#Captain Kirk blurbs

[triptuckers]

first name basis - jim kirk

Request: nope Pairing: jim kirk (snw) x reader Summary:  jim insists you call him by his first name, but you're not sure about it Warnings:  bit of language but thats it Word count:  539 A/N: saw that episode with la'an and jim and got this idea :) enjoy reading!

you hear kirk let out another sigh across from you. for the past hour you've tried to ignore him. you know it's late, and you're both tired. but this report couldn't wait and it had an annoyingly long list of demands.

captain pike had apologised to you both when he assigned you the task, and he had asked the two of you to get it done as quickly as possible. so here you are, on the third night in a row, working on a report on the latest away mission and your findings.

because captain pike was needed aboard during the away mission, he had assigned spock to lead the mission. spock had beamed down to the surface of the planet along with la'an, kirk and yourself.

and because both spock and la'an were busy with their other duties, you and kirk had been assigned the boring - and time consuming - task of putting together the detailed report.

you hadn't really worked with kirk often. your paths didn't cross that much aboard enterprise. the only times you'd see him would be in the cafeteria, sometimes on the bridge or on an away mission.

a part of you actually thinks the most time you've spent with him is in your lab, working on the report.

at the end of the day, or rather, somewhere in the night, kirk would start sighing a lot to signal he was about down with it for the day. as he was doing now.

'you alright there, lieutenant?' you say.

he sighs again.

'we've been working on this report for the past three nights and you still call me lieutenant.' he says.

you don't look up from your work, even though you can feel his eyes on you.

'so? you are a lieutenant. as am I.'

'don't you think we're past ranks at this point? I've seen you trip over a fallen log and nearly break your nose during the away mission. also, the other day I saw you chug three coffees in a row.'

'fine.' you say, still looking at your work. 'but I'm not calling you james.'

'why not?' says kirk.

'it sounds too formal and I don't feel like it suits you. plus there was a james at the academy same time I was there and he was a real asshole. fucked me over a couple of times.'

'really?'

'yeah. got a middle name?'

'tiberius.'

you're silent as you finally lift your gaze to look him in the eye. he's got bags under his eyes, and his hair is slightly disheveled but he's still got a twinkle in his eyes. you're sure you look as tired as he does. except maybe without the twinkle in your eyes.

'you're serious? your middle name is tiberius?'

'yes, it was my grandfather's.'

'I am not calling you tiberius.'

you see how he frowns slightly.

'then what?' he says.

'you got any nicknames?' you ask.

'not really.'

'how about jim? short for james.'

'jim...' he says, contemplating it. 'yeah, sure. I actually like that.'

you smile at him. 'alright, jim.' you say. 'I want to finish this section of the report tonight, so I'm getting another coffee, want one as well?'

'yes, please. thanks, y/n.'

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rulesHere’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Max/Marit

[strangenewwords]

List O' Fics on AO3

now with update status! (10/30/23) slownorimo update (6218 over the goal!)

Spirk

TOS/SNW

don't you know me - Still being updated.

One morning, Admiral Kirk's unbreakable bond with his husband is suddenly severed. The cause? A temporal anomaly that has turned the 55-year-old Spock into his 31-year-old self. Now, they find themselves on an uncharted path, facing an uncertain future where their shared journey hangs in the balance, teetering between continuity and divergence.

Mature (for talk about sex, but sex is kept in oneshots). Chaptered and incomplete.

we ran aground - Completed.

Set when Kirk is the XO of the Farragut and Spock is the science officer on the Enterprise. Both ships are in dry dock for repairs, and Spock runs into Kirk at a bar. He walks him home. Things progress. There's chess. And sex.

Explicit. More porn. Can also do the standalone thing, but falls in Don't You Know Me universe.

take me how you want me - Completed.

Kirk and Spock are on Vulcan for their wedding. Spock can't seem to find his center. Jim helps. With his body.

Explicit coz porn. Can be read as a standalone but is backstory from don't you know me.

Sarek x Amanda

TOS/SNW/DISCO/AOS

we can blame it on human nature - Paused

Yet another Amanda and Sarek origin story.

When four-year-old Sybok arrives on Earth to live with his father, Amanda Grayson's life takes an unexpected turn. She can't resist falling for the charm of this endearing child, but things get even more intriguing when she meets the tall, dark, and utterly captivating Sarek.

As Amanda and Sarek navigate the complexities of their newfound connection, they discover a magnetic pull between them that defies all logic. Together, they must chart a course through the chasm of their differences, all while exploring the depths of the emotions that bind them.

Teen, and it'll stay there. This is a sweet story with a dash of heat.

beyond logic - On Pause

The blurb is wrong because it's going to be redone. But Sarek x Amanda and dark and steamy.

So, so much Explicit.

Captain Shaw

burn the whole house down - On Pause

Captain Liam Shaw is a shitshow held together by the terrors of his past. This is a story of him finding something else to live for.

Mature for language, but'll probably go up to explicit because my Shaw is sex!driven. Whatcha gonna do?

Spock x Chapel

tangled memories - Completed

When nightmares haunt Christine, Spock becomes her anchor.

Teen, with some implied sex but no actual sex.

Deep Space Nine

forever and more - Completed.

Julian and Miles have bad habits. Julian keeps saying he'll stop. Garak is there to pick up the pieces.

Mature for sex, but not porn.

Father Brown

you used to be my favorite memory - On Pause

Sidney Carter and Inspector Sullivan knew one another in London years before Sullivan showed up in Kembleford. Sullivan's astonished to run into Sid again in this tiny, out of the way town. Sid can't believe Sullivan is getting on his case after the way things went down. They try to figure out where each of them fits into this new arrangement, especially when they can't seem to keep of out each others way.

Teen, but may bump up to M as I move forward.

pinch me - Completed

Sid and the Inspector regularly heat up the caravan. In the aftermath on this afternoon, their conversation drifts to how things started and where they are

M for implied sex, fondling.

[fenmere]

OK, we had the opportunity to read @goodluckclove's BLIND TRUST for free, and maybe still do, but we have money to invest in people's work currently, and we've just ordered the paperback edition.

So, when it arrives, we're going to take a picture of it, and then review it when we're done reading it.

But, until then, holy shit, everyone, check out this blurb from the Amazon listing!

---

Edgar Gallows is done with magic.

He left it behind when he left the abuse of his Academy, a deep-rooted institution where anyone can dedicate their lives to tapping into the source of magic – and all the pain that brings. Now he’s found himself a quiet life in nearby New Orleans where he can focus on staying alive, pretty much alone, and relatively happy.

Scott Skylark Kaufner is losing his mind – literally.

Since being born a birthright with innate magic, he has had a dark and screaming void desperate to take over his body. A powerful madness that will render him unstoppable for as long as he is separated from the other half of the soul bond he was born into. Every day the cosmic oil spill swallows up more and more of himself, and there’s nothing he can do but keep traveling from town to town and looking for an indistinct figure he only knows as Eddie.

Edgar and Scott cross paths in the dirty walk-in of a NOLA tourist trap. But this has happened before, hasn’t it? Something about this

feels

familiar.

An asexual romance that searches for peace in the horror. The start of the end and the beginning of everything else. A story for anyone who knows how much could change once you remove a person from their pain. Once all of this is done, we can go to bed together and sleep in late tomorrow. I promise.

---

We are not generally enticed by romance books. But this description HOOKS us. It TASKS us, like Captain Kirk tasks Kahn.

We will be reading this.

[vulcanhello]

[hailbop1701]

To Rescue A Fair Doctor...

Bones X Reader

Surprise! Phone blurb! This is a little birthday present for @dw-writes! 💕 I hope you have an amazing day hun! 😊 Remember this was written on my phone so there will be mistakes!

-H❤🖖

The garden was beautiful and very, very alien. The planet was ruled by four houses. One for each continent, it was like you walked right into the fantasy novels that you enjoyed so much. Ball gowns, princes, and drama. You pretended to take a sip from the glass in your hand as you watched the Captain and first officer talk to the King and Queen. Your job as second to Security Chief Giotto was to keep the three legendary trouble makers out of trouble on away missions.

