Warped Space/Issues 21-30

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Issue 21

front cover of issue #21, James Steele
back cover of issue #21, V.M. Wyman

Warped Space 21 was published in November 1976 and contains 44 pages.

The editor also notes that she has permission to xerox copies of Interphase to sell, has received "a couple hundred" orders so far, and says she will take no other requests after December.

Also from the editorial

I hope you've enjoyed the first 20 issues of Warped Space. I'm very glad to have Warped Space 21 done. Please continue to share with me the joy that goes in to the making of Warped Space, as I thankfully go my separate way from the MSUSTC with the next issue and all future issues henceforth...

Also from the editorial:

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fans hidden in our readership might be interested to know that a group of us fen went to Chicago in late September to see David McCallum in a play, "The Mousetrap." Afterwards, we met him backstage and presented him with a copy of WARPED SPACE 18 (containing, of course, Paula M. Block's U.N.C.L.E. story "The Final Affair.") Would anyone be interested in purchasing color copies of a picture of Pat McCormack, Vivian Sheffield, Paula Block, Paula Smith and me clustered around the exhausted Mr. McCallum? (The photo was taken by G. Carleton ... ) Mr. McCallum revived the rumor about a possible Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie coming up in the future ...

Signe Landon writes an LoC in this issue about what she has heard about another zine, Energize!:

Sure, it's a good zine, but I'd like to put in an anti-plug. The zine has a beautiful Kraith portfolio by Connie Faddis which all by itself make it worth buying. However, contrary to the usual fannish practice of returning the work to the artist (and a highly commendable one it is, too) [name redacted], didn't return Connie's originals. In fact, she even refused to answer letters about it, apparently feeling that they had become her property. Rumor has it (and this is only rumor) that she may have even destroyed the originals. Now, if nothing else, Connie could have sold those for a good deal of money, and she should certainly have the right to reprint the art as she desires. But [name redacted] printed her zine for one reason -- to make money, and having [the art] reprinted might cut down on her profits. . *sigh* I really wish there weren't people like that in fandom. I sent her some work too, for the supposed second issue, and never heard a word on it. I never expect to see it again. Anyway, if Energize! is still available, I would strongly urge anyone who might want to buy a copy to not do so ...

Another fan's LoC, this one by [Joyce Q], is about the K/S Premise:

...Some time ago, and Lord only knows where or when, I read an article on the subject (homosexuality) by a doctor who claimed that it was strictly a physical condition caused by an imbalance of hormones produced by the body. He said he could diagnose the condition with 100% accuracy. At least he did in one experiment with 5 ‘straight’ and 5 ‘gay’ ones. IF he’s correct, then by the time the Enterprise will go on its missions to explore the galaxy, homosexuality will be almost a thing of the past through a medical breakthrough. The few cases based on psychological problems will probably also be diagnosed early and treated, since only a few cases of mental illness will be untreatable in the future. So you see all those Kirk/Spock ‘love’ stories are rather far-fetched, don’t you think?

Another fan's letter expresses her disagreement regarding Paula Block's words:

I was appalled by Paula Block's comment on someone finally fulfilling her dream when they hefted a pie at Shatner at one of the cons. That kind of behavior is not only plebeian of the first order, but shows a dangerous lack of responsibility and a disgraceful disrespect for the man. It's also quite evident from Paula's remark and the stories of hers I've read that she is imminently hostile to the Kirk character and the man who portrayed him, Ghu only knows why. Regardless of her right to like or dislike any character or person, such a comment should never be publicly aired. It could serve to encourage someone with even more deeply ingrained hostilities to launch something more injurious or deadly the next time around. Besides, with the rarity of Shatner's appearances at the cons, it's a wonder after that incident that he even deigns to consider attending. Let's grow up a little and keep our pathological tendencies to ourselves. How would you like to be standing before a crowd of thousands of seemingly adoring fans and be the target of some anonymous practical joker? It could just as easily be a bullet as a pie, and I think this generation's seen enough of this kind of violence, don't you?

... The LP6 concept is pure genius. I adore the characters, especially Girc'N and Fred Shippe (how about a little more character development on the latter, Gordon?) and your serious stories are utterly beautiful. I do ... have a few suggestions ... Since I started in the middle issues of the fanzine, one thing that was glaringly evident was the lack of plot synopses for continuing story series. Just a few sentences would really do wonders for us lost folks who only recently were introduced to Faulwell, LP6, etc. ... Congrats to Paula Block on her Faulwellian epic! One of the masterpieces of modern fiction. Never have I seen a more totally real, believable character in a fanzine. [1]

... I enjoyed the LoC's, of course, and I doubt if I would have minded had there been more. After all, the essence of fandom is communication, and LoC's in a 'zine are one of the most important ways in which fans communicate. So we already have HALKAN COUNCIL; the more communication, the better; the more LoC's, the better. They provoke me to thought. Such as, I agree with Gerry Downes that Kirk takes an awful beating most of the time, and he really doesn't deserve it. His worst fault is merely that he's shallow.

Also I think I'm a bit confused by the way people are defining a get-somebody story. When I think of the term, I find that the infliction of physical pain is a secondary element; far more important is the psychological effect of that pain, especially on a watching other person, preferably a good friend of the sufferer. The aim seems to be to create a set of gut-wrenching emotions in the observer, which in the best of the stories is paralleled in the reader. At least I find these stories more effective than the ones in which there is only one character who is being tortured. In brief, the emotional pain of a get-story is more important than the physical pain. But other people seem to use the term in different ways; the difference in definitions may in fact be behind the disagreement over "For Sale, Must Sacrifice" (in issue #15)

Andrea Wingo addresses some responses in a previous issue regarding some early letters of comment by Paula Smith and Sharon Ferraro:

... I read both Paula's and Sharon's responses to my letter which was printed in part in WARPED SPACE 18 and ... in my own defense, I note that that letter of mine was written back in May, when I was still fairly new among the reading ranks of ST fandom, and even newer to the ranks of "commentators." May I also say here that I had already written very similar things to MENAGERIE, and I had received no comment, personal or printed, from either Paula or Sharon. Also, it must be admitted that I do get rather carried away once I get started, whether writing or talking, a fault which is rather difficult to overcome. And, of course, I must also admit that I had neglected to take into account that their letters had been written to WS two years ago; indeed, several of the MENAGERIES I have read are also reprints of in any case back issues.

I therefore apologize for my vitriolic tone. Nevertheless, I stand by what I said. I had just finished WS 1-5 myself, and I felt then, as now, that some of the criticism was guite unjustified—overzealous might be the term best applied to them (at that time), and, indeed, to myself when I wrote to them and to you. I thank Paula and especially Sharon for their temperate responses, and I acknowledge, with a red face, my own weakness in the very area I criticised them for. They have clearly grown a lot in the last two years. I aspire to the same rate of growth as I pursue my own avocation among ST fen.

... It is a small thing, but PLEASE stop having McCoy "bounce on his heels"—this is physiologically impossible. He bounces on his toes. Try it sometime. That, would you believe, is my very biggest complaint. I know it is a small thing. But it drives me nuts.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 21

[zine]:

I am one of the hundreds of fans who read fanzines but never (rarely) write LoC's. However, in WS 21 I read something in the lettercol which forced me out of the bathtub forty-five minutes early, viz., a letter from [Joyce Q]. Joyce stated that she read an article by a doctor who claimed that homosexuality was a strictly physical condition, and she felt that by STAR TREK's time, homosexuality would be a curable condition. I am a psychology student, and I've read too much to the contrary. Kurt Lewin, the "father" of social psychology formulated an idea, stating that B(behavior) equals f(is a function of) g(genetics) + e(environment) . In this formula, we negate genetics, since all human beings have essentially the same genetic background. Environment then is the major factor in determining all forms of behavior, including sexuality. If this doctor feels that homosexuality can be "cured" he will have to "cure" potential homosexuals' environments first. My second objection is to the idea that homosexuality is an illness. We do not know that it is. Yes, it is an aberrant behavior, but then, so is being an sf fan, and I do not consider myself sick because sf and ST fascinate me. My third objection: why do we assume that heterosexuality is the way of the future? Gays are more accepted now than they ever have been before. More are "coming out" with less fear than five years ago. Who can say that two centur ies from now it won't be encouraged? Given overpopulation on certain planets, it may become necessary. My last point is a personal one. It is not difficult to imagine Kirk and Spock as lovers. The two have a warm respecting relationship, and it seems as though that deep love is the product of continuing sacrifices for one another, shared experiences, and compatible per sonalities. A friendship as thorough as theirs may find expression in sexuality the only way to communicate their mutual love and trust. The first time I ran across this theme, I found it beautiful and believable. I am a little bit uneasy about it, though. Though I am a McCoy fan, and straight myself, I can see how this relatively new angle on Kirk and Spock could jeopardize a lot of fantasies. For all my proselytizing, the thought of Kirk and McCoy in bed would take a lot of getting used to! [2]

[zine]:

Paula B.'s little vignette was, ah, interesting, but Connie Faddis' illo was absolutely marvelous. You guys turned me into a McCoy fan, you know, and you're helping keep me there—you keep printing all these gorgeous illos of McCoy and that beautiful sensual smile of his. No wonder Faulwell was attracted!

I also rather enjoyed "Loyalty," and I liked the little touch about Finnegan. How ever, I think that Nellie Gray's aid in Dorsay's attempted escape was glossed over too lightly, no matter how sympathetic the charac ter might have been, and how good the possibilities in making her Kirk's yeoman. She is still aboard a starship and subject to military discipline, and what she did was still criminal, whatever her motivations may have been. I doubt if Starfleet would have let her off easily and Kirk, while he might be moved by her loyalty to an old friend, would not likely have let her off with no punishment either.

"Day of Darkness" is interesting in that it is the second story I have seen recently ... in which- it is postulated that McCoy is opposed to abortion. Or somewhat opposed. In both cases the child that was aborted was his own, which may make a difference. But I'm curious about whether fans think that McCoy is opposed to abortion in general, in cases where his emotions are not directly involved; perhaps it seems a corollary of his respect for life. [3]

[zine]:

I've laid off Locs (bagels, too) for a couple issues, but I feel compelled to write again. I love Locs. I'm very pleased that WARPED COMMUNICATIONS is becoming a little more like HALKAN COUNCIL and a little less like "Love WARPED SPACE, especially Girc'N's ears ... I agree totally with Beverley Clark's comments in WS21 as to the value of communication. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Locs, that's what I like.

Anyway, what I felt compelled to Loc about was Kathy Penland's letter in 21, in which she stated the offense she felt at my statements about Kirk and Shatner, etc. She brought to mind two things I've been wanting to talk about.

1) For God's sake (please, leave Ghu out of this, ok? Makes me feel like a pagan!), what is wrong with a little good-natured dislike? And voiced dislike, at that? I enjoy mocking Kirk in the Faulwell stories because I want to portray a side of him that wasn't developed on the show. If it's contrary to a reader's personal interpretation of Kirk's character—well, fine—let her write her own story. That's what writing's all about. Doing what you want in prose. And if that prose clicks with a lot of readers and they like your stuff, that's gratifying. It means you're doing some thing right. So, okay—for you, the Faulwell-Kirk is wrong. I lose. But I think you're taking the whole thing a bit seriously. I've given Kirk equal time in my other stories as a likable chap. My first decent in WS (in my own opinion) was "Nicholas," in WS6, a story exclusively about Kirk. I even introduced the story as my personal attempt to promote a good guy image for Kirk (which, at the time, seemed to be sorely lacking in Trek fandom).

As for my "vicious" comment about wanting to hit Shatner with a pie ... I enjoy Shatner's acting talents. I don't want to start another controversy—but as far as acting goes, he is definitely the best dramatic performer in the original cast — including Nimoy. But the man does have a fairly well-founded rep for being on the pompous side in real life (to put it mildly). No, I've never talked to him in person. I've never had the chance. When I worked around him as a gopher in Chicago '75, he was the only one of the stars we were given orders to not speak to. The general underlying message was that the orders were at Shatner's request. So okay, that's not a lot to base an opinion on. But everyone's entitled to one, right or wrong. I do think likening the pie-throwing event to potential assassination is a bit extreme. The type of mind likely to conceive of the act of creaming Shatner with a pie is most probably one with a sense of humor as the act is designed to make Shatner appear ludicrous in front of his fans. Now that's mildly cruel—if it happened to you or I and we happened to have a shaky ego to begin with, it could be devastating. Somehow, I think Shatner can stand it. The mind that conceives of assassination is sick, and sick people aren't known for their senses of humor (for I am not now referring to "sick humor."). Up till recently I did not think that real sickles were a part of the ST movement. But that brings me to my second point.

2) There are some people who are using the ST movement as a vehicle for deeply-ingrained, potentially pathological hostilities. Jim Hoover's treatment of [Ingrid C], for example. Just as ST fandom is giving people the chance to cultivate their underlying good qualities (friendship, creativity, communication), it is also giving them the chance to cultivate the bad shit as well. This is becoming a frequent topic of conversation among fen who've been around for a while. ST fandom is no longer Camelot, folks. This is a condition we all should be aware of—and watchful for. It's just like day-to-day living in the big city. If you live there, you learn how to tell the good from the bad. It's sad to liken that to fendom, but that's unfortunately what we're coming to.

But please, if anybody thinks I'm contributing to this malignancy, I apologize. It was never my intention to promote it. Opinions are a far different thing than slings and arrows ... and bullets.

FIAWOL. [4]

Issue 22

front cover of issue #22 by Phil Foglio
back cover of issue #22, Gordon Carleton seasonal funny

Warped Space 22 was published in December 1976, has 68 pages, a cover by Phil Foglio, and illustrations by Phil Foglio with V.M.Wyman.



Reactions and Reviews: Issue 22

[The Weight]: The dull saga continues. Well, okay, it's not that dull. Still somehow seems plodding to me - maybe because I know Leslie is touting an Anarchist utopia & I'm having trouble buying it. Or maybe because Spock & McCoy are dead. Anyway, in this installment, a bunch of people have gotten killed trying to get the dilithium from the moon; Kirk has lost an eye and suffered brain damage but gotten some dilithium so now they can go, but not fast enough to do the sun thing, so they have to head for the Guardian instead, and Jenneth is plotting to keep the E's crew from grounding Kirk due to the blindness. Oh, and *all* the Anarchists plan to go thru the Guardian to kill the baddie and restore the timeline. And Kirk's Anarchist lover is pregnant. All in all, this should be fun, but somehow just isn't [5]

[The Weight]:

And then there is "The Weight," which seems to get better with every installment ... In the Sun-Hero ceremony in particular there were mythological elements from all over the world, yet they have been combined to make a consistent, unified ritual. And it is very powerfully written, too; up until the end of the scene I really believed that Kirk was going to be a living sacrifice, a literal Year-King. So did he, apparently. And I think that Leslie has hit upon an excellent symbol for the Kirk she is portraying, in two ways. One, his belief in his impending death satisfied his rather Puritanical need to be punished for what he considers his misdeeds, thus returning his universe to its proper form. And second, the death/rebirth symbology is very powerful in itself and if Kirk really felt himself a part of the ritual, and obviously he did, then it could be a personal symbol for him, and allow him a rebirth purged from the

I guilt he still felt, and the feelings of in adequacy. As Year-King, he becomes symbolically a new person, and a symbol of new life and prosperity for the culture, and perhaps literally a new person as well. In fact, he is a stronger character in this section, once the attempt at suicide is past (and I'm not sure that would be characteristic of Kirk even in despair; he's a fighter. Allowing himself to be killed as part of a ritual is something else, especially as it's being done by outside agents)... [6]

[The Weight]: ["The Weight"] is becoming too long and heavy, and taking up too much creative space! [7]

[The Weight]: ... "The Weight" does get better and better. This story is one of the two or three best treatments of Kirk I've ever seen, and the best Trek novel of any kind to date. Leslie handles her characters, her symbols and the English language with rare skill and understanding. Her Kirk— brave, proud, flawed and contradictory—is a wholly believable human being. The same is true of Jenneth Roantree and Quannechota Two-Feathers, who are possibly Trekfic's strongest female characters—strong in their own right ... [8]

[The Lethargical Conclusion]: ... "The Lethargical Conclusion" was just fabulous. I am amazed by the upstart writer Phula Shmit. She can pack more punch into a story in the shortest time than I've ever seen. Reminds me of SILENT MOVIE. Phula certainly has potential. Keep an eye on her. All she needs are a few writing classes and she'll be ok. [9]

[zine]:

... Paula's satire of her satire (the get-Spock to end all get-Spock's, as she later ex plained ad infinitum) is truly a work of art, full of atrocious puns and other sly plays on words. She must have laughed her way through writing it. The referral to the voyeurs in Spock's family's place of trial-and-mating re minds me of a repulsive story in a relatively new 'zine (can't remember which) that has a naked Spock cold-bloodedly screwing four generations (at least) of women in one family, while his father stands by watching and cheering him on. In the sand yet. Yecch. Anybody who has ever had any such intimate dealings with sand knows how much misery it can be for both parties, and Spock et al do not even have an ocean to dip in from time to time. Ah, the expanded minds we readers of ST fanfic get.

Loved "Candle in the Window" by a very talented writer—Kelly Hill—(who s/he? Never remember anything by her before) which started out as a very nice Scotty story (with the fine touch of an illo as he is today, mature and beautiful and serene), and wound with an excel lent interpretation of current Sarek-Spock rela tionships. Good.

22 arrived just a day before xmas, and that made Cheryl Rice's story about Spock and Xmas a nice gift. The Episcopal priest of my church (a ST fan) asked me recently if I knew of any fan-written or other material about ST that studied the presence or effects of religion in the series—sort of like the Gospel According to Peanuts stuff. I don't know of any directly, unless you count that thing about Spock going back in time, but so much of the episodes hinted at or spoke directly to the Christian-Judeo ethic that it seemed more or less religious to me at the time we were first seeing them. (All this analyzing and discussing of the episodes in the years since has made me less sensitive to things like that, as I see them now, I think.) [10]

[zine]:

"The Weight" continues marvelous. How come you surround it with such twitty accompaniment? Po' Block. She's the only one who can handle it.

Roberta Rogow's "Loyalty" would not have been so bad, if only her characters could speak. Instead they "rasp," "grate," "growl," "sniff," "murmur," "prompt," "snarl," and "mourn." It sounds like feeding time at the zoo. However, the plot, while ancient, is well handled. I especially liked Nellie Gray's slang; Rogow not only characterized the girl well this way, but the actual words chosen -- "slosh," "hype, " flash," "Moke" —are not just a permutation on current cant. That shows imagination. The Wagner illos, of course, are nice.

What has the internal story of "Day of Darkness" got to do with the enveloping four paragraphs? Aside from them both having a preggers lady in them somewhere, there is very little connection. And why should this thing read like the Godfather, Part II, where Al Pacino turns out his wife because she aborted their kid? The stroy is not terrible, but is not science fiction, its main conflict is not founded in nor solved by a scientific method. A bit off the mark.

Well, so much for the last of the MSUSTC-run WS's. What new joys do we find with the new improved Carleton-Chapek owner-operated fuel-injected twin jet engined super-whoopee zine?

SOS. Same old shit. Except now, the Staples don't hold. I must say, I found "The Lethargical Conclusion" a disappointment—and I wrote it. The illos were funny, tho. Quite liked the portrait of Fidil.

"Candle In the Window" comes up to the calibre of the Enterprise—what you might call a rather large bore. Honest to Baha'ullah, Scotty gets 2nd to 4 th degree bums on his hands and he expects to hide it from the Captain, the man responsible for the ship? And he doesn't, faint from pure shock after half-searing his hands off? Bin fester burg ist unser Scott. Like Powers' and Alling's "Day of Darkness," Hill's internal on Vulcan hasn't got a heck of a lot to do with its leadin. That is not sub-plotting; that is telling two separate stories at once. It would be better to cut the two loose, but then that would show up the weak plotting in both, nu?

If I come across another Christmas on the Isthmus story, I may emigrate to a Moslem country. Isn't it the slightest bit chauvinistic of us to expect the people of the future to celebrate some ex-Jew's birthday universally, when as it is, 3/5 of the world has never heard of him? There is a place, I suppose, for a winter solstice of some sort, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Saturnalia or New Year, but why not be honest and call it "Yule" or, as America already does, "the Holidays?" At any rate. Rice's story is as pointless as any, but at least she managed to keep her people in character.

Nevertheless, Lori, you have gotten a distinct and pleasant graphics style into the zine. I presume you xeroxed the reindeer border from "The Silent Stars Go By." That much presstype would be expensive. The borders do tend to unify the story, and add a touch of graphics consideration, especially if the illos are sparse.

But even if it is the same old stuff, still, it's generally—usually, often, vaguely—pretty good. High praise indeed, kid. Keep 'em coming. [11]

Issue 23

front cover of issue #23, Gordon Carleton
back cover of issue #23, Anita Nordstrom

Warped Space 23 was published in February 1977, has 48 pages, a front cover by Gordon Carleton, and a back cover by Anita Nordstrom. Art by Gordon Carleton, Joni Wagner, Monica Miller, Connie Faddis, and Gee Moaven.

From the editor:

Enclosed in this issue should be the T'Shirt flyer. Ta-da! Yes, indeed WARPED SPACE and LANDING PARTY 6 T'Shirts can now be ordered. Since this issue is somewhat late, I'm extending the deadline for the first production of the T'Shirts to March 21, 1977....

THE OBSC'ZINE #1 is currently running about a month late, but should be out before too terribly long. Contributions are currently being sought for the OB #2.

As always, comments, criticism and submissions are eagerly solicited. Hmmm, come to think of it, we haven't had a LANDING PARTY 6 story for quite a while. There are a few in the works, but those of you who don't really like the series will be glad to know that the works in progress won't be ready for several issues. On the other hand, those of you who are crazy LP6 devotees will undoubtably be I interested to learn that the next MENAGERIE will carry an LP6 satire involving the marriage of Kimeya Maya and Girc'N. Illustrated by Gordon Carletpa and Phil Foglio. Banzai!

The editor proposes a typewriter fundraising plan:

T'Kuhtian Press currently rents an IBM Selectric typewriter on a monthly basis. I've just found out that for a downpayment and 23 monthly payments (which average out to something less than what I'm paying for renting the damn thing; anyway!), T'Kuhtian Press can buy a typewriter. I'm asking for the assistance of you, the readers' of WARPED SPACE (and THE OBSC'ZINE and THE FAN ZINE REVIEW 'ZINE). If you subscribers donate an average of $4.00 each, the total amount raised just might cover the entire cost of the typewriter! So please, I urge you, if you can spare the bucks and consider the investment in a T'Kuhtian Press typewriter a worthy cause, please send contributions to; T'Kuhtian Press [address redacted] before March 31, 1977. Money received postmarked after March 31, 1977 will be donated to STW (unless the sender requests that the money be returned), as will any excess funds raised. Each donor will receive after March 31, 1977 a complete financial statement on this matter and my deepest thanks. Renting a typewriter really bugs me—it seems like a waste of money, yet the typewriter is essential in the production of the ' zines. ...

