Nova Trek

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Zine
Title: Nova Trek
Publisher:
Editor(s): Helena Seabright
Date(s): 1990
Series?:
Medium: print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
front cover, Corinna Taylor
back cover, Gennie Summers

Nova Trek is a gen Star Trek: TOS anthology. While it was titled volume one, there was only a single volume published.

Nova Trek contains 300 pages and was published in 1990. It is perfect bound.

The art is by Yvonne Bowhay, Deeb Cairns, Beverly Chick, Jana Desorcy, Jai Dixit, Jamaica Fisher, Joan "Delphyne Mori" Hanke-Woods, Winter Jordon, E. Reck, Linda Slusher, Mary Stacy-MacDonald, Gennie Summers, Corinna Taylor, Karla Taylor, Teegar Taylor, Sherry Veltkamp, Shellie Whild, and Jacqueline Zoost.

"NOVA TREK, VOLUME I is dedicated to K'Shona Jackson, who will be sorely missed."

Regarding Cash Paid for Fan Material

Like Seabright's previous zine, Alien Brothers, there were cash incentives for submissions.

From the Zine

The Contents and Theme

Seabright wrote:

Welcome to the first volume of NOVA TREK, a "classic Star Trek" zine! For those of you who may be new to this wonderful madness, a zine, or fanzine, is an amateur, fan-published magazine, and is not-for-profit.

To add to that definition for NOVA TREK: It is a softcover, offset-printed book — an anthology of Star Trek stories, poems, and art by many contributors, both amateur and professional. It is edited and published solely by Helena Seabright, ably typed by my Wonderful Typist (anonymous), and proofread ad nauseum only by creatures warm-blooded with a pulse and a dictionary (usually the Editor). Page layouts are made and corrected by the old-fashioned hunt-and-peck, cut-and-paste methods, with the able assistance of the Graphic Designer (Jana).

There was no one specified theme for this volume of Nova Trek, and the material was accepted solely on the basis of (1) quality, (2) appropriateness to the Star Trek theme, and (3) the feasibility of working with the contributor to obtain a superior result, without strife and acrimony. As sometimes happens, however, a theme did develop: interspecies relationships. Besides the usual Human-Vulcan and Human-Klingon, we also have Human-Andorian-Comechai, Vulcan-Romulan, Orion-Human-Klingon, Aletian-Vulcan-S'Vreeth, and Dytak-Human among others. There are McCoy-stories, Kirk-stories, Spock-stories, a Chekov story, and stories with interesting "bits" for Sulu and Uhura, as well as some fascinating new crewmembers which we have not met before now. There is adventure, atmosphere, characterization, and thoughtfulness, written and drawn with style and originality.

Correspondence and Complaints

From the zine:

Serious entreaty: Please direct all questions, requests, and complaints only to the publisher. Do not send them to the editors of DATAZINE, THE MONTHLY, COM. CONSOLE, or other zines, or to the Post Office/Postmaster, or to other fans. The publisher will be glad to reply if you will remember to enclose a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope), and allow a month or two for the reply to arrive. The editors of zines like THE MONTHLY have quite enough work with their own zines, and have their own problems to solve, and cannot help you. In the case of lost or delayed zines, I will file a tracer with the Post Office.

And please! Remember that the editor/publisher holds down a very demanding full-time position. She prefers publishing zines to other pastimes — like taking drugs, which is certainly similar in expense, pleasure, and sheer compulsiveness, and probably as bad for the health of the addict. She does not make money on it, or thrive on the fame and glory. So, BE KIND TO EDITORS!! With out them, without fans crazy enough to do all the labor involved in publishing a fanzine, there wouldn't BE any. If fans are too nasty or demanding, there WON'T be. I am not making reference here only to myself, but to all editors in fandom.

