New Leaf Press

Zine Publisher
Name:	New Leaf Press/New Leaf Publications/New Leaf Productions
Contact:	Peg Kennedy
Type:	fanzine publisher
Fandoms:
Status:	defunct
Other:	Click here for a complete list of this publisher's fanzines and awards
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

New Leaf Press was a fanzine publishing and agency effort run by Linda Knights and Peg Kennedy. It also went under the other names New Leaf Publications and New Leaf Productions. Linda and Peg took up Bill Hupe's agenting business after he retired in July 1996. Read more here.

From a 1997 Media Monitor: "Greetings from from New Leaf Publications: As most of you are now aware, Bill Hupe has retired from his many years of editing, publishing and agenting fanzines. Peg Kennedy as taken over, and while the changeover is still taking place and there are boxes of zines yet to be unboxed and shelved, nearly all the zine masters have arrives and New Leaf Publications has begun printing and sending out orders after a long delay."

The Road Was a Rocky One

From the beginning, the transfer of agenting duties was a difficult one. Peg was almost immediately overwhelmed the the size and complexity of the Hupe Empire's legacy.

A December 1996 Plea for Patience

Peg explained, and asked for patience in a December 1996 catalog, five months after taking over the business from Bill Hupe:

Some of you out there have FAXed, written and/or e-mailed asking about orders placed several months ago; an open letter seemed to be the best way I could think of to reply since there are not enough hours in the day to answer all inquiries and still sort, shelve and pull zines for orders, bind zines, package them, take them to the post office, update the catalog and data base, and edit submissions and...

When Bill and I first announced the changeover we knew it was going to be a MAJOR undertaking but neither of us expected it to take as long as it has. Until a few weeks ago, Bill was still sending boxes of stock and binding materials. And my estimation of how long it would take to have zine masters checked off and filed numerically, pre-printed covers accounted for, not to mention training the workers at the copy shop as to how and what needs to done was HORRIBLY optimistic. From power outages to missing masters or covers, Murphy's Law has dogged us every step of the way! In addition, Linda has stepped down from her original position in New Leaf Productions and is now handling electronic mailings, updates and catalogs. Any orders or other messages pertaining to an order or inquiry will be forwarded to me. Her job has suddenly changed as that is her means of support that obviously, must come first I am in the process of taking on an occasional extra hand in the stockroom in order to make the shelving, pulling, inventory, and packing / unpacking for conventions happen much more smoothly and fester than one person can manage. In regards to e-mail & regular mail correspondence: Don't take it personally if you don't get an immediate reply. I know everyone grew concerned when their orders didn't arrive with the usual speed Bill was famous for. I never expected so many orders to come in during the announced time of the changeover, but come they did and then they had no choice but to wait until New Leaf Productions was ready to go. Frequently, I have had to make the choice to put messages to one side in order to package and mail zines. Unfortunately, some of those never did get answered because the orders keep rolling in and the cycle continues. I have designated two days a week to e-mail in hopes of eliminating that back-up of messages. E-mail messages have come to me telling of rumors that New Leaf is in trouble; not so. New Leaf may be behind but it is going strong -taking on new titles - attending what cons I and some very dear and valued people who offered to represent me could manage during this very chaotic last few months. To add to the mix, we have had more than a month of the worst weather I have ever experienced...

On the up side, New Leaf is now only two months behind rather than three and a half and picking up speed. In the case of orders that were sent to Bill unable to be filled, and forwarded on to me, they came in batches over the past three -four months and were integrated in with all the new orders and are being filled as I get to them and those backorder zines arrive. I apologize for the long delay but I am sending out orders as fast as I can and lots of fans out there will vouch for that I have received many thank you's for orders sent, many notes of support and understanding, some of you have voiced your support on line and I can't tell you how good that makes me feel on those days when everything feels so overwhelming that I don't know which direction to turn first! As Bill pointed out to me: he had 14 years to build up to the numbers of zine titles and customers, both of which surpass several thousand -1 had it all handed to me at one time and was virtually expected to hit the ground running. Some of you also know that Bill frequently went without sleep so that he could take care of orders; I neither can nor will, go to that extreme. While the time it takes to receive orders will most certainly lessen as the confusion subsides and all this finally comes together, it will take longer than Bill's amazing and enviable turn around time but it WILL get to you.

Text of Mystery Frank's July 1997 Open Letter

This is a call-to-arms. I need to hear from any dealers who have been lied to and deceived by Peg Kennedy (aka New Leaf Productions] and would like to join a group of dealers who are putting their collective foot down. We are informing fandom at large that Peg Kennedy no longer has the right to sell our zines and we demand our stock and all monies owed to us be sent to us IMMEDIATELY. Join us and be counted. I will be writing up a statement that will be sent out to all dealers who wish to stand with us and make a joint statement so that they may make corrections and additions, then together we will be sending this missive to everyone in fandom we can think of. Please pass this message on to ANY list and ANY person you can think of so that we can stop Peg Kennedy from drawing in any new dealers who are unaware of the situation and how she has been treating all the people she is supposedly agenting for! Let's show Peg that fandom as a whole WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS.

Also see Thief in Fandom.

A July 1007 Follow-up Letter by Mystery Frank

Posted to Virgule on July 4, 1997:

Ruth, Susan and several others have called me to task for labelling Peg Kennedy a 'thief,' and I'd like to publicly acknowledge that they are correct in doing so. I was reacting emotionally to the fact that Peg owes me a large sum of money (we're talking thousands here) and that I had to cash in one of my US bonds that my grandparents bought for me over 10 years ago just to pay my rent this month. Having Peg go incommunicado for over a year while owing me money and zines angered me and I opened my mouth without thinking.

I apologize to Peg for calling her a thief. What I meant to say was that she been a year delinquent in making payments for zines sold and has refused all communication until only just this past week when I got a long e-mail full of excuses as to why she couldn't pay me anytime soon. This one e-mailed response to all the e-mails, phone calls and snail mail I have sent her is outrageous and ridiculous. I can also say from personal experience that the phone number she so blithely gave out at MediaWest so various dealers could call her has had a block placed on the line to stop all incoming calls. This means she can call out, but no one can call her. This is not something the phone company does on a whim--it must be requested by the customer. What does that tell you about how Peg intends to handle this situation.

I'm not looking to call Peg names. I simply want to get as many dealers together to issue a joint statement listing all the zines Peg is NOT authorized to sell any longer and to make fandom aware that sending money to Peg is not conducive to receiving a zine order through the mail. (Has ANYONE gotten a zine they've ordered from Peg in the last year?)

I hope this clears up my position. If anyone wants to add to this, or make clear their own dealings with Peg, I'd really like to hear about it.

Mysti ([email protected])

Well, for one thing, I never stand under falling objects...

Have a zine (or ten) you'd like to sell to the world? Send it to me, and I'll take it to cons with me. Let's get the zines out there where fans can find them!

Also see Thief in Fandom.

Some Zines

Some of the zines New Leaf either published or agented:

• Against the Wind (Man From UNCLE)
• Green Eggs and Ham (Quantum Leap)
• If Their Mothers Only Knew (multimedia)
• Quantum Mechanics (Quantum Leap)
• Outrage (A-Team)
• Suffering Heroes (multimedia)