A Star Trek Writers Panel

The local branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library hosted its first ever Comic Con.

There were family friendly events, like a super art fight and an introduction to drawing comics.

Another event I particularly enjoyed was the "Boldly Write Panel" of Star Trek writers. The panelists were Dave Galanter, Robert Greenberger and Steven Wilson. They spoke about their early days with Star Trek, editing and writing novels and comic books. It was great to hear their stories and about their current efforts. They spoke about the latitude and the limits that the novels and comics had. In a lot of ways, it was a trip down memory lane for this 'zine publisher.

Howard Weinstein was also scheduled, but was unable to appear. Quirps Fans will recognize Howard Weinstein, but did you recall his poll being featured in the Intergalactic Etc?

When it came time for questions, I had to ask if any had been influenced by the early fanzines. Steve Wilson especially was, as he had been a participant.

You can learn more about Steve Wilson at: http://www.stevenhwilson.com/

A Rather Sudden End...

I think my recollection is foggier than everyone else's. College sent us to all different places (well except for me, I stayed in New York City those 4 years), and once we were done we were newly minted official adults and apparently expected to function as such...I managed to put that off a bit but still, there just didn't seem to be enough space in my life for the zine any longer.

The last issue was fun, but looking at it my artwork was pretty rushed. I did lots better than that before. I guess that was a sign I'd lost interest. I started writing non-fiction, and draw and paint plants and flowers.

Where were you when the Intergalactic Etcetera closed its doors?

As I recall I was a contractor working at Edwards AFB when we made the decision. At that point, all of us were out of college and starting our careers. It seemed the work involved in continuing a semi-regular publication would not have been feasible, as the four of us were spread across three states. (Again, I have to wonder if the Internet had been around we might have decided otherwise.) A sad time, but it was the right decision for us.

What we would have done differently with today's technology

We've certainly talked about this amongst ourselves before. How different our publishing experience would have been with desktop publishing programs, and personal printers. I could have done without looking around for an offset printer (and thank you again to the individual who printed our first issues for us).

Tonight I was thinking how we would have leveraged podcasting to complement our publishing efforts. We certainly knew many people in the 'zine and fan area, and went to our share of Star Trek conventions. I think we would have had interviews, read our latest issue's table of contents, and maybe even shared tidbits of SSG's "Glommer Gossip" column.

It goes without saying that we would have had a blog to connect to our readers and authors, too.

Welcome to the Intergalactic Etcetera Blog

Originally created by four high school students to express their interest in Star Trek and Science Fiction, this fanzine went on to mean a lot more to us. For two a career (engineer and graphic artist), for another it meant getting a job (mentioning the 'zine in a job interview 20 years ago). Lately, we have been thinking about the issues and enjoying rereading them. We are still grateful for the many artists and contributors to the 'zine.