Star Trek Lives!

Star Trek Lives!
Cover of Star Trek Lives! (July 1975)
First printing (July 1975)
Authors Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak and Joan Winston
Cover artist Lou Feck, Mitchell Hooks
Country United States
Language English
Series Star Trek
Subject Star Trek fandom
Genre Science fiction on television
Publisher Bantam Books Y2151
Publication date
 July 1975
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 274
OCLC 780195418
791.457
LC Class PN1992.77.S73 L5
First edition/printing was not assigned an ISBN. Bantam Books catalog: Y2151.

Star Trek Lives! (July 1975) is a reference work that explores the relationship between the Star Trek television series, and the fandom that emerged following the series' cancellation, co-written by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak, and Joan Winston.

The book is among the earliest mainstream publications to discuss Star Trek convention culture, fanzines and fan fiction. The ninth chapter contains an essay by Lichtenberg and Marshak on the structure of fan fiction, and how a fan would go about writing it.

Production

Jacqueline Lichtenberg, a professionally published author whose Kraith fan fiction was regularly published by fanzines, explored the possibility of selling an article, or series of articles, to newspapers concerning the growing Star Trek fandom.[1] She began research in late 1971. While building a directory on fan clubs, their activities, and the growing number of fan published newsletters, and fanzines, she realized there was more potential for a reference book on the subject than a newspaper article.[2]

Science fiction fanzines had existed prior to Star Trek, however their focus was on publishing articles, research pieces, and letters from fans. Star Trek fanzines were also publishing fan fiction, some of which Lichtenberg believed was comparable to the television series.[1]

A query package was assembled by Lichtenberg, and shared with publishers. However, the query was rejected by all, including by Frederick Pohl at Bantam Books, who were publishing a series episode novelizations by James Blish, and who had also published Blish's original Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die! (January 1970).

Only after James Blish had failed to deliver a new Star Trek novel, which was scheduled for publication,[3] did Pohl agree to buy Lichtenberg's book, but he did so without having seen a draft.[4] Lichtenberg recruited fellow fan writer Sondra Marshak, and television producer Joan Winston, to help draft and finish the book. Gene Roddenberry was commissioned to write an introduction.

Myrna Culbreath also provided some input.[4] Her character analysis on the Spock character, "The Spock Premise," was cited in the acknowledgements.[5]

According to Lichtenberg, the book took several years to write.[3] The final draft, delivered to Pohl, had undergone significant changes from the original premise, so the authors were unable to agree on a title. The title, Star Trek Lives!, and the subtitle "Personal Notes and Anecdotes" were chosen by the publisher.[6] Plans to include a comprehensive directory of fan clubs, fanzines, and selections of curated fan fiction were withdrawn, due to length, and publication cost.

The professional publication of fan fiction idea became The New Voyages.[4]

Released in July 1975, Star Trek Lives! sold well, and was given eight printings between 1975 and 1979.[7][8]

Contents

  • Forward, by Gene Roddenberry
  • Introduction, by the authors.
  • Chapter 1: "The Discovery Effect." An essay on the seductive draw of the new and refreshing stories presented by the television series.
  • Chapter 2: "The Tailored Effect." Lichtenberg studies the various "tailored" effects, such as characters, plotting, and settings, that resulted in the mass-appeal of the series.
  • Chapter 3: "I Should Never Have Answered The Phone." Joan Winston reminisces on the role she played during the production of the first Star Trek convention which opened on 21 January 1972.
  • Chapter 4: "The Spock Charisma Effect." An essay on the popularity of the half-human, half-alien, second officer of the Enterprise. The writers argue the reason for the character's popularity is the viewers are given far more opportunities to learn about Spock's personality and personal history, than other characters, including Captain Kirk. Spock is described as having sex appeal.
  • Chapter 5: "The Optimism Effect." Lichtenberg and Marshak discuss "vision of a brighter future of man, and of a world characterized by hope, achievement and understanding." They argue such a positive, forward-thinking premise resulted in viewers taking on such an image for their own personal successes.
  • Chapter 6: "The Goal Effect." An essay exploring the idea "that important goals are worthwhile, worth striving for and -- attainable." The attainment of co-operation between civilizations within the Star Trek universe being an allusion to the cooperation among the nations and people of Earth.
  • Chapter 7: "Beauty May Be Only Skin Deep, But Chopped Liver Can Get You Anywhere Or Six Glorious Days On The Star Trek Set." Winston reminisces on her visit to the Desilu Studios during the filming of "Turnabout Intruder," the final episode of the series.
  • Chapter 8: "What Are They Doing Now?" Interviews with former cast members and producers of the televisions series, includes details on their, then, future projects.
  • Chapter 9: Do-It-Yourself Star Trek - The Fan Fiction. Marshak and Lichtenberg explain what fan fiction is, its place in the general fandom, and offer some advice to the reader on how to write fan fiction. One of the questions posted in the essay is "Why so many female writers of Star Trek fiction?"

