Out of the Blue (Quantum Leap zine)
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Out of the Blue |
| Publisher: | Penreddy Publication |
| Editor(s): | Kay Simon |
| Date(s): | November 1990 |
| Series?: | |
| Medium: | print zine |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Quantum Leap |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Out of the Blue is a gen 104-page anthology. Longer stories are connected leap out to leap in.
- Double Take by Kay Simon
- The 'Write' Stuff by Lee Kirkland
- Mother's Day by Kay Simon
- Ghost of a Chance by Pat Dunn and Diana Smith
- The *Which* Generation? by Kay Simon
- East Leaps West by Margaret Davis
- a poem by Roxanne Koogler: A Country of the Heart
- an entry in Al's "Observer's Log" by Roxanne
- In Sam's Head by Kay Simon
Reactions and Reviews
First of all, I love the cover on this zine. Instead of staples of the trouble-prone spiral binding you usually see, the pages are perfect bound in what appears to be a simple strip of black cloth or tape of some sort. The well-laid-out cover does not feature Sam or Al, but it does have a nice logo, a line drawing of an hourglass with wings. There is no interior all.
As for the stories, there’s a nice mix here, although they are a little variable in quality and not high on what Kitty Woldow calls “smarm.” The spy story, “Double Take,” is well done, as are “Ghost of a Chance” and “East Leaps West” Of the three, I found the latter two more interesting. Of the other three stories, Lee Kirkland’s “The ‘Write’ Stuff” didn't do much for me (although I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews of her B&B stories), and Kay Simon's two others range from truly excellent (“Mother’s Day”) to rather pointless semi-parody (“The Which Generation?”). There are stories well worth reading here, as well as poetry (by Roxanne Shearer Koogler) that I actually like (and I usually hate that stuff). It just, I don’t know; Out of the Blue just didn’t blow me away, that's all. It’s definitely worth buying, especially if it happens to turn up at a con as my copy did. But if your budget is limited and your choices are unlimited, there are others which are even better. [2]
Two out of five stars. Average zine, the only real standouts are a set of three very short pieces. One nice touch, the editor arranged to connect the long stories leap out to leap in. The stories are: 'Double Take' by Kay Simon, Sam's a spy who may be a double agent. "The 'Write' Stuff" by Lee Kirkland, Sam has to deal with fandom, as a zine writer. He may speak 7 languages, but he can't understand what his 'roommate' is talking about. Al just appreciates being in the women's dorm. 'Mother's Day' by Kay is a more serious leap, into a poor, black mother of three, with a fourth on the way and a 16 year old sister who is also pregnant. Al says the next baby will be an important Senator, but Sam isn't sure who he is really there to help. 'Ghost of a Chance' by Pat Dunn and Diana Smith, asks what happens if Sam changes places with a ghost. This one is the most far-fetched, I've seen a much better version of a similar situation in another zine. Some fun though, as Sam has to deal with ghosts of the leapee's ancestors. 'The *Which* Generation?' by Kay, makes Sam a TV writer on a dying show. Should it hold on another year or go into syndication? In 'East Leaps West' by Margaret Davis, Sam gets to dance again. He's a Russian Prima Ballerina on a US tour. Can he and Al stay clear of the KGB? Lots of leaps into women here. The best stuff in the zine is a set of a poem and 2 short looks at the character's motivations, all centering on MIA and Vietnam - a poem by Roxanne Koogler, 'A Country of the Heart', an entry in Al's 'Observer's Log', also by Roxanne, and 'In Sam's Head' by Kay. [3]
Out of the Blue has only one bit of art, illustrating the last story; no cover art. The stories are linked, in that the end of story A puts Sam into the first scene of story B. It mostly doesn’t work but it’s an interesting idea. I expect it's an attempt to emulate the feel of the show. Furthering this is the fact that each story opens with the date, which I appreciate. Like Sam, I prefer to know when I am. Alas, this is not the zine for you if you're looking for Sam and Al together, or for scenes on their relationship. They're never glaringly out of character, but characterization is not this zine's strong point. The stories are mostly competent but a bit cliched, and only about half of them really involved me in the characters. We start out with "Double Take," a spy stoiy set in ’61. Sam initially thinks of James Bond, Al of John Le Carre, the author apparently had both in mind. The stoiy is rather overwritten and gaudy, Fleming without the great recitations of ritz. The brand names are missing because the man Sam's replaced is a lot closer to George Smiley than to James Bond. He's divorced and drives a lumbering '56 Buick. The Russians are about to kidnap his daughter and force him into becoming a double agent, which Sam has to prevent. Sam gets shot on the first page, but Al is far more interested in drooling over a Russian agent Sam’s taken captive than in finding out why Sam’s bleeding, in my opinion a waste of potential smarm. Sam disarms the Russian spy, Luddie, with laughable ease, and she resorts to !)assive resistance for much of the story, never really coalescing into anything beyond a wimp although we’re told she is capable and deadly). Nevertheless, Sam ultimately trusts her to both defect and rescue his family. Apparently he sees more in her than I do.... I got the impression this was a rush job, something the author lust 'tossed off. The author tells you too much, mostly through Sam's intuition, instead of letting the characters reveal themselves through their actions. Rampant misplaced quotation marks and missing letters and words add to the feeling that this is just an early draft.
The next story, "The Write' Stuff,” is great fun. Sam leaps into a college student who is cowriting a zine, and the conversation he pops into leaves him a bit confused. To quote, "I speak seven modem languages, he thought. She seems to be speaking one of them. Why can’t I understand anything she says?" Happily, Al soon shows with a fandom dictionary and Sam's assignment. Originally, the zine was somehow delayed, and although it was popular enough when it came out, the girls continued to write only zines until after college, when the writing team breaks up. But if Sam can bring this zine through on time a 'big-time agent’ sees the zine and the authors will go on to write best sellers.
