Where Are They Now: Nan Lewis

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Title:	Where Are They Now: Nan Lewis
Creator:	Linda Frankel
Date(s):	1988
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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Where Are They Now: Nan Lewis is a 1988 essay by Linda Frankel. The subject is fan Nan Lewis.

It was published in On the Double #9 and is part of a series "of articles about people who used to be prominent in K/S fandom, but are no longer active." The very short-lived series was popular. One fan said: "I loved the "Where Are They Now" article. MORE, MORE, MORE! If they know we miss them, maybe they'll come back!"

Some Topics Discussed

• Classic Trek and Kirk/Spock (TOS)
• fandom becoming overwhelming to "real life"
• the explicit direction she felt fanart was heading
• the boring thing that a lot of Trek fanfiction had become, personal burnout

The Essay

For Nan, leaving K/S was a matter of priorities. Her life had begun to seem like a series of deadlines. Her family and friends were neglected, she no longer enjoyed her art work, and she didn't feel that she was particularly good at the explicit kind of art that K/S editors wanted. Nan has always considered herself primarily a portrait artist When other artists arose who could provide sexually explicit illos, requests for her work declined. "So I suppose K/S zines and I really left each other!" she summarized.

Nan still reads K/S. She says that early K/S seemed "more vital and innovative." Now the sex scenes are repetitive. Like Leslie Fish in my previous article, Nan finds that K/S Is often boring. Even the emotional interplay is tired, as Kirk and Spock are continually having the same sorts of crises and misunderstandings in story after story. Other times, K/S stories depict sexual practices that Nan considers "extreme." She would like K/S writers and editors to find better ways to be original. Nan still believes in the K/S relationship, but she would prefer a great reliance on plot in K/S fiction. "Sex does not have to be the focal point of every story; a good plot line does." Sometimes she still finds gems in K/S zines. "It's a joy to discover some small jewel of a story or poem, a special illustration, something that touches the old heartstrings and brings very fond memories."

Nan says that she still loves TREK, likes K/S, and will be a Spock fan forever. She still does occasional covers and may do more TREK art one day, but for now she is devoting herself to her job, her husband, her home, her five cats and church activities. This is quite enough to keep anyone busy. Nevertheless, she says that "even though TREK is no longer the center of my life, it has changed me in many ways and remains a very special part of my existence."

Every true TREK fan has felt the same way. We all owe a great deal to TREK, and artists like Nan Lewis have contributed to the reality of TREK and K/S by drawing unforgettable images of our favorite characters. Nan has given us a great gift, and it is to be hoped that she will graces the pages of more zines in the future.

Fan Comments

[Lewis'] work is expressive, focused, realistic, and just plain wonderful! In my opinion, she does the best Kirk I have ever seen. So to you editors of K/S zines, may I offer this suggestion? We readers have very fertile minds (some may even say overly so) and our fiction is often very erotic and graphic, so we don't need to always see the action (witness the aura of The Southern Cross front cover of FIRST TIME 14 and the Jackie Zoost illo opposite page 58 in AN OATH OF BONDAGE). If you're not using Nan Lewis' work because she prefers not to do the graphic stuff, please reconsider her portrait work. She's a tremendous artist and I'd love to see much more of her work. I hope others agree, too.

I'm really sorry that Nan Lewis found trouble getting her artwork accepted because it wasn't sexually explicit. I like her work - and I'd far rather see a good illustration than the such and.... If a story is written well, the reader should be able to envision the scene without an explicit artistic rending. If not, there are biology courses available...