The K/S Press/Issues 071-080

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The K/S Press 71 (August 2002)

  • a fan comments on fandom:
    Sometimes I feel guilty for spending so much time on this hobby of mine. In thinking about this, I realized that I have some friends who have somewhat unusual hobbies. One spends inordinate amounts of time on her hobby of collecting beanie babies. Another friend and her husband love drag racing, and go to races all over Southern California. And another friend and her husband spend all their free time and disposable cash on Disney collectibles. Yet to most people, these would be socially acceptable ways to spend free time, whereas spending time involved with an old science fiction TV show is considered frivolous and a little strange. And like Jenna said in her May Roundtable, many people would consider K/S to be pornography. So I love the way you put things in your Roundtable, Joyce. It really put things into perspective for me when you said K/S is the glorification of sexuality and tolerance, and to preserve and nourish amateur creativity in women is a very worthwhile hobby.

  • a fan is loving a new-found function on her DVD player:
    I got a DVD player several months ago, and quickly discovered a very interesting little feature no one had told me about—the ZOOM! I have been having a great time perfecting my zoom technique as I follow a certain captain (and a certain captain’s shapely posterior) around the Enterprise. And I really perfected my zoom technique during the Kirk on the table scenes in “What Are Little Girls Made Of”. I am now an expert at it and have concluded I need a DVD with a more powerful zoom!

  • a fan also likes the ability to make good screencaps, but also ponders the old days:
    It is interesting how what used to take a lot of effort (oh but it was fun rifling through all those 8X10's) and talent, now can be had at the touch of a button. I guess this means that we don’t have to expend our energies and labor over the more mundane or technical parts of doing stuff, so we’re more free to boost our creativity quotient. There is so much creativity in K/S it just blows my mind...and I also feel anxious and rushed to catch up. We can’t compare, though, what people can do who have the highest technology with the more lower-tech endeavors. So, while I am having fun with the new technology, I don’t know if this is totally a good thing or not. There was a unique quality of life when things were slower, that’s all. When we didn’t want absolutely everything and want it all right now. I like when there is something left to be desired. What about after we’ve had total easy access to every Kirk and Spock image existing? Then, I guess, we’ll get to CGA, 3D modeling or whatever. I hope, I hope—the possibilities would be endless. Writing, on the other hand, can only be done by the mind, not by technology. And drawings, too. Mind, hand, heart.

  • adventures at the printer:
    Something else happened at the printers the other day. I was busy getting a second print run of Beyond Dreams 5. I am really meticulous about the way our art is reproduced (or at least I try to be), so I was deep in conversation with one of the usual older women who takes care of our account about a particular picture that was giving us some trouble. I usually only deal with two older women with the printing and especially with the artwork. Well, there's a brash young manager who doesn't usually have anything to do with the actual printing, and he came sailing into our conversation, literally plucked the artwork, which was the cover of BD 5, from my hands, and said, "Oh, I can get this done the way you want it." The two of us women looked at each other, horrified, and rushed after him, protesting that, no, we can take care of this ourselves, but he wouldn't listen. He then took a good look at what he was going to be printing, stopped where he was, gulped audibly, and then bravely continued. But he looked pale! I shrugged, and made sure to mention how large my current order with them was. After all, money really does talk.... I bet you anything that fellow does not interrupt me again.

The K/S Press 72 (September 2002)

  • there are some Shore Leave con reports
  • a fan is a closet K/S fan, despite her monthly meet-ups:
    There isn't a local K/S group that I know about, but there is a local slash group based in Los Angeles so if you are ever interested, get in touch. There is an October 19th and a November 2nd meeting. These are just ladies who chat and munch on potluck foods on Saturday afternoons from 1-9. I am normally at these functions from 3-6. It's all very casual, and we talk as much about our cats and other trivia as we do about slash. The hot fandoms— none of which I am into—seem to Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Buffy, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.... I am still a sniveling coward and secret slash fan for 13 years now. Every time I have mentioned slash to my husband he acts as if it is the stupidest thing he has ever heard of. He's not against gays because we live in a town one-fourth gay supposedly. And somehow I just can't get up the courage to admit I am involved in something he considers stupid. It would just hurt my feelings too much.

  • a fan encourages others' voices:
    I think it's good that some stories get multiple LOCs because every person has a slightly different bent. So for people not in the habit of writing LOCs, I suggest you try to make an real effort for the next zine that you read to promise yourself you will write four LOCs. Start out easy and hopefully it will become a habit. Or, if you don't want to do LOCs, try to make a roundtable comment two to three times a year. I think if everyone in KSP made a real effort to actually contribute several times a year that there would be more variety of voices. And that would be good.

  • a fan comments on the reveal of the authors in First Time #54, a "contest zine" issue:
    I was really curious about this. I rated ALL 17 stories in order and kept my ratings. I only voted for one of the eventual top three winners—Deanna Gray. She got 1st and I had picked her 3rd. What interested me the most was that in my personal rating of all the stories that my top 9 stories had six people I knew I liked. And also included the other two winners—Jenna Sinclair and Carolyn Spencer. Only three names were new names to me. But two of those three new names, I picked as my personal 1st and 2nd favorite—Elise Madris and Anne Elliot. What I had originally expected is that I would automatically pick the people I have always liked. And that turned out to be both true and false. Of the stories I put in the bottom half, stories 10-17, there was only one old familiar name that I was shocked to see there—Kathy Stanis. Never in the world could I imagine me not liking a Stanis story very much—and here I had done it. Why? Because I didn't like the basic plotline. So I guess that proves to me that although I do have writers I really tend to like whether I know they have written the stories or not, I am also very much into the actual story concept/plotline. I had previously always thought I was more impressed by individual writing style, but I guess that is not as true as I thought.

  • a fan lists some of her favorite kissing art:
    Shelley’s back cover of First Time 42— Kirk and Spock kissing in a bubble bath. There are two favorites in Price of Freedom by Jean Lightfoot—a sublime kiss against a dark background, lighted from underneath, and a two page spread of Spock with long hair (Ummm)on top of Kirk. These are by The Southern Cross, and there’s another by the same artist that is the cover of Scattered Stars II with Kirk on top a la From Here to Eternity. (Did someone turn on the heat in here?) Oh, and that lovely one of them kissing under the mistletoe by Deeb that you mentioned last month, Linda. Another favorite: Marianne Muller’s gorgeous drawing facing page 100 of FT 51—kissing on the bridge.

