In an attempt to make my recommendations page a bit different, I followed the path boldly pioneered by Lori on her webpage. She lists stories of hers that she recommends. I asked some of my favorite Star Trek authors to do the same, and several of them actually agreed to it! So here are their self-recommendations (yeah, I'm in there, too), along with some hints about what's in progress.
NOTE
Each link to a story or author webpage opens in a new window. Please sign guestbooks and send feedback.
The first one I'd like to recommend to all you readers out there is The Curse (TOS, short story). Why? Because it's short and it has sex in it. And it's the only serious thing I've written that satisfies both those criteria.
Janice Lester and Nyota Uhura meet on a starbase. Set both before
and after Turnabout Intruder, this story explores some of the nagging issues
I've had with TOS and women. The nicest feedback I got for this story was
from someone who said that as a woman of colour, she was thrilled to see a
black woman's body celebrated the way Uhura's was in this story.
The second one I'd like to recommend to all you readers out there is The
Fruits of Diplomacy (TOS, novel). It's the second in a series of three novels, and I
suppose I should recommend the FIRST one in the series, but I'll stick to
"Fruits" because it is the least self-indulgent piece I have ever written. I
was ruthless editing this one, and while I don't think it's the strongest or
most ambitious item on my writerly CV, it was the one I wrote and edited as
if I were going to send it to PocketBooks.
After a difficult mission at Ser Etta, the Enterprise is
due a refit and her crew are due some shore leave. Starfleet has
other plans, however. The most concession they'll make to
Kirk's request for a break is a milk-run mission ferrying
diplomats from two warring species (The Sythenes and the Voucheron)
to a peace conference.
And we all know what happens when you ask the Enterprise to
transport diplomats....
This one roused controversy because it showed Jim Kirk as a
less-than-perfect Captain in his relationship with Ann Ridley, hot-tempered
red-head. The rewrite addressed some of those issues, but probably not all
of them.
The third story I'd like to recommend is my most recent, Arrows of Desire (TOS, novel).
The most ambitious of my stories, the longest, the one that took longest to
write, and in many ways the most personal. I was less ruthless in editing
this than "Fruits of Diplomacy" and a lot of that was because I had more
invested in this story. There are things I wanted to say, and I said them,
and damned if I was going to cut them! I hear it's a good read anyway.
After several difficult missions, the crew of the USS Enterprise
is looking forward to a milk-run: ferrying supplies and personnel for a
brand new starbase. But what is the meaning behind the strange
transmissions coming from sector 31? The third Larssen story.
This story has a NC-17 rating for horror and non-cons sex. I surprised
myself putting the non-cons in. I'm still not sure if I shouldn't have cut
it, or if I shouldn't cut it now.
Although this is not the tightest of my novels, it is the one I stretched
myself most on - in plotting, characterisation, writing and so on. I tried
to handle the entire TOS crew and four major and many many minor OCs here,
in different geographical locations, and give them all character arcs and so
on. I'm proud and uneasy about "Arrows", and I'm reccing it because I put
my heart and soul into it.
Actually, I'm working on a non-Trek novel that I'm hoping to publish as an actual book. I'm hoping to take the lessons I've learned writing "Fruits" and "Arrows" and apply them to a wholly original universe. Stay tuned...
Thank you, you've been a lovely audience!
[blows kisses - and from a Mastodon, that's pretty messy]
Speak Into Silence (TOS, each story in the series is a short short)
The first three parts of this series, the Kirk, Spock, and McCoy vignettes, were written in response to a challenge issued on ASCEM, the main Trek erotica newsgroup. I believe it was Istannor who issued the challenge which was something like "what if the boys led lonely lives? What if at the end, they had no one but themselves?" or something to that affect. Pretty bleak, but also quite possible. When I was writing it, I really had no intention on continuing it farther, but I thought it would be an interesting writing exercise to do one for all the trek characters. It's been slow going, recently, but I still intend on finishing the series.
Neutral Territory (TOS, short story)
There's a notion floating around the Trekiverse, probably limited to K/S circles, that Kirk and Spock share a bathroom. It's a plot device rife with possibilities. It's also pretty unlikely, although we'll never know for sure. As much as I thought it was a fun idea, I never really believed Kirk and Spock share a bathroom. And then I thought about it some more, wondering just what it would be like to share such an intimate space with a Vulcan, and well, one thing lead to another and I wrote this story. It has a soft spot in my heart and I couldn't really say why.
