How I Learned About Adult Star Trek Fanzines
A Trek Through the Weird 1970s
In the 1970s, I could read wild paperback novels with bonkers sex scenes and violent fight scenes. But I was too young to buy adult Star Trek fanzines.
But First, an Interlude About 1970s Weirdness
I’ve said before that the 1970s were weird for us kids. Here are some other ways they were weird. And boy, they were weird!
When I was in my early teens, I could go into all types of stores and encounter some truly weird books and magazines. No one would say, “You can’t look at this.” They were more likely to get upset because they thought I might be a would-be shoplifter or (gasp!) a browser.
In a hotel gift shop in the 1970s, a cranky woman once scolded at me for taking too long to browse in the store. How dare I look at the magazines they had on sale? Coincidentally, that was where I bought my first magazine about Star Trek. I’m pretty sure it was the now collectible All About Star Trek Fan Clubs magazine. But it wasn’t your typical fanzine — it received news stand distribution, and it didn’t contain fiction.
In my early teens, I stumbled upon dirty adult greeting cards in stores. Even worse, in a gift shop, I once stumbled upon a raunchy parody of the Curious…
