Polaris Press

Zine Publisher
Name:	Polaris Press
Contact:	Lorraine Bartlett
Type:	fan fiction
Fandoms:	Starsky & Hutch, Magnum PI, Multiple Fandoms, Rat Patrol, Quantum Leap
Status:	defunct
Other:
URL:
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Polaris Press was a gen fanzine publisher in the 1970s and 1980s.

From a 1987 statement:

I have been publishing fanzines under the Polaris Press banner since 1977. By the time this sees print, I will have completed my 18th fanzine, Rerun 5.

After being burned by fanzine publishers in olden days of Trekdom (waiting for up to two months for zines that were IN PRINT), I vowed never to take a deposit for a zine that was not ready, and unless I'm on vacation or sick in bed, try to get the zine orders in the mail within three days of receipt.

A lot of people ask me how I can produce zines so inexpensively. Easy, I use mimeo. It is inexpensive, but it's good-quality reproduction. (It took a couple of years of trial and error to obtain good repro, but I get good results with my equipment). But inexpensive doesn't mean the content isn't valuable. At conventions, I've seen people pass up my "inexpensive" mimeo zines because "it can't be as good as the one selling for $20 on the next table."

I try to make each zine I publish the best it can possibly be, which means I'm a fairly tough editor. If you don't like to rewrite, you'd be better off submitting your story elsewhere. But having high standards pays off. Various issues of Rerun and Robin's Nest have been nominated for Fan Q awards, with individual contributors winning Fan Qs for work contained in these issues. Several issues of Zebra Three have won awards as well.

The art in Polaris Press publications is usually above average. Again, reproduction is often mimeo (for line drawings), but I also use xerox or offset. I welcome hearing from artists, but please send me a xeroxed sample of your work. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce pencil drawings or color work, which limits me to pen and ink.

Publications

Above & Below | Above & Below's Dreamscapes | Animazine | City on the Edge of Nowhere | Crossfire | Knightales | Leaping to Conclusions | Robin's Nest | Rerun | Sins of the Father | Zebra Three