Contents

  • Foreword and Awards Announcement by the Editor (2)
  • Index of Artists (4)
  • Starship, poem by T'Hera (5)
  • Search Under Safeport, fiction by Bonita Kale (first prize for fiction) (6)
  • The Contributors, short bios (124)
  • Error of Mercy, poem by Ann K. Schwader (one of three first prizes for best poem) (126)
  • The GRUP Stops Here (or, Do It Elsewhere), poem by Ann K. Schwader (one of four third prizes for best poem) (humorous commentary about sexually explicit fanworks; "GRUP" is a poke at the zine Grup) (128)
  • Kirk's Just Desserts, fiction by Bill and Michelle (second prize for humorous fiction)(129)
  • The Contributors, short bios, continued (133)
  • Unforgettable, poem by Jo Ann Sides (one of four third prizes for best poem) (136)
  • Lucifer's Fall, poem by K'Shona Jackson (one of three first prizes for best poem, also first prize for "Kirk as quintessential devil" contest) (138)
  • A Quirk of Nature, fiction by Sharon Pillsbury (first prize for humorous fiction) (140)
  • Act of Mercy, Act of Madness, fiction by Karla Taylor (159)
  • The Romulan's Farewell, poem by T'Hera (one of three first prizes for best poem) (162)
  • Memo to a Vulcan, poem by T'Hera (164)
  • In the Web, poem by Ann K. Schwader (one of three second prizes for best poem) (166)
  • Trek of Vengeance, fiction by Sue Boettcher Dake (second prize for fiction) (168)
  • Darkest Before Dawn, poem by T'Hera (238)
  • Echoes of Love, poem by T'Hera (one of four third prizes for best poem) (240)
  • Challenge to Act, fiction by P.F. Farrington (242)
  • On Berengaria: The Enchantress, poem by T'Hera (one of three second prizes for best poem) (250)
  • Flint: To Lie in a Bed of Stone, poem by K'Shona Jackson (one of three second prizes for best poem) (252)
  • Darkness, fiction by Anna Parrish (253)
  • The Blue Eyes, poem by Donna Rose Vanderlaan (260)
  • The Errand, fiction by P.F. Farrington (262)
  • Imposters and Dreamers, fiction by Sharon Pillsbury (third prize for fiction) (268)
  • A Summer Day, poem by Donna Rose Vanderlaan (one of four third prizes for best poem) (309)
  • Transcendence, poem by K'Shona Jackson (one of four third prizes for best poem) (310)

Sample Interior

The art is this zine is EXTENSIVE. A sample is below.

Reactions and Reviews

Nova Trek is expensive, but it is a thick volume and it is set up double column style, so you get a lot of reading on those three hundred pages (another plus, it's classic Trek only, for those of you who prefer it, as I do). It is a while since I read this zine, but I recall I wasn't fond of either of the long stories in the volume (nothing wrong with the writing, they just didn't catch my fancy) but I did particularly enjoy two of the short stories, "Quirk of Nature" and "Kirk's Just Desserts." If the proposed Nova Trek II ever makes it to the "available" list I fully intend to order it.[1]

I've just finished reading Nova Trek (Helena Seabright, editor) and although Mimi English mentioned it in the March issue, I felt such a high-quality zine deserved a bit more. Yes, Nova Trek is expensive. But for $25.00 you get 300-plus pages of excellent writing and illustrations, all printed up and bound book-style so you can put it on your bookcase rather than adding to the increasing pile my zine collection is turning into. I consider the price money well-spent—for a fanzine, or a professionally published book. The Classic Trek zine covered a wide spectrum—short stories, novel-length stories such as Bonita Kale's "Search Under Safeport," and humorous stories like Sharon Pillsbury's "A Quirk Of Nature." There is a wealth of illustrations by such very talented people as Deeb Cairns, Jai Dixit, E. Reck, and Sherry Veltkamp, and a good number of poems; two by Ann K. Schwader made me chuckle. Many people contributed to Nova Trek, and I commend every one of them on their fine work. I liked everything about this zine and can't recommend it highly enough.[2]

References