Orion Press

Zine Publisher
Name:	Orion Press
Contact:	Randy Landers
Type:	fanfic, some reference zines
Fandoms:	Star Trek
Status:	active
Other:	fanzine publisher
URL:	current website; old website (archived); previous website (archived)
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a 1991 flyer, printed in the OktoberTrek program book

Orion Press has been publishing gen (and some adult) Star Trek zines since 1979. Up until 2010, they were still publishing TOS and mixed Trek series zines.

a 2000 flyer for Orion Press, includes a way for fans to donate to the publisher's website

Early ads referred to this press as "Stardate Press."

Much of their TOS fiction is available in their own online archive.

cover of the 1994 catalog -- it includes 66 pages of zine flyers and descriptions of zines for sale

Orion Press published Orion Press Quarterly Reports.

Number of Zines

Number of zines published:

• Star Trek: TOS: 177 zines from 1979-2010
• Star Trek: TNG: 100 zines from 1987-2000
• Star Trek: VOY: 24 zines from 1995-2000
• Star Trek: DS9: 19 zines from 1993-2000
• miscellaneous Star Trek: 13 zines from 1984 to 2010

Genres and Audience

The press' demographics leaned much more to the male side of fandom.

The Orion Press zines published no slash fanworks. They instead published gen and het (the latter was sometimes VERY explicit and violent).

The non-sexual violence could also be very high, and it was something that some fans complained about. From a review of Stardate #9 (1981):

Now comes the hard part - most of the stories in the issue just didn't appeal to me. I find so much graphic violence very repulsive, and most of the longer story seemed to consist of flying viscera. While most of the illustrations were technically well-executed, again the gore turned me off.

Editor: I'd like to point out that the violence has been curtailed in recent issues quite a bit because of a number of LoCs received about the subject. I personally was not repulsed, but then again, I wasn't repulsed by Alien or Outland either. However, we of STARDATE listen to the readers. The violence will remain as subdued as possible.

From a fan in 1982:

"Incident on Xantharus" ... Mr. Endres is very good at writing, and often the luridness of the story makes one queasy. Readers who wade through the graphic violence and scenes of humiliation will be entertained by the many twists and surprises Mr. Enders has in store for the readers.

In 1993, another fan commented on "Incident on Xantharus":

There was a lot of violence and masochism in this one which was sometimes a little heavy.

A 1994 Orion Press fan survey mentioned in a press newsletter stated that:

... we’d like to thank all of you who responded to our convention survey with last quarter’s report. Although we’re still compiling results, we can report that the most attended conventions by our readers are the various Creation Cons and Vulkons, although the most popular single convention appears to be Shore Leave.

Some Questions and Answers

Landers provides some answers to questions at Questions and Answers, ^{Archived version}; Wayback link.

Some excerpts:

Question: Don't you think your site has too much "sexual stuff/violence"?

Answer: I hardly think so. A quick check of the 348 stories on our website shows that only 12.6% (44) of the stories on the site have subject matter of this type. That means there's more than 300 stories that don't. In all honesty, most fan fiction that's written is relationship-based, and often those relationships are sexual in nature. Some of the stories that are on this site have violence, often perpetrated by the Klingons on our heroes. On the chance that someone doesn't want to read it, each and every story of this nature on our website is clearly marked in red with a warning label for sexual situations, violence, adult themes or other cautionary statements. If this isn't the sort of stuff you want to read, then for heaven's sake, heed the warning labels!

Question: What is K/S and why don't you publish it?

Answer: K/S is "slash" fan fiction, and it involves the characters Kirk and Spock in a homosexual relationship. Most of the K/S stories have homoerotic elements, and many of them are very well written. But it's not exactly a subject matter that appeals to me. I prefer action-adventure, Kirk-Spock-McCoy friendship, drama, science fiction and even the occasional mystery. In 1979, there were more K/S zines than genzines (non-adult general content), and in June of that year I decided to start my own fanzine: Stardate. The first issue sold over 800 copies over the years, and while it's crap by today's zine standards, it was the start of Stardate Press.