There are two LoCs addressing the K/S Premise (one by Leslie Fish and the other by Carol Huntington), each a response to a fan's LoC in #21 which stated that homosexuality was a "condition" that would be cured by the time of Star Trek:

The first was by Leslie Fish:

.... I don't know where [Joyce Q] saw that article, saying that homosexuality was purely a glandular disease, but some one ought to tell her that it was 70 years out of date. The idea that homosexuality is caused by gland problems went out the window when Freud came in. Freud believed—and had some evidence for it—that homosexuality was caused by a poor resolution of the Oedipus complex, which at least had some evidence to back it up. If this doctor, whom Joyce quotes, claims he can identify a homosexual with 100% accuracy (a rather presumptuous claim, based on a sample of only 10 people), then why hasn't he relayed his method to the Vice Squads of various big cities, where it's needed? Vice Squad cops of up to 30 years' experience still can't identify a homosexual on sight, and are obliged to use enticement and entrapment to fill their arrest quotas. In point of fact, the AMA publicly admitted, two years ago, what Gay Liberation has been insisting for years—namely, that homosexuality is not a mental (or physical) disease at all but only a personal choice. We're all naturally bisexual—as a quick look at the behavior of wild animals will show you—and the only "neurosis" even marginally involved is that of being fixated ("stuck", if you will) on a particular sexual role and unable to try others. In short, the posturing Macho and the prancing fairy are equally neurotic, and all the rest of us happy bisexuals are normal. So, by the time STAR TREK takes place, homosexuality will not be "cured", because you can't sure a "disease" that doesn't exist. Most people will be, openly, what they are naturally— healthy bisexuals—and all those Kirk/Spock love stories aren't far-fetched at all.

The second letter was by Carol Huntington:

According to ((Joyce's letter)) there are only two possible reasons for two men (or two women) to love each other: either physical illness or mental illness. Yet if one of these conditions is present, it would invalidate the love the participants feel for each other. I cannot believe that homosexuals do not feel ‘real’ love for each other just as any heterosexual couple would. Many times these couples live out their lives together in a peace and fidelity that some heterosexuals could not possibly emulate.... I assume that Joyce is saying that neither Spock nor Kirk could enter such a relationship, for by this time in their lives such a flaw would have been uncovered long ago due to the batteries of physical and psychological tests they undergo periodically.

Her conclusion is valid as long as her original premise is true: that homosexual love is based on a physical or mental illness. But we see something entirely different with these two men. We see love growing between them as it would between any two persons of the opposite sex. Just watch the series and see how their feelings for each other are expressed. That’s LOVE, not necessarily sex; no definitely not sex, but love. And if that love expresses itself sexually, it should not be dismissed as an illness but should be regarded as the logical culmination of an ever-growing, healthy relationship....

hy I don't like the "Diamonds and Rust'" series, but basically because it completely destroys the Kirk/Spo k relationship, which I don't think is necessary even for a love story. It would be out of character for Jim to give Cbantal pri

  • Murphy's Fundamental Laws (40)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 23

See reactions and reviews for Treasure.

[Diamonds and Rust: Treasure]:

... There are a number of reasons why I don't like the "Diamonds and Rust'" series, but basically because it completely destroys the Kirk/Spock relationship, which I don't think is necessary even for a love story. It would be out of character for Jim to give Cbantal prior ity over Spock as far as decisions go, but most of all (and this is the worst offense) it would be out of character for Spock to show ... of all things ... jealousy! Spock (at least the Spock I know) would always have Kirk's best interests at heart, and if he disagreed with Chantal, it would be for a darn good reason (and Jim had better listen), not for something as petty as jealousy. In City On The Edge Of Forever," Spock stepped aside when it was time to do so, and yet he showed compassion for Jim's love. For the D & R Spock to be 'competing' against Chantal strikes me as ludicrous. Secondly, I don't really think Chantal is the type of woman Kirk would fall 'head over heels' for. There's no way you can compare her to Edith Keeler (and I don't know why the author tried to do this). In fact, if you take a close look at the few women Kirk really loved, they all had the same basic qualities ... warmth, compassion, humanity and (Chantal strikes out here) sincerity. And aside from Edith, innocence (Reena). True, Chantal is very beautiful ... but Jim is not the type to be swayed by beauty and a great body alone. Chantal to me seems the type that Kirk would love to 'make love to" (like Deela, etc.), but not 'fall in love' with. Quite frankly, I would think that Chantal, with her rather cool logical personality, would be more attracted to Spock. Not that I want her to be, but he would seem the more 'logical' choice. The D & R authors obviously aren't Spock fans, but then Kirk doesn't fare much better in the series either. The D &R Kirk is too weak, unstable, and unsure of himself (not the Kirk I know, that lovable little MCP). [12]

[Song Of Laughter, Song of Tears]:

Kelly Hill has a wonderful way of weaving a story. After The Lights of Zetar fiasco, I thought I'd never want to see another love story for Scotty. Must admit, I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the idea; I still see Scotty married to his engines. But "Song Of Laughter, Song of Tears" was lovely and gentle, and Ferelith could very well be right out of Scotty's dreams. Some of Kelly's imagery was especially nice, but my favorite line was something about Scotty being 'out of kilter.' Wonder if that was intentional? Perhaps puzzling over the origin of that line is skirting the real issues of the story, but I've love to know what's underneath it! [13]

[zine]:

In case any readers care to follow the matter up, the story Dixie G. Owen describes in WS 23 sounds like my story, "Home Leave," in that 'relatively new zine', GRUP, Issue 5. I must say, she makes it sound exciting. However, I would like to point out that Spock does not screw 'cold bloodedly'. Not in my stories, he doesn't (au contraire). I made Spock naked because in my experience, clothes are hampering under such circumstances. If Ms. Owen writes a pon farr story, she can clothe her protagonists. Each his own. [14]

[zine]: ... I liked the beginning of Doris Beetem's story "Of Which Reason Knows Nothing" and the idea of a murder mystery. However, her characterization of Amanda doesn't quite hold together. There are several examples, but one that really stands out is her open defiance of Sarek's wishes that she remain on embassy grounds. She may personally disagree with Sarek at times, but I doubt very much that she would publicly confide that to anyone (as in her talk to the Denebian ambassadress, "I'm very angry with his attitude ... " or in her talks to his aide ...

... "Treasure" ((is)) a long, drawn-out vignette. It's not the writing style that merits this disapproval. Rather it's the story, or lack of one, and the characterizations of Kirk and Chantal. Kirk comes off looking like a love-sick adolescent with a huge inferiority complex. And Chantal — well, I never thought I'd say it, but flakey or not, Faulwell has more personality and style. We're sup posed to see Chantal as the most gorgeous, irresistable wonder-woman ever to board the Enterprise. Oh yes, and Spock is jealous of her. Wouldn't you be? After all, it's only logical. The last three pages read as follows: KIRK: She loves me, she loves me not; I love her, I love her not; I'll tell her, I'll tell her not. CHANTAL: He loves me, he loves me not; I love him, I love him not; I'll tell him, I'll tell him not ... [15]

[zine]:

... I'm pleased ... to see Treklit developing a kind of hybrid vigor as the NTM-Amanda turns up in "Star Chaparral," while Leslie Fish's filksongs are inter woven into "Treasure." ... Then there is the other kind of inspiration, as exemplified by Doris Beetem's chilling "Of Which Reason Knows Nothing." Doris, of course, is famous for the anti-Kraith story that has been accepted as part of the canon. This time she has effectively knocked the wind out of the current Sarek-and-Amanda cult (Lorrah, Roy, Lilker, etc., and their followers). But it's only one blow, Doris — lots of Vulcans in my universe would agree that Sarek must have been crazy to marry Amanda, but I know better! Effective story, nonetheless, especially as it seems a comic tale on first reading, one is shocked at the ending — feeling tricked — and then a second reading shows the correct way to read those comic touches. Ouch! [16]

[zine]: ... "Song Of Laughter, Song Of Tears" is a beautiful portrait of a part of Scotty's character usually hidden deep under the stereotype tinkerer-engineer. I just wish the shoreleave planet weren't the setting — makes me wonder if the faerie weren't just an android creation of the amusement park (although that would suggest that the computer could read wishes in the subconscious, and also credit it with more sensitivity than I think it could be blessed with — so I believe she" really was a faerie). Ferelith is totally believable as Scotty's 'ideal' woman, his private fantasy, by being based on his Gaelic mythological background.

"Of Which Reason Knows Nothing" was well-written, but bothers me -- and I've figured out why. It's more like a piece of a story, than complete one. It doesn't end, in the usual sense of a conflict resolved, or a problem solved -- in fact, it doesn't even clearly state the problem and it's causes, much less its answer. The characters also do not quite ring true — would Amanda go behind Sarek's back as she seems to do in the scene with Nina Tannenbaum? Could such behavior on Amanda's part not undermine Sarek's position (or at least his fellow ambassadors' opinions of him)? I could possibly accept Sarek's (insane) jealousy of Karl and Spaedu, since their relations with Amanda could be misinterpreted and twisted to support his delusion, but the credibility is destroyed by bringing in Gav. There was nothing at all in the Babel episode to support this thesis, unless one assumes Amanda/Gav scenes not seen in the episode — if so, such scenes should be flashbacked to, lending some verisimilitude to the mention of Gav. The story needed more length, more development. "Star Chaparral" was fun — especially the first paragraph. I think "Two Tickets, Please" was a pure get-em story, and (much as I love Gerry and her stories) I didn't feel that it added anything to my under standing of the characters or any such usual excuse for such stories ... One thing it did succeed in doing, though, is presenting me with some incomprehensible alien attitudes and mores to ponder. I hope you continue presenting introductions when presenting stories from a series like "Diamonds and Rust" (and a list of where the other stories in the series appear — very necessary!). ... Chantal is a marvelous piece of characterization, a woman avoiding stereotyping (still prevalent in STrek fiction — how many strong lead women characters can you think of offhand?) — I both like and dislike her as a person, a marvel of believability since she doesn't feel like a fictional character ... But the Kirk in "Treasure" had me grinding my teeth — he can't be that weak a personality ... ...

My major love is "The Weight." Not only is this the best Kirk story I've ever read (what ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 4 could have been), but it's an excellent science fiction story of an alien society/ universe. So many ST stories concentrate on the psychological interactions between the main characters that very few create a new society in depth. The story bene fits greatly from the author's obviously well-thought out and researched ideas on the structure of anarchistic society (as evinced by the articles in WS 23 — more, please!), and the Sun Hero sequence had me crawling through not only Graves' White Goddess, but also Eraser's Golden Bough and Campbell's The Mask of God and The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Such scholarship can only improve a story. I could go on and on, but don't want to bore you. Let me simply say that until "The Weight" I thought there were two kinds of good ST stories — the ones I nodded at complacently saying "yes, that's the way it would be" and the ones I tore my hair out disagreeing with (like "The Logical Conclusion" or "The Mirage" — something like NTM would be in the first category). Now I have a third category — stories that get me deep in the gut because they're so right, with a depth of insight I can appreciate even if I can't create it myself. Kenneth and Quanna are marvelous female characters and the Kirk/Jenneth/Quanna relationship is a psychological masterpiece. you know, it's such a powerful story I could read any of the installers all at once, but had to pick at them slowly, reading a passage here and there for a few days, before I could absorb the whole thing. In brief, a masterpiece. [17]

[zine]:

... The "Diamonds and Rust" series is truly a "Treasure." ... My favorite this time, however, was "Of Which Reason Knows Nothing". So much detail packed into so few pages — and the punch at the end left me gasping, gasping in horror at Amanda's plight and delight that the story ended other than 'happily ever after.' [18]

[zine]: ... I thought your issue 23 looked better than our issue 11 ... Your graphic command cannot be faulted. The use of borders to visually unify a story, along with the illos, is of course .ingenious. And where the hell are you getting all that neatsy-keeno paratype (or rather, how do you afford it all?)? You've a nice touch for typefaces appropriate to the piece. Liked all the art, especially Vicki '(Vyman's. Her generally faery style suited Hill's story. Monica M's Amanda was fine, though looking up Sarek's nose wasn't too great. At last, Doris Beetem. (This is Dee, isn't it?) Too long has fandom lacked thy golden voice. Too long. Lord, have we tarried in the wilderness. Bring, Ah say, bring us back to the promised land, the promised land of long ago I Brotherz 'n Sisterz — (kin Ah get a 'ay-men' on 'at?) — hal-leloo — well, anyway, nize story. This puts me in mind of another of Beetem's stories, "Death Of A Flame," in that both (short-shorts) present the Sarek-and-Amanda relation in a terribly realistic and terribly grim way. 'Sgood, but shivers-making. I am not Pluckers McGee.

Of all the Rational Anarchists to come down the pike in the past decade, none could be a finer successor (predecessor?) to Bernardo de la Paz than Leslie Fish. "The Weight" is the epic it is because Fish not only writes about real people, but real ideas, knowing the limits of a philosophy, but making it work, and show- . ing it working over a wide (i million miles!) range of humanity. "On Anarchists" is the sort of thing that would be deadly at twenty paces in any other hands: an explanation of "why I wrote what I wrote." But again, the real ideas bring it off. It also helps that Fish is a fantastic writer.

And thou a fantastic ed. Preserved plums, right? Sayonara. [19]

[zine]: It's nice to see that the WS crew has finally gotten better at layout, typography and graphics all around, as this issue proves. In many instances this makes all the difference between making a mediocre story either lousy or exquisite. Such is the case of the first story within this issue, 'Song of Laughter, Song of Tears.' In this toned-down soap opera, Lt. Cmdr. Scott gets a 'Dear Scotty' letter from Mira Romain, which sends him into an emotional slump. He takes solace on the 'Shore Leave' planet, and meets a fairie. They have a brief fling and she vanishes. A neat little twist to the story is that you never know how real she ever was to begin with. The story would not be so nearly as captivating if it not for the superb illos accompanying it done by Wyman. Immediately following is a delightful filk song lyric to the tune of 'Beep! Beep!' by Bev Clark. A more bewildering piece that follows is called 'Of Which Reason Knows Nothing.' In this screwball romp, Amanda and Sarek are on Deneb V for diplomatic purposes. An acquaintance of Amanda's winds up murdered with a broken neck... and guess who suspect number #1 is? Right. As it turns out, one of the other Vulcans at hand clobbers Sarek and declares that he's been looney for years, and probably did Gav on the Enterprise. Throughout the whole story events, people, and shifts in time and place occur rapidly and without any subtle transition. Ms. Beetem does not give her audience any descriptive background to work with, but merely thrusts people, places, and events at us too quickly to consume and digest mentally. Either that, or a power-mad proofreader axed the living hell out of the original version for sheer sadistic joy. In any event, it turns out almost indecipherable...

'Star Chaparral' has got to be one of the most galling satires ever done of the show. It has elements of half of the two-bit westerns ever produced... but worse yet, this may turn out to be a continuing series. Ug. And I thought LP6 was bad. 'Two Tickets Please' by Gerry Downes is a short but startlingly surreal tale of Kirk trapped in a maze. Her style reminds me of Thomas Disch or Harlan Ellison, and Ms Downes has created a superbly chilling tale eerily removed from reality.

Leslie Fish has a two-page section about her anarchist society in The Weight, and the background of the story. For followers of the story, this is an enjoyable and entertaining insight into the framework upon which the story was laid. Finally, the major piece finishing up thish is from the Diamonds and Rust series... a chapter called 'Treasure.' I will heartily congratulate anyone who can read this without being at least a little confused. Yes, I know, I'm going to publish the collected edition, but many of them do now work out well in print separately and this is one of them. Even with the introduction preceding this story, this chapter's main action involves a birthday party for Christine. It's just too disjointed reading this chapter out of context. Sorry Mandi, sorry Cheryl, but as it's printed here, it's a washout. Elsewhere in this ish are letters, a poem or two and a copy of Murphy's laws. Nothing spectacular. If you have nothing better to blow $2.50 on, then it'll do, but dinner at McDonald's for the same price is more filling. [20]

Issue 24

front cover of issue #24, Gordon Carleton
back cover of issue #24

Warped Space 24 was published in April 1977 and contains 64 pages.

From the editor:

You may remember that I sent out a plea for donations to help pay for T'Kuhtian Press's IBM Selectric Typewriter. Well, the typewriter has arrived, an so have donations, and I am deeply touched. As as I promised, this is the the financial report such far: total cost (of the typewriter), $928.25. Total donations (thus far): $157.86. On April 5th, I sent in payments totaling $155.75 (and had previously made a down payment of $202.50).

Fifteen letters of comment were printed, and there was a list of thirty WAHF. One of those letters was from Paula Block, see So what do you want, good material or good friends?? which focused on fanzine quality, critique, the zines "Warped Space" and Menagerie, and recent comments in Paula Smith's essay I (and Sharon) have been backed into a corner defending a single position over quality controls. Frankly, I rather resent this..

Some of the letters of comment in this issue addressed not fiction, art, or poetry in issue #23, but instead letters by other fans. One fan, Kathy Penland, commented up on Paula Block's letter regarding manners, pie, cons, and William Shatner:

... In response to Poblocki's LoC in ((WS)) 23 ... So you gofers were told not to talk to Shatner at the Chicago Con in 1975, huh? Assuming that he made the request, is it any wonder after —

— no one was at the airport to pick him up on arrival in the city;
— upon registering in the hotel, the room to which he was assigned was occupied;
— he was kept waiting in the wings, without consideration for his not-quite- mended broken ankle, and wasn't offered a chair or anything else that is usually extended out of common courtesy; and — that the entire con committee, particularly the upper echelon, was rude and discourteous throughout the duration of the con, especially to Shatner ...

I could go on and on, but I think you can get the idea. What a wonder is that he didn't tell the committee to fuck off, then leave.

RE: the pie-throwing incident. I never used the word 'vicious' in any part of my letter. I said that such behavior was plebian, irresponsible and disrespectful. Concerning the ethics of pie-throwing, there is evidently a vast ocean of difference in our basic philosophies regarding rights of others, personal integrity and common dignity. Voiced dislike is OK — if it remains just that. And we express ourselves through the vehicle of fiction. But when living out your fantasies negatively crosses the boundaries of another's territorial space, you have assumed a deified station that isn't yours to assume. Who's to decide who's 'pompous' or 'egotistical', and who has the right to decide that something should be done about it? And what? Whether you had a 'shaky ego', or were the world's most serene entertainer and could handle such treatment, is beside the point. Any way, if you aren't as enamored of William Shatner as are a lot of others, why should you care one way or the other how he appears in front of his fans?

As far as the connection between pie-throwing and potential assassination is concerned, of course I'm not maintaining that the physical acts are comparable in degree — I'm saying that the intent and motivations behind both are dangerously similar. People kill for the most trivial of reasons — whether from frustration, inability to cope, desperation, revenge, to set an example, etc., etc., for as many reasons as there are people. My point is that there is a deficiency in a person's make-up that will allow him to assume that he has the right to take matters into his own hands, trespass into another's territory and subject the other person to whatever whim crosses his mind, without regard for the other's right to position or life. I'm not saying that whoever instigated the pie-toss should be watched for possible criminal tendencies. But that person, and any who con done such tasteless behavior, could certainly benefit from a few lessons concern ing the value of human dignity and respect, and the space we all hold Inviolate. I agree that only a sick mind can conceive of assassination — or any other deprivation of human rights. If there Is one thing as sacred as life Itself, It's how we live It.

I'll choose to Ignore the oblique subtlety of your second point and I'm at a loss as to how that pertains to my previous letter. However, Paula, I neither stated nor alluded to any contribution on your part to what you call a 'growing malignancy' that 'fen who've been around for a while' have noticed. Care to be more specific? Aside from people like Jim Hoover (whose 'fraudlan' machinations also had nothing to do with the subject of my letter), what else Is seeping through the once-invincible mortar of Trek fandom? And, of course ST is no "longer Camelot". It never, was, STL! not withstanding. Where there are people and ideas and growth, there Is change. Even the "Spock" of Camelot rode off with his "Captain's" wife!

Your closing statement Is a master piece of irony. 'Opinions are a far different thing than slings and arrows ... and bullets.' Couldn't've said It better myself. Confined to paper and verbal discussions, opinions are in the public domain. To each his own. But once action Is taken, you've not only crossed a moral and ethical boundary, but a legal one as well. If you have an opinion concerning any person or Issue, write It or talk it out — don't throw it!

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 24

[zine]:

"Miscellanea" is really expanding into a great news forum. It is encouraging to know that so many worthwhile projects are going on in fandom, especially when our own mundane lives seem so ... mundane.

In general, the stories were delightful. Very enjoyable reading. I'm looking forward to more Dirty Nellie stories in the future. I especially like the way Kirk reacts to her — very defensively. He can't seem to understand her, much less control her, and that irks him to no end. She's a bright, colorful character and very unpredictable. In all, a very exciting addition to the Enterprise family.

Ruta Janson's "Star Child Lullabye" was beautiful, just beautiful! So rich in imagery. I could read it over and over and never tire of it. And whatever you do, don't let Nan Lewis get away! Her illo of Yeoman Rand was superb. Likewise those of Nellie on pp. 11 and 15.

I really enjoyed "Trek Over The Black Ridge." There's something inviting in a tale of a Vulcan boy and an adorable child like Holly. I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps it is just the range of possibilities in a story such as this. I found myself rewriting the dialogue as I went along, taking an active part in the story rather than just sitting back as an observer or critic. Maybe that's the writer or teacher in me. I hope the readers don't go overboard in finding fault with Nancy's work. She should be encouraged for her creative ideas and choice of characters.

No matter how nicely Paula Block puts it, I can't help feeling that she is putting WARPED SPACE down as a second-rate zine. Sure, WARPED SPACE is a good-time zine. When I read any zine I expect to have a good time, a few hours in the imaginative wanderings of the STAR TREK universe. What WARPED SPACE offers, and uniquely, I might add, is a delightful blend of FIAWOL and IDIC. We WARPED SPACErs delight in the diversity of our contributors. A simple story written from the heart, springing from the desire to share one's dreams, may fall short of certain literary standards yet be more enjoyable than any philosophical dissertation on the same subject. IDIC, which to my mind is the basis of STAR TREK, means accepting a person as he is, trusting him to be the best he can be. [21]

[zine]:

"The Barrier" — I am slightly amused by the relationship (?) between Kirk and his new yeoperson. Dirty Nellie. One problem, though: could somebody please give me a 'Dirty Nellie' vocabulary list? I couldn't understand half of what she said!

"Kraithies" — even though I am a KRAITH fan, I thought the poem and the illo were hilarious! Especially, the illo! I wouldn't be surprised to see it appear in a future ish of KRAITH Collected,

My favorite poem and illo though, was "Time" and Joni's picture of Kirk. Somehow, it seemed to capture the plight of Kirk, yet the appeal of his dedication to this kind of life. Very admirable.

Now — "The Weight" — The plot gets thicker and thicker. Here I thought Kirk was developing into an anarchist; now, suddenly, he wants to turn Quanna into a monogamist? I really wonder if she'll adapt — or if she'll get the chance to adapt? I don't need a choked ritual fire to predict disaster for a wife of Kirk's. The interplay of Federation-Anarchist ideas among the other crewmembers is intriguing, too. Especially the disturbing premise Scott raised at the end: that Spock appears to be irreplacable ...[22]

[zine]:

I received WS 24 yesterday, and I must congratulate you on another job well done. It is just beautifully laid out — the art in particular must come in for praise.

