Fic recs?

[eponymous_rose]

TOS fandom is a very, very confusing place - as near as I can tell, it hasn't exactly settled down on LJ at all, and much of the fanfic is in print zines rather than online. Fanfiction.net still seems to be the easiest place to find fic, which is, um, not necessarily ideal. While I have been gleefully devouring the Orion Archives, I thought I'd just issue a bit of a plea, because I know some of the flist (including a few new arrivals thanks to that crazy Amok Time recap I did - hello!) are much better acquainted with this fandom than I am.

I'll read any and all pairings, but I'm a gen fangirl at heart, and quite possibly my favourite thing ever is action/adventure-type stuff featuring the Big Three. Any recommendations? Archives I've managed to miss?

Thanks very much! :D

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the alt.startrek.creative archives? I know they're on Google groups, plus there were actual www archives when I was in the fandom. (Way back in 2001, natch.)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh, right! I've been wandering around trekiverse.org, which is a nifty alt.startrek.creative archive, but the Google Groups one seems a lot more up-to-date at a glance. Thank you!

[biichan.livejournal.com]

There's some interesting stuff by Lyra at Liquidfic, but a lot of it is shippy. It's all pretty good, though, I thought. Her Pon Nyt-So-Far makes me laugh my ass off.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, those look great. Thanks for that!

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Pretty much everything on Liquidfic is awesome. She does Holmes/Watson as well and that is awesome too.

Also, she retold Amok Time in the style of ee cummings!

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

She does Holmes/Watson as well and that is awesome too.

Eee, yes! I remember reading some of her Holmes/Watson stories a while back! I was wondering why the name seemed familiar.

Also, she retold Amok Time in the style of ee cummings!

Holy. Crap. ABSOLUTE, EPIC WIN.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

I've got a bunch of pages bookmarked, but I was always only in it for the treksmut, so I'm not sure I would be of much help if you're looking for gen.

Here are a couple of author specific archives of K/S stuff. Some of it is PGish, though, so you might just take a look.

http://www.kardasi.com/KSOF/stories.htm

http://www.syredronning.de/HOME_ALL.html#kirkspock

http://cosmicduckling.com/spirk/stories.htm

http://liquidfic.net/tosfic.html

Granted, I haven't read trek-fic in some years so I don't remember which of the stories in particular I really enjoyed. But I liked the authors enough to bookmark their pages, so you might as well give it a shot and see if anything is to your taste.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is awesome. My main aversion to K/S fic is the sheer quantity of badfic I've stumbled across (see above note about lurking around ffnet too much), but dude, I'm always happy with well-written shipfic. Thanks so much!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

My main aversion to K/S fic is the sheer quantity of badfic

Tell me about it. But I guess it's the same with any main ship in any fandom. It's just so painful. A couple of those links don't just have K/S, so I hope you can at least find one or two stories you enjoy. ;-)

[gloriatempest.livejournal.com]

I've never read fan fiction for this fandom, but I have read several novels that I thought were so great I've read them more than once; and for me, that is saying a lot.

Each grouping, written by the same author, is a continuation of the previous book. If you decide to read them, I'd love to hear your opinion on them.

(The first book takes Kirk and Spock back to Vulcan where Spock has the opportunity to resolve some of his issues with his father. The second has the Enterprise transporting some wayward Vulcans to a new colony, and Spocks parents to another diplomatic mission.)

The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah
The IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah

This series brings back one of my favorite series characters, the Romulan lover of Spock and it introduces a new character Omne, one of the best Star Trek villains I've ever seen.

The Price of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshak
The Fate of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshak

When I first heard they were going to remake the original series, I had hoped this would be the novel they would use. It goes back to when Spock and Kirk first met. Kirk had just taken command of the Enterprise and he had pulled some strings to get McCoy as Chief medical officer. The thing is...Kirk unfamiliar with vulcans didn't like his first officer so much. He wasn't able to choose the first officer he wanted, and his good friend McCoy, well he didn't really want to be on the star ship either... Throw in unexpected time travel, earth's true first contact with aliens...and you've got one gripping plot...