Sighing you rolled your shoulders trying to hopelessly loosen your stiff dress uniform jacket. Keeping your face passive you looked around counting heads. Kirk, check. Spock, check. Uhura, check. McCoy...

"Damnit,"

The sound of quick footfalls made you snap your head around. Quickly walking, borderline on jogging past the entrance to the party was Doctor McCoy. He looked annoyed and slightly panicked, glancing over his shoulder you could hear him mutter "No, no, no, no," repeatedly before disappearing again.

Following him were a literal gaggle of women from the royal court. They were rushing after the good doctor giggling and whispering to each other. Rolling your eyes you snort and chuckle into your drink. Feeling mildly guilty you sigh and wander over to where the Captain was talking up the King and Queen.

Upon seeing you Kirk excused himself. He smirked at your amused expression, "What's going on?"

"Permission to go rescue tall, dark, and cantankerous?"

The Captain barked out a laugh and nodded. "Granted. I think Bones has had enough smoozing for one day." He agreed with a cheeky grin. Commander Spock raised an eyebrow before cocking his head to the side,

"It would indeed be...wise to remove Doctor McCoy from this particular environment. The Princess has taken a liking to him according to her father,"

You grimaced and handed Kirk your drink. "That isn't good," you grumbled before jogging off out of the reception.

Spock and Kirk watched you dart into the hedge maze.

"So uh what's the percentage of (Y/N) punching someone in the face?" Kirk asked with a wince. Spock opened his mouth but snapped it shut again,

"I recommend we intervene,"

The Captain nodded with a sighed, "Yeah,"

Tags:

Everything:

@thottiewithashotgun, @lauraaan182, @writerdee1701, @stileslover13-blog, @cowenby2, @bluesclues-1234

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Vickie Moseley

Vickie Moseley has 252 stories at Gossamer, some of which have also made their way to AO3. She has obviously contributed a ton to the fandom over the years! I’ve recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including Giving Thanks, Stunned, and a bunch of post-eps for particular episodes, including “Firewalker” and “Pine Bluff Variant.” Big thanks to Vickie for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Not really. Well, actually, it has always surprised me that anyone would read my stories even during the heyday of the series, but that’s my self-consciousness talking. That people are discovering The X-Files is not at all surprising and that they are stumbling on fan fic is a natural extension and I find that wonderful. My husband and I never watched Grimm when it was on network TV and we’re currently going through that series, so it’s the streaming-on-demand-there-isn’t-anything-new-on-TV times we find ourselves.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

Friendships. I have a group of women that I’ve been friends with for over 20 years. Until this year we gathered in person every year. We are in contact on Facebook messenger all the time and a conversation will start up just out of thin air when we haven’t conversed for months! It’s been wonderful knowing these women from all parts of the country (and the world for that matter).

And strangely enough, medical research. My writing tended to focus on ‘injured Mulder’ (or Mulder Torture as we termed it) and I also liked reading that in fan fic. Two years ago this managed to help me in real life. My husband experienced a bilateral pneumothorax (both lungs collapsed spontaneously). One of my favorite stories that I have read and reread is “Short of Breath” by the incomparable dee_ayy. She did some serious research while writing that story and it’s all in that fan fiction. I’m not saying it’s the same as a medical degree, but I knew what was happening, why the doctors where performing certain procedures and it really eased my mind as we went through the whole experience. I never would have known what was going on if I hadn’t read that story so many times.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Email was the ‘social media’ for the day. That, and newsfeeds. There were two newsfeeds in the beginning: the official FOX website had a message board, and there was one on ‘alt.tv’ which was an internet newsfeed where fans posted spoilers and discussed episodes. The alt.tv newsfeed got tired of the fan fic writers posting stories so a separate newsfeed was formed just for fan fic. EMXC, which was an AOL mailing list, was invite only and somewhat exclusive at first, but opened up to everyone. When the old OSU (Ohio State University) mailing list turned into Gossamer and Ephemeral, the fandom, and fan fic just skyrocketed.

But what you lived for the most, as a writer, was actual feedback. Emails from people all over who read your story. It was nice to get a quick ‘Hey, read this and really like it!’ but the wonderful emails, the ones you kept in folders on your inbox, were the ones that went into detail, sometimes critical, sometimes grammar related, but always showing where you could improve, or where you touched someone. Every friend I have from the fandom started as feedback, either to me or from me. I’m on AO3 and I appreciate ‘kudos’ but I really love getting comments.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Confidence in my writing. I learned a lot from other writers. Constructive feedback was a gift! I may never write the great American novel but I don’t think I’m afraid to give it a shot after all my years in fan fic.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

They had me at ‘aliens’. I’m a sucker for UFO shows. Was front row center at Close Encounters of the Third Kind, read many of the UFO standards, still watch Ancient Aliens on History Channel. I was waiting for The X-Files based on the tiny blurb in the 1993 Fall Preview Guide from TV Guide.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I kinda got fired from a job I loved and couldn’t go back into that arena for a long time. I was so depressed I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets. My husband ‘gave’ me the internet for my birthday just to get me out of the dumps. I went straight to ‘yahoo’ and typed in X Files. After reading all the character bios I saw a ‘hyperlink’ (yes, that’s what we called them in 1995) to something called ‘fan fiction’. It was the OSU tree directory of about 100 fan fiction stories. I was instantly hooked.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I still love the show and all the fans I run across. I was not happy with S8 or S9 but I did watch The Truth. I was on Haven for a while during the reboots (S10 and S11) but it wasn’t the same. I’ve got all the seasons on DVD or blu ray and both movies. When I hear from fans, I’m so happy to connect but I don’t go out and look for new stories anymore.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

None. My heart belongs to Mulder ;)

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Captain Kirk, Spock, Captain Picard, Will Riker, Luke, Han, Leia, Poe, Rae, Kylo at the end. I like strong characters but it’s OK if they have flaws. I’d like to see more strong female leads in science fiction (Gammora and Nebula are favs of mine, too). I love Brea Larson’s portrayal of Captain Marvel!  

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Sure. When the Pandemic hit we started going through the series for maybe the 20th time. It’s nice to watch them on a larger TV screen. Kim Manners was a genius with lighting and showing just enough of the ‘monster’. I suspect he will be better appreciated in the future than he was at the time he was alive.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I still go back and read my favorites from XF. I read Blood Ties by Dawn about once a year, the whole series. I go back and read the Virtual Season X seasons. We had some really good stories in those years.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Too many to list! Dawn, of course. Susan Proto (I co-wrote with her), Sally Bahnsen, dee_ayy, Suzanne Bickerstaff’s Magician Series was the first (and only) fantasy I ever truly liked! I loved all my co-writers and there are plenty of writers that I wish we’d gotten around to collaborating.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I’m proud of Out of the Cold because it’s Mulder before Scully. I’m partial to the Flight Into Egypt series because I like ‘righting’ what I thought Carter got wrong in the end.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I keep trying! I’m working (have been working for almost a decade now) on a Flight Into Egypt story set at Christmas. Each fall I drag it out of mothballs, write a paragraph or two and get busy doing Christmas stuff. Funny, but it was easier to find time to write when I was a working mom of 6 than as a retired grandma of 3.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I’m putting together a cookbook for my kids and grandkids of all our family recipes. It’s not just the recipes, but the stories behind them. It’s a WIP (work in progress).

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I had a book, just a cheap paperback of unexplained events—all true stories, supposedly—that I got a lot of ideas from. Or, like Carter, I would see something in the news and it would turn into a story. One time I had a dream about our Pur water filter and it turned into a fan fic.

What's the story behind your pen name?

