Pulse of the Machine

Pulse of the Machine is a Data/Tasha het novel written by Jean Kluge.
The zine is part one of what was originally intended to be a two-volume novel. This sequel was never finished. See "Weaving the Dream."
There were 250 issues in the original print run. There were also 250 issues in the reprint run, though this second edition doesn't contain all of the illustrations that were in the first edition.
One interesting tidbit: the story includes an original character, a red-headed, feisty baseball player named "Ensign Maggie O'Shea." That name is used as a pseud by Kluge for other art.
==The Editions==
The original print edition (1991) contains art by Jean Kluge, Marty Siegrist, Susi Leinbach, and Melody Rondeau. This first edition contains 31 full-page illustrations, 4 in color, and a full page of cartoons.NOTE: the 2012 reprint edition states the publication date is 1990. The original print zine states 1991.
The reprint print edition (1994) contains art by the same artists, but considerably less than the original edition. It has art by Jean (5 illos), Marty Siegrist (2 illos), Susi Leinbach (2 illos) and Melody Rondeau (2 illos).
In 2012, the zine was offered as a download with over fifty illos. Most of those are all the original illos from the first edition, but also additional new illos. Some of these additional ones are a color illo of "Troi and the Faeries" (a scene that doesn't appear in the story), two black and white preliminary pencil sketches that did not appear in the zine, a black and white illo by Kluge portraying Data, Tasha, and a cat that was to have been a scene in the sequel but instead was used on a flyer.
A fan's comment about the second edition, one she bought through the mail rather than from at a con: 
==Editorial from the First Edition==
===Some of the First Edition Art===
This zine includes the art in the second edition and 2012 edition. Below is a sample of some of the much more plentiful in the first edition.
This art can also be seen at the publisher's webpage.
File:Artforum2art1.jpg|"Wind-Up Boy," also printed in 1989 in Artforum #2
File:klugepitiful.jpg|"Pitiful"
File:pulsekluge-3.jpg|"Storm's Aftermath"
File:pulsekluge-4.jpg|"Tasha's Mirror" -- from a fan: "One of my most favorite pieces is an illustration in Pulse of the Machine, in which Tasha Yar's leapt into Data's arms - the moment is so perfectly captured, so spontaneous feeling, so free. I can't remember off the top of my head if the art was Kluge or Siegrist, but all these years later, I still love that art." quoted anonymously from Zinelist (Nov 30, 2010)
File:pulsekluge-6.jpg|"Tasha's Boy Toy"
File:pulsekluge-7.jpg|"Room with a View"
File:pulsekluge-9.jpg|"Difficult Discoveries"
File:pulsekluge-10.jpg|"Sanctuary" -- a fold-out
File:pulsekluge-11.jpg|"Artless Intimacies"
===Some of the Second Edition Art===
All of this art was also in the first edition, as well as the 2012 edition.
File:klugezip.png|Jean Kluge, "Zip It"
File:klugepulse-1.jpg|Jean Kluge
File:klugepulse-2.png|Jean Kluge
File:siegristpulse-1.png|Marty Siegrist
File:Siegristpulse-2.png|Marty Siegrist
File:melodypulse-1.jpg|Melody Rondeau
File:melodypulse-2.jpg|Melody Rondeau
File:klugeglimpsetruth.png|Jean Kluge, "Glimpse of Truth"
==From the Flyer==
"A post-Naked Now saga by Jean Kluge, Pulse of the Machine focuses on the relationship between Data and Tasha Yar, a relationship that grows and changes, even as they do... Publication is scheduled for Fall 1989. Pulse of the Machine will contain the first story in the saga, 'Android Blues,' winner of a Fan Q for Best Short Story, reprinted with slight revisions from Vault of Tomorrow #13, and will feature black and white and color interior illustrations by Marty Siegrist and Jean Kluge, plus a color cover and interior graphics by Marty Siegrist."
==The Art==
Much of the art can be seen at .
==Chapters==
* Android Blues ("After the incident with Lore, Data needed all the friends he could get. Tasha Yar, Geordi La Forge, and some of the more interesting residents of the holodeck all pitch in to give him the help he needs.") (first published in Vault of Tomorrow #13)
* Shut Out ("It's World Series back on Earth, and baseball fever has hit the crew of the Enterprise. Of course, other games are being played as well...")
* Shore Leave ("Vacations are great, and Tasha had certainly enjoyed the get-away she had taken with Deanna. It wasn't until the last night, though, that things began to get really interesting...")
* Discoveries, Part One ("There are many truths in the universe. Some we create, some are created for us. Many are pleasant, more are not.")
* Discoveries, Part Two
* Epilogue
==The Proposed Sequel: "Weaving the Dream"==
There is no sequel to this zine but the author, at one point, was working on one. It was to be titled "Weaving the Dream."
==An Excerpt==
From a flyer: ". . . Data reached for her hand, a pause giving her the opportunity to pull away and reject the contact if she so desired. When she did not, he completed the movement, taking her hand in his and closing his fingers about it in a brief, gentle squeeze before releasing it. . . . Tasha felt her smile broaden absurdly, delighted by his use of the newfound gesture toward her, then tried to dampen it down somewhat, a little embarrassed at just how appealing she found the gesture. . . ."
==Comments from TPTB: "Trekkies"==
This zine was also a part of the movie Trekkies. In that movie, Denise Crosby showed some of the stuff that fans had sent her. Artwork was part of it, including some very nice drawings and paintings by Jean Kluge. A couple of them showed Yar and Data in an intimate embrace. Denise said that at first, she was shocked, but she's come to like them. She showed one to Brent Spiner who quipped, "Not only did the artist get my body exactly right, but she got yours perfectly, too." Denise asked
how he'd know that! Brent only smiled.
See Brent Spiner discusses erotic painting of him and Denise Crosby (YouTube clip).
==Reactions and Reviews==
===1990===
===1991===
===1992===
===1993===
===1994===
===2000===
===2016===
===2019===
===Unknown Date===
==References==
Category:Art Zines
Category:Star Trek TNG Zines
Category:Het Zines
Category:1991 Zines