Question: Why are you called the "grand poobah" by some Deep Space Nine fanzine readers?

Answer: Long time readers were aware that our Deep Space Nine offerings were few and far between (only 19 of them), and we practically shut them down in 1997. I had gone through too many editors for our DSN fanzine, Outpost, and one of them in particular had simply exhausted my patience. She wanted Orion Press to serve as her personal vanity press, and she wanted to publish the stories simultaneously in print as well as on-line. The simple economic fact of the matter is that fanzines need to pay for themselves (fanzines never make money), and posting the stories limits the sales of the zines. She demanded the "right" to post her fan fiction to her own website, and I told her she had to wait for a year before doing so. Well, she nicknamed me "the grand poobah" or some such nonsense, and kept posting her material to her website anyway. This is one of the things that kept driving her zines' sales down, and she kept driving away contributors. She finally left us and took some of her followers with her. We even released some of her zines back to her because they simply never sold. Anyway, Laura Taylor (who is probably one of the most talented writers ever to grace our staff) convinced me to keep Outpost going for the next three years, all the way to the point in 2000 when I made the difficult decision to cancel all our non-Classic Trek offerings. Laura's novella, Beyond Gloomy Chaos, is one of the finest Modern Trek novels we've ever published.

Question: What happened to the Starship: Exeter novelization?

Answer: We approached Jimm and Josh Johnson about adapting their screenplay, "The Savage Empire," for publication as a fanzine. We were given the go-ahead, and I sat down and wrote out a first draft. I wasn't terribly happy with what I'd written, and I turned it over to one of our other writers who had a talent for fixing problems in stories. She and I worked together on developing their short screenplay into a novella-lengthed story (we sent Jimm and Josh a few chapters from time to time, and we received nothing but encouragement from them). When we came up with what we believed was a really terrific adaptation of their screenplay, another one of our writers then took the adaptation and read it through, pointing out a few more inconsistencies that we'd missed. I gave it a final polish and emailed it off to them. Unfortunately, their reply was incredible. They called it "amateurish" at best, and said it needed extensive revising among other very derogatory remarks. The email was one of the most insulting I've ever read. I lost my temper with them, and told them we were withdrawing our involvement from the novelization. I know now that they are perfectionists (look at how long it takes them to produce an episode), and that we probably could have worked together and come up with an acceptable product, but it would've taken far more effort than any of my staff would've been willing to extend, especially given the tone of their letter. And while I wished things had gone differently, I think it was for the best for both Orion Press and Starship: Exeter, and I wish them continued success.

Question: How much editing of stories do you do?

Answer: All stories are edited to make sure that they coincide with the events of the original series and the Orion Universe, that is to say, the stories we've published on our website. With some stories, the editing is extremely limited. With some stories, the editing can be extensive. And with some stories, it will take several drafts and rewrites to make the story acceptable for publication. The authors who've been edited will tell you it can be a very trying but very rewarding process, and the quality of the work shows through.

Submission Guidelines

Submission Guidelines: 1988

At present,- we are interested in original Star Trek material for our additional navels. We are primarily looking for action-adventure fiction, but other types of Star Trek fiction (such as the romance novel, Interlude) will be considered. If you want to have your Star Trek novel published, we would like to see it. We have top-quality artists (some of which have been nominated for Fan-Q and TrekStar Awards) to illustrate the novel. Nearly everything pertain ing to Star Trek will be considered by our editors. However, we will not accept any material from the following genres: Kershu, Kirk/Spock homosexual premise, Kraith, and Nu Ormenel. Nor do we accept material based on the pro-published novels. We do not print any non-Star Trek material.

We prefer to see manuscripts typed, but if this is impossible, please print legibly. All submissions must include at least one self-addressed, stamped envelope for notification of acceptance or rejection. It is the responsibility of the contributor<s) to provide adequate postage for the return of rejected manuscripts. All rejected material not accompanied with return postage will be held for six weeks before being discarded. Editing is limited; spelling, us age, and grammatical errors are corrected by the editorial staff. Dialogue, plot, situations, and character development are all left intact. In the rare case that a submission has a problem or error, the editor will inform the author so s/he can make any needed changes. All contributors will receive a "galley-proof" of their work prior to publication. Contributors will have two weeks from the mailing date to disapprove or withdraw their submissions.

