The Halkan Council/Issues 01-10

Issues 01-10 · Issues 11-19 · Issues 20-27

Issue 1 (December 1974)

The Halkan Council 1 was published Dec 1974 and contains 10 pages.

• from a fan, right off the bat on page #3:

  … Grup #3 is indeed out. It’s nowhere near as good as #1 and #2, but the Steve Barnes story is excellent, as usual. Carrie is very big on unresolved endings in this issue, perhaps so she can use the sequels in #4. I think I’m correct in saying that Diane Marchant's ‘Fragments’ is the first homosexual story in ST fan literature to be published.

  
  
• fans discuss Planet of the Apes and while they like the show, know it will end in an unsatisfactory way or “degenerate into Run For Your Life"
• a fan recommends the Darkover books saying they are much like Vulcan
• the writer of ‘Misfit’ says it is at the stencil-typing stage, and that Showcase #2 should be out in February 1975
• a fan is disappointed with the animated series and says the characters look like cardboard cut-outs, another fan likes it okay but she is also desperate to hear the familiar voices, another fan compares it to the live show:

  Live ST asked questions. It always left us wondering whater [sic: whether] that was what the people ought to have done and what further consequences of their actions would bring. Animate ST does not do this, but tries mightily to cram a solution down our throats.

• zines listed for sale: Alternate Universe 4, Spock Enslaved, Energize! and That Which Survives

• 

  art from issue #1, "The pictures were traced off of clips projected onto the wall."

• 

  front page of issue #1

Issue 2 (January 1975)

front page of issue #2

art from issue #2, according to issue #1, "The pictures were traced off of clips projected onto the wall."

The Halkan Council 2 was published January 1975 and contains 14 pages. The editors say they plan to go offset in the next issue.

• there is a letter from Connie Faddis who comments on the hostility of some science fiction fans toward Star Trek fans, and also on the inability of Star Trek fanzines or fan writers to win Hugos. As a solution, she proposed the idea of having Star Trek awards of excellence. She adds that: "It's important to ST to keep good relations with Sf fandom... We, the two camps of us, are inevitably intertwined. Sf can do without ST, yes, but it's unrealistic to think that ST can do without Sf -- If it tried, ST would degenerate into Flash Gordon or The Jetsons."
• a fan says 4000 people showed up to hear Gene Roddenberry speak at Michigan State University (they had to turn 1500 away at the door), that he brought an episode on film and the blooper reel. She says Roddenberry now gets $2000 an appearance.
• a fan comments that KWest*Con "was a blast -- emotionally and enjoyment wise, it was almost like a personal con."
• there is a notice that The Daneswoman is being rewritten and there is a yet-unpublished sequel is "Yesterday Always Remains" to be issued by boojums Press "The pair will be published sometime in the next six months."
• a fan writes:

  If we're [science fiction and ST fans] are so damned intelligent, so advanced -- so much more enlightened than all those poor slobs out there in the 'Real World,' why aren't we doing anything about it? Aren't inflation, the PLO, the SLA, bombings in London, the presidential pardon, assassinations, kidnappings, suicides, wars and those damned WIN buttons enough to get us excited?... I'm sick of it. I'm sick of fanzines (my own not excepted) where the major topic of the LetterCols is why Sarek married Amanda or what grok really means, I'm sick of lay-Spock stories... watch fans tear each other to pieces over the correct pronunciation of sehlat... [We're talking about] the same show for seven years. For god's sake, wake up!... We're running back into the past as fast as we can because we can't face the present... I never thought anyone would make me dislike ST, but I'm well on the way to feeling like that now, because it's being used as a shield against new ideas. I never thought I could dislike fandom, but I'm tired of seeing people band together for protection against having to face reality.... It may hurt to get involved, it may be frightening... but if we... don't do something, the death of our planet is on all our heads.

• a fan writes:

  .. Many people liked the original story 'Gambit' in Grup #1, too, but many felt it was too close to 'This Side of Paradise.' I must not tell my fans that this was an intentional thing. My Sheron was in actuality Leila. I simply changed her ancestry to Rigelian so that there would be more a chance of a compatible union between them. See, even back then I knew Spock was going to be a father.

• a fan comments: "Has anyone ever made a study of ST's change in attitude toward Christianity? It's an interesting progression."
• there is some discussion about Planet of the Apes and Mark Lenard's role
• there is a few paragraphs about British ST fandom by Jenny Elson
• there are some comments on Independent Entity, Menagerie #4, and Sol Plus #3
• this issue contains a review of Spock Enslaved!, which generates a later letter from the zine's writer in issue #9

Issue 3 (February 1975)

front page of issue #3

The Halkan Council 3 was published February 1975 and contains 14 pages.

• a fan proposes a theory called "clod theory" about "Yesteryear". It is summarized as "Each Spock who goes into the past creates a chain of connecting links, with each Spock different people from totally different universes."
• the editors note that most of the letters received were in response to two fans' letters in issue #2, the one that talked of tensions between ST and Sf fen, and the letter from the fan who asked other fans to get more serious about world problems
• the editors say they didn't "go offset" and that there is sparse art made created in the same fashion as the previous issues. They mentioned they'd have a booth at the ST Con in New York City in February where they'd be selling 'The Halkan Council' and hoped to make enough money to make the next issues offset and to print the art they have but can't afford to produce
• the editors note that:

  ALL letters that reach us are considered for publication... Almost all letters are edited, because of space, because of repetition... We try to print letters we think are important, or that would lead to good discussion, or that contain information of interest.

• a fan writes:

  Anti-SF hostilities have been floating around ever since about the time the third season was on the air, about the time the 'straight' SF fans became disappointed in it... A number of SF fans told me, after the show was finally canceled, that they just couldn't believe that ST fandom wouldn't die out shortly. It didn't, of course, but a lot of those people still can't conceive of a vital, growing fandom for a 'dead' show. Of those SF fans, a number of them are fanatics of Doc Savage or the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories, or any number of other 'defunct' series, literary and otherwise. Suffice here to say something humble about the basic inconsistencies of human nature.

