Leaping to Conclusions

Zine
Title:	Leaping to Conclusions
Publisher:	Roundtable Press/Polaris Press
Editor(s):	Lorraine Bartlett
Date(s):	February 1992
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Quantum Leap
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover, Karen River

back cover by Bobbi Jo Simons

Leaping to Conclusions is a 108-page long gen Quantum Leap anthology.

The art is Karen River, Doranna Durgin, Anne Muscarella, Kate Nuernberg, Bobbi Jo Simons, and Frank Solomon.

This one-shot zine grew out of a writers group, they were originally going to do Trek, but then decided on a QL zine instead.

Comments from the Contributors

From Doranna Durgin:

Roundtable Press had its origins in the wistful thought that it sure would be nice to have a group in which to talk writing. (Doesn't every writer want her secret stuff critiqued and ripped asunder?) And the Roundtable made that wistful thought a reality. But of course, we wanted more. We wanted to sink our teeth into a project Quantum Leap turned out to be the greatest common denominator. The zine hasn't turned out to be a binder-buster, but considering the range of experience and interest inherent in any writers' group such as ours (thanks, too, to Mike Ruff for his comments and suggestions), I think we DONE GOOD. Heck, we finished it, didn't we?

From Sara Arnold:

There's a lot of dreck on tv these days; so, it both surprises and delights me that a program of this quality has survived on network TV for nearly four seasons.

That's not to say there haven't been a few problems along the way, such as lapses in continuity. (Let's see, is it Sam's body leaping, or only his mindl) I'm also getting used to seeing my ideas appear on the series almost before I can put them on paper. (Do you want to hear what I said when 'The Leap Back" turned my story into an alternate universe tale? No, I thought not) But the pleasure in watching this inventive, thoughtful program far outweighs those problems.

For me, the attraction of QL is the characters. Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci are without a doubt two of the most complex, interesting people I have ever met They have depth, a claim not many series characters can make. Of course, much of that can be attributed to the efforts and enormous talent of Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. The writers have also given them a lot of good material to work with. Right from the start, I realized these were people I wanted to get to know, who would be worth my time, and I haven't been proven wrong yet.

We all hope you enjoy the stories in this zine. They represent time and effort of course, but more important, they represent caring—about the characters, about the program, and about the fans. I'm proud to have been associated with it.

Gooshie, center me on Sam!

From Lorraine Bartlett:

I admit that this fanzine is an experiment. Can four friends in a writers' group get together, put out a fanzine and still remain friends? The answer is yes. Will there be a second issue? Probably not. It's been fun, but we'll probably spend more time discussing writing and critiquing our individual work, rather than working on a large-scale project. But such a project could not have been completed without help. Our thanks go to all our contributors with a couple of special mentions: Kate and Bobbi Jo came through with last-minute art, and extra special thanks go to my husband Frank. He endured my frustrations when the computer ate the typeset version of Shannon's story, plus helped with tricky layout problems, ruined a good pair of shoes when picking up the paper for this issue, and trucked across the city for supplies and the offset printing. What a great guy!

This issue contains work from all of us at Roundtable Press, plus stories from some old and newfound friends) I hope you'll enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together! And please let us know what you think about the work contained within these pages. We'll share all the letters of comment with our contributors!

Leaping toward the future!

