some details on the "Killing time" censorship tale

[julesjones]

While I was supposed to be doing something else, I stumbled into more details about Della van Hise's "Killing Time", the Star Trek pro novel that had the first print run pulled and pulped (far too late) because it was far too overtly slashy. Teresa Nielsen Hayden gives a summary of what happened in a 1985 edition of Ansible (scroll down nearly half way to the first item under "complaints department/letters"); and someone has done a sterling job of annotating the differences between the first and subsequent print runs of Killing Time, plus summarises some quick ways to tell which version you have.

They way I used when scanning copies in the local second-hand bookshop was to check the copyright page, where there's a line of numbers going from 10 to 1 which tells you which printing it was. I used to pick up copies in the US to distribute at UK cons to those who would properly appreciate them. :-)

Comments

[seawasp]

Oddly, they never did that to the Phoenix books, despite the accusations that they're nothing but thinly-veiled slash themselves.

As a matter of fact, to my utter astonishment, I find that not only did they not do that to the originals, but there was a *reprint* of the two Phoenix books in 1993! Given the way most people I encounter revile them, I find this astonishing.

[vaughan-steph.livejournal.com]

"an unidentified and gremlinish hand" Ha! I'll have to keep an eye out--ADD tendencies allowing.

As it happens, folks are gathering at my house later today to drive out to Riverside's Metropolitan Museum to check out its Star Trek exhibit. Good times.

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for sharing the info!