• it is mentioned by several fans that on reason SF fans dislike ST fans is that the conventions have gotten too big, and that they are looking for a scapegoat to blame
• a fan likes the idea of a separate awards system for ST zines but cites the many, many logistical, organizational, and financial problems with such a plan
• a fan writes:

  Granted SF opened its hearts to ST as the best SF tv drama to hit the tube, and then shunned it as it began to have a following of its own. The ST people do invade SF cons and expect special treatment. The SF people have, in some instances, purposely made trouble for ST fans at SF cons. So the battle continues. The idea of "our own" Hugos is a fine idea. So what convention will have them? Which con will be the one?

• a fan takes issue with the letter in the previous issue about fanzines being trivial in the face of the world's problems:

  I doubt that fanzines are a useful forum for doing anything about ecology, peace, inflation, etc... Possibly one could argue that we should not put out fanzines at all, but considering that few of us can spend all our spare time saving the world, it's reasonable enough for us to spend some of our spare time in whatever trivialities happen to give us pleasure...

art from issue #3

• a fan thanks 'Halkan Council' for jump-starting her interest in fandom again:

  Suddenly, here within my grasp again, is fandom! Here are fans discussing ST and their feelings and I feel alive again! Please, someone write a long, newsy letter to me.

• there is some discussion about how religion (read: Christianity) is portrayed on the show
• Fan critic Paula Smith, the publisher of Menagerie, says a separate award for Trek fiction is a bad idea for a number of reasons, one which is:

  Only the pro published stuff is widely distributed enough to be available to a majority of trekfen; perhaps two fanzines reach a plurality of the fandom. It's too easy to have a popularity contest, to vote for something that everyone is talking about, and ignored the well-constructed story. On this basis, a Lt. Mary Sue story like 'The Misfit' or a badly-characterized mish-mosh like Spock Enslaved could win out over the subtler and better Daneswoman [a novel this zined [fanzine editor] was hoping to publish through her boojums Press]. And that is too abominable to even consider. Moreover, why should such an obviously self-congratulatory award be respected by the general fan? He'd rightly say that the Trekkies couldn't hack the Big Time, and are now settling for a toy. It would be incest, it would be masturbation, it would be meaningless. Besides, don't think that the good trekwriters would be content with ersatz. [Laura and Margaret] Basta, Lichtenberg and Gerrold would still try for Hugos, and Trekkies would still vote en bloc for them. If we wish the straights to respect us, we must beat them at their own game, on their own terms. Our writers much be so damnably good that the genfan has to vote for them. We cherish entirely too much crap to the bosom in our quest for trekfic; we should not tolerate the Lt. Mary Sues stories where some idiot ensign saves the day with her hairpin, the plotless examples of the Lay Spock/McCoy/Kirk/Scott/Chekov/Uhura sub-genre, the inconsistent and too often badly characterized Get Spock stories. We ought to go beyond the Enterprise, or at least the Bridge, once in a while. We gotta show some class.

• while a fan understands "fen" is the plural of "fan" like "men" is the plural of "man," she dislikes the terminology:

  I get a little uneasy when the word fen is used as the plural for fan. It sounds like an overstuffed way of separating the outsiders from the insiders... I suppose it'd be impossible to change the word in fandom. But, how can sf (and ST) fandom defend this kind of language barrier that seems designed to separate us from 'the real world'?

• a fan comments on Spock Enslaved:

  [Name redacted] describes 'Spock Enslaved' as a 'major work so long-awaited.' It is of major length, major cost, and long-awaited, yes, but is it is not of major importance. 'Spock Enslaved' is a one-shot story which adds nothing to the overall view of ST. There's nothing wrong with that -- but it doesn't qualify as being an important contribution to ST literature. S.E. has a fair plot and moves along smoothly from scene to scene. But the characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy are somehow warped out of shape. And the bias of the whole story is drastically pro-Spock; I felt as if I were reading a propaganda rag instead of a ST story.

• there are short reviews of Alternate Universe 4, Odyssey, and T-Negative #25

Issue 4 (March 1975)

front page of issue #4

The Halkan Council 4 was published in March 1975 and contains 14 pages.

• a fan suggests the challenge: "What would you change to make your perfect world? What would you keep?"
• a male fan ponders gender and ST fandom:

  I don't really have an answer for [why ST fandom is predominantly female]; however, it's interesting for me to look at how I envisioned fandom before I encountered it. Naturally fans would be mostly male, with an interest in space travel, the future and perhaps an additional interest in film. I had never expected the Spock/Vulcan culture sub-fandom, nor the amount of amateur fiction that is being written. The Nimoy/Spock or Shatner/Kirk fascination probably had a lot to do with bringing in many female ST fans, but I don't think that accounts for all of them. I notice that at cons the numbers of each seem evenly split, however in fandom the majority of the zine publishers and writers are female. Some may argue that perhaps this is due to the fact that ST was 'progressive,' giving women key roles abroad the ship. This is unlikely, as, as nice as the argument is, most women were never pictured in a very multi-dimensional light while serving aboard ship. True, this was more advanced than other series at that time, but it really wasn't that revolutionary. As I recall, I can only point to one female crew-woman on the ship who seemed slightly more than one-dimensional, and she was a guest star that never returned... I was be very interested in hearing reasons form others as to the remarkable one-sidedness of organized ST fandom. I, personally, have no complaints about it whatsoever.

• many fans feel separate Star Trek zine awards would be impractical
• many, many fans take issue with the letter in a previous issue from a frustrated fan who feels Star Trek fandom is useless in the face of the world's problems, writing that there is nothing wrong with escapism and a little fun
• there is much talk of how science fiction fandom is antagonistic towards ST fandom and how ST fandom should deal with this conflict
• a fan apologizes for using another fan's letter in a college paper he wrote
• a fan asks:

  What is HC anyway? It isn't a zine, at least how I define the term. It's not really a newsletter, though that's closer than a zine. It could be called a 'Lettercol' if 'col' were short for 'collection'. It's UNIQUE. It's NEEDED. It's PEOPLE, ST fans getting together to discuss topics of interest, to set up theories and shoot them down, to stimulate and challenge other fans. The fact that it's published imposes a discipline quite absent from club meetings and con rap sessions.