  • a fan has this suggestion, a first in "The K/S Press":
    I'm wondering if, as you publish these zines, if you might consider asking your authors to include an e-mail address with their story. That way, when I finished a zine, I could sit down and flip through the zine, sending out all my feedback right away, while the story is fresh in my mind and the urge to feedback is strong. The editors could put a standard disclaimer that they're not responsible for defunct e-mail addresses as of course, over time, some of them may go away. It just seems as if this would increase feedback for zine stories and make for happier authors.

  • a fan comments on a K/S mention in a mundane press:
    in the latest issue of Utne Reader you will find a short article on slash (with K/S references) along with a cute little cartoon of our Captain and Spock. Interestingly, it is the second time I’ve ever come across press mention of K/S, and in the same magazine!

  • a fan comments on differing language:
    During the (excellent!) KS fandom panel at Shore Leave, one part of the discussion led to the concern about language in KS, that is, English dialects and use of language that come up in some stories. Now I agree that Kirk saying something like, “Gidday, Spock, why don’t you come over this arvo for some brew and we’ll cook something on the barbie,” would really take away from the characterization that we all know and love. However, it seemed to me that some fans were getting a little nit- picky about spellings not being “American” enough that it took away from the story they happened to be reading from say, a British or an Australian author. I realize some fans can be very possessive about K/S, but it struck me as rather intolerant that something as trifle as spelling would take away from the meaning of a story. Perhaps it is my Canadian upbringing and the fact that I have lived and worked with Americans for over 15 years; I am aware of the differences in spelling of certain words in Canadian and American English, but it never interferes with the meaning I am getting from the story. Instead, in the back of my mind I take note that this author, for example, is British, and celebrate the fact that fans overseas are contributing to KS. The tone of the discussion smacked a little out of sync with the IDIC philosophy, and I was wondering if I had misread the conversation that was taking place, or if this really is an issue within fandom.

  • regarding another panel, a fan asks:
    Another thing that came up during the panel was the possibility of providing K/S fandom on disk or on the net as well as bound paper zines for those who had problems getting them in the mail. I have to clarify an important point that I believe was missed by Karen P. in her con report, when she regarded the reasons behind some of us in North America as having “lame” reasons for wanting an alternative to paper zines. I don’t know about other fans, but getting zines through the mail has never been a cost issue for me. I do, however, have concerns regarding the post office opening the large envelopes looking for questionable material. Having lived overseas for many years, cost was even then not prohibitive to me, however security certainly was, and I sadly had to give it up after a warning was circulated about “items that might be considered pornographic in the host country”. Now that I am in Canada again, I felt free to go for it, but I have already received some large (non KS) mail that has been opened, and I am somewhat concerned about the level of “freedom” I expected here. I will still take the risk of ordering zines through the mail from the US regardless of cost, but I would certainly consider alternatives if I feel ordering them puts me in an uncomfortable position.

The K/S Press 73 (October 2002)

  • a fan thanks another for information about a gathering of slash fans in Los Angeles, but has to decline:
    Thanks for the information about the slash group in Los Angeles, but real life prevents me from attending anything like that right now. Besides, I was led into slash by my abiding interest (of over 30 years duration) in Kirk and Spock and their relationship. K/S seemed the ultimate expression of their feelings for each other. So it’s Kirk and Spock I’m really interested in, and not slash in and of itself.

  • a fan is unhappy about other fans' participation:
    I would like to take a moment here to address what I see as a rather disturbing trend when it comes to the KSP. Recently it has become apparent to me that the same few people seem to be doing all the contributing to the letterzine. Also, twice in the past few months, Shelley has contacted me and other K/Srs she knows personally, asking us if we could contribute something as she did not have enough material to publish the upcoming issue. Now while I am always willing to help out, I don't think it should be left up to a handful of subscribers to keep the letterzine going nor do I think it is fair that our hard- working editors should be put in the position of begging for contributions. Considering how many people show up at the KSP party Friday night at Shore Leave every year, I know for a fact that a lot more people could be participating in the letterzine than currently are. For without that participation, KSP could very well die a quick death, something I am sure every subscriber does not want to see happen. So I urge everyone who is reading this to please make it a habit to contribute something. Write an LOC on your favorite K/S story, after all, we all have at least one and most of us have about ten or twenty. The LOC doesn't have to be ten pages long either, just one or two lines will do just fine. Don't feel like writing an LOC or maybe think you can't? Well then, how about telling everyone how you discovered K/S and/or what the first K/S zine you ever read was. There are quite a few K/Srs I've known personally for a long time and yet I don't know their answers to these questions. So please, enlighten me, enlighten us all. Put your pen to paper or your fingers to the keyboard and tell us your tale. But whatever you do, LOC, roundtable, whatever, please, please do something! Remember, this is YOUR letterzine and whether or not it continues to arrive in your mailbox the first week of every month is something that should not be left up to a finite number of subscribers, rather, it should be a mass effort by every single one of us.

  • a fan is also distressed by comments made at a con:
    And I really enjoyed Gilda’s Las Vegas Con report. Gilda, you really wrote a wonderful piece—detailed and informative. But I do need to comment on what Brannon Braga said when asked about a gay character on Star Trek. “When the fan asked for a pledge that there would be a gay character, Braga got serious and said no, he couldn’t pledge that. That zeroing in on a character’s sexuality would never happen. And that even though he had been kidding about Riker, who was to say that he wasn’t gay or bi? Or that any of the characters hadn’t been? The Star Trek series weren’t about exploring people’s sexuality, so no episode would ever be about that. The character’s preferences were left open-ended." I take umbrage at what he said. First of all, to say that Star Trek doesn’t concern itself with peoples’ sexuality is so not true! What he means is it doesn’t concern itself with homosexuality—that is, male homosexuality! It certainly explores heterosexuality! It has explored female homosexuality! But god forbid it show male homosexuality! Goodness! Sorry for all the exclamation points, but this attitude really gets to me. It’s so pervasive in our society and of course on television. But somehow, I always expected Star Trek to be different—to be part of a higher level of thinking. Probably left over from the days of Gene Roddenberry, who was open to showing and exploring all facets of sexuality, but was severely restrained by the times. Anyway, when I hear the Star Trek producers say things like that it just angers me. It’s so phony and so close-minded. Not that they should be so open-minded just because they write and produce Star Trek. Thank goodness for K/S!