Send submissions to yours truly, Randall Landers.

Submission Guidelines: 1995

ORION PRESS does not accept material from the following genres or premises: Nu Ormenel and Kershu (both of which are Klingon-oriented), homosexual relationships between established characters (although such relationships between original characters is permissible), the Vulcan-oriented Kraith and material based on the professionally published novels. Any material of this nature received will be returned unread. ORION PRESS does not accept material built on a work which appears in any publications other than its own. In general, ORION PRESS will not accept material that has been published elsewhere. ORION PRESS does not accept any material unless directly related to Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.

Contributors to ORION PRESS cannot and will not receive a cash reward for their material. These are non-profit fan publications done out of our love for Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Those seeking monetary compensation can submit their works elsewhere. ORION PRESS does provide complimentary copies of the publication in which the work appears, and offers contributor discounts on additional copies to contributors. Submissions of written material which amount to less than three pages of print will garner that contributor a discount on the zine instead of a complimentary copy.

We prefer to see manuscripts neatly typed, but if this is impossible, please print legibly. All submissions must include a legal-sized self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) for notification of acceptance or rejection. The editor is under no obligation to contact writers who failed to provide a SASE. Further, it is the responsibility of the contributor to provide return postage for rejected manuscripts. All rejected material not accompanied with postage will be discarded in three months.

Artwork should be done in a medium conducive to Xerography. This does include high quality copies (such as Veloxes). Artwork can be returned only if prior arrangements are made. Zine covers, depending on the quality of the original, may be reproduced via high quality off-set printing. Some artwork is scanned.

All stories accepted are subject to editing, and authors must be willing to consider doing rewrites of their work. Editing is usually limited; spelling, usage and grammatical errors are corrected by the editorial staff, Dialogue, plot, situations and character development are left intact, but our editors will suggest changes which they feel will enhance the story. Such changes are negotiable, but our editors have the final say.

All contributors will receive a galley proof of their work prior to its printing. It Is the contributor's responsibility to closely check through the document for the occasional omissions which our WordPerfect Speller program and proofreaders may miss. Contributors have two weeks from the mailing date of the galley proof to disapprove or withdraw their submissions. If we do not receive word from a contributor, we will consider it a tacit assent. Please return only pages with corrections to the appropriate editor(s).

ORION PRESS uses an IBM-compatible computer, capable of reading submissions sent via 5" and 3" disks. We use WordPerfect v6.0a, and can convert files written in the following DOS formats: AmiPro, DEC WPS PLUS (DX), DisplayWrite, First Choice, IBM Writing Assistant, Microsoft Word, Microsoft RFT, Multimate, Nota Bene, PFS: Write, Professional Write, Samna Word, SmartWare II, Wang PC (IWP), WordMARC, WordPerfect, WordStar, WordStar 2000, and XY Write. We can also translate the following Macintosh formats: MacWrite II, Microsoft Word, and WordPerfect. We can translate these Windows formats: WordPerfect for Windows, Microsoft Word for Windows, and we can translate any format of ASCII, Intelligent ASCII, DCA/RFTandDCA/FFT. We employ Hewlett Packard LaserJet printers and TrueType fonts to create quality printing, and can scan typed documents using our HP ScanJet IIC and the Recognita OCR program. Please send a paper copy of any submission submitted via diskette.

Submission Guidelines: 1999

From about 1999:

In recent months, a few contributors have submitted works to our fanzines that previously have been published in either club zines or on the World Wide Web.

Out of fairness to our readers, we generally do not knowingly publish material that has been published elsewhere, and when we do publish such material, we do so with clear notification as to where else it has been published. Our rationale for this is that many people don't want to pay for the same story twice or to pay for it once if they already read it on the Internet.

First, it has been argued that there is little or no overlap between fanzine readers and on-line fan fiction readers, but that assertion has been proven to be incorrect. Nearly 40% of ORION PRESS' readers have access to the Internet, and many of our paying customers use our website to determine their purchases.

