Osiris Publications

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Zine Publisher
Name: Osiris Publications (officially known as OSIRIS Publications)
Contact: Joy Harrison
Type: 1979-1994?
Fandoms: Battlestar Galactica, Blake's 7, Robin of Sherwood
Status: inactive
Other:
URL:
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Osiris Publications (officially known as OSIRIS Publications) entered into the world of fanzine publishing as a joke with a one off issue of Purple and Orange?. The zine was published after the end of the first season of Battlestar Galactica when the studio threatened to cancel the TV series. At the time, the editor, Joy Harrison, had never heard of fanzines although she did have significant editing and writing experience. She published over 40 zines during the next twenty years.

1993 Flyer and Submission Guidelines

  • Osirisflyer1993-1.jpg
  • Osirisflyer1993-2.jpg

Controversies

This publisher was involved in a controversy and issued two 1992 open letters. See The Osiris Press Open Letters.

Battlestar Galactica: Different Fan Universes

Many of the stories and single-novel zines published by "Osiris Publications" take place in fan-created alternate universes. These different universes were explained at great length in the last issue of Purple & Orange?: "We think you see the kind of variety P&O? has, and the potential. We started with the series, and the books, and GALACTICA: 1980, and we took it from there. We like our little zine, and we want you to like it, too. If you have questions about anything, or story ideas you'd like to discuss, feel free to contact us, or talk to us at conventions. We like meeting new people, and we're willing to take time for you. without your input, how will we know what you want to see in these pages?"

Galactica

It's the ship we saw on the show, the one we fell in love with, whose characters and plots inspire loyalty to this day... We do have a number of stories which follow a certain timeline, but that timeline is intricately bound with another of our ships, the OSIRIS, and may be disregarded entirely when writing GALACTICA stories. If you want to use that line, you may want to contact us or check back issues to be sure that what you write doesn't conflict with what's already been published, or to find out what effect your story might have on some future action. The published novel WARRIORS' LUCK and the planned ALTERNATE CONSPIRACY are independent GALACTICA stories.

Pegasus

OSIRIS Publications is currently printing a series of stories taking place aboard the battlestar PEGASUS, the ship of Commander Cain, Apollo's idol. In these stories, the PEGASUS is travelling near the GALACTICA, but out of scanner and patrol range; they know the ultimate destination — Earth -- but Cain prefers to travel alone, a fast military strike force deflecting some Cylon attacks from the mainly civilian Fleet. The PEGASUS has picked up a number of survivors from the Delphian Empire, destroyed by the Cylons shortly before the Destruction. The Delphians are a militaristic people with a strong sense of honour and a vaguely old Japanese culture. They appear to have been a very early offshoot of the Colonies themselves; the Delphians of these stories are human. Considering the Commander and the nature of the ship's crew, it is to be expected that PEGASUS stories can have a much stronger military angle than GALACTICA stories.

Of course, this is Lee Gaul's version of the PEGASUS, its crew, and its place in the GALACTICA universe; other writers may present differing views.

This PEGASUS timestream contains the novels THE BATTLE OF MOLUKAI and SECOND COMING.

Osiris

The battlestar OSIRIS is a sister ship of the GALACTICA and the PEGASUS. She was sent on a two-yahren mission of deep-star exploration, the kind that fascinated Captain Apollo, approximately four yahrens before the Destruction. Being so long overdue, she was presumed lost. Several months after the Fleet's departure, she returned, gathered what survivors she could, and began to trail the GALACTICA. Her crew is mixed — approximately half military and half civilian specialists at the beginning of her voyage, now with the added tensions of the survivors, who are not always in the best physical, mental, or psychological condition. Realizing he can't afford to leave such a number of people with nothing to do, Commander Christopher continues his mission exploration of the planets they pass, while seeking clues to the GALACTICA's path and ultimate destination.

The OSIRIS was created to give us a place to put ourselves in this universe. It offers a wide variety of options for us — we don't all have to be Warriors or socialators to belong. It's an unofficial fan club, a gathering of friends, with whom you can spend as much or as little time as you wish, in real life or on paper. We encourage our readers and writers to create a counterpart on the OSIRIS, although it isn't mandatory; it's just for the fun of it. Many biographies of these personal characters have appeared in past issues, and we continue to get such short vignettes and log entries from new readers, so don't feel you've missed out if you didn't join the crew from Day One, seven years ago! Our writers and readers can still become original crew, Destruction survivors, or members of other ships encountered at some later date. (The OSIRIS also provides the editors an easy way to sidestep Mary Sue and John Q. Superhero, Personal characters go on this ship. The writer who can't live without his/her character [and incidentally himself/herself] being the centre of heroism, love, admiration, and gratitude on the GALACTICA should look elsewhere to publish his/her stories. Sorry.) The OSIRIS has Its own timeline. Individual characters can have their own adventures and interact with each other. On this ship, stories have to clear the editor to ensure continuity and prevent character discrepancy, but there's a lot of leeway — two people can view the same situation and repeat what sounds like two entirely different incidents.

The novels APOLLO'S ODYSSEY and MURMURS take place in this version of the universe, and the planned BURN, WITCH... as well.

Dementia

We haven't quite forgiven Clyde Jones for originally creating the battlefrog DEMENTIA — although the way he handles it, it's fun to read, if you survive the editing... It's a crazy ship, crewed by lunatics and geriatrics cases, with a small contingent of medical personnel and a few sane officers. You see. Commander Morpheus had orders to evacuate a front-line hospital and mental ward, and after the Cylons attacked, the only ship he had left was an old, pre-battlestar thing and some worn-out fighters... And of course, the fact that he's a were-frog merely makes things interesting when they pass a planet with a full moon... And the sorta sane engineer salvaged some defunct Cylons, and repaired them to serve as crew, and they had to paint them paisley to tell them from the other, bad Cylons... And the cargo hold hadn't been examined in yahrens, so the oddest things come out of it, like the Cook, who sorta looks like a giant orange rutabaga with tentacles and blue eye-stalks — where they picked him/her/it up, we haven't learned yet...

We think you get the picture. Purple prose and insanity reign supreme.

Much of the action in PURPLE AND ORANGE? takes place on these four ships. Planets and ships have been created for other stories. The "Survive the Alliance" tale shows one of the directions in which we're expanding. Our parody BABBLESTAR BLASTICA demonstrates another. ALLIES, a novel serialized in our earlier issues, by a professional author from Chicago, and the Colonial History series demonstrate still others, by using the universe as a jumping-off point for independent stories. (We're considering publishing ALLIES as a separate novel, with revisions and new art, if interest warrants. Interested?)

List of Published Fanzines

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