This is, of course, just about every zine writer's big dream, and about as likely as the plot of the story Sam’s working on. I suspect much of the appeal of this stoiy for me was that Sam's writing partner reminds me of one of my writing partners. It's also written with a light, competent touch, enjoyable even though it meanders a bit. A winner.
"Mother's Day" is a bit of a lecture but well written. Sam leaps into Rose Gibson, a black woman in Atlanta, in the mid '50’s. A very pregnant Rose Gibson, whose pregnancy is not going well and who has been deserted by her husband. She already has three children, the youngest of whom sees Sam as himself. Sam deals with this, then his 'sister' shows up, 16, pregnant, unmarried and requesting money for an abortion. Finally, Al informs him that the baby he's carrying is Sam Gibson, who Sam remembers as a famous senator, but who may never exist because Rose aborts him.
From which point everything progresses predictably, but the characters are clearly drawn and I cared about them, Al gets off a crack or two, Sam is nis usual compassionate self, and the story doesn't drag. Good enough for television... Unfortunately, in "A Ghost of a Chance," the cliched situation and characters took over.
The characters are a genteel English couple, a belligerent Scotsman, plucky heroine, slimy bad guy and his cowardly henchman... sigh. The situation is a bunch of ghosts trying to keep their home from being tom down by developers.
Sam is the ghost of Michael Williamson, who was murdered because he wouldn’t sell his old family mansion. Sam's there to save Michael's lover, Lisa Courtland, from being murdered as well. Fortunately, the house is inhabited by a number of other ghosts who guide Sam along. Sam accepts the situation pretty well, but Al doesn’t deal well with the other ghosts. This has its amusing moments, but it's kind of a drag because Al mostly takes off whenever the ghosts show up so there’s not much Sam and Al interaction.
The main ghosts Sam deals with are a married couple, Charles and Elizabeth, and a frontiersman with a strong accent, Stewart McPherson. Why they didn’t manage to rescue Michael is never explained, but they’re quite determined to save Lisa. Lisa knows Michael left a will that would save the house, but the bad guys have removed the copy from the lawyer's office and she hasn't been able to find the copy Michael had. Sam needs to help her find the will, and then keep her alive long enough to get it to a lawyer.
The story isn't baa, and the wilting is competent enough, but I never got involved in it or really cared. I'm not sure if this was because of the cliches or because I found it all too artificial - like the author didn’t really believe all this afterlife stuff either, but thought it mildly amusing. At any rate, I viewed it all from a slightly cynical distance.
Next are two vignettes of Al's thoughts after 'The Leap Home: Viet Nam" - "Country of the Heart" is printed as a poem, "Observer's Log" is almost a prose poem companion piece. I thought them both well done. Unfortunately, "In Sam’s Head," a page covering Sam's thoughts on the same event, is much less successful, although I rather like the very last line.
Then we have 'The Which Generation?" I think this is supposed to be a funny story, full of great in-jokes. If so, I missed them. Sam pops into a guy named Stan Faro, a low-ranking story editor on a TV series that's obviously STAR TREK, although it’s called SPACE TRAVELERS. Another story editor, Marvin Meachman, is trying to convince the owner of the show, George Ross (Gene Roddenberry) to sell the rights to SPACE TRAVELERS. Sam’s supposed to prevent him.
Marvin is the creator of Al's favorite TV shows in the '80's, but I haven’t figured out who he's supposed to be, if anybody. So what were Al's favorite shows, anyhow? My money is on stuff like CHARLIE'S ANGELS or BJ AND THE BEAR, which might indicate Fred Silverman (who got them both on the air), but the character’s physical description sounds more like Harlan Ellison. Glen Larson, maybe? Melvin Milquetoast? Who knows.
Sam’s character produced a movie called Videohead that initially bombed but goes on to be a cult classic, and it’s implied that he’s going to go on and do slasher flicks. Although initially I thought Videohead might be Eraserhead. that didn’t work, since Eraserhead is 14 years in the future and this guy is definitely not David Lynch. Then again, FRIDAY THE 13TH is a decade away as well... Head times out better, but I have no idea who might've been involved in Head. STAR TREK and FRIDAY THE 13TH. If anyone could explain this all to me I’d be momentarily grateful.
The last story is "East Leaps West," yet another version of the 'defecting Russian ballerina' routine. The woman Sam is in, Verenia, and her husband, Aleksandr, hope to defect, and if they succeed their son, a medical research doctor, will be working for the Americans rather than the Russians. The cliches are saved by a couple of things. First, Aleksandr is well drawn and through him I cared about what happened to the couple. None of the other original characters were anything beyond shadows, but Sam and Al are as well done as Aleksandr. And second, the atmosphere of the ballet world is nicely drawn. Whether this version of backstage ballet is anything near reality or not is beyond me, but the details give the story a solid feel I likecf. One of the better ones here.
Out of the Blue is mostly competent, but cliched and a little cold. The best stories are those where at least I feel like the author cared about their own characters. If I don't feel the author cares, it's a little tough to care myself - and someone who isn't looking for a bit of empathy is reading zines in a whole different way than I am.[4]
References
- ^ from Kitty's Smarm Ratings for QL Zines by Kitty Woldow (1991)
- ^ from The Unseen Observer #2 (summer 1991)
- ^ QL Fanzine Reviews File #1 by Mary Anne Espenshade (June 23, 1994)
- ^ from The Imaging Chamber #9