• a fan writes in a very lengthy letter to repudiate another's letter on sf and ST fans' conflicts with each other, blaming ST fans, for one thing, for the massive influx of fans to Worldcon (and not in a good way), and criticizes her solutions to managing the monstrosity that the con had become. An excerpt:

  Many literary sf fans feel cheated because the Worldcon was created for them -- and by them -- and is the only large gathering of literary sf fans. ST has its own conventions, and now Apes has their own, too. If Star Trek hucksters were not allowed to peddle their wares, Star Trek costumes banned from the masquerade, Star Trek programs not sanctioned, Star Trek fans interested only in Star Trek would not attend. All of the above is a possibility; it would escalate hostilities that are now only below the surface of both fandoms." He also writes that "sf fans are being thrown into a society that is alien and repulsive to them, and they will not tolerate the pretext that it is 'theirs'... Star Trek and literary science fiction can get along fine on any matters but those of philosophy... and should continue to do so. But there cannot be and should not be a compromise of mental attitude and moral tenets. [Name redacted] is correct. There is anger and frustration in sf fandom, and Trekfandom has one set of options open to it: quench it or escape it.

• a fan disagrees that Vulcans and Darkover are similar except in their telepathy
• one fan predicted the demise of Star Trek or Star Trek fandom: "Star Trek is done," she said. "It was glorious, but it is over."
• a fan writes that:

  it will be interesting to see what happens to fandom 10 or 20 years from now. Most fans will probably 'outgrow' it, but I have a feeling that there will still be a few hardcore ST fans in 1990, reading and writing for maybe one or two fanzines and getting together for old times' sake, like the survivors of the Blizzard of 88 [1888?] do now. I predict that ST and its characters become as much a part of popular culture as Tarzan, or Dracula, or Sherlock Holmes, and for the same reason: they are such vivid, fascinating characters [and] touch an almost universal response.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 4

This is a letter zine. It has begun to pick up in interest in the later issues and already has several controversies raging. For those of you who aren't aware of what a "Letter Zine" is - They publish fans' letters written to them. The letter columns in other, irregular, fanzines lose some of their impact since by the time a heated retort is published the original question has been forgotten.

Also, zines like this give a chance for fans to publicly air their views on subjects without having to write a long article and send it around to find a publisher.

This is very definitely worth the expense for serious fans of Star Trek who like discuss the ST universe and characters (and ST fan universe too!).

Issue 5 (April 1975)

front page of issue #5

page of inserted art from issue #5 by Diane Marchant

The Halkan Council 5 was published in April 1975 and contains 14 pages.

• the editors apologize for running comments on a zine, saying the letter writer did not intend for her comments to be printed:

  As we do more issues, we gain more experience... Our apologies to the injured parties. As one letter we've received about it, '... there's a fine line between constructive reviewing and slashing somebody to pieces.' We agree, but the problem is finding that line. We're working on it...

• a fan writes:

  Even with the movie...[Star Trek] will slow down and die. Maybe not for a number of years, but we won't be introducing our grandchildren to it. I've been toying with a story about a couple of kids around 1995 eavesdropping on Grandma when she plays her 'Trouble with Tribbles' tape and being mystfied by the poster on her bedroom wall of a man with pointed ears.

• fan writes that she finds some ST fanfic to be obviously "ethnocentrically prejudiced," and cites a story in Showcase #2 (More Than One Way]) about Helen Noel, and the way a lot of authors treat Spock.

  We can can believe that Vulcans' blood is based on copper; their internal structure is vastly different from humans'; their history and culture and drastically different from ours. WHY DO WE INSIST THAT THEY HAVE TO THINK THE SAME WAY WE DO?!

• a fan comments that now that ST fandom has been around a while, there are problems with neofans.:

  Lately, I have begun to notice sections of zines and lettercols which I might be understand clearly, but might leave a neo-fan somewhere out in the void. Very simply... can it come to a point where we can't communicate with anyone else in fandom who isn't up to our same degree of familiarization with fandom. It is an old problem and contains many , many minor dilemmas of fannish thought... Without ignoring the problem or making it worse by forming fannish cliques, what impressions can get people to work around the problem?

• a fan writes that she sees a tremendous difference in the way telepathy is used on Vulcan and on Darkover:

  At least in the televised ST, no hint of Vulcan telepathic technology was ever made that I can recall. In fact, Vulcans seem almost afraid of the power and certainly against using it in a public matter, which a technology would certainly require. I must add that Bradley's and Lichtenberg's use of various degrees of non-private telepathy to establish and alien culture is extremely convincing and far more interesting than the series' use.

• there were many, many replies to the letter in the previous issue that critizized ST fandom for horning in on sf fandom and Worldcon. One comment:

  The problem with ST fandom is similar to the problem of SF fandom -- how to get rid of the deadwood... SF fandom has a hardcore of fanzine publishers and conventions goers and a lot of fringefans (people who subscribe to fanzines and sometimes attend conventions but who do not actively participate). ST fandom has a similar problem with 'commuters,' the people who flock to cons but do little or nothing else. SF fans were turned off by all the ST fans under the age of 12... Economic factors (travel and hotel bills) kept young attendees away [from SF cons, but ST cons] were held in areas where people could attend for the price of a membership and subway or bus fare. [He also comments that the age of fans is getting younger as well as there being an influx of "femfans" and that he expects the man to woman ration to become three male fans to every two female fans by 1980.]

photo of Gene Roddenberry taken by Sam Cook (a fan) at con at the Commodore in February 1975

• a fan writes of what he sees as the problems of Strekzines:

  Emphasis on fiction and club newsletters. Enough with the ST fan fiction. Enough with the newsletters filled with con reports and appeals to write NBC... More common interests have to be developed.

• a fan comments on the appeal of fanzines:

  The fanzine is the one place in the world that is strictly YOURS. You can do what suits you, and no editor or censor or publishing company or 5-second radio station loop or FCC can tell you not to do it. It is one of the few totally free forums open to people today. I've found stuff in fanzines that would knock any mundane magazines and their readers for a loop. Anything and everything can be and is discussed.

• a fan complains:

  Regarding the criticism I've seen about some fan stories, I wonder, have you ever noticed that ST plots, written by professional writers can look like swiss cheese after a mouse attack, but ST stories written by amateur writers can't even have a small loophole without being pounced upon on and blown out of all proportion?

• a fan writes:

  ...ST fandom is here to stay. There are a lot of people in ST fandom who care about quality, shun crass commercialization, and are dedicated to ST that it will keep going. I am more than happy to exist as a sub-genre of SF: I don't believe in taking it over... But I claim the same recognition and legitimacy as any other aspect of SF. And the people who have us irrevocably stereotyped with just a short exchange to the more visual, poorer aspects of ST should look at us again. We'll be here.