The K/S Press 74 (November 2002)

  • a fan thanks another, and has comments about losing interest:
    Thank you. I don't know what to say to you after reading that beautiful LOC for 'Space of Tranquility and Love'. I can't express how much your words meant to me, and how they drew me toward K/S again when I have strayed for a while. The online community of K/S has become bloodless and repetitive of late. Or at least it was when I started to drift away from it about half a year ago. I'm hoping it is being suffused with more life as we speak. It looks as though some new faces are slowly gravitating toward our boys and if we're lucky, they will be the vitamin injection needed at this point in time. Your words on the story I submitted now made me remember why I love Kirk and Spock, why I like to write K/S, and why the KSP is so dear to me. Thank you for that. I remember now how much a sincere LOC means to me.... Having said this, I am wondering if there are others who sometimes stray from K/S, or are you as strongly committed to them always? Are there times when your interest wanes? Have you ever left the fandom, only to return after a time? Those of you who have been around for a while, what is the trend in the K/S fandom. I mean, all fandoms go through slumps don't they? The reason I bring this up is the comments made in the October KSP, where several people mention the lack of submissions for the letterzine. Could it be that there is a waning interest in K/S in general right now? Are zine producers having trouble getting submissions for their zines? Even if this would be the case, I'm quite sure it's only temporary! And it is up to the hard core fans to keep the fandom alive until those new energetic people get involved again, or until the old timers have gotten over their slump. Maybe real life is interfering? When the problems/real life concerns have passed, the lovers of K/S will come back. On a personal note, I have never left K/S, but I have strayed toward other fandoms of late, and it bothers me, because I have never felt so much for two characters as I have for Kirk and Spock. They mean so much to me, but experience has told me that I can be rather fickle when it comes to fan fiction and the characters I take an interest in. They are like infatuations that lose their appeal after time. Most of the time, however, the interest has waned because of lack of stimuli, as in new fan fiction and new friends. I don't think that'll happen with K/S, since I still have about 15 unread zines in my bookshelf and I have made great friends in the fandom. I also know that sometimes I am not so interested in fan fiction in general. I have strayed away from it for periods of time, only to come back a few months later, feeling invigorated with a renewed interest.

  • a fan writes about a comment in the previous issue:
    You bring up an interesting point about Star Trek and the way it is so reluctant to bring up male homosexuality. In fact I get the distinct impression that this is a trend in most of television. Sure there are examples of movies and series that do explore male homosexuality, but most of those are shows that are aimed at that particular subject, like 'Queer as Folk' for instance. But when you think about it, male homosexuality seems still to be such a taboo laden subject. It's changed somewhat of late, but even shows like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' who had a regular pairing of two girls in Willow and Tara haven't touched on the male homosexuality issue at all. I think the problem is that most shows are run by straight guys, and they look at the audience as this hormone driven teenaged guy who want to look at tits and ass, (pardon my language) Which is why we get the likes of 7 of 9 and T'Pol. The producers of the show are scared of the whole idea of showing a loving male homosexual couple on TV. I don't know what their deal is, if they're afraid that it'll encourage more guys to become gay? Or if they're afraid that we're going to take that ball and run with it —which of course, we probably would! Also...Star Trek and it's willingness to deal with sexuality or love in depths has waned a whole lot since the days of TOS and Gene Roddenberry. Star Trek of today is often very bloodless and emotionless. It centers more around techno-babble than love in a way that TOS never did. There was always romance—even if it was only the 'babe of the week'.

  • more on TPTB and attitudes to portraying male/male sexuality:
    Every time I've ever seen or read interviews of the Big Cheeses connected with the newer Star Trek series, I've been infuriated by their hypocrisy and lies. You pointed out some of them. Male homosexuality and male bodies are the last 'unspeakable' taboo in our close-minded society. I've been angry at this for three decades, decrying the double standard that existed then and still exists today. Women could be shown nearly nude in ads and on TV but men’s bodies were always hidden as if they were too dirty to inflict on the public. I went around with a chip on my shoulder and would hotly contest it with anyone who brought it up. Didn't do any good. Nothing has changed, except to get worse, more biased and discriminatory. Thanks for sounding off about it in your inimitable way and for glorifying the male body in your beautiful K/S art. I think we should've been ancient Greeks!

  • a fan offers some support to another after comments in the last issue:
    I wanted to comment on something [name redacted] said in the September issue (which I got late in the month). I feel so bad for you that you have to keep your interest in K/S and slash a secret from your husband. I can't imagine how difficult that is for you. I hope you have friends you can share with; I hate keeping something that delights me to myself. My husband isn't interested in K/S, doesn't really get it at all, but is quite tolerant. It makes me happy and, therefore, he's willing to admit that it has some value that he just doesn't see. (He even likes watching Star Trek with me as long as I don't make slashy call-outs.)

  • a fan comments on the recent lack of letters to this letterzine:
    Let's all do our part to communicate this incredible thrill to our fellow readers. Sadly, KSP has recently had less pages than before. Why is this? For my own part, I have made some internet friends (ironically through KSP) with whom I can share my passion for K/S. When I think of it objectively, this newfound instant outlet for expression may have caused me to share less of myself with the KSP. This is selfish, I realize now. My circle of internet friends is wonderful and intimately few. This has its merits, but the readers of this letterzine are just as wonderful, just as knowledgeable, just as interesting and much greater in number. Likely for many of you who read this publication, it is your only source of information about K/S. Such was the case for me for years. What is my point? Only that each of us needs to use these pages to spill out our passion for K/S, our love for all things Kirk and Spock, to share every emotion we feel and every joy or disappointment we experience from our obsession with these two legendary heroes. You see, I know you—you are just like me. I know the things you feel for Kirk and Spock are simmering inside you. Let them bubble over into words—let us all hear them and share the excitement you feel. Your words need not be particularly eloquent or correct in a literary sense, they need only to be genuine! Tell us what you've read, what pictures in a magazine have caught your attention, what you've learned from a website, what particular scene from an episode made your day happier. To do less is to diminish the joy for each of us.

  • a fan tells others:
    Another website that is a must-see is the site where a photo-manipulator with an excess of talent and skill posts her incredible K/S pictures. These manips by T'Guess are guaranteed to take your breath away! See them at www.crossfadeproductions.com/~kelly/tos/

  • a fan comments on a another's suggestion:
    In the September issue of the KSP, [Rari C] suggested that zine publishers ask their authors to include email addresses so that readers who wish to comment on a story can do so by email. I think this is a good idea, and I would add that artists’ email addresses should be included also. However, I want to add two important qualifications to my approval of the idea. First, any author or artist who does not want to include an email address should not feel obligated to do so. Second, I really, really, really hope that readers who do decide to comment directly to an author or artist via email will not feel that there is no longer any reason to write a LOC to the KSP! For one thing, the LOCs in the KSP go out to a lot of potential readers who are trying to decide whether or not to buy or borrow a given zine. Also, I think that in many cases readers take a little more care with a LOC meant for the KSP, and what this means is that authors and artists could get two “levels” of feedback: “just-finished-reading-it, ”first-impression reactions from email, and longer-term, more carefully considered reactions from KSP LOCs. [One thing this fan doesn't take into account, is that fans had been writing private feedback to others for years in the form of letters in the mail.]