On the demerit 'side, "Trek Over The Black Ridge" could have been a good story. The plot was interesting — but the execution — ugh. It was more of a synopsis, than a tale-well-told.

As for "The Barrier," I don't really know what business Nellie Gray has on a starship. There's no way the Enterprise can be a substitute for a reform school. Ah well!

Leslie Fish was magnificent once again. I'm looking forward to more.

Let me put a plug in for WARPED SPACE as being the best zine in fandom. Certainly all the stories in every issue are not masterpieces, but neither are they all in INTERPHASE or MENAGERIE or whatever zine you care to mention — and they all come out much less frequently than WS. To get the consistent good quality of WS and so often, is something that all fans must appreciate and recognize with gratitude. And I am — thanks.

Also, keep up the "Miscellanea" section. Ever since the HALKAN COUNCIL has gone into hiding, it really provides a service to all us fans out here scattered around the country, who would otherwise have a hard time keeping up with what's happening in fandom. [23]

[zine]:

The only thing I can say about "Star Chaparral, Part II," is "Tonkatoi"?!? "Kraithies" would have been great (especially the illo) if the meter in the second stanza didn't seem a bit strange. (It reminded me of "Uffizimeger" in WS 12.)

I enjoyed "The Barrier" — first, because I've gotten so disgusted with stereotyped females in ST (as I have said before) that I am willing to cheer on any woman charac ter displaying some originality and second, because only a delicious sense of humor could come up with space-age gypsies aboard the Enterprise. Scotty's reaction to the "tinkers" and Kirk's reaction to Dirty Nellie's magnetic key were my favor ites — maybe Kirk is finally ready and willing to take advantage of Nellie's pe culiar talents. Minor criticisms — I enjoy the unique slang but sometimes it gets almost incomprehensible. How about a better balance, with some of the crew picking up a few of Nellie's phrases and in return Nellie occasionally using a normal word? At the moment, the contrast in speech patterns is almost overwhelming. Also, are we really expected to buy the coincidence that Nellie "just happens" to be a gypsy on her mother's side and "just happens" to have been on the Til-Droven during her long and misspent youth just as in "Loyalty" the prisoner the Big E is transporting "just happens" to be an old friend of Nellie's from her under world days and Finnegan "just happens" to be her father? I shudder to think about what may "just happen" in the next story. Please — Nellie already has enough weird background for several ordinary characters — don't add any more improbabilities to what you've already got, but just concentrate on exploring what's already established. Do you realize that between Dirty Nellie and Faulwell WS has the monopoly on flaky crewwomen? (Great illos, incidentally, but do I even detect a slight physical resemblance between Nellie and Sadie — curly hair, snub nose, etc.?)

"Trek Over The Black Ridge" I have one major complaint about — McCoy's almost miraculous "cure" of Holly's dwarfism at the end. If the technology exists to help Holly, then why hasn't it been used before now? With her parents living and working in a research colony, they're not exactly illiterates unaware of Holly's problems. There are lots of possibilities — the colony could have been established before Holly's birth (if it were established after Holly's birth then normal medical exams of prospective colonists would have caught her problem) and the equipment necessary for proper treatment could be unavailable except at a major facility, but it's still unsatisfactory. And why is Holly, a human telepath, not on Vulcan where her problems are understood (remember Miranda Jones from "Is There In Truth No Beauty?", a human telepath who had to study on Vulcan?) but casually mindlinking with Seth, who certainly seems to exhibit none of the famed Vulcan respect for telepathic privacy when involved with Holly? I get the feeling that Holly's silence and withdrawal and passivity are tied in with both her physical (dwarfism) and mental (telepathy) deformities. What the hell kind of responsible adults would let such a situation exist if a solution is avail able (as McCoy certainly claims)? This is a giant hole in the plot that desperately needs to be plugged. Minor criticism would include that, if I hadn't been told that Shrill was an Andorian but relied solely on behavior, i would have assumed him to be Vulcan, and Kim doesn't seem to do anything in the story. On the other hand, the fight with the Klingons was very well done and I loved McCoy's plan for the captured prisoners.

I was a bit disappointed in Part III, Section One of "The Weight," and have succeeded in figuring out why. The Kirk/ Quanna marriage occurs a little too easily, too smoothly — the reasons Kirk wants the marriage are clear and well done, but the Anarchists' (Jen, Quanna and Sparks) mo tives are complete unknowns. I was origin ally thrilled with the idea of the triple marriage of Jenneth, Quanna and Sparks, foreseeing a whole new set of possible twists in our old friend the Kirk/Spock relationship. So far we've had a lot of Jenneth/Quanna and Kirk/Quanna, moderate Jenneth/Sparks, miniscule Kirk/Sparks (look, if Sparks loves Jen enough to marry her, he's got to feel something for Jim), but no Sparks/Quanna visible yet. I really felt the need of a scene in which Jen, Quanna and Sparks discuss the possi bilities of the marriage. Do you realize that at the end I wasn't even sure whether or not Quanna divorced Jen and Sparks, before marrying Jim?! On the other hand, the scene on the bridge when the space amoeba is encountered, with Kirk and the Anarchists functioning so smoothly toget her, command bouncing back and forth while DeSalle twiddles his thumbs, and the later scenes with DeSalle admitting to his "subversive" thoughts and Kirk's handling of that are superb! Although it did occur to me that part of the reason that Kirk would have sent DeSalle to Sickbay eight months ago but did not do so now, might simply be that eight months ago McCoy would have been there while at this moment M'Benga would have been handling DeSalle's problem and subconsciously at least Kirk certainly doesn't trust him the way he would trust Bones. But the scene is an 'excellent illustration of certain basic attitude changes in Kirk (hell, the whole series is an excellent illustration of such changes!). Part III promises to be very interesting — I can't wait to see the Kirk/Scott interview coming up, and in general I can't wait to see the further exploration of Scotty's current dilemma, not to mention Jean's forked tongue ...[24]

[zine]:

I don't believe that I have ever in my life seen the TV show "High Chaparral," so I am undoubtably missing a lot in "Star Chaparral." At the current rate of plot exposition it seems likely to continue indefinitely without reaching a conclusion (WS 50 ... golden anniversary issue featuring the conclusion of "Star Chaparral."). Being the kind of person who reads each chapter of a series as it is issued, then goes back and reads the whole sequence through to the end of the current chapter, I'll probably be mutter ing part 1 in my sleep by the time the last part is published.

I loved "Kraithies" since K-Coll was the first fanzine I ever acquired (were the first, I should say — I received K-C 1, 2, and 3 in one shipment and O.D.'d on KRAITH for the next 24 hours — couldn't even eat dinner — the excitement triggered enough adrenalin to turn off my digestive system). I also loved the illo: the flame-sphere cigarette lighter is an especially good idea.

"The Barrier", um. I liked the space gypsies and I like Dirty Nellie, but I think the characterization of Kirk may be a bit off. Also, Roberta Rogow should be careful not to get into a rut plotwise: Big E encounters Fed lowlife, Nellie gives advice. Kirk ignores her, she turns out to be right and saves the day. I mean, "Barrier" is a nice story but it isn't exactly suspenseful — by the end of the Kirk-Spock conversation on p. 11 the story's denouement has become perfectly obvious. Now a really gripping Dirty Nellie story would be one where she had to function in ultra-high formal society, diplomatic circles or something, and still managed to pull it off ... or did in some ways and didn't in others if you see what I mean.

"Trek Over The Black Ridge" is unsatisfactory somehow. If it's meant to be a single story there isn't enough thrust to the plot, and if it's meant to be the introduction to a series about Seth and Holly there isn't enough character development or background, or something.

"The Weight, 3:1" is as fantastic as usual (Background music; Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah). Having previously enthused over punch lines, sociology and characterization, I would now like to say a few words about titles and plot development, not necessarily in that order. First, of all the serialized stories I have ever read, this one is most superbly adapted to that mode of publication — people who are waiting until the whole thing is published to read it are really missing something (shift to Beethoven's 9th). This may have escaped the notice of some people, but problems in the real world take longer to deal with than the hour of a TV show or the evening it takes to read a novel, and dealing with them is not a smooth process; especially in the case of deteriorating systems. [personal information snipped] The serial publication of "The Weight" adds to the suspense and tension and realism of what is already a very suspenseful and tense and realistic story — and there are very few stories written in any genre, pro or otherwise, which sustain a deteriorating situation well enough to tolerate serialization much less be embellished by it in this way. On the choice of titles: as one who finds it easier to write a 30 page story or invent a whole planet complete with astrophysical data, languages, religions, cultures and ecosystems than to come up with a decent title for a story once writ ten, I am awed by the apt and imaginative titles (or subtitles, rather) applied to the various sections of Leslie Fish's magnum opus. "Tiptoe Through The Tulips; They Might Take A Hunk Out Of Your Leg" is as arresting as "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream." Eondhidsedho! How I envy that woman's ability as a writer. I'm really looking forward to the next installment of "The Weight" ... [25]

[zine]: To all my critics; thank you very much. "The Weight" is something of an experiment for me, and I never know how fandom is going to react to some of the weird places I'm going with it, so it's very gratifying to get so much favorable commentary.

To Dixie Owen: there's quite a bit of ST fanfic that deals, directly or indirectly, with religious ideas. Perhaps much of it is difficult to recognize, without a crash-course in Comparative Theology, because much of the philosophy In ST fiction is not particularly Christian, but includes large elements of Buddism. Pantheism, Deism, Existentialism, and even — in "The Weight", anyway — some functional Paganism. A lot of this originates with the Great Bird himself, whose ideas on religion are quite complex and interesting. I can't wait to see his book, based on his rejected movie-script.

To Penny Warren: Thanks tremendously for the ego-boo (though I don't know if I merit the rank of having "the best ST novel" — I've seen some really good contenders ... ). I hope my characterization of Kirk can remain up to your enthusiastic evaluation; he's got some heavy changes to go through yet. Admittedly, I designed Jenneth and Quanna to be strong female characters because I was a trifle annoyed at some of the mental and emotional light weights that often show up as heroines in Trek literature (including the aired episodes!), and wanted to show what a strong and mature female character could do in the ST universe. Making Jenneth Kirk's alter-ego is a way of making her unexpectedted character strength more readily (and quickly!) understandable in the genre.

To Amy Harlib: I'm glad you liked the Solstice Rite — and yes, I did do a lot of research on it, primarily the GOLDEN BOUGH by Frazer and THE WHITE GODDESS by Graves. As for the hallucinogenic sequence, well, no, I'm not into Furst and Hamer that much, I'm afraid; I've just done a lot of dope. Heh! Yes, it really is like that!

To Bev Clark: Thanks tremendously for that bit of insight that I might have otherwise understressed — i.e., that the Solstice Rite did more than simply neutralize Kirk's death-wish; it gave him, literally, a new life, free of old guilts. Of course, this new life has its share of problems — and guilts — which add significantly to the future plot, but the "rebirth" angle can add some important details. Thanks again, Bev; this is a fine example of how good criticism can improve a story.

To Po'Blocki: "... Anarchistic soap opera"? Whee, that's one I hadn't thought of! Should I be insulted, or should I continue to laugh my head off? Ah well, something for everybody. You oughtta enjoy the next couple chapters, then; "Mary Hartman" it ain't, but there's plenty of emotional Sturm und Drang.

To Jean Lorrah: yep, that's my song (in "Treasure") all right. Mandi wrote to ask me if she could use it, and I was happy to agree. Quite flattered, in fact. Hey, if anybody else out there wants to quote any of my songs/poems/whatever, just write and ask. I'm exceedingly likely to say yes.

To Luba Kmetyk: right you are — "The Weight" is a science fiction story whose major "science" is sociology, or particularly, social-psychology. The focus is not on a particular character (although much of the plot is seen through Kirk's eyes) but on the interaction between characters and their societies. The tension between Kirk/Jenneth/Quanna is a micro-cosmic representation of the clash between their cultures — a clash that's building toward a head-on collision. I'm delighted that somebody caught that; I didn't know if I'd made it noticeable enough. Glad you liked the articles, too; for me they were pure fun—I did a huge mess of research for the series (on music, Anarchism, magic and Anthropology), and I'm delighted to share it. Enjoy!

To PaulA Smith: glad you liked the article, but ... "Bernardo de la Paz"? Uh, thanks, but I hope not; if you'll recall, at the end of THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS (Heinlein, for those of you who haven't read it — and please do!), de la Paz was unable to keep the newly-independent Moon from repeating the same mistakes as Earth — the Lunies set up a government, and the resulting society was enough to make the surviving hero consider moving out to the asteroids! If I'm preaching Rational Anarchism, I hope to be a bit more successful than that. Hmmm, perhaps "Rational Anarchism" is a redundancy: irrational Anarchists, in my experience, are either hypocrites about their Anarchism, or else they don't live long. Glad you liked the article, though. Tell ye what, since you've read up a little on the subject, how would you like to tackle a side-plot of "The Weight" that I just plain don't have time to explore? Namely, how did the Anarchists back on 6th-Year Earth deal with the Romulan invaders? Now that cultural clash and resulting changes should be fun to play with! Bear in mind that there are still at least two colonies of pro-science Anarchists on Earth (the remnant of High Harbor, and what's left of the Enterprise settlement), and Luddism may become distinctly unpopular after a few encounters with Romulans. Also, consider that this post-Eugenics War Earth has a few bacteriological and radio-Iojgical surprises lurking here and there. Earth is destined to change big, but the Romulans may just have bitten off more than they can chew. Want to try it? Be my guest.

For the rest, WARPED SPACE #24 is an over-all delight. I'm not usually into ST parodies, but "Star Chapparal" is cheerfully original and quick-paced. Oof, those puns! "Kraithies" is a gem, too — especially with the gorgeous Wyman illo. Don't lose that artist! "The Barrier" is my favorite Dirty Nellie story so far ... Space gypsies, now! Marvelous! Except that no Romany in his right mind would wear the name "Giorgio" -- that's the gypsy equivalent of "goyischer". "International Fizzbin Tournament Rules" is (*snicker*) something that a lot of fans have been eagerly awaiting for a long time. "Star Child Lullabye" Is one of the very best poems that I've ever seen in a Trek-zine, and one of the better poems that I've read anywhere lately. "Fact of Life" would have been just another clever short-short without the spectacular Nan Lewis illo of Janice Rand, and the illo would have lost a lot of its subtle poignancy without the poem; a beautiful example of art/lit symbiosis. The one story that bothered me was "Trek Over The Black Ridge", but it took me a long time to figure out why. It wasn't just tho too-fast setup of the first three paragraphs, and it wasn't just the tooth-gritting snottiness of the Vulcan kid, and it wasn't just the odd artificiality of the encounter with the Klingons. I had the damndest sense of familiarity running across these particular flaws, as if I'd met them before, but it took a couple re-readings to realize where. "Black Ridge" is a little-kid version of a Mary Sue story! Seth is a male, kid-sized Mary Sue — look how much he resembles all those drearily-obvious super-efficient cardboard wish-fulfillment heroines! Well , I must say, this is some kind of a first! And why not a kid's Mary Sue? After all, the underage crowd has the same right to wish-fulfillment fantasies as the romance-dazzled female set — and, in fact, as a typical Mary Sue story, it wasn't that badly written. I don't know Nancy Spinks' age and would hesitate to guess, but if she can turn her talents to less subjective plots she'd probably make a damn fine writer in another year — or less. Dave Lubkin's limericks were clever enough, but dammital, he just can't keep to the rhythm of a line! "Ode To The Restless" is a lovely little thing — good, the way Ingrid Cross' stuff usually is — and the Gerry Downes illo adds a fine impression of depth to the interpretation. Still, I like Ingrid's "Time" better; it could stand just as well without the fine Joni Wagner illo — which, by the way, is one of the better drawings of Kirk that I've seen in many a moon. [26]

[zine]: "Trek Over The Black Ridge" in WS 24 was fairly well written, yet there are points in the plot which do not ring true. First of all, it seems unlikely that a team of Klingon soldiers, people who have no doubt trained for combat for most of their lives, people who came from a race of born warriors, would be defeated so easily by a 13 year-old child. The Vulcan neck pinch is no advantage either. Seth would lack the size, strength, and skill to do what Ms. Spinks had him do. Another question is about the dwarfish nature of Holly. I would like to know what physical signs Holly bears. Dwarf- ishness is caused by an ailment of the glands. Usually this is not obvious un til the person enters puberty. At that time they, through a malfunction of the glands, mature in all aspects except sta ture. At five, I doubt whether her dwarf- ishness would be noted. Aside from this, I would like to see the story expanded into a series. The relationship between Holly, Seth, and perhaps Kit is one I would like to see explored.

"The Barrier" is also well written and appears to have a flawless plot. The only complaint I might have is an apparent technical error. From what we've seen of warp drive engines, the dilithium crystals used are much too large for Dirty Nellie to have smuggled out. [27]

[zine]:

First of all, let me say that I didn't know what a fanzine was until last summer. IfoundoutwhenIwenttotheSTConin Toronto and saw Lori sitting behind a pile of WS in the dealer's room ... The same week I bought a little book called "Star Trek: The New Voyages". Sooo ...

I began to write the same week. My first ventures into writing began in August and ended in September. So I can't, really say I've boon writing a year, maybe two months in the last 12. I'm not making excuses for any story faults you may have found, I'm just saying I'm a novice at this and will of course make mistakes. We all do and learn from them. This initial writing period is an experimentation time for me.

... Rose Marie Jakubjansky — thank you! You seem to be the only person who understood why I wrote "Trek Over The Black Ridge" — just to be read and en joyed . . . Wliy does every story have to be a major literary event? Why can't a story just be something to warm the coclcles a little ... ?

Paula Steinker — I can't believe the word "UGH" is a very constructive liter ary criticism. Now if you'd used YICK or BLECK or maybe YARGH ...

Luba Kmetyke — you're right. I should have been more informative on the point about " ... if the technology exists to help Holly, then why hasn't it been used before now?". I should have clarified the fact that it was a recent break through. Sorry. Holly was born on Bonetti pretty far out so she wasn't able to get to Vulcan. As for Seth's mind linking "casually" as you put it ... Vulcans, I feel, despite the outward masks they wear, are some of the most concerned, compassionate, and humane humanoids in the galaxy. And if anyone were suffer ing emotionally, and physically as Holly was, then a Vulcan would attempt to help if it were logically possible. And as Seth could communicate with Holly via telepathy, which meant the least amount of pain for Holly, he opted out for this form of communication, necessarily sacrificing some of his privacy. As for the parents and what you feel is an irrespon sible attitude — they were researching the problem themselves (again I failed to clarify), — in the meantime Seth was the best solution as he was helping Holly. Sorry, if I didn't go into detail in this regard, but I am glad you were interested enough to write in about it. I'm also glad you enjoyed the fight and McCoy's solution. The picture of six little naked, hairy Klingons running about was impossible to resist ...

Leslie Fish — I never heard of Mary Sue until I sent off all my stories to the publishers and they had been accepted. So what can I say? As to " ... she'd probably make a damn fine writer in another year — or less" thanks![28]

Issue 25

front cover of issue #25, Robin Wood
back cover of issue #25, Carolynn Ruth

Warped Space 25 was published in May 1977 and contains 76 pages.

  • art from issue #25, Gordon Carleton, parody of "Diamonds and Rust"

    art from issue #25, Gordon Carleton, parody of "Diamonds and Rust"

  • art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

    art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

  • art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

    art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

  • art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

    art from issue #25, for "The Weight," Leslie Fish

  • art from issue #25, Robin Wood

    art from issue #25, Robin Wood

  • art from issue #25, Joni Wagner

    art from issue #25, Joni Wagner

  • art from issue #25, Leah Rosenthal

    art from issue #25, Leah Rosenthal

  • art from issue #25, for "Oriana," Leslie Fish

    art from issue #25, for "Oriana," Leslie Fish

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 25

See reactions and reviews for So what do you want, good material or good friends??.

[Rhinestones and Mush]:

There was a very long, never finished Kirk/Mary Sue saga called “Diamonds and Rust” which featured a statuesque, gorgeous Mary Sue named Chantal Caberfae. I remember that Kirk was absolutely besotted with her. It was accompanied with some highly romantic illustrations. Someone wrote a wickedly funny satire called “Rhinestones and Mush”, published in Warped Space # 25, which was complete with cartoons by Gordon Carleton satirizing the art by showing Chantal as practically sparkling/glowing with Kirk being depicted as basically her lapdog. [29]

[zine]:

... I'm glad to see fandom has one frequent and regular high circulation 'zine going. This is, to my way of thinking, essential for the continuance of fan dom as a co-ordinated body. We don't yet have any prozines that can do this job, so it's more or less up to you right now. Keep up the good work. I think the regularity and availability of WS will prove to be a primary factor in attracting the best authors with the best material. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting several years for a novella to be published, and then finding the 'zine has folded. Fan writers appreciate the way you are running your 'zine. It's got to pay off. [30]

[zine]:

I am also one of those mythological persons who likes ST but not sf in general, and I am getting darn tired of apologizing for it the same way I'm tired of apologizing because I dislike water melon and wool sweaters. Sure, I know ST is based in sf — in spite of my apparent mental deficiency in not liking sf, I'm not quite a moron — and owes a great amount of its gadgets, etc. to sf writings. I don't like gadgets. I don't even like cars or microwaves ovens. What I do like are the characters, plain and simple and I couldn't care less if they're Starfleet Officers or members of a leper colony. It's not that I haven't tried sf, everything from Spacecat to Stranger In A Strange Land, but nothing takes. I'd rather read The Joy Of Cooking or the March '58 Reader's Digest, which makes me a member of a leper colony. Whatever happened to the IDIC concept? And if that's too "out of this world" how about "live and let live"? (*sigh*) [31]

[zine]: ... The only thing I feel compelled to comment on in "Loose Ends" is the small segment concerning AitaPia in the fourth paragraph. Somehow the thought of an adorable child-like being suddenly transforming into a "slimy, tall, ugly and to tally unrecognizable creature" is disconcerting ... it gives room to such speculation as how long this transformation takes. Is it instantaneous? Could one be walking down the hall and zap! an un intelligent monster stands slobbering there instead? Or is it gradual, with a loss of intelligence comparable to Charley's in "Flowers For Algernon"? Also, if all breeding adult Stesians are moronic gargantuans, who in the galaxy raises the children of the species? Or are they born with instant knowledge of self-preservation? Hmm ...

"Fish Out Of Water" was lovely. I have always had a deep fondness for dolphins, and this story was told with just the right touch of sensitivity. "Tale Of The Horta" was a masterpiece!! I've always agreed that people orta pay more attention to the Horta.

"The Weight" was fantastic, as usual.

Somebody tell me, please, what happened to "Star Chaparral"? I'm dying for the confrontation between the Apaches and Big Jim and his Federation White-Eyes ... [32]

[zine]: ... I am grateful for the bulletin-board effect of "Miscellanea". As the most regularly/frequently published Trekzine, WS is, at present, the best place for the myriad of information that constantly awaits dissemination.HALKAN COUNCIL, long the channel for such things, now is printed less frequently than WS, so the job seems to be yours.

