the delphic expanse

TrekUnited Publishing would like to invite forum members of The Dephic Expanse to submit work for inclusion in Issue 2 of the TrekUnited Digest Trekzine

.........Hailing Frequencies Open : Personal Logs

The success of Issue 1 has enboldened us into reaching for bigger and better things and part of that outreach involves pitching on friendly forums! What can I say to tempt you to submit work to our zine? First of all, it looks pretty (but I suppose I'm biassed)! Secondly we have a proven ability to get material online and to publicise it afterwards bringing authors and readers together. The Trekzine is available for browsing and download as a pdf on the Issuu platform, it is also available as an eBook on the Star Trek Fan Fiction eBook Archive in ePub and Mobi format. We publicise on Facebook, Twitter and any fan fiction forum that has the good taste to let me on!


The submission rules in detail are on TrekUnited HERE. If anyone has any queries you can catch me with a pm on this forum or on TrekUnited, Facebook or Twitter.

Gotta blaze!

Kirok of L'Stok
Publisher, TrekUnited Publishing

The submission deadline has been set at Nov 27. So far I have two continuations from last issue, two commitments from past unissued zines and a couple of new submissions. I realise that two weeks will almost certainly be too little time for someone to create something new for us but I'm going to aim at a minimum bi-monthly schedule for PLogs for 2012 so if you miss this bus there will be another one along later!

I won't be doing The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas this year ...unless we could get twelve books together? And if I get a major surplus of articles I'll do a Christmas special Trekzine. Of course if anyone else would like to edit/publish either of those... ?

K

Cool, thanks for the info! November 27 is definitely too soon for me, but I'll consider something (art or story) for a future issue. Are they only published digitally?

EntAllat wrote:Cool, thanks for the info! November 27 is definitely too soon for me, but I'll consider something (art or story) for a future issue. Are they only published digitally?

I haven't had anything specially written for PLogs yet, everything so far has been existing works. One of the things that I've been pointing out is that this is a great way of intrducing people to your work. I've had one submission from someone on AdAstra where the guy said virtually, "I've got heaps of stories, just browse them and take your pick!" My advice in that case is to say: Look over your work and think, "What would I like people to read which would tempt them to follow the links and read more of my work?"

As you can see from last issue, each story ends with a potted bio and a link to your home forum. That link could be to your profile here or anywhere where your work is listed.

Yes, it is published as a pdf on Issuu and as an eBook in ePub and Mobi, however one reason why I like the digest format is because it should be possible to print them out as A5 or folio US Letter. I'm debating whether to print one out to use as a fanzine exchange with the Melbourne Science Fiction Fan Club - I dream of a Ditmar one day!


K

Was there any discussion of the Editor's comment in Issue 1 that Trek zines held the "dubious" honor of inventing the term "slash"? That's... a backhanded compliment. Ish.

Nice 'zine. But that kind of colors my opinion of it.



ETA: To head off any wank, I looked closer and you are the editor, so apologies for not doing my homework. I'm not wanting to sound like I'm attacking you, I'm not. That phrase just jumped out at me, though, and while I assume that it was unintentional (and wording that reference to please everyone is just about impossible, I understand!), I'd like some clarification if you are willing to give it?

entkayjay wrote:Was there any discussion of the Editor's comment in Issue 1 that Trek zines held the "dubious" honor of inventing the term "slash"? That's... a backhanded compliment. Ish. Nice 'zine. But that kind of colors my opinion of it.

ETA: To head off any wank, I looked closer and you are the editor, so apologies for not doing my homework. I'm not wanting to sound like I'm attacking you, I'm not. That phrase just jumped out at me, though, and while I assume that it was unintentional (and wording that reference to please everyone is just about impossible, I understand!), I'd like some clarification if you are willing to give it?

An editorial is the personal commentary of the editor - me - and as such could be a personal view on anything from what I had for breakfast to the current economic situation in SE Asia! In this thread my personal opinions are material only in regards to how they affect the editorial direction of the zine.

In that first editorial I wanted to cover a lot of ground and part of that was a potted history of fanzines. That Star Trek fandom was the wellspring of slash is a FACT. Is it something to be proud of? Some, and obviously you are amongst them, would say yes other would disagree - I used dubious in the sense that it was questionable as regards to whether this was an honour or not..