Strangers From The Sky by Margaret Wander Bonanno

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. This looks great - thank you! I've actually been looking for novel recommendations, because if Star Trek's anything like Doctor Who, there are some real gems among the more mediocre of the bunch.

I'm also a sucker for origin stories, so that last one will probably be my starting point. Thanks very much!

[gloriatempest.livejournal.com]

You're Welcome. There are literally hundreds of novels out for the original Star Trek. (early years) High Quality and mindful of canon so if you breeze through these and want more, there are plenty to choose from...

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Seconding the rec for Strangers from the Sky, and adding:

The Entropy Effect, by Vonda N. McIntyre. My favorite.

The Wounded Sky, Diane Duane (I think you've read this one, though?)

Ishmael, by... uh, whomever it's by. I was expecting to cringe at least a dozen times, 'cause one usually does in Trek novels. Lo, not even once, though I might if I were a historian. 100% excellent entertainment.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Thank you for the additional recs! I'm working through all of Diane Duane's Trek books, as they are absolutely excellent, but it's good to know of a few others. :D

[biichan.livejournal.com]

PS midnightlurker says getting the Prisoner is going so very, very, very slowly, so I may need you to peddle me some after all.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

No problem - we'll see how well the internet here holds up overnight, and I'll hopefully have something by tomorrow.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE DOLL. (And no huge rush. I have me some Neverwhere to tide me over.)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Paterson Joseph Neverwhere.

Standard disclaimer: this is contingent on a really, really unstable connection staying hooked up for the few hours it'll take to upload, which isn't too likely. But I will be back home with proper internet by the New Year, so, by hook or by crook, you'll have it. ;)

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Yay :D

(You know, it's almost a pity Patrick Troughton never played Number Two.)

Neverwhere is pretty cool, though I'm glad I had Oldskool to get me used to old-fashioned BBC production values. And Paterson Joseph is awesome. I hope very badly he's Eleven.

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm glad you asked this; I have no recs, but I would like to get into TOS fanfic, and have never been able to find much. It's a pity it's not really present on LJ...

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I'm thinking that'll change in a big way after the movie comes out. Well, hoping, anyway. Sort of. I guess all the badfic will be worth it, right?

If there were ever a fandom that could seriously benefit from a daily newsletter round-up type thing, this is it. No, no, no, I do not need another project. Ahem.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

TOS fandom is a very, very confusing place

Man, am I glad to hear somebody else say that.

Not on my home computer at the moment, but off the top of my head: Google "Sympathy for the Devil + T'Pring," and you should get a very well-done fic that does what it says on the tin. I am a big fan of any fic that does not brainlessly treat T'Pring as The Villain, Full Stop.

I'm a genfic girl at heart, myself, and with this fandom most of all. Shipfic is the most organized and easiest to find in TOS, however. Well, apart from Orion, which is mostly gen (huzzah!). Anyway: http://ks-archive.com, the Kirk/Spock archive.

Over on that archive, assuming I got the address right, look up an author named Killa and a story called Bitter Glass, which deals with movie canon. It's partly Kirk/Spock, partly Kirk-Spock. It is easily the most depressing piece of fan fiction I have ever read in my entire life. Don't know if it's the saddest, but defintely the most depressing. It's also one of the best. So, rec with caveat.

Speaking of depressing, there's also a really good cross-over with Voyager on there, either by Killa or by Catalena Mara. I don't even like Voyager, but this was very worth it.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Eee, this is awesome! T'Pring fic! Always a good thing. Thank you!

[rapunzelita.livejournal.com]

I think penknife wrote quite a bit of those, but I couldn't say if they're your style or not. (But Penknife usually writes very good fic.)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you! I will definitely check those out. :D

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

Have you tried checking out the stories from the Alt.StarTrek.Creative awards? seperis I think has links, but that used to be where I did all my Trek reading, back in my Usenet days.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Hey, great idea! I hadn't even thought of looking for awards - always a nice way to avoid a lot of the worst fic. :D Thank you!

[lemonrocket.livejournal.com]

You're right about the TOS fandom being confusing. I really wish TOS fanficcers would settle down on LJ (and my dreams for tosfic being a wonderful, busy, fic-filled place could finally come true).