Reading this issue's episode of "The Weight" brought to my mind how quickly ST fans, and writers, adopt conventions (no pun intended). Kirk's feelings about himself in regard to the Janice Lester incident. as postulated by Leslie Fish tally completely with those in Faddis' "A Lesson In Perspective" in WS 20. Can't you see it now? Soon there will be those among us willing to swear that it was Kirk's conversation with Janice in Sickbay after the mind-exchange was broken that led to many of our Captain's past and future "flip-outs". We can add that to all the Kraithian elements so much a part of fan writing, and the re current, emphasis that McCoy's unhappy marriage was due to his neglect. All of which brings me to something I've wanted to complain about — another, much less enjoyable kind of repetition. That is, the apparent increase in material being repeated in several 'zines. WS has not been guilty of this, as far as I know, but several others have, and it seems to be on the increase. I think it's really bad form, especially when 'zines cost so much. It would be a slight irritant to spend $2.50 on a 'zine, receive it, and find you've already got part of it in another 'zine, but at $4.50 - $6.00 a shot, it's enough to curdle your plomik. It seems so easily avoidable too. Writers and artists should submit a particular piece to only one editor at a time. I thought that was standard practice, but how then the repetitions? Especially of some things it might be better to have avoided the first time. Editors who do include previously published material should so state on their flyers — just "reprinted from 'zine X" would do it. ... Robin Wood's illustrations for "Trek Over The Black Ridge" are beautiful, beautiful! I enjoyed the story, too, even while waiting for Seth to walk on water, or at least head out for the temple. I thought we'd already seen "The Ultimate Vulcan". I have a comment to make on the D&R series which drew such flack this issue ... I agree ... that both Kirk and Spock are ruthlessly and brutally massacred in the series. In fact, I read it with mounting rage and frustration. But I continue to read it, and in fact, have ordered the collection (That sort of reprinting I approve of.). There is something there that compels me to continue — it is rather like The Arabian Nights, with Scheherazade weaving tale after tale, always stopping before she is quite fin ished, keeping the reader needing that next episode — hoping maybe this time the web will be untangled. That is good writing, I think. Leslie Fish has to be the master of that sort of witchcraft, however. "The Weight" continues to build, and I, for one, am slowly going insane waiting for its resolvement. But oh, the delicious agony. If I were handing out awards, I would give this series first place for great Trek fiction ... [33]

[zine]: ... Why is Roberta Rogow retelling the accession of Elizabeth 1? And the Feds are the Dutch! — seems appropriate, somehow. The story is interesting, sure, but it becomes a game of spot-the-name: Enres/Henry, Duarden/Edward, (Bloody!) Maurya/Mary Tudor. And Philip of Spain, not to mention Catherine of Aragon, Anno Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. His tory repeating itself, I suppose. Oh, what the heck. No, I'm not Erin O'Mercy this time round, but I sure wish I were. Or do I? "Treasure Chest" was a pip. Kirk has been presented as a first class brainburn case in D&R, to a certain extent, but if this is deliberate on the authors' part, howcum nobody else on that tub has yet to notice it? And — sorry, Rusty — but Chantal is (or was) a Mary Sue. She has in recent stories acquired more depth, or perhaps her personality is finally becoming more evident. Nevertheless, one of the traits of a Mary Sue is the inordinate, improbable interest of the E biggies in her — Kirk can't get her out of his mind, McCoy wets his pants thinking about her, Spock squabbling with her, Uhura is best buddies with her, etc. Only Scotty seems to be keeping him self from raping her in the Jeffries Tube. Her name is another giveaway. Nobody, off a movie marquee, is named "Chantal Caberfae". More, we are told, at great length, what a terrific superspy she is, how poised and efficient she is, how in credibly intelligent and capable, und so weiter, ad nauseum. But the only missions we've actually seen her on, she's botched badly; Johanna died, McCoy fell crazy in love with her. And we've gotten no hint at all yet of her Deep Dark Secret Mission. Well, okay. Slie was a Mary Sue. So was Modesty Blaze. So was April Dancer. So what. Because we're finally getting both plot and character development, as well as definitely better writing from Schultz & Rice. Compare the earliest stories to the latest; the plotting is tighter, the style clearer and more readable. Chantal may not be a Mary Sue after all. The impression in the first couple of stories of her as such is un fortunate, but almost Inevitable, because she did act like one. Now she's no longer the seven-foot ubermensch manniken; we begin to see her as a real boyhuman being.

Gordon is right; if these are billed as a "series of stories", each one had better be plot- and character-tight. Or if a serial, they should not have been scattered like birdshot. But this method was chosen and can't be revoked; it's unfortunate, but there it is. Schultz & Rice can't expect coherent and comprehensive appreciation of their epic, because the readers simply cannot get every 'zine, let alone in the correct order — and now, read every LoC that explains what's going on. We need to be shown in the course of the story, not told, not explained to in a letter of comment in yet another 'zine, that Kirk is under pressure, hence he's falling apart, that Chantal is a capable survivor, that Spock is not just in a Jealous pique, but genuinely concerned about this Capellan invader. We need to be led by the hand; we can't read minds. We don't know that the next story right- now-being-written will Explain All — we won't see that for two months yet. Conversely, we the readers must be particularly watchful of what's going on. This is, after all, a novel and there's more to come. Some things can't be explained in 2 pages, or even 20; some developments take time. Mandi and Cheryl are creating a damn fine piece here under our noses, and it don't hurt to be a bit more patient.[34]

[zine]:

... I'm hooked on "The Weight." Leslie Fish's story has got to be the "Dune" of Treklit ... A brief sampling of things I like in "The Weight": 1. Putting Capt. Macho through childbirth and the death of those children, 2. Forcing Kirk to experience sexual intercourse from the female view point and hinting strongly that male jealousy of female sexual capacity is the nitty-gritty reason behind the institution of marriage, 3. Forcing us to look upon Starfleet as something more than a shining example of goodwill. Also, I've always suspected that Sulu was the man in Uhura's life, not Kirk. Remember the look he gives her when she takes over navigation in "Balance Of Terror", and all that sexy stuff on the bridge in "Mirror, Mirror"? If they can do it in one universe, why not another? I don't feel qualified to make too much comment on the "Diamonds and Rust" series; "Treasure" is the only chapter I've read so far. However, in that particular story. Kirk did look pretty shaky — in a very adolescent way — a pimply boy asking the prom queen to dance. If Chantal isn't supposed to be Miss Galaxy, someone should tell Gee Moaven to cool it in her illos. I tend to agree with Gordon's point about printing chapters as opposed to stories ... the two forms are not interchangeable. ... Do you think Leslie can keep her story going long enough to get Kirk through menopause, too?[35]

[zine]: ... I had no intention of implying the K/S official boy-boy relationship in my last LoC — just the warm and close friendships many men have shared — and outgrown — under similar circumstances in the past, no sexual connotations, overt, that is ...

... Gordon's illo for "Rhinestones and Mush" ... expresses perfectly without another word being said Gordon's extensive remarks in the LoC section. The whole put-on is satirically hilarious, and the accompanying text more than backs up the intro. HOWEVER, I found myself having serious misgivings when I began to think about it. Does this mean that in the future whenever Gordon disagrees with a story he will exercise his great talent for caricature, his slashing acerbic wit, on the artist who illoed the thing? In other words, must an artist stand responsible for the content of the stories, stand behind the characterizations presented, just as though he/she had also written the stories? ... I believe literary criticism should be saved for the writers, and that this sort of comment is somewhat underhanded. What amuses me most about all this worry over Kirk's character in D&R is that none of it surfaces with regard to the poor old half-blind, drippy-haired skinny ex-Captain staggering around coughing his lungs out in "The Weight." He is also female-dominated, people. It is to Fish's great credit as a believable writer, of course, reflecting her careful build-up of his paralyzing guilt and lonely near-madness that preceded his present state, that apparently permits this unquestioning acceptance of events and behavior that customarily stir anarchy in our own hearts ...

I particularly enjoyed Leah Rosenthal's "Loose Ends" ... which title can have many meanings in this hilarious and unusual plot; I did wince at her characterization of the Captain from time to time, and scoff at the unlikelihood of Uhura not wanting to be in bed with him, after go ing to so much trouble to make sure she was paired off that way. Seems to me grown people would have been much more likely to take advantage of their casual opportunities, anticipating their brevity, but most couples worked it out so coyly and shyly. I did like the way LP6 or some components thereof, went casually in and out of the story, always within the story lines set before. I'm so glad somebody other than Anji has finally gotten dolphins into space — always loved that part of her MONKEY OF THE INKPOT, and sorry to see it disappear. "Fish Out Of Water" was a lovely and sensitive Spock story, and I don't see why it has to end there -- perhaps Ruta will give us some further adventures of the ambassador. "Oriana" left me feeling dissatisfied because it moved too fast. So much more could have been made of a longer slower- paced story — such a fine effort, and I am pleased to see more of this epic planned. Being an Elizabethan scholar as another of my hobbies, I was totally amused at the parallels of current Andorian history with King Henry's many wives — right down to Wicked Older Sister going back to the Old Religion. Bloody Mary, you know — though there is no his torical indication that she poisoned her little half-brother to gain the throne ... [36]

[zine]: Warped Communications' [the LoC section] has a very long and extremely interesting letter debate on the Diamonds and Rust series to complement Erin O' Mercy and Handy Schmaltz' parody, 'Rhinestones and Mush.' There is 'Loose Ends,' an-everybody-on-the-ship-has-to-be-married, which would be good if it had a plot instead of a device. 'Fish Out of Water' concerns Spock and a dolphin and is very good. More: 'Oriana' is a tale of Andorian politics which could be enthralling. That is, it was enthralling when PBS did it a few years ago, and called it 'The Six Wives of Henry the VIII.' Well-written, but just a little too familiar.

'The Weight, part III' by Leslie Fish is continued in this issue in a cautious upswing of mood. Leslie partially retrieved the 'Feds are idiots, anarchists are perfect' impression she left in the last part. Unfortunately, the placing of her last illo gave away her punch-line. This zine comes out so damned often (that was a loving curse, Lori) that it is very expensive to keep your subscription up to, but WS is one of the zines that knits Trekkers together. [37]

[zine]: "Fish Out of Water" is a gem of a story, and absolutely flawless. ... Please encourage Ruta to write more of these ...

"Rhinestones and Mush" was hilarious, yet I had mixed feelings about it when I finished wiping the tears out of my eyes. It was funny, well-written, and a delightful parody. It was also cruel and malicious, and unless Rice and Schultz have iron-clad egos, it must have hurt to see their well-meaning and hard-worked-over efforts mocked in this fashion ... [38]

Issue 26/27

Warped Space 26/27 - July 16, 1977 - 92 pages; Star Wars/Tatooine cover by Gordon Carleton with the caveat "In this Issue: Nothing About Star Wars." And there wasn't anything in the zine; the cover was the only Star Wars content.

From the editorial: "I am herein declaring the 'Diamonds and Rust' discussion/debate closed, as of this issue and, and will not print any more LoCs on the subject, as I feel that D&R has received more than adequate and varied comments within the pages of this 'zine!" There are 33 names on the WAHF list and 19 letters printed.

front cover of issue #26/27, Gordon Carleton
back cover of issue #26/27, Robin Wood

A mostly Star Trek issue including "The Weight - Part III"; fiction, poetry and analysis by Roberta Rogow, Paula Block, Leslie Fish, Paula Smith; artwork by Gordon, Connie Faddis, Nan Lewis, Anji Valenza, Joni Wagner, Amy Harlib.

  • Editor’s Nook (3)
  • Miscellanea (4)
  • Warped Communications (7)
  • To the Water and the Wild by Cheryl D. Rice, art by Signe Landon ((McCoy spends the last few hours on the shore leave planet with Tonia Barrows. Her announcement that she will soon leave the Enterprise has added to his ever present feeling of loneliness, but a brief encounter with a beautiful mythological beast helps him realize that his involvement with Tonia was never meant to last.) 15)
  • Star Child by Lee Ardnt, art by Carolynn Ruth (24)
  • Oriana (part 2, “The Cadet”) by Roberta Rogow, art by Leslie Fish (25)
  • For Leila by Andrina Lewis (31)
flyer for an imagined book of the future! "New Dimensions Press presents the #1 bestseller! From the noted contemporary novelist Dalan Rury. It's all here: 'political intrigue, dramatic conflict, blazing action, suspense, and romance in a gripping saga from start to finish.' Star Systems Book Chronicle. The epic novel of the Federation-Romulan conflict. Only 10.95 credits at book-sellers everywhere." Flyer art by Amy Harlib
  • art for "Oriana" from issue #26/27by Leslie Fish

    art for "Oriana" from issue #26/27by Leslie Fish

  • art from issue #26-27, Connie Faddis

    art from issue #26-27, Connie Faddis

  • art from issue #26-27, for "The Weight" by Leslie Fish

    art from issue #26-27, for "The Weight" by Leslie Fish

  • art from issue #26-27, for "The Weight" by Leslie Fish

    art from issue #26-27, for "The Weight" by Leslie Fish

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 26/27

See reactions and reviews for Wasted Space.

[The Way I Always Heard It Should Be]: McCoy's suggestion that they get married throws Sadie into a panic of considering her options, and then the two of them into a hurtful fight. On landing party, McCoy suffers an unheard-of heart attack. Waiting, Sadie blames herself. When she finally is allowed to see McCoy, he berates her fear of love, and convinces her to accept him. The writing, as always, is superb. Excellent characterization and dialogue, probably the best McCoy romance around. Nice illos by Connie Faddis. [39]

[zine]: What can you say about the best fanzine on the market? Nothing. Buy it. Content - 5. Graphics - 5. $ Worth - 5. [40]

[zine]:

This double issue of Trek fandom's most regular zine has a lot to offer by way of humor, fiction, and art.

"To the Water and the Wild" is a "what happened after" the episode "Shore Leave" story. McCoy finds himself trying to find a nice gentle way to dump Tonia Barrows when they get back aboard the Big E. This is a very well written, nice friendly kind of story. McCoy is kept very much in character and the scene about Spock at the end stands out. Beautiful.

"Oriana" is part of a series, yet a complete story all by itself. The story centers on an Andorian female cadet who just happens to be a member of the royal family. There's trouble brewing back at home, and she's asked to return to straighten things out. Of course, she refuses, then there is an attempt to murder her. All in all, a nicely written change of pace story.

"The Way I Always Heard It Should Be..." is a a McCoy/Faulwell story in which Sadie gets her man. McCoy proposes and Sadie isn't sure she wants to get married. One of Paula's better Faulwell stories.

"The Weight" -- This heavy piece should better be retitled: "The Wait," 'cause that's what you do... wait for the next installment. The continuing saga of a bedraggled James T. Kirk and his counterpart in an alternate universe who just happens to be female. Leslie seems to be loving Kirk to death. So far, he has lost one eye, has a badly scarred face and a bad case of the "Wheezes" which sounds very much like TB. In this installment, we meet Sarek and learn a little about the Vulcans of this universe and the Big E reaches the time planet which seems to be their goal.

"An Essay in Defense of Fan Written Characters" -- thank you, Pat, I'm glad to see someone else who also believes. Well said.

"Paradox Lost" is a good parody of Dark Shadows. A warm, gentle story, excellent.

The issue ends with a parody of itself, which I didn't like at all. Paula's humor is too smug.

A few poems and filksongs round out the issue. Some of the songs were cute, but the ones slapping Space: 1999 turned me off 'cause I happen to like 1999 a teeny bit. The artwork ranged from good to beautiful. Gordon Carleton's Star Wars cover was very good, but Robin Wood's backcover is my favorite. I recommend this zine to everyone. [41]

[zine]:

I'm glad to see a better balance be tween serious and humorous material and less "inside joke" material. I hope you're not abandoning LP 6 stories or the Faulwell epic — I'm very fond of both, although the quality of the stories is quite variable, especially the former. I find it somewhat difficult to understand those criticisms of Faulwell and LP 6 which dwell on the various neuroses and oddities of behavior exhibited by the beings in question, implying that said oddities, etc. are somehow incompatible with service on a starship. First of all, none of our beloved "biggies" — the big 3, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, etc. (Uhura is relatively sane) are with out more than their share of quirks, and they're running the whole show.

The true test of sanity is not the existence of behaviors defined by the majority (or sometimes just the shrinks) as "odd", but whether or not those "odd" behaviors impede the individual's function. Obviously none of our Enterprise friends mentioned are incapable of doing their jobs. Sometimes the quirks in question play havoc with people's personal lives, but I have friends who are supremely competent at their jobs whose personal lives are a mess. One would assume that anyone who has made it through to service on a starship would have to be pretty exceptional, and when you iron out a person's quirks you run the risk of destroying whatever makes them exceptional. Sometimes talent is the ability to make your neuroses work for you.

As far as serious fiction goes there are certain things I look for in Trekfic, and some can be found more easily than others. To digress a moment, I must admit that there's a lot I haven't read yet, being relatively new to "fanzine fever" (I resisted as long as I could!) although a dedicated albeit isolated ST fan from its very first show, lo these many years ago. Good stories of character and relationships are the easiest to find, which is good 'cause I lap 'em up. I'm very impressed by the way the fans have enlarged and deepened the characters and their interrelationships far beyond what the series itself was able to show. These interpretations don't agree, of course, sometimes they are mutually exclusive — but I can appreciate something that's well done and a plausible extrapolation even though it doesn't agree with my personal interpretation.

Part of the elements lacking develop ment in the original series was simply a function of the limitations of a weekly series. And of course the change in our attitudes in the past decade has made many of the personality characteristics seem old-fashioned; Kirk's skirt-chasing, the tendency of so many females to sport hairdos that send any actual working woman into hysterics, their even more unattractive penchant for folding in crises, breathily exclaiming, "Captain, I'm frightened," at the drop of a dilithium crystal, and generally acting like a bunch of unbelievable mid-twentieth century stereotypes. It's great to see talented fan writers breathing life and dimension into characters whose marvelous potential was often allowed to lapse into mere formula.

Character isn't enough, however. One thing I'd like to see more of in Trekfic is a grappling with the problems, potentialities, and contradictions which the ST universe presented on the level of ideas. For instance, very little seems to have been done with the ethical dilemmas presented within the Prime Directive. Admittedly it was never precisely defined — to what kinds of worlds does the Prime Directive apply? — are different levels of interference permissible in different types of societies? — exactly what constitutes "interference"? Cer tainly as far as Kirk was concerned the PD was more honored in the breach than in the observance. I happen to be a purist in these matters ... I don't think the Feds have the ethical right to show their faces in any culture that hasn't attained spaceflight capability, unless they've already been contaminated by contact made by the Klingons or other non-Fed spacefaring races. And to me, any kind of contact is potentially (almost inevitably) interference and it's criminally naïve to suppose otherwise.

Which is why I found Paula Smith's "For Sale, Must Sacrifice" in WS 15 so satisfying — she did a beautiful job of pointing out the holes in the PD without hitting you over the head. Audrey Rober's LoC in WS 16 was extremely perceptive in pointing the inherent contradiction in Starfleet's goals: seeking out new civilizations but operating under the Prime Directive. I would deeply love to see good writers handle that whole can of worms. Gerry Downes has touched on the problem in her McCoy/Liaria story ((STARDATE: UNKNOWN, #'s 1 and 3)), but the subject is big enough for another KRAITH or "The Weight" Another big area (which has been explored more fully) is the confrontation of Terran and alien cultures. Susan Nierenberg (WS 18, LoC) pointed out the importance of letting aliens be really alien and respecting their differences, not attempting to "humanize" them. Excellent point. The IDIC is another concept more honored in the breach than in the observance, and Vulcans are often the worst offenders. One of the things that impressed me most about KRAITH, even though I don't accept all the details of the KRAITH universe, was that here was a real attempt to show the alienness of aliens and a real sense of cultural conflict. Most philosophies of tolerance tend to stress the similarities among apparently dissimilar groups and consequently glossing over the differences. The real strength of the IDIC philosophy is its acceptance of those very differences as a positive value — something not to be swept under the rug but, on the contrary, cherished. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination — them's words to live by, folks.

[snipped]

Anyway, I'd like to see more of this in Trekfic, a la KRAITH or Johanna Cantor's "A Matter of Trust" ((WS 15)). I would like to admit right now. lest I later be accused of self-contradiction that despite what I just said I am very partial to stories which humanize Spock. My admiration for "Shelter" ((WS 20)) and "Poses" ((OB 1)) is almost embarrassing in its intensity, for example. I don't consider this contradictory because Spock Is a rather special case. After all he is just as much human as Vulcan, and his biggest problem has always been (in my humble estimation) his inability to accept himself for what he really is. He has chosen to repress his humanity, and this is never the solution: ineffective at best, and crazy-making at worst. The only real solution is integration of both parts of the personality ...

Speaking of Leslie Fish, I might as well go on to "The Weight". I love it. Now there's a juicy example of cultural clashes, ethical dilemmas and real ideas to get one's mental teeth into. The only point I find a bit hard to accept is the magnitude of the difficulty Kirk & Co. have with the Anarchists' customs. For a group that's been exposed to as many alien cultures as they have they seem to be overreacting quite a bit to a culture which isn't even new to them, but comparable to others in Terran history. I also find it a little hard to believe that there are no anarchist societies in the whole damn galaxy. "It's a big galaxy." Plenty of planets have been encountered by the Enterprise crew which aren't under Federation, Klingon or Romulan control. The point that Starfleet has all the goodies, technologically speaking, is well taken, however.

I am really looking forward to the culmination of this saga (although I hate to see it end) because of the potential effect of the Anarchists' ideas on the Enterprise crew and the Federation itself. I am one of those who has always had mixed feelings about Star- fleet because of its military aspects, and the conversation between Uhura and Christine has made me mighty curious about how this is going to turn out.

And gloriosky, how marvelous it is to encounter such strong and well developed female characters (male ones too, for that matter). Devoted fan that I am, I still find much to cringe at every time I see those dear old reruns. I don't know how many professional women who act like such twerps in 1977 and I expect things to have improved a whole lot by the time of STAR TREK. That's one of the things I like most about fanfic — the way most fan writers have quietly gone about creating positive, competent female characters and further developing those given to us. I doubt it's coincidence that most of the writers are women, but it's a trend I'm pleased to see.

Despite the minor quibbles mentioned above, I think "The Weight" is one of the best examples of ST fiction I've yet seen It really does deal with those things I don't find as often as I'd like: cultural conflict both social and political ethical dilemmas, etc. [42]

[zine]

To my LoCal-vocal critics; thanx again, folks! I'm glad to hear that you all think "The Weight", Part III was up to par; I wasn't sure how well Part III was going to work, since it's mostly social and psychological jockeying-around with not too much action. Pleased that you like it, people. Now as for specific comments ...

[so much snipped!]