My older sister named me because my Mom and Dad let her. I never used a pen name. That’s my real name, you can google me and find out all about me. I used to have a wiki page or so my kids told me.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My kids used to tell their friends that ‘Mom is famous on the internet’ as a joke. Most of my friends know. My other life is in politics and the two lives usually don’t cross but once on a campaign I was asked by a reporter if I was the ‘same’ Vickie Moseley who writes fan fiction. If I had lied, that would have been the story—that I lied about this hobby of mine. Like it was something to be ashamed of or I was ashamed of my writing. So instead of ducking the question I said ‘yeah, have you read any of my stuff?’ Fan fiction was not mentioned in the finished article.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

I’m on AO3 but only a partial list. My website is still up thanks to Mimic.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Back when I started writing (1995) it was a sort of commune. We all loved reading fan fiction, we didn’t want the story to end with the credits. So if you wanted to read, you were encouraged to write, too, so that others had stories to read and share. It was a cooperative arrangement very much like the old Literary Societies back in the 19th Century.  I really miss that, so I hope that on some level that is still going on.

(Posted by Lilydale on November 10, 2020)

[atamascolily]

After Ursula K. Le Guin died, I made an agreement with myself I would read anything and everything she'd written as the chance arose. That said, Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand probably would have been the last on my list, had I not stumbled across a paperback copy in a library booksale (in pre-pandemic times) in a "fill a paper bag for $10" sale and it languished in my TBR pile for months before I finally got around to it.

The reason? Genre snobbery, in reverse of the usual direction. Searoad is a collection of short stories published in magazines like The New Yorker, and fancy-sounding publications with Review in their names. Serious publications publishing so-called "literary" fiction, or maybe "realistic fiction" or just plain fiction--fiction that's supposed to tell-it-like-it-is, lay bare the inadequacies of modern life, and leave you feeling empty and unfulfilled after watching empty and unfulfilled people make poor decisions in futile attempts to fill the emptiness and inadequacies of their lives. Because that’s the whole point of literature, right?

Oh. Perhaps I'm generalizing. But so it feels to me whenever I dip into one of these publications. They are "literature", everything else is "genre": romance, science-fiction, fantasy, action, adventure, thriller, mystery, crime. "Literary" fiction is usually just plain old "fiction" in the library classification systems and in common parlance: it is assumed to be the norm, the default, from which everything else is a deviation. And I hate this. I've always hated this.

To write about petty modern people with their petty modern lives is one thing--we all have our kinks--but to disdain others for imagining different things, for epics and grandeur and you-could-have-anything-so-why-not-go-for-it always struck me as a deep failure of, and disdain for, imagination. Genres, like so much else in our lives, are social constructs: us and them, the have and the have-nots. Literary fiction are the "haves", everything else is the "have-nots". That's changing, obviously, and the boundaries aren't as rigid as they once were, but I still see that divide reflected in so-called "serious" publications, and I generally avoid them.

Ursula K. Le Guin has always hugged the boundaries between "pure" genre (aka trashy, flashy, unfit for serious folk in the eyes of the pedants) and "literary merit". She's been accepted and respected by both camps, although the "literary" folks speak of the sci-fi rather patronizingly in their reviews of her works. Le Guin, however, never disdained the sci-fi labels in the same way that Margaret Atwood--another boundary-spanning writer--has always done.

For this reason, I've retained infinitely more respect for Le Guin than Atwood, despite Atwood's considerable talents as a writer. Atwood wants to play with sci-fi tropes, but she doesn't have the backbone to stand up and be proud of it. Atwood wants to write science fiction but not be judged for it, and the easiest way to do that (since genres are a social construct) is just to firmly insist that it's not sci-fi at all--move along, nothing to see here.

Here's a blurb on the back of my copy of Searoad by Carolyn Kizer, a Pulitzer-prize winning poet from the Pacific Northwest:

"For a number of years, the only science-fiction I read was that of Ursula K. Le Guin. I don't read science-fiction any more, thought I wouldn't think of missing a book of Le Guin's. She has transcended the genre..."

How very generous and open-minded of you to only read science-fiction so elevated it “transcends” its genre entirely, thereby becoming worthy of notice. And this is supposed to make me like literary fiction? 

That said, the irony is that Kizer’s statement sums up my approach to non-genre stuff as well, although I would not have phrased it quite so baldly. More like “Okay, not usually my cup of tea--but if it’s you, it’s okay....” The genre transcending thing, as much as I despise the phrasing, works both ways here.

All this is to say I finally read Searoad, even though I had to coax myself into it by pretending that this was an alien society that Le Guin and I were exploring together in order to tell us stuff about our own, and that helped. It also helped because the stories were so damn good, and I got carried away, even though they are very literary stories, with ambiguous endings, the usual focus on unexpressed and/or self-destructive emotions of love, birth, and death, and no magic or wizards or dragons whatsoever.

(To repeat: I am a genre snob who has never understood why writing without dragons was inherently better than writing with dragons in it. I have always operated under the principle that dragons made everything better. And I have never understood why depicting the world as it is was a stroke of literary genius, if all you were going to do with it it is show people being unhappy in the usual old ways instead of unusual ways. Or even imagine something new and different!)

Searoad reminds me of Lake Wobegon a little, but that's only because it's a small town, with characters from one story popping up in others in the most unexpected places--just like small town life. After a while, it feels like we're constantly running into old friends, a shared world--real, but in a good way. The stories were published across a wide range of outlets from 1987-1991, yet flow into each other astonishingly well when read in rapid succession, or indeed, in any order at all.

My favorite is "True Love," which is all about ditching unsatisfying conventional relationships to focus on one's true passion instead:

For me, sex is sublimation. Left to itself, in its raw, primitive state, my libido would have expend itself inexhaustibly in reading.

And since I have been a librarian ever since I was twenty, I can truly compare my life to that of some pasha luxuriating in his harem--and what a harem! Half a million mistresses, when I was at the Central Library in Portland! A decade-long orgy! And during the school year, since I teach now at the Library School, I have access to the University Library. Here in Klatsand where I spend the summers, the harem is very small and a good many of the houris are rather out of date, but then so am I. My lust has lessened somewhat with the years. Sometimes I imagine I could be contented with a mere shelf of tried, true, and highly selected Scheherazades, with only now and then a pretty little novel to flirt with, or a volume of new poetry to make me cry out with excess of pleasure in the heart of the night.

And in the same story, Le Guin makes it clear she's one of us:

"Do you like science fiction" I asked her, because all I can really talk about is books. And of course, she couldn't talk about books. That had been knocked out of her years ago. We compromised on "Star Trek," new and old. She liked the new series as well as the old one. I liked the old one better. Antal stared, not at Rosemarie, only at me. "You watch it?" he said. "You watch television?"

I didn't answer. ... I was not going to let him try to shame us for our commonness.

"The one I liked best was the one where Mr. Spock had to go home because he was in heat," I said to her.

"Except, he never, you know," she said. "They just had a fight over the girl, him and Captain Kirk, and then they left."

"That's his pride," I said, obscurely. I was thinking how Mr. Spock was never unbuttoned, never lolled, kept himself shadowy, unfulfilled, and so we loved him. And poor Captain Kirk, going from blonde to blonde, would never understand that he himself loved Mr. Spock truly, hopelessly, forever.

Reader, I LOLed. Because it's true. You know it, I know it, and so does Le Guin. And she had the guts to say so in the Indiana Review, and the editors published it. LEGEND.

Like all of Le Guin's writing, the stories in Searoad are lyrical, elegant, soaring, and moving--sympathetic, yet unafraid to call out bad behavior and terrible things when she sees it. My other favorite story, "Sleepwalkers," is a brilliant example of this: it starts with a complaint by a privileged male playwright about the housekeeper at his summer cabin, only for us to quickly learn (if his tone and phrasing didn't give it away) that he's an arrogant asshole who sees only what he wants to see and misses what's actually in front of him. We then pivot to a number of other people at the little resort, and their views of the housekeeper, and we're left with an open question at the end: which view is more accurate? Which story do we believe? What is actually going on? Can any of us really know or understand the hidden depths within another person? It's so deep and lush and well-written, and even funny on occasions.

And there's also a diversity of viewpoints and perspectives and scenarios enough to keep me interested: a lesbian grieves the death of her long-time partner, a war veteran deals with PTSD, a college student runs off into the woods to secretly map illegal old-growth logging stands, a ghost appears in a late-night diner to a sexual-abuse victim. The ghost thing seems like it ought to fall under genre conventions, but doesn’t because of the framing, and yet it still works for me--another example of Le Guin’s skill.