Secondly, some contributors argue that the overlap between a club newsletter and our fanzines is again minimal at best. This statement has also been proven to be incorrect. There is a great duplication of readers between club newsletters or zines of any Trek fan club and the ORION PRESS readership. Nearly 20% of our Voyager readers had never even heard of our fanzines until they read about them in The Commander, Now Voyager, or any of the other club zines which have favorably reviewed our fanzines.

Finally, some suggest that ORION PRESS should not retain its rights to material published in our fanzines for the two-year period we have heretofore specified. Their rationale is that as our contributors are not paid for their work; they should be free to resubmit or post their work wherever they please after it has been published. While we sympathize with this opinion, we respectfully ask our contributors to consider the actual expenses we incur in producing, marketing and distributing the fanzines containing their work. ORION PRESS is a non-profit fanzine press, and reduced sales force us to increase our prices or even cancel some of our zines. By saturating the market with your work, you diminish the readership of the very zines you have chosen to submit it to and put those zines -- and, indeed, ORION PRESS as a whole -- at risk of being forced to cease publication. We do not believe that any of our contributors would want this to happen.

We ask all of our contributors to consider these matters and abide by our policies concerning previous or simultaneous publication. We ask only that material not be published elsewhere either prior to publication in an ORION PRESS fanzine or for two years afterward (or so long as the zine is in-print, whichever comes first). Exceptions to this policy require the express permission of both the individual zine editor and our publisher, Randall Landers. Violations will preclude any future publishing arrangements between the violators and ORION PRESS.

We regret any inconvenience this policy may bring to any of our valued contributors, but we reiterate that it is a policy we must maintain if ORION PRESS is going to continue publishing fanzines and do so at a price that our readers can afford. We hope to continue publishing quality fan fiction for many years to come, but we can afford to do so only with the understanding and cooperation of our contributors.

Remember:

All contributors are entitled to a 12% discount to any fanzine in which their work appears.

All contributors are entitled to a galley preview before their work is printed. Didn't get one? Insist on it!

State of the Press

State of the Press: 2006

From a September 18, 2006 flyer:

Dear Friends,

ORION PRESS continues to grow and prosper. We're excited about all three of our fall releases, and about the amount interest we continue to generate. Our website has had over 28,000 unique visitors since we started tracking them nearly three years ago. The original series time frame is by far the most popular with over 8,800 visitors. Star Trek is far from dead! Apparently CBS/Paramount knows it's not dead, too. They're trying to milk it as much as they can (see the news article following the zine ads).

To that end, our mailing list is growing steadily, but some folks on it haven't ordered in the past three years. We're enclosing a self-addressed post card. If you want to continue to receive our quarterly reports, you'll need to put a stamp on the card, check the appropriate box, and mail it to us. Otherwise, this will be the last quarterly report you receive. We hate to do this, but with an ever-growing list like this, we need to purge the inactive fans to keep our costs down.

As you may have noticed, we have decided to return to the full-size zine. The means that the cost per zine is about two or three dollars higher, but after discussing the matter with several readers, the digest-size zine just isn't very popular. ANTARES 14 was our first zine to return to the original letter-size zine format, and the issues advertised in this quarterly report are all letter-sized as well.

This fall, we're proud to release ANTARES 15 (our Star Trek anthology fanzine), HYPERION 2 (our Captain Uhura fanzine) and the 2006 ORION PRESS LEXICON.

State of the Press: 2007

From a May 2007 flyer:

Dear Friends:

Fanzine sales remain quite stable. Most readers have opted to read our material on-line, and as long as they're willing to wait six to twelve months before the material is posted, that's fine with us. I see the day coming that the printed fanzine simply may no longer exist. Most of our readership reads our material on-line, and with more and more material published as on-line exclusives (such as Dave Eversole's outstanding series of articles on the "Unseen Elements" from Star Trek scripts-including scripts and outlines purchased and never shot—and his "Origins" of Star Trek), our on-line readership dwarfs our current printed readership by nearly two hundred to one! And the total number of visitors to our site has eclipsed the total number of zines we've sold since 1979. Clearly, on-line will continue to grow as the printed word diminishes.

