Dear Fan Club President's and online newsletter editors.

Here's is the revised open letter to readers of the Ian Spelling column
"Inside Trek" I said would be coming.  If your fan club has a list server
or email distribution list, please support Ian Spelling by send this to
your online members.  If you have room in your next hardcopy newsletter,
please print it.  Thank you on behalf of Ian Spelling and all he has done
to help us.
________________________________________________________________

Fellow Sci-Fi Fans:

Some interesting information has come my way and I thought the online and
offline members of your fan club could help to verify some information
about the Ian Spelling column "Inside Trek". I know from the fan club
newsletters I read that this column has been reprinted by many of the
clubs.  Your help is requested by (1) forwarding this message to your
online members and (2) publishing this in your next hardcopy newsletter for
those not online.

Dear Star Trek/Sci-Fi Fan:

Many of you are aware that the New York Times Syndicate publishes a weekly
column devoted to Star Trek and sci-fi.  It's entitled Inside Trek and is
written by Ian Spelling.  Different newspapers run it under different
names.  Currently, 20 newspapers and CompuServe and AOL carry the column or
are paying to carry the column.  

A recent situation has prompted Trek and sci-fi fans to ensure that papers
that are supposed to be running the column are actually running it AND to
try to convince their local paper to carry Inside Trek.  This was the
situation:  The Philadelphia Daily News paid for the column for several
months without running it, then dropped it. Philadelphia area fans did not
move promptly enough or in high enough numbers to sway the paper's
decision, though people are now making the effort to have the paper restart
the column.  If you wish to get involved, ask anyone you know from the
Philadelphia area to call or write to Debbie Licklider, Features Editor,
Philadelphia Daily News, 400 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA  19101
(215-854-2366).  Be polite, explain that you are a fan of the column and
that you would like to see it reinstated.

The Philadelphia Daily News situation has fans of the column thinking a
step ahead.  If you've been reading the column in your local paper but
suddenly stop seeing it, the paper may be testing reader response.  Call
the paper, ask for the entertainment editor and politely state that you
read the column, enjoy it and hope to see it appear again soon.  Several
papers have done this and when editors received calls and letters, the
column was promptly back in place.  (NOTE: At the end of this open letter
is a list of the newspapers publishing Inside Trek).  Also, call Bob
Farnell at the New York Times Syndicate (1-800-535-4425) or email Ian
Spelling at (IanSpelling@aol.com) should a paper that's supposed to be
running the column not run it.

Finally, the Philadelphia Daily News situation brings up the opportunity to
touch base with Trek and sci-fi fans about contacting their own local
newspapers -- ones that don't already publish the column -- about carrying
it or newspapers that currently publish the column (editors love input
about what they're doing right).  Inside Trek has been running for nearly
five years and continually features interviews with the most interesting
people in Trek and sci-fi, from Jeri Ryan and Leonard Nimoy and Nana
Visitor to William B. Davis (X-Files' Cancer man) and Kevin Costner (for
The Postman) and Bruce Boxleitner.  The column also reports on Trek
conventions (dates, places), news ("Brent Spiner's next role will be...")
and new products -- books, CD-ROMS, etc. -- of interest to Trek and sci-fi
fans.

Thanks for you interest and, in advance, your help.

Current list of Inside Trek newspapers to the best of my knowledge are:
(Please let me know of any other newspaper not currently on this list that
publish this column.  Also due to ownership of many newspapers by one
company, your newspapers name may not be in this list.)

Antelope Valley Press (Palmdale, CA)
Sacrametro (Sacramento, CA)
Marin Independent Journal (Novato, CA)
Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Ventura County Papers (CA)
Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Denver Post (CO)
Weekly News (Miami, FL)
Palm Beach Newspapers (West Palm Beach, FL)
Chicago Tribune (IL)
	Webposted to the Chicago Tribune website on Thursday ONLY in the Tempo
section).  
Herald Times (Bloomington, IN)
CompuServe (under syndicated columns)
Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA)
Reading Eagle (Reading, PA)
Herald Journal (Spartanburg, SC)
Houston Chronicle (TX)
East Side Journal (Bellevue, WA)
South County Journal (Kent, WA)
Tri-City Herald (Tri-Cities, WA)
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC)
AOL (Under Chicago Tribune Tempo Section on Thursday.  Columns 4 weeks
prior may be obtained from AOL by searching the Chicago Tribune under "Ian
Spelling" as the search words.