Do I write or read slash? No, but neither do I read or enjoy the thinly veiled racist militarism that often hides behind space opera. So, how do my personal opinions affect the editorial direction of the zine?

They don't.

Submissions are judged on many things, some are lethal failings such as spelling and grammar, others are value judgements - is it good fiction? - and one is the rating, it has to be R or lower. The exact wording, and we debated this, is...

Our focus is on people. We call it Personal Logs for two reasons: firstly because fan fiction is a very personal interaction between the author and their passion and secondly because we are interested in people. What we want are personal dramas played out against the backdrop of the the Star Trek universe and what that might tell us about the human condition. What we don't want is space opera where the cardboard cutout characters play second-fiddle to bigger and uglier villains, more violent battles and whizz-bang technobabble.

...

It must be good fiction. Characters need to have a motivation for their actions (especially canon characters) and without it the works stop being fan fiction and become fan fantasy. Because this is Personal Logs, it is a given that some stories will deal with interpersonal relationships. Gratuitous scenes of sex and violence are just that – gratuitous – and have no place in Personal Logs. But affection, romance, moderate physical contact and generally described violence are often a large part of good storytelling and are encouraged.

Good characterizations are always welcome, regardless of the characters' sexuality. But the writer will need to make a strong case for any radical departures from canon. This is true, not only of canon characters' sexuality and relationships, but also their behavior, personalities, appearances, etc. Turning Scotty into an Eskimo is going to require a lot of explanation and altered backstory – possibly too much for Personal Logs. The hill is steep but not impossible.

I can tell you that we have already accepted a powerful examination of Reed's relationship with Hayes and a hurt/comfort piece centred on Archer and Trip. If you've got any questions about the 'zine fire away but I think it would not be appropriate for me to discuss personal opinions which have no bearing on whether a piece will be accepted or not.

Its got to be age appropriate, its got to be well edited and its got to be good fiction.

Cheers

K

PS - Forgot to mention that the final line up of this issue will be debated by the current contributors so it won't just be up to me.

Thanks.

Good luck.

I know it's been a few days, and I want to thank Kirok for graciously explaining his position – even though he shouldn't have to, not at our site.

Kayjay, I understand that slash has been stigmatized for as long as it has existed, but that is no reason to always assume the worst of people's intentions or automatically go on the defensive. Furthermore, I find such a question inappropriate to ask in a public thread here at the Expanse, especially given the loaded manner in which it was done; the remark in question was not made here, but rather in Kirok's zine, which is his own turf, where he is entitled to do and say what he wants. If you were really that offended, a private message – or better still, taking your beef to Trek United, because they are responsible for the zine where the remark in question happened – is a much more appropriate way to go.

The fact of the matter is, Kayjay, that despite the addendum to your post, you do sound like you're attacking him – with the addendum having the effect of backpedaling. Furthermore, your follow-up post is a bit terse, especially considering Kirok graciously put a lot of time and thought into his answer, when he never should have been provoked to do so in the first place.

In case I haven't made it abundantly clear already, this will be the last time one of our members will be singled out and made to feel uncomfortable for what they've said elsewhere. If anyone here has an ax to grind against an individual for something that did not occur at the Expanse, take it somewhere else. Failure to do so is a clear violation of the Expanse's Rule #6, and pushes the boundaries of Rule #2. We don't want it here.

If anyone on the staff sees anything like this again, no matter who's doing it, a warning will be the automatic result. You also risk being placed on moderated posting.

For those of you who could use a refresher, you can review the rules here.

Thank you. I would like to extend my apologies to anyone who reads this thread. This is not an example of how we like to roll.

I apologize for any unintentionally perceived attack on my part.

entkayjay wrote:I apologize for any unintentionally perceived attack on my part.

That's ok. Aquarius is right, I have always appreciated the friendly reception I have received in the Delphic Expanse.

When I have my editorial hat on it's not appropriate for me to debate personal comment but just as I would invite you to debate the inclusion of adult content on the TrekUnited forum as feedback, I would have no problems debating it on DE, if someone will PM me a link, because I trust that on both forums it could be done equitably and in a civilised fashion.

K