Anyway, so Le Guin actually made me enjoy so-called "literary" fiction and that was unexpected and delightful. Regardless of my feelings about most "realistic" fiction, I'm glad I read this collection.  

[jimkirkachu]

For the WIP meme, just gotta know what "A Rowdy Morning" is all about! ;)

(a much too lengthy response below 😅)

Oh lol!! That's the working title for my potential sequel to "A Quiet Night," my only McSpirk story at this point. I've only gotten as far as a rough (...really rough) outline of what might happen. Since the original is about Kirk spending a night alone on the Enterprise while Spock and McCoy are at a science symposium thing, my intent was to have the sequel be a little villanelle of their reunion the following morning (in sort of an "opposite of part 1" vein, i.e. quiet/rowdy, evening/morning, you know). Perhaps the Blue Boys return to the ship earlier than expected, having both sensed Kirk's loneliness the evening before when they spoke to him... and then perhaps as he helps carry their luggage back to their quarters, they get a little suggestive/handsy/frisky in the turbolift... and then perhaps there's some wild playtime once they're safe in their quarters and Spock & McCoy have the opportunity to ravage Kirk as an "apology" for leaving him alone the night before... 😏😚🙈

I'm not really sure about most of the details, or how much detail it would go into (mostly since its predecessor is like a Teen rating, so I'd feel a little weird about making it an Explicit scene?). I jotted it all down kind of quickly after I first posted AQN a few years ago, and I hate to say it but it's basically just been collecting dust ever since then. However, the same can pretty much be said for the other 150+ pages of k/s ideas and starts and outlines and blurbs and so on that I have in the wings........ lol yeah. I have a problem 😆😂

Here's an itty bitty excerpt from what exists so far:

Kirk chuckled and started walking to the nearby turbolift, gesturing with his head for them to follow. As the scientists fell into step with him, Kirk said, his voice as jaunty as his gait, "There's nothing to make up for, and nothing to apologize for. You boys think I can't handle a single night without the sounds of your bickering lulling me to sleep?"

McCoy and Spock regarded each other with feigned innocence as Kirk turned around in the turbolift and grabbed the handle straight back from the door.

"Come on," Kirk said, his hazel eyes sparkling with his constant good humor. "The turbolift won't wait all day."

Silently obeying, Spock and McCoy stepped in and took the grips on either side of Kirk. They looked pointedly between one another and their captain, who seemed to suspect something from their conspiratorial gazes. The doctor grinned just as the doors slid shut.

Half a minute later, when the turbolift doors opened on deck five, Captain Kirk's hair was wildly disheveled, his cheeks were flushed a vibrant red, and he was biting down on his bottom lip in a futile attempt to hide his smile. His first officer and chief medic flanked him quietly, standing tall, facing straight ahead, and looking just about as indifferent as if they were watching one of those periodical Earth news bulletins narrated by the most monotonous commodore in the fleet.

Lol I don't even know 😂😂 Thanks for asking about it though!! And sorry it took me like a month to respond!!! 👀🙊💜

[cmzucchero]

supercorptober day three: dancing

summary: Rossi invites the team to a Halloween party. 

reader x bau

warning: drinks & partying

———————————————————————

“Jeez, these files are going to be the death of me. It seems like every one I do, three more shows up.”  Emily says, slumping farther down into her chair. 

Your team just came back from a case in Oregon and the whole floor was empty. 

“It’s the spookiness of Halloween.” Penelope responds, spinning in Derek’s chair. 

“Yeah, it sure is scary. ‘The paperwork that killed everyone’.” Prentiss chuckles

“Does anyone have any plans tonight?” JJ asked, walking into the bullpen. 

“Depends on what your next sentence is.” Derek said, walking back from the kitchenette. 

“Thankfully, I don’t come bearing bad news. I was just wondering before I have to go home and help Will put down the boys.” 

“Well my plan does not involve any of you guys, no offense.” You said smiling, closing your last file.

“No offense taken.” Spencer said, clearly absent minded since he was messing with some trinkets on his desk.

“I’m glad I haven’t missed you guys!” Rossi said, walking out of his office. 

A collective groan escapes the team’s mouth. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll just cancel my party planners.” David said, putting up his hands and turning back into his office.

“Party? Like, Halloween Party? Like, one that won’t be on a plane going to another state to investigate freaky murder stuff?” Penelope stopped spinning and sat up in her (Derek’s) chair. 

“Yup, Halloween party that will not be in a plane, but at my house.” David said, now facing the team again. 

“And when will this amazing party be?” You said, leaning back in your chair and turning to face Rossi on the top of the catwalk.

“This Saturday, you guys know the place.” Smiling, Rossi turned on his heel and walked back into his office. 

“Alright!” Was all Penelope said before jumping up and quickly walking back to her office. 

 “Shoot, shoot, shoot” It was the day of the party and you were late. You decided to dress up as Lucy from I Love Lucy during the grape crushing scene. You had decided to do the makeup last, and that was definitely a mistake seeing as though you haven’t worn lipstick in years and you sorta forgot how to apply it. 

Finally, you make it to the door and do a mental checklist: costume, treats for the kids, wine, and a change of shoes. Perfect. You swing open the door and lock it behind you. 

The drive was uneventful so to say you were a bit surprised when Penelope opened the door as Harley Quinn with all the boys behind her in the living room doing karaoke would be an understatement. 

“Hi, Puddin’” 

“Hey, Penny! You look so good!!” 

“So do you, Lucy!” 

You hand Penelope the bottle of wine while stepping into the decorated mansion. After entering the house, you can now hear that the boys were all singing Adele. Spencer and Derek dramatically fell and clutched their hearts everytime the chorus hit. 

After watching the scene for a few more verses you decided to join the girls who were all indulging in the wine at the bar. 

“Nice vampire, Prentiss.” 

“Thankth” She said in response. A lisp being caused due to the fangs.

“And of course the angel is an angel.” You said towards JJ. 

She just smiled, bringing her glass back up to her mouth.

“Well I’m on cloud 9 not having to endure another trick or treat fiasco.” JJ said after swallowing her wine.

All four of the girls cringe, remembering what happened last year when the whole team decided to take the kids trick or treating. 

“Yeah, at least down this street they’ll be getting the king sized bars.” You pointed out. 

Everyone agreed, then walked up to the dance floor now that the boys were done with their song. 

Rossi put on some more music and everyone danced, and danced, and danced. 

Your first partner was Penelope who was definitely hard to keep up with, so you moved over to Rossi. Somehow, the oldman bested you as well! 

You took a break after a few more songs, meeting up with Spencer. 

“Nice costume Captain Kirk” you said, nudging into Spencer

“Thanks, Lucy. You know, your episode of I Love Lucy was actually one of the most viewed episodes of the series. First one being ‘Lucy Goes to the Hospital.’” 

“Actually, I did. I used to watch all of the documentaries of the show when I was younger.” 

Spencer nods and takes another sip of his punch. 

A new song comes on so you hold out your hand and pull him back out onto the dance floor. 

You lost count how many times you danced with each member of the team. You also lost track of time. It wasn’t until the kids came back when you knew it was pretty late. 

“Hold it right there Jason, Mickey, and Beetlejuice.” 

Henry, Micheal, and Jack all waited, holding out their trick or treat bags. You tell them to shut the bags and they all get noticeably disappointed. You felt a bit guilty, but when you turned back around with a plate of cupcakes and saw how their faces lit up it all washed away.

You went back to the dance floor when JJ relieved Will of his trick or treat duties. For the rest of the night you all danced and sang, until people started to drop. Then, Rossi popped in a movie, ensuring the kids were all either gone or asleep. 

Everyone woke up the next morning, some more hungover than others, and had a delicious breakfast that Rossi and Hotch prepared.

