Nu Ormenel Collected
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Nu Ormenel Collected |
| Publisher: | Fern Marder and Carol Walske |
| Editor(s): | |
| Date(s): | the first four in 1979, the last in 1985 |
| Series?: | |
| Medium: | print zine |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Nu Ormenel Collected is a gen Star Trek: TOS fanzine co-written by Carol Walske and Fern Marder. Carol started developing Nu Ormenel ("The Empire"), a universe focused on the Klingons, when she was in high school.
It is "gen" in the older sense of the word in that it pertains to the Star Trek universe, but has none of the canon characters or situations.
Five volumes were published. Fern Marder, one of the publishers explained in a 2005 interview: "....we started ghost-publishing for friends who needed assistance. Our own first edited and marketed publications were the Nu Ormenel Collected Volumes, five in all, containing both reprints and new material."[1]
A Proposed Zine
In 1978, the editors placed an ad in Scuttlebutt #8 for a proposed zine: "After ten years of war between the Ormenel and the Federation, prisoners Roan Morgan and Tavia Nelson face many difficult decisions. Stories, poetry, artwork and music."
This may be related to an ad for "The Homecoming" that appeared in the back of the Alkarin Warlord which read:
"The war between the Ormenel and the Federation has edned. Prisonders are exchanged ; lives are rebuilt. Roan Morgan and Tavia Nelson are two who must face personal conflicts arising from the war's end. THE HOMECOMING is an anthology of stories with a common theme -the recognition of one's past and the willingness to make a bold step into the future. Artwork by Carol Walske. Poetry and music by Fern Marder. Projected publication date mid 1979."
A story called "The Homecoming" appeared in Nu Ormenel #4. In 2013, Fern explains: "No, we didn’t do [a stand alone zine called The] Homecoming in 1978. Having done Threshold for Devra and Warlord for Winston, we decided we didn’t want to do another novel for someone else.... but rather to start publishing our own zines. Thus, instead of a single volume sequel to Warlord, in 1979, in addition to reprinting earlier material in Collected Vols. 1&2, we produced new material in Volumes 3&4 and supplement instead."[2]
Issue 1
Nu Ormenel Collected 1 was published in 1979 and contains 130 pages. All art is by Carol Walske.
From the editorial:
On Monday night, January 29, in a talk at the Paterson, New Jersey Library, we publicly announced (for the umpteenth time) that we would not, under any circumstances, do a NU ORMENEL COLLECTED.On Tuesday, January 30, during lunch, we thought twice. Would you believe three times?
By 3:30 that afternoon, and after many calls to printers in New York City, we had an offer we couldn't resist. At that point we made our first phone call calmly announcing that we would be publishing not on but two volumes of Nu Ormenel Collected—and that they would be out some eighteen days later, in time for an imminent convention.
Thanks to the reprint service we had been running for about a year, most of the stories that needed any work had already been edited and retyped. Some new artwork had already been done. One story had been completely rewritten. We knew we already had enough material to fill two zines (plus three stories yet to be published by other zines--which immediately were earmarked for Collected, Vol. 3), but we didn't want to stop there. After all, we had a whole week and a half before it had to go to the printer (this, not to mention editing and typing an entire other zine for a friend). We started writing. Poetry. Prose. All the little pieces we'd always wanted to fill in the gaps but couldn't publish before. New artwork. We ransacked the files. Volume 2 was pretty long already. To the existing material we added one new story, two new poems and some artwork. We delivered the zine to the printer the following Monday, one week exactly since we'd last said "no Collected."
Volume 1 was another matter entirely. This was the beginning—the place to introduce and elaborate on the characters, the themes, the situations. Five vignettes were added and twelve poems. Some new artwork. Well, anyway, we made it.
The Nu Ormenel series presents the Klingon Empire from the Klingon point of view. It follows the life of Kor Kothir, his family, his friends, his enemies. It deals with an alien race, cultures in harmony and conflict, and characters of all motivations and amibitions. Presenting these stories here, with the inter ludes and poetry, helps to bring together the myriad facets of this universe.
