Kierestelli

Zine
Title:	Kierestelli
Publisher:	Australian Darkover Council
Editor(s):	Jill Curtin/Gillian Curtin
Date(s):	November 1980 (issue 1), 1985? (issue 2)
Series?:
Medium:	print
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Darkover & a small amount of Dragonriders of Pern
Language:	English
External Links:
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flyer from Empire Star #4, click to read

Kierestelli is a gen Darkover zine of fiction, art, and poetry. It was published in Australia. There appear to be two issues.

cover of issue #2, Pyracantha: "I Was A Pre-Raphaelite Pollen Fan: This was created for the cover of a Darkover fan magazine in Australia. Yes, there are (or were) Darkover fans Down Under. "Kierestelli" is a Darkovan lady's name which means "Crystal." The title of this damsel's picture is "Waiting for the Ghost Wind." The "Ghost Wind," on Darkover, is the springtime event of the pollination of psychedelic "kireseth" flowers, where the air is filled with intoxicating and aphrodisiac plant material which also enhances your psychic abilities. A few whiffs of this and your Darkovans, even the chaste maidens like this one, are ready to engage in springtime orgies! Remember that Marion Zimmer Bradley dreamed up a lot of this stuff in Berkeley, California in the 1960s and 1970s, when times were high. I used the "Pre-Raphaelite" 19th century art style for many of my Darkover pieces, but this one's description in my catalogue says it was adapted from a silent film player, Marie Doro, in a movie from 1918... Original art is black ink on illustration board, 8 1/2" x 11", May 1985."

It was originally a newsletter published every eight weeks, but was then planned to be an annual zine. It appears there were two issues.

Issue 1

Kierestelli 1 was published in Fall 1980 and contains over 100 pages.

• Diary of a Delicata ("When Nadiya is sold to the Lady Most High of Bast, her journey to her new home-world takes her to Darkover, she little realises how much that short detour will change her life, forever.")
• The Tangled Web ("A story approx. 40,000 words, set 20 years or so after the events in "World Wreckers." How Darkover finally overcomes Terra's interference, is told in this intriguing story.")
• A Dragon's Choice ("Why is it that Dragon's on Pern sometimes IMPRESS people who appear to be the most unlikely CANDIDATES? This short story explores the question.")
• Sybella ("A short story dealing with one of the popular 'anti-heroes' among Darkover 'fans.' IT deals with Dyan Ardais, and a brief interlude in his usually unhappy life.")
• Fetters by Jill Curtin (reprinted in Contes di Cottman IV #11)
• poetry and art

Issue 2

Kierestelli 2 was possibly published in 1985.

• Recontact by Lynne Holdom (reprinted in Contes di Cottman IV #1
• other unknown contact

Possible Original Art from Issue #2

Hannah Shapero Original Darkover Art "Young Dyan and the Blind Keeper" ... from the Shawcross Estate, and I've been asked to sell them all at whatever the market decides the price should be. So....You will never see a piece starting lower than this - it's a steal - for this original painting in ink tinted with watercolor on watercolor paper, illustrating a scene from a Darkover story by Marion Zimmer Bradley, that was originally commissioned for an Australian fanzine called "Kierestelli", published by Gillian Curtin of Tennyson, South Australia. It is unknown whether the illustration was ultimately published in the 'zine - the artwork was shown and purchased at DarkoverCon, 1985. This is a charming work, very appealingly painted, and is 9.5" x 7" matted in black to 14.25" x 11.25 and is signed in the artist's 'star' logo bottom right side, as well as titled on the back. Shapero was among a strong group of talented artists who began showing their work at sf conventions in the early 1980s, who has not only achieved commercial success as an illustrator but has simultaneously continued to manage a successful career as "fan artist" - creating hundreds of paintings inspired solely by her imagination, and/or the works of authors she (and a coterie of fans) admire - especially Marion Zimmer Bradley, and her Darkover tales. As a result, Shapero is as well known for her personal and privately commissioned works as for her published book covers . . . William E. Shawcross (1934 – 2012), or “Bill,” to those who knew him, was a collector of science fiction art at an important time; the mid 1980s. The 1980s was a time of unparalleled growth and opportunity - a time when publishers were hiring some of the most talented artists to ever enter the field. Those were the days when the best “up and coming” SF illustrators of the day – most of them living in and around New York City - were eager to attract the attentions of the art directors at the major “houses” (Ballantine, Baen, DAW, Tor, Del Rey, and others). They soon discovered that the best attended genre and game conventions on both coasts, especially those like "Boskone" in Boston - within travel distance of the publishers – were the place to do that. Very soon, the art displayed at cons attracted buyers drawn to the imagery, who - like Bill - began acquiring art from the best artists of the day.