Contents

• Comments from the Culprits by Editors (2)
• The First Day of the Rest of Your Lives by Rebecca Reeves ("A version of the initial leap from Al's point of view.") (4)
• A Naughty Little Wicked QL Episode Guide by Anonymus (23)
• Life is But a Dream by Micheal Ruff ("Sam wakes up in familiar surroundings, has he really leaped home? Sort of, but was he ever really gone and how can he prove it.") (24)
• The Wandering Thoughts of a Traveler by Blaine Morgan (27)
• A Race Against Time by Anne Muscarella ("Sam leaps into a high school track meet ... on the girl's team. Alice has been abused at home and Sam has to stop it to protect her and her brothers.") (28)
• Sam's Dilemma by Ellen Henry (49)
• Breaking the Rules by Lorraine Bartlett ("Al keeps his promise to visit Theresa Bruckner. She's a science whiz in high school now and the project needs her help.") (50)
• The Leap by Blaine Morgan (62)
• For Want of a Nail by Doranna Durgin ("Sam's back on a farm, with a mare about to give birth. Can he help the horse and the family at the same time - and which is his real mission? An example of the ripple effect of time travel.") (64)
• The Road Not Traveled by Sara Arnold ("An alternate universe story. Sam leaps into a version of Donna Alessi's future where she did marry the first guy and became a university professor instead of working on StarBright. Lot's of emotion for Sam, he's leaped into her husband but can't let himself take advantage of that situation.") (71)
• I Do (But Do I Have To?) by Shannon O'Connor ("Sam leaps into a groom at the rehearsal for a hastily arranged wedding. It's 1970 and he's about to ship out for Vietnam. Al insists Sam is there to make sure the marriage is consummated before Daniel goes to war and doesn't come back. Sam assumes he's there to somehow leave a message for Daniel that will prevent his death.") (87)

Interior Sample

• 

  Anne Muscarella

• 

  Kate Nuernberg

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  Doranna Durgin

• 

  Doranna Durgin

• 

  Bobbi Jo Simons

• 

  the You Are Receiving This Zine Because

Reactions and Reviews

Four out of five stars. Spectacular front cover by Karen River, not a lot of interior art, but what there is is excellent, lovely back cover by Bobbi Jo Simons. This one-shot zine grew out of a writers group, they were originally going to do Trek, but then decided on a QL zine instead. Seven stories with cute filler throughout ("Leaping Personals", "A Naughty, Wicked Quantum Leap Episode Guide"), some filks and poetry. There are good, solid stories here, but nothing that really stands out as unforgettable.

• "The First Day of the Rest of Your Lives" - Rebecca Reeves does yet another version of the initial leap from Al's point of view, I think this is the third one I've come across, but it is very well done and really gives the feeling of the project personnel working to get Sam back.
• "Life is but a Dream" - Michael Ruff (also an editor of his own QL zine) Sam wakes up in familiar surroundings, has he really leaped home? Sort of, but was he ever really gone and how can he prove it.
• "A Race Against Time" - Anne Muscarella. Sam leaps into a high school track meet ... on the girl's team. Alice has been abused at home and Sam has to stop it to protect her and her brothers. An episode-like issue and action story.
• "Breaking the Rules" - Lorraine Bartlett. Another topic I expect to see a lot of versions of - Al keeps his promise to visit Theresa Bruckner. She's a science whiz in high school now and the project needs her help. Cute idea, well written story.
• "For Want of a Nail" - Doranna Durgin. Sam's back on a farm, with a mare about to give birth. Can he help the horse and the family at the same time - and which is his real mission? An example of the ripple effect of time travel.
• "The Road Not Traveled" - Sara Arnold. An alternate universe story now, as the author points out in the preface note. Sam leaps into a version of Donna Alessi's future where she did marry the first guy and became a university professor instead of working on StarBright. Lot's of emotion for Sam, he's leaped into her husband but can't let himself take advantage of that situation.
• "I Do (But Do I Have To?)" - Shannon O'Connor. I have problems with this one. Sam leaps into a groom at the rehearsal for a hastily arranged wedding. It's 1970 and he's about to ship out for Vietnam. Al insists Sam is there to make sure the marriage is consummated before Daniel goes to war and doesn't come back. Sam assumes he's there to somehow leave a message for Daniel that will prevent his death. The author wanted to write Sam into a romantic situation, but he just wouldn't do this.

