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karabair asked me about BSG fic that isn't Kara/Lee. By which question I realized that my newest fandom follows the rest in one regard - despite a rich variety of interesting characters, the early majority of the stories inevitably is romantic in nature and deals with the two young, heroic good-looking ones. Not that I don't like Kara and Lee myself, but I'm not interested in stories that bring them together. At least not now. I'm more interested in stories that deal with them invidually, and with their relationships with other characters. Give me a story about Kara and Adama Senior, or Kara and her reaction to her Cylon encounter, or ( spoiler for Americans ) As for Lee, I'm far more curious to read more about his relationship with the President, his thoughts on Tom Zarek, or ( spoiler for Americans ) then I am about what he thinks of Kara.
But be that as it may, we all know who my favourite is. And thus I was delighted to find a new Laura Roslin vignette, "
Living like the Lilies". No spoilers beyond the basic set-up of the show. I was also delighted by on the women of BSG and their actresses, special emphasis on Tricia Helfer and why she surprised the poster with her acting abilities.
***
Today's fanfic author praise is all about space, the final frontier. Star Trek was my very first fandom, back when I was a child (TOS) and a teenager (TNG), it went with me into adulthood (DS9), and I still consider myself a Trekker despite not having watched Enterprise (except for the first three episodes). As ST has several incarnations dear to me, I feel at liberty to choose one author for each.
ST: TOS:penknife.
I found her through her great X-Men movieverse stories, and was delighted to discover her older Star Trek stories as well, which are here. Now I don't particularly like Kirk. If you want my take on the "who's the best Captain" debate, look up the filk I wrote for the Geek Troika to sing . But even in my childhood days, when there was only one Trek and one Captain, I was a Spock and McCoy fan all the way. Heck, I liked Sulu and Chekov more than I did Kirk. I liked Nurse Chapel... okay, you get the picture.
Butpenknife? Made me feel for good ole' James T. Here he is in his wistful, energetic and aging glory, captured between movies III and IV, and I actually felt like hugging the fellow for a second or two: "Suspension".
Not strictly speaking a TOS fic, since it's set during a TNG episode, but dealing with a TOS relationship, the original dysfunctional father/son relationship in Star Trek: a dying Sarek reflecting on Spock, in "Last Words". Touching, in that very restrained Vulcan way, and it made me pull out "Journey to Babel", "Sarek" and "Unification" once again.
Sarek is also in the next one I want to single out, as is my favourite character from the ST movies (i.e. a character who wasn't in the show itself), Saavik. I loved Saavik in II and III and was very dissappointed that a brief cameo in IV aside, we never saw her again. I was thrilled to bits to find her in a novel (yes, I read a lot of ST tie-ins in those days), The Pandora Principle, which was all about her and Spock. Now The Pandora Principle presents the relationship as a father-daughter one, but a later, not particularly well-written tie-in, has Saavik and Spock actually marrying.penknife took that idea and incorporated it a series of stories; by including the problematic side of such an arrangement, she made it believable to me. "Sins of Omission" is about things left unsaid in a delicate, tender and sad conversation between Sarek and Saavik about her future marriage.
ST: The Next Generation:alara_r.
You can come across Alara Rogers' stories in X-Men and/or Farscape fandom just as easily. There is one great danger in falling for her excellent fic - the woman has an infernal fondness for unfinished WIPs. Clearly her main reason for loving Scorpius. Torturers understand each other. Anyway, one of her specialities is Q. On whom she's something like the ultimate authority.
"Dance of the Chameleon and the Mirror takes up the intriguing hints about the backstory between Q and Guinan TNG gave us and comes up with a fascinating way explaining that backstory. Chilling and delightful to read.
"The Grave" takes up that mess of a film, Generations, and gives it an incredibly poignant epilogue, starring Guinan, Picard and Spock. Best read with the earlier story in mind, but it works also if you just know your TNG and are aware of the Guinan-Q adversity and her knowledge about the Borg.
And a slight detour to Voyager: Q and the Q later known as Quinn, discussing suicide, immortality, rebellion and the powerlessness of being all-powerful. The serious side of Q, and utterly believable.
Many of Alara's stories are here
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:deborah_judge
For my favourite Trek, I choose a newcomer in the ST arena. I knew Deborah through her fantastic Babylon 5 stories. She writes Minbari, especially Lennier, like no one's business, and let me use the opportunity to pimp again a favourite which has one particular Minbari encounter Londo Mollar years after the show ends, "A Lesson in Charity".
So I was delighted when she started to watch DS9. The first fictional result of this was "Lucifer", a story about the Great Link judging Odo in the season 3 finale. POVs from Changelings other than Odo, let alone the Great Link, are rare in DS9 fandom, and Deborah rose to the challenge beautifully.