The Siren's Call (TOS, novella)
The kernel idea for this story evolved while writing Kirk's Speak into Silence piece. I kept wondering what it was like for Kirk all alone in the Nexus. It was supposed to be this perfect joyful existence, but it sounded dreadful to me. I don't think I'd like it if I entered my bedroom thinking it was my bedroom and somehow wound up in the stable. However, I wanted the Speak into Silence stories to live in their own universe, so anything I did with the idea had to be a completely independent story. Conveniently, the KS Online Fest provided me with a nifty plot all ready made that actually fit right into the story. Kismet, or something. :)
Rain Check (TOS, novella)
This Kirk/Brandt story is the first (and so far, only) story that turned out the way I intended it to. In other words, I had a plan. I wanted to write a story that had the feeling of the romantic comedies of the late 1950's/early 1960's. Not screwball or slapstick, not a comedy of manners, but that nice area in between. Think Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant--that flavor, but with Kirk and Brandt. Admiral Kirk is Earthbound and Captain Brandt is on her first off-world assignment since their decision to live together a year earlier.
What Lies Within (TOS, short story)
This is the best Kirk story I've ever written. It's set at the Academy during Kirk's Kobayashi Maru, and I hope it fits into canon while presenting some new ideas about an important event in the life of a well-known character.
Random (TOS, novella)
This story came into being because of an image I had in my head that demanded a story. I knew the image was the climax of the story, but I had to find the rest of it. As the story developed, other visual snippets came along and directed the action, and when I think of this story, it's like a series of stills from a movie. Brandt is ordered to resolve a hostage crisis that turns out to be unlike anything she's ever faced.
Contemplating the Death of an Old Friend (TOS, short story)
I've always wanted to write a ghost story, so when Nesabj posted a Halloween challenge to write a story involving a ghost, blood, and chocolate, I thought, "Oh, great challenge!" But I didn't get an idea until a few weeks after Halloween. It was truly a gift of the muse because I can't remember where it came from, the first draft was written in about 3 hours, it changed very little in beta, and I'm still a little stunned by the way the canonical threads are strung together.
Uhhhhh...How many works-in-progress are sitting on my hard drive? One of them will get finished some day. I hope. More likely, I'll get a new idea, write a few scenes I'll be very excited about, and then not touch it for months. I think I'll just put up the "Technical Difficulties" sign and thank you for your patience.
Unspoken Truth (TOS, Novel)
My firstborn. The narrator-protagonist--the Romulan Commander from the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident"--is female, a relative rarity in a subgenre that nowadays virtually defaults to K/S and that too often tends to view female characters as nonentities, victims, enablers, or villains. This story, which is grounded solidly in TOS canon, allowed me to examine interstellar politics and interpersonal conflicts from the viewpoint of a strong and articulate canonical character who ended up on the losing side of an encounter with Captain Kirk and his crew. It also allowed my favorite TOS characters--Spock, McCoy, Uhura, and Kirk--to step outside the confines of their usual roles, and to question some of their long-held assumptions.
Any Other Lifetime (TNG/TOS, novel)
"Any Other Lifetime" is the sequel to "Unspoken Truth," and is based upon the events in the TNG episodes "Unification, Parts 1 and 2." The scope of the story is ambitious: juxtaposed with the immediate events of the "Unification" episodes are flashbacks to defining chapters in Trek history--Mutara, Seleya, Hellguard, Khitomer, and more. Like "Unspoken Truth," this story is told from the Romulan Commander's point of view. When she becomes entangled in Pardek and Sela's scheme to destabilize the Federation, personal and political history rise up unexpectedly to confront her. And like its predecessor, this story is consistent with canon--an achievement I'm especially proud of given the conceptual and dramatic muddleheadedness of the "Unification" episodes.
Elective Affinities (TNG/TOS, Short story)
A mini-prequel to the TNG episode "Face of the Enemy." My personal favorite, but many readers' least favorite. I'm pleased with this story because it portrays an adult Saavik who, in her middle years, makes radical changes and choices for reasons that are consistent with (what little we saw onscreen of) her character. Many TOS readers dislike the story because of its brief allusions to Spock's mother Amanda, who is not portrayed as the well-adjusted, nurturing figure commonly seen in Trek fiction.
Two in the works. One is a shorter entry in the Romulan Commander series, the second a "what-if" involving the unplanned reunion of two murderously incompatible TOS characters.
One Night on Rura Penthe (TOS, short story)
An example of Blanket Fic, or "Under the circumstances, we must share body heat", one of the most popular themes in slash.
