The Sith Yearbook
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Sith Yearbook |
| Publisher: | Baldwin/Blue Lady Press |
| Editor(s): | Susan W. Henderson |
| Date(s): | 1983, 1990 |
| Series?: | |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Star Wars |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Sith Yearbook is a gen and slash anthology focusing on Darth Vader and other Imperial characters.
The zine flyer says it is in the "tradition of Imperial Entanglements." In fact, the first issue of "The Sith Yearbook" is sometimes referred to as "Imperial Entanglements 2."
Of the slash, the editor notes, "Some same sex relationships (yes, Piett and Serzho are back, better than ever.)" For other fanworks in this universe ("The Executor Cycle"), see Admiral Piett.
About
From the second issue: "A note about our logo: We called it "Baldwin" because much of the 'zine was set up on an Apple (a Macintosh, actually, but we didn't want to play any more fast-and-loose with the copyright laws than we have already). The Blue Lady is, of course, our beloved flagship, HMS Executor."
Issue 1
The Sith Yearbook 1 (also called "Imperial Entanglements" 2) was published in 1983 and contains 152 pages.
It has art by Seth Bonder, Contessa, Denise Habel, Frank Hummel, Leah Rosenthal, Nancy Stasulis, Fleet Van Riper, Bob Griffith, Bernie (Kevin Martin), and eluki bes shahar.
From the editorial:
Greetings from yer Imperial Outpost Downeast!
This zine got started on a fateful day back in 1982, when Karen Osman told me she wouldn't be able to publish a second issue of Imperial Entanglements. "Oh dear," said I, full of innocence, "I've been thinking about publishing a fanzine; sup pose I do it?" She thought it would be better if I did my own zine to my own taste, though she graciously allowed me to sub title it ImpEnt 2, and so Sith Yearbook was born. Although I'd had some small-press experience before, I found, as all zineds have, that nothing prepares one for this sort of magnum opus. Be that as it may...three years of leisurely preparation and six weeks of intensive labor (i.e. I lived at the typewriter) later, here we are.
... We follow proudly in the footsteps of ImpEnt; but I hasten to point out that Sith Yearbook is indeed a different zine with a different editor, and any errors, lapses of judgement, etc. are completely my responsibility.
We have a good mix of old and new contributors. ImpEnt veterans [Barbara T], Sylvia Stevens (aka Contessa) and Ann Wilson are back; and we have one of Carol Hines-Stroede's Vader stories. We are proud to present the first published Star Wars stories of Seth Bonder and Sandra Necchi, two new writers that I find promising, and I hope you do, too. We also have Seth to thank for many of our graphics. Among the artists, Leah Rosenthal, Nancy Stasulis, Denise Habel, eluki bes shahar, and Kevin Martin (Bernie!) are favorites. Appearing for the first time (to my knowledge) in zinedom are two Maine artists. Fleet Van Riper and Frank Hummel.
A final note; we didn't plan it that way, but most of the contributions turned out to be Piett stories. We're not complaining. We love the good Admiral — and all his cohorts. We hope you enjoy them too. Happy reading!
For the Empire, Susan W. Henderson
- Dedication (iii)
- Editorial (3)
- Requiem by Carol Hines-Stroede (5)
- Darkness Rising by Seth Bonder (11)
- On the Snowflake by Seth Bonder (about the Imperial Snowflake (modeled on a Japanese monsho, or heraldic crest) (31)
- The Admiral's Empath by Barbara T and Sylvia Stevens (Piett and Serzho in Executor Cycle. From the zine: "I would like to thank Ann Wilson whose characters Bevan DarLeras and Casimir Seahome consented to appear in this story, and Jane Sibley, whose suggestions provided another of the characters.
