Leading Edge Yields Latter-day Saints
Leading Edge History
6 December 2011
Yahoo! Inbox
Melva Giffords
F
Founding Staff Member
Stranger
Personal Data: Linda Adams forwarded me Melva’s email address, and Melva was kind enough to
Social Data: There was definitely a computer and a keyboard involved. Other data unavailable.
Cultural Data: Most of the players in this history also appear in Dave Doering’s interview. The Science
fiction and fantasy World Con is a yearly convention of science fiction and fantasy aficionados.
Item: This item was emailed to me by Melva and reformatted and lightly edited by me, with Melva’s
permission.
In the Beginning
In about 1979, a bunch of science fiction fans signed up for an English class that Orson Scott Card was
supposed to teach. Instead, we got a wonderful teacher named Marian K. Smith. We called him our Doc
Smith. He had an extensive knowledge of the genre and a supportive attitude towards aspiring writers.
This great professor taught us a lot of great stuff, of what makes a great story, and it was the greatest
class in which to do homework, writing new stories.
Friendships were established and we continued our association after the end of the term. We started
meeting in a writing group called Xenobia. We liked having a time to review each others' stories and
would meet every Friday night. As a group, we desired to become professional writers, and so several
thought that to accomplish this they needed to know what it was like to produce a magazine and to
create a symposium where we would have professional editors and authors come to BYU. As I
understand it, Dave Doering discussed a magazine idea with Shayne Bell. Marian K. Smith became the
adviser for both new creations.
Some of the Xenobia members started the Life, the Universe, and Everything symposium and many of
the same started The Leading Edge magazine. New people who had not attended Smith’s class also
joined the ranks, such as members of a science fiction club called Quark. For Issue one, we made a call
for entries and got a great response.
The key people I remember being involved in the beginning were Shayne Bell, Dave Doering, and Mike
and Rayda Reed. There were others, but those are the first names that come to mind. I was a member of
the staff. It was arranged for us to use a computer in the English department after other school
magazines were done for the night. We worked on an old black computer we nicknamed Darth (after
the villain of Star Wars movies). Many thanks to Linda Adams for letting us have access to the hardware
and location, and for being a key mentor.
Shayne Bell, being the student who had a car, would pick up fellow staffers late at night or very early in
the morning, and we would take turns on the computer for a couple of hours. At various hours of the
morning he would return us home. Some of us would work in shifts, while certain people would work all
the shifts.
One hundred copies were printed of Issue one. There was a wonderful centerfold illustration by Dave
Bastian. They are quite a collector’s item now. The staff never realized that the dream of magazine
production would continue throughout the decades. Here are some of the positions for Issue one:
Executive Editor: Dave Doering, Managing Editor: Michael W. Reed, Assistant Editor: Rayda Reed.
I remember the growing of friendships and the sense of community that existed in being a part of the
staff for The Leading Edge or the symposium. These friendships exist still. Many of the people on the
various staffs have now moved on to professional careers.
The Early Years
In the early years I remember about ten people sitting around tables and reading submissions. Since
many of the staff members were writers, it was decided early on to submit under pseudonyms. There
was one time that Nancy Hayes had submitted a manuscript and Shayne Bell started discussing the story
with the rest of the group. I knew she was the author but Shayne didn’t. It was funny to see how
interested Nancy was about what Shayne had to say. We also had access to a very talented artist named
Steve Keele who did several covers for us. The look of the magazine improved through each successive
issue.
Around Issue three or four we featured a very controversial illustration for one of the stories that
created quite a storm amongst the staff. This event was one example where I saw Shayne’s specific
effort to maintain a publication of high character. As we grew as a magazine, we gained access to the
computers in the evenings and no longer had to work such strange hours.
As each issue progressed, there was a switch-around of positions and those who were staff sometimes
got a turn in leadership roles. I became an editor/submissions coordinator around Issue six (I think).
When we began to get more exposure, we started to get really huge amounts of submissions, and we
would spend Tuesday night, Thursday night, and Saturday morning working on the magazine. If the
other BYU magazines moved from one building to another on campus we moved along with them. With
our increased submissions to the magazine we also increased our collection of talented artists and fun
articles. Sometimes we could interview people who came to the Life, the Universe, and Everything
symposium.
Throughout the years, various staff members of the symposium and The Leading Edge have felt that BYU
wasn’t very excited about having science fiction and fantasy on campus. Some in the English department
may not have considered science fiction and fantasy as literature and thought it should probably be
ignored and removed completely from university support. I am not sure if those individuals have learned
since then that many past staffers of said publication have become professional writers and editors once
they left BYU.
I went to the Science Fiction and Fantasy World Con this year (2011). There were a number of Latter-day
Saints who were up for prestigious awards. A number of awards have been given to other members of
the church in past years in all the areas of science, art, innovation, and in the different genres of
literature and the arts; it’s wonderful to see that Latter-day Saints can be listed as some of the most
accomplished individuals in all these fields. I will be forever grateful to BYU for providing an
environment where I could aspire for success in a chosen career with the Gospel fueling my aspirations.