Published concurrently with these two Collected volumes is Arakenyo, a short prose-and-artwork 'fireside tale.' Also adding to the series will be
The Homecoming, an anthology of ten new stories, poetry, music and artwork, scheduled for September of this year. A third Collected volume will also be published, possibly later this year. Taken together, Nu Ormenel Collected, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, Threshold, Alkarin Warlord, The Homecoming and Arakenyo will comprise the major events of the Nu Ormenel universe. The timeline at the end of Volume 1 shows the order of events in Nu Ormenel history and the stories written and projected thus far.
- Preface (3)
- Passage (5)
- "Koros" (7)
- Perspective: Kor Kothir-- "The Rebel" (8), Oraehathnavi -- "Patterns of Challenge" (9)
- "Challenge" (12) (story first printed in Probe #11, "As the Treaty of Organia is signed, the conflict between Commander Kor Kothir and Captain James Kirk comes to a head.")
- The Wolf's Den" (21)
- A Shade of Treason (25) (story first printed in Probe #12, "A revised and expanded retelling of the events in "The Trial of Kor Kothir"—to be considered the authoritative version of the story.")
- "Exile" (48)
- "Kerserek" (50)
- Counterstroke (52)
- Seesaw (54) (story first printed in The Other Side of Paradise #3, "Kor's adopted brother Kirin, a spy in the Federation, puts himself in jeopardy when he helps prisoners escape back to the Ormenel. The ensuing Star Fleet interrogation reveals how Kirin was able to play the role of Captain Roan Gordon so well.")
- "Alien" (54)
- "All We Shared" (84)
- Perspective: Roan Morgan --"Conversation" (85) Tavia Nelson -- "Changes" (86)
- The Gathering Storm (87)
- "Battlecry" (88)
- The Celebration of Alkarin (89) (story first printed in Probe #10, "After leading a long revolution in the Ormenel, Kor becomes the new Ormen.")
- "The Judgement of Alkarin" (89)
- "Defiance" and "The Return" (119)
- Perspective: Karth Keorl -- "The Worthy Rival" (122)
- Kang Keorl -- "The Laughing Warrior" (124)
- The Usurper (126)
from issue #1, "Karth and Kang Keorl"
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Issue 2
Nu Ormenel Collected 2 was published in 1979 and contains 132 pages. All art is by Carol Walske.
- To Know Dishonor (story first printed in Masiform D #6, "Both Kor and his son Karras must pay the price when Karras wounds his sword master in practice. (This story is actually set during the course of events in Alkarin Warlord.") (3)
- Coming of Age, poem (22)
- A Kilingon Heritage (story first printed in Best of Tetrumbriant Vol. 2, Jan. 1978, "After peace is reestablished between the Ormenel and the Federation, Karras spends some time training in Star Fleet as part of a military exchange program—- and is assigned to Roan's ship.") (23)
- Farewell, poem (49)
- A Broken Sword (first printed in The Universes in Science Fiction #2, "Trouble ensues when the only woman Karras finds attractive on Roan's ship turns out to 'belong' to another.") (50)
- Swordplay, poem (79)
- Voices of Nu Ormenel (first printed in Interphase #4, "A collection of Ormenel poetry—'Aroi Rakiehul' an introduction to the language; 'Reflections,' a look at the Federation through Kang's eyes; 'Challenge,' Kor's thoughts during the Organian incident; 'The Legend of Kerrekurasarm,' an epic poem about the Firebird and the Huntress of the Kilingarlan.") (81)
- The Legend of Akim Korosten (first printed in Monkey of the Inkpot #3, "A tale for kilingaven children—a boy runs away from the test of adult hood that every adolescent faces.") (91)
- Honor the Hunter (100)
- Aknauhraiand: A Political Matrix (first printed in The Universes in Science Fiction #2, "A series of short explanatory pieces giving basic background information on the kilingau as a people, their language, government, etc.") (103)
inside page from issue #2
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Issue 3
Nu Ormenel Collected 3 was published in 1979 and contains 134 pages. Almost all art is by Carol Walske with one piece done by both Carol and Fern.