This is just a small one-shot zine with a few stories, but I liked it. It was written before season four, since there was a fic about Donna being married to the other guy and there's some confusion as to the mind-Leaping/body-Leaping issue. I think one of the things about it that really appealed to me was the shock I got when I opened it up and discovered one of the contributers was a woman who wrote a few original fantasy novels that I own and liked.

I have discovered quite a few 'zines by accident and this would be among them. And while "Leaping To Conclusions" had a few kinks in it it was still well worth my money.

The first story in the 'zine is "The First Day of the Rest of Your Lives" (Rebecca Reeves). Rebecca uses this story to describe her vision of the way things went back at Project Quantum Leap back during those first few days after Sam stepped into the accelerator and vanished. The story presents a quite plausible series of events, focusing on Al's frustration at things not going quite the way he'd like them to be. I always enjoy Rebecca's stories, in particular how well she manages to capture her characters. This story was no exception.

“Life is But a Dream” (Michael Ruff) is the second story in this 'zine. It is a very short piece describing a dream Sam has regarding his leaping days. It is a very stark work that clearly defines something that might be a very real fear to Dr. Beckett- that none of what he's going through may really be happening. Third comes “A Race Against Time” (Anne Muscarella), in which Sam leaps into a 16-year old girl who is being physically abused by her father. This is a very difficult subject to write about, and the author does an admirable job of setting the stage and then creating a credible solution, though I'm not sure that in reality things would be quite as simple as they are portrayed here. This opinion, however, did not take away anything from the story for me.

The next story is “Breaking the Rules” (Lorraine Bartlett), in which Sam is having enough trouble on a leap that Al decides that it would be wise to bring in the services of a now-17-year old Theresa Bruckner (from the Quantum Leap episode “Another Mother”). This was an interesting concept for a story, but I did have a slight problem with the behavior of several characters—it was almost as if they were "overacting, if that's possible in a story. They were all a little bit larger than fife. Despite this slightly distracting character tendency, however, this story reads well and gives an intriguing insight as to the possible future of the family we came to know in that early Quantum Leap episode.

“For Want of a Nail” (Dorana Durgin) is the fifth story. This story puts Sam on a farm to deal with the birthing of a foal. This story did not do too much for me-there wasn't enough depth brought to any of the characters for me to begin to care about them, plus the story itself seemed slightly hurried. Someone more interested in the subject matter may have enjoyed this story more.

An “alternate time line” story comes next, “The Road Not Traveled” (Sara Arnold). This story was written before the Quantum Leap episode “The Leap Back” aired and assumes that Donna Elesee jilted Sam, despite his efforts in the episode “Star- Crossed”, and married someone else. Sam leaps into her husband in an effort to save the couple's marriage. This is a very well-written story, with a good deal of time spent assessing Sam's feelings about being in this particular situation. I enjoyed this piece a lot, though one does have to forget (so to speak) the events of the aforementioned “The Leap Back.”

The last story in the ‘zine is called “I Do (But Do I Have To?)” (Shannon O'Connor). This story finds Sam leaping into a groom on the day before his wedding. This story reads very well, although the concept of Sam's mission bothers me a little. Sam finds out early on that his purpose there is to see that this couple consummates their marriage before the leapee goes off to war. I wish the author had made a different decision about what Sam was there to change, as this concept doesn't sit quite right with me. But the author does a fine job of creating her characters and someone who isn't rattled by the purpose of die assignment would probably like this story a little better than I did.

There are several poems and a “naughty” episode guide scattered throughout the 'zine, as well as some drawings which range, in my opinion, from OK to really good (there are two pieces of art by Kate Nuernburg, if anyone out there is particular to her work). I won't try to review the poetry, as I'm not much of a poetry connoisseur.

All-in-all, for $7, this wasn't a bad little 'zine. I wouldn't put it up there among my favorites, but it isn't anywhere close to among the worst I've read, either. If it's been a while since you don't have a lot of money to spend, "Leaping to Conclusions" may be just the right ticket.