of British Science Fiction fandom in the late 1970s) who were bemused by the author’s work (and what they felt to be imperious demands). Their “admiration” was far from sincere.
The fanzine was composed of a series of 15 “Broadsheets” and press releases, many purportedly dealing with preparation for Lichtenberg’s appearance at the 1979 World Convention in Brighton, as well as a series of fictional, satirical letters between Lichtenberg and Charles Platt in regards to a real book titled Who Writes Science Fiction?.
This fanwork contains Lichtenberg's real life address, as well as some ham-handed commentary on the real and serious personal problems of a fan, and in that way, oversteps some lines.
Some Context
Other 'special publications' at SEACON were the now legendary Jacqueline Lichtenberg Appreciation Society Newsletters, published by diverse hands and much enlivening the convention. Started in response to a letter from Lichtenberg -- an author then and now unpublished in the UK -- to Malcolm Edwards demanding SEACON '79 provide her with a room where she could meet her fans, the JLAS was basically a number of fannish fans who had fun by gleefully issuing these scurrilous broadsheets before, during, and after the con. (The joke continued in various forms until 1981, when all the surviving broadsheets were collected as JACKIE!, a booklet sold in aid of TAFF.) The JLAS activities so incensed Marion Zimmer Bradley that she demanded of concom member Kevin Williams that he find the perpetrators and have them thrown out of the convention which, of course, he didn't. No sensahumour, some people.
Some Topics Discussed, Mentioned, and Satirized
- Lichetenberg's Sime~Gen books and sex
- Marion Zimmer Bradley and Darkover books
- the close relationship between Bradley and Lichtenberg, nods to Anne McCaffrey
- fans and their uncritical support of the objects of their admiration
- the perceived silliness of Star Trek: TOS fans among "traditional" science fiction fans
- Worldcon
- is an example of gatekeeping, see Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom
- is an example of tensions among fans and their origins, see Feral
- an example of male fans, their stomping grounds, power, and female fans
Examples
The many typos and misspellings are deliberate.
Jacqueline Lightenberg is coming to Britain! This author of a lot of important science fiction novels, some of them about Star Trek as you know, is to visit our humble shores! Not since David Gerold told us the one about Harlan, not since Harlan himself stood on a box at the One Tun, not since Charlie Platt threw a custard pie at Ted White... not since any of these major fannish events has there ever been an equal to Jacqueline Lichtenburg's imminent arrival.
Her British fans are invited to join the J.L.A.S. today and stand up and be counted.
Jacqueline Lichtenstein [sic], celebrated authoress of some novels, of which only one is about Star Trek, needs no introduction we know. Reknowned in American fandom and all ready [sic] a major celebrity, Jacquline Lichtenberg is very good very nice and a great author as you dont need to be told. Those In Control have not allowed her books to be published in Britain, which is a scandal and a disgrace and just proves things. Campaign for your right to read her! Who are the mandarins who censure what you read? Why are her books unpublishable here? Set things straight! Join the J.L.A.S. today!
Just sent 50p to D. West, 48 Norman Street, Bingly, Yorks, which is the usual address. You will receive a bummer package of J.L.A.S. goodies, including:
- A BADGE, which has to be worn at Seacon.
- A free list of BOOKSELLERS who import one of her books.
- A list of APPROVED SF-WRITERS (compiled by J.L. herself in person).
- A copy of the AUTHORIZED J.L.A.S. Magazine, including the following articles:
- The Sime Stories - What Are They All About? by L.R.A. Kettle
- House of Zero - A Cognitive Approach to the Predictive Metaphysics of J. Lichtenburg by Darko Suvin
- Jackie - A Personal Memoir by Anne McCaffrey
- The First Twelve Months, a checklist by Gerald Bishop
- Pictures! Reviews! A fan-letter!
Don't forget - Jacueline Lichtenberg will be at Seacon and will be taking neofans on their usual tour of the book-room. Only badge-wearers will be admitted. ("I cannot remember the last time a bookroom was so interesting," said Rob Jackson in Miami. "She pointed to books several times," enthused Rog Peyton. "I have thrown away my truss, and now have read two books all the way through. Thanks, Jackie!" said Alexei Panshin.
- Wear your badge at all times!
- Hands across the Galaxy!
- Join the J.L.A.S. today!
AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE J.L.A.S.
We Are Still in Controll. To all loyall members of J.L.A.S., we send the message that the Comittee of the J.L.A.S. are running things as we did from the beginning and will go on doing so while we have the chance. During the scifi convention in Brighton, ugly scenes too place all over the place as a power-struggle developed. We of the J.L.A.S. took No Notice of this, because we were busy running things, like the book-room. A group of selfstyled subvursives, all of who are thought to be communists, but not fascists see below, tried a palace coupe and overthrew us all but failed. We know the names of these people and are remembering them for future use, because J.L.A.S. is free and fair and democratic and holds free elections, unlike other people who don't really like Jackie's books, and go around dressing up in Star Trek costumes and like Marion Zimmer Bradley's books, ha ha, and aren't very good at running things.
Dear Charles:
I was thrilled to receive your most recent letter! Yes, I shall certainly answer you questions with the greatest of pleasure.
First, though, I want to scotch that rumor about someone suffering a nosebleed because of my book. It is entirely apocryphal. The only harm anyone ever came to while reading one of my books (and this indirectly answers your last question), was that one of the Doubleday copyeditors unfortunately went blind in one eye through working on UNTO ZEOR, FOREVER.
And as for A.A. Milne...it’s an unfamiliar name, I'm afraid. What has she written? Has she created a universe too? (I've checked back with MZB, but she draws a blank too.)
You're extremely perceptive! Hare I ever had first-hand experience of sexual abnormality, you enquire. You've put your finger directly on the clue to understanding my work. No...I'm completely normal, I'm glad to say. But your question about homosexuality requires more space for its answer.
Until I wrote HOUSE OF ZEOR the word had only dictionary definition for me. It honestly never occurred to me that people could be could attracted to others of the same sex — and this attitude is still deeper in my thinking than I really like to admit, considering the world as it is [The revelations continue, as Jackie unwisely confides in Platt. IS IT TRUE that there can be love without SEX??? Soon, ALL (and we mean ALL) will be revealed in... BROADSHEET 14 a jlsa production (genuine)] today. But when MZB read a draft of HOUSE OF ZEOR she pointed out that I was implying a sexual relationship between Klyd and Valleroy when I had no such intentions. I merely wanted to point out that sexuality had nothing whatever to do with their emotional dynamics. That is a basic premise of the Sime universe - that there can be total emotional intimacy between two people who do not find themselves sexually attracted to one another - and it will be a recurring theme of my world. I just can't swallow Freud's attitude that every motivation leads back into sexual motivations, and they are basically sick. As I say, I am completely normal, and I see sex - and emotional intimacy - as essentially healthy manifestations of human psychology.
In fact, I just today drafted a premise for a whole new series of novels using a new form of emotional intimacy without any sexual overtones.
MZB has suggested that my huge blankness in and around this subject might be due to psychological repressions. Certainly, I have some whoppers lurking down there somewhere. I have decided, consciously at least, that it just isn't normal to be unaware of the sex appeal of one's own sex. How long it will take for that decision to work its way down to where it will make a real difference in my thought processes I don't know.
I believe the real subject-matter of the Sime stories -- which I briefly would describe as the emotional intimacy of one race for another - is one in which all the details about emotion, such as lateral flaps, glandular orifices, sensitive tentacles, breakable membranes, retractable sheaths and above all the beautiful selyn fluid... all this is best handled without sexual overtones, so that the essential healthiness of my stories comes through. You do see that, don't you? [1]