From the editorial:
We've also spent a lot of the last few months thinking about where Nu Ormenel was going. We decided to define the boundaries of the series. The timeline in Vol. 4 indicates those boundaries, from Kor's early experiences as a child through his ultimate abdication of the Omen's status. Any Nu Ormenel stories that we write in the future will fall within this time frame. This helped us to see what had been done and what remained to be done in terms of Ormenel history. The single largest gap we found was, to our chagrin, also the single most important event in Ormenel history: the Orashathnavi Revolu tion which brought Kor to power. We decided to remedy that immediately. We chose to use the format of the perspectives, begun in Vol. 1, presenting the revolution through a series of vignettes and poems/songs that would convey the heart of the war, rather than simply to do a long battle-story. Speaking of time sequences and the revolution, the last story in this volume, "Ties of Blood," runs concurrently in time with the story "The Celebration of Alkarin" (Vol. 1), opening before "Celebration" and closing after it. It should also be noted that "Brothers" falls very early in the series, even before Kor has his run-in with the Organians ("Challenge," Vol. 1).
- Preface (3)
- Brothers (4) (from Time Warp #2)
- DIscovery (33)
- Perspective: The Orashathnavi Revolution—Fight for Honor (34)
- Dawn of the Warlord (35)
- Tomorrow's Promis (40)
- The Wolf and the Bear (41)
- To Bell a Cat (43)
- The Price of Freedom (45)
- March to Honor (55)
- Gift of Fealty (56)
- Fealty (59)
- Where Are You, My Love? (59)
- The Red Grass Growing (60)
- Lament (64)
- A Dragon on the Wind (65)
- Makhiri (72)
- On the Battlefield of Dreams (73)
- Fireside Song (75)
- Piece of Mind (80)
- Tide of Thunder (82)
- Fight for Glory (84)
- Ties of Blood (85)
- A Tribute Given (122)
- Call to Mourning (134)
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Issue 4
Nu Ormenel Collected 4 was published in 1979 and contains 72 pages. Art by Fern Mader, Carol Walske and Kyrol Waters. Poetry by Fern Marder. Other content by Fern Marder and Carol Walske.
Songs of Fire, Songs of Life is a special supplement to this issue.
From the editorial:
Volume 4 is probably the most unusual thing we've done in the Nu Ormenel series so far--in mood, format and appearance. In typical fashion we told anyone who asked us at August Party that there would be only two sequel stories to Alkarin Warlord presented in Volume 4. Nevertheless: "I'll Give You the Wind" and "The West Corridor Wars" describe what happened to Tavia after the Ormenel-Federation war, in the form of a fantasy piece and a short, light hearted vignette. "Song of the River" and "Shelter from the Storm" show Roan's long-considered return to the Ormenel. In "The Vakkfar," we bring Karras back from his stay in the Federation and show him in command of his own ship and motley crew. This, of course, means that Volume 4 is the most fragmented volume we've done so far. The two stories about Tavia follow immediately at the end of Alkarin Warlord. The two stories about Roan are set well after Warlord and after "A Kilingon Heritage" and "A Broken Sword" (both in Volume2). Arakenyo follows directly after "Shelter from the Storm." "The Vakkfar" is set in time right after Arakenyo, though the actions are totally unrelated. If all this has thoroughly confused you, the new timeline in the back of this volume should help to sort things out. The final story in Volume 4 is--well, that's a story in itself. Some months ago we were approached by Anne Elizabeth Zeek to do a Nu Ormenel story for her projected Mirror Worlds zine. The result, "Deathblow," is our view of a 'mirror-universe' Ormenel during the Orashathnavi Revolution. It is included in Volume 4—apart from the other revolution material in Volume 3—to emphasize the fact that this is a non-series-outline story. (Thanks, Anne, for letting us publish "Deathblow" here. We know that Mirror Worlds will be a gem. Good luck.) Visually, Volume 4 has some new features. We welcome Kyrol Waters' art work in the two 'Tavia' stories. (A thousand thanks for the 'instant illo' of the West Corridor.) Fern pitched in on "Song of the River." All three, Fern, Carol, and Kyrol, have artwork in the songbook Supplement.
