Two-Dimensional Thinking
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Two-Dimensional Thinking |
| Publisher: | |
| Editor(s): | Lee Heller |
| Date(s): | 1985 |
| Series?: | |
| Medium: | print zine |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Two-Dimensional Thinking is a gen 230-page anthology of Star Trek: TOS short stories, poems, songs and original art work. The zine is perfect bound with reduced print.
The art is by Caro Hedge, Bjo Trimble, Mel White, Gennie Summers, Barbara P. Gordon, Christine Myers, Laurie Huff, Melody Rondeau, Cami Forsell, Bonnie Reitz, Vel Jaeger, Wendy Snow-Lang, Lizzie Hexam and Suzan Lovett.
A Submission Request
From the Editorial
Blame it on Fiona Feldman. JAPs and Star Trek are a brutal combination.
No, that's not fair — Mindy Glazer warned me about editing a fanzine. (What she said is another matter. I'll never tell. . . .) Blame it on T.J. Burnside: - FESARIUS V was one of the first zines I ever bought or read, thus initiating a long and costly vice which will probably taint me for the rest of my adult life.
No, that's not right, either, since T.J. is really the single sane source of information behind T-DT and would never try to interfere in the free will of another individual human being. Not unless you paid her, anyway.
Let's give credit where credit is due. It's all Teri Thorowgdod's fault. Really.
interior illo by Bjo Trimble, a comment on Banned from Argo, a scene from BSTA Bash 1983: "Hell of a way to tell us to shut up, Bjo. Too bad it didn't work, huh? You'd need a nuclear arsenal to do that."It all began this way (long, long ago, in a galaxy far far away. . i .,) : the scene is the BSTA BASH November 1983, and I'm at my first real fan-run con, cruising the zine room in search of good reading and the chance to maybe meet Mindy Glazer, my favorite fan writer...
[...]
The rest is history.
Twenty-four hours later, when the BSTA had nearly disbarred me, when Mindy, Teri, Mary Millard, Sue Bridges, Liz Hoolahan and I had done everything short of manslaughter in the way of disrupting the con, and when Bjo Trimble had drawn the group portrait which accompanies this editorial — Teri said (in the bar, of course), "Lee, we've all published something. So when are you gonna get your ass in gear?"
See? It really is Teri's fault. Jon-Eric to you too, dear.
As for the title of this zine: Don't ask. Please. Because I'll have to lie and make up a plausible story to explain why I chose it. However, if you absolutely have to know, send fifty dollars to Mindy Glazer at [address redacted]. She lies real good for money; it's called being a writer.
The idea behind T-DT is fairly simple. I wanted to edit the kind of zine that I have always wanted to buy, and which is so hard to find—that is, a thickly- packed non-K/S zine with contributions of uniformly high quality. I mean, why pay ten bucks for two good stories and some nice art when you can get 200 pages of your favorite authors and illustrators?
Anyway, silly me thought I would write to all my favorite fan talents, and that maybe three or four would agree to submit their work, and so eventually I'd end up with a small, tasteful wine-and-cheese kind of firstzine. Heh, heh, heh . . .
As you can see, flattery does get you everywhere. Not everyone I wrote was able to contribute to the zine, but every single person was reasonably prompt (gasp!) in replying, and was most kind and encouraging. To those of you who had to gracefully decline, thank you anyway and maybe next time; to those who said yes . . . Thank you, thank you, thank you. Suckers.
Your favorite writers and artists may not be mine; I could, finally, consult only my own taste and my training. In any case, LoCs are welcome. No, LoCs are required; If you don't write and tell me how you liked my zine, I'll send my 85 lb. golden retriever to sit on you while he smiles in blissful stupidity. Don't laugh; this dog gives dumb a whole new level of meaning. He once barked at a statue of Abraham Lincoln for ten whole minutes. ...
[...]
[More thanks to] the D.O.B.s — Mindy, Teri, Mary, Liz and Sue: They adopted me at BASH and haven't let me forget it since. And they've all contributed to T-DT in some way or another, whether they wanted to or not, even at gunpoint. Even when I didn't want them to.