To Patti Thompson: ah, thank you for the ego-boo! I admit to having read Connie Faddis' brilliant "Lesson in Perspective" ((WS 20)) before I wrote Part III, so it may have influenced my attitudes, but I still can't imagine our ballsy Captain living for a while in a woman's body without some serious adjustment problems afterward! lie'.s so obviously pleased with his strong, pretty body, and so plainly assured that he's God's Gift to women, it would be a real jar for him to wake up in Lester's skinny little bod — and at least as much of a blow to his ego to be told, as she clearly thought, that he was a lousy lay. It'd be enough to traumatize the poor man for weeks! At the very least, he'd do some long and serious thinking about sex, women, and the way he deals with both. Yes, I've noticed the way Kraithian elements show up in main stream Trekfic, but I think it's only to be expected, since the Kraithies have done the most work in analyzing and developing Vulcan culture. I've seen some good non-Kraith Vulcan stories (i.e. Leslye Lilker's "Sahaj" series), but in general it's Kraith that has the richest vein of ideas about Vulcan society, and therefore offers the widest range of possible stories. Same thing with stories about McCoy's divorce; I've seen a few that made it entirely his wife's fault, some that shared the blame equally, and a few that held it was nobody's fault and they were just incompatible, but the idea that it was McCoy's fault because he spent most of his time and attention on medicine (to the neglect of his family) offers the most possibilities for story ideas. So let it lay (!) with Janice Lester. (Hmmm ... It would be fun to have Jenneth run into her ... )

Well, I'm happy that you like the way "The Weight" is structured; really, that was deliberate. I knew, when I started writing it, that "The Weight" would have to be serialized. A few conferences with Ye Editor gave me some idea of how long each segment would probably be, and I aligned the incidents and development accordingly. It really helps to have the kind of editor who can work with like this!

[so much snipped!]

To Dixie Owen: " ... poor old half-blind, drippy-haired skinny ex-Captain staggering around coughing his lungs out", eh? Ho I Ho! Yes, I guess he does look like that I But, "female dominated"? Uh ... where? He's frantically in love with Quanna (and in the aired episodes we've seen him fall headlong in love a few times), and he's achingly jealous of Jenneth, but how does that add up to female domination? If Quanna and Jenneth have any power over him, they're bliss fully unaware of it. I thought that if anything would "stir Anarchy" in the hearts of Ye Readers, it would be Kirk's resentment and alienation from his own crew, rather than his ambivalent relation ship with the Anarchist women. Ah well, I never claimed to be a prophet!

I'm reserving judgment on the D&R series until I can read the whole thing, but I'll be the first to say that Schultz and Rice have a fine talent for slinging the English language. "To The Water And The Wild" is a fine example. I don't think anyone could argue much with the charac ter, and the image of Spock as Virgin is priceless. Only the line leaves me puzzled; does it imply that Spock isn't real, eiiher?

As the illustrator I shouldn't properly comment on "Oriana", Chapter 2, but I do like the series. I'm of the opinion that not nearly enough has been written on Andorians, and I'm quite touched that Roberta Rogow did go to the effort of making her Andorians dovetail so nicely with my own (in the "F. Sigmund Mead" article, WS 25). Yarrah-Bethan — borrowed from Elizabeth R. or not — comes across as a good solid character in her own right. Dirty Nellie is turning into one of the better female characters in Trekfiction — definitely not a Mary Sue I — and I can't wait to see what's ahead for T'Rass. The Three Unlikely Girlfriends could turn out to be one of the best adventure-story teams in Trekdom.

The two Leila poems were so-so, but the illustration was spectacular. Who is Nan Lewis, and how does she do that? I'm jealous!

PoBlocki's windup of the Faulwell series may indeed be "All The Soap That's Fit To Print", but I like it anyway. Good ol' Faulwell — always knew she'd get her man I She always struck me as a little too real — and honest — to lose all the time. Good to see her win.

"Paradox Lost" was ten minutes of good fun reading, even for somebody (like me) who never saw the original series. That opening paragraph was gorgeous!

But my vote for best-of-zine goes to Paula's "Wasted Space" parody; it practically had me rolling on the floor when I saw the advance copy at SeKWester*Con, and it had the exact same effect this time around, too. Ooh, that lettercol. [43]

[zine]: ... Bravo for calling a stop to the D&R controversy. Enough is enough!

"To The Water And The Wild" — was it my imagination, or did that sound like two stories instead of one? It (they?) was beautifully written, but I didn't really see where the two segments connected. But, as I said, very well-written and a super idea. Signe's artwork, splendid as usual — I've got a thing for unicorns, anyway.

"Star Child" — by and large I'm not much for poetry, but this was a beauty, very lovely.

"Oriana" -- no history lesson this time, just a story, and a good one. Can't wait for Part 3, to find out what happens to T'Rass.

"For Leila" and "This Side Of Paradise" — I'm very glad I never sent my Leila poem to you — it'd die by comparison. Both gorgeous, and Nan's illo — superb!

"The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" was fabulous, funny, friendly, and full of feeling. It was a bit confusing, until I got the hang of it, the switches in viewpoint, but after the first couple "chapters" I was fine. Beautifully done, but in a way it made me sad — no more Sadie — *sigh*. oh well, she was fun while she lasted. Thank you, Paula.

"The Weight" — what can I say? Magnificent as always. I think this was the best segment yet — had me in tears from half-way down the first page, especially Quanna's miscarriage. Keep it coming, Leslie!

"Recruiting Song: 1999" and "Trouble" — little gems, both. Bravo, ladies.

And a large amen to "Fan-Written Characters". Why shouldn't there be a few flakes running around Starfleet? Beats the Mary Sues any time!

"Security Lament", "Round For An Exploration Team" and "Security Song" -- as before, bravo!

"Paradox Lost" lost me, entirely. I'm glad Julia found out who she was, but I didn't! I know, go back and read it again. Oh, well!

"Wasted Space" — from beginning to end, total lunacy, and totally wonderful; Paula, fine job, but be warned, the men in the white suits (and I don't mean Alec Guinness & Co.) will be coming by any time now to take you away!

... I still think, after having sampled a lot of the other zines, that yours is still the best ... especially since you've been on your own. I don't think you've pulled a clinker yet. How many other zine editors can say that? [44]

[zine]: ... I was greatly relieved to see others include beasties in Trekfic. Rice's 'unicorn' in "To The Water And The Wild" was a nice return to my type of people. Thank God neither Rice nor Lan-don forgot the critter's beard. If they had, I probably would have gotten fierce. But, dammit, horns don't 'jut'! I must object though to creation having a near-separate identity from the planetary computer. It just didn't feel right. I can swallow the computer 'for getting' about it, with difficulty, but I am not happy with the handling of the 'unicorn's' self-awareness. To say nothing of a unicorn having to use telepathy to know purity — but then, it wasn't really a unicorn, so the computer would have had to read a mind or two. My main complaint(s) though were the irritating lapses into bold-face explanations. They blew the continuity of the story. Until them one could immerse one self into it fully, then along comes a cold jarring into the realm of omnipotent narrator. The occasional references to' the future were out of context. For instance, the paragraph top of p. 22; it knocked out the chronology of the story and was really rather unnecessary. I think most of us fen could have figured out the symbology without having to be led by the hand. It just seemed clumsy. But, it is still one of my favorites — ever. While awkward, the scenes with Spock and the pseudo-unicorn were brilliant.

Boy, do I feel like an ass I No wonder I liked "Oriana'"s first episode! I didn't figure out its roots until "Warped Communications". Oh well, I liked the story in old England and I still like it in new Andoria. However, it seems a bit pretentious (dare I say Mary Sueish?) to have 3 cadets running the show that way. I don't think Annapolis or West Point would allow a couple cadets that free a rein to do their own investigation. I am not as happy with "The Cadet" was I was with "The Heiress". Maybe because the former went too fast and seemed a little too sketchy.

One of these days T'Rass is going to lower her eyelids at an inopportune time and fall in a manhole.

Nan Lewis' Leila on p. 31 was breath taking. Too say nothing of envy-inspiring.

... Karen Klinek is brilliant! ... No comment on "Star Child".

I plead lack of knowledge on "Paradox Lost". All I know about Dark Shadows is that Barnabas Collins is a vampire. As for it being a parody, I thought it was a pretty good idea for a straight story. Paula Smith is in top form, as always. Her "Sadie" poem was perfect, and as for "Wasted Space" — where can I subscribe?

Paula Block's Faulwell was, well, what to say? I missed the earlier Faulwell stories. Are they going to be reprinted? (PLEASE!) If I wanted to get snotty, I might be able to drag up some dirty linen in "The Way I Always Heard It Should Be", but I don't want to. Thank you, Paula. ...

Pat McCormack, take a bow ... how ever, how do we know the filmed ST wouldn't have had a lot of stories showing crewmembers "whooping it up, getting drunk/high/horny/whatever" if they hadn't been dealing with American network television? We fen writers have been out on our own for a long time now, not a hell of a lot of guidance in this field. We must IDIC and put up with each other's odd quirks. If "author" thinks "character" can make it into Starfleet, let them. We don't have to agree, but from where do we come from to shoot them down? Let 1999 have the xenophobes. Trek fandom doesn't need them.

I must yell "Encore!" to Mary Schmidt too. I have several works in progress I am very proud of, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let them get scattered from here to the Horsehead Nebula. I care about those stories. I spent hours dreaming them up, writing and rewriting them and have blisters from one of 'em. I feel that if I've busted my butt this far, I can't slack off now and let them get screwed in publication. Hell, if I have to foot the bill, I want them done right. And if it comes down to where I can't get them published right, I'll wait. At least I know I'm doing kosher by my creations. An author who labors over a story only to allow it to be ruined in publication reminds me of the people down the street with the full-blooded American saddle- bred. They contracted the breeding, raised it, trained it, and groomed it into a magnificent piece of horseflesh. So, when taking it to its first show they didn't want to pay for proper trailering. An axle broke and so did the horse's leg. I guess what I'm trying to say is the job ain't done until the story is in the mail to the readers. Come on people, be a little conceited with your pride and joy(s) and take care of them! You've got good reason to be proud.

... I must correct Mr. Strathy over his one flaw in "The Barrier". Elaan of Troyius wore a necklace of dilithium crystals that Scotty later incorporated into the works ...

I thoroughly enjoyed 26/27 ... [45]

[zine]: I received WS 26/27 yesterday and have read most of it twice. Your cover lied — you have STAR WARS stuff on the inner cover and all over the editorial. Urn. "The Water And The Wild" is a nice story but slightly schizophrenic — somewhere around the middle of p. 22 the first story ended and a second vignette began. They're both nice stories, but they don't really have a hell of a lot to do with one another, except that the uni corn is in both. A proper ending for the first story would have shown the memory of the unicorn helping Bones get over his disappointment not just said that that would happen. The vignette is hard to describe, it just is — and it might be better if the earlier comment about the possibility of wandering pseudo-Spocks had been omitted, since the unicorn can presumably can tell the difference be tween real people and its colleagues. The amount of consciousness attributed to the unicorn bothers me a little, too, since it will presumably be melted down inafewhours... "Oriana" is improving. I really liked this episode, but I still think the ser ies would have been better off without the obsessively precise Tudor parallels in the first episode. Hurry for "Dirty Nellie" stories.

Nice to know someone besides me remembers Dark Shadows ...

"Wasted Space" was great ...

One thing I've wondered about "The Weight" (aside from how did Kirk right off know it was Sarek rather than the Romulan Commander from "Balance of Terror"?) ... how come when people get shredded in fanzine stories nobody ever thinks to dump them on Omicron Ceti what ever and let the spores regenerate them? (One thing the on air ST did not lack was the deus ex machina and the easy out ... ) If it can grow back appendixes that have been surgically removed, it should be able to handle a measly eye ... and scarring due to a miscarriage also.

"The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" is wonderful to the point of inducing shell-shock. Lots of neat touches — reference to de Sade harking back to "Mirror Leerer" ((WS 10)), a tinkerbelle whose light would grow dim and fade ... that final illo where they both have their fingers crossed ...

I hate people who throw in tags of Latin or French or whatever without a) making the meaning clear from context (the great Fish is good at this), or b) providing a translation. [46]

[zine]:

[indirectly addressing Paula Smith's letter in the previous issue]... Does it really matter if "Oriana" is Henry VIII? And how can anybody be sure that the story came off after Henry VIII — the same plot occurs frequently in the royal Assyrian palace intrigues. Anyway, "Oriana" is showing promise of independent ideas. (But I'll bet that somebody is going to start yelling Mary Sue pretty soon.) [47]

[zine]: I am so glad to see a happy ending for Faulwell, but not so happy that her ad ventures are at an end. I mean, don't we get to see her grow up? (Some of us need some advice!) Surely she's not going to settle down Into dull normality just be cause she's getting married and her need for emotional security will presumably be satisfied? I have to compliment PoBlocki again on her handling of Faulwell's emo tions, though; maybe it's because I see myself as so similar to Faulwell, but she continues to seem incredibly real. I can feel the situation and it feels right the way Faulwell experiences it, right down to the way she has to test people's liking for her, and never quite believes that she's worth liking, let alone loving. Oh yeah, sister! Faulwell's happy ending makes those of us who are her other alter egos hang onto hope a little. Gee, that sounded dramatic. But that's about the effect I get from the story. It's also nice that McCoy gets a happy ending, too; Paula has written the most poignant Mc Coy in fandom, the one who most needs to have things work out for him. It does strike me that having McCoy nearly die before Faulwell actually agrees to marry him is somewhat cliched, even if, as Amy pointed out to me, it's perfectly within the character of Faulwell to almost blow something like that, it still seems a little tired. It is the easiest way a- round the situation, or similar ones, though; I have used it and will again.

Oh yes; I know Faulwell is really PoBlocki, but don't you think those illos were just a little too obvious? That's even Paula's expression on p. 32! I must confess to not really liking the McCoy illos, though.

For Jeanne Powers, who likes ST but not sf — which is certainly not a heresy, unless the more common reverse is — per haps there is some sf she hasn't tried that might be more up her alley. Zenna Henderson writes beautiful characters.

Anne McCaffrey's stories also have maximum characterization. Some of Clifford Simak is more personal than a lot of sf. I sympathize with a lot of her comments about sf, too; I'm also not fond of gadgetry and a lot of "science", but fortunately there is now also a lot of science fiction that focusses more on the characters. [48]

[zine]: ... "To The Water And The Wild" — beautiful imagery! Especially with the unicorn somehow fulfilling the needs of such varied people as McCoy and Spock.

"Oriana" — I thought those names were familiar ... it was in the first Nellie Gray story I ever read. But I wondered about Admiral Finnegan's comments about Starfleet not being able to tolerate pri vate gangs. Could Starfleet use "advancement ahead of schedule" as a way to break up that other famous gang — Kirk, Spock, and McCoy? If men can form close bonds of friendship and love — why not women as well?

Paula Block's tale — what an ending for the Faulwell series! Still, it is nice that two lonely people should find happiness with each other for now ...

I wish you hadn't devoted so much space to your WS parody. A lot of it was wasted space. But I cracked up over the "Editor's Neck" and Connie Fracas' LoC! I myself have wondered how you nuts can crank out fanzines so frequently ... [49]

[zine]: I loved every bit of WS 26/27 from cover to cover! Loved it! PoBlocki, Paula Smith, Leslie Fish, Jean Lorrah, Cheryl Rice, Roberta Rogow, all in one ish! I'm speechless ... "To The Water And The Wild" — a lovely, sensitive vignette of McCoy, hurt and lonely. I'm glad Tonia said it, "You're one of the few 'real people' on the Enter prise. " Perhaps that's what draws us to McCoy. He's so real, it hurts to see him alone, even in a crowd. Cheryl's ending was exquisite, sheer poetry! This is one piece I intend to reread many times over. Signe's illos were lovely. I especially liked her Spock illo on p. 23.

"Oriana" — Roberta Rogow Is a real tale-weaver ... I thorouglily enjoy the (mis)adventures of Dirty Sue ... er, Nel lie ...

Nan, your illo of Leila was beautiful! ... Paula Block! Love that woman! Every line was a gem. Sadie Mae, don't leave us — where arc we going to find another klutz who understands how we feel about McCoy? Flakey or not, we need you. You bring out the 'real' McCoy ...

Leslie Fish — consistently beautiful! I was glad to see Kirk snapping out of his "the hell with the Federation" mood. His defense of Sarek was the turning point. He is gradually regaining command of himself and the situation as they near their goal. Beautiful piece of writing!

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, WARPED SPACE generates a kindred feeling, a sense of "family". So, it's always comforting to see continuing contributions from familiar members, such as Karen K]inck and Carol Hansen. I love a good sing-a-long. So, keep them filksongs comin'. Music to read WS by?

"Paradox Lost" — as a Dark Shadows devotee, I enjoyed Jean Lorrah's satire. I never could figure out who the hell was who, where they came from, or what they were doing. I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

"Wasted Space" -- I got out my Paradise coloring pencils but found out they only went to 22. Darn! And how come I didn't get my copy of WASTED SPACE 1701? I sent in my three pints of blood and my favorite goldfish, "Rover". Can I help it if he died? Sixth class mail just ain't what it usta be ... [50]

[zine]: ... to the nice people who wrote about the Dirty Nellie stories ... a glossary has been written, and will be included in the issue with the next Dirty Nellie story. She comes into "Oriana" briefly because I originally wrote Yarrah-Bethan into a "Dirty Nellie at the Academy" story that appeared in STARFLEET ANNALS/AVATAR #4, and then I wanted to show how the Andor- rian got there — and so series are born. And if you think you have trouble under standing Dirty Nellie, think what Kirk feels like. I haven't tried to reproduce her accent — it's a cross between Black Street talk and Arkansas twang.

As to why I used historical references — that's a joke, son! I wanted to see how many of you out there were paying at tention in History class — and besides, it's still a good plot, and I'm so in volved in indexing, family, etc., that I steal plots whenever I can.

Actually, "Oriana" doesn't make exact parallels. So have fun with it, folks — I had a lot of fun writing it, and I never meant to write Great Literature anyway. I'm just happy that people read it, and some of them like it.

[snipped]

WS 26/27 — I liked the parody of WS itself. I'm glad to see that the editor can laugh at lierself. So often people take themselves and their fanzines far too seriously ... Cheryl Rice's story ... evokes a lovely mood. I think this is a much better "Shore Leave" story than the one that eventually reached the animated series — more depth, for one thing, and it explores some of tlie dangers inherent in calling up illusions out of our own memories.

"The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" brings the Faulwell series to a fitting close. I'm glad that Sadie (and Paula?) has reached that stage of maturity where she can accept the responsibility for another person's happiness. It ain't easy—Iknowalltoowell—andIlike the thought processes involved. But I do wish Paula wouldn't hop in and out of people's heads the way she does. Not as much as before, but it still makes for some confusion.

"The Weight" — my main complaint is that Anarchism doesn't work unless every body is crazy the same way together; one derf, one oddball, one clod who doesn't have the sensitivity to think your way and the whole system falls apart. In their own way the Anarchists are just as ruth lessly totalitarian as any other single- minded group. For all their so-called freedom, it is their way or none. The only reason the Enterprise crew go along with them is to get back into their own time-line. Frankly, I think the crew is being pretty forbearing with these types, and while their self-discipline works only as long as they can argue every point around, there will eventually come a day when someone has to give an order, and everyone has to obey it immediately, no matter what their personal feelings are. Authoritarian? You bet your bippy, luv, but when the Romulans attack you don't argue, you obey orders! The other thing that bugs me about "The Weight", much as I admire it, is the tacit assumption that ALL power is evil and ALL power corrupts . . .

Pat McCormack's article hits the nail right on the head as far as fan writing is concerned. The whole point of it is that we are sharing our fantasies with each other, and the fan-written characters are US, in the STAR TREK world. Each of us have our own fantasies, whet her they be Chantal, Faulwell, or Dirty Nellie, and we are delighted when other people share them. The problems seem to arise when other people's fantasies clash with ours and they get annoyed about it. Jean Lorrah put it very nicely in a letter in HALKAN COUNCIL, and I tried to put some of those same feelings into words (bad ones, as it turned out) in that same issue. When millions of people share a fantasy, a few see it in a different perspective. The Phenomenon of STAR TREK is that so many people can get so many different things out of it, ranging from the deep philosophical insights of the KRAITH and NTM and similar stories, to the simple slam-bang adventure stories that newer writers like to fool around with.

One reason I happen to keep recommend ing WARPED SPACE to people is because the editor includes a mix of stories — funny, serious, parodies, filksongs, serious poetry, and factual articles. This makes WS, in my opinion, one of the top fanzines — it comes out on a regular basis, the quality is consistently high, and the material is varied enough to have something to almost everyone's tastes. (If you really want That Other Stuff, there's always THE OBSC'ZINE.) [51]

[zine]: ... Starting with Paula Smith, her "Wasted Space" is the first example I've seen of a fanzine satirizing itself so well! I didn't realize how seriously I was taking Leslie Fish's "The Weight" until I read and went into hysterical laughter over "The Wait" ...

"Oriana" is very interesting. I don't share the objections written about Part I — some of the best sf written in the past ten years has followed the mode/style familiar to devotees of historical fiction and remained valid, and very successful, within sf (i.e. Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy).

... Leslie's (Kirk) is one of the most accurate, most carefully drawn portraits of James T. in fanfic. He is neither Superman, nor second-banana to Super-Vulcan, nor emasculated (as one LoC writer said). He is completely, vulnerably Human with no holds barred. I love itI

... concerning the so-called triad of Kirk/Spock/McCoy in fanfic ... there has been a great deal about the Kirk/Spock relationship and about .the relationship of Spock and McCoy. But I have yet to read any fiction, essays, or even poetry examining the friendship of James Kirk and Leonard McCoy. (I am not saying there is none — only none that I have seen to date.) My question is simply where is McCoy in relation to the Captain in Treklit as written by Trek fans? What importance does the good doctor have for James Kirk?

... I am not, appearances to the contrary, a fanatic-McCoy-freak — in fact it is my interest/fanaticism for the character of Kirk in fanfic which led me to this side query. Specifically, where is McCoy in such Treklit epics as "The Weight", for example? I don't mean where physically. I know what happened in the Big E's timeline and in the Anarchists'. Leslie mentions barely a paragraph of nar ration in which one McCoy dies and the other remains "an old country doctor". The whole of Kirk's mourning, his loneliness and his searching is then delegated to Spock, without, it seems, another thought for Bones. I hope no one, including Leslie, mistakes my intent. I am questioning, not criticizing. I think "The Weight" is one of the most articulate, most sensitive and intelligent stories I have read in and out of sf/ST lit. My question is only on the near-absence of one of the central characters of ST — if McCoy is what he has been called — Kirk's closest confidant, his human-conscience, his most reliable, non-competitive friend, why doesn't the Kirk in "The Weight" even mention McCoy to the Anarchists? He lovingly describes Spock ... why not Bones? What do fannish writers really think McCoy and Kirk share beyond the friendship of a certain Vulcan? [52]

[zine]: "Oriana" ... talk about your multi-purpose organs! The antennae of the Andorians are more than useful, they're taking over the story! The antennae determine if some one is dead, they have sexual embraces, they express anger, they itch and need scratching (but don't do it in public!), they're used for formal and informal kisses, they greet other Andorians, they absorb poison easily (thus causing the death of their owners!), they dip to signify obedience, they signal all types of emotions, they give instructions, they bow, they twitch (oh, how they twitch ... and twitch ... and twitch ... ), they quiver, they scent odors, they curl up and down with worry, and they seem to be terrific sex symbols! They seem to be both indispensable and ever-present! In every other line! Does T'Rass ever raise her eyelids? ...