Thanks should go also to Karen Osman without whose encouragement to Serzho this story would not have been written, and whose constant discussion supplied or modified many of the background concepts.") (33)
- Destiny's Eve by Denise Habel (107)
- Transfer by Ann Wilson ("an alternate-universe ending to the Executor Cycle...") (111)
- Two Captured Bodies in an Eccentric Orbit by Barbara T (a continuation to "Transfer," the preceding story, and in The Executor Cycle) (132)
- The Ideology of Balance by Sandra Necchi (Piett and Leia) (139)
- Battle Hymn of the Imperial Fans by Barbara T (147)
- The Market Square (advertisements) (149)
from issue #1, Denise Habel
from issue #1, Nancy Stasulis
from issue #1, Denise Habel
from issue #1, Seth Bonder
from issue #1, Leah Rosenthal
from issue #1
from issue #1, Fleet Van Ripper
from issue #1, Nancy Stasulis
from issue #1, Fleet Van Ripper
from issue #1, Contessa
from issue #1, Fleet Van Ripper
from issue #1, first page of the filk by Barbara
from issue #1, second page of the filk by Barbara
from issue #1, inside back cover, Leah Rosenthal
Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1
I enjoyed SITH YEARBOOK and IMPERIAL ENTANGLEMENTS primarily for the Piett/Serzsho stories. I just loved that little guy; the stories are spellbinding. Besides the fascinating alien culture of the telepaths, and heartwarming romance, I enjoyed the detailed portrayal of Life In The Emperor's Service. Those little touches like "clone loaf." [1]
Thanks ever so much for my copy of Sith Yearbook I I've just finished it, and found it a very worthy effort. The computer graphics throughout were a nice touch, and I must say I am and always have been a fan of columned, non-reduced type.
Seth Bonder's story cast a new slant on imperial politics, Carol Hines-Stroede was smashing as usual, and I always enjoy Barbara Tennison's filks. Sandra Necchi had an interesting idea, but I wish she had explained how Piett survived, since we saw him ON SCREEN go down with r the ship in that 1983 screen classic. Revenge of Lucasfilm.
Thanks again for sending me a copy (even for my reprint) and do put me on your mailing list for your next issue. [2]
I loved it. Every bit of it. This is the first 'zine I can say that about. I crave stories on the Empire, and boy, are they hard to come by! (As if you didn't know!) I like the red cover, it's different, and the computer graphics are nice. The back cover's a good laugh. As I love Carol HS's stories, the only gripe I had was it was too short! Oh, well, you had nothing to do with that! And Nancy Stasulis is my favorite artist in any 'zine. Her high Yoda and Vader cartoon is a classic! I've never seen such a smug Yoda before.
Darkness Rising held my attention all the way through, even though it wasn't a rip, roaring action story. Rosenthal's cartoon is hilarious. Wish Vader could convince "Uncle George" to go back to making SW movies!
The snowflake was interesting. Contessa's cartoons fascinate me, how can she convey movement and expressions with so few lines? Besides being funny. Now, my favorite is next. The Admiral's Empath. I've totally fallen in love with Serzho and Piett. I immediately had to track the rest down, and through that became correspondent with Barbara Tennison. So, your 'zine also gave me a new fan friend!
"Destiny's Eve" was very good. I don't like free verse much (or whatever you call it), but this really made you feel her portrayal of Vader.
Transfer was an interesting way to do a cross-universe story. I hope The Ideology of Balance has a sequel, it simply cries for one.
The Battle Hymn of the Imp. Fan has just what I think filks should have, rhyme and it goes to a tune I know, so I can sing it instead of just read it.
Darth and his fur coat on the inside back cover was hilarious, too.
See, I can't find anything I didn't enjoy. This is a first, believe me. Please, please, do Sith II. I'm really looking forward to it! [3]
You definitely carried on the fine tradition set by IE #l—excellent quality stories about a much-maligned segment of the "Saga", THE IMPERIALS.
Any 'zine that contains any material by "Mines-Stroede" is a 'must-buy' for me. That aside, though, I found that all the stories were top quality—I can't think of anything in the 'zine I didn't enjoy.
Requiem by Carol Mines-Stroede I loved, but it was too short. It merely tantalized my appetite for the long novel. Dragon's Teeth, that is soon (I hope) to be published by Poison Pen Press— and which, I believe, will detail the events previous to this story of the young Darth Vader before his fall as set in Carol's fascinating universe.