  • the editor points out:
    Just a few thoughts about expressing your opinions, views and thoughts on K/S either on the net or in the KSP. This is not about on-line versus print! This is about supporting and encouraging the KSP. The internet provides an instant gratification forum whether you are receiving comments about your story or you are posting comments about K/S. The KSP also provides a forum, but not so instant. It requires a little more effort—you must send your LOC to us and wait an inordinate amount of time to see it. I know wherein I speak: I participate in on-line groups where I get to express myself instantly. And I, too, have to make the effort not to use up all my creative energy in that forum and to save some for the KSP. Idea: when you’re posting that insightful, perceptive, glowing LOC to your K/S group or sending an email to your favorite K/S author, just send a copy to us, too. We all want to read your LOCs and Roundtables, too.

  • regarding sexuality and what fans see on the screen:
    Matters of sexuality have frequently arisen in Star Trek. In fact, the TOS episode “Amok Time” makes it quite clear that sex is an issue that cannot be ignored, even by a character as cool and logical as Mister Spock—a pretty radical message at a time when audiences were used to years of programs in which married couples rarely touched one another by day and slept in separate beds by night. Despite “Amok Time” and many other episodes in which heterosexual characters participated in various affairs and romances, I don’t think anyone would characterize any Star Trek series as being “about sexuality” any more than they would characterize Star Trek as a cooking show just because we occasionally see the characters sitting down to a meal.But, in many people’s eyes, the mere presence of a homosexual character would suddenly convert a whole episode (or series) into an exploration of sexuality. This seems to me an extension of the bizarre and too-often- made assumption that a gay person’s entire life is all about being gay, as if homosexuality leaves little time for any other activity. Imagine Kirk saying something like “Hello, I’m James Kirk, the captain of the Enterprise, and this is Commander Spock, our science officer, and this is Doctor McCoy, our ship’s surgeon, and, oh yes, over there is Ensign Jones, our homosexual officer.” Crazy, right? Yet Braga is certainly not alone in this odd assumption, because that is essentially the way many gay TV characters are portrayed: no matter what their careers and hobbies are supposed to be, we seem to spend much of our time watching them just being gay— we see them explaining their sexual orientation to their friends and parents, we see them agonizing over their gayness, we see them engaging in their very first gay relationship, we see them enduring the bigotry of homophobic characters. I suppose that, given the current state of our culture, those are all valid topics which should arise from time to time in most TV shows with gay characters. However, the beauty of a series like Star Trek is that it’s set in the future—a future that could be portrayed as a time when it is simply accepted that some humans are heterosexual, some are homosexual, and some are bisexual. Such acceptance would require not that an episode be “about” a gay character’s sexuality, but rather that it not be “about” the gay character’s sexuality. The gay character’s sexual relationships would simply be a part of daily life, no more or less important than the sexual relationships of the straight characters. For example, instead of seeing a bunch of straight characters sitting around talking about the sexual conquests they have made on shore leave, we could see a bunch of characters of varying sexual orientation sitting around talking about their shore leave conquests. If, in this scenario, several characters commented that they had had same-sex encounters, then everyone else could react in exactly the same way they would have reacted if the encounters had been heterosexual. This is where the cutting edge is today: not just accepting homosexuality as a barely tolerated and somewhat exotic state, but accepting it as no big deal— as just one aspect of a normal, average life that includes many other activities and interests. This is the path that Star Trek would be taking if the intent really were to follow in the footsteps of Gene Roddenberry, who in TOS seemed truly interested in and committed to exploring the controversial social issues of the day.

The K/S Press 75 (December 2002)

  • a fan writes about feedback:
    Sometimes I feel a little bad about doing LOCs if I make any negative comments. Part of me says that since everything that I read is much better than what I could write, I shouldn't make any negative comments. And another part of me says that if all I do is gush about a story that I do the writer no service. I really don't care to do LOCs, believe it or not. But I consider it important to keep a dialogue of some sort going in KSP. Anyway, I do try to participate and just wish more readers of K/S did the same.

  • a fan reports a drift:
    I have never left K/S myself BUT I have replaced it with Blake's 7 as my number one fandom. K/S is now number two. And, by the way, there is no number three. I absolutely refuse to get suckered into another fandom fan fiction. I am just too damn compulsive. I had to get rid of 90% of my Star Trek--K/S collection for the Blake's 7 and I just refuse to go through that agony again....As for K/S waning.... Blake's 7 is in more of a decline than K/S is. There are only about 100-120 members in the one B7 slash list I belong to. I think people consider it great if they can actually sell over 60 copies of a slash B7 zine. I think K/S stays healthy because you have publishers such as Robin Hood, Kathy Resch and other publishers who keep on publishing K/S zines year after year after year. And you have a monthly K/S newsletter which has been running for over a decade under different names which I think has only missed one issue in its entire span. Blake's 7 doesn't have ONE print newsletter left in existence, by the way. The last issue of the last one was May 2001. I don't know how K/S is on the net because I don't participate on the net, but I am sure that there are plenty of lists and lots of websites. K/S may not be as popular as it was before but that is because there is a lot of competition now. However, I think there will always be a K/S fandom simply because the original show itself is still going strong even 35 years later. I think Kirk and Spock are basically timeless creatures who will be almost as strong in fan fiction in the 21st century as they were in the 20th. Kirk and Spock are part of our culture.

  • a fan writes of her K/S closets, both physical and mental:
    Don't feel too bad for me about having to hide my K/S from my husband. I do have good friends that I talk about slash in general with face to face. There is a group of people in the Los Angeles area who have little monthly meetings, and I attend those. And of course I have KSP to talk about K/S anytime I want to do that. And that is one of the great things about KSP, that it keeps K/S people together. It was hard when I was writing slash to keep it hidden. Now that I am retired, there isn't the problem. And after 13 years, it's just automatic behavior to keep my slash zines in boxes and the slash art under wraps in the closet. I even attend Escapade, a local slash con, once a year. I just tell my husband I'm off to a Star Trek convention without any of the stars and he doesn't know any difference. He respects my privacy. Thank goodness.