I have nothing but cheers for Paula Block's "The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" ... it was outstanding in every way, technique, content, characterization. and dialogue ... [53]

[zine]: Enjoyed it all, with the "Soap" and "Wasted Space" highest on the list for kudos. It always takes courage to marry off one of the Big 3 — and I assume Faulwel1 is going to be permitted to stay alive,and on the Enterprise. Ah, realism! Good for Paula Block. Good for Sadie!

"Oriana" takes me back to my lost youth, when I followed the adventures of heroines much like Yarrah, Nellie, T'Rass — although then they were all British schoolgirls in private boarding scnoois. But it's done with flair, it hangs to gether. It is for enjoyment.

"To the Water and the Wild" — Spock and an ersatz unicorn? Amazing how a Vulcan who goes into Pon Farr as often as he does can remain a virgin ...[54]

Issue 28

front cover of issue #28, Anji Valenza
back cover of issue #28, Robin Wood

Warped Space 28 was published in August 1977 and is 57 pages long. It was the first issue to contain fiction from other fandoms and included the first Star Wars fan fiction published in a multimedia zine.

The art is by Bill Bow, Carolynn Ruth, Mary Bloemker, Gordon Carleton, Connie Faddis, Jane Firmstone, Leslie Fish, Leah Rosenthal, Joni Wagner, Marcia Scott, Debbie Walsh and Robin Wood (back cover), Anji Valenza (front cover).

From the editorial:

I hope this issue is as good as I intended it to be. Things got a little rushed as the deadline approached. As I type this, the cover and illos for three stories still haven't arrived for the OB, and I'm still awaiting artwork for three stories for WS 28. Both these 'zines are being laid out this weekend and will be deposited at the printer's early next week, and will appear at ST America. I sincerely thank my main printer, THE PAPER EATER (ominous title, that!), for agreeing to only a partial payment upon pick-up for these two issues. If he hadn't agreed to this, I wouldn't be able to get these out at this time. As Pam Kowalski says,' "Do Unto Others, Then Jump Into Hypbrspace (Mos Eisley graffiti)!"

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 28

[zine]:Thish opens with the third part of Roberta Rogow's "Oriana" and an accompanying background "Report to the Committee." This segment diverges notably from its Tudor models, and the improvement in plotting and characterization is proportional. Ro- gow even pokes sly fun at the parallels and at herself via a down-at-heels T'Kuhtian playwright named (naturally) Shasper'N. "Exile", by Abraham Rodriguez, is psycho-logically sound--the "Paradise Syndrome" Indians need a scapegoat and Salish is "it"--but technically rough around the edges. The same criticism applies to Leah Rosenthal's "Relativity". Both stories would also have benefitted from a little more cultural accuracy: Indians did not believe in angels, and Puritans did not ordinarily consort with Catholic priests. "Interstellar Babysitters, Inc." has an air of inevitability about it, one of those stories that are bound to be written sooner or later. It's a take-off (by two of it practitioners) on that staple genre of fanzine fiction, "Spock's (Kirk's/McCoy's/Uhura's) Little Bastard and How It Grew." The ending, appropriately, is in the tradition of the classic horror story. Poor Sarek. The zine winds up with three STAR WARS pieces, all nicely done. "And the Gods Shall Weep," despite the rather gaudy title, is a compact story that proves that Jane Firmstone ␣ ␣ write well-characterized fiction when she sets her mind to it. Graphics throughout the zine are excellent, with Connie Faddis' drawing of Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi outstanding. Highly recommended. [55]

[zine]:

I'm a perfect cavewoman when it comes to poetry, so have nothing to say about the poems. I read them-, sometimes a miracle will occur, and one clicks. Sometimes. The stories range from adequate to great. And that's a matter of opinion, of course. I haven't found a really awful one — not in WS — which is something, after all.

I rather liked "Oriana", although I thought "Part III: The Return" a little too pat. Made me think that Roberta Rogow wanted to wrap it up in a hurry, or something. I was a little disappointed in Mad Maurya, since I was getting to be quite fond of her, and was hoping to see accomplish a few dastardly deeds. But she folded like a wet noodle. Pity.

Also, I read a LoC about "Oriana" before I could read Part 1. Now, I'll never know if I could have recognized the Tudor clan without a clue. Which brings me to anoth er thing: what with "Oriana" and "Relativity" (WS 28), you seem to be quite fond of old English history. Or is it just coincidence? I would expect less Tudors and Stewarts, and more Washingtons, Jeffersons, and Civil Wars in an American fanzine. However, I don't know why I'm complaining. I'm French, and I used to be quite fond of British history myself. How about the Plantagenets? They were a lively lot, too.

The STAR WARS take-offs in WS 28 were good, especially "On The Border", but then, I'm a Han Solo fan. That's an odd thing, too: I always like that kind of guy — Solo, Kirk, etc. — on screen, whereas in "real life", any Mr. Super will make me grit my teeth. On the lighter side, "Interstellar Babysitters, Inc." was a riot, although I couldn't place all of the little darlings. The blonde "Beat me" girl, who is she? I suspect the authors of having slipped in a few concoctions of their own... such as a 3-foot legless Vulcan dwarf.

"Rhinestones and Mush: Treasure Chest" was priceless. To be fair, I must point out that "Treasure" was the weakest of the "Diamonds and Rust" stories I've read. It simply didn't stand up well on its own. On the other hand, "Idols I Have Loved" and "To Each His Own" and "Undone" did. And they were good stories (yes, I know you've stopped the D&R controversy in the LoCs. Too bad: I was enjoying myself hugely.) Frankly -- and I can hear the catcalls all the way from Michigan to Quebec -- The D&R Kirk -- who did sound and act like a pimply school-boy in "Treasure" -- grabs me more than The Weight Kirk. I went into shock when I saw him in drag, and only recovered to be confronted by that ghastly Crown-of-Mirrors. And now, it's tuberculosis. Thanks a lot, Leslie Fish! Don't get me wrong: as a story, I think "The Weight" superior to the D&R series, whose cloak-and-dagger style of writing makes for less intense reading. I enjoy both. But I prefer the dejected Kirk of D&R to the mangled Kirk of "The Weight." And if you really want the truth, I prefer the Alternative Universe 4 Kirk to either of those. As I said before, that's a question of personal opinion. I will say that as a straight story, "The Weight" is definitely superior to anything I've read so far in ST fandom. Except maybe Kraith.. My other problem -- and the first is gagging from time to time at Kirk's and/or Jenneth's appearance -- is that I haven't read Part I, or II and can't tell who is who, or whatever. I'm abjectly grateful to have been told, at least, that Kirk is Jenneth and Ann Bailey is Scotty's sister. Do you have a list somewhere, or is one supposed to be looking right and left for doubles and relatives. And why the emphasis on Québecois French and Québecois themselves? As one of the latter, and speaker of the former, I'm interested. Names like "Jean Battre-le- Diable" are definitely seventeenth-centurish. I suppose Leslie knows it. Just thought I'd mention it. Some Americans still think of us as woodsy trappers.

I should wrap this up before it turns into a fanzine (WARPED SPACE of 3:15 p.m.: WASTED SPACE was just that, but kind of fun anyway). I said before that I liked Landing Party 6 — anything for a laugh — and Sadie Faulwell in WS 26/27 was likeable as well as droll. I can't think of a more ludicrous thing to do to a man who's just proposed marriage, than to list all the other options open to you — with another man, yet! In McCoy's place, I'd have wrung her neck, thus avoiding that heart attack.

I'll clinch this with a word on the LoCs, which are instructive as well as fun (yes, I'm addicted to fun). Finally learnt what a XXYZYZ Mary Sue was, and I must say, I've felt a bit peeved myself, when confronted with "Little Miss Perfect" in several fanzines. The thing that got me the most was those (censored) had been dreamed up by women. One has to be slightly deranged to imagine that kind of female. I'd understand it better if a man who'd had a couple of bad relationships, and wound up trying to create the perfect mate. But for a woman to have to believe that she has to be perfect to be worthy of a man? Is Captain Kirk perfect? Is "our" Vulcan perfect? Or McCoy? Scotty, or any other man on the Enterprise? Not by a long shot, they're not! So why should we bend over backwards to find perfect mates for them? That's one of the reasons I like Chantal Caberfae, in spite of a lot of things: perfect, she's not. Neither are Sadie Faulwell, Dirty Nellie, and some others. On the other hand, it seems to me that every female character created by fans is sooner or later accused of "Mary Sueism". Let's not go overboard: fan writers are certainly not going to give birth to totally inept or unattractive females. I can just see poor Captain Macho open his one eye, take a good look at the contingent of new female Yeomen and officers beaming up to the ship, and jump out of the nearest porthold, coughing dismally. Now, you wouldn't want that to happen. Or would you?

I've probably forgotten something, but it'll do for now. Enough bitching. Despite all the adverse comments, I do love WARPED SPACE. Honest.

[from Leslie Fish]: "Kirk in drag" ... ? Hmmm, not even Jenneth wears a dress, but hang in there; it's due to get weirder yet. As for the emphasis of Michigan/Quebecois French, remember that a lot of northern rural Michigan was French-settled, and that in the event of a collapse of civilization, these small farmers, fishermen and small-craft shop keepers would be in a better position to survive than the city-folk of a one-industry-dependent burg like, say, Detroit. As to how Jean Battre-le-Diable got his name — hee! hee! — read on! [56]

[zine]:

... a few comments on WS 28. I en joyed it, as expected; it's always a bright day when the new WS comes in the mail. I do have a few reservations, though ... the major one, some disappointment at finding so much STAR WARS material therein. Three stories, plus a poem, and illos scattered throughout: that's a bit much for a zine that focuses mainly on ST. I know SW is a very popular movie, and I enjoyed it too — at least the opticals — still I much prefer your STAR TREK material. Personal preference, of "course. IDIC.

And the SW stories were good, I'll admit. I particularly enjoyed the bitter sweet "And The Gods Shall Weep"; it was very well (and sympathetically) written. But — where did Jane get the idea that Darth Vader was human? The movie very carefully never goes under his surface (sic); that black shell of "steel" could be armor, or a disguise, or ... "skin". I smiled throughout "On The Border" — is that Kim Blekis's first piece published? She writes dialogue very naturally (except that I don't think the Wookiee would be so quiet as that!). As for the ST' stuff, my favorite was definitely "Interstellar Babysitters, Inc." — hysterical! This is the first purely humorous thing I've read from Eileen and Leslye, and I chuckled and chortled while reading their (self-among- others) satire/insanity. Both women are obviously well-read fen!

Wasn't so happy with "Oriana", Part III. I liked the second installment best; we saw a glimpse there of character, and friendship-despite-differences. But Part I and especially Part III tried to fit too much story into too few words. I felt as if I were reading a synopsis; and the solution — well, English history, and now a quickie Hamlet? With swordplay, of course.

Mostly, though, the ish was enjoyable; but I wish it'd had more Trek! I need my fix ... [57]

[zine]:

Diversity is a good thing, not that I am getting tired of STAR TREK, but new work based on STAR WARS and original fiction ought to be interesting and enjoyable. So, write on, even if some of it will be as trite and poorly written as some STAR TREK literature has been. Considering the immense popularity of the movie, such offerings are surely inevitable, and it will be fun second-guessing Lucas on the sequel(s). I almost like Darth Vader, homicidal megalomaniac that he is. He falls slightly short of being the archetypical super- villain, for he hesitates and is unsure at times, and can be caught off guard. There is something about him that suggests he could have been as much a hero as he is a villain. In short, he is believable, more credit to Lucas for that. What, may I ask, is a T'Kuhtian? They seem to be a parody of Vulcans and might be cousins to them as are the Romulans. Shasper is obviously an analog of Shakespeare, but he seems misplaced in "Oriana". Which was otherwise enjoyable, as it opened up another hypothetical non- human culture for me. The moveable an tennae and blue skin I can accept, but six breasts? And Andorians litter? One only hopes their fertility is otherwise low or they would repeatedly overpopulate themselves into disasters.

"Finnegan's Song" was delightfully funny and is probably about the only piece of ST poetry or music that I've really liked so far. Not that the STAR TREK PRIMER didn't leave me in hysterics, mind you ...[58]

[zine]: I noticed from your editorial that you must be getting a lot of flak about non-Trek material. I think that most of us have always been grateful for the quality and content of WS and could always be assured that more ST stories would soon be on the way. I'm sure most Trek-fans have many varied interests, as do I. It's just that everybody has been conditioned to WS being ST for so long. Hopefully, most of us don't need to be stimulated to read other things. Anyway — it IS your right to print whatever you as editor wish to print and if someone objects, they just don't have to buy it. I still will look forward to WS as I know the ST stories, as well as the non-Trek stuff, will be of high quality. Whenever I've been in touch with someone who's just 'discovered' 'zines, I always recommend WS and will continue to do so. You are providing a tremendous service to fandom.[59]

[zine]:

I'm really enjoying my subscription to WS. I only wonder why I waited so long.

I have to admit that at first I was disturbed by the inclusion of other non-Trek material in recent issues, namely STAR WARS stories. I saw the film of course, but didn't really feel any of the characters were developed enough to warrant such an outpouring of stories. However, the stories you've published in WS so far are beginning to change my mind. The talented writers have given dimension to what were, I feel, essentially stark characters.

I'm still not sure that I wouldn't prefer an all STAR TREK 'zine, but I'll reserve judgment until I read a few more issues.

The "Miscellanea" column is helpful and entertaining. Hope we'll see more of it in future issues.[60]

[zine]: The lettercol in WS continues to fascinate, repel, attract and generally enthrall me. (And now I've discovered MENAGERIE has one equally as vocal and a little more ferocious!) Is it considered cricket for unknown fans watching from the sidelines (yeah ... me!) to write directly to the fans whose addresses you so conveniently list? Or would they resent it or ignore it? Should I enclose s.a.s.e.? Some I'd just like to let know how very much I enjoy their stuff. Others ... well, some I'd flat like to argue with/debate/hash over/discuss with! But only in a friend ly fashion ... love debate and hate fights!

... "First Meeting" was beautiful. The best story in the ish, it deserved the Faddis illo. A really well-written story. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Jackie's work.

"On the Border" ... thanks, Kim! Han Solo was my favorite STAR WARS humanoid, and this story caught him perfectly! How about one now on how he and Chewbacca met and became a team?

Jane Firmstone continues to get better with each new story. The only point I questioned in "And the Gods Shall Weep" was the Jedi Knights' rejection of Vader after his face was disfigured. That doesn't ring true of those like Kenobi, who serve and use the Force for good. Perhaps Nadja could have pointed out that Darth projected his own feelings of self- rejection onto those around him. It's a very minor quibble, however! [61]

[zine]: ... I'm almost sorry to see "Oriana'" end. There will be more of Yarrah-Beth-an's adventures, won't there? "Exile" is a somber and very neat little tie-up scene. I'm glad to see people getting into Poblocki's mini-scenes ... such short-shorts can be wonderfully effective when done well ... "Interstellar Baby sitters, Inc." had me splitting my sides.

... The STAR WARS stories — all of them quite good vignettes — open up a whole new question for Trek-fans, i.e., how do we relate to the popularity of STAR WARS? There's little connection between the two fictional universes, since STAR WARS happened "long ago, in a galaxy far away". and it would take some really improbable fictional devices to get them together. Also, for all its lovely story idea possibilities, STAR WARS is short on characterization — where STAR TREK excelled — good/clean/fun with not much depth, good on special effects and not very big on thought-provoking ideas.

Just technically, STAR WARS and STAR TREK are not designed to meet each other: the moods and modes are totally different. This doesn't mean that the fans of either have to be on different sides of a fence, as has too often happened with STAR TREK and regular science fiction fans, but it does allow for a possible pap. Another problem is that some Trek-fans fear (and knowing the eccentric stupidities of the TV magnates, who can blame them?) that the success of STAR WARS will somehow damage the revival of STAR TREK. Hopefully that worry will be laid to rest when the new STAR TREK series hits the airwaves this Spring. Until then, there's no reason why we can't have the best of both universes. For my part, I thought Jackie Paciello's "First Meeting" was the best story in the issue -- fleshing out Luke's past and adding some nice development to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who's my second-favorite STAR WARS character (Han Solo and Chewbacca are tied for first place). I'd like to see a story about how the Old Republic was brought low and how the Jedi Knights came to be exterminated ... [62]

[zine]: I was disappointed to see STAR WARS stories in WARPED SPACE 28. STAR WARS may be an enthusiastic movie with great (though inaccurate) special effects, but I see no reason to reduce STAR TREK to the level of that wowee-Saturday-afternoon-space-cadet picture. I'm not saying it's a bad movie. I wouldn't have seen it eight times if I thought that. But the show is quite obviously designed for the simple-minded. STAR WARS is not even science fiction; nor does it involve humans in any way.

On another aspect, if you allow yourself to get into STAR WARS, which I al most did, you realize that the character expansion done to STAR TREK by fan fiction should not be done to STAR WARS. STAR TREK started off with real characters, and real characters can always be developed. STAR WARS had no real characters. Luke Skywalker was not a real person; he was the symbol of everyone's spirit of adventure trapped in the dullness of everyday living. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the teacher/father we all knew. Grand Moff Tarkin is the tyrant we all hate. But the one character whose characteristics should not be explored the most is Darth Vader, Darth Vader (or Dark Invader) is the Devil Incarnate. The symbol of death — a black robed and masked figure. Once Darth Vader becomes real to you he loses his effectiveness as the Dark Power ... [63]

[zine]:

Am glad you got the STAR WARS out of your system, now back to STAR TREK. The big problem with the STAR WARS stories is that an incredible amount of back ground must be established by the authors (which these did not do), since the characters in STAR WARS were little more than paper dolls or comic book heroes; shallow, insubstantial, little motivations and thought processes shown. I liked STAR WARS, don't misunderstand me, but STAR TREK it is not and never will be. No lessons in cultural misunderstandings taught, no IDIC demonstrated, no diplomacy exhibited to keep the ways of peace in the worlds. Instead, a glorification of militarism, a return to science fiction of the 30's and 40's, aimed at juvenile males, with women firmly in their place as prizes of war. The fact that the Princess got to sword-fight with the big boys doesn't mean she is out of that status — George Lucas said on the ABC "Making of STAR WARS" special that they just hadn't decided yet who was going to "get" her. So ah, there, feminists, it's back to the kitchens and nurseries with you, while the heroes are out in the space ships ... [64]

[zine]:

Someone ... castigated STAR TREK fen for being so delighted with STAR WARS, because the characterizations and plot were so shallow. The STAR WARS stories in WARPED SPACE 28 show clearly that the writers among us can do plenty with that theme in spite of that shallowness. In fact, the shallowness may be an advantage since it allows each writer to use his imagination more fully. I'm delighted and hope to see lots more! STAR WARS is space fantasy, let's take it on that basis and enjoy it or not as our own tastes decree. [65]

[zine]: WARPED SPACE 28, cover to cover, brilliant. To cover the illustrations first; you are terribly cruel, putting Faddis and Wagner work in the same ish. Terribly hard on the ego ... Where is Nan Lewis? I look forward to my issuely fit of despair and jaw-gaping disbelief at her portraits. I feel like an addict!

"Oriana" ... beautiful, Roberta! I thoroughly enjoyed Shasper'N and his assorted woes. "The Return" drew it all together perfectly and was a very satisfying end to a very satisfying story. "Exile" left me with mixed feelings. It was a well-written, reasonable story, very, very right. That would have happened. But it disturbed me, because Salish, after all, was right about Kirok.

... "Interstellar Babysitters" totally cracked me up and Gordon's priceless illo was the last straw. The comedic Hugo of the year goes to Jane Firmstone for her funny cartoon! I have never seen anyone destroy a character's image so thoroughly!

Kelly Hill, for someone who isn't much for poetry, you are incredible. Mary Bloemker's accompanying illo was magnificent, but I can't think of an artist alive who could match the beauty and the feeling of those words.

As for "And The Gods Shall Weep", I ' object to Firmstone's handling of Vader. Vader to me is one big rotter and I can't see any need to feel sorry for him. I mean, Jane thoroughly took him apart on p. 14. The character in "And The Gods" is too human to be Vader. The point is, Vader was full of it before he got messed up. He'd already been "seduced by the dark side of the force". I have little sympathy. [66]

[zine]: Enjoyed the latest ish of WARPED SPACE. The STAR WARS thing on Luke and Obi-Wan was the best of the STAR WARS things in the 'zine — I disliked intensely the thing by Jane Firmstone on Darth Vader and Nadja.

Since when does anyone in the STAR WARS universe wear silver lame jumpsuits? I thought we all breathed a secret sigh of relief that nobody did. All right, we have no positive evidence that no one wears them, but she makes a great target — sparkling decoratively in what light there is. Vader's virtually invisible. What's wrong with a homespun shirt and culottes — preferably black, especially if you have some insane idea of killing Darth Vader? Who the hell is Jon Wheyrwen? It says, from the man's own mouth, that Darth was Obi-Wan Kenobi's pupil, and that is a damned important aspect of Darth's personality ... and Kenobi's relationship to him. Kenobi, the primary force for good in the STAR WARS universe, taught Darth Vader, the primary force for evil. It is the one thing that adds just a little gray to the otherwise black/white universe. The next sticky wicket is Darth getting booted out of the Jedi because he was maimed in an accident. Oh, really? You can't be in our club 'cause yer funny-looking, or rather, ugly? The next weird stuff involves Nadja's so-called skill with a lightsabre. If she's as good as most Jedi masters, how the hell is it she has "obvious weaknesses"? That doesn't say much for the Jedi masters, does it?

Now we get to the plot ... in my opinion the meat of this story lies in the idea that Nadja loved Darth Vader! I mean, come on, guys, the woman loved Darth Vader. How? Why? When? I mean, what a neat ideal And, instead of getting the good stuff on this, we get this woman who looks like a complete crackpot trying to kill Darth Vader out of vengeance. God knows Leia Organa would be more justified in killing Darth than Nadja. Isn't Nadja's whole problem that she can't hack the idea of Darth not loving her? She hates him for rejecting her, not because dear Dad and brother Dalen got their chips cashed on Alderaan. Ok. So she wants to kill him, whatever her motives — it doesn't matter if she doesn't know why she wants to kill him (Darth does, force bless the man!) — Darth doesn't want to kill her. But, shock of all things, he wounds her and rather then take her to a healer — which is what he said he'd do — he kills her. That's crazy. The goddamn thing doesn't make any sense. He should have taken her to the healer, and maybe spanked her bottom for being such an idiot.

Argh! This story drove me up a wall. I nearly sent my ish into orbit, hurling it across the room. And Darth Vader, my sweetheart, sniveled into his breath- mask! Erg! Jane Firmstone better watch it if she goes wandering down any dark alleys — I'd perpendicularly bisect her if I were Darth Vader. Snivel in my breath-mask indeed!

