Sondra Marshak


Sondra Hassan Marshak is an American science-fiction writer. She is most well known for her work with writing partner Myrna Culbreath, and for the fandom reference book Star Trek Lives!, co-written with Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and television producer Joan Winston. She was an early promoter of Star Trek fan culture, and a publisher of fan fiction.
Upon being introduced to Star Trek, she was struck by the "powerful relationship between Kirk and Spock and the focus on moral and philosophical issues." Marshak is an avowed objectivist, and she believes Star Trek advances objectivist ideals.

Early life

Marshak was born to Albert Hassan and Anna Tornheim in 1942. Little is known of her early life.
In an interview for Voyages of Imagination by Jeff Ayers, Myrna Culbreath explained that Marshak had earned a master's degree in history, with "straight-A honors," prior to their meeting, and that Marshak had planned to enter a doctoral program.
She married LSU professor Alan Marshak, and had one son.

Fannish activity

Following her introduction to Star Trek, Marshak was explored to the series' fandom via a growing network of fan-published magazines. She began writing fiction based on the series, and submitted it to fanzines, where she met Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
Marshak's first fan-published work was Spock's Decision, originally written by Lichtenberg in 1971. The new edition contained extensive rewrites by Marshak, and was anthologized in the fanzines Berengaria #2 and Kraith Collected #4. Her other writings, also with Lichtenberg, were set in the Kraith alternate Star Trek universe.
During the mid-to-late 70's, Marshak along with her writing partner Myrna Culbreath was a regular guest of honor at science fiction conventions, often joined by her mother, whom she addressed as "Mama."

Career

Marshak's first professional publication was the reference work Star Trek Lives!, co-written with Lichtenberg and Joan Winston. The ninth chapter, "Do-It-Yourself Star Trek," discussed structure and themes in fan fiction and how they may reflect the cultural and sexual ideas of the fans who write them. The book, and in particular the book's final chapter, inspired Francesca Coppa to call Marshak and her fellow authors "the foremothers of 'fanfiction scholarship'" in The Fanfiction Reader.
Marshak co-wrote six Star Trek tie-in books with her writing partner, Myrna Culbreath, in addition to the William Shatner biography Shatner: Where No Man…. In Voyages of Imagination, both Culbreath and Marshak described their writing partnership as "virtually a Vulcan mind-meld."
She also contributed trivia to The Star Trek Puzzle Manual by Jeff Razzi.
In the author's notes for The Fate of the Phoenix, several projects were listed as forthcoming. In addition to follow-ups to The New Voyages series, Marshak and Culbreath announced a fictional travel guide, Mr. Spock's Guide to the Planet Vulcan, a new novel co-written by Nichelle Nichols, Uhura!, and a non-Star Trek science fantasy novel co-written by William Shatner, The Power. None of the books were realized, nor published if completed.
Marshak has not published any new fiction since 1983, nor has she given any interviews since 2006. She was interviewed by the Orange County Business Journal in 2000 where she promoted Culbreath's PhonicsOpoly reading game.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg wrote a comment on a blog written by literary critic Steve Donoghue in 2012 concerning Marshak's lack of an online presence.

Non-fiction