I'm not writing Trek for the moment. Just finished my first JAG story and hope to write more in that fandom in the future. But I hear that the next Star Trek movie, Nemesis, features the gorgeous Steven Culp from JAG as Cmdr. Madden, which I think sounds very inspiring.
Small Packages (TOS, short story)
Small Packages is a really loony story. When I was writing it, I kept imagining the Chekov rescue from STIV. I always thought that particular sequence was very well paced and I wanted to maintain that kind of momentum throughout this story. When I began writing Small Packages, I finished the first half in about two days. Then I didn't quite know where to go with it and the story sat dormant in my computer for over six months. It didn't comfort me to know that Small Packages wasn't lonely in hard drive exile. Ten other aborted stories were there to keep it company. I finally figured out where the story should go, due in part to some incidental characters I created as a minor plot complication who decided they wanted more of a supporting role. It's weird how that happens sometimes. Anyway, overall I'm pretty proud of this story. I hope you get a good laugh. My favorite comment on this story was actually a warning from Killashandra: do not read this story with liquid in your mouth. Enjoy.
Rocky Road (TOS, short short)
Can't do better than the "plug" you contributed, JK:
"Kirk did the horta. And liked it. Well, sorta."
This story is the first part of a comic trilogy featuring
sex-mad hortas and a captain who's too handsome
for his own good.
The Relevance of Hope (TNG, short story)
Picard discovers that he has a Borg daughter, created
from his genetic material and sent to the Enterprise as
a child-agent of the Collective. Against his better
judgment, he feels compelled to protect her.
So far, this story has a sequel from the daughter's POV,
with more to come in this series if I can ever persuade
the muse to cooperate.
Refugee Camp Voyager (VOY, novel)
Janeway agrees to grant political asylum aboard Voyager to
a group of five hundred Borg rebels, including Seven of Nine's
mother. But it's not long before the Collective dispatches
a warship to recapture its renegade drones.
This story didn't get much feedback when I first posted it
to ASC, probably because of its length, but I was surprised
and pleased to see all the positive comments in the awards.
I have another Voyager novel in mind, fairly well outlined in my head, but I haven't actually started writing it yet. It's somewhat of a sequel to "Refugee Camp Voyager," although it can stand alone. The title is "Species One," and it deals with Voyager's encounter with the mysterious race from which the Borg originated. The rise of the Borg Collective is also described in the form of a historical narrative (similar in many respects to our present-day fascist groups and terrorist religious cults).
All three of the stories I mention below are set in my S/U Trekiverse. Although I've written other types of stories, the S/U storyline caught my imagination several years ago and has never let it go, and those are the stories I'd like to recommend.
A Woman's Touch (TOS, novella)
"A Woman's Touch" was the beginning of my S/U stories, and it was originally intended to stand alone. It's a fairly simple story that was inspired by Carolyn Clowes' wonderful pro novel, "The Pandora Principle," in which Spock takes a very young Saavik under his wing, moves to a remote planet, and raises her for a year. Anyway, I read Carolyn Clowes' book and loved it, and I wondered what would have happened if any of Spock's friends got involved in Saavik's upbringing, specifically Uhura. So, in "A Woman's Touch," Uhura visits Spock and Saavik in their rural home, and she's surprised by the events that unfold while she's there.
The Kobayashi Maru (TOS, novella in 4 parts)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
This story spans the era depicted in the movies Star Trek II, Star Trek III, and Star Trek IV. It's a long story, but I had a lot of territory to cover, so I tried not to worry too much about length while I was writing it. I included it in this list because it was the carrot in front of my nose for a long, long time. Everything I wrote before was leading up to it, and I felt like I'd really accomplished something once I finished it. Of course, we all know what happened in the movies, so I don't have to include a plot summary here, but what I tried to do was weave the S/U storyline into the events depicted on the big screen without ever violating canon. You can be the judge of whether I accomplished that or not.
A Roll of the Dice (TOS, novella)
This story is on the list simply because I had so much fun writing it. An episode of TNG was my inspiration, and although I don't want to give too much away here, let's just say that I thought it would be fun to see what Spock's life might have been like if events had happened differently, and I let my imagination run wild.
Although I can always go back and fill in the blanks, it's inevitable that I would reach the end of my S/U storyline. After all, we know from TNG that Spock marries during Picard's lifetime, so if I continue to stay within canon (which I've always been careful to do), it's clear that Spock must outlive Uhura. I'm not sure if my next story will deal with this, but it's the story that's on my mind right now. It'll be a tough one to write, that's for sure. I don't know if I'll be able to do it.
Gil Shalos