And let's not have any Princess Mary Sue stories, neither! [67]

[zine]: The STAR WARS vignettes were ok, particularly "First Meeting." Jackie did a good job on characterizations even in that short a space, and even of Owen, who is hardly seen in the movie. The event seems plausible. I'm not so sure about the event in "And The Gods Shall Weep", but maybe I just see Darth Vader as the archetypal baddie, a la Sauron, devoid of gentler feelings after his fall, and particularly of love; I've seen a definition of evil that says that evil is the absence of love, and Darth certainly seems to be evil with few redeeming features except his pride, which seems to be an attractive feature in men of great charisma, whether good or evil. The incident in the past of his life I find believable, but not that the feelings still linger on any level still close to the surface. Somehow I don't think that Darth would have hesitated to kill Nadja; and especially at the beginning of the story, he comes off too much like Spock.

... I react to STAR WARS primarily as to a heroic fantasy, and to the characters in it as the semi-archetypes found in fantasies, though the portrayal in STAR WARS is not exact — Princess Leia, for instance, is not your typical heroic fantasy female, and there's a good deal of irreverence in STAR WARS that wouldn't be found in a real epic. A lot of the movie does come from the comics tradition. However, one thing strikes me as being common to both comics and fantasy: the evil characters are evil because they choose to be evil, not because of circumstance, as is implied in "And the Gods Shall Weep." (Although I thought I heard somewhere that while Darth was supposedly disfigured when he was younger, the disfigurement came while he was fighting against the Jedi, that is, he had already chosen the evil path before his "accident" -- not as a result of his nature being warped because of it and people's reactions to his disfigurement.) If the evil characters did not choose evil, they would lose their purpose in the story. Fantasy and comics and that whole genre tells us that it is possible to make a choice be tween good and evil, and that in fact everyone does. In fantasy, the choice is more obvious than it usually is, and is often expressed in physical appearance — the evil character is horribly disfigured or like Sauron, cannot take a form suit able to human eyes ... The audience reacts not only to the evil deeds of a character like Darth, but to the horror of his unnaturalness, and giving the unnaturalness a natural explanation -- especially a sympathetic one — diminishes the character somewhat, and changes his nature ... I was very surprised to see Kim on p. 47, but I should have realized who the female pirate was at the beginning. WS is going to have the distinction of being the first 'zine all of whose characters are literally the alter egos on the writers. Or maybe the writers are just avatars of the characters ... I'd like

to be Luke Skywalker, the small matter of gender aside; I'm also a little short for a storm trooper. [68]

[zine]: I've been thinking a lot lately about the possible extent of STAR WARS fandom- to-come, and being thankful that I'm here for the start of it (instead of missing out on 9 years like I did for STAR TREK). Can only 2 hours of film support anything like what over 70 hours of aired episodes has produced? I think it can! There are Wookie stories, Corellian pirate stories and over 2,000 generations of Jedi Knights. Of necessity, STAR WARS writers will have to be more original from the beginning. But that's good. The STAR WARS stories in WS 28 have already made a good start, and I hope there will be many more coming; I want to read every single one.

"First Meeting" is almost exactly what I pictured had happened. After all, Kenobi didn't walk up to Owen's house and knock on the front door! The whole story worked very well and Connie's illo was just beautiful ...

[69]

[zine]: I'm sure that somewhere amidst the scribbles of Corellian folklore there must be some axiom that runs "Act Now — Think Later." I was glad to see the humor in the last installment of "Oriana"; the story came alive with it ...

"Relativity" was light, and though, I assume, told just for the fun of telling, it was also a nice relief from all that heavy-duty stuff trudging its way through the 'zines.

I was particularly pleased to see the STAR WARS stories. I've been waiting, rather anxiously and apprehensively, I must admit, to see what the first few stories to show up would be like. I kept hearing rumors along the line of people deifying Ben even as they forget Darth is a being like the rest of us, not Satan; not to mention glimmers of christianizing the force. And so, I was concerned. I'm happy to read that my fears were unnecessary as far as WS is concerned.

"First Meeting" and "On the Border" showed excellent grasps of character dialog while making their points simply and without excess baggage ... About the only quibble I have with that story is the line, "There was an air of confidence around her, crisp and businesslike — yet she had a vague flicker of femininity in her dark brown eyes." Repeat that with the word "masculinity" subbing for femininity... It's a small point in a good story, but as a person who tries to be 'crisp and businesslike' in her profession, I grow exasperated when such behavior is assumed to be masculine, but not a natural part of my womanliness ...

"And The Gods ... " had a lot that was good about it. I found the fight easy to follow, which is more than I can say for a lot of battle scenes in most stories. Darth's dialog sounded a bit more real than Nadja's, but then, I just may have a low tolerance for melodrama. I think if her words had been a bit, eh, more bitterly sophisticated, the whole story would have rung the nerves more success fully. She's right when she says " ... because I do love you I can kill you ... " but I think someone who has come to face the truth that a loved one has turned into such as Darth would have travelled beyond the heated emotions Nadja shows to that colder, tighter world where, because you have already mentally killed that love in your own soul, you can face the de cision to kill the reality. There is more terror in the betrayal of the mind than in the wounding of the heart; had Nadja passed beyond passion to justice, there could have been more angry sorrow in her passing and a greater grasp of the danger Darth threatens. I think all who would write about Darth should remember that here is a being who as a very young man, barely a boy, had been capable of fooling even a knowledgeable Jedi like Obi-wan ... .

Loved "Interstellar Babysitters, Inc." for the above reasons and because I'm a sucker for satire. [70]

Issue 29/30

front cover of issue #29/30, Randy Ash
back cover of issue #29/30, Joni Wagner

Warped Space 29/30 was published in November 1977 and is 121 pages long. Fantasy cover by Randy Ash Other art by Randy Ash, Beckey Aulenbach, Mary Bloemker, Gordon Carleton, Mary Ann Emerson, Richard Knowles, Connie Faddis, Leslie Fish, Amy Harlib, Nan Lewis, Martynn, Monica Miller, Leah Rosenthal, Carolyn Ruth, Anji Valenza, Joni Wagner, Carol Walske, and Robin Wood.

This issue has a special supplement called Star Trek America -- 1977 -- A Retrospective.

The editor thanks thirteen fans "for donating money to the T'Kuhtian Press Typewriter Fund. Individual donations ranged from $.80 to $10.00 and the total raised since WS 28 was printed was $82.12, more than enough for two more month's payments! I have about twelve more payments to make."

Also from the editor: "Letters regarding the inclusion of STAR WARS fiction in the last issue of WARPED SPACE ran about four-to-one in, favor of such materials. I will continue to print STAR WARS fiction, but will try to keep WARPED SPACE a primarily STAR TREK fanzine ..."

inside back cover, Man from Atlantis art by Gordon Carleton

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 29/30

[zine]:

I enjoyed the STAR TREK America 1977 supplement very much ... Leah Rosenthal is to be commended for a good sense of humor and artistic style ...

I like cartoons. It took me two readings to get the punch-line about the womp rats, but the laugh was worth the effort. The one of the Vulcan flashing himself was funny, too. The art for "The Green wood" was very good. I liked the story, too, it had me fooled until the last few lines. Really snuck up on me.

Of the past several WS I've received, I think "Gohirsid Jon" was a clear cut above the rest in an original story plot and conception, and I enjoyed it[71]

[zine]: Another double ish with a lot of variety. Front cover by Randy Ash, who is an up and coming young artist and zine ed -- I think he's going to be right up there with artists like Miller, Faddis, Landon, and [Gayle F] in another year or two. Inside cover of certain interesting characters from a galaxy far, far away... (cover was stapled poorly though). Lots of zine and fan news, a service I appreciate. 'Ask the Right Question' in my opinion, one of the best NTM stories -- a very interesting story of how and why pon farr. Beautiful poem and illo by Leah Rosenthal 'Uni-verse.' There are parodies of episodes and episode sequels -- two each sequels to 'City on the Edge' and 'Errand of Mercy.' Several S.W. items, poetry, and short stories as well as cartoons (with a gorgeous Luke by Walske on page 54). AND another installment of Fish's The Weight. (ye gods, is 'The Weight' now part 1 or a trilogy??!) One of the best stories in the whole ish is 'Gorhisid Jon,' a tale from her Klysadel Series -- it is neither Trek or SW, and is very good with excellent illos. [72]

[zine]:

I am somewhat disconcerted when I reflect that, in the time it's taken me to get out one lousy issue of MENAGERIE, Lori Chapek has churned out over 300 pages of fanzine, and planned a con to boot. Reflecting the changing interests of much of fandom, WS has continued to feature--indeed, emphasize--stories, songs, poems, articles and trivia about STAR WARS, There's a definite advantage in this, besides the joy of diversity; the Mary Sues and Get Togethers haven't quite caught up with Luke and Han yet.

#29/30 is the most trekkish of these recent issues. Therein, Jean Lorrah's "Ask the Right Question" explores the contrasting role of genetic engineering in Vulcan n and Terran life. Two vignettes dealing with the mind sifter Incident in Errand of Mercy, "The Learning" by Jean Stevenson and "A Dealer in Kevas and Trillium" by Juanita Salicrup, give independent and quite different views of what happened. Anji Valenza' s "Gohirsid Jon" is told in prose and considerably fewer pictures than in her old zine, MONKEY OF THE INKPOT. I found it difficult to follow, but the characters are engrossing. "Afterthought" begins a series of SW stories, by Jackie Paciello and Po Block. Plus there' s Section One of Part IV in Book A of Fish's "The Weight." Contents - 5. Graphics - 5. $ Worth - 5. [73]

[zine]: ... Certainly it's possible to have the best of the ST and the SW universes! They are so different, there's really no reason for one "killing" the other. Only the fans themselves — or the "brains" who do the supervision of television and movie production — can do that.

Was put off by Glen Strathy's comment (WS 29/30) regarding the fact that "SW is obviously designed for the simple-minded." Must have a new definition of the term. A friend belongs to Mensa .. , and has enough sense to come in out of the rain on top of that. According to the latest communication, said friend has seen SW at least 25 times, intends to see it several more times, and finds some new insight with every viewing.

Wonder if anyone else heard Paul Harvey's news report that religious leaders are starting to call SW a filming of the New Testament — set in the future?

Faddis's "Day In The Life Of Darth Vader" was funeee! The cloak he wears is beautifully impressive; the things are more comfortable and easier to move around in than a coat or a jacket — but they CAN get in the way when they're floor-length.

The poem "Biggs" matched the illo — too bad they had to cut him out of the movie so much! The mood was just right. And Joni Wagner's back cover ... *sigh*.

Will put my foot in it. I liked Jane Firmstone's story about Darth Vader that appeared in WS 28! Will admit when I first read the story, I got the impression that the idea was that Vader got booted out of the Jedi because he'd been maimed. However, on re-reading, I began to wonder if perhaps — as someone else said in 29/30's lettercol — Vader wasn't projecting this idea? Even if Firmstone's theory was that Vader's maiming prompted his leaving the Jedi because he was no longer "perfect", so what! If that's the way the writer saw the situation, then I can respect the author's right to say so. Let's face it though — all too often in real life, there have been instances where those who have handicaps — be they mental or physical — are not welcome in the "club". Methinks a few peoples' flea collars must be more than 90-days old. Something seems to have been biting them of late, if letters in various zines are any indication.

Noticed one theme in the 29/30 letter-column. Several seemed to be yelling that "SW isn't ST and never will be." Fine! Just where is it written that they have to be? With the on-again, off-again, who- knows-what that the ST fans keep getting, is it any wonder that a lot of them are expanding their scope of interests to include something that apparently will be around and growing for a while?

The fact that an "incredible amount of background has to be furnished by authors" could be a blessing in disguise. It could also be an excellent teaching device. At least, maybe readers won't have "gay" SW stories to contend with from every direction. Sure, the writers who see that theory as valid have the right to express themselves. However, I'm getting a bit tired of being told I'm wrong for not wanting to read the stuff!

Why was there so much discussion about the use of silver lame in the Firmstone story? Perhaps the author was implying that Nadja sensed she was going to her death and was feminine enough to be wanting to look her best (feminine meaning that the "fluffy" side of her nature breaks out once in a while.). Perhaps the author wanted to emphasize the contrast between good and evil — which black against silver certainly does! Per haps the author likes silver lame'! Twelve lines of crabbing about silver lame was a bit redundant.

A couple of things rubbed my fur the wrong way. So, one reader hopes WS has gotten SW out of its system and will go back to ST? Funny, I thought Lori Chapek-Carleton was the editor of the zine, and that she was the one to determine what would and would not be printed. Since when did WS threaten all sorts of dire punishments if the readers didn't like everything that's printed in its pages? Heaven knows, there's enough ST to keep the old guard happy, but why shouldn't there be room for anything else?

The other thing ... well, I'm ambivalent about it. Ms. Yasner is one of those people who can conduct a review without people who can conduct a review without turning it into a character assassination or a display for her own clever sarcasm. However, I can't help feeling that she stepped on my constitutional rights in her letter to WS 29/30. I'd like to see her credentials that give her the right to imply that everyone stop writing, publishing, reading, and liking "Mary Sue" stories. Some of that type ... reveal some darned fine writing!

[Leslie Fish]: I'm a little puzzled over the comment that "readers won't have 'gay' SW stories to contend with" — I mean, if you wanted to make a case out of it, who knows what kind of relationship Han Solo and :Chewbacca have worked out for those long, cold nights in space? Ahem. And who ever said that you're "wrong for not wanting to read the stuff"? To the best of my knowledge, nobody in Trekdom goes around forcing :people to read things. If you don't like the theme, by all means, don't read it. If you want to criticize stories on this theme, however, then it is only fair to read them. [74]

[zine]:I got WS29/30...and all I can say is WOW!!! The covers were magnificent, and Gordon's MAN FROM ATLANTIS cartoon cracked me up totally. It's about time Mark Harris got some representation in the fanzine world! ... This is definitely the best zine I've seen in months.

I really enjoyed seeing some new characters in addition to the familiar ones. Leah Rosenthal's "Sketches From An Archaeologist On Vulcan" was ... well, fascinating! I see it's left open for a sequel. I hope to see more of Kem Tory and how he gets along on the Big E in a future issue.

I really loved Jacqueline Paciello's "Afterthought" and was amazed at how well it paralleled my poem! It was practically uncanny ... and the story was extremely well-written. Very believable! Carol Walske's illo went so well with both of them, too.

It's good to see some more of Faddis (is any one ever going to tire of that "scum & villainy" routine?). Anji Valenza's story was fantastic! This was my first acquaintance with her universe and I think it's one of the most original pieces of work I've seen in a long time. I'm really looking forward to "Voices In The Wind".

Something about "The Weight" this time disturbed me ... I've been following it like a maniac all these months, and the whole time it seems to have been building up to the climax of reaching the Guardian and going back to change time ... So, they finally did it. Just like that, and I realize that the story's nowhere near over, even. So here I am left hanging for yet another issue. I guess the only thing I can attribute it to is Leslie's" writing skill, the fact that I get so worked up over the thing ... But I was REALLY psyched up for a definitive climax this time! Anyone who values his mental health should steer clear of "The Weight" — it can turn even normal, well-adjusted folks into absolute neurotics.[75]

[zine]:... I just hope I live to see the end of "The Weight". That's not a shot -- the longer it takes, the more it builds. And the better it becomes. I'd really rather have it serialized, because as Elyse Grasso pointed out in WS 25, "The Weight" definitely does actually benefit from serialization, and those who read it all at once will miss something — and I for one don't want to miss that kind of suspense. After all, half the fun of the series' long run is that it can be savored, not just scanned ... ... Something that bugs me about "The Weight" is the way the terms "time-line" and "universe" are used interchangeably. I should assume, I guess, that the uni verse that resulted from Pennington's gift is physically the same universe as Kirk's home universe, except that events are altered. OK — suppose it isn't? What if the Guardian is actually a portal to alternate universes in a physical sense as well as a temporal one? (What I mean by this is that, for example, assuming the "Mirror, Mirror" universe was the result of a definite turning point in history having gone the "wrong" way: The American Revolution(s) being suppressed, Germany winning one of the World Wars, Russia winning the Cold War, anything — and that had caused the Mirror universe to evolve as it did — if you could use the Guardian to alter time in just the right way so as to bring about the Mirror universe, and did, you actually wouldn't be "recreating" the Mirror universe in your home time-line, you would be transporting yourself into the Mirror universe, while your home time line has not been obliterated, is in fact whole, sound, and intact, except that you aren't there any more to see it!).

So what does this have to do with any thing? Well, imagine this scenario: while still in "The Weight" universe. Kirk, Anarchists, and whoever else is coming down to the Guardian and go back to Chicago and successfully stop Pennington. The Guardian, in the act of returning them to the resulting 23rd century, re turns them (along with, hopefully, Spock and McCoy) to Kirk's home time-line — that is, the Federation universe as it stood while Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the landing party (during "The Sixth Year") were investigating Chicago (from the viewpoint of those aboard the E) but with out the effects of Pennington's gift. (Federation is one universe. Anarchy another.) What happens, from Kirk's point-of-view, is that they have returned to his home time-line, the Federation. They beam up to an Enterprise with her full crew of 400+, none of whom are aware of what Pennington did, the resulting time line, worldwide anarchy, and Roms on the rampage. As far as Kirk knows, all of that has been non-made. And he does retain his memories. But ..

[snipped]

Permit me a word or two, though, about all the SW vignettes and stuff recently cropping up everywhere, must it continue? And if T'Kuhtian Press has a yen to publish this stuff, why can't you start a separate T'Kuhtian zine for it? Why not indeed? Look around you. We have SPACE: 1999 zines and MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. zines, LOGAN'S RUN and STARSKY HUTCH, DARK SHADOWS and THE PRISONER, and J. Rondeau might even put out a LOST IN SPACE. And there are several other shows. So now we've got several SW zines running around, too. And SW threatens to become the Godzilla splinter fandom. This trend first started a year or two ago, with the SPACE: 1999 stuff, and back then I welcomed it. I thought it was nice to see fandom branching out, looking at new things. A little diversity never hurt (IDIC, y'know), it might even improve a fanfic scene (occasionally stale & cruddy) with some new and original thinking ... ", and so on. But now it's gotten out of hand, and every new show out that's of any possible interest(or an old one some one wants to revive) merely needs a zine slapped onto its back, so it seems, and a following gathers automatically, like lemmings, sheep, or cattle. It's not the variety that bugs me, or the fact that Ours Is Not The Only Television Show Fandom Any Longer. It's the hypothesis that appears to be fact, that too many like fandoms cannot exist at once. ST fen, right and left, are giving it up to SW, the SW people are proclaiming Trek dead, and the remaining Trekfen are all psychically wiped out by the combination of the mass defection and the triple lash of the decline and fall of HALKAN COUNCIL, the accelerated foot-dragging (contradiction in terms) on the part of Paramount over the new series, and the arbitrary exclusion of Spock from that series. To the best of my knowledge, hardcore fandom is so damn demoralized, no one has the heart left in them to put pen to paper. One friend of mine thinks that everyone in New York has died. I understand the feeling. I've neither written nor received a real honest-to-gol-dang fannish letter for much more time than I'd care to state. I'd like to apologize publicly to every one affected by the former. I can only say that I'll write as soon as I can, literally. It'd be all right if all these splinter fandoms could get along without eating each other up. But they're not attracting neos, or SFen (as ST did) — they're all attracting trekkers. It'd be fine, too if they weren't substitute interests, but merely added ones. But that's not the case either — people are taking up SW and dropping Trek. I'll use SW as the case in point because it's the most numerically significant, and the most bewildering. SW is not simply co-existing with Trek (and if it were, I wouldn't be writing this, I'd be a raving STAR WARS freak and U.N.C.L.E. maniac besides), it's draining it, suffocating it, splintering it, smothering it. People are running to pick up the SW banner for no reason I can imagine, except perhaps the sheer novelty and sight shock of all those pretty special effects.

As the SW fic, for example. How good can it get, and why is it even being written, when every single character is merely the lowest common denominator of each of several stock characters in the general literature of the last 1000 years — and the STAR WARS characters are so unoriginal, giving them individual traits in fanfic won't work, because it's so purely arbitrary. STrek characters at least have distinguishing characteristics. All the SW characters have is the lack of them. Every single character can be compared to an analogous character in another totally unrelated work — favorably. Obi-Wan Kenobi pales beside Merlin, Gandalf, or even Allanon. Luke could just as easily be Buck Rogers or even Tarzan. He certainly lacks the depth and maturity of a Howard Roark or a John Gait — even if they did fight different kinds of epic/heroic battles, there's still no originality of motive, only appalling shallowness. Han Solo was good, but I'd prefer a Harry Mudd or even a Cyrano Jones. Chewbacca is merely a Boswell, a Watson, a two-bit sidekick whose distinguishing features are being a Wookiee. And Darth Vader — Milton's or even Byron's Lucifer would send him packing. So now we've traced the roots of every one except Laurel and Hardy (Threepio & Artoo, that is). What does this prove — nothing, except that I like to take snobbish potshots and it can't be the originality or depth of the characters that draws so many to the STAR WARS fold. So what can it be? Again, it can't be the optimistic philosophy (remember?) that Trek espoused so well — SW only gives escape from the pressing realities that ST sought to alleviate. It might be the chemistry between the characters, such as they are, but I doubt that the response to the film justifies that as a sole cause. Lucas says it's because the movie is "fun", and "written for 14-year-olds."

ST was fun, too, but written for higher tastes and mentalities, so what can be the attraction for ST fen? Can it be that everyone in fandom is too tired of ST to care anymore? It certainly can't be that they never had. There are still hardcore ST fen around, or the zines would be gone too. (And yes, they are going. Take a look at SCUTTLEBUTT, and compare it with zinedom in its prime. Or condom -- sorry — though the cons were declining even before SW). I'm saying, do something! Despite its faults, I like SW, and some of the other shows, and I will buy their zines, though I do feel guilty encouraging those fandoms.

So it's fine and OK to buy SW stuff if you want to — but do you have to abandon Trek? Can't it be simply a companion interest? Write in the letter campaign to save LN, support INTERSTAT and the new letterzines, keep the lines of communication open! Trek is not dead, it's sick and getting sicker, but from neglect, not old age. This is a call to arms, kiddies! Think of all our past triumphs in the fanfic realm — DANESWOMAN, BABEL, KRAITH! And the ones still unfinished — ALTERNATE UNIVERSE 4, NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS, "The Weight". And the ones barely even started — can you imagine any of that, or anything even equal to it, being accomplished if we'd been writing in the SW universe for ten years? I can't think about it; SW is so limited, even more so than Trek in comparison to sf. So why do we have to give it up for a lesser brand? We don't, that's just it — and we'd better stick together or be damned for fools.