I'm primarily a big-three-genficcer, too (yay!), but if there's a K-S-Mc Super!Archive online, I haven't yet found it. However, I can tell you that while checking out Orion Press, you might want to go to the author page and scroll down to Cathy German's fics. I think she writes a really good Big Three dynamic (and a great McCoy).

There's also:
== Tantalus Revisited, a collection of genfics originally found in printzines
== ScoTpress, also former old printzines going online
== Gloria Fry's stories, another author putting her zine fics online

Some of the above sites have fics I find a little too... um, sugary, perhaps? (I don't want to say soppy)... for my liking, but there are good ones in there, too.

There are probably more, but it's late (less than an hour until 2009!) and my brain is tired. o_O

I started an online TOS genzine a few years ago, but it fell into a state of disrepair through my lack of time and generally bad organisational skills (I do have vague future plans, however)... but you're welcome to look, anyway. It also might have more in the links section than I can remember off the top of my head. Although, I'd like to warn people off my old stuff (which is linked there, I think). Sheesh, it's embarrassing.

p.s. All right if I friend you?

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so, so much for the links! :D This is absolutely excellent.

(and my dreams for tosfic being a wonderful, busy, fic-filled place could finally come true)

You will probably get your wish (and then some) following the new movie! I certainly hope so, at least. Also, trek_news might be of some help in the spreading-the-word thing. I think Trek fandom's kind of got a loop going where people don't put all their stuff in the same place because there is no "same place" to put all their stuff because there aren't enough people to maintain the communities, etc. etc. etc.

and scroll down to Cathy German's fics.

Ooh, yes! elliptic_eye recommended her fics in particular, at which point I promptly devoured them all and was a little disappointed that there wasn't an endless supply. ;) She's definitely very talented!

There are probably more, but it's late (less than an hour until 2009!) and my brain is tired. o_O

Hee, and here I am, just waking up on New Year's Eve. Well, Happy New Year, then! What's it like in the future? ;)

I started an online TOS genzine a few years ago, but it fell into a state of disrepair through my lack of time and generally bad organisational skills

Ooh, Ampersand! It was the first Trek ezine I found (by virtue of infiniteviking's stories being posted there) - I was hoping it wasn't gone forever! :D

p.s. All right if I friend you?

With an icon that awesome, I think I'm legally obligated to friend you back. Which is to say - of course it's all right!

[lemonrocket.livejournal.com]

trek_news is an awesome idea. And you're awesome for taking it on. Other fandoms have had newsletters for ages, but Trek fandom, for all it's futuristic ideas, still seems to be a bit slow at catching up with some things. And maybe a bit set in its ways. For example, I know a seasoned Trek fanficcer who totally believes there is no fan activity outside the Yahoo groups. Friends tried to talk her into getting an LJ, but she refused to believe there were people posting Trek stuff here. But then there are some really old school Trekkers who have happily embraced LJ and the digital world. We're a diverse lot. *shrug*

What's it like in the future?

The weather's nice. :-)

Ampersand will hopefully certainly be back at some point. I made a resolution that '09 was going to be the year that I got my fandom life back on track. :-)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Other fandoms have had newsletters for ages, but Trek fandom, for all it's futuristic ideas, still seems to be a bit slow at catching up with some things.

I was so surprised at that! I mean, there are plenty of 1960s TV shows with a smaller fanbase and a much, much more organized LJ fandom presence (I keep bringing up The Man from U.N.C.L.E., because it's the one I'm most familiar with, but I'm sure there are others). The movie (and, if the movie's a success, any subsequent productions) should help to mainstream the fandom a bit, and I think a lot of people who watched all sorts of variations on Trek as kids will be coming out of the woodwork as well.

But I can see how people wouldn't think there's much going on here, since it is a blog site and all. As a (fairly) new LJ user, the level of community here really surprised me.

The weather's nice. :-)

*envies* Windchill of -33C, here. Ouch.

Ampersand will hopefully certainly be back at some point.

Oh, fantastic! I can't wait. :D