Antares Rising

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You may be looking for the Star Trek; TOS zine, Antares.

Zine
Title: Antares Rising
Publisher: a fan club at the University of California/Irvine
Editor(s): Lisa Smith & Don Osborne
Date(s): 1977
Series?:
Medium: fanzine, print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links:
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Antares Rising is an anthology Star Trek: TOS fanzine.

front cover, Doug Rosebrook
back cover, Alison Annello

The front cover is by Doug Rosebrook, and the back cover is by Alison Annello. The interior art is by Alison Anello, Robert Byther Sr., Darklin, David Mullich, and Doug Rosebrook.

There were 100 copies printed.

From the Editorial

It seems that editorials are generally reserved for pages of complaint about how difficult it is to put out a fanzine. We'd like to be different. Don't let anybody ever tell you that zine editing isn't fun.

We've had a simply terrific time since the very beginning, that first momentous day when one of us innocently said, "Wouldn't it b fun...?

Among the many diverse experiences we've had while working on "Antares Rising" there are a few that will remain with us forever.

We especially enjoyed:

Our conversation with the officers of the Orange County Police Department who raided Truswal Systems West one night at 3:30 a.m. as we were typing. This was after one of our dedicated gophers accidentally set off the silent alarm system while looking for the radio. Can you imagine trying to explain to the law that you are typing up the final draft of a story called "Return of the Psi Syndrome" for a "Star Trek" "fanzine" which will be read by "Trekfen" everywhere? No.? You're lucky.

Our two week search for ivory tinted twenty-four pound bond paper. Our discovery of same, selling at-well, about quadruple what we could afford. Our sudden revelation that white and blue are beautiful colors, too.

The night we abandoned the typewriters and paper cutter to go to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - for the seventeenth time.

All the post-midnight phone calls we made to all people involved, attempting to sound coherent and get information at the same time.

Realizing that there was no way we could finish this on schedule, re-scheduling; and realizing again that there was no way we could finish this on schedule.

Learning that non-photo blue pencils photograph.

Trying to convince people how much fun it would be to coallate.

Laying the zine out. Satisfied and happy with our numbers, we only forgot to include five pages.

[...]

Writing this letter. And laughing. And laughing. And laughing...

Actually, it has been fun/funny/painful/exciting. And we've enjoyed it immensely. We've found that Star Trek survives through fire, flood, snow and re-writing.

As far as we're concerned, it always will.

Contents

  • Antares Rising, poem by Lisa Smith (1)
  • Acknowledgments and Dedication (2)
  • Table of Contents (3)
  • Ad Astra by Lisa Smith (Star Trek: TOS) (6)
  • Future Folksong (32)
  • Untitled Poem (Star Wars) (34)
  • Enterprise, poem by Marc Siegall (Star Trek: TOS) (35)
  • Return of the Psi Syndrome, fiction by Robert Byther Jr. (Star Trek: TOS) (36)
  • Cosmic Cartoons by David Mullich (Star Trek: TOS) (44)
  • Last Night a Star..., poem by Lisa Smith (46)
  • ... And a Star To Steer Her By, fiction by Don Osborne (Star Trek: TOS) (47)
  • Sea Fever, poem by John Masefield (not fannish, reprinted from an unknown source) (64)
  • A Chronology of Mankind, poem by Don Osborne (original science fiction) (67)
  • Disappearance of William B. Doran, fiction by Marc Siegall (Star Trek: TOS) (68)

Sample Interior

Reactions and Reviews

This is a typical fanzine with stories, poems, and "art".

The first story, "Ad Astra" by Lisa Smith is a tale of young pranksters aboard the Enterprise. The author shows she can handle dialogue, plot, and add a touch of humor, but unfortunately her story is weak in almost all other areas. Perhaps it would have fared better as a radio play, but it is in enjoyable in its own way, albeit not necessarily believable. One of the touches I enjoyed was Ming, an apparently female Oriental-Vulcan that sings "The Ballad of Lost C Mell" and "The Green Hills of Earth" among other compositions.

A totally ridiculous but fun little piece is "The Return of the Psi Syndrome" by Robert Byther. It is a piece that refuses to take itself seriously, so you shouldn't either. While the humor may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is a fun little story.

Next we have "And a Star to Steer Her By" by Don Osborne. Unfortunately, this story is mostly garbled. In this one a quasar causes crew members to have dreams which they cannot distinguish from reality. There is absolutely no scientific explanation for this phenomenon, and the solution to the problem is to leave the vicinity of the quasar. Now, a quasar is an acronym for quasi-stellar radio sources. They generate more light and radio energy than 100 Milky Way galaxies and produce tremendous amounts of energy from the total gravitational collapse of their matter, but the story did not make use of these facts. Instead it relied on scientific hokum and references to previous episodes to try to get the story across and the result is poor science fiction.

Last we have "The Disappearance of William B. Doran" by Marc Siegall, which many not be a be a scientific story, but is a delightful vignette, the plot of which I won't spoil here.

So there you have, like any other fanzine, this work of sweat, love, and care, and what makes it worthwhile, a good sense of humor and fun.

RATING 6 (out of 10). [1]

References