It's interesting to see the parallels between our fanzines and Pocket Books. They've actually decided to get into the fanzine publishing business (despite a pronounced disdain for fanzines). Oh, I know, that's not what they're calling it. But they've printed one, and it's called Constellations. It's an anthology collection of a dozen original series short stories. It's in a nice large digest format (larger than your average paperback book), and it's filled with stories from many of their usual clique of writers. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I just find it ironic that they've chosen to publish an anthology after decades of refusing to do so (not counting the Strange New Worlds contest books).

I'm glad to see Constellations, though, and I hope that the anthologies continue. As we found out with the SNW contests, when folks have their stories rejected, they often turn to Orion Press to share their work with others. Some of our better short story writers (such as Cathy German) came to us after being referred by the SNW editors. Of course, it means that a few of their authors who've written short stories for us over the years will probably not send their stories to us for publication in the hopes that their short stories will get published professionally, but hey, that's fine.

But following the disappointing Star Trek Corps of Engineers, Star Trek Vanguard, Star Trek Mirror Universe, Star Trek Eugenics War, Star Trek Perry Mason... ahem, Sam Cogley mystery, Star Trek Star fleet Year One, Star Trek Challenger and that ridiculous Star Trek Gateways series, I'd love to see a rebirth of classic Star Trek books. Maybe it will happen...but probably not...

What will probably happen is that Pocketbooks will move to more of an on-line presence, just as we have. I'm sure many of you are completely unaware that there is a complete Classic Trek series called Star Trek: Mere Anarchy that's only available on-line; yep, it's an on-line exclusive, similar to what we're doing. Theirs is available for a charge of around $4.00 for each download, but ours will remain free as long as I have anything to do with it.

State of the Press: 2008

From an Winter 2008 flyer:

Happy Holidays!

I hope that this season will find all of you happy, contented and prosperous. We've enclosed our annual Christmas Card with this mailing, and hope you'll appreciate the joke. My sons and I found it funny; my wife and daughter didn't. But hey, IDIC, you know?

Many of you are now reading our fan fiction on the Internet, and we're delighted by that. Our stories are more read than they've ever been before, and the general reaction to them has never been better.

But several readers still prefer an old-fashioned fanzine (to be honest, I'm one of 'em), and most of those readers have told us how much they hated the smaller, digest 5½"x 8½ sized zines. If you'll forgive the pun, now that my eyesight's gotten worse, I can see their point. To that end, we've re-released all our Orion Archives fanzines in larger format, and with the artwork restored.

We still are publishing, and would Love for you to share a story or two about the original series characters with us! Orion Press may no longer publish stories about the Modern Trek incarnations, but we're still alive and kicking with both Antares (our Classic Trek anthology series) and Hyperion (our Captain Uhura anthology series).

Guess that's about it. Flip through this little booklet and take a gander at these offerings. Many of these new Orion Archives collections feature material from Idylls, Interludes and Tantalus. I'm sure you'll enjoy them, too!

State of the Press: 2009

From an April 2009 flyer:

Dear Friends of Orion Press:

It's been quite an eventful six months since our last fanzines were released. As time for the new Star Trek movie's debut draws near, I'm reminded of the wonderful experiences my involvement with fandom and fanzines has brought me. An old girlfriend who contacted me on Facebook last week asked if I was still having fun "being a Trekkie." Absolutely!

Our fanzines' sales are dwindling, but our readership on our website is growing. We've never been in fandom for the money; we just have to cover our expenses. Whereas we used to be astonished to sell hundreds of fanzines, we now have thousands of readers who peruse our site regularly for new material.

We're finding new contributors all the time, and the content of our annually published anthology, ANTARES, reflects this. There are no less than eight different contributors to ANTARES 18 (many new to writing for ORION PRESS), and we've already received two submissions for the next issue! Our zines continue to sell at a moderate pace (and in this time of economic uncertainty, we know fanzines are a luxury!), and we have begun posting stories for the zines to our website as soon as they're accepted for publication.

