Kontinuing Saga

Zine
Title:	Kontinuing Saga
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Della Williamson
Date(s):	1987
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

though not credited in the zine, it is signed: Barbara P. Gordon

the original art, dated 1984, titled "T'hy'la"

Kontinuing Saga is a slash 136-page anthology published in Canada by Della Williamson. It has a cover by Barbara P. Gordon and four reprinted interior illos by Gayle F. that originally appeared in Thrust and at least one other unknown zine.

The zine states there is fiction by D. Cooper, but that name doesn't appear in the table of contents.

Despite the fact one ad stated, "No violence, no slaves, and no pon farr. Just love and adventure," there are two stories that feature slaves.

From the Editorial

I hope you enjoy this 'zine' as much as 'we' enjoyed get ting the material, reading it, and laying out this labor of love.

[snipped]

As much as I love Star Trek and it's fandom - IT IS A HOBBY! Something done in my spare time AFTER necessary chores are done. The delay in getting this zine out has been worrisome to many of you and I am in Truth - deeply sorry. BUT, this

IS A HOBBY! It has HAD to take second place in the plethora of family problems that we have been plagued with over the past two years.

Contents

• Editor's Comments (2)
• Paints, poem by Robin Hood (3)
• Slave for a Day, fiction by Elsbeth and Della ("On the shore leave planet, Spock conjures up pre-reform Vulcan where he captures the beautiful human slave called Kirk.") (4)
• Beginnings, poem by Vera (22)
• Time Enough, poem by Vera (23)
• Long Time To Wait, fiction by Marcella Belle ("While negotiating peace with the Romulans, Kirk faces his his desire for Spock Slave.") (24)
• Silent Victory, poem by (44)
• Dreams Within Dreams, fiction by Robin Hood ("After Kirk and Spock's minds are unintentionally invaded by aliens, the after-effects are dreams of each other as their buried desires are given life.") (also in Beside Myself #2) (45)
• Thorns, poem by Robin Hood (63)

• Crossroads, fiction by Charlotte Frost ("Kirk returns from an assignment to join Spock on the Enterprise, where they finally agree to bond at the end of the Academy term.") (64)
• Wounds, poem by Robin Hood (76)
• The Little Things, poem by Vera (77)
• A Taste of the Common, fiction by Monica Voila ("Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise officers go undercover when they discover that the Excelsior was set to blow up when she went into warp, and was only prevented from it by Scotty's sabotage.") (78)
• Phantom, poem by Robin Hood (122)
• untitled poem by Robin Hood (122)
• Faithful, fiction by Robin Hood ("Spock remembers after the fal tor pan.") (123)
• Night Sounds, poem by Robin Hood (126)
• Two By Two, fiction by Elizabeth Wyhte ("After Amanda's death, both Kirk and Spock are concerned for Sarek, until a friend from Sarek's past shows up to comfort him.") (127)
• The Scent of Home, poem by Vera (inside back cover)

Sample Interior

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Reactions and Reviews

[My story "Dreams Within Dreams"is] a reprint from Kahntinuing Saga [sic]. I've reprinted it [in Beside Myself] because very, very few fans actually got their copies of that zine, and those of you who did, read a non-edited version of this story. Enough said.

This zine came to me from a friend who was given it by a friend, who.... You get the idea. While trading zines around is far from unusual, I had to ask myself why did no one want this zine back when the trading was done? After reading it, I had my answer. KONTINUING SAGA is a collection of poorly written, very poorly typed, poorly printed stories from 6 authors, among whom are some fairly well known people. I have to assume that these are either some of their lesser efforts, or these writers usually get more editing than they did in this zine.

First of all we have SLAVE FOR A DAY. This is a common-Spock-on-the-Shore-Leave-Planet-fantasizing-about-Kirk story. It leans strongly toward the 'amateur' side of fanzine writing, to be kind. The plot is contrived, the telling of the story is unbelievable and trite, the writing itself is jumbled and poorly constructed.

Next, we have LONG TIME TO WAIT by Marcella Belle (Marcella Belton perhaps?). This is very reminiscent of Marcella's past stories. Kirk runs into a Romulan who seduces him and sends him back to Spock who is angered by Kirk's 'betrayal'. Another highly contrived story that had potential but fell flat as the plot was poorly constructed, rushed, and not written in the smoothest form I've ever read.

DREAMS WITHIN DREAMS had quite a bit of potential. The story is nice, Kirk and McCoy are both having strange dreams about Spock that lead Kirk and Spock to admitting their feelings for each other. However, this reads like a first draft of the story. I think it's pretty sad when a story reads badly because the editor didn't take time to polish the roughness out of it, which wouldn't have taken much effort in this case.

CROSSROADS is another story about the night of the Kobayashi Maru test, the night before the infamous journey that brings Kirk and Spock into contact with Khan for the second, fatal time. The is a nice story, competently written, but, again, the editor decided not to take any time to crush up the rough draft. This is at times awkward simply because no time was taken to smooth it out.

There are three more stories in this zine, but they aren't really worth talking about. The characterization, as in most of the other stories, is either just slightly off or very off so that the stories read nearly like parodies of other K/S stories.

The poetry is unremarkable, written solely by Vera Barga and Robin Hood. I admit, though, that I am not a poetry fan, especially when that poetry centers on Star Trek 2 Themes.

As for art, there's really not much. The cover, by Barbara Gordon (even though it isn't credited) is not bad as far as Barbara Gordon art goes (which means I find it slightly distasteful.) It is xeroxed very badly onto bright yellow card stock which does nothing to better the already lacking drawing. As for inside art, the only illustrations are reprints of Gayle F's, one from "Night of the Dragon" in Thrust and one from "The Price" in The Price and The Prize...

Now, to be fair, Della Williamson does state that she did this zine as a hobby in her spare time, etc. But what zine editor doesn't do it as a hobby in her spare time? It's my understanding that that is the nature of zines... The fact that this zine was done as a 'hobby' is no excuse for the poor quality of work inside this zine...