Tracy Duncan (Star Wars fan active in the 1980s)

You may be looking for Tracy Duncan, a Star Wars fan who joined fandom in 1995 and is the founder of the site Club Jade.

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Tracy Duncan is a fan who was active in the early 1980s. She, along with her sister Nancy, wrote short stories and novels in the Star Wars universe and edited fanzines, some of the earliest in the fandom.

She, and Nancy, were also the authors of the Open Letter to Star Wars Fans by the Duncans.

Tracy wrote The AtS Virtue-Chart of Heroic Characters and Princess Leia: Should She Ever Have Been Liberated?, articles that bashed the character Leia Organa.

Tracy sewed a Princess Leia costume and cosplayed her at a California convention.

Zines

• Against the Sith (edited)
• Falcon's Flight (tribbed)
• Star Journeys (edited)
• Jedi Quarterly (tribbed)
• The Mos Eisley Tribune (tribbed)

A 1980 Interview

[Some excerpts]:

Tracy and Nancy Duncan “… found themselves immersed in the printing, copyrights, postal regulations, and layout…. Neither sister was prepared for the mass of decisions, details, and work. “We didn’t know how much it would cost or how to print it – it was like a shot in the dark,” says Nancy. “But I like to experiment,” adds Tracy, “ and I thought I’d have fun with it.”

The sisters drew $200 from their savings, found a printer, wrote copy, wrestled with reluctant typewriters, and chose a name for their joint effort. In April 1978, “Against the Sith” joined the ranks of existing Star Wars fanzines… One of only three Star Wars fanzines when it was begun, “Against the Sith” is now the longest running of the 10 magazines currently being published. Its 200 subscribers contribute artwork, cartoons, critical commentary, fiction and poetry. Star Wars creator Lucas himself is on the subscription list.

In the past two years, the Duncans have published seven magazines and one special issue –roughly one magazine every three months. “A lot of fanzines are like anthologies,” says Tracy. “I wanted to put out magazines with a variety of material – like a real magazine.” As a consequence, “Against the Sith” contains features carefully selected from the contributions of readers. Although many of their competitors publish everything submitted to them, the Duncans screen material, printing only half the copy sent to them.

Tracy and Nancy believe they have an edge over other fanzine producers because there are two of them working together in the same house. “We work great together, “ says Tracy, “and we depend on each other for help and suggestions. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Nancy.” Production of each issue takes about one month. The sisters share most chores equally, although at first, laughs Tracy, “I made Nancy do most of the typing.” Between issues, they plan, correspond with contributors, keep up with other fanzines, and record subscription requests…

The July issue of “Against the Sith” will deal exclusively with “The Empire Strikes Back.” Since their first elegant viewing, the Duncans have seen Empire seven times, but they don’t like to compare it to its predecessor. “They’re like two parts of a whole,” says Tracy. “Empire is like the second act.”… Like other followers of the Star Wars phenomenon, Nancy and Tracy Duncan are looking forward to further acts in the drama… It’s a saga Tracy and Nancy Duncan have not tired of. As long as others share that interest, they say “Against the Sith” will continue to be an important part of their lives.”

A Jettisoned Zine

Tracy Duncan appeared to have most of a zine written called "A Ray of Hope," and advertised it in a flyer. It was likely abandoned when the Duncans became disillusioned with Star Wars fandom after the release of the third movie.

From a fall 1980 zine flyer printed in Against the Sith #9:

flyer for "A Ray of Hope"