The three stories. The Admiral's Empath (by Tennison/Stevens), Transfer (by Wilson) , and Two Captured Bodies in an Eccentric Orbit (by Tennison) were wonderful. Besides Vader, Piett is my next favorite Imperial, and stories where he somehow 'survives' are fun to read and satisfying (it's just too bad that Lucas killed him off in ROTJ because he would have been a good continuing character for the end saga {of course, by the time [if ever] this is made, the actor who portrayed Piett may be a bit gray and long in the tooth]). The Sonel/Serzho nexus is a satisfying solution to the problem of "what to do with a low grade telepath you can't acknowledge due to differing rank status"— as is the "Terran Empire" stories solution of equal transference of rank, i would love to read "the further adventures of Sonel and Serzho in the "Terran Empire"—dare I hope this will be forthcoming?
The offerings by the two relatively new writers, Seth Bonder and Sandra Necchi, were excellent. Seth Bonder's Darkness Rising, detailing the events behind the beginning of the plan for the 1st Death Star, was chilling (probably because it's too reminiscent of the way that some of the world's military plan similarly dangerous and inhumane projects today). I hadn't seen this topic explored in other fanzines before, and so it was unique (for me at least).
Sandra Necchi's story. The Ideology of Balance, I would have liked merely because it was a "Piett survives" story. I found the interaction between Piett and Leia Organa to be interesting to say the least. The story was involved and raised a lot of questions in my mind as to what is going to happen next. I hope that Sandra plans to have a sequel to this, because it literally 'cries for it.'
The art was attractive and appropriate in the 'zine—I especially enjoyed Nancy Stasulis' illos for Requiem.
This 'zine was a good read which I thoroughly enjoyed—I hope the tradition will continue through to a 3rd issue (well actually your 2nd, but the 3rd 'Imperial' offering). [4]
Sith Yearbook turns out to look very neat, generally a credit to the second production team, with one exception; there were an incredible number of typos, at least in Admiral's Empath and (I think) Seth Bonder's story. Whoever did that batch of typing needs a bit more proofreading. I seem to have written or been a major influence on an awful lot of the 'zine, which precludes much loc, but lemme see....
Ideology of Balance is subtly indicative of a writer whose promise exceeds her experience, and blatantly indicative of some admirable political independence of thought. This is a nice, felt view of Leia as the primary Force-user of the twins, giving her full importance (for once in a fan story) without subtracting anything for her female gender and also avoiding one possible pitfall in that she is still as young as her character is supposed to be. Leia has been a busy woman, but she's still only a few years into adulthood. It's a nice, strong view of Piett, too.
Fleet Van Riper's art is really pretty good, and often very cute. The Stasulis cartoons are good as ever, too. I must mention one other production fault: the odd, jogging widths of the print columns are irritating and distracting, though they don't (fortunately) obscure the text.
Having been a Patronis junkie since my first glimpse of a manuscript with him (and I had to wait two years to see the story in full, in print!), I was delighted to see Carol Hines-Stroede's brief story. Requiem is another rarity in fandom, an Anakin-vs-Darth story in which the two seem to have made their peace over Luke. It's short but effective, and the illos are good, too.
Seth Bonder's story is less subtle about its writer's lack of experience, though it has some assets: willingness to grapple with the hardware problems of the SW universe, for instance, and a view of some Imperials' motives, pro and con, for building the Death Star. The overdescriptive prose passages do slow down the story, but there is a drama being enacted here, which is not totally obscured. [5]
Issue 2
The Sith Yearbook 2 (also called "Imperial Entanglements" 3) was is not dated (the editorial and a flyer says five years have passed since the last issue, so late spring 1988). It contains 130 pages.
The art is by Debora L. Carr, Beth Adams Gualda, Ronda Henderson, Cynthia Kiley, Justin Leiter, Nancy Stasulis, Erin Zimmerman, and Fleet Van Riper.
"Feline "help": Leia Organa, Snowsquall, TaraKuhn, and Pebble (at the Imperial Outpost Downeast); Tiger and Kuro-san (at the Imperial Graphic Arts Shop)."
From a flyer printed in 1990's A Tremor in the Force #5: Head for the hills, Beru!
Sith Yearbook 2 has finally gone to press!
THE EMPIRE'S STILL OUT THERE, FOLKS.
This time the usual suspects
perpetratepresent...PURSUIT, by Barbara Tennison and Sylvia Stevens — Darth Vader is still pursuing Luke Skywalker across the galaxy, and both Vader and Admiral Piett are on the verge of burnout. The fact that Vader considers the Admiral indispensable doesn't help Piett's nerves any, but on the other hand, it might just save his life.
