Vel Jaeger

Vel Jaeger was a well-known and prolific Star Trek: TOS fanartist and fanwriter. 
Vel’s first SciFi con was 1975 in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she made her first Trek encounter: George Takei. She also entered her first costume contest, with her designs placing first and third. Vel was also asked to be a staff photographer on the very first Star Trek cruise, and then by Joe Motes of Vulkon fame.
Jean Lorrah was the first to publish Vel's art as the back cover of NTM Collected. Vel was published in a section in the early issues of Starlog Magazine called Fan Fare, which introduced fan talent in many forms - her submission consisted of two small pen and ink vignettes of Kirk and McCoy. They were printed in 1980, her first and only appearance in a national publication. 
Vel's first fiction was "A Diplomatic Relationship" in R & R #13. In 1987, she wrote that Joanna Cantor "took my very first story and treated it with tender loving care. [Her] skill seemed to be the ability to improve without interfering with either the author's intent or style. A rare commodity indeed." Vel's comments in K/S & K.S. (Kindred Spirits) #28 
Vel was proudest of founding TREKisM, the Star Trek Special Interest Group (SIG) for Mensa, the high IQ society. In addition to 68 issues of varying lengths from 1977 to 1991 were a number of lengthy anthologies and novels known as “TREKisM at Length.” Issue #X has been in limbo, along with a fourth volume of “Trek Encore," a retrospective of the author, Ginna LaCroix. The “Trek Encores’ were a publication of In Case of Emergency Press, the brain child of sometime co-coordinator and co-editor Kim Knapp. “Between the Sheets” (BTS) was published under the aegis of “Encore Enterprises.” 
Vel was very adamant about preserving fan history, especially fan art. In 2014, she wrote: 
In the years before her passing, Vel expressed her "hope for the not too distant future is to reestablish the Star Trek SIG in Mensa, now that the web has made communication so much easier than in the days of snail mail. In the meantime, she has given Fanlore permission to reproduce any and all of her artwork, writing, or photos for the purposes of documenting both her involvement in fandom and fandom history in general."
She passed away on July 2, 2018.
==Interviews==
* Scribbling Women: Artists Talk Back (2007)
* Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Vel Jaeger (2017)
==Open Letters==
* Open Letter by Vel Jaeger Regarding "Alien Brothers" (1986)
==Her K/S Inspiration==
In 2007, Vel was interviewed for an article about the history of K/S art. When asked what inspired her to illustrate Kirk/Spock, she replied: 
Another excerpt: 
 