A Complete Sequel Novel to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Innocent victims of a past shrouded in mystery two young lovers struggle to resist each other for the sake of their very souls... LUKE—Now a fully trained Jedi Knight, Luke returns to Tatooine to rendezvous with Lando, who is on the trail of Jabba the Hut. There he meets a strange girl, a Force-sensitive who inexplicably refuses to train. Nevertheless Luke becomes captivated by her, and she with him—but then he learns her secret, and knows their passionate love is forever forbidden .... RAITHEA—A beautiful runaway, stranded on Tatooine, she meets Luke, who stirs in her new feelings of power, of desire, and of love .... HAN—Hurt by a princess he swears off royalty—but fate has a surprise in store for him .... LANDO—Pulled into the war by his desire to make amends and save Han's life, Lando becomes a companion of heroes,and a witness of destiny .... BOBA FETT—Out for money and his own gain, hot on the trail of Luke Skywalker, he desires the beautiful woman named Raithea, and begins to have a conscience .... DARTH VADER—Obsessed with finding and destroying Sky-walker, he hires Boba Fett, and learns of the existence of someone he thought long ago dead . . . PRINCESS LEIA—She has one desire—to dominate .... CAMIE—A girl from Luke's past, now a pirate's woman, she sees Luke as her means of escape from an intolerable life ... . GRAYLIN—Sworn off love, yet full of life, she becomes a rebel and finds what she was trying to avoid .... THE EMPEROR—Knows his fate is unavoidable, his destruction imminent .... Follow Luke and his stalwart companions on adventures from the familiar Mos Eisley cantina to the jungles of a savage world, from a pirate's cruise ship to an Imperial star Destroyer, and finally into the heart of the Empire itself, where an awesome occurrence reveals to a chosen few the secrets of the galaxy .... THIS ZINE CONTAINS MATURE SITUATIONS AND DIALOGUE—Judge for yourself whether or not you're mature. $5.00 to reserve a copy, plus SASE for final price notification. Approx. 200 pages. We are searching for high-quality art to illustrate this immense tome. Approx. 25 illoes required. Contact the ATS eds.

Comments from Tracy Duncan: 2019

Hello, Star Wars fans! This is Tracy Duncan (now married with a different last name).

My niece is a big Star Wars fan, and she found this website and directed me to it.

I would like to provide a little perspective on what apparently is termed the “Duncan Scandal” in some quarters.

I was 17 years old at the time I saw Star Wars for the first time (of 17 times in the theater.) I became an obsessed Star Wars fan — lonely at university, it provided an outlet for me, and I edited the fanzine with my sister Nancy during my years in college. Once I graduated, I started my career, and moved on to other things (marriage, children, life). We didn’t quit publishing the magazine for any other reason that I can remember, but perhaps the negative reaction to our “open letter” had an impact on my enthusiasm. I pulled myself out of my depression, finally got to take the upper-level journalism classes I was at school for, got a job out of town, and moved on as an adult.

It’s true the screening of Empire Strikes Back was technically screwed up for Nancy and me — I’ll never forget how quiet we both were in the limousine on the ride from the theater. A shame — we’d won a radio contest for that ride. The driver must have wondered what was up.

But clearly I was far too hard on the movie. I was heartbroken, and I reacted in anger and frustration that the thing I had pinned my dreams on didn’t live up to my expectations. I consequently lashed out with the open letter. I then calmed down and later saw the movie properly for what it was — a movie. I think the whole incident helped me end my obsession, and grow up. (And no, I wasn’t concerned about getting sued by George Lucas — can you imagine the lawsuits that would be flying if public figures could sue us for our opinions? Nevertheless, some fan who was a lawyer sent us some kind of warning letter. As a journalism student I knew it was a bogus threat, but to this day I think it was a strange reaction.) I did actually see Empire 17 times or so in its first release.

I was a Star Trek fan before Star Wars, and have been and am today a fan of many other science fiction, fantasy and horror properties. I keep up with numerous fandoms and attend cons when I’m in the mood to enjoy my nerdy side. I have never been again as avid or obsessed a fan of a property since Star Wars, but I feel that’s more because of my age and situation I was in then.

It’s amazing to me in this day of social media that a single fan would have created something worthy of being memorialized in this wiki. Today, every property has its fans, many of whom hate the sequel, or the continuation, or the ending (Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones — I’m a fan of all three, and I like only the first two endings.) And fans do now what I did then — vent. I vented on paper and used my fanzine mailing list to be heard.

Now all of us have so many outlets to make our opinions known: Reddit, Facebook, fan websites, blogs, and the many, many Tweets and posts aimed at The Powers That Be. Maybe we have too much power today, but that’s another topic altogether! I know I would have loved to have the internet rather than publishing a paper magazine, but it’s awesome to see our little labor of love, “Against the Sith,” on Amazon for sale for three digits today.

(A completely irrelevant side note: Today’s Star Wars movies use the same font for the titles that we used for “Against the Sith” back in the 1970s!)

Thanks for remembering me and our small contribution to fandom.