Fannish Fifty #8: To Boldly Go #1 Zine Review

 

I was lucky enough to pick up all three issues of "To Boldly Go", an adult-oriented and primarily slash zine for TNG! These are tiny, digest-sized zines, without the polish and flair that you see in other outfits -- the adult-oriented TOS zine "Obsc'Zine" is fun, with readable print and creative layout; the Orion Press zines are professional-style, with no blurry copying. This zine, by contrast, feels down and dirty, which is honestly pretty suitable for an early 90s slash zine! Each story is in a different font, some of them nigh-unreadable. Page numbers were written in by ballbpoint pen. Illustrations are quick, simple sketches. Typos abound, with sleazy sexual descriptions that ... well, if you've also read a lot of 90s gay erotica, like I have, you'll find it pretty nostalgic and fun XD

From the inside cover:

Zines: the final frontier...

These are the publications of Starlite Press, its continuing mission: to explore strange, new storylines, to seek out new writers and new artists, TO BOLDLY GO where no editors have gone before...

Welcome to To Boldly Go... #1, the first of what we hope will be many issues of our adult ST:TNG zines. We've been very pleased with the turn-out, both from contributors and subscribers, and we hope to continue to grow stronger with each issue.

As you will notice in this issue, we're open to any and all relationships, be they straight, gay or lesbian. We'd like to maintain this balance and hope we haven't offended anyone. After all, in the twenty-fourth century, we will have grown beyond the present-day embarrassment about sexual matters.

At any rate, we hope you enjoy this issue and please spread the word -- we're looking for submissions for #2 and #3 (deadlines are 3/3/90 and 9/4/90, respectively), so keep your dirty little minds working after each episode!

So claim your holodeck time, program your favorite setting, engage the privacy locks, and prepare to warp out of this world, to fire those thrusters, to boldly go where no zine has gone before!

Anne & Darlene

TO BOLD GO...#1 is published solely for the enjoyment of its readers and does not intend to infringe upon any held copyrights. © November 1989 by Starlite Press.

(Reviewer's note, I just got a notification for a tumblr anon saying "I hope you die soon" while I was typing this up dfkjskdhfksdf)

Okay, so some notes about the stories before I dive in: the writing level was much higher, imo, than what I generally saw in Obsc'Zine, although there were FREQUENTLY moments that made me chuckle. Almost all the stories are Riker-based, with only three that I remember having no Riker at all. 

So let's dive in!

( Arch )

Okay, on to the next fic!

( Lessons )

( The Boy's Captain )

( To Q or Not to Q )

( Just Two Starships That Pass in the Night )

( Command Performance )

( If I Reach Out, Will You Be There? )

( Naked on the Bridge )

Next up, we have:

( Command Decision )

****
 

( A Little Bit of Heaven on Haven )

( Stardate Unknown )

( Electric Fantasies )

( Best Friends )

****

And finally, we have our last story:

( Oz Didn't Give Nothin to the Tinman )