AN: thank you for taking the time to read my little blurb!! i am going to try to take part of this challenge even though i’m a tad bit late!! i posted the prompts on my page so let me know if you want to see any specifics! i hope you all enjoyed the reading!! i’m currently working on a request so if you guys have anymore, my requests are opennn!!! hope everyone has a spooky day!! <33

[triptuckers]

scars - jim kirk

Request: yes! "Hi I just discovered your blog and binge read everything. I’m watching Star Trek strange new worlds and it made me want to do a one word blurb request for Jim kirk with the word scars. Idk if I’m supposed to give an idea for it. If so maybe him and reader bonding over telling stories about what caused the scars. If we’re not supposed to do ideas I’m sure you’ll come up with singing brilliant. Either way continue the amazing writing !🫶🏻" Pairing:  jim kirk x reader Summary:  you and jim tell each other about your scars Warnings:  mentions of scars, mentions of blood, like one swear wordWord count:  780 A/N: thank you so much for this request!! <3 I've yet to watch last weeks snw episode bc I was on holiday and me and my dad have a tradition to watch it on Friday but I miss my silly little space people so I'm gonna ask if we can watch it sooner 💅🏻 enjoy reading!

'that was the most intense day ever.' you say as you roll your shoulders and then take off your boots.

behind you, jim chuckles as he enters his quarters as well.

'you stayed in you lab all day, how intense could it have been?' he says.

you give him a look over your shoulder. 'why don't you spend an entire day in a lab with spock telling you what to do and then see if you're still your happy energetic self.'

jim laughs and pulls you in for a hug. 'alright I'll give you that.' he says, kissing the top of your head. 'why don't you take a shower and then we go to bed early?'

'sounds like a great plan.' you say.

jim was right, a warm shower helps. you close your eyes as you soak up the feeling of peace. after a while, you leave the shower, walking toward jim's closet to get a shirt to sleep in.

you get out the first one you see and pull it on before walking toward the bed.

'you know I don't mind, right?' says jim as you lay down next to him.

you frown. 'don't mind what?'

'your scars. there's no need to hide them from me.'

'oh... I just don't like them, that's all.' you say quietly. 'they remind me of times when I wasn't strong enough. like that time during an away mission when half of us didn't make it back to the ship.'

now it's jim's turn to frown. 'not strong enough?' he says.

you shrug. 'if I was stronger I wouldn't have scars.'

'baby, you've got scars because you fought. you're still here. that doesn't make you weak.'

'thanks.' you say softly.

jim reaches out as if to pull you closer, but instead holds his arm in the air.

'what?' you say.

instead of saying something, he points to a thin line on the inside of his upper arm.

you reach out and trace one of your fingers along the thin scar.

'didn't know you had that.' you say softly.

'well that's because you hardly notice my inner arm when I'm not wearing a shirt.' says jim, earning a chuckle from you.

'when did you get it?' you ask.

'three years ago. I thought it would be cool to be able to fight with knives. you know, old school.'

'and?'

'and I lasted precisely one training sessions. sliced open my own arm. lost quite a lot of blood even though it was a shallow cut. never tried fighting with knives again. I'll stick to a phaser or my fists.'

you laugh at his story, tracing the scar once more.

'I don't just have bad ones, you know.' you say. 'I've got one on my nose as well.'

'no you don't.'

'yes I do.'

you lean in closer to jim's face and watch his eyes as he studies your nose.

'it's very faint.' you say.

jim narrows his eyes as he looks closer. you can see the moment in his eyes when he sees it, a twinkle appearing in his eyes.

'it's tiny.' he says, pressing a kiss to the bridge of your nose where the scar is.

you smile at him.

'I swear I've never seen it before, though.' he says. 'how did you-' 'walked into a broken door.'

jim laughs out loud. you smile and shake your head, thinking back to the memory.

next to you jim is still laughing as you tell the story. about how you were working a double shift and were totally focused on the padd in your hands. how you didn't see or hear someone warning you the sensor of the automatic door needed fixing. and how it resulted into you walking face first into the door.

jim wipes away a tear that escaped his eye, still chuckling at the story.

'christine was in a state when I entered medbay that day.' you say. 'there was blood all over my face. I had a swollen nose and a black eye for two weeks.'

jim pulls you in closer and kisses your nose again.

'still think scars make me strong?' you say.

'oh, yeah, definitely.' says jim. 'next time watch out for broken doors, though.'

you playfully shove him. 'oh fuck off, you.' you say, but there's a smile on your lips. 'thank you.'

'for what?'

'just... thanks. night jim.'

'goodnight baby, don't dream of broken doors.'

jim inhales sharply as you firmly press your cold feet against his legs underneath the covers.

'mean.' he says.

'deserved.' you say.

jim laughs softly as he pulls you closer. you lay your head on your chest and fall asleep listening to his heartbeat.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rulesHere’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Max/Marit

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #450

Top Ten Characters with the Best Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes

As I’m writing this, it’s officially Star Trek: Discovery day; the first episode of the new season is up on Netflix and ready to watch. Given how little time I manage to find for watching anything that I want to watch, I’m cautiously optimistic that I can get to see it this weekend, but we’ll see; my lovely wife might want to finally catch up with Star Trek: Picard first, which for some reason she never finished. Regardless, I’m excited, and I wanted to write about Star Trek again.

The new Star Trek series have been a bit of a roller coaster, because whilst they’ve both generally been very good, they’ve certainly had their odder and more controversial moments, and neither of them has consistently felt like classic Trek. If I had to be critical, I’d argue that there are plenty of darker adult-tinged sci-fi shows at the moment, including ones set in space, but not that many that follow the day-to-day travails of a starship crew, which as always been Trek’s raison d'être. However, both shows have succeeded in giving us some compelling stories and – especially in the case of Discovery – a fantastic cast of new characters to celebrate. Great characterisation has been the cornerstone of Trek since the beginning, and no doubt one of the reasons why it still resonates to this day, from the “Holy Trinity” of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock, through to the wonderful and insanely empathetic Saru in Discovery and Captain Sexpot Rios in Picard. The fact that we’re now in a new time period, with no established history to try to tie the narrative to, means Discovery 3 is in a great place to give us some great new stories.

Anyway, to celebrate all of this – the new season of Discovery and my overall love of Star Trek characters – I’ve decided to go back to the Next Generation well and talk about just that: characters. TNG famously hit its stride when it started focusing each story through the lens of the different characters on the show, so that we tended to get a “Worf episode” or a “Riker episode”; even the best eps, the biggest and most epic, really had a tendency to hone in on one or two characters specifically, such as the all-time classic “The Best of Both Worlds” really being about Picard and Riker, or “Yesterday’s Enterprise” being a much-belated Tasha Yar episode.

But which characters have the best episodes? That is, if you know an episode is focused on a particular character, how likely is it that it’s going to be a belter? Can you reasonably say one character was better served than another in terms of the quality of “their” episodes? Well, yes. Yes you can. That’s this list. That’s the whole thing.

So this list is basically which characters have the best episodes, or are more likely to. It’s not a list of my favourite characters, or even really a list of the best episodes overall; it’s just, well, who got to chew scenery the most on the bridge, basically. Now, I really feel like I should end this blurb with an appropriate Star Trek quote, but I must have used “Make it so” and “Engage” before, so I’m not sure what else to say.

May the Force be with you, I guess.

