September, 1979. Ads for Star Trek: The Motion Picture were popping up everywhere. They showed a glorious new (but recognizable!) USS Enterprise, and had photos of all of our favorites in a row beneath it. The uniforms were a little drab, but this was the sophisticated 1970s. We didn’t expect primary colors anymore.
Bev and Nancy, having not even seen the film yet (they would attend the gala opening night at the Air & Space Museum in Washington DC, just months later), were already showing their approval of its style. Perhaps their most striking, memorable cover to date graced this double issue of Contact, numbered 5/6. Like the more expensive paperbacks of the time, this issue had a double cover. The first layer depicts Kirk in blue monochrome in his classic uniform, sitting amidst rubble, while a golden-haloed visage Spock looks down on him. They are together, but isolated. The Spock image is, in fact, from the next layer, revealed by a circular die-cut in the upper cover.
Turning that first leaf over reveals…
Kirk and Spock are reunited in a burst of gold (blue and gold were, of course, Contact’s official colors, based on the shirt worn by Kirk and Spock in the original series.) They’re in their new, Motion Picture uniforms, albeit in a pose they never assumed in that film or any other. It’s an ambitious cover design for an ambitious issue, boasting 33 new stories and poems, plus the epic novel Home is the Hunter.
On the editors’ page, Bev and Nancy once again bemoan that there might not be a Contact 8 (there was), but that there would be a Phase II Collected (there was not) and a Complete Rack (that happened too.)
But their tone was jubilant, not hopeless. They were celebrating their triumph. After ten years, Star Trek Fandom had succeeded, and brought its beloved heroes back to film. As Bev and Nancy noted: “This issue of Contact is a celebration–of the triumph of the fans, of the efforts of the editors and contributors, the rebirth of a dream, but most of all the continuation of the Kirk/Spock relationship.”
STTMP is much-maligned by fans whose interest in the genre was quickened by Star Wars, but it was a victory for fans of the 1970s. Like Vina with Captain Pike, they could not help but love it.
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CBZ
Contact 05
Contact 06 (Home is the Hunter)
CONTENTS
And of the Stars (Poem) – Beverly J. Volker (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Woe to Him Who is Alone – Linda White (art by Pat Stall)Home/Home (Poem) – Jimmye Galli (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Ode to a Newborn Son / Beginnings / Two (poem) – Theresa Wright (art by Liz Wright)
And Now Silence – Teri White (art by Evallou Richardson)
Worlds Apart (Poem) – Pete Kaup (art by Kathy Carlson)
The Enchanted – Martha J. Bonds (art by Laurie Huff)
The Man Beside You (Poem) – C.F. Woolford (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Double Image (Poem) – Ellen L. Kolbrin – (art by Russ Volker)
In Your Place – Crystal Taylor
Coming Home (Poem) – Della Van Hise (art by Kathy Carlson)
We Are One (Song) – Martha J. Bonds
Fire & Ice – Virginia Green & Sandra Gent (art by Leslie Fish)
In Between the Dark and Light (Poem) – Sandra Gent
Shadowrider – Susan K. James (art by Gayle Feyrer)
Vulcan Lies – Shirley Passman
Separate Ways (Poem) – Martha J. Bonds (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
But Up To Now – Ginna LaCroix (art by Laurie Huff)
The Source (Poem) – Beverly J. Volker (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Lookin’ In (Poem) – Crystal Taylor (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Song Trilogy – Bev Volker & Carolyn Venino (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
After the Flame – Sibyl Hancock
After the Challenge – Martha J. Bonds (art by Alice Jones)
Sorrow’s End (Poem) – Jimmye Galli (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Fires of Yesterday (Poem) – Susan K. James
Thou More Than a Brother – Theresa Wright (art by Nan Lewis)
Earth and Moon (Poem) – Martha J. Bonds (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Breathing Space – Carol Frisbie & Susan James
And You Were There (Poem) – Sarah Leibold
Watch in the Night – Sibyl Hancock (art by Mike Verina)
To Fly Again (Poem) – Pete Kaup (art by Kathy Carlson)
Continuum (Poem) – Bev Volker (art by L. Frim & S. Gingras)
Contact’s Favorite Things – Nancy J. Kippax
I love these Contact zine uploads (and thank you for doing these, I’m sure it has been a pain)! Do you have the “ultimate” zine tying up “The Rack” with the sequel, “All the King’s Horses, All the King’s Men”? I think it was just called “The Complete Rack”. Will you be uploading that zine as well, if you have it? I believe anyone who has read the first story will be dying to read the sequel, which I don’t think is available anywhere else.
I do have “The Complete Rack!” Just need to get it scanned.
I’d love to read this, have you had a chance to get it scanned?
That would be wonderful, since that relatively famous story is available nowhere else at all! And it would be terrific to be able to actually finally read the cluster of “response” stories to The Rack that generated so much controversy in fandom for a while, instead of just comments about them. Thanks for the work you are doing!
Hi. Thank you for the 5th Contact. Could you please scan All the King’s Horses from The Complete Rack, even in any readable quality? It’s been a few years since I read The Rack, and its sequel still remains one of the most anticipated things. The Complete Rack must be a huge milestone in the history of fandom community, but it’s hardly possible to find a hard copy of the zine myself, especially far from the US. Thank you.
I shall certainly try! Sorry I’ve been out of touch for a while. Personal life took a turn, and I’ve been very busy. But I hope to be back in the coming months.
Hope things level off for you, Steven. But I’m with Alex: dying for a chance to peruse The Complete Rack! It occasionally pops up for sale in hard copy–but at hideous prices that only determined collectors can afford. After all these years it’s still in demand, obviously.