1978
From Fan History Wiki
1978 marks the start of the decline fanzine volume and the splinterization of the Star Trek fan fiction community.
According to Verba, starting in 1978, the total volume of Star Trek fanzines being published on a yearly basis started to drop. This stemmed from a number of issues. One reason was some fen were fleeing because of the issues pertaining to Kirk/Spock. Another reason was the lack new canon. A third reason was that zine publishers were putting out more multifandom zines or abandoning Star Trek fanzines altogether. These three issues would continue to be an issue in the community and other communities for a number of years.
Adult material continued to be an issue in the community. Spectrum 35, published by Jeff Johnson, dealt almost entirely with this issue, discussing indecency and pornography in fan fiction. Some fen involved in the community began to tie the issue of the very presence of this material to an overall decline, from their point of view, in the quality of fan fiction. Still, the concerns surrounding this type of material did not prevent the publishing of Thrust in the period between January and March. Thrust was the first Star Trek anthology fanzine published to contain only Kirk/Spock slash. This issue would cause a split in the community.
In the world of canon universes, Battlestar Galactica and Blake's 7 were in their first season on television this year. The Blake's 7 community would start almost immediately with Alternative Seven #1 being published. This was one of the first adult content Blake 7's fanzines. It featured the following stories: Lysistrate "The Deepest Secret,", Liberty Belle "...from the Bottom Up," Anne Lewis "The Initiation," and Robert Aries, "I Suppose it Was Inevitable."
The Star Wars fan fiction community continued right along. Several fanzines were published this year. They ranged from letterzines, review zines and zines including only stories.
See also:
- Canon released in 1978
- Conventions held in 1978
- Fan fiction awards given in 1978
- Fanzines published in 1978
- Technology innovations in 1978