  • a fan has this peeve:
    One thing I have always disliked in K/S is people who write K/S as if both Kirk and Spock are heterosexual, but for the first time in their lives have a homosexual relationship with each other because they love each other. In other words, Kirk and Spock love each other and engage in homosexual sex--but they are not gay, they aren't even bisexual, they are still heterosexual. Recently, I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about male rape in prisons as being very rampant and very under reported for a variety of reasons. And one of the ideas of the article was that these men were not homosexuals and were not turned into homosexuals because they engaged in homosexual sex in prison. I thought that was as interesting as an idea I heard from a source I've now forgotten about men who are actually heterosexual who engage in anal and/or oral sex with men (or boys unfortunately) and still consider themselves heterosexual. I guess the idea is that sexuality is not what you do but how you think of yourself--how you label yourself. This goes along with the idea of gender confusion. That if a man thinks of himself as a woman, then that is what he is, in his eyes and in the eyes of some people, despite him having a penis. I really have no set in concrete opinions about this. I just think it's interesting that people can label themselves or see themselves in a different light than what tangible evidence might suggest. As for what I think about Kirk and Spock.... I think in the series and the movies, they are as straight as can be. In fan fiction, I probably think of them as either bisexual or gay, depending on my mood and whatever the author I am reading says. I have trouble with the K/S stories where both men are really het, but that doesn't mean that I will hate the story because of it. It will, however, bother me because it conflicts with my ideas.

  • a zined writes:
    Several people, including [Linda B] in her review of "Acceptable Losses" in KSP #74, have asked me about Gilrain, not having seen K/S stories by her before. Gilrain is not a new author, she's simply new to writing K/S. I found her in another fandom. Also, the identity of Geli has been brought up to me several times, as in: "Who the heck is this person and where has she been??" Again, Geli is far from new to fan art, she's just new to drawing K/S. I found her over in The Sentinel fandom and bribed her into doing some work for me there. Then I slowly bribed her into other fandoms and, finally, into K/S. She's mine. I'm keeping her!

  • a fan comments at great length on the Vulcan Death Bond:
    [It] has never made much sense to me. I know it is a very romantic notion (two people so bound by love and cosmic forces etc etc that they cannot go on living without the other) and it is reasonably popular in K/S fandom, but no matter how much I think about it, it just doesn’t seem logical (if you’ll excuse the expression). It seems to me that if the death bond exists, it must be one of two things; either a biological, presumably genetic, imperative in Vulcankind, or a choice made between two persons with no compulsion other than, possibly, social pressure. In either situation, for me the case doesn’t add up. [much clipped]

  • a fan writes about zines and their physical storage:
    I only discovered K/S myself 2 1⁄2 years ago, and the KSP about 2 years ago, and have been thoroughly enjoying myself ever since. I want to warn you though - you said that you wanted to buy every single K/S zine published, but this would be impossible financially, and besides, where would you put all those zines? Well, K/S is addictive! 2 years ago I had no zines and now I have 310 (mostly K/S, but about 25 gen zines) and am on the lookout for more! I puzzled over the zine storage problem, too, and ended up buying a 5 drawer lateral filing cabinet for them... I bought 60 zines in a 3 day buying frenzy at last year’s Shore Leave!)... I still have 200 K/S zines to track down!

  • a fan writes of her fannishness:
    Yes my interest in K/S waxes and wanes. Though other fandoms just don’t appeal to me, I certainly go through different fluctuating phases in my feelings for K/S. There are times when I read zines avidly and buy as many as I can afford and there are times when I have a stack of unread zines awaiting some other moment. In my first flush of fannish excitement when I first discovered K/S I thought about it 24-7, everything I saw, I saw through my ‘K/S tinted specs’ etc. However such a state would be frankly unhealthy not to mention difficult to live with, now I think my feelings about K/S have matured to a deep underlying affection, like in any good relationship. There are times when I get all excited about a new story or a new source photo or a remembered favourite K/S moment, but I can also hardly think of it for whole days. Despite this I think my affection for k/S is enduring and will last for many many years to come – as, I hope, will K/S fandom!

  • regarding K/S fanon, this fan writes:
    In an ideal world where there were 62 hours in each day and I didn’t need to sleep, I’d love to read all the K/S stories in chronological order to trace the development of K/S and fanon. I am sure that many ideas and concepts could be traced through the history of K/S, for instance the 80’s trend for the super powerful Spock, which is the only one I can think of without doing more reading. Double ridges are great, but to be honest I wouldn’t mind a bit of diversity here, I mean the possibilities are endless. Also there could be cultural differences about the sex acts, positions, what’s erotic, or not etc that I think could be interestingly explored in K/S. Also I’m interested in how other literature impacts with K/S. I just read Mary Renault’s Alexander trilogy (for my PhD on sexuality and historical fiction) and was curious to find how similar it is to a lot of K/S, this is interesting as it was written at the time when K/S was first emerging, was this a cultural thing that made two contemporary things similar or had a lot of K/S writers read Renault and liked her work? I’d be interested to hear from any writers out there who think they have been influenced by main stream literature – what were they influenced by and why?

The K/S Press 76 (January 2003)

  • contains 28 pages
  • has LoCs on fiction And We Fall in Love, Field of Screams, A Matter of Biology, Nome, Lost Now As Love Tightens, The Teacher, Trusting the Spirit, Two Ships Passing, In the Night, Twice Upon a Time, Commutative Diagram, in the zines Beyond Dreams #1, #5, First Time #54, #55, #56, Trusting the Spirit, Consort #3, see those pages
  • an excerpt from "The Winged Dreamers" (gen) by Jennifer Guttridge from Star Trek: The New Voyages
  • a description of a book signing by Leonard Nimoy for "Shekina" (a collection of his photographs depicting his vision of the female aspect of God)
  • a fan reviews the episode "Charlie X"
  • fans participate in the challenge of naming five reasons why Kirk loves Spock and vice versa
  • a fan tells of why she likes "The Flavor of Gold" by Sylvia Bond in First Time #37
  • some comments on the slashy poem at the end of Star Trek: The New Voyages
  • much discussion of the Vulcan Death Bond, political, religious, learned behavior, genetic, consenting, restrictive...
  • a fan writes about how she showed her story to her mom:
    How to explain K/S to someone who just can’t get it? Good question. After Mum asked three times if she could read 'Slow Spring' I reluctantly agreed, warning her there was sex in it. She sent me a long letter full of comments about spelling and punctuation, then at the end said she thought a love story about two men was 'rather unnecessary'(!)