Picard: Yes, of course; he’s the star, he’s the stand-out actor of the bunch, he gets the best episodes. If it focuses on the captain, you can rest assured you’re in for a treat. Whether it’s an epic mythology-enhancing saga or – even better – a slower, sadder meditation on life, Picard’s episodes are engaging. Chortle. Also if there’s room for a classic Picard Monologue, all the better; I don’t know if you’ve noticed this about Patrick Stewart, but the guy can chew scenery. Key episodes: The Best of Both Worlds, The Drumhead, The Hidden Light

Worf: Worf’s complex backstory offers a lot of opportunities for great stories, with the caveat that pretty much all of them focus on Klingon history or the contrast between his heritage and his place in Starfleet. Issues of familial loyalty rub up against quasi-Shakespearean dynastic dramas, often with high adventure. You can assume a Worf ep is a good one, despite the fact that quite a few of them are also about Alexander. Key episodes: Sins of the Fathers, Redemption, Birthright

Data: everyone’s second-favourite emotionless nerd on Star Trek, Data’s eps are almost uniformly great, and often poke at what it means to be alive. There may be a bit of ground retrod as we examine the notion of humanity, or sentience, or emotion, but his episodes are always interesting, and often very funny, and Brent Spiner is a continuing delight. Key episodes: The Measure of a Man, The Offspring, Brothers

Q: is it cheating to include a recurring guest star? Maybe, but I don’t care. John de Lancy is just phenomenal as Q, one of the best Trek characters, and so good he became a My Little Pony. He’s arch, he’s hilarious, he can take the show into new directions; he raises questions of fate, or of the concept of divinity; and underneath it all there’s a malevolent streak, a genuine sense of danger exemplified in his first appearance. Pairs very well with Picard, naturally. I didn’t like the Robin Hood episode, though. Key episodes: Deja Q, Encounter at Farpoint, Q Who

Riker: he’s a Kirk-esque horn-dog ragamuffin with a heart of gold and a fist of steel, so there’s always a lot to love when William T. takes the helm (see what I did there?). Often issues of loyalty, or duty versus personal wishes, arise; he’s frequently putting his life on the Enterprise above his career. But he’s also a very moralistic character, so quite often he’ll be trying to do the right thing in tough circumstances. Key episodes: The Pegasus, Future Imperfect, Frame of Mind

Crusher: always a stand-out supporting character, Crusher has some great episodes focused on her too; usually quite a self-righteous sort who puts the immediate moral obligation above her own safety or duty to Starfleet, which raises lots of interesting, thorny questions. She’s a smart cookie, exemplified in the astounding Remember Me; her relationships with her son and with Picard are good to explore too. She also shagged a ghost, but let’s try to forget about that. Key episodes: Remember Me, Attached, Suspicions

Wesley: pigeonholed somewhat unfairly due to a few ropey first-season episodes, Wesley Crusher is actually an interesting character whose stand-out storylines offer a good deal of nuance and intrigue, as well as exciting hi-jinks, insights into the Federation, and – should you go that far – weird magic Jedi stuff. He gets a nice romance with Ashley Judd, we unpeel his relationship with Picard over multiple episodes, and the bloom comes off the rose in spectacular fashion when he gets to Starfleet Academy. Wil Wheaton was a good young actor and was sadly underserved by the show, but at least we get these eps. Key episodes: The Game, Final Mission, The First Duty

Pulaski: say whaaat? Yes, she’s only in the show for five minutes, but Doctor Pulaski gets a few crackers under her belt in that time. A bit like Crusher would later, she often excels when standing up to authority and presenting herself as a moral arbiter. Interestingly, she’s not always right, and it’s a fun dance to watch. She’s also been round the block a bit, adding facets to her relationships with other characters, particularly Riker. And, of course, she flirts with a bunch of polygons when Geordi and Data cock up the Holodeck. Key episodes: Elementary, Dear Data, Unnatural Selection, The Icarus Factor

Troi: sadly suffering in the face of a bunch of soppy romances and storylines involving her mother that are, shall we say, an acquired taste, Troi still gets some good stuff, mostly later in the series’ run. Taking her out of her comfort zone, making her a spy or an investigator, or giving her some proper dramatic meat, works wonders. Also once she was a cake. Key episodes: Face of the Enemy, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Page

LaForge: oh, Geordi. I love Georgi, but he kinda got done dirty a little bit. Always an interesting and dependable secondary character, unfortunately the bulk of his episodes as a primary character tend to revolve around him being a bit of a jerk or a bit of a creep. Obviously the most heinous sin is making a computer program based on a real person and then, well, trying to shag it, but he also has a tendency to be a dick to anyone new in Engineering. He’s even a bit of a dick to Scotty! I sometimes think the writers never quite had a handle on Geordi’s character; is he a young tech genius with poor social skills? Is he supposed to be arrogant? A wannabe lothario who’s just really unlucky? Anyway, like I say, I still love the guy to bits, and LeVar Burton is fantastic, but of all the main ensemble, his are the flakiest solo episodes. That said, the three listed here are all belters. Key episodes: The Next Phase, The Enemy, Relics

Anyway. There we are. I’ve still, as of going “to press”, not watched Discovery season 3, and my wife’s still not watched the end of season 1 of Picard. Any day now…!

[per-ineptia-ad-astra]

Hey guys! I’m sorry Tomorrow Is Yesterday took so long to get here--I was away all last week and I was hoping I’d be able to get it done before then but I wasn’t, so it then got delayed even more.

But I got to go to a very cool bookstore while I was gone and I wanted to share with you a couple of things that I got there.

First is this:

[ID: 1. A fabric Spock (torso and head only) with a tag reading ‘Mr. Spock-Magnetic Personalities’ magnetically stuck to a desk post. 2. The inside of Spock’s tag, which reads ‘Lieutenant Commander SPOCK, First Officer-Science Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-----’Live Long and Prosper’ on one side and has the following text on the other side: “Lieutenant Commander Spock was the son of a Vulcan ambassador and a schoolteacher from Earth. Though endowed with his father’s logical temperament and “pointy ears,” Mr. Spock struggled with the human emotions inherited from his mother. HIs dual nature rendered him an outcast. However, as a Starfleet officer (the first of Vulcan descent), Spock’s acute intelligence and great loyalty made him the idea First Officer, as well as the confidant and friend of Captain James T. Kirk.”]

A Spock! He’s taken up residence alongside McCoy, so he can keep a close eye on my writing and make sure all the recaps are logical and correct. Even if the tag gets his rank wrong. (He’s a commander, not a lieutenant commander! Come on guys, you’re as bad as Roddenberry.)

[ID: Magnetic Spock on his post, above a Lego sticker from the Museum of Science and Industry, and below a 10 of Spades playing card featuring McCoy, a Yellow Submarine magnet, and the One Ring on a chain.]

But I also got this incredible book:

[ID: 1. A large thin hardback book titled ‘SEARCH FOR SPOCK--A Star Trek Book of Exploration. A Highly Illogical Parody’ by Robb Pearlman with illustrations by Craigh Boldman. The front of the book features a cartoon profile of Spock against a blue background filled with a crowd of various small cartoon figures. 2. The back of the book, with a blurb reading ‘A Hidden Intergalactic Adventure--Travel through space and time to find Spock among over 100 other characters, aliens, villains, crew members, and more!’ Below it is a panel reading ‘Praise for Search For Spock’ including ‘blurbs’ from three cartoon Star Trek characters: Uhura saying “Hailing all frequencies...Alert Starfleet to the best book in the galaxy!” McCoy saying, “I’m a doctor, not a book critic, but dammit, even I enjoyed this literary voyage!” and Kirk saying “Kirk to Enterprise...Mr. Scott, prepare to beam up fun!”]

Here’s a sample:

[ID: The inside of the book, showing a two-page spread of a city street filled with cartoon people. A caption at the top shows Uhura and reads “A MOB SCENE: We’ve been orbiting Sigma Iota II Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and Mister Spock beamed down to the planet. I’ve been unable to reach them since they were to be welcomed by Bela Oxmyx’s reception committee. Something--or someone--must be blocking our signal to their communicators. Can you help in our search for Spock?”]

I almost missed this, but I happened to go into the back right before we left and as soon as I saw it I thought, well, what kind of Star Trek fan-blog-writer would I be if I didn’t grab that when I had the chance?

[readingbooksinisrael]

Poetry, Short stories and Articles Read This Month

Articles

How anti-Semitism led Shatner and Nimoy to Boldly Go to Hollywood/Nathan Abrams-Probably because I read a whole thesis which included this small topic in it before I read this but it felt very unsatisfactory. It did talk about what of his Jewishness Nimoy put into the character of Spock but mostly it seemed to mourn that Shatner didn’t seem to do that with Kirk. Probably a good read if you’re looking to read something quick on Jews putting their Jewishness into a character (not necessarily Nimoy’s into Spock).