Since we began keeping count of our website visits, over 60,000 people have visited the site. We continue to update our site monthly, with both new stories and articles about the original series. Our Original Series timeline continues to be the most popular with nearly 20,000 visitors reading the stories there. Almost as popular are both our Fan Films page and our Unseen Elements pages, both which bring in large numbers of new visitors to the site.

One of the things that we've done lately is the re-introduction of our annual writing contests. This year's contest theme will be "Minor Characters from the Original Series." We're not talking Kirk, Spock, McCoy or Scotty. We're not even talking about Sulu, Chekov or Uhura. We're talking about the "little guys" like Esteban Rodriguez, Jonathan Kyle, Janna Haynes, Kevin Riley, and even Janice Rand. The stories still have to remain true to the original series and true to established canon, but there's little or no other restrictions on content. Submissions should be sent to our address (listed below) and must be received by no later than August 1st. There are no length requirements. If you have any questions, be sure and let us know!

Lastly, we need artists. We've found one or two lately, but we'd like to receive some Star Trek artwork that can accompany our printed fanzines. If you're an artist, or if you dabble in illustrating, please consider contacting us. The main difference between our printed zines and our on-line fiction is the artwork, and we'd love to have more art in our zines!

Thanks for all your support, and we wish everyone a happy, peaceful and prosperous Spring!

State of the Press: 2010

A fan recently wrote me a deeply personal letter regarding what her concerns for the Orion Press website. We haven't had much to offer in terms of new material as of late, and as a result, she's worried that our website is dying, she's worried I'm moving on to Project Potemkin and leaving Orion Press behind, and she wanted to know what she could do to help.

To be honest, pickings have been very slim lately at Orion Press, and it's been that way for some time. As the editor and publisher of all our fiction these days, I really work on making sure the material we publish reflect my Star Trek perspective as much as it does the authors'. That can lead to the butting of some heads, and folks come and go. To be sure, we haven't had a lot of new material coming in lately. I'm very picky as an editor, and that has never and will never change.

Many of our writers over the years have moved on to other things. We'll occasionally hear from Nomad and Linda McInnis and even Chris Dickenson, but for the most part, they've transitioned to different interests. Some of our contributors, such as Ann Zewen and Joan Winston, have passed away. Some have simply GAFIAted (gotten-away-from-it-all) for personal reasons or FAFIAted (forced-away-from-it-all) for financial, work or family reasons. Some have gotten pissed off and left in a huff (*shrug* it happens, you know). Some just have no interest in writing or illustrating/drawing these days. Some are even trying their hand at going pro.

It seems like that this was all of a sudden for a variety of reasons, but it's not quite true. You see, the decline has been going on for three or four years, but over the past few years, we turned to some of our sister publications to determine if stories from those publications could be worked into the Orion Universe. About half of them could and were, in fact, posted and published as part of the Orion Universe. These stories included some of the racier Beyond the Farthest Star stories, several stories from Idylls and Tantalus and even the obscure Total Entropy. The publishing/posting of these stories added to the illusion that there was no decline in material, but in all honesty, there's been quite a drop.

We've had a fewer submissions in the past two years than ever before, although recently we've had a brief upswing in submissions. We had a really nice little novella submitted, and while the author went through a great deal of effort to accomodate it into the Orion Universe, it basically conflicted with Chris Dickenson's massive novel, Keeper of the Katra. There's simply no way I could minimize the events in it (or conflict with a story featuring T'Liba that's been in the works for a few years) as would be required by accepting the novella, so I passed on it.

A few submissions came in at a time when I was really burning out on Orion Press. There were two stories from two different authors that came in within the past six months that led to some head-butting, and afterwards, I simply chose not even to read half a dozen stories that came in from other writers. No, it wasn't fair to do that, but it also would've been terribly unfair to read them in my frame of mind at the time. I came close to burning out on keeping our Star Trek website going. (Anyone who hasn't maintained a website has no idea of exactly how much work is needed to keep it going, especially when updating it monthly.)