  • a discussion of labels:
    One of the things that bugs my husband bout K/S is that he sees the characters as straight in he series. He feels that K/Sers are imposing something on the characters. He can't accept alternative fanfiction interpretations of the characters. The stories you don't like, in which Kirk and Spock are straight, but love each other, might be ones that he found more appealing. I actually rather like those stories. The categories "homosexual" and "heterosexual" are completely culturally conditioned. The behavior and even the sexual preference for people of the same gender are part of human experience everywhere, but the labels, and the self-identity as "gay" or "straight" are western and reasonably modern... Knowing the cultural conditioning, I find the stories where Kirk and Spock are happily heterosexual until they find each other and realize a surprising mutual attraction very sweet and romantic.

  • Christmas poetry by Brianna Falken, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas on the ISS Enterprise":
    "The captain was nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of Vulcans danced through his head.... The sex was the best he had ever been given, to the edge of madness he was repeatedly driven. Again and again, he was loved on that bed, he took and was taken and given great head..."

The K/S Press 77 (February 2003)

  • contains 32 pages
  • has LoCs for fiction Atlantis Stars, Deflectors Down, Divorce Vulcan Style, The End of the Beginning, Evolving Toward Forever, Gold and Silver, I Will Follow, A House of Cedar, Journey to the Day, Twenty Four Hours, The Story, Twice Upon a Time, Our Separate Ways, Half and Half, Room 1442, The Mirror Cracked, Reflected Revelations, When Lovers Say Goodbye, The Shining One, Hungry Eyes, Second Action, A Thin Flame, The Compleat Alternative in the zines First Time #9, #50, #56, Consort #2, Naked Times #4/#5, Legends #2, Beyond Dreams #5, Nome #7, #8, Within the Mirror #1, Cheap Thrills #2, The Compleat Alternative, see those pages
  • an excerpt from "Divorce Vulcan Style" by Mary Suskind Lansing from the zine Consort #2
  • some con reports from Creation Con in London
  • one ad: "Please note a wonderful new addition to the songtapes: Songtape #7 by [K P]"
  • a fan is discussing labels:
    I was interested to read your feelings about K/S portraying Kirk and Spock as heterosexual men who are none the less having a relationship with each other but remain heterosexual. I wouldn't say this annoys me exactly but it does puzzle me. To my way of seeing it if Kirk and Spock are sleeping exclusively with each other they are homosexual, or bisexual, but certainly NOT heterosexual. I too have read many accounts—mostly in books about sexuality—of men who have sex with men but still see themselves as heterosexual, and I have been told by K/S fans that this is how they see Kirk and Spock. For a long time I wondered how on earth this could be, but I have come to the conclusion that this attitude is a result of how we define for ourselves the term homosexual. For many people the word carries a lot of cultural baggage which they simply do not want to apply to Kirk and Spock. As an example I understand that for the men who have sex with men but don't think of themselves as homosexual the term homosexual is related to certain sex acts, and so long as they perform only the 'masculine' role they don't see themselves as homosexual. Now this particular example may not really apply to K/S but it illustrates that your self/character identity will depend on your definition of the terms. To me 'homosexual' means "men who have sex with, or are erotically attracted to, other men," in this case Kirk and Spock in a relationship with each other are, to me, homosexual. I tend to implicitly see the Kirk and Spock in K/S as bisexual at the beginning of a story as one of them at least usually starts with the hots for the other. I an believe that one or both of them has never been attracted to a man before and has therefor previously considered himself implicitly heterosexual (if they still use such a term), however as soon as Kirk or Spock realises they are in love with the other one, I believe this redefines their sexuality. This is quite a complex issue and when I have discussed it with people I usually find that disagreements come down largely to a difference in how we are using the terms homosexual/bisexual/heterosexual, but I'd be very interested to hear other people's ideas about Kirk and Spock's sexuality in K/S. Interestingly though, I think the way we think about Kirk and Spock is really intriguing. I am usually bored by stories in which Kirk or Spock struggles to come to terms with their bisexuality, I guess I like to think that in the trek universe it might be no big deal at all.

  • K/S is better than a Harlequin!
    K/S is better than a Harlequin romance because it's about two people who we 'know' and care about. This is quite different to reading about two people who we only get to know in that one story. Even in AU stories we know the basic characters and indeed a lot of the fun of AU's comes from seeing how these characters behave in different circumstances. K/S is also often about selfless love which is based on a lot more than sexual attraction, again this is not very often the case in typical romances. In these stories though, the hero may be selflessly heroic and his reward is usually to get the heroine into bed. In the case of K/S, sex is rarely a 'reward', but more of an extension of an already established spiritual affection.

The K/S Press 78 (March 2003)

  • keep those letters coming:
    Speaking of expressing yourself (don’t we always?), with all the lists and topics and discussions and communicating online, please save some of your pearls of wisdom for our beloved K/S Press. It’s easy to forget this newsletter in favor of speedy, ever-present Net chat, but we would welcome some of those fascinating K/S discussions in these pages. We know that some of you already do participate in online groups and also participate in the KSP, but we need more! Cut and paste and email to us! Believe it or not, there actually still are subscribers who are not on line. Besides, even for those who are on line, the KSP is here for reviews and discussions, too. So send in those LOCs and bon mots and we’ll all be happy.

  • a fan discusses terminology:
    Liz, in the last issue you posed several interesting questions to which I'd love to respond. You talked about the question of using the term "homosexual" to describe Kirk and Spock, as first brought up by Joyce Bowen from the previous issue of KSP. I am almost positive that this topic was discussed in one of our panels at the first KiScon, and I suspect it's one that can be and will be debated by K/S fans over many years, especially as our culture's attitude towards same-sex behavior changes. I think your most pertinent commentary was "For many people the word carries a lot of cultural baggage which they simply do not want to apply to Kirk and Spock." There is a stereotypical gay man image in our culture (that I hope is changing!) that some people will not be able to associate with our heroic characters. There is also the highly romantic view that here are two heterosexual men who discover that the spiritual and emotional affinity between them is so great that they actually overcome their "natural" sexual orientation to engage in sexual behavior with another man. I really can understand such an attitude, it carries a guaranteed thrill with it, and it's a great way to present really romantic K/S stories. To keep that thrill, though, the emphasis has to be on Kirk and Spock's heterosexual natures, and that must remain intact despite the fact that they screw each other, and only each other, for the rest of their lives. (I am paraphrasing a line from a very well known zine story here. Kudos to the first person who writes to me to identify it!) Anyway, I tend to be a left-brained, numbers-loving literalist, so I think of them as bisexual once they get together. But as you say, it's all in how we define the words, too. Maybe you should put this issue on your panel list for K/S Connections, and I'll do the same with KiScon 2004, and we'll see if we can come to any kind of consensus. I suspect not, but it will be fun debating!