Heinlein’s Juveniles vs. Andre Norton Young Adult Novels/James Davis Nicoll-This was a nice overview of where the two authors differed and how we see them in the modern day. I think I’ll check out an Andre Norton sci fi book despite not liking her prose in the one (non-sci fi) book of hers I read.

Did We ALL Write a Book About Space Elevators? Why Unfortunate Coincidences Happen In Science Fiction/James Davis Nicoll-Too short. It didn’t really explore it’s premise. 

Poems

The Immortal/Robert Sanders Shaw-no link available. It’s really bad. It sounds immature.

Short Stories

On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi/William Tenn-I’m going to admit that despite hearing of this over and over it took a few tries for me to read it. It has a rambling style that was hard for me to get into, especially when I saw how long it was for a short story. What I recommend is listening to the audio as it really gets you in the atmosphere-since the story is written with a very characterized narrator. All that said, after the real story started I got pulled in and I really liked it. 3.5/5 stars

For He Can Creep/Siobhan Carroll-TW: self harm, suicide mention, 18th c. mental hospitals. This was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the style it was written in-from the POV to the dialogue to the descriptions.

The Thames Valley Catastrophe/Grant Allen-I liked this one. I enjoyed the writing style. TW: body horror 4.2/5 stars

The Doom of London/Robert Barr-I thought I would like this one less than the other because I don’t like the style of breaking up a short story into sections, but after the first section I got pulled in enough to enjoy it. The concept was really cool and the invention concept was also really cool. TW: death, gore?, body horror 4/5 stars

The Tilting Island/Thomas J. Vivian and Grena J. Bennett-I can’t find a link for this one. The beginning started out good but then the authors weren’t able to uphold the suspense in a way that the end was satisfactory. 2.7/5 stars

Finis/Frank Lillie Pollock-I did not like this one. Partially it was because the blurb I read about it was wrong and so I expected the wrong things out of it, but it is also because that while the story centers on the characters the characters don’t have any personalities. 2/5 stars

An Express of the Future/Jules Verne-The blurb for this said that it went missing for many years. I am not surprised because it is not well written at all. It ends with it all being a dream which every kid knows is a bad plot device unless you have a very good excuse. 2/5 stars

The Ray of Displacement/Harriet Prescott Spofford-I would have enjoyed this even with the paragraphs of jumbled science language if it hadn’t been for St. Angel. He appears out of nowhere and it isn’t clear who he is or what he is doing or even how he gets to where the main character is. Unfortunately, the end is centered around him. Other than him I enjoyed the character of Judge Brant and there were some really funny sentences. 2/5 stars

Congealing the Ice Trust/Capt. H.G. Bishop-Again, I can’t find a link. That’s disappointing because this one was fun even if the plot was a bit hard to follow (with the addendum that I was in pain while reading it). 4/5

Lord Beden’s Motor/J.B. Harris-Burland-I’m starting to think that I shouldn’t try to review stories I read while I was woozy with pain (even though I’m reviewing them while in pain too). I think all I can say is that it’s a ghost story and ghost stories just aren’t to my personal taste so it didn’t interest me.

The Death-Trap/George Daulton-no link again. It has that thing of trusting someone immediately cause they seem gentle which I don’t like for many reasons. I wish it concentrated more on the search for the monster and finding it because the monster itself was pretty cool. TW: gore 2.5/5 stars

The Air Serpent/Will A. Page-no link. It’s really cool that this concept existed because with our modern day knowledge it’s impossible outside of high fantasy. Unfortunately for the story, our modern day knowledge of how prey animals work sort of ruined it for me. 3/5 stars

The Monster of Lake LaMetrie/Wardon Allan Curtis-Gotta love the sharp turn into eugenics. It’s a pity because before that the story was really cool. 1/5 stars

The Voice in the Night/William Hope Hodgeson-This was pretty cool. I’m not sure if you shouldn’t read it if you love or hate mushrooms though. Personally, I belong to the second camp, so maybe it’s don’t read it if you’re disgusted by fungi. 3/5 stars

The Land Ironclads/H.G. Wells-It’s definitely interesting to read from a modern perspective. I liked the character of the mc and that the story didn’t wash over the deaths but didn’t describe them in detail either.

The Dam/Hugh S. Johnson-The plot twist is very clever but the building up to it took too long, and the two captains and their rivalry was confusing to me. 2.5/5 stars

Submarined/Walter Wood-I liked it, and I feel like I shouldn’t because it ended pretty violently but I did. Daring and sacrifice and all that is very feel-good, and it was well-written. 5/5 stars

The Purple Terror/Fred M. White-Could we have this without the racism please? It was good except for the underlying racism all throughout. 2/5 stars

Professor Jonkin’s Cannibal Plant/Howard R. Garis-This was definitely a change from the other stories. They were all adult fiction and this is MG fiction. It was okay, nothing special. 3/5 stars

An Experiment in Gyro Hats/Ellis Parker Butler-This continues the sort of humor that’s in the last story but it’s back to adult fiction which, personally, I enjoy more when it comes to this kind of humor. I liked the narrator’s voice. 3.5/5 stars

The Hybrid Hyperborean Ant/Roy L. McCardell-The idea was nice but it could have been better executed. I felt like I was told the story rather than experiencing it. 2/5 stars

Where the Air Quivered/L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace-Pretty cool, but nothing special. 4/5 stars

In Re State vs Forbes/Warren Earle-This was less science fiction and more ghost story. Again, ghost stories don’t really interest me so I can’t review it properly but I found the ending to be far too unrealistic with no explanation for my taste.

Old Dr. Rutherford/D.F. Hannigan-Ugh. The writing itself was fine but I absolutely hated the main character; usually that doesn’t bother me but I hated him so much that it did here. I think it would have been much more interesting if it had been written from Hafiz’s POV instead of an omniscient one. 2/5 stars

Itself/Edgar Mayhew Bacon-This was a really good one. I loved the storytelling. I might try to find more stories by the same author to read. 4.5/5 stars

Citizen 504/Charles H. Palmer-This is interesting in that it’s an early dystopian story. Less interesting in that because it’s an earlier one it has the same plot points of every modern one and wraps up everything neatly with a bow. I wish he’d taken the time to explore the world more. 3/5 stars

The Mansion of Forgetfulness/Don Mark Lemon-Finally a story with a link. It’s a good story to choose to end an anthology on as it’s short and wraps up well but not too nicely (with a bow). Although it’s short and the ending is expected the execution is done well in my opinion. 3.5/5

[lady-silverbird-blog]

Here it is!  After months of starting and stopping various writing projects and toying around with ideas for fics to write and contribute to this wonderful fandom, I’ve finally published the first chapter to my K/S fic, Sine Nomine.  This is going to be one heck of an emotional rollercoaster, so I hope you’ll forgive me in advance.  

I’ll put some more info and the blurb below the cut!

Sine Nomine

Rating:  Explicit

Paring: Kirk/Spock, Spock/Other

Warnings: Smut, Extramarital Affairs, Political Alliances, Amnesia, and lots of Moral Ambiguity

When the Tholians start expanding their territory into the neutral zone, The Federation is left with few options to protect themselves from the impending threat. They task Captain Kirk with the responsibility of attempting to secure a Romulan-Federation alliance on Ioprilus V, a planet that fell to Romulan occupation five months ago in an invasion that supposedly claimed the lives of many Starfleet scientists, including his own Commander Spock. Losing not only a competent first officer, but his dear friend and clandestine lover, Jim has struggled balancing the aftershocks of this loss with his duty, but finds that his troubles are only beginning when a chance encounter with a strange Romulan adviser catches him off guard.

(A small word of caution, the K/S will not be easily apparent in the first chapter, but it will be coming.)

[hailbop1701]

Are You Hiding?

Bones X Reader

Mini Blurb:

Done on my phone so it'll have typos and mistakes. There is a very slight mention of religion in here but not enough to really matter. Bones grew up in Georgia so I guess he knows how to cross himself. Right? Someone's in trouble 👀 can you guess who?

-H❤🖖

James T. Kirk stopped short upon entering his ready room. Cocking his head to the side with curiosity he eyed his best friend and CMO.