• a fan writes that the explosion in size of conventions is due some to interest in ST, but also because science fiction in general is getting more popular due to sf courses offered in colleges and high schools and that some fans have found conventions a cheap place to watch a lot of movies. Also:

  A lot of the blame for the increased size, however, rests with the science fiction fans who have worked to spread the word about science fiction; to make it 'respectable' and gain adherents. They succeeded admirably -- and now they don't like the results...

• there is a con report for "Con 1975" in New York in February at the Commodore (he includes some photos of fan panels (Sherna Comerford Burley, Devra Langsam, Shirley Maiewski, Margaret Basta and Joyce Yasner) and of Gene Roddenberry, Hal Clement, and Isaac Asimov.

Issue 6 (May 1975)

front page of issue #6

The Halkan Council 6 was published in May 1975 and was 13 pages long. It was available for .35 for one issue or $1.80 for six. As of this issue, #2, #3 and #5 were still available. "Dear Halkanses: Contratulations are in order! This is our sixth ish!. Imagine that -- a half a year of Halkaning!"

• a fan responds to another:

  [M S] seems to think that readers who criticize a story or zine are going stifle zine writers and editors. I don't think that's the case. Readers don't want zines that are all alike. And editors will not and cannot put out zines that all alike, because we all approach zines from entirely different points of view. Discussion of disagreements is healthy. It builds whole new concepts; and it forces us to think, to try and find sound bases from which to defend our cherished viewpoints or to alter them to accommodate new arguments. It's stimulating... I think the reason we fans are quicker to criticize fan fiction than ST's episodes is that the episodes are almost 'holy writ' because they are sanctioned by ST's creators, especially the patriarch of the whole organization, Gene Roddenberry. It's like a pseudo-religion in which the episodes are 'written law' (which can be questioned only with great care) and fan fiction is 'oral tradition' (which is meant to be discussed in detail and, at times, even argued over.)

• a fan writes:

  ... In Showcase, [S E] said that it would be a good idea to have children living aboard starships. At this point, she is wrong. Starships would be tightly-knit, closed environments in which there could be no wast -- whether of time, energy, resources or space. Like Spock's proverbial ermine violin, children add nothing to the ship's economy. They would be excess baggage—or, worse, they would be a drain on the ship's efficiency.

• she also writes:

  ... I don't thing that most fans have a gut-level belief in IDIC. I know this is a terrible thing to say, but, I believe it is true. IDIC isn't 'you have to agree with me and I have to agree with you,' it's 'you have the right to do as you please (no matter how much it offends my idea of right and wrong) as long as you don't hurt anyone else'... In ST fandom, we served a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant concept, and they were labeled 'human.' True, they were of human origin, but only a small percentage of our population believes in them. They are not the only standards -- moral, political, religious -- in the world. The single-mindedness is very evident in fandom. We all have the right to see what we want in our favorite characters. Most fans can't conceive of a truly ALIEN VULCAN Mr. Spock. They see a human Spock hiding under a mask that just happens to have slanted eyebrows and pointed ears attached. They have no use for a logical alien -- or any true alien at all. I see it as a denial of the concept of IDIC.

• a fan says of the proposed movie, still four years in the future:

  I think most ST fans expect the good ship Enterprise to pick up almost exactly where she left off in 1969. Can you imagine ST without Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all the rest? It would be easier to accept under a different title on a different ship." Another fan writes: "It wouldn't be ST without the original cast. Call it by another name, put it on a different starship, and show a different captain, but who else COULD Kirk, Spock, and the rest be but their creators?

• fan comments on the "clod theory" proposed in issue #3:

  It would answer another question of mine, i.e., how the 'old' Spock would remember a 'cousin' Selik who looked as he does now. The original Spock would not have met him at all, since an 'older' Spock would not as yet have gone back in time to save himself. Seems a pity, 'tho; if this is true, our Spock as we know and love is not the original.

• fan is bothered about Spock's attraction to another character:

  I think the worst perversion of Spock in that area was his attraction to the human Droxine; he was completely out of character... We can excuse him with Leila and Zarabeth because of specific influences, but not in 'Cloud Minders.'; they were just letting the human come out too far. After all, he didn't give Mudd's women a second look, while all the human males around him were sighing with lovesickness... By the way, I've pondered this: Would Spock ever really consider marrying a human? He knows the agonies of being half-human and half-Vulcan; would he want to live that closely with a human? Even more than that, would he not consider the hell that his offspring would suffer trying to be Vulcans?

• a fan writes of the feud between SF fans and Star Trek fans:

  Might there not be, at least among some sf fans, a degree of jealousy about the phenomenon that is Star Trek? Not just petty jealousy alone, but perhaps they deplore the great number of adherents to what they consider an inferior something.

• a fan says she enjoyed Showcase #2:

  I really enjoyed it and, as I said to Sharon, she did it again. I came home from work sick and and, after going to bed, decided to start Showcase. By the time I finished, I had forgotten how badly I felt, and I believe I felt better because of the joy and happiness the stories gave me. What more can anyone ask for in a book? I hope #3 is soon on the way. Even though I'm sorry that Christine and Spock did not marry, I am happy that she has at last found happiness and, most of all, love. Let's hope they have a long and beautiful life. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Guardian of Forever to go back and see if there is a Christ?

• fan praises The Halkan Council:

  Halkan is the first ST zine I've run across that looks like a normal fanzine. Most ST zines contain almost all fiction; Halkan doesn't... At any rate, the letters you publish are all very good in their content and style... I like how all the major SF fanacs are writing and being published in your zine; Halkan is very similar to sf zines, and I like that!

• there is an excerpt by Jeff Johnston from the March issue of Spectrum. He writes:

  There may be a high-brow level of fandom developing rapidly in Star Trek right now. First, not every one gets involved in fandom with the same intensity or with the same rapidity as the next person. Some people are remarkably intuitive and bright and have risen quickly in their esteem in fandom. Contrarily, some folks find their little niche in fandom and only work out of that. Some of the conflicts in fandom arrive with the occupations and interests of the people who make it up. As in science fiction writing, if a person is too heavily into science, he will probably write fiction that is much too heavy with hardware. Many of the people in fandom, though undoubtedly brilliant, always have their heads full of sociology or gothic romance. In their writing this is all reflected... Fandom is a type of group therapy for your ideas and lets you work them out and get them to other people. In a situation where you have a lot of deep underlying thought in a person's writing, it may be difficult for a new fan to discern. In a a way, the, uh, 'lowbrow' fandom is discouraged now... Perhaps there is a conscious effort on the part of some fans to talk only to other long-established fans....As you advance more into the world of fandom philosophy, it becomes increasingly hard to talk to the neofan. This all may distress some people, but the development of a highbrow fandom is necessary... WIthout an elite fandom we might lose those members of fandom fro the sheer fact they might no longer be able to communicate adequately. It is unfortunate that will probably never set a distinction between the two so that a new fan doesn't waste his money on zines he can't understand.

