Star Trek Lives! (book)

Star Trek Lives! (subtitled "Personal Notes and Anecdotes") is a 276-page book by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak and Joan Winston, documenting Star Trek's popularity and the rise of Star Trek fandom--the letter writing campaign, the early conventions, fan activities like cosplay, filk, zines and fanfiction--up until 1975.
Originally, the middle part of the book was to have included full-length fanfic. That material became Star Trek: The New Voyages #1. from An Interview with Jacqueline Lichtenberg (1978) 
According to the program book for the 1974 Star Trek Lives! con, the title of this book was to be "Star Trek Fan Phenomenon." This former title was also mentioned in Spockulations #5 (1975) An excerpt was read at that con, see Star Trek Lives!.
For a similar book, see The World of Star Trek.
Shortly before the book was published, Sharon Ferraro, a major Trek BNF talked this book up to other fans: 
The long-term impact of the book seems to have been that many devotees of the show had been unaware of the existence of fanzines and especially fan fiction, and that the chapter covering these subjects opened a life-changing door for them:
==The Book's Origins==
The original inspiration and information for this book came from a number of sources: one was a newspaper article (mentioned below), a chain letter (mentioned below), and the Strekfan Roster Questionnaire.
From a March 2003 interview with Jacqueline Lichtenberg: (reposted August 2004):
From a 2016 interview with Lichtenberg: 
==Some Author Comments==
Jacqueline Lichtenberg responded to a negative review of "Star Trek Lives" in 1975: 
From 1976, in an interview: Jacqueline Lichtenberg commented: 
From 1978 comments by Lichtenberg: 
In 2006: Jacqueline Lichtenberg commented: 
== Contents of the Book==
The book attempts to explain Star Trek's appeal by naming and explaining a number of 'Effects":
*The Discovery Effect: Discovering the show's existence, and the existence of others who enjoy it as you do.
*The Tailored Effect: Many aspects of the show's characters, environments and situations were supposedly "tailored" to appeal to different audiences, in contrast to most television shows which simply seek not to offend. 
* The Spock Charisma Effect: Spock is said to have a number of sub-effects on viewers. He is a sexy ("The Sex Effect"), ethical ("The Admiration Effect"), appealing ("The Psychological Visibility Effect") character. He shows us that the future, while daunting, is not as intimidating as it might be and that we'll find ways to cope ("The Future Shock Effect"). And while he is different ("The Half-Breed Effect"), he is not as lonely and isolated as he might appear, because of his friendship ("The Friend Effect") with Kirk. 
*The Optimism Effect: A kind of anti-nihilism. The idea that the future will not involve mindless 1984 lockstep or nuclear disaster, but that we will "find the wisdom not to destroy ourselves". There's a good deal of Ayn Rand in this chapter.
*The Goal Effect: Reinforcing the validity of ideals and goals that we set for ourselves rather than accepting the voices of cynical adults who put a damper on altruistic dreams. There's a good deal of Ayn Rand in this chapter as well.
Its most famous chapter is Chapter 9: "Do-It-Yourself Star Trek--The Fan Fiction". This chapter celebrating fan fiction had the possibly unintentional effect of introducing fanfic to the mass market audience of the paperback. Many people have said that this was their first introduction to the idea of Star Trek fan fiction. The blurb for this chapter on the table of contents asks questions and explores ideas still discussed in fandom today, to wit:
* Why fan fiction?...Why so many female writers of Star Trek fiction?...Pervasive themes of Star Trek fiction--with extensive quotes...Star Trek as school for writers.''