Odo might have been her first favourite, but then she discovered the Cardassians, and then her Eminence, Kai Winn. Winn fic is about as rare as stories about Changelings other than Odo, which is a pity. Even if you can't stand the woman, you have to admit she's a fascinating and complex character. For my part, I'm unreasonably fond of the woman, her ambition and her issues with her Gods, and so I'm over the moon about Deborah's lengthy Winn epic, whose newest installment, with links to the previous chapters, can be found here. Aside from exploring Winn Adami, Deborah comes up with a fascinating and radical reinterpretation of just what those Pagh Wraiths really had been up to. Which makes total sense to me, for the record. Go and read, and afterwards, if you're curious about her writings in other fandoms, which also include the Silmarillion, look at her fanfic here.
karabair asked me about BSG fic that isn't Kara/Lee. By which question I realized that my newest fandom follows the rest in one regard - despite a rich variety of interesting characters, the early majority of the stories inevitably is romantic in nature and deals with the two young, heroic good-looking ones. Not that I don't like Kara and Lee myself, but I'm not interested in stories that bring them together. At least not now. I'm more interested in stories that deal with them invidually, and with their relationships with other characters. Give me a story about Kara and Adama Senior, or Kara and her reaction to her Cylon encounter, or ( spoiler for Americans ) As for Lee, I'm far more curious to read more about his relationship with the President, his thoughts on Tom Zarek, or ( spoiler for Americans ) then I am about what he thinks of Kara. But be that as it may, we all know who my favourite is. And thus I was delighted to find a new Laura Roslin vignette, "
Living like the Lilies". No spoilers beyond the basic set-up of the show. I was also delighted by on the women of BSG and their actresses, special emphasis on Tricia Helfer and why she surprised the poster with her acting abilities.
***
Today's fanfic author praise is all about space, the final frontier. Star Trek was my very first fandom, back when I was a child (TOS) and a teenager (TNG), it went with me into adulthood (DS9), and I still consider myself a Trekker despite not having watched Enterprise (except for the first three episodes). As ST has several incarnations dear to me, I feel at liberty to choose one author for each.
ST: TOS:
penknife.I found her through her great X-Men movieverse stories, and was delighted to discover her older Star Trek stories as well, which are here. Now I don't particularly like Kirk. If you want my take on the "who's the best Captain" debate, look up the filk I wrote for the Geek Troika to sing . But even in my childhood days, when there was only one Trek and one Captain, I was a Spock and McCoy fan all the way. Heck, I liked Sulu and Chekov more than I did Kirk. I liked Nurse Chapel... okay, you get the picture.
But
penknife? Made me feel for good ole' James T. Here he is in his wistful, energetic and aging glory, captured between movies III and IV, and I actually felt like hugging the fellow for a second or two: "Suspension". Not strictly speaking a TOS fic, since it's set during a TNG episode, but dealing with a TOS relationship, the original dysfunctional father/son relationship in Star Trek: a dying Sarek reflecting on Spock, in "Last Words". Touching, in that very restrained Vulcan way, and it made me pull out "Journey to Babel", "Sarek" and "Unification" once again.
Sarek is also in the next one I want to single out, as is my favourite character from the ST movies (i.e. a character who wasn't in the show itself), Saavik. I loved Saavik in II and III and was very dissappointed that a brief cameo in IV aside, we never saw her again. I was thrilled to bits to find her in a novel (yes, I read a lot of ST tie-ins in those days), The Pandora Principle, which was all about her and Spock. Now The Pandora Principle presents the relationship as a father-daughter one, but a later, not particularly well-written tie-in, has Saavik and Spock actually marrying.
penknife took that idea and incorporated it a series of stories; by including the problematic side of such an arrangement, she made it believable to me. "Sins of Omission" is about things left unsaid in a delicate, tender and sad conversation between Sarek and Saavik about her future marriage. ST: The Next Generation:
alara_r. You can come across Alara Rogers' stories in X-Men and/or Farscape fandom just as easily. There is one great danger in falling for her excellent fic - the woman has an infernal fondness for unfinished WIPs. Clearly her main reason for loving Scorpius. Torturers understand each other. Anyway, one of her specialities is Q. On whom she's something like the ultimate authority.
"Dance of the Chameleon and the Mirror takes up the intriguing hints about the backstory between Q and Guinan TNG gave us and comes up with a fascinating way explaining that backstory. Chilling and delightful to read.
"The Grave" takes up that mess of a film, Generations, and gives it an incredibly poignant epilogue, starring Guinan, Picard and Spock. Best read with the earlier story in mind, but it works also if you just know your TNG and are aware of the Guinan-Q adversity and her knowledge about the Borg.
And a slight detour to Voyager: Q and the Q later known as Quinn, discussing suicide, immortality, rebellion and the powerlessness of being all-powerful. The serious side of Q, and utterly believable.
Many of Alara's stories are here
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
deborah_judge For my favourite Trek, I choose a newcomer in the ST arena. I knew Deborah through her fantastic Babylon 5 stories. She writes Minbari, especially Lennier, like no one's business, and let me use the opportunity to pimp again a favourite which has one particular Minbari encounter Londo Mollar years after the show ends, "A Lesson in Charity".
So I was delighted when she started to watch DS9. The first fictional result of this was "Lucifer", a story about the Great Link judging Odo in the season 3 finale. POVs from Changelings other than Odo, let alone the Great Link, are rare in DS9 fandom, and Deborah rose to the challenge beautifully.
Odo might have been her first favourite, but then she discovered the Cardassians, and then her Eminence, Kai Winn. Winn fic is about as rare as stories about Changelings other than Odo, which is a pity. Even if you can't stand the woman, you have to admit she's a fascinating and complex character. For my part, I'm unreasonably fond of the woman, her ambition and her issues with her Gods, and so I'm over the moon about Deborah's lengthy Winn epic, whose newest installment, with links to the previous chapters, can be found here. Aside from exploring Winn Adami, Deborah comes up with a fascinating and radical reinterpretation of just what those Pagh Wraiths really had been up to. Which makes total sense to me, for the record. Go and read, and afterwards, if you're curious about her writings in other fandoms, which also include the Silmarillion, look at her fanfic here.