So here I was, pissed off and close to burning out when I came across this article on Paragon's Paragon. Suddenly, I was inspired again. I'd been thinking of doing a stop-motion animated version of Classic Trek (I'd even built part of the bridge set), and it dawned on me that I could do a live action version, set on a different starship with a different crew. Would it be any different than say doing Chekov's Enterprise stories? Not at all, I realized, and so after checking on a few details, made the decision to create Project Potemkin, a fan film series set after Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country. The stories of Starship Potemkin will be set in the Orion Universe. As the staff grows and the project is approaching its construction date, I realized that not only can we do Potemkin-related fan films, we can even create some Third Mission, Chekov's Enterprise and Captain Sulu fan films! Fan films, after all, are simply fan stories told in a new medium. First there were paper fanzines, then electronic ones, and now comes the next logical progression: digital video/audio.

And yet this does not mean that our fanzines are going away. I'm still planning on publishing ANTARES 19 this summer. I'm still planning on updating this website often (especially with the help of folks like Diane Doyle and Carolyn Kaberline who help keep material coming in). I'm even contemplating contacting some of my favorite writers of the 70's and 80's and asking if they'd be willing to have their stories original published elsewhere posted on-line here at Orion Press.

I'm not going anywhere, and I hope that you readers aren't either. I do need some help, though, as I told the concerned fan who'd written me. I need some stories and artwork to publish. So if you've got a story, send it in and let me take a look at it. Don't worry about whether or not it fits the Orion Universe--let me deal with that. But send it in, and soon!

Orion Press Dropped All Its Non-Classic Trek in 2000

cover of a 2001 catalog

Randall Landers and Orion Press were originally optimistic about Star Trek: Voyager. In early 1995, Landers wrote:

As for Star Trek itself, 1995 promises to be an exciting year, beginning with the scheduled debut of Star Trek: Voyager this month. We’re eagerly looking forward to this new show and will publish the usual reviews and commentary from readers and contributors as they become available. While we don't yet have a Voyager fanzine in the works, we're sure one will quickly follow that debut.

Five years later, the last episode of Star Trek: Voyager was called Endgame, and it was one of the reasons Orion Press discontinued all of its non-Classic Trek zine publishing in 2000. Randall Landers explains on the press's webpage:

Why did Orion Press drop all of its non-Classic Trek material from the website? Answer: This was not an easy decision for me to make, and it hurt a lot of people's feelings, including some very dear friends. Long time readers know that we have published 152 non-Classic Trek fanzines over the years from 1987 until 2001 (that's slightly more than the Classic Trek zines we published, especially if you discount the reprint anthologies). We sold more copies of those 152 non-Classic Trek fanzines on average than our Classic Trek fanzines, got more acclaim and won more awards for them, and were even recognized as THE fanzine source for Next Generation and Voyager zines. But in May 2001, Voyager's producers (Berman and Braga) unleashed the series finale, "Endgame," on fandom, and I sat there, stunned in complete disbelief, at how fans had been crapped upon by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga (something they would do again in the Enterprise series finale and in their last Star Trek film, Nemesis). I made the decision then and there to shut down our non-Classic Trek operations. I gave everyone notice to save their TNG, DS9 and VOY stories to files (many did, many more did not), sent all the TNG, DS9 and VOY zine masters back to their editors (none of them really kept their zines going), and basically I divorced myself from Modern Trek. Oh, it pissed off some friends of mine who felt that I had somehow betrayed them, and while I can't understand that, I do feel for them. None of them really seemed interested in trying to keep their zines going; they had come to rely on Orion Press to publish all their stuff. I, however, decided to not only maintain our Classic Trek website, but to expand it further.

Landers also wrote:

Right now, for the time being, we've decided to publish virtually simultaneously, in print and on-line. This will diminish the sales of the zines, but the main thing is that the Orion Press writers, myself included, want their works read. Update #2: After Antares 20 (June 2011), Orion Press will cease to publish new fanzines. Our back issues will remain in print, but there will be no new publications, even though the site will continue to host new material.