The magazine provides an excellent opportunity to read the slush pile and to evaluate why a story did or
did not work. I remember sometimes there being over 17 folders filled with submissions, and we had to
begin restricting readers to 2-3 per story unless it had been accepted. An accepted story went through
an extensive review. New people came and others left. The great thing was that through each
succession of staff members, aspiring writers, artists, and editors were able to learn their craft by handson experience. They showed as much passion and dedication as those before them had.
As the years progressed, there were some minor frustrations. I remember a series of poems being
written, quite witty, from some anonymous staffers, popping up mysteriously at the some of the
meetings. I guess it was a way for certain people to vent a little. It was with this magazine that I became
the art director for a few issues. Fortunately, I had some friends who were professional artists and I
believe their submissions were a great complement to the look of the magazine.
As the magazine gained exposure more people started submitting. Artists sent in portfolios in the hopes
of having their work featured within each publication’s pages. The various staff members that worked
on putting together each issue had a primary concern to provide the best product possible. High quality
reflects well on the learned skills of the staff and on the education gained from the university. Students
are able to feature hands-on experience to potential employers. Some of my friends were hired because
of their involvement in activities such as TLE.
A couple of past TLE staff members are currently bestseller authors and several are professional editors.
Years ago at the magazine, I remember a married couple approaching me and asking what I felt about
the two them being the two chief editors of the magazine. At the time I didn’t see a problem with it.
Later, there were some integrity concerns. Some of the staff felt there was too much dominion over
everything by this married team. Due to the conflict I finally terminated my involvement with the
magazine.
The magazine and symposium helped me improve as an individual. Being from a small town and small
high school, I hadn’t had much opportunity to be in many leadership positions. The symposium and
magazine gave me the chance to move outside my shell and try things I wouldn’t have dared to do. I will
be forever grateful to BYU for hosting such an environment of creativity and an opportunity for young
Latter-day Saints to unfurl their creative sails. It is one thing to get class instruction and quite another to
have some hands-on experience. Why not combine the two?
My Observations
There were a number of wonderful things that were accomplished by this publication. A bunch of
wannabe writers started learning the process of magazine production. With reading all the submissions
that started coming in for the different issues we had the great opportunity to begin to analyze why
certain stories would work and why others didn't. We learned different techniques for quality control,
such as reading to screen, the need for clarity, and checking and rechecking. We learned about design,
illustration, and how to effectively work with people. We learned how to establish a good reputation for
our publication and thus brought positive attention to the university.
Many of us were very inexperienced. As we began to learn the craft and prove ourselves, we began to
gain further responsibilities and learn new skill sets. This makes a great contribution to one's selfesteem. We worked as fellow Latter-day Saints in presenting a good quality product to the best of our
abilities. When you sit at the chair of the slush pile and you begin to read a story and analyze its
effectiveness, you naturally evaluate your own writing.
BYU as a university is becoming known for many great accomplishments. Why not also to be a key
contributor to successful authors and editors? This is but one way we combine our love of the Gospel
with our love of literature and art. Then, certainly, we can accomplish new things by way of our
education and future careers.
As Shayne Bell has continued his writing career he has published over a hundred stories to magazines.
During that time he was in communication with various editors from New York. A question was raised:
what is it about Utah writers that lets them present so many upbeat stories that are accepted in
magazines, especially when compared to other submissions that usually have a more negative ending? I
say that authors from Utah may have been presenting their view of life as nurtured by the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and a result, their work stood out from their competitors’.
There is another exciting thing: science fiction and fantasy literature is sold at a higher quantity in Utah
than many other states of the nation. Why is that? It’s because Latter-day Saints don't see science
fiction and fantasy as a threat to the Gospel. The concepts of worlds without end, of eternal
progression, and of the coming of age of a character are all complemented by the principals of the
Gospel. The great thing is that the University has nurtured a positive environment for youthful Latterday Saints to spread their wings in creativity and gain skill sets for their careers. I specifically chose BYU
for my education because it hosted events on specific literature and provided a safe environment as I
branched out into the world.
The magazine gives us as fellow Saints a shared passion to learn writing and editing. We live the Gospel,
and that perspective often tints our writing with characters with morals and drive. There is cause and
consequence by a given decision, which is another principal of the Gospel.
Many of us authors tell a simple science fiction or fantasy story and don't realize that some element of
the gospel is taught in the message of that story. The irony is that when we feature our fiction outside
the Church, that story may be a non-member’s first introduction to a concept of the gospel. It might be
cloaked in fantasy or science fiction, but if it can get the reader to think, it can be a stepping stone to
expand the mind to other spiritual thoughts.
Several years ago, Mr. Bell was an editor to an anthology called Washed by a Wave of Wind. It featured
an article by Barbara Hume that had an extensive exposition about the early days of the Life the
Universe and Everything symposium and The Leading Edge. I would invite people to find that anthology
and read the article. There have also been various articles in magazines and local newspapers
throughout the years, but I don’t have the publications or dates. I recommend everyone to reference:
http://lds.org/ensign/1977/07/the-gospel-vision-of-the-arts?lang=eng. Please also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_Edge
Happy writing all.
Daniel Friend
M, 24
Honors 300R
Fall 2011
Deirdre Paulsen
BYU