"Hey, Bones," he greeted cautiously as he moved toward his desk. McCoy glanced up from his PADD and grunted in acknowledgment. Kirk slowly sat down in his chair with multiple different thoughts and scenarios going through his mind.

"Everything okay?" He prompted slowly making McCoy grunt in response again. The Captain rolled his eyes, "Bones," the unsaid order was clear in his voice.

McCoy sighed looking up at him a little sheepishly, which in turn threw Kirk for a loop. "Mind if I stick around here for a bit, Chris is minding the shop and things are...not dire for once."

Jim leaned forward in his seat at the sound of Bones' tone of voice. "You okay, everything alright with (Y/N)?" He asked concerned.

McCoy cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck, "I'm fine, we're fine. She's just uh havin' a day that's all,"

Jim raised an eyebrow thinking about the possible situation sitting in front of him. The amused smirk on his face grew into a grin, "Are you hiding?" He asked almost joyously. Bones shot him a withering glare,

"She can be like a feral cat when she's mad. I'm just happy it's not directed at me," McCoy muttered looking down at his PADD again. Kirk barked out a laugh that grew a little nervous at the end. Clearing his own throat Jim fiddled with his stylus.

"Who-who is she mad at?" Jim tried to keep his voice casual. Leonard snickered, "You really think I'd be hidin' here if she were mad at you?" He pointed out dryly.

Kirk relaxed ever so slightly in relief. "Who is she mad at?" He asked again a little less wavering this time.

"Spock, one of his little pet projects escaped and found its way into (Y/N)'s quarters. She doesn't do spiders, Jim, alien or otherwise," McCoy's tone was like the Sahara.

Kirk coughed covering up his laugh, "I guess that's the reason why Spock has been so jumpy- well, jumpy for him anyway," he murmured remembering how Spock was on the bridge. The Vulcan would twitch every time the lift doors opened.

"Oh even better, it crawled into the shower with her," McCoy added with a little grimace his mind flashing back to how he had been woken up to the sound of phaser fire coming from the bathroom.

Jim choked on his own spit, "He's dead!" the captain practically gasped no longer able to hold in his chuckles any longer.

Leonard hummed in agreement, "Her vengeance will be swift and painful. May whatever gods out there have mercy on his Katra," he grumbled making a vague cross with his fingers over his chest.

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[girlkirk-blog]

Bones hiding away somewhere to cry alone after losing a patient he thought he should have been able to save. Kirk or Spock of chekov finding him and giving him a hug. Ok bye

I LOVE BONES AND I LOVE THIS REQUEST.

Seeing the young ensign’s life system reach a low and then stop completely was a feeling that Dr. McCoy would never forget. The noises of the machine beeping were still echoing in his ears, his bloodied hands from emergency surgery feeling like the most disgusting and vile reminder of the life he lost. That blood was once warm – was once pumping through the young man’s veins…but now he was dead. 

Bones really thought he could save him. He was a young guy, only around 18, and it seemed like it was just a minor wound. When Jim called up urgently and beamed the kid aboard for him to take care of, Jim didn’t think it was a major deal – the kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got hit with some minor thorns from a plant that projected them. There were no poisonous properties in the plant…and the thorns weren’t even that long enough to penetrate deep enough into important organs. 

However, the thorns expanded once in flesh, and the poor ensign’s chest was just completely caved in from the expansion of the damned thorns. Bones had saved many people countless times from worse…but it just wasn’t enough for this guy. 

Bones had lost tons of people before – it all comes in being a doctor. You see a lot of things, a lot of deaths – but if you’re good at what you do, you see more people walk away instead of being wheeled away in a body bag. He knew space was practically one huge death trap, but there were moments when it was all worth it – helping some alien species give birth, eradicating a disease on a planet – it was the reason why he became a doctor. 

He knew that he was quite emotional – he felt everything. He wasn’t exactly a sensitive soul – but he was sensitive to human lives. A life was something so precious – it’s not something to play around with. A soul isn’t something to play around with. Bones bit his lip as he mindlessly scrubbed the blood off of his hands and arms, seeing Nurse Chapel sadly prep the body and pull a white sheet over it. Bones averted his eyes and dried his hands before quickly bowing out of the medical wing and heading to his quarters. 

He needed some time to breathe.

“Captain.” Spock cleared his throat as he walked up to her captain’s chair, kneeling down to whisper softly. 

Jim looked up at her first officer, biting her bottom lip. She could tell by Spock’s minor tone that something was off. 

“What is it, Spock?” Jim raised an eyebrow, turning her body to him fully as they pulled out of orbit of the planet they were surveying. 

“Ensign Harrison has died from complications in surgery. The thorns that had impaled him on the planet’s surface expand once in the body. The doctor is in his quarters…” 

Jim’s eyes widened as she heard the fate of the young ensign, and she felt her eyes burn a bit. Of course, a young life being lost – any life being lost – was hard on a captain. She was responsible for all 400+ lives on her ship. Whenever one was lost, no matter how minor, it was something that she had to look at within herself. She was getting better at internalizing and realizing that Star Fleet’s mission was never easy, and those that upheld themselves to Star Fleet and wanted to be in the organization knew what they were getting themselves into. Every day was a chance you could die in the emptiness of space. 

Jim quickly stood from her chair and nodded at Spock, clearing her throat. 

“Thanks…I’ll go see about Bones.” 

—

“Bones, I’m coming in.” Jim asserted, walking into his quarters. 

The doctor was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands. Jim bit her lip and walked up to him, putting a thin hand on his shoulder, gripping it softly. While Bones could be pretty callous and give it like it is with the whole “he’s dead, Jim…” she knew that each death was something that Bones held in his mind. The ones that were the hardest were the ones in which he was sure he could save their life. 

“Bones, this isn’t your fault-” 

“Maybe I was right when I said space was a damn death trap. I mean, I’m never wrong, but…” Bones sarcastically shrugged, shaking his head. 

“You did your best on him…that’s all we could ask for. You worked so hard…you always do…” 

“He was just so young, Jim.” Bones rubbed his eyes and turned to look at his best friend, his eyes just a bit red. Jim could tell he had been crying. 

“Hey…remember what you said to me when I first lost someone while as a Captain?” Jim questioned, her grip on his shoulder still firm, her other hand rubbing his back. 

“I say a lot of things, Jim.” 

“Well I do. It was something that has stuck with me to this day…and it was something that you said yourself. You give the best advice. You told me that death was natural. We can’t play God. You can’t save them all…but you can help those that you do have with you.” Jim said, looking to the side, “and I think you need to take your own advice.” 

“Easier said than done.” 

“Bones, I’m serious. What you told me that day has stuck with me all this time, and I know it’s hard to lose people. I feel the loss too, as the captain. I don’t want anyone dying…I didn’t join Star Fleet to watch people die, and I know you didn’t either. But here’s the thing. Both of our jobs help us save lives. You literally save lives by nursing people back to health and taking care of them. I save lives by making rapid fire decisions. I know that we sometimes both don’t have too much time to think. In our professions, we have to make split decisions…” Jim continued, taking a deep breath.

“And never have I ever doubted any decision you’ve ever made.” Jim finished, closing her eyes, feeling tears well up in her eyes. 

She hated seeing her best friend in pain, but she was happy to try and calm him – he did it all the time for her. That’s just the way they were. 

“Thanks, kid…” Bones smiled a bit, drying his eyes. 

“Well…I have questioned your decision to love Mint Juleps, though. Who ruins good Bourbon like that?” Jim teased. 

“Hey, come and talk to me once you’re able to hold more than two sips of Bourbon.” 

Jim smirked and hugged Bones tightly, patting his back and burying her face in his chest. 

“There’s nobody else I’d want to have as CMO upon my ship. You’ve saved my life countless times.” 

“Well, I can’t really save your life if you strangle me to death with your hugs. Damn, Jim, we’re going to have to do another physical because you seriously feel like you’ve bulked up in the strength department.”

Jim rolled her eyes and followed Bones out of his quarters. 

“I’ll do that once you’ve bulked up in the bedside manner department.”