From a December 2000 flyer:

All Star Trek: The Next Generation fan fiction from our website was eliminated on November 4th, 2000. We only have one release in the works for January 2001, and due to the conflict in the Middle East, it may not materialize. I have issued a personal commitment to Gwyn Allman and Althea Katz to publish EL ADREL, should it be ready for the January release date. If not, however, the zine may be offered later on by Beta Ori Publications. Gwyn Allman (who is one of those behind Beta Ori) has requested and received our entire TNG fan fiction collection of stories, and Beta Ori is working on developing a website for those stories. I have attached their official announcement to this newsletter. Our website will list a link for her new website on our links page. Beta Ori Publications is also considering publishing some of the zines we currently have in print. ORION PRESS will honor all TNG fanzine orders received before March 31 st 2001. After that date, orders will be returned unfilled, and the masters for the zines will be turned over to Beta Ori....

All Deep Space Nine fan fiction from our website was eliminated on November 4th, 2000. There are no further releases in the works. Laura Taylor has posted some of her own material to her website, and we have created a link for Laura's website on our links web page. ORION PRESS will honor all DS9 fanzine orders received before March 31st 2001. After that date, orders will be returned unfilled, and the masters for the DS9 zines will be turned over to Ming Wathne of The Fanzine Library. She will not fill orders, but will maintain a copy for archival purposes.

All Star Trek: Voyager fan fiction from our website was eliminated on November 4th, 2000. All zines in the works have been canceled. Some of the ORION PRESS fanzines edited by Brenda Shaffer-Shiring may be published in reprint form by Unicorn Press. ORION PRESS will honor all VOY fanzine orders received before March 31st 2001. After that date, orders will be returned unfilled, and some of the masters for the VOY zines will be turned over to Brenda after that date. All other masters will be returned to the original authors or to The Fanzine Library, depending on the preference of the editor and authors.

Everyone: I want to publicly thank my contributors, my editors, my artists, my associates, my friends who've contributed to ORION PRESS over the years. It's time for me to move along home, back to my TOS roots. Most of you will not be hearing from me again. Over 80% of you are not TOS fans, and we're not expecting you to stick around. I also expect that over half of the TOS fans won't be back either now that we're restricting ourselves to canon-based material only. That means 90% of you won't hear from us again. In essence, ORION PRESS as you know it will cease to exist. But I wish all of you well. I hope you choose to support the new editors and publishers of TNG, DS9 and VOY zines, and let these folks hear from you. At the risk of being accused (AGAIN) of whining, we NEED to hear from you, to hear your comments - good and bad - about our work. Writing in a vacuum just ain't terribly rewarding. Speaking for myself, I don't write for you. I write for me, but if you like it, I'd like to know it. And if you don't like it, I'd like to know why. I think that most of our authors have the same sentiments about writing for themselves, but still wanting, needing your feedback. And many of our more talented writers have mentioned that they're just not getting enough feedback, and would rather write for another venue or genre which gets more feedback.

One last word: Fanzines are not dying out. We're just changing. I'm not giving up on fanzines, but instead I'm refocusing my efforts on the flavor of Trek I like best. Don't get me wrong; I still like the other flavors, too. But nothing beats butter pecan ice cream.

Fan Comments

Thank you! If it wasn't for you, Orion Press, and all those great fanzines, I wouldn't have enjoyed my fan fiction writing as much as I do - you gave me great advice and a wonderful place to publish! As a writer for Orion Press fanzines, I always felt like I was part of a very special group of people! :)

I highly recommend the Star Trek fan-fiction published by Orion Press - they are well-edited and feature many excellent stories for the Trek-o-phile. My particular favorites are anything by Jim Ausfahl, [Cathy German], or Anne Zewen. Printed zines frequently feature superb cover art from Christine Myers.

Other

They sponsored the Zee-Magnees Prizes although it is unknown if these awards ever actually happened.

Orion Press MSN Community

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  a 2001 announcement regarding a change in community and its MSN community

External Links

• List of published Orion Press fanzines
• Orion Press On-Line Fan Fiction Archives