- Preface (3)
- I'll Give You the WInd (5)
- The West Corridor Wars (16)
- Song of the River (20)
- The Homecoming (30)
- "Changeling" (31)
- Shelter from the Storm (32)
- The Vakkfar (33)
- Deathblow (57)
- Timeline (68)
- Poetry (71)
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Karol Waters
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
sample interior page from issue #4, Carol Walske
Issue 5
Nu Ormenel Collected 5 was published in 1985 and is 138 pages long.
From the editorial:
Our first full-length zine, Threshold, appeared in February 1978. Alkarin Warlord came out the following September. In February 1979 came Nu ormenel Collected, Volumes 1 and 2 and Arakenyo, followed in September 1979 by Volumes 3 and 4 and the Songbook. No, we didn't go off to the Kilingarlan since then (too bad...).In May of 1980 we completed our 'experiment,' and published Dagger of the Mind, in which appeared the nu ormenel story "A Winter's Dawn." We wish we had a nickel for every comment we got regarding the 'end of the series.' Hell, we haven't published anything else in sequence, why should that story be any differ ent? It just happened to come together at that point in time. Which brings us to Nu Ormenel Collected, Volume 5. Funny thing about Volume 5—this wasn't supposed to be it. When we finished 3 and 4, Volume 5 was some nebulous collection of stories we'd written for private consumption, a humorous language-cum-travel guide, a rewrite of "First Meeting" (no, that still hasn't gotten done. . .), and a possible reprint of "A Winter's Dawn." Then, just as a private joke, Carol started working on a story about Kor and Tavia and a lot of fish. At the time, she was doing it just for the halibut. As it grew, and grew, and grew, we were soon headed for a full-size novel. Which we decided to publish by itself. Heh, heh….
We had seen the Broadway show, Evita, about three weeks before that. Fern was fooling around on her guitar and somehow the subject turned to Evita, and Tavia and Kor, and so, the first, laryngitis-tinged lines of Tavita were born—"Don't cry to me, Federation; the truth is, I never loved you!" And thus are new Volume 5's born. But what is this all really? Just for the Halibut is a comedy/drama set in the series some six years after the end of Alkarin Warlord and Tavia's return to the Federation after the war. Also, it falls a matter of days following "A Kilingon Heritage" (Volume 2) and Kor and Roan's reconciliation. Furthermore, it falls con currently with "I'll Give You the Wind" (Volume 4)—which we wrote with not the slightest idea that Halibut was going to happen. If you recall, Volume 4 contained a few pieces of what was supposed to be The Homecoming (the zine that wasn't). And, at the time, we said that we weren't able to do The Homecoming because it had grown into a series of novels, rather than stories. Well, Halibut is one of those novels--the one about Tavia and Kor in the Federation. (No, you don't want to ask about the other novels. . .) Now, Tavita is a whole different kettle of fish (sorry, couldn't resist). It is definitely 'alternate ormeneiy' a 'what if?' Tavita is a complete rendering of the Evita libretto—plus one additional song at the end, because we wanted a rousing, happy ending. For those who have never heard the score (the two-record album set includes the entire show), it's a truly fine piece of work and we heartily recommend it. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice have produced another superb contemporary opera—we thank them for their inspiration and extend all due apologies for invading Argentina with Klingons. the score is not a prerequisite for reading Tavita by any means. If you do have access to the album (and/or the complete libretto provided with the record or with the sheet-music book), then you might have fun following along. By the way, in the few instances in which the libretto differs from the album, Tavita follows the album.
We would like to thank Leslye Lilker for her input in this madness—comments, questions, support, concern, and patience in times of terrible puns, fish jokes, and the nineteenth draft of the ending. Thanks also to our stalwart Kyrol Waters, who kept Tavita's secret that crazy weekend and beyond, put up with gaps and gaping chasms, and got blessed with safeguarding the draft-with-no-ending. And for her amazing resilience.
- Preface (3)
- Just for the Halibut (a comedy/drama set in the series six years after the end of the Alkarin Warlord and Tavia’s return to the Federation after the war. Tavia lives in New York and has been in another series of stories involving Klingons) (5)
- Tavita (a complete rendering of the Evita libretto) (115)
inside page from issue #5
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References
- ^ "Fern Marder and Carol Walske - Fandom Writers on Renderosity". Archived from the original on 2012-12-08.
- ^ Fern Marder via email dated July 18, 2013.