I disagree very strongly with Steve Czapla's 'comments about the death of "hardcore fandom". His statement about "no one (having) the heart left in them to put pen to paper" is just plain wrong. I know a number of fen who write letters about Trek, and there are a number of new authors being showcased in a number of old and new 'zines. Many of these writers need the polish that comes from practice and constructive criticism, but then, some of today's more polished writers once needed these, too. For example, read Paula Block's early LP 6 stories, Leslye Lilker's early IDICs, or Jean Lorrah's "Parted From Me". Steve does admit that there must be some "hardcore fen" (who does he mean?) around, "or the 'zines would be gone too".
Then he sort of insults today's 'zines. Perhaps I read too few 'zines, but I really don't think that today's 'zines are any worse than the ones published when "zinedom (was) in its prime" (whenever that was). I think that STARDATE: UNKNOWN, IDIC, or INTERPHASE (among many others) are certainly comparable to DANESWOMAN or BABEL. As for KRAITH, I would put it in Steve's "unfinished" category. Furthermore, I do not consider myself or most fen I know as "kiddies". [76]

[zine]:This installment of "The Weight" was a definite improvement, though that was a very sneaky teaser as the story's ending. Sets us up for the next scene very nicely. Spock did raise an interesting point about Kirk's action in warning his younger self setting up a time paradox. Made me wonder. There is a theory that alternate or parallel universes are connected in some way. That events that happen in one have an effect or will be duplicated in the other, depending on the potential the event has for affecting drastic changes in the time-line. In all these universes one central one would be the starting point or matrix of the others, thus having the greatest potential for change. Since the Guardian of Forever is capable of almost anything dealing with time and universes, is it possible that in stead of sending Kirk back in time to change the events back to normal in his own time-line, it sent him back to the matrix universe to prevent it from happening in that one and thus creating the pattern that affected the other universe time-lines, including Kirk's?[77]

[zine]:The repro was excellent in WS 29/30 (which means a lot to us lowly artists), the overall art and layout was superior (especially Gordon, Anji Valenza, Joni Wagner and Monica's launchable Luke, not to mention Connie's engaging new bent for cartoons ... ), and the written material was, in my humble opinion, far above average. WS has my unbounded appreciation for undertaking Anji Valenza's series. I first saw some of her Jon stuff in PROBE and was immediately impressed with her aliens. What I mean is -- everyone seems to write about various ET's but not all writers capture the "otherness" aspect. 90% of all ET's in fiction seem to either be humans with a nose (or ear or something else) job, but basically "human" being. Anji's creations are "alien" in the most interesting sense. I could rhapsodize endlessly on the quality STAR WARS mater ial, too. The poetry was thought-provoking, and I particularly enjoyed "After thought." [78]

[zine]: I read "The Weight" segment from WS 29/30 and then was inspired to re-read the whole thing (including "The Sixth Year"). I'm assuming (hoping?) that that was not the end of the saga — because there are too many loose strings all over ... to wit: 1) the domed city of Chicago is still out there — that's where it all started. Who sent the mysterious message, and why? 2) Problems with the "original" (the ones who were swiped with Chicago) Spock and McCoy — they couldn't have just disappeared like that — they, should have been "buffered" by "sub-space" ("The Sixth Year"). Conservation of (Temporal) Reality screwed up? Where are they? Corollary — there should be three McCoys running around loose out there — the "original", the "innocent" (beamed back to Enterprise after Kirk one-eye changed time-lines), and the old country doctor on Anarchist earth. And, two Spocks. Quanna is the "3rd" "Spock". This I suspected for a long while (evidently, Uhura did, too), and she is a Grayson (Quanna Marie Grayson Two-Feathers). 3) What happens to the Enterprise personnel who didn't go through the Guardian? 4) Where did Kirk one-eye (really much more sympathetic than the original) go? (I would like to think that somehow he was taken to the Dome-ship where Chicago is, and originated the message which started it all — and so bring about his own existence ... I adore circular stories.)
[Leslie Fish]: No, this isn't the end of "The Weight" by another two installments (one now, one later. Ssssufferrrr!) . Some of the loose ends are tied up in "The Sixth Year": 1) the long-lived archaeologists who originated the message took Chicago with them; 2) Spock and McCoy in "The Sixth Year" were still within the same time-line, so they were affected by the switch in lines, and disappeared from the archaeologists' ship to be reborn in the Anarchist world, and there are only two McCoys and Spocks running around; 3) Heh! Wait and seel 4) Ditto. Glad you like circular stories, because "The Weight" ultimately is ... in an odd way. [79]

[zine]:Thanks for WS 29/30. I enjoyed it very much, but was hoping for more (and longer) Star Wars stories. I especially enjoyed Gordon's cartoon, "Wretched Hive of' Scum and Villainy". "Gohirsid Jon" was very well done, and I'm looking forward to more. I had a little trouble fitting the illustrations and the text descriptions together, though. Was I the only one who did? "The Weight" finally made some sense to me. I missed most of the be ginning and didn't know about parallel universes, etc. I especially enjoyed it because the setting is my own Chicago. By the way, future shock strikes again, because the library no longer contains books. They've all been moved to a new library and the old building has been restored as a "cultural center". So there wouldn't have been any books for the Anarchists to steal (if that's the right word). Or maybe in their universe, or the ST universe (oh, heck, you know what I mean) there are still books in that beautiful old building.[80]

[zine]: Consider that person on the cover of WS 29/30 carefully. I realize that this is WS, not THE OBSC'ZINE ... but a character who looks male everywhere except in the ... urn, pelvic region? ... leads to some interesting questions, especially when she/he/it is in a position often used in art to symbolize grief, pain, etc. And the wings don't look as though they are attached very securely. On the other hand, I loved the photo ... who is the anonymous Jawa? You?

I love the idea of "Miscellanea", but you shoulda mentioned LUOMA'IIRAX; my zine has a title and a logo but no material to put in it ... maybe it will have a very very tiny first issue, and then get bigger as when people know to submit to it ... there must be a few people out there 'who produce original sf stories, art, and poetry using their own characters and backgrounds ...

I like "Ask The Right Question" because I like Jean Lorrah's work and have read many of the stories set in the NTM universe, but I have a feeling that people who are less well acquainted with the series may be a bit lost ... too many internal references and not enough plot, AND THE ILLO ON PAGE 29 SHOULD NOT HAVE LOOKED SO MUCH LIKE SPOCK!!!

I liked the idea vignettes of the interrogation scene from "Errand of Mercy" but I have arguments with both of the ones you printed. The main problem with "The Learning" may be that the introductory portion is less than clear — that last paragraph before the break confused me completely. On the other hand, while "Dealer In Kivas and Trillium" is a much better story in most respects — better plot and characterization and no confusion — I tend to question the interpretation of the Mindsifter as merely a glorified instrument-of-torture-and-lie-detector combination ... it was stated fairly clearly in the episode that the sifter itself removed information from the brain or mind or whatever.

The implication in "Night In The City" that Spock is going to fake the evidence, bothers me a good deal, and seems badly out of character. Spock in the series is much less apt to spontaneously choose situational ethics than any of the other characters and he is a scholar and scientist, almost suicidal at times in his search for the truth and for information (I'm exaggerating a bit in the other direction ). I think that in general people who write mini-vignettes which depend heavily on surrounding material from the aired series should be very cautious about contradicting the statements and implications made within the shows.

"Consequence" was very good. Loved "Diabolicon" too, but Circe is spelled Circi in the Lexicon and why didn't Loki or the Fenris wolf or any of the other Norse nasties (see for example. The Incomplete Enchanter, by Pratt & deCamp for sf use) make the scene? If Vulcan has no moons, how in chaos can the crescent have meaning as a religious symbol — should have been some mention of the twin planet (T'Kuht or any other name) and the question is, why are there references to seven rather than one, or none if one views it as another planet?

LOVED the foldout of the Scum and Villainy Bar & Grill. The other STAR WARS stuff I can take or leave — I think the flatness of the characters show in a medium which lacks special effects. W

When is "The Weight" going to end? Its magnificence, combined with the suspense, is driving me slowly nuts.[81]

[zine]: I like the diversification I'm starting to see in some STAR TREK zines, including yours. I still enjoy Trek, but I also want to see other things as well. There are other things to life than Trek, and I think that with a little work, study, and time, we'll see STAR WARS stories with the quality of some of the better Trek ones. There will always be the poor and mediocre stories predominating — it's the same in Trekdom. As one of those who was a sf fan before ST, I've seen quite a few waves of fans and types of manias — and I think we may as well admit that STAR WARS is here for good. It is true that the large-scale mass mania/hysteria it has caused will probably disappear in the next year, but already we have quite a few hard-core STAR WARS fans who aren't going to let it go. These are the fans who see beyond the surface simplistic plot and characterizations and have been trying to fit together the civilization, philosophies, and possible histories which underlie the STAR WARS story. That is one facet of the movie which has a number of possible interpretations. Looking into the characters' motivations and reactions is another area that is being looked into and leaves quite quite a bit of work to be done... and misinterpretation. It will be several years before we mine out the STAR WARS universe, if ever. STAR TREK fen have complained about the treatment they sometimes get at sf functions and cons; why treat a new "fringe fandom" the same way? STAR WARS isn't a threat ... it can widen our horizons. [82]

[zine]: ... The highlight of WS 29/30 was "The Weight". Leslie did her usual fine job with this chapter until she reached what should have been the climactic scene. Then things started falling apart fast. OK, I can accept the sick,, dying Kirk having a very negative viewpoint on his old self, and the derogatory way he sees himself. What I can't buy is Kirk's making a mistake on that phaser, and killing Sparks accidentally. Nor can I buy his hysterics and his general teen-age behavior when confronted by his one-eyed self. That just does not ring true at all with aired Trek. OK, for some reason Leslie needs to get rid of one of her characters. But she also needs a plausible way to do this, not by having another character behaving in a totally uncharacteristic manner. After all, this is not the first time Kirk has seen one of his people killed while on a landing mission. It is the first recorded time he hasn't been able to set his phaser correctly, though! Uh-uh. This does not work at all, and in fact, sets the unreal tone of the whole following scene. Belief was forfeited just to provide a hook for a tantrum by old one-eye.

Take a close look at that scene. First we've got Kirk killing a man he only meant to stun. Then we've got him going into some sort of trance, crouching and muttering to himself instead of swinging into some sort of action. Now this man is action-oriented, whether it's the right action or not. It isn't like him to sit and mutter ... he'd save that for when the emergency is past. Then he could mutter to his heart's content!

Next, old one-eye, who's barely able to totter about with the help of two able-bodied people at his side, is lunging, dashing, and ramming his fist into the other Captain ... who is in excellent health, by the way ... and the Captain is knocked down by the force of that mighty blow? Now righteous anger is a powerful force indeed, but this is stretching credibility. Still, I might have bought it, except that the Captain looks up at this emaciated form towering over him and... flinches? Doesn't try to get up?

This is too far out of character, and the whole scene gets lost as I argue ferociously with the author! Whatever his faults. Kirk is a stubborn, arrogant, self-confident commander. Not a hysterical teenager faced by an angry father.

The scene could have been so much more powerful if Leslie had just left the original Kirk with half of the strength she's given Jenneth!

Leslie goes on to redeem the chapter, however, with that powerful final scene after the departure of the Enterprise crew. And that last section could not be bettered! [83]

[zine]:I loved C.R. Faddis's little illos. Totally tasteless and totally and completely hysterical.

May I inquire if Glen Strathy has actually watched STAR TREK? If he considers STAR WARS designed for the simple-minded, I would suggest that he sit down and carefully read The Making of STAR TREK. No open-mouthed kisses, lads. Wouldn't want our sub-adolescent audience to wonder, would we? And does moss grow on the underside of breasts? And STAR TREK started off with real characters? We have — not in the fanzines, where they have become living and breathing people — but on the show, a Vulcan half-breed who fights with his family, a skirt-happy Captain with command problems and a large assortment of enemies, a Russian history expert with an accent, a pretty girl who opens hailing frequencies and gets frightened, a drunken engineer with a Scots burr, a country doctor (Southern, with a taste for mint juleps), and a host of uniformed bodies to get killed off at the appropriate moment.

No my friends, any cinematic production becomes what the viewer makes it. Of course STAR WARS was a cosmic fairy tale. Hells Bells, ST was a cosmic morality/passion play! The Middle Ages would have loved it. Our Heroes show the back wards natives of (fill in the blank, and include Klingons and Romulans) how wrong their lifestyle is and how they should join the Federation ... Come to think of it, the 19th century British Empire would have loved it, too. Perfect propaganda for them. Side note to Dixie Owen on the same topic: after that bar scene, and the shots of the streets of Mos Eisley, you actually need moralizing on the IDIC, or cultural misunderstandings (and if that wasn't what the Empire/Alliance was all about, what was?). And tell me, Dixie, since you're so hot under the collar about who "gets the princess", what the HELL did Uhura ever do? Or Natira? The Romulan commander? Nancy Crater? Our mysterious Joanna? Janice Lester, for God's sake? The only strong ST female has been Leslie Fish's Jenneth in a fanzine story. You remind me of the story around Buffalo of the two gay guys coming out of STAR WARS when one asks the other who he'd like in his daydreams, Luke or Han? The answer was, the Princess, because she has more balls than either one. Do you get my point? The other point I'm trying to make is that STAR WARS will make just as valid a storyline as ST, because people have the interest to make it so ... [84]

[zine]:

I don't like Jean Lorrah's Sarek and Amanda series (I lump them all together and call them the "S & A Saga") because, to my mind, they're all the same. "Ask The Right Question" was, for once, different (not really S & A since they didn't ... er ... consummate, anyway). Not bad at all. The STAR TREK and STAR WARS vignettes were good.

"Gohirsid Jon" is a very good story; good writing, good alien psychology. A little bit too much explaining perhaps, particularly in the conclusion. We should have been shown rather than told the consequences of Jon's return to Asa- vet. I'm not sure I care about the fe males. They giggle and talk about sex a lot. But then, they're not human females, and nobody asked me to like them. It seems that "Gohirsid Jon" is part of a series of stories, the KLYSADEL series. I'd like to read more of it.

"The Weight": ahah! Since last I wrote (lifted straight out of BATMAN: "since last we saw the dynamic duo ... "), I got my hands on a pile of old WARPED SPACE(s), courtesy of the MSU/STC. I now know a lot more than I used to. Brace yourself. The story's still good, the writing excellent. But ... what was so wrong with the original Kirk, that Leslie Fish had to take him apart, piece by piece? (Literally, limb by limb.) It seems to me that she turned him inside out simply to make him fit her anarchistic view of society 'as it should be'. Which is a neat idea ... except for the fact that Kirk is not an anarchist. Re member "Way To Eden"? "Whether or not you recognize authority, on this ship, I'm it." Kirk said that. And meant it. In no way could his personality be so altered that he would agree that the an anrchists' way is best. Leslie probably realized this herself, because she proceeded to wear him down and make him more amenable to new ideas, by taking off an eye first, then crippling a leg, poisoning the old lungs, etc. In that state, how can the poor man think clearly? I mean, in his place, I'd think: "Jenneth's all in one piece, so she must be doing something right!" And promptly convert to anarchism.

Another thing. I object to, is Jenneth herself. Do I object! While the idea of alternate time-lines is intriguing, the necessity of the sex-changes themselves aren't clear to me. Why couldn't Kirk i, have been a man in this universe? And — an illo of Quannechota suddenly opened my eyes: Spock in drag. After I'd recovered consciousness, I wept for an hour — Spock also? It seems to me that we (women) are kicking ourselves in the butt, when we have so much trouble producing strong, believable ST females that we resort to appropriating the best male characters. Did the anarchist leader (pardon me, 'braider') have to be Kirk's female alter-ego? (I suddenly have this wild urge to call her Mary Sue Kirk.)

Did her Indian side-kick have to be Spockette? Wouldn't two new females have been much more effective, and much less (stomach) upsetting for the readers? Or was this whole story an elaborate excuse for finally getting Kirk to Spock honestly? I'm getting carried away, be cause this is beginning to read like the ending of a SOAP episode. If Fish was trying to convert Kirk to anarchism, I don't think that it was necessary to involve his 'sister'. I don't mind her (Fish's) trying to convert him — even though I think it's a lost cause: my idea of the logical conclusion to this piece is Kirk 'getting back together' and all those people down on a new planet where they can be as anarchistic as they like ... by themselves. And for getting all about them as fast as possible! His bossiness is an important part of his personality; not one of his nicer traits, I agree, but an important one to a starship captain. Will Leslie Fish tell me how he can deal with a shipful of people used to discipline and "sick authoritarian procedures" if he stays that sweet, lovable, weak-kneed anarchist he's become? "Now listen here, lovers, there's a fire down in Engineering. What are we going to do about it?" I'll admit that it's a crude, simplistic example, but you get the point, don't you?

I like the story. I would've loved it if it hadn't been for Jenneth, Quannechota and sundry Crown-of-Mirrors. I think it's a cop-out to befuddle Kirk that way with family problems and so many injuries. Fish is admitting that he wouldn't have bought any of that anarchistic jazz in his normal state of physical and mental health. (I think I'm starting to sound like Hitler: it's not that I'm against anarchism per se, I'm just against it for Kirk. It's not right for him. I wouldn't mind trying it for myself, although I have my doubts about its working. And I don't think you can have something like the United Federation of Planets with anarchism.) I don't think Fish much likes Kirk, either. She's sort of remodeled him to fit her own patterns. Trouble is, I liked him as he was. So will she please put him back together according to Starfleet's instructions booklet?

On the red-hot subject of homosexuality in ST: I'm not a rabid Anita Bryant supporter. Neither am I a flag-waver for the Gay Liberationists' Movement. I simply accept the fact that there are people who are homosexuals, and there are people who are heterosexuals. Period. But, I do not consider Kirk and Spock to be homosexuals. I draw my own conclus ions from the best possible source: aired STAR TREK. Kirk is heterosexual, Spock is the closest thing to a neuter that I can think of. I'm getting a little tired of all those "Kirk lays Spock" essays. I don't go crazy when I find one, but I don't read any by choice. They have to trick me into it. Even though the Kirk/Jenneth/Quanna approach is a new one, it still doesn't grab me. Well, the IDIC principle is valid here too, I suppose.

I very strongly object to ol' one-eye's vicious attack of his ... er ... 'twin' (particularly that bit: "his stupid, fatuous, innocent guts"). A very crude way of showing how frightfully "inept, stupid and bloodthirsty" Kirk "used" to be. Uncalled for, and quite unnecessary. I rest my case. I realize now, a bit late, that I should have sent this to Leslie Fish. What's it doing in a LoC to WARPED SPACE?

Leah Rosenthal's "Star Trek America 1977 — A Retrospective": great! I was there, and lucky enough to escape Trekionaire's disease — only because it was my first con and I was so busy and excited I never ate between breakfast (McDonald's) and supper (anytime after 7:00 when there usually was a lull in the activities). Besides, those hot dogs looked green. [85]

References

  1. ^ from a LoC by T.J. Burnside in "Warped Space" #15
  2. ^ from Obsc'zine #2
  3. ^ an LoC by Beverly Clark in "Warped Space" #23
  4. ^ a letter of comment by Paula Block printed in "Warped Space" #23
  5. ^ [1] Zinedex] (see other reactions and reviews at The Weight)
  6. ^ from an LoC by Beverly Clark in "Warped Space" #23
  7. ^ comment by Leah Rosenthal in "Warped Space" #23
  8. ^ comment by Penny Warren in "Warped Space" #23
  9. ^ comment by Matt Perry in "Warped Space" #23
  10. ^ a LoC by Dixie G. Owen in "Warped Space" #23
  11. ^ comment by Paula Smith in "Warped Space" #23
  12. ^ a letter of comment by Connie DiFonso in "Warped Space" #24
  13. ^ a letter of comment by Nan Lewis in "Warped Space" #24
  14. ^ from Joanna Cantor in a letter of comment in "Warped Space" #24
  15. ^ a letter of comment by Rose Marie J in "Warped Space" #24
  16. ^ a letter of comment by Jean Lorrah in "Warped Space" #24
  17. ^ a letter of comment by Luba K in "Warped Space" #24
  18. ^ a letter of comment by Kathleen Porter in "Warped Space" #24
  19. ^ a letter of comment by Paula Smith in "Warped Space" #24
  20. ^ from Spectrum #32
  21. ^ from an LoC by Rose Marie Jakubjansky in "Warped Space" #25
  22. ^ from an LoC by Sally Flanagan in "Warped Space" #25
  23. ^ from an LoC by Paula Steinker in "Warped Space" #25
  24. ^ from an LoC by Luba Kmetyk in "Warped Space" #25
  25. ^ from an LoC by Elise M. Grasso in "Warped Space" #25
  26. ^ from an LoC by Leslie Fish in "Warped Space" #25
  27. ^ from a letter of comment in "Warped Space" #26/27
  28. ^ from a letter of comment in "Warped Space" #26/27
  29. ^ Catalenamara Live Journal
  30. ^ from Jacqueline Lichtenberg in a letter of comment in Warped Space #26/27
  31. ^ from a letter of comment in "Warped Space" #26/27
  32. ^ from a letter of comment by T.J. Burnside in "Warped Space" #26/27
  33. ^ from a letter of comment by Patti Thompson in "Warped Space" #26/27
  34. ^ from a letter of comment by Paula Smith in "Warped Space" #26/27
  35. ^ from a letter of comment by Amy Tedford in "Warped Space" #26/27
  36. ^ from a letter of comment by Dixie G. Owen in "Warped Space" #26/27
  37. ^ from Scuttlebutt #2
  38. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  39. ^ Halliday’s Star Trek Zinedex (TOS) - Title Index, Archived version
  40. ^ from Paula Smith in Menagerie #12
  41. ^ from Delta Triad #4
  42. ^ from a LoC by Edith Crowe in "Warped Space" #28
  43. ^ from an LoC by Leslie Fish in "Warped Space" #28
  44. ^ from an LoC by Kelly Hill in "Warped Space" #28
  45. ^ from an LoC by Carolynn Ruth in "Warped Space" #28
  46. ^ from an LoC by Elyse M. Grasso in "Warped Space" #28
  47. ^ from an LoC by Susan J. Bridges in "Warped Space" #28
  48. ^ from an LoC by Beverly Clark in "Warped Space" #28
  49. ^ from an LoC by Sally Flanagan in "Warped Space" #28
  50. ^ from an LoC by Rose Marie Jakubjansky in "Warped Space" #28
  51. ^ from an LoC by Roberta Rogow in "Warped Space" #28
  52. ^ from an LoC by Ronnie Sacksteder in "Warped Space" #28
  53. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  54. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  55. ^ from Jane Aumerle in Mahko Root #1
  56. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34, with a response by Leslie Fish in "Warped Space" #35/36
  57. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  58. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  59. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #35/36
  60. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #35/36
  61. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  62. ^ comment by Leslie Fish in Warped Space #39/30
  63. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  64. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  65. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  66. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  67. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  68. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  69. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  70. ^ from Warped Space #39/30
  71. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #35/36
  72. ^ from Scuttlebutt #5
  73. ^ by Paula Smith from Menagerie #14
  74. ^ from a fan, Sharon Emily, in "Warped Space" #33/34, with a response by Leslie Fish in "Warped Space" #35/36
  75. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  76. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34 and another fan's response in "Warped Space" #35/36
  77. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  78. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  79. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34, with a response by Leslie Fish in "Warped Space" #35/36
  80. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  81. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  82. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  83. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  84. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #33/34
  85. ^ from a fan in "Warped Space" #37
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