  • more on "homosexuality":
    I want to respond to some of the many wonderful things written by Liz in her Roundtable. I, too, have often heard the discussion of whether or not Kirk and/or Spock would be considered homosexual. Liz, you’re right that the term homosexual is open to interpretation, but my theory is that many people think of “homosexual” as encompassing a certain lifestyle, not just male to male sexual activity. If we are talking about “gay lifestyle”, then I would think Kirk and Spock don’t fit that category. If we are talking only about sexual orientation, then each of us can play with that—our stories can reflect any number of scenarios. I choose that Kirk is bisexual and then when he commits to Spock only, he’s still bisexual, but chooses Spock as his mate. I like the scenario of Spock also being bisexual because I believe he would not have the same restrictions on his sexuality that a person born of Earth might. (Although it’s highly debatable that in the future our society would hold the same standards as today.) I also enjoyed what you said about romance novels and the reward is to “get the heroine in bed”, but for K/S “sex is rarely a reward, but more of an extension of an already established spiritual affection”. What a wonderful thing to say! This is so true—Kirk and Spock having sex together develops out of their intense love and passion for each other—a passion that must find expression in the physical. And therein lies the big difference between slash in general (any pairings that enjoy sexual contact) and K/S—that spiritual, mind meld, mental bonding connection that Kirk and Spock share on the most intimate of levels.

  • a fan artist talks about creating art for other fandoms than Kirk/Spock:
    About drawing art for other fandoms: I have had some interesting experiences drawing “other” characters. One memorable time was when I drew one of the characters from “The Professionals”. Someone had sent me a bunch of photos of him—both as the actor and as the character. I chose to use the photo of the actor himself and when people saw the finished drawing, they remarked that despite the quality of the drawing, it left them cold because they saw the actor there, not the character. I remember being amazed that first, they could tell the difference, and second, that it mattered. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much it did matter. When I draw Kirk and Spock, I draw Kirk and Spock, not William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy! In fact, one time I did draw LN as a commission piece and I did not have the same thrill or excitement that I had when drawing Spock. It wasn’t even close. I was kind of bored and it was rather tiresome. The results were fine, but get me back to drawing Spock! Liz, you said “...the resulting drawings were static and soulless”. That’s been my experience, too. While I was drawing those other guys, I felt nothing—it was really a chore as opposed to a delight. It was like homework as opposed to a pleasurable pastime. Each time I did someone else, I thought I’d never do it again. Until Robin asked me, of course!

  • another fan writes about art:
    About your tale that you found two pieces of K/S art that you really liked that were drawn by people not in the fandom. This sort of feeds into a discussion that occurred in KirkSpockCentral about how much of our own personal fantasies we put into our writing. I tend to think that it is possible to create excellent K/S art and fiction on a purely technical, intellectual level. That's why you liked the two pieces of art you found, as it wasn't really necessary for those artists to love Kirk and/or Spock. Likewise, somebody not in our fandom could conceivably come in and write a blockbuster K/S tale without really loving the fellows. She just might be curious to explore their characters, or to see if it can be done at all. Now, I'm not recommending this approach! Humans are more than just their brains, even Spock knows that, and it's a little sad to produce an inherently emotional creation without emotion involved the actual creative process. I myself always write with a lot of emotion, because I love this world, I love the fellows, and I most especially love the concepts behind every K/S word I write. I bet you anything that you draw with emotion, primarily love and admiration for Kirk and Spock. It's better that way, definitely, but it's not impossible the other way. A bit of a cheat, but still possible.

  • on art:
    Your comment about artists who do K/S for others, although it's not their personal kink. Speaking as the receiver of pictures for a rare pairing from an artist who does them especially for me, I am just endlessly grateful for that. I can't draw, and I don't know any other artists who would do it for me. So it's in effect a priceless gift to me and all people who are into this pairing. She obviously doesn't feel 'cheating', and the pictures couldn't be better if she were into the pairing, in my opinion. I wish there were more artists like her that are so open- minded to take the challenge of other pairings or fandoms. Thinking about my stories, I am also willing to write for others if it's within my range of imagination—it gives me the reassurance that this story will at least have one happy reader. And in fact, I started my whole writing with the idea to give something back to the authors who had given me such a good time.

  • a fan comments on the death bond:
    I see the bond as a kind of intense connection between two people. Looking at a physiological level, I am sure one would see it in nuclear resonance tomography. And the deeper the connection and the longer the bonding, the more it should result in physical manifestation. So after e.g., twenty years, to loose the bond would be equivalent to cutting one's arm off, and would result in a kind of system shock. It's pretty believable for me that this might even cause the other one's death, if it's coming unprepared. Long-time couples even on our planet are very much attuned and also somehow dependent on each other. (There exist stories about old human couples where one dies shortly after the other, because the residual one doesn't want to live alone.) And why the bond at all? In my view, it is an evolutionary advantage in many cases, when two people can not only cooperate, but really co-think. But as for every advantage, you pay a price somewhere else. In this case, the cost/performance ratio seems in favor of the bond.

  • on the K/S relationship:
    As all of us K/Srs know, the foundation of our fandom is based on one element and one element alone: the love between Kirk and Spock. No matter how turned on we may get when reading a great sex scene in a K/S story, if it were not for the very special relationship that exists between these two unique men, this fandom would never ever have lasted as long as it has. That being the case, one has to wonder what exactly draws these two individuals together and even more so, why, despite all the evidence we see in TOS, where Kirk is a confirmed skirt-chaser and Spock, when in his right mind, shows absolutely no interest in sex, is it so easy for us to believe that they would be attracted to each other physically? After all, even though it was very clear in TOS and even more so in the movies that Kirk and Spock loved each other, what was the motivation for that certain someone (whoever she was) to pick up a pen and write that very first K/S story? And what has kept us writing and reading K/S ever since? [lots of meta and discussion about their relationship snipped] ... In conclusion, whether one chooses to believe that Kirk and Spock began a physical relationship during the first five year mission or whether that relationship developed at some point during the movies, it is the combination of each strengths and weaknesses that attracts one to the other, first in friendship, and then in love and it is this love that forms the foundation of K/S. So despite the lack of evidence we see on the screen regarding the fact that neither of them seem even remotely interested in same sex relationships, it is almost inevitable that the love they have for each other, a love which grows stronger and deeper as the years go by, would come to express itself in a physical relationship. And thus K/S was born.

