Valjiir Continuum

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Zine
Title: Valjiir Continuum
Publisher: Meebles Press
Editor(s):
Date(s): late 1980s-1990
Series?:
Medium: print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links:
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Valjiir Continuum is a 'zine that Dave and Cher Petterson put out to continue the Valjiir series after Susan Sizemore had left the writing partnership and Marguerite Krause had quit -- or was in the process of quitting -- as editor of In a Different Reality.

Excerpt from the First Issue's Editorial

Gentle Readers,

Welcome to the first issue of Valjiir Continuum. This irregularly produced zine is solely devoted to the Valjiir Universe and the Reformed Timeline. It's a labor of love given from us to you, the readers and fans of Valjiir. We'll be producing this by the most inexpensive means we can find and still keep up decent quality. The price we're asking covers only the actual cost of copying and mailing. Usually, one issue will contain one story (depending on how much time David and I have, and on the length of the story). When each issue is available will depend entirely on how much mundane life interferes with The Gang (my own personal Meebles; you know them better as the characters of the Valjiir Universe).

The first issue continues the timeline where it was left in In a Different Reality #24: "The Percentage." You'll find a capsule history for Ruth Valley and Jilla Majiir on the back of the zine, bringing you up to date on their status within the timeline so far. This story, "An Old Fashioned Man," takes place soon after.

Future issues will include such stories as "The Last Time I Saw Richard," "Voices in the Night," and "Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends."

Issue #2, "The Perfect Woman" will be available sometime in the fall (October, with luck!). SASE the Press for information. ARTISTS: If you want to consider illoing "The Perfect Woman," let us know by mid-August so we can get you a copy of the story. If you're interested in future stories, let us know that, too!

We would also like to officially open the Reformed Timeline to other authors and fans. If you have stories or poems or other works involving Valjiir characters that you would like to see printed, please send them to us. We believe imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery, and if you don't mind The Gang going over your story for character continuity, we'd be pleased to add your visions to ours. After all, an idea doesn't exist unless somebody has it! We do reserve the right to edit for grammar, clarity, etc, and to consider the story in a alternate reality if it doesn't fit with the Reform Timeline (or change the projected Reform Timeline to include your story if it's so damn good and right that The Gang refuses to allow otherwise!)

We would like to thank you for your continued interest in Valjiir and hope that you find the Reformed Timeline entertaining and thought-provoking. Peace and Long Life, Cheryl and David.

Issue 1

cover of issue #1, Dave Petterson is the artist

Valjiir Continuum 1 contains a 40-page single story by Cheryl and Dave Petterson called An Old Fashioned Man. This issue contains no interior art. The back cover had information about the two main characters.

Issue 2

cover of issue #2, artist is Teegar

Valjiir Continuum 2 contains 32 pages.

  • The Perfect Woman by Cheryl and Dave Petterson
  • The Sum of the Parts by Cheryl and Dave Petterson


Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

See reactions and reviews for The Perfect Woman.

Issue 3

Valjiir Continuum 3 was published in 1990. The art is by Cheryl and David Petterson.

cover of issue #3, Cheryl Petterson

From the editorial:

It's been quite a long time between issue #2 and this one. This is due mainly to that terror of all creators: WRITERS BLOCK! (ominous music and cower in fear). We know what had to happen, we just didn't have the words. For months. The really frustrating thing is that "Richard" was two-thirds done. It was that last third...

Well, we're back on track now. We hope this was worth the wait. We apologize to all of you we have kept waiting, and we hope that future issues of Valjirr Continuum will be along in more timely intervals.

We've received very little feedback on the idea of a Valjiir Directory. Either all of you already own all the Valjirr stories, and can look up anything you can't remember, or you'd much rather read the entire story than any synopsis. Unfortunately, we can't do reprints of Valjirr stories other than those in this publication. We still like the idea of a Character File -- artists out there, do you have what you feel is a definitive (or least plausible) conception of what those people in the Valjirr Universe look like? We'd be happy to compile them all into a Sketchbook if there's interest in that sort of thing.

Contents:

  • The Last Time I Saw Richard by Cheryl and David Patterson (3)
  • Voices in the Night by Cheryl Petterson (36)

Issue 4 (never published)

The fourth issue of Valjiir Continuum was proposed but never published.

The two stories that were to have been included were "Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show that Never Ends" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues."

From Teegar, a fan who'd submitted material for this issue:

The first story, “Welcome Back, My Friends,” was at least partially written. Dave and Cher sent it to me and I started illustrating. In it, Captain Kirk is finally returning back to the Enterprise after a long, difficult recovery from being mind-sifted by the Klingons. As with “Perfect Woman,” I was trying to get a little high concept with my border frames for these pictures – thus all the little scattered blocks as the crew tries to pick up the pieces and fit things back together again. Characters were also doing a lot of reflecting on where they were in their careers and relationships. I tried to literalize this by working in several images of people looking in mirrors – although glass surfaces were really a struggle for me.

After waiting a pretty long while to get more story, I sent in the art I’d done with a, “hey, how’s it going?” note and I got back word that Cher was in the grips of massive, painful writer’s block and that until she could shake loose of it, the ‘zine was shelved.

Cher and Dave did start writing Valjiir stories again, but it was nearly a decade later. They had moved to the internet now and published on a website instead of in fanzine form. Mylochka (who I know very well) illustrates for them (her Valjiir gallery is here. “Welcome Back, My Friends” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” did finally get written and published on the website… around twenty years after I did this art... But if anyone would like to see the stories that go with the pictures, they’re there. [1]

References

  1. ^ from a personal email by Teegar to MPH, quoted with permission (February 2019)