To my father, who thought he was buying the IBM PC for my dissertation: Well, dad, guess what. ... No point in rushing all that research and spoiling a complex thesis, right? The PC was a big help, and the editorial experience might prove invaluable when I'm a poor, unemployed Ph.D. beating the streets in search of remunerative activity. (Dad, you know that bridge in Brooklyn I was going to sell you. . . .?)
To Bjo Trimble, who has so kindly permitted me to use the cartoon she drew for us at BASH 1983. Hell of a way to tell us to shut up, Bjo. Too bad it didn't work, huh? You'd need a nuclear arsenal to do that.
[...]
Contents
- The Insatiable by B.L. Barr (frontispiece)
- And in this Corner, editorial by Lee Heller (3)
- Controlled Damage by Mindy Glazer (a Feldman story) ("Join Ensign Fiona Feldman once more as she confronts the Piece of Axanar, Gil's roommate, Ooga the Andorian Love Slave, and the usual results of any encounter between Feldman and the Powers That Be. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into fanzines." [2]) (5)
- Don't Deny the Miracle by Susan Murray (14)
- Starfleet's Not My Home by Marguerite Krause (31)
- In Sleep We Meet by CinDe Deren and Diane Miskiewicz (Strange dreams trouble McCoy and Kirk following their visit to Vulcan. What is the cause of these dreams and how is Spock affected?) (32)
- Chimerae by Vel Jaeger (41)
- The Journal by Joan G. Ryan (On a visit to Jim Kirk's home, McCoy is strangely obsessed by the portrait of Jim's mother. With some reluctance, Jim gives McCoy his mother's journal which reveals much about Kirk's early life and many of the puzzling aspects of his character.) (42)
- Child of Nature, Child of Grace by Lee Heller (55)
- Some Guys Have All the Luck by Lynda Carraher("McCoy made a minute adjustment to the controls, his attention on the instrument. 'I'm afraid it'll have to be cut off.' 'My foot!?!' 'No, Annie,' he said patiently. 'The boot.' And Kirk thought that having a personal yeoman was easy.") (56)
- Winter Sucks by Anonymous (67)
- All's Fair by Beth Carlson ("The long-awaited sequel to 'The First Half of the Battle' (in Kobayashi Maru). Christine has arranged -- with a little help -- to find a secluded home for herself and the slowly healing Spock. But it means a whole new lifestyle for them both, and with it, an entirely new relationship. Can Christine find the kind of satisfaction with Spock that she has always desired?") (69)
- At Sunrise by Flora Poste (97)
- Three with W.T. (97)
- Where the Bookberries Bloom, reprinted from R and R #11 ("Spock and Uhura find themselves in the clutches of that most loving of fathers, W.T. Dubois, and his five -- count 'em, five -- marriageable daughters. For Spock, it may mean the end of bachelorhood itself.")
- The Wedding, reprinted from Star Canticle ("W.T. is back, and is he mad! See W.T. meet T'Pau, Sarek, and the entire Vulcan Council! See Spock prepare for martyrdom. See McCoy having the time of his life.")
- The Wrath of W.T.) by Rayelle Roe
- Insight by B.L. Barr (139)
- Star Drek III by M.J. Millard and Teri Thorowgood (140)
- Echo from a Different Voice by DaraLyn Archer (157)
- Private Sins by Shirley Sipe (McCoy begins to show his troubled mental condition following Spock's death. Kirk tries to understand and comfort his friend.) (173)
- Ye Old Plug Page (177)
- Catch a Falling Star by Marguerite Krause (179)
- Fourteen In, Seventeen Out by Collette Mak ("A companion story to the zine novel, Don't Tell It To The Captain.") (180)
- David by Ginna La Croix (197)
- Here as on a Darklin Plain by Lee Heller (198)
- Lullaby for a Weary World by T.J. Burnside (230)
Gallery
interior art, Suzan Lovett
interior art, Suzan Lovett
interior art, Suzan Lovett
interior art, Bonnie Reitz
interior art, Cami Forsell
interior art, Laurie Huff
interior art, Barbara P. Gordon
interior art, Vel Jaeger
interior art, Wendy Snow-Lang
interior art, Gennie Summers
interior art, Melody Rondeau
interior art, Mel White, it's Fiona Feldman
interior art, Mel White
interior art, Gennie Summers
Reactions and Reviews
See reactions and reviews for Where the Bookberries Bloom.
