Marjorie Joyce
May 19, 2000
Well, despite the odds and the passing of an interesting year (as the old curse goes, "May you live in interesting times!"), I've managed to pull together another issue of Kiss. In my opinion it surpasses the quality of the first! I don't think you'll be disappointed in the collection you'll find here. Heck, I'll even admit that it's all been worth it (but don't quote me on that!).
In the past year, I've added a few more artists and writers to the roster, which is a fantastic thing because quite a few of the Old Guard have since retired. This new class of contributors either stumbled across the Kiss web site, bought the first issue and wanted to pitch in, or were found during one of my many excursions on the Internet searching for new talent. I'm extremely pleased with the skill, enthusiasm, and effort put out by these contributors. This zine would not exist without their contributions, so my thanks go first to them.
I'd also like to thank those people who in some way or another assisted in the production of this book. Their help made my job easier and prevented this project from becoming a giant Black Hole. Some folks may never realize just how much of a strain assembling a book of this size can be when it's all done on your own time in the evenings and over the weekends. Plus, I've never really found managing people to be fun--and in this case there isn't even a nice paycheck at the end to outweigh the hassles and stress of dealing with egos and all the varying time schedules. But it's the volunteers and the words of support that help to make this project a little easier to bear, and ultimately help to finish it. Thanks again to those who not only joined up with enthusiasm, but remained dedicated to the end--you know who you are!
No one was more surprised than me by the eventual size of this book. And to think that I'd originally worried about having enough new material! Be careful what you wish for.
And no, it's not a typo and you're not seeing double; two different contributors sent me their filks of the very same song--and I'd been considering filking the same song, too! As it was, I decided that they were different enough, and good enough, that they could both appear in the same zine without being repetitive. What were the odds?!
Since this issue contains several stories that were either written many years ago, or simply go off into their own universes, I thought it might be helpful to point this out. For those of you who weren't around to experience the endless wait for the release of "Return of the Jedi"--let alone the six years before the advent of the Timothy Zahn (no relation!) books--you may never fully understand the concept or appeal of alternate universe stories. Some of these stories were written long before the last films or new materials came out, so they couldn't have known how things would end (for instance the mysterious "Other"); but other times it was just because the author didn't like what was coming out of the official channels. As you'll find in these examples, stories don't have to stay true to the books or even the films in order to be good. On the contrary, I believe they're an opportunity to demonstrate the level of creativity Star Wars fans have reached when they weren't restricted by time lines or bad characterizations. I think it proves that you can color outside the lines and still create a wonderful and original story-- that's not only in character, but enjoyable to read.
So, enjoy!
June 2001
Once again it's been a pleasure to help Susan turn her Han-and-Leia fanzine into an e-zine. Happy reading--and viewing!
Marjorie Joyce, e-zine editor and designer
back to Kiss 2 contents