Not Tonight, Spock! Interview with Victoria Clark & Barbara Storey
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Not Tonight, Spock! Interview with Victoria Clark & Barbara Storey |
| Interviewer: | Sarah Leibold |
| Interviewee: | Victoria Clark & Barbara Storey |
| Date(s): | January 1984 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom(s): | Star Trek TOS, slash |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In 1984, Victoria Clark & Barbara Storey were interviewed for the zine Not Tonight, Spock! #1.
Excerpts
What made, you both decide to start a zine?
Back in 1978, at the convention where we met, a group of fans spontaneously began a campaign to ensure Leonard Nimoy's appearance in the first ST movie (an endeavor which, as you all know, was successful!). With great trepidation, the two of us and our co-editor-to-be Nancy undertook the organization of this campaign— the simple truth is, no one else wanted the job! We began meeting on several occasions to plot our strategy, and gradually discovered mutual likes and dislikes, as well as the fact that the three of us worked well together (a faculty not to be sneered at). Then, one night, after meeting downtown, we headed for Vicky's apartment in a cab... Vicky turned to Nancy and said, "How would you feel about doing a zine?" and Barbara almost broke her neck trying to make sure she had heard right and wanting to get in on the conversation! And so NOME was born!
How did you evolve an editorial policy for the zine? What does NOME mean to you?
Barbara came up with NOME, first because it was a Vulcan word that hadn't been used yet for a zine. After discussing it at length, we decided that the word, as defined in the Star Trek Concordance ("All — an infinite variety of things combine to make existence worthwhile.") provided the perfect guideline for an editorial policy. We accept submissions for NOME in this spirit: we have published stories and poems whose premises we disagreed with because they were written well and we felt that the work deserved to be read. We realize that our personal likes and dis likes are just that—personal—and we have always tried to make NOME reflect "all" of fandom.
How do divide up editing chores?
We don't. We read, edit, accept/reject, do layout, write editorials, etc., etc.,
in conjunction and equally. (Thefactthatweshareanapartmentmakesthisalot easier!) We rarely disagree, and have never fought over NOME in six years of working together.
NOME is one of the longer running zines in fandom, how do you keep your interest fresh and alive?
Our love for Star Trek and the characters of Spock and Kirk (in that order — sorry, folks!) are constants, and certainly contribute to our longevity. But the one thing without which we could not continue is our contributors; as long as we keep receiving new and stimulating material from fandom, NOME will continue.
How do you view K/S fandom today? How do you think it has changed or evolved in the years since K/S has, "gone public" and the 2 movies have been released?
Prior to the release of the first ST movie, K/S was treated in a very private way by most of its aficianados, who felt that it was a possible alternate universe that should not be forced on those who found it objectionable, for whatever reasons. When K/S "came out of the closet" via page 22 of Roddenberry's novelization of ST:TMP, it seemed to become more acceptable in the mainstream of fandom—after a brief skirmish—and various developments followed. Now, when new people enter fandom they are introduced to K/S much earlier than before, and, we think, accept it with less difficulty.
We are personally uncomfortable with the direction K/S fandom is taking today. In our opinion, it has largely become a vehicle for vicarious fantasy of a bizarre sort (sadism/masochism, slave/master themes, and other forms of violence) that bears no relation to the characters of Kirk and Spock as they were presented in the episodes and films. We trust that people will understand that this is our personal opinion, given in response to a question from the editors of this zine, and should be taken as such. Our "public" reaction to this type of K/S writing is simply not to print it in our zine.