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Here's the overall:

1) Less racist than the first one
2) But the stories, overall, are not as fun, but probably more sound, technically-speaking
3) And despite being less racist, it still has 11 more "n words" than I expected from a TNG zine

Okay, so let's review the stories.

( Read more... )

...That's all! Man, I would love a full-length story about this. Maybe I'll just have to write one. I hate that there are so few fics about Tom Riker, and the books that feature him never do him justice (looking at you Peter David).

Cover photo taken from Fanlore, because I didn't bother to take photos this time. Really, I didn't plan on writing a review, but I have Some Thoughts!

In general, this is a really high-quality zine. The cover illustration is easily the worst in the whole zine, and I'm baffled why they chose it. BEKi's work is usually much better than that, and the interior features multiple great Riker portraits. Maybe those portraits had already been used for other zine covers; I know for certain that I saw the "A Fine Line" cover in there.

Now, in this zine, every single story is written by BEKi, and every single illustration is drawn by her too. It's a one-woman show. I was jealous of her drawing skills before, but now I'm jealous of her writing skills too. There was one early line that made me want to scream -- something like, "Fear thickened in his veins like a coolant leak ballooning out of a broken tube". Well, it was better when BEKi wrote it XD Let me give a quick overview of each story with my thoughts.

( Details )

Overall, I think I'd give the final novella 5 stars, but I'd still rate the zine as a 3/5, and I would have serious reservations about recommending it to my Asian and Native American friends. BEKi's racism strikes me as the type of sheltered, Christian girl racism that you see sometimes -- especially in nerdy, lonely kids who read old garage sale books from the 50s instead of making friends. You know, the kind of kid who learns the word "mulatto" from a 1949 novel they liked, and then never learns that we don't use that word anymore. I should say there was another, more minor element that made me wrinkle my nose -- in the story "Ward 47," Riker and Picard both talk about how they cope with trauma by praying to a higher power. NO THANKS. Ugh! Whether it's an official book or a zine, you can't escape the devout Christian writers trying to sneak some religion into Riker and Picard.

I do have Number One #2, which is also an all-BEKi show, so I'll probably read that one next/soon. I'm honestly very glad that I could get my hands on these, but I'll admit to a little bit of sour grapes, in that I *really* wanted #3-6, the non-BEKi issues. Those issues feature some of my favorite writers, and I'd kill to get my hands on them XD

 

Out of Touch, by Jackie Paciello and Toni Lichtenstein Bogolob is a single-story zine featuring Riker, Picard, and Ensign Ro in a hurt/comfort scenario. It's illustrated heavily throughout, with full-size paintings copied in black-and-white, done by Jim Wappel. Really great illustrations imo, with a blend of portraiture and caricature. 

So what's the plot?

( Read on my friends )

Choice quote from Picard's POV:

( I just thought this was sweet )

Some notes about writing quality and typesetting:

( Flaws )

Illustrations:

( Illos )

 

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 )

 

Ready and Will-ing (Issue #2) was published in 1991 as a fanzine/newsletter devoted to Jonathan Frakes, specifically with a focus on his role as Riker. I've got a handful of these little newsletters lying around, and they're quick and easy to read/review, so I figured I'd do this one while I try to finish reading the longer ones on my list!

Since this one is so short, I'll mostly just transcribe and post pics of the interior. It's only about 6 pages long, but it's very cute and fun to flip through. 

( Cut for length )

 The zine of the week is Next Generation Portraits by David Lawrence, who also contributed to last week's zine, Haven! 

From his bio:

"David Lawrence is a brit from London, England who has lived in a small South Carolina town for the last eight years. Fortunately, the small town has one of the best copy shops in the state. David is a freelance machine designer, who for the last couple of years has amused himself with some pen and ink portrait work. He has also edited all 35 issues of a zine on the 60's British tv series THE PRISONER, called 'Once Upon a Time.'"



This zine was published by Pennyfarthing Press in 1991. It's a pure artzine, no fic or poetry, no words at all! So all I'll say is that I love Lawrence's work, he's a top-notch zine artist (and Haven was really one of the best-illustrated I've ever seen). From here on out, it's just pics!

( Starting off with babyface Riker )

As Lawrence notes on the inside cover, most of these drawings had already appeared in fanzines, including Eridani, The Next Generation, and The Agonizer. A year later, the Tasha Yar portrait was featured in Haven.