• Jacqueline Lichtenberg says that Star Trek Lives! is due to hit the stands in May
• a fan writes:

  ST fandom is is developing still, however, and that might be why some folk have identified us with the stereotyped, poorer images of ST fandom. ST fandom hasn't reached its highest potential yet, and we have a lot more fans to accumulate and a lot more work to do before people will really begin to notice us for the better aspects of our fandom.

• a fan disagrees with another's letter in a previous issue:

  Where on earth did you get the idea that it was solely sf fans who saved ST for a third season? I'll have you know, sir, that it was Trek fans. I've belonged to Trek clubs since '67, so I KNOW there was an active fandom, even if they didn't overrun your cons and aggravate you.

• fan responds to a letter in issue #5 that said there was too much trekfic: "That's like saying F&SF [Fantasy and Science Fiction) oughta stick with editorials from now on. Fanfic is the basis for at least 5/8 of trekdom right now."
• fans discuss whether T'Pau knew of the trick McCoy and Kirk used
• a fan writes that ST fic has some definite genres:

  lay-Spock, get-Spock and the Lt. Mary Sue stories." She suggest that fans branch out a little. "Maybe not every Lay-Spock story can be a Daneswoman or Get-Spock a Summer's End, but they, and trekfic in general, can be better.

• a fan writes that she and another fan are putting out, hopefully in late September or October:

  a one shot ST ADULT zine, The Sensuous Vulcan." She says she won't accept any underage material. "I don't consider 'teeny-bopper aids Spock in pon farr' adult. The theme may well be, but the character has to be as well...

• there is a submission request for the zine Interphase:

  "Old fans never die, they just go into... INTERPHASE.' What would a Star Trek zine be like if Ruth Berman, Connie Faddis, Anna Mary Hall, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Eileen Roy (among others) all got together and did their things? You'd have a fistful of fun, packaged in an offset casualzine, containing: Ruth's poetry, Connie's art, Ann Mary's short story, 'The Hunted and the Hunters,' Jacqueline's 1968 ST script 'Remote Control,' Eileen's Kraith story, 'Bone's Vision,' a fold-out 'graphic trip' on Captain James T. Kirk, and hand-screened color cover and interior artwork. INTERPHASE should be available in July. Only 200 copies will be made, so send a SASE.

• a review for Rigel, see that page
• a review for Introduction to Star Trek Fanzines, see that page
• a review for Showcase #2, see that page

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 6

Halkan Council is a letter-zine containing mostly letters from fans, some of which contain original thoughts on ideas, and some contain rebuttal to letters from the previous issue. Some of the outstanding letters and comments of this issue are: Karen Fleming has some provocative ideas on the IDIC concept; Mandi Schultz discusses the Star Trek movie and use of the original cast; Paula Smith has an animated letter running the gamut from fringefans and trekfic to zines and zine reviews; and Shirley Maiewski has a letter to try to get straight the correct address for the STW which was printed wrong in STL!. Since that is important I will list it here to help keep the record straight- STL!, 481 Main St., Hatfield, MA 01038.

This issue is good reading, recommended.

Issue 7 (June 1975)

front page of issue #7

The Halkan Council 7 was published in June 1975 and is 13 pages long.

[WAHF]] = 10, printed letters = 21.

• a fan writes: "...it would be interesting to see a sequel to the episode "Space Seed," and speculated:

  Perhaps after all the struggles and hardships, Khan and his people and descendants would learn some things about the value of life, and become less arrogant and easier to get along with.

• a fan comments:

  The IDIC is for Klingons? Ideally, but the Klingons IMPOSE their way on everyone they can. Some things simply cannot co-exist, as matter and anti-matter, freedom and slavery, peace and war, love and hatred -- the list could go on for pages. Presumably, they suppress their own people, being a military dictatorship. So are the Klingon ways right even for their own kind? I doubt that their government gives them 'rights to individuality.'... Where the IDIC can apply, it certainly should be applied. A good point re Spock and Vulcans, and other aliens, however.

• fan talks of reprinting fiction:

  I endorse the idea of reprinting some good ST literatature from out-of-print zines! Im one of those who missed out on the early ones... I'd like to see a variety of categories, such as serious drama, action-types, humorous, satire (both prose and poetry); artwork could be chosen from realistic and more stylized, caracatures [sic] and cartoons. THere should be different categories, such as Spock/Vulcan, best depiction of Kirk, and other individual characters, of the Prime Directive, etc., the list might be endless. Sequel stories are espcially enjoyable to me. Perhaps there ought to be a pro and non-pro (amateur) product. As for the naming an award [a suggestion for the twinkle-in-the-eye FanQ] , I'd like to suggest that these publications be dedicated to the memory of the late Gene L. Coon, and the artwork to the late Tim Courtney.

• a fan writes that he dislikes all ST fan fiction
• old and new fans?:

  ...those who are so quick to say they are 'old ST fans,' may be interested to know that the Welcommittee is receiving literally hundreds of letters from NEW fans who are responding to the preface of Blish's STAR TREK 11. Many are 'old' in terms of liking ST, having watched it from the beginning, but are 'new' to fandom. And I, for one, WELCOME them! Why shouldn't they join in the fun? We were all new once -- think of it! There are probably lots of new writers and artists and prospective 'zine editors out there!

• fan thinks that Spock should have two wives, a human and Vulcan
• one fan writes in response to another:

  I think [she] is a little hard on the fans not living up to the high ideals of IDIC. I'm not so sure the Vulcans do so well either... In any case, it's much easier to formulate lofty ideals than it is to live up to them.