[zine]: To my mind, however, the best fanzine of the year was Two Dimensional Thinking, edited by Lee Heller... This fanzine ran 230 pages and was perfect bound. To produce this volume, Lee wrote all of her favorite fanzine authors, asking them to contribute something. The result was the best fanzine since Dagger of the Mind, and I thought that both Dagger of the Mind and Two Dimensional Thinking were the best Star Trek fanzines since Interphase. Unfortunately, the editors of all three fanzines never issued another Star Trek fanzine. [3]
[zine]: TWO-DIMENSIONAL THINKING is the best fanzine I've seen in some time. This will be on my mind as a Fan Q nominee for 1985, in the fanzine category, and in the artwork category for Suzan Lovett in particular (though there is other good artwork here as well). There is no age statement on this fanzine, though with mature language, mature situations, and 'suggestive artwork, it might well have had one. Two other minor problems I had were with the single quotations (the left one horizontal, the right one vertical), and the tendency of some authors to abbreviate "Starfleet" as "'fleet" (since it was never done in the series, why do it In a story?). The strongest stories in this fanzine are the comedies. I've noticed in recent years that stories which emphasize comedy also have some of the most accurate characterizations. "Controlled Damage: A Tale of Feldman" by Mindy Glazer details Feldman's first days on the ENTERPRISE. It is written in the style of the Feldman novels. "Some Guys Have All the Luck" by Lynda Carraher features a soap-opera addict whose hobby has an unexpected effect on an alien culture. "Three with W. T." by Rayelle Roe are stories about an isolated farmer who has extraordinary run-ins with the ENTERPRISE crew. "Fourteen In, Seventeen Out" by Collette Mak is about the ship's laundry officer—the numbers refer to socks—and efforts by Spock to get a full accounting of his laundry. All of these feature excellent comedy writing. The three alternate universe stories are also quite good. "The Journal" by Joan G. Ryan finds Kirk and Spock and McCoy at Kirk's boyhood home. Here, Kirk's mother died before he entered Starfleet academy, and a journal provides insight into the mother's character. "All's Fair" finds Spock married to Christine. Spock has an injury requiring extensive therapy, and in the recovery process, the two work out their feelings for each other. "Echo from a Different Voice" by DaraLyn Archer supposes that Janice Lester was killed while in Kirk's body. How Kirk, in a woman's body, must re-establish himself as commander of the ENTERPRISE. There are two well-written short dramas: "In Sleep Wo Meet" by CinDe Deren and Diane Miskiewicz describes three dreams. One is Kirk's, one is Spock's, one is McCoy's, and it is not certain which dream belongs to which man. "Private Sina" by Shirley Sipe takes place after ST II and is by Shirley Sipe takes place after ST II and is compatible with ST III. Here, Kirk is concerned about McCoy's behavior. Finally, there are two romances. "Don't Deny the Miracle" by Susan Murray and "Here as on a Darkling Plain" by Lee Heller have some elements in common. The heroine has fantastic powers, the heroine has Kirk as a lover, all the rest of the crew love and admire the heroine, and the heroine suffers a lot. I found these two stories the weakest ones in the fanzine; admittedly, that is a reflection of my personal taste. Overall, TWO DIMENSIONAL THINKING is excellent. I recommend it highly. [4]
References
- ^ from Universal Translator #22
- ^ Mindy wrote in Interstat #27 that she had completed the first part of what was to be the third novel in the series. It is unknown if this is the story "Controlled Damage" or something that was never published.
- ^ from Boldly Writing
- ^ from Treklink #2