  • please improve your spelling:
    I hope you’ll all forgive me for ranting and raving about one of my pet peeves. Why is it still fairly common to find misspelled words scattered throughout K/S zines that are otherwise beautifully produced, with neatly formatted pages and lovely covers and interior artwork? I know I’m a picky reader, so I suppose misspelled words bother me more than they bother a lot of other people. But some misspelled words can be a problem for all readers. The words on the page, after all, are not just words. They’re our ticket into the fantasy world of K/S. Even if a reader isn’t being particularly picky, a misspelled word in a crucial spot can force that reader right out of the fantasy world of K/S and back into the familiar reality of her own living room, and gee, it’s a shame when that happens just when Spock was leaning toward Kirk to gently tooch.... Oops, that should be “touch” shouldn’t it? Or is tooching some weird sexual thing that only Vulcans can do? Hmmm....

  • about explaining K/S to others:
    Sara, back in December you asked "So I guess my question is if anyone here has had any success in explaining their passion for K/S and slash in general to folks who just don't get it?" I wanted to tell you I have had no such luck, and in general I don't really try to make an explanation, just a statement of fact that this is what I'm doing, and I am passionately involved in it. They don't need to get it at all. Three of my sisters know about my involvement; they obviously don't "get" it, but they are distantly accepting and I don't need any more. My mother initially appeared to support me in my passion, then turned on me quite ferociously. I've also told several neighborhood friends who didn't seem to care one way or another. And then there was the memorable night when my husband told another couple with whom we were having dinner all about it, quite proudly, without warning me he was going to do so at all.... They've since moved across the country; I wonder why? Anyway, I'm not sure you can explain K/S to someone who doesn't get it. You can show K/S to one Star Trek fan and she is instantly smitten and runs out to buy 200 zines (hi, Linda!), but another Star Trek fan blinks in non-comprehension. I'm not sure K/S can be explained; the ground has to be fertile already and very receptive to the seed....

The K/S Press 79 (April 2003)

  • Jenna writes:
    I thought I would mention the new Yahoo list KirkSpockCentral. I am co-moderator of the group along with Helen and Gilda. We got started several weeks ago and membership has grown to over 100. You are invited to join us if you haven't already! As far as I know, Central is the only public list online dedicated exclusively to K/S. No discussion of other pairings or other fandoms, just the love that brings Jim Kirk and Spock of Vulcan together. The list has lots of information in its files and links sections about K/S both online and in print, and we hope to add more. If you don't really know where to go to find good K/S online, it's all laid out for you on KirkSpockCentral. An added bonus is that whenever a zine is published or a new story is posted online, an announcement is made on the list (at least, that's what we're aiming for!) You will be very up-to-date with the K/S world by tuning in to this list....I hope to see many more K/S fans who are subscribers to The K/S Press on the list in the near future!

  • another print shop tale:
    K/S Tale of Woe of the Month: So I was having Beyond Dreams 6 printed a few weeks ago, along with some additional artwork reprints that I needed. Specifically, a computer-generated piece of art (CGA) that had been done by Alison Fiddler for Beyond Dreams 1. It's a fabulous work of art, one of my absolute favorites, and if I ever get a K/S room of my own, it will be up on my wall. Anyway, this work is reproduced by using a disk and not an original on a piece of paper. I was picking my order up when I casually asked the manager if there had been any problems with reproduction. She replied that she and her trusty assistant (both of them women in their 60s who aren't too computer literate) hadn't been able to get the disk to work properly, so they had enlisted the aid of "Jeremy." I blanched. "Jeremy?" I asked. He is young and enthusiastic and has never impressed me as a reasoned thinker. "Did he, uh, give you any trouble with the content?" (The picture in question shows Spock in a white shirt sitting on the floor against the side of a bed, between Kirk's knees, as Kirk sits, naked, behind him on the bed. Yeah, I did say it was a favorite....) "Oh, don't worry about it," the manager reassured me. "By now, almost everybody around here has seen your pictures. If they have a problem with what you're doing, they keep it to themselves." Oh. Great. So now I know why occasionally I get some strange looks.... Why the fellow who carries most of my boxes out to the car seems intent on talking about God all the time, and why the women up front seem so friendly....

The K/S Press 80 (May 2003)

  • contains 31 pages
  • has LoCs for fiction Forget, In Any Universe, Hero Worship, Storm Tossed, Twice I Have Lived Forever, A Matter of Biology, Two Ships Passing, In the Night, Twenty Four Hours, Dust and Sadness, Off-Scent," The Deep End of Emotion", One Last Voyage, Humanizing Influences, Let Me Show You, Intermission, Butterfly Morning, The Unlucky Birthday, Transparent in the zines First Time #49, #50, #55, #56, Beyond Dreams #6, T'hy'la #15, Legends #2, As I Do Thee #20, see those pages
  • there is discussion on whether Spock has desire to improve the militaristic side of Kirk’s nature and if he’s really a pacifist, then why is he in Starfleet?
  • four detailed con reports for Creation Con
  • a fan describes how she spent K/S Day:
    I had my husband put the Star Trek sheets on my bed... He fixed it with sheets and pillowcases, which, on a sky-blue background, have prints of our starship, many of the planets our guys have visited, and stars, and comet tails, and such... had my breakfast using my ST:TMP tableware... Then that evening my husband got me a cake, which I put pink and green candles on.... Afterwards, I called an old K/S friend of mine and we talked for four hours about the good old days, the good old zines, and the not so hot zines, about the wonderful K/S songtapes we've both collected over the years.

  • a fan ruminates on the beautiful art of older zines and wonders where all the artists have gone:
    I received the zine Nome #7. Rummaging through the pages, I was struck with all the beautiful artwork it as. In fact, nearly every story has an artwork, in some cases, 2 or 3… and the cover was breathtaking, with a drawing of a pensive (and very naked) Kirk sitting on a rock by the sea, his gaze fixed on the stars thinking, presumably, of a certain Vulcan. The use of so many drawings is a trademark of the old zines, not of Nome, but of the Duet series, and Broken Images, Nightvisions, Tzadu, The Price and the Prize and many, many more. And with melancholy, I realized that this practice is slowly dying in today’s new zines. Fewer and fewer zines are using art to really convey the impact of the various scenes of a story. In many cases, some zines have no art, not even on the cover, and I wonder why?... I’ve seen how the use of photomanipulations are increasing more frequently… I’m not against the use of photo manipulation. Some of them are well done, very imaginative and believable thanks to today’s technology. But in my opinion, they are contributing to the disappearance of artwork in zines. And a photomanipulation, no matter how well done, will never substitute for a piece of art like a beautiful and original drawing.

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