• a fan asks: "Does anyone know whatever happened to [S S] and Tholian Web? Was there ever an issue #9?"
• a well-known fan comments:

  The current conflict over who should or shouldn't review/criticize fanzines has me interested. My own view on such a problem is this: say whatever you wish to persons with whom you are in personal correspondence, but when you are commenting in print, keep in mind that while excellence is, or should be, a goal of every zine writer and editor, there are delicate, inexperienced egos and feelings at stake. I think it is horribly egotistical for a reviewer to make devastatingly critical remarks about a story or zine without keeping in mind that it is an AMATEUR production.

• another fan writes:

  ... most fan writers want criticism. It's the only way to know how one is doing with a particular story. But, no fan wants anyone to jump down his-or-her throat. This is the quickest way I know to discourage anyone. If I want to stomp on someone, I'll pick on a pro.

• a fan complains about con panels, that the guest panels are dull:

  The stars are not fans. They don't know and could care bout the finer subtleties of Vulcan sex life, engine maintenance, and precise quotes. That was all seven years ago, and they don't follow the fandom so greatly as we do. Moreover, anybody who goes to a panel only to look at the meat is going to ask the same dumb questions: 'What that a REAL sword in 'Naked Time?'; 'How does the transporter work?'; 'Are your ears REALLY round?

• the same fan as above also isn't that impressed with most fan panels, either, tying it in with a previous fan's point about high/low-browism. She points out that one has to be a reasonably experienced and knowable fan to follow along in the:

  Five-hour party trekraps," the room parties at night where the best talking gets done. If you were to get a transcript of one of these, "it would be a horrible hodgepodge of dropped lines, double entendres, bad puns, non sequiturs and just plain stupid remarks, with somewhere beneath the mess the subject at hand. These party sessions are brilliant. They are not coherent, but they are creative. Everyone speaks on the same level, and there are few enough people that all may contribute.

• fans discuss the realism of having the top crew (captain, Spock, the doctor...) beam down together as a routine landing party
• there is more discussion about allowing children and families on the Enterprise

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 7

Outstanding letters of this issue include: Gennie Summers has some interesting conments on Karen Fleming's previous article on the IDIC; Eric J. Anderson has a short but important LOC on the problem of the v/eekly or miniseries develpping after the ST movie; Pat Gildersleeve has a rubutal on Karen Flemings previous letter ih addition to answers to other letters: Connie Faddis and Rebecca Hoffman have some good viewpoints on reviews and criticism: Paula Smith comes back with a letter looking at cons and how they are aimed at the public; Mandi Schultz has a number of ideas ranging from children on the Big E to the problem of landing parties and Gennie Summers replies to a few of the same topics and more besides.

There is a con report on Lunacon '75, and 4 zine reviews. Recommended.

Issue 8 (July 1975)

cover of issue #8, Connie Faddis

The Halkan Council 8 was published in July 1975 and contains 12 pages. It was the first issue to have art on the cover.

WAHF = 9, printed letters = 18.

• the editors say: "Many thanks to Connie Faddis for this month's cover. If you want to see a better version, buy Interphase."
• a fan asks:

  ... Here is some new subject material for discussion: Where did that awful and childish-sounding name, 'Trekkies,' come from? I could maybe believe 'Trekkers' or 'Star Trek fen,' but 'Trekkies'??!...

• a fan suggests that another fan take her many film clips and make a slide show for many of the elementary, junior and senior high Star Trek fan clubs to watch: "Probably many of them don't have access to clips and imagine how exciting it would be!"
• a fan speculates on the origins of Vulcans and their sexual practices:

  ... I don't know, of course, where Foster got the idea that Romulans are reptilian, but I like it. It has been established that Romulans and Vulcans are related, and a reptilian (at least by analogy to Earth reptiles) would help explain the Vulcan ability to go with out food, to regenerate organs and withstand poisons fatal to humans. it also related to the idea of the cyclical mating drive. It's interesting to note that most fan writers seem to take it for granted that Vulcans copulate like humans. There are other possibilities.

• a fan tells of viewing Star Trek:

  My son and I have, on occasion, held the TV antenna in our hands, taking turns, for an hour so that we can get the picture (ST comes to us from Sioux City, Iowa, 90 miles away, mostly in snowy black and white.)

• there is a detailed announcement for the first August Party
• the editor of the zine Spockanalia writes:

  ... In one of the past HC, you've spoken about reprinting the good ST stories so that new readers can get them. I, in my own way (she said modestly) am doing my bit... I have reprinted Spockanalia #2 and #4, and will be working on #1 as soon as my typer is overhauled. I feel we published some of the very best of the early ST fiction, and I hope that people will be interesting in reading it. Now that I reread this, it sounds awful... awfully conceited. Ah well, we were the earliest fanzine, as opposed to clubzine -- THAT was VULCANALIA, and we DID publish some of the best damn work!.

• a fan asks,: "Do you really think there's a demand for ST novels anymore? Sure, I buy 'em, but that doesn't mean everybody does..."
• a review of Quartet Plus One, see that page
• a review of Changeling, see that page

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 8

Outstanding issues in #8 include: A good piece of insight on how the Neilson ratings REALLY work by Claire Gabriel, whose family was a "Neilson family" for a week. Also, among other comments in her letter she has some good thoughts concerning Spock based on letters from HC #?. A few ideas concerning Spock & T'Pau and the Vulcan tradition make for intriguing reading in a few of the letters in this issue. Joan Verba discusses the topic of whether a new one-hour weekly series would be less effective than a mini-series. There aren't too many letters that have much of import in this issue. The major component of the reading concerns replies to letters in #7 and brief bits of news submitted just so it could be known to the fans.

There are 4 fanzine reviews, and one on the ST Blueprints from Ballantine.

This issue probably makes more sense if you've read #7

Issue 9 (August 1975)

cover of issue #9, Richard Ciccarelli

The Halkan Council 9 was published in August 1975, contained 22 pages and had a circulation of under 100. It has a front cover by Richard Ciccarelli. A handwritten note to an individual fan on one issue reads in part: “This is the longest Halkan we've ever done, hope you enjoy it.”

WAHF = 24, printed letters = 18.