More: 
==Source Material==
==A Favorite Medium==
==Vel's Fannish Memories==
Vel has given permission for some of her fannish memories to be posted on Fanlore. See Vel Jaeger/Memories.
Image:velandlavena.jpg| Vel and LaVena Kay Kidd dream a little..., illo from The Shatner File May 1983 
 Image:velfsmsession.jpg| Vel and some fan friends, "at a recent FS&M session" in the 1980s 
 Image:veldailynews.jpg| a 1979 article from "Daily News" which features Vel 
==Some Private Record Keeping==
"I guess you could call this stuff from my 'Primitive Period.' I got tired of looking for this list, I suppose, as I changed to writing the zine & story/poem name on the back of the drawings." by Vel, from private correspondence with Mrs. Potato Head, 2012 quoted with permission 
Image:velwork1.jpg|sample pages of Vel's art records
Image:velwork2.jpg|sample pages of Vel's art records
Image:velwork3.jpg|sample pages of Vel's art records
Image:velwork4.jpg|sample pages of Vel's art records
==Vel's Pseudonyms==
Deborah Goby (fiction), Ellen Hulley (poetry), Artemis (art), Vera Cacciatore (dirty limericks), and others.
In December 1986, Vel wrote: 
==Zines in Which Vel's Work Has Appeared==
* occasional short stories, essays, LoCs, con reports and lots of poetry
* art in: Alderaan | Alpha Continuum | Amazing Grace | Antithesis | As I Do Thee | A Collection of K/S Poetry | Between the Sheets | Cutters Goose | Daring Attempt | The Dianasian Gift | Dreams of the Sleepers | Dr. McCoy's Medical Log | Enter-comm | First Time | The Gallian | Galactic Discourse | Grip | Impact | In Triplicate | Intercom | Kaleidoscope | Kirk | Liberation from Hell | Maine(ly) Trek | Masiform D | Matter/Antimatter | The MacShannon Chronicles | Meridian | More Missions, More Myths | Naked Times | Nome | NTM Collected | Odyssey | Orion Archives: 2285-2293 The Third Mission | Orion Archives: 2275-2283 The Second Hiatus | Orion Archives: 2295 The Sixth Fleet | Orion Archives: 2283-2284 Interludes | Plak Tow | The Poet and I | A Question of Balance | R & R | Riders to the Stars | Saurian Brandy Digest | Simon Says – Avenge Bond! | Spin Dizzie | Standard Orbit | Star Canticle | Stardate | Stellar Gas | Sublight Reading | T'hy'la | Trek Continuum | Trek Encore | TREKisM | TREKisM at Length | TrexIndex | Two-Dimensional Thinking | Vault of Tomorrow | Warped Space | Within the Mirror | The Women's List
==Gallery==
===1978===
File:Ntm2back.jpg|back cover of NTM Collected, her first zine art published (1978)
===1979===
Image:naked3back.jpg|back cover Naked Times #3 (1979)
===1980===
Image:saurianbrandy23-4.jpg|from Saurian Brandy Digest #23, portrays Kirk and Gary Mitchell
File:A Question of Balance Interior.JPG|interior art from A Question of Balance (1980)
File:Trekcon2.2-12.jpg|from Trek Continuum v.2 n.2 (1980)
File:Trekcon2.2-5.jpg|from Trek Continuum v.2 n.2 (1980)
===1981=== 
Image:randr15art14.jpg| from R & R #15 (1981)
Image:randr15art13.jpg| from R & R #15 (1981)
Image:randr15art1.jpg| from R & R #15 (1981)
Image:randr15art2.jpg| from R & R #15 (1981)
File:Thyla1.jpg|front cover of T'hy'la #1 (1981)
File:Stardate8landersback.jpg| Stardate #8 (1981)
File:Stardatelanders9back.jpg| Stardate #9 (1981)
Image:Rr13 inside val jaeger.jpg|from R & R #13 (inside front cover) From Vel: "It's a depiction of my friend from way back, Karen Spera Shaub. She and I went to our first con in West Palm Beach, and this is taken from a photo of her costume that won first place at the con. It was black with gold braid design and trim, based on a caftan design; we listed it as "Militant Alien Nun." (1981)
Image:alder14.jpg| from R & R #14 - "In my active days the printers I used often went nuts over some of the drawings, as happened with the Yoda. They did a two-color print on a nice tan paper (about 11" x 17"); I think they did the lettering in green - spelling out, "Yoda Does It In The Swamp!" Who knows how many they ran off - something printers love to do. I imagine it helps to make up for the messy job that offset printing is. Anyway, I couldn't resist making the snake cute as well. I guess it must have been the spirit of the 70s." by Vel, from private correspondence with Mrs. Potato Head, 2012 quoted with permission 
Image:sbd29-2.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-3.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-4.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-5.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-6.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-7.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
Image:sbd29-8.jpg|Saurian Brandy Digest #29 
===1982===
File:Warped48art1.jpg|inside art from Warped Space #47 (1982)
===1983===
File:Od7art9.jpg|inside art from Odyssey #7 (1983)
===1984===
File:Thyla4art9.jpg|inside art from T'hy'la #4, Kirk and T'Pring (1984)
===1985=== 
File:Thyla5art6.jpg|from |from T'hy'la #5
File:Thyla5art3.jpg|from |from T'hy'la #5 
File:Moremissions1-11.jpg|inside page from More Missions, More Myths #1 (1985)
File:Moremissions1-9.jpg|inside page from More Missions, More Myths #1 (1985)
File:Twodimenback.jpg|back cover of Two-Dimensional Thinking #1 (1985)
Image:thy5front.jpg|front cover of T'hy'la #5 (1985)
Image:Asidothee3back.jpg|back cover As I Do Thee #3 (1985)
Image:Asidothee3art4.jpg|inside art in As I Do Thee #3 (1985)
Image:Asidothee3artbyvel.jpg|inside art in As I Do Thee #3 (1985)
File:Dreamsofthesleepers.jpg|front cover of Dreams of the Sleepers (1985)
Image:dreamsofthesleepersback.jpg|back cover of Dreams of the Sleepers (1985)
File:Time out of Mind back.JPG|back cover of Time Out of Mind (1985)
File:Collectionofdreams1986back.jpg|back cover of A Collection of Dreams (1985)
Image:Firsttimetwo.jpg|cover First Time #2, 1st edition (1985)
Image:intrip.jpg|cover of In Triplicate (1985)
Image:intriplicateback.jpg|back cover of In Triplicate (1985)
File:Cuttersgoose1-1.JPG|from Cutter's Goose #1 (1985)
File:Meridian1art2.jpg|interior art from Meridian #1 (1985)
Image:naked6.jpg|cover of Naked Times #6 (1985)
Image:Naked7.jpg|cover of Naked Times #7 (1985)
File:Matterantimatter5-1.jpg| Achilles/Patroclus, from Matter/Antimatter #5 (1985)
===1986===
Image:Asidothee4back.jpg|back cover As I Do Thee #4 (1986)
Image:Within mirror 1 interior by vel jaeger.jpeg|inside art Within the Mirror #1 (1988)
File:Womenslist1.jpg|cover of The Women's List #1 (1986)
===1987===
File:Ksx1art12.jpg|from KSX #1
File:Trexindex4-1-1.jpg| from TrexIndex Supplement 4 V.2 (1987)
===1988===
Image:btsback.jpg|the original art, in black and white, for the back cover of Between the Sheets
File:Betweenthesheets5.jpg|art from Between the Sheets
File:Betweenthesheets6.jpg|art from Between the Sheets
Image:betweenthesheetsback.jpg|back cover of Between the Sheets: ""The scan in black is directly from the original artwork; the first & only printing is in red on a soft grey card stock, with red cloth tape binding. Front cover is a montage I put together with images from some of the interior art, which was reduced to 20% of the originals, then pieced with black tape." by Vel, from private correspondence with Mrs. Potato Head, 2012 quoted with permission 
 
File:Treklinkryker.jpg|from an unknown zine
==References==
Category:Deceased
Category:Fanartists
Category:Fanwriters