star trek and fandom history
For those interested in Star Trek or fandom history, I saw a link for a website that has some of the old issues of the print zine Contact in pdf form. These contain are some of the oldest Kirk/Spock slash stories in the fandom, including what is considered the first “reaction” story (The Rack), a story written about what Kirk&Spock would have dealt with if they were thought to be lovers, in response to what some other fans were saying about Kirk/Spock slash (this in Contact 4, btw). And if it’s some of the first Kirk/Spock stories, then these are also among the very first slash stories written for public consumption and sent out in fanzine (when the postal service acted as the internet, and kudos were much harder to give).
I haven’t had a chance to read any of it - but this is fandom history! And it’s exciting to see that it’s not been lost, that stories written before most of us were even born can still be read and appreciated. I’m looking forward to seeing the actual beginning of certain fan fic tropes, and noticing the differences in what people focused on then compared to now. Basically, this is a treasure trove of fannish and Star Trek history - how cool is that?!
The zines were published and edited by two sisters: Nancy Kippax and Bev Volker. Their families are the ones who scanned and have put up the zines, along with many of their wonderful memories. You can also read Nancy Kippax’s memories on Fanlore, the fan run wiki.