Reception

According to Lichtenberg, the initial reaction among fans was mixed as "they were expecting a history of the fandom."[9] One fan wrote a scathing review in a letter to The Halkan Council, saying they felt cheated since "I would much rather have [read] an analysis of the fans of Star Trek … than of the show itself."[10] Lichtenberg agreed with the reviewer's feelings that many fans felt a true anthropological study of "the fandom [was] rare and invaluable"[10] In subsequent interviews, she admitted that "Star Trek Lives! was not perfect."[9][11]

Other fans reflected differently on the book. Sue Bursztynski wrote in her review of Harry, A History (November 2008) that Star Trek Lives! "let me know that this sort of thing was going on, and what kind of activities fans got up to."[12] Fan fiction writer Patricia Poole said in Anne Jamison's Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over The World (June 2014) that she was "stunned" to find things she had written "transformed into pages in a real book."[13] Poole had corresponded with Lichtenberg on the subject of "the discovery effect," inspired by her experiences at a Detroit-area Star Trek convention.

Gary McGath wrote, in an issue of the MIT student-run editorial Ergo (19 November 1975), that Star Trek was far from the perfect "romantic drama," but Star Trek Lives! "does the best job thus far of showing just what the series accomplishes."[14] Likewise, Winston Howlett wrote in an issue of fanzine Probe that readers should not be deterred from "picking up and reading this very well-written[,] and very entertaining book." And that it belongs on every fan's shelf, "for it makes up a large, healthy chunk of the [Star Trek] saga, telling where we've been, where we are now, and where we hope to be going."[15]

The writers, Lichtenberg, Marshak and Winston, are called the "foremothers of fanfiction scholarship" by Francesca Coppa in The Fanfiction Reader (March 2017), because of their work on Star Trek Lives!, and the catalyzing effect the book had on fandom scholarship.[16] Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman describe the book as "seminal" in The Fifty Year Mission (June 2016).[17]

J.M. Verba, in her fandom retrospective Boldly Writing (2003), credited Star Trek Lives! for increasing "fanzine recognition far beyond the wildest dreams of any editor."[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jamison, Anne. "Recollections of a Collating Party". Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World (EPUB)|format= requires |url= (help). Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-306-44207-7.
  2. ↑ "Jacqueline Lichtenberg Chat Transcript". StarTrekFans.net. 2004-08-30. Archived from the original on 2004-09-03. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  3. 1 2 Lichtenberg, Jacqueline (3 Apr 2000). "The WORLDS OF IF connection to STAR TREK and SIME~GEN". Sime~Gen. Sime~Gen Inc. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  4. 1 2 3 Ayers, Jeff (14 Nov 2006). Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion. New York: Pocket Books. pp. 11–13. ISBN 1-4165-0349-8.
  5. ↑ Lichtenberg, Jacqueline; Marshak, Sondra; Winston, Joan. "Acknowledgements". Star Trek Lives!. Y2151. New York: Bantam Books. verso.
  6. ↑ Lichtenberg, Jacqueline (Sep 1975). Huang, Shirley; Yingling, Sandy, eds. "Letter". The Halkan Council. No. 10. Letterzine. Delmar, New York.
  7. ↑ Gross, Edward; Altman, Mark A. (28 Jun 2016). "Life After Death". The Fifty-Year Mission: the Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: Volume One: the First 25 Years (EPUB)|format= requires |url= (help). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-4668-7285-1.
  8. ↑ Kozak, Ellen M. (Dec 1979). Barron, Neil, ed. "Star Trek Bibliography". Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review. Vol. 1 no. 11. The Borgo Press. p. 5. ISSN 0163-4348.
  9. 1 2 Pakulak, Lexie (1978). "An Interview with Jacqueline Lichtenberg". Axanar. Fan-published anthology. pp. 30–40.
  10. 1 2 Huang, Shirley; Yingling, Sandy, eds. (Aug 1975). "Review of Star Trek Lives!". The Halkan Council. No. 9. Letterzine. Delmar, New York.
  11. ↑ Lichtenberg, Jacqueline (15 Aug 2006). "Star Trek, WorldCon, & Alien Romance". Alien Romances. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  12. ↑ Bursztynski, Sue (2010-01-09). "HARRY, A HISTORY By Melissa Anelli. London: Penguin, 2008". The Great Raven. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  13. ↑ Jamison, Anne. "I Am Woman Read My Fic". Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World (EPUB)|format= requires |url= (help). Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-306-44207-7.
  14. ↑ Gary, McGath (19 Nov 1975). Written at MIT. "Review". Ergo. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  15. ↑ Howlett, Winston A. (Feb 1975). "Nebula". Probe. Vol. 2 no. 3. Fanzine. New Rochelle, New York: Mpingo Press.
  16. ↑ Coppa, Francesca (2 Mar 2017). "Introduction: Five Things That Fan Fiction I, and One Thing It Isn't". The Fanfiction Reader: Folktales for the Digital Age. University of Michigan Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-472-07348-1.
  17. ↑ Gross, Edward; Altman, Mark A. (28 Jun 2016). "Dramatis Personae". The Fifty-Year Mission: the Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: Volume One: the First 25 Years (EPUB)|format= requires |url= (help). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-4668-7285-1.
  18. ↑ Verba, Joan Marie (Mar 2003). "Part Two: Steady Growth (1972-1974)". Boldly Writing: A Trekker Fan and Zine History (2nd ed.). Minnetonka, Minnesota: FTL Productions. p. 19. ISBN 0-9653575-4-6.
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