Threshold (Star Trek: TOS zine)

Zine
Title:	Threshold
Publisher:	Poison Pen Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Fern Marder and Carol Walske
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	January 1978
Series?:	Nu Ormenel
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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Threshold is a gen novel-length Nu Ormenel story by Fern Marder and Carol Walske with 112 pages, published in 1978.

front cover by Carol Walske

back cover by Carold Walske

flyer, printed in Moonbeam #1/2

It had a print run of 550.

Masiform D Supplementary Issues

• Threshold, Masiform D Supplementary Issue #1
• One Way Mirror, Masiform D Supplementary Issue #2
• Knight of Shadows, Masiform D Special Supplementary Issue #3

From the Editorial: Devra

Once I was a more-or-less normal person, notable mainly for my warped tastes. Then, my friend Sherna lured me into watching Star Trek, and I—well—but that seems so far off. I was trying to remember, this morning, what I'd done in my spare time before I published a magazine. That was when it struck me—ten years. Dear grief. In ten years, I have published eleven magazines, written four stories, helped run six conventions, attended at least sixty others the record of a mis-spent time. Well, a spent time, anyway.

This issue is a first for me—the first really long story I've ever published, as well as the first issue ever written by only two people. And strange, it's been that too. The amount of work involved in editing a seventy-five page story is greater than the equivalent number of short stories and articles—perhaps because I'm so argumentative. And it came as a nasty shock when the Daring Duo handed me their little work, smiling, and said, "There are a few scenes we haven't finished yet." Guileless sneakies! That manuscript had gaps, gaplettes, gaping chasms, and a Grand Canyon! Still, they did warn me. I'm not really sure how we got to now, anyway. I do know that the original idea was a story not to exceed one hundred pages,including illos. Sigh.

Normally, in my editorial, I bitch about production. Let this issue not be different. My new, very expensive typewriter doesn't like quotation marks, which it cuts very lightly. It also tends to ignore the letter 'c', producing dashes instead. And the second mimeo, ostensibly repaired, won't eat its paper nicely. And two electrostencils suffered an inexplicable f-a-d-e, and had to be recut. And it's Thursday night, and I still have forty-three stencils to run, and the food for the collators to prepare, and I'm starting to suffer from the Klingon equivalent of Vulcan mind mold (those spots that appear after too-frequent melding—) All my friends and family are very kind and patient at this point, while I prowl around the house screaming, "NEVER AGAIN!"

Sample Interior Gallery

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  flyer from Probe #11

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  title page

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  inside art by poem and calligraphy sample

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  map

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  sample text

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  inside art by Carol Walske

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  sample text

Reactions and Reviews

This is not exactly a ST novel. Although it is set in the ST universe, none of the Enterprise characters are present for it. It's a story told from the Klingon point of view, and the main character is Kor, Kirk's old nemesis from 'Errand of Mercy' and 'Time Trap.' It takes place abut ten years after the Organian Treaty, on a the buffer planet Ashkaris, the focal point in a growing conflict between the Klingons and the Federation. Kor goes to Ashkaris as a spy, becomes involved with a Federation woman named Tavia Nelson, is captured by a Federation starship who is his foster brother and bitter enemy Roan Morgan, leads a successful coup against the Starship crew and Morgan, takes the ship back to the Klingon empire to greatly simplify a long and complicated plot. The reader is continually aware that this is an episode in an ongoing saga, although the gaps are filled in pretty well with background information. The ending is more or less up in the air, but the authors have included a list on the last page of the other stories in the series, where they appeared, and a short statement of what the plot of each was about, so readers who are really hooked can pursue the matter further. One drawback in reading is trying to keep the characters straight, with their long, difficult-to-pronounce names. It's like reading a Russian novel. However, don't let that deter you; it's worth the effort. The writing is good, and the plot holds your interest. It's a little harder to get interested in a Klingon, who is after all, still a Klingon and not a very sympathetic person, than it is to read another Kirk, Spock, or McCoy story. But the characters do develop into interesting people and are worth getting to know. One unique feature of this zine is the poems that begin each chapter, setting the mood for the events that are about to unfold. They are very well done. The artwork, too, is extremely nice, and many of the illustrations are offset. Devra Langsam has done her usual excellent job of mimeographing, so the type is extremely readable. Best of all is the modest price [$1.25] , which makes 'Threshold' one of the best buys available at the moment.

THRESHOLD, a novel by Carol Walske and Fern Marder, is one of the newest ST 'alternate universes. ' Complete and self-contained in and of itself, the novel is nevertheless part of the 'kilingau' cycle developed by Walske and Marder. This cycle traces the Klingon-Federation war from opening hostilities to uneasy peace, particularity through the inter-reactions of the Alkarin Kor and his family. THRESHOLD is a major part of the cycle. It is beautifully constructed, shows much thought and r research, and reads well. It is a superbly produced mimeo zine.