* The Connection to Star Trek Lives! by Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
* by Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
==The Fiction Discussed in the Book==
* The Daneswoman by Margaret Basta
* Spock Enslaved! by Diane Steiner
* "The Misfit", a story by Sharon Emily in Showcase #1, entire text online at SimeGen ~ Showcase
* Judith Brownlee's "To Seek Thee Out" and "From Whatever Distant Hill" (about Captain T'Pelle), in Eridani Triad #1 and #2
* Laura Basta's Federation and Empire series
* Ruth Berman's "It Seemed the Logical Thing" and "A Rose for Miranda"; the former in T-Negative #9, the latter in Eridani Triad #3 and And Starry Skies
* Encounter by Catherine Blakey in Grup #1
* Jennifer Guttridge's "Tower of Terror" and "The Winged Dreamers," both in Tricorder Readings
* "Ni Var" by Claire Gabriel (originally appeared in Quartet, a heavily edited version published in Star Trek: The New Voyages, original story "The Thousandth Man", entire text online at SimeGen~Quartet Plus Two]
* "The Crossing Lords" (about the Arretians from "Return to Tomorrow") by Carolyn Meredith, in Tholian Web #6 and Changeling #1
* Alternate Universe Four series edited by Shirley Maiewski, Anna Mary Hall & Virginia Tilley
* Kraith series by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
* "Joy in the Morning", a satire about Kirk's first sexual experiences by Claudine-Marie De Sisi, from Grup #2 
* "The Price of a Handful of Snowflakes" by M.L. "Steve" Barnes, from Impulse #5 and later, ...A Handful of Snowflakes and Other Trek Tales
* A Lament for the Unsung Dead by Jane Peyton, from Spockanalia #3
* Dorothy Jones Heydt and Astrid Anderson's "Dorothy and Myfanwy" stories in T-Negative
* Doris Beetem's trilogy of plays about Surak from Eridani Triad #1, see A Vulcan Trilogy
==Discussions of Sex==
Slash is not mentioned in Star Trek Lives. In 1974, what we now think of as slash had just begun to be published in fanzines, with Diane Marchant's extremely vague "A Fragment Out of Time" appearing in Grup #3. The authors discuss Grup, including another story out of that same issue, so they must have seen Marchant's story and decided to ignore it, perhaps thinking of it as an anomaly. One thing they do say, however, is that most fanzine editors would not print the material that appears in Grup.
When Joan Winston visits the Star Trek set during the filming of "Turnabout Intruder," there are many moments of burlesque humor around Shatner's portrayal of a female character. He showed up for a medical exam with falsies on, and Kelley played along, finally saying "Captain, you're pregnant!" At one point Shatner is supposed to say "Spock, Spock, give it up! Return to the Enterprise family. All charges will be dropped and the madness that temporarily overcame all of us on Camus Two will fade and be forgotten." Instead, Shatner said "Spock, it's always been you, you know it's always been you. Say you love me too." These things are not usually cited as canon rationales for slash, but the set crew's name for this episode was "Captain Kirk, Space Queen."
The book includes plenty of discussion of heterosexual stories and themes. However, no explicit scenes are quoted. If the book were mistaken for pornography or "Sexual Revolution" literature, it might not have been accepted by some newsstands, bookstores and libraries, or placed in the adults-only section, depriving children and teens of an opportunity to read it. 
There is, however, a very strong focus on sex in the fanfiction chapter, with M.L. "Steve" Barnes providing salty comments, talking about her "Dirty Old Broad" attitude and writing Star Trek porn. Her article "The Vulcan Love Myth" (Eridani Triad 3) is quoted at length. This article explicitly defines the experience of pon farr as rape, dismissing the idea that the telepathic matrimonial bond could make a difference, and failing to distinguish between rape and ravishment of a willing partner. Barnes concludes that women who are fascinated by pon farr feel a "secret and deeply buried thrill" at the notion of rape. This could raise questions for children and teens, especially girls, reading the book in the 70s and today.
==Its Debut Caused a Problem with the STW==
The Star Trek Welcommittee, always strapped for cash anyway, found itself in a financial bind when the first three editions of the book printed an old address and neglected to include the fannish imperative, the self-addressed, stamped envelope: 
In November 1975, M.J. Fisher wrote in Spectrum #21: "Jacqueline Lichtenberg has told me that STLives! has gone into its fourth printing and the Star Trek Welcommittee corrections went through at last!"
==A 1975 Review in "Publisher's Weekly"==
== Fan Reactions and Reviews==
===1975===
 
===1976===
===2010===
===1996===
===2005===
== References ==
Category:Star Trek TOS Professional Works
Category:Star Trek TOS Meta