• a fan continues the discussion regarding Khan and his descendants.
• a fan wonders if “there's a demand for ST novels anymore?”
• Regarding the next quotation, Boldly Writing states: “Diane Steiner responded to the critics of “Spock Enslaved!”, taking the stand that many writers take against their critics—namely, that if one did not enjoy the story, it meant that the critic did not properly understand it. In particular, she wanted critics to know that the most important thing about her story was the relationship between Kirk and Spock.” Steiner comments in The Halkan Council:

  My mail on SE has been mostly favorable. Most people said, 'I liked everything but this or that point.' But then maybe the people that hated every word of it haven't bothered to write. No one enjoys criticism, and you've also got to consider the source and the possible motives of the critic. [The critic's] criticism was motivated by a love for the show and a genuine love for humankind, not inflating her own ego. Thus, I could get something useful from it... The foregoing is an illusion, a metaphor, and an allegory, all in one, and maybe that is part of the problem with SE for some people.

• a fan says the tartan Scotty wears in full dress is not the Scott tartan, but the one that hangs in his cabin is the real deal
• a fan writes: “... I'd like to see Kraith or a Kraithish series redone with LOGIC (remember gang?) as the prime mover and shaker of Vulcan-telepathy was a sidelight, folks.”
• a fan writes:

  One controversy I'd like to start/incite: Hybrids between species are highly unusual occurrences and the resultant offspring, if viable, would most likely have a very complex set of medical problems from the very basic ones of the structure of their amino acids to their fertility.... It was highly probable that the fetus Spock was not carried to term ‘in utero’—he was very likely a ‘bottle’ or ‘Test Tube’ baby... Proceeding. No doubt once decanted, Spock spent the first year or so of his life fighting through a number of medical problems... The whole point of this pretentious lecture is this: Half breeds are fun to fantasize, but [the hybrids] that pop up in every other Trek zine are scientifically unlikely. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if Spock one day dropped over dead.

• Jacqueline Lichtenberg writes a lengthy response to a fan’s proposal that Romulans, and therefore, Vulcans, were descended from reptiles, and she ties it all into Kraith
• about Sulu's full name? a fan speculates: “Is it ‘Sulu Itaka’ or ‘Itaka Sulu’? And the same thing with Uhura. It is ‘Love Uhura’ or ‘Uhura Love’ (What is ‘Love’ in Swahili, anyway?)"
• there is a comment about the episode “The Savage Curtain”: "Not only was the logic poor, but the solution to the problem was even worse. Fighting evil with evil is surely no way to prove that ‘good’ is better...’
• there is an error in Star Trek Lives! which is costing the Welcommittee $25 a day. See that page for more information
• a fan comments on the term, Trekkies:

  The appellation 'Trekkie' never bothered me, until someone started screaming it ain't dignified. Yawn. It's okay, I guess, altho' personally prefer Trekfan. Of course, 'Starswarmies' wouldn't be bad, either, if the general population associated them with intelligent, concerned, orderly beings. The trouble with 'Trekkie' is that it conveys a teeny-bopper image -- not the word itself, but the image of 'fans gathering at conventions to get a glimpse of Mr. Spock,' as some TV newspaper columnists have written...

• a fan asks:

  Who's got the rights to Trek fiction—Bantam? If so, why can't another writer besides Blish create more ST novels?... Why is it a 'no go' whenever someone mentions the possibility of more published Trek fiction? You'd tend to think Paramount withholds the rights to it, but if Blish did it... why can't a fan writer equally good publish Trek as well as Bantam? If the market's never the problem, as [a fan] seems to thing... well, one never can predict. She, of course, would buy ti. I would. The thousands of con attendees, who spend in excess of $100 might sacrifice a buck or two. The fan peasantry -- those broke but enthusiastic souls who can never make it to the cons -- just might rape their local bookstores to get another little chunk of ST for less than $100... Just look at the success of Blish's adaptations. Think how much more popular a whole new novel adventure would be! For me, buying the adaptations is a matter of habit, not excitement.

• a fan wonders :

  Why are the larger ST cons running low on attendance recently?... Benecia, I hear, got only about 600, Ourcon got around 700, hardly the 1000+ they were planning on... Have there been too many big cons recently, or have we recidivists heard it all too many times before? You do get sick of the dumb questions and the crowds; there is even—really!—a point beyond which you can't get too worked up about seeing George or Jimmy or Gene or whoever again. It's more than about time for a trek relaxacon.

• a fan writes about the ‘Forget’ scene in “Requiem for Methuselah”:

  No scene in ST shows more clearly the love Spock feels for Kirk, and it would take something as strong as that love to motivate him to try to remove a memory from his captain's mind. There must be all sorts of Vulcan taboos against such an act as well as the ramification you [another fan] mentioned in HC #8. My theory is that Spock did not succeed. His entry into Kirk's mind roused him, and Kirk himself did not permit the erasure. Spock's fault was not so much an excess of love as a lack of understanding of the role emotions like shame, guilt, and grief play in the strengthening of the human character. The ending of that episode is perfect as it stands, but I can't help wishing Bixby had written the scene that followed it.

• the birth of SeKWester*Con:

  Lotsa fans have been griping that at the big cons they never get time to see other fans, and for me anyway, that's half the reason I go to cons. Well, [P S] and I have come up with a solution -- over the weekend of April 9-11 we plan to hold SeKWester*Con here in Kalamazoo at the new convention center. Programming will be entirely fan-discussions of Trek, of fandom, of anything people want to discuss. A small art show, a swap session, a costume banquet, and anything else that comes up. A thoroughly fan con. Costs will be kept as low as possible... Registration is $3.00 through October 1st, $4.00 afterwards and at the door. There will be a strict limit on attendance, we can accept no more than 200 registrations... we'd prefer 150.

• a scathing review of Star Trek Lives!:

  Oh golly, Star Trek. Hey, neat, terrific Leonard Nimoy!! Hey oh wow Gene Roddenberry!!! Golly gee whiz gosh oh! Now that I've discussed the general tone of the book, I can get down to specifics. Rarely have I run across a collection of drivel expounded with such pretentious enthusiasm and at such length... I think 9/10s of it could have been cut without losing sight of the purported theme, that is, to quote the title, 'personal notes and anecdotes.'... I'm also not at all sure that the discussion of Star Trek's literary merit and the long, involved explanations of such jargon as 'The Optimism Effect,' etc... But what happened to the book on fandom? If the book had been titled 'Star Trek: A Critical Analysis of a Phenomenon' I could have accepted all the involved analysis, all the quotes... and the officious tone that the authors adopted with many fewer qualms. But in a book that had been touted in ST circles for well over two years as a ‘Star Trek fandom book’, I can't consider such discourses as valid... My interests lean toward the anthropological and I would much rather have seen an analysis of the fans of Star Trek rather than of the show itself. The show is available in reruns to anyone who wants to watch it, but an insider's view of fandom is rare and invaluable. I feel cheated by Star Trek Lives!. I want the FAN book that was promised to me in Jacqueline's living room back in July 1972 when I read the first draft of the first chapter.