A BONE TO PICK, by Seth Bonder — Captain Gija Metieh finally gets the thing he wants most - a chance to give Han Solo a piece of his mind. He has to put Solo on the scan-grid to make him listen, but that would hardly cause Metieh to lose sleep.
FATE'S CHOICE, by Lisa Kenniff — A cross-universe Star Wars/Battlestar Galactica tale of long-lost lovers and mistaken identities in the best Georgette Heyer vein. Lots of fun! We can't describe it, or we'd give the plot away.
WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME, by your shameless zined, Susan Henderson — Princess Leia set out to find Dagobah, but found instead the worlds of the Sith and a very different point of view. Not to mention such world-shaking discoveries as: a) who Luke's mother was, b) why you must always scratch a Wookiee's ears, and c) that Darth Vader's mother really did wear army boots!
Plus an interview with the notorious Capt. Metieh by the indefatigable Galactic News Service.
Poetry by Veronica Wilson and Ronda Henderson. lllos by Debora Carr, Beth Adams Gualda, Ronda Henderson, Cynthis Kiley, Justin Leiter, Nancy Stasulis, Fleet Van Riper, and Erin Zimmerman, computer graphics by Seth Bonder, logo by Frank Hmmnel.
Price; $10.00 (the cost of printing has tripled in five years!)
The editorial:
This is the winter of our discontent made glorious by this summer (late spring actually) sun of Sith Yearbook II! {Sorry, Will!) At long last, after five years of Editor's Block, here it is! My sincere thanks to all the contributors, who have been so patient to see their work in print, and to all who sent in SASEs. I realized how long this 'zine had taken when I went through the SASEs and saw how many of them had 22 cent stamps.
Many thanks to Seth Bonder, to whom I will owe chocolate goodies for the rest of my unnatural life, for typesetting a large part of this monster. Many thanks also to Lisa Kenniff, who put her story and part of mine on computer disk. And to both of them for asking at regular intervals, "How's the 'zine coming?" and not letting me give up.
Our contributors include many of the usual suspects from Slth Yearbook I, plus some new ones — welcome to you all! It is good to see that Star Ware fandom is still alive and kicking. SY has an Imperial orientation, but we hope all SW fen will find something of interest. In the back, we've included a 'zine market, so that you may find other SW publications. I've included as many as I know of — my apologies to those editors whose publications I may have missed.
It is always risky to publish one's own writing, since no one is objective enough to edit one's self. Before I decided to publish "World Enough and Time", it was well edited by Karen (Osman) Winter, Barbara Tennison, Angela-Marie Varesano, and several other friends, who gave me most helpful criticism. I thank them for their help. Any faults in the work are, of course, my own.
- Ye Masthead/Acknowledgments (inside front cover)
- Editorial (7)
- LoCs for Sith Yearbook 1 (8)
- Alternative Realities by Ronda Henderson (12)
- Pursuit by Barbara Tennison and Sylvia Stevens (part of "The Executor Cycle") (13)
- Redemption by Veronica Wilson (43)
- A Bone to Pick by Seth Bonder (45)
- Empire Biscuits (recipe for vanilla cookies with icing) by Barbara Tennison (54)
- World Enough and Time by Susan W. Henderson (55)
- A Note on Admiral Piett's Fate by Seth Bonder (101)
- Fate's Choice by Lisa Kenniff and Sean Manley (Star Wars/Galactica) (103)
- Ins/Crosswinds by Lisa Kenniff and Seth Bonder (interview with a fictional character) (125)
- 'Zine Market (129)
inside page from issue #2, Ronda Henderson
inside page from issue #2, Debora L. Carr
inside page from issue #2, Fleet Van Riper
inside page from issue #2, Nancy Stasulis
inside page from issue #2, sample text
inside page from issue #2, Cynthia Kiley
inside page from issue #2, Justin Leiter
inside page from issue #2, Debora L. Carr
inside page from issue #2, Beth Adams Gualda
inside page from issue #2, Erin Zimmerman
inside page from issue #2 (inside back cover), Debora L. Carr