• reviews of Berengaria #3 and #4, see that page
• a review of Despatch
• a review of Forever Apart, see that page
• a review of Spectrum

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 9

Some of the better letters of this issue include:

An absolutely-fantiscally-insightful letter from Diane Steiner discussing her views of Vulcan philosophy and how it applies to Spock. Congrats have to go to the editors for sacrificing the extra paper to print the letter since it is abnormally lengthy for a letter for HC. A must for Spock followers or buffs on philosophy. Sharon Ferraro discusses human hybrids and the problems thereof. Very interesting. She also adds a little more to the pregnancy/birth on the Big E. debate.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg also has a letter touching on hybrids but directs more of her thinking toward the other species at large too, such as.the Schillians. She also attacks the debate over Vulcans being part reptilian in ancestry, originally star ted by Alan Dean Foster in one of the STLog books.

G.M. Carr also,adds to the pregnancy/birth debate that has raged for about 3 is sues of HC now, and Connie Faddis speaks out on Kraith...which is always a deep,sub ject of discussion. There is an insightful book review of Star Trek Lives! by Carol Lynn, and fan zine reviews of 4 fanzines.

This is one of Halkan's better issues, if only for what Diane Steiner had to say in her opening letter. Recommended.

Issue 10 (September 1975)

cover of issue #10, Gennie Summers

The Halkan Council 10 was published in September 1975 and contains 16 pages.

WAHF = 22, printed letters = 22.

• a fan goes into great detail about the flaws of "Amok Time," focusing on McCoy's lack of medical knowledge about pon farr and how dangerous that was, and in other inconsistencies
• one con organizer for SeKWester*Con says:

  ... required reading list will include World of ST, STLives and Trouble with Tribbles with a recommended reading list spanning even more Kraith, major fiction, and articles like Grup's Vulcan anatomy, etc. This is almost going to be a work con. We hope to produce an after-the-con book with transcripts of the best panels. Each attending or supporting member will have first dibs (cost about $2) and any extras will be sold on a first come-first served basis.

• a fan writes:

  ... There is one aspect of ST fandom that I have never seen discussed in print that I have notices and which concerns me. This is the rift which seems to be occuring between many older fans and newer ones. I first became aware of it at the 1974 New York STCon. It was at the registration desk after standing in that very long line. Some girl who was evidently upset over something began shouting that she was a 'first generation' fan and supposedly deserved some special consideration on that account. Since then, I have observed that many of the older fans seem to have little tolerance for those newly acquainted with the show... I feel that many of the more promising things in ST fandom today are being done by newer fans.

• a fan says the word for "love" in Swahili is 'Penda' as discussed in T-Negative
• a fan complains about recent versions of Kraith stories:

  Almost everyone who is involved enough in fandom to have discovered fanzines and Kraith has his/her own concrete ideas on what the ST characters are like. And when we see those characters warped out of the shape we reconize, we react as if the author has chopped them up with an axe and rearranged them on a platter. When I see a new Kraith, I think, 'Oh God, what have they messed up now?' During and after reading some sections, I go stark raving mad. YAAARRRGGGHH!!!. Then I pick myself up off the floor and think about it some more and it sounds hilarious... It helps to look at Kraith as one big joke, sometimes. It doesn't pay to take it TOO seriously.

• a letter [the first] responds to Diane Steiner's lengthy response to criticism about Spock Enslaved!:

  I pretty much agree with her analysis of Spock's character. Part of his [problem] is that he blames his 'weaker human half' for every flaw or weakness he detects in his own nature and credits his Vulcan half for everything desirable in himself, conveniently ignoring the fact that Vulcans, too, have weaknesses.

• a fan wonders what would have happened if the show hadn't been cancelled and then renewed:

  It might have gone on for four or five seasons getting progressively worse, until no one cared about it anymore, and the ST fan movement might never have happened.

• Jacqueline Lichtenberg responds to an earlier negative review of Star Trek Lives!:

  In general, I agree rather wholeheartedly with [the fan]. Star Trek Lives! is NOT the book I started out to write. Furthermore, by the time the project had been written and rewritten and redrafted and retyped and re-everythinged, seven times... we could no longer find a title to encompass what we were saying. So, the title, Star Trek Lives!, was chosen by Bantam, as was the subtitle... How can I explain why the book I started out to write didn't get into print? I can't. I can only tell you that we have four years or more worth of rejections [most ending with 'It just ain't commercial.'] As we corrected and re-corrected our aim to what the publishers though was commercial, we quickly realized they were not entirely correct about what would be commercial, but that we had to do it their way or not at all, at least until we could prove our contentions about what the fans want most to read." She writes that someday, "we will able to have the book I think Carol wants. So I hope everyone who agrees with Carol will write me exactly what they think should be in such a book, and what the 'tone' of the book should be... so the next book WILL be the 'fandom book'.

• fans debate whether Amanda, Spock's mother, was portrayed on the screen as too emotional
• a review of The Clipper Trade Ship #10, see that page
• a review of Delta Triad #1, see that page
• two reviews of Interphase #1, see that page
• a blurb about the Star Trek Fan Fund, see that page

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 10

Cover by Gennie Summers. Outstanding letters in this issue include:

A little bit more on the intriguing question of Jane Wyatt and the plausibility of her portrayal of Amanda, discussed by Johanna Cantor.

Suzanne Cornwell discusses the "rift" that has seemingly appeared between older and the new neos flocking into fandom. A very interesting question that deserves much looking into.

Karen Fleming debates just about every major issue from the last HC raising a few new problems in the process. And we finally get a look at Jacqueline Lichtenberg's reaction to Carol Lynn's review of STLives!

Joan Verba has some good ideas on telepaths and their reaction with psi-nulls, also she has some great comments on the problems of a hybrid human/Vulcan explains as well as possible in non-technical language. If you think half-breeds occur everyday read this and you'll think twice, in fact it makes Spock quite a medical achievement.

There are fanzines reviewed in back, 4 of them in all and a Star Trek Fan Fund on the back page. This is an interesting issue of HC, recommended.