star trek

star trek: the original series

life is but a dream, by ellen fremedon. K/S, PG, humour. related to STIV and STV. this story is the perfect interpretation of the fifth star trek movie, and the interpretation which i firmly adhere to. it's also absolutely hilarious.

and in darkness bind you, by greywolf the wanderer. kirk/spock. painfully clear rendering of spock-angst. earth-shattering things happen in the dark. as far as i'm concerned, one of the classics of slash.

deep elem blues, new minglewood blues, and morning dew, by greywolf the wanderer. kirk/spock, a fantastic post-tos au called songs of the dirjha. this is an excellently-told story, pretty smooth-flowing, well-thought-out, and giving every evidence of being meticulously written. there are a few rough spots, perhaps in the general area of characterization, but overall, this is one of the best stories available in tos slash.

fire on the mountain, by greywolf the wanderer. the classic hurt/comfort fic. a wonderfully satisfying read, sort of like a very good chocolate-chip cookie.

forever's edge, my captain, my friend, and while i lay dreaming, by hafital. kirk/spock. g, pg, and then nc-17, respectively. based around the popular episode "city on the edge of forever," written by harlan ellison. the episode is one of the classics of trek, and edith keeler is one of the classic stumbling-blocks of k/s fanon. this is a classic treatment of the episode.

too dear for possessing, by isla of hope. kirk/spock. nc-17. set during another episode, and a spackle of sorts. good story, sweet and angsty and thoughtful and painful.

to run with the drunnem, by istannor. kirk/spock. pg. is it time for jim to run? (very, very cute.)

the tales from gol series (or as i like to call it, the fruit of humanity universe), found here, by istannor. the links are too many to fit here, but it's an excellent series. it's too big for first-time--it's a whole radical new interpretation of all of trek. istannor's world-building skills are unparalleled in the genre.

til human voices wake us, by jane st clair. k/mitchell, pre-k/s. pg. a strange midnight encounter.

wednesday morning, 3 am, by jane st. clair. kirk/spock. star trek. r. jim grieves.

holiday stress and leadership and other serious matters discussed at the shopping mall from fashion hell, by jat sapphire. k/s implied, femmeslash (rand/chapel). some of my absolute favorite femmeslash, and a brilliant handling of minor characters who were ignored in the original show precisely because they're female.

machine child and the wild ape, by jat sapphire. pre-kirk/spock; kirk/mitchell. one of those lovely clever things with separate-intertwined plot lines. it's the beginning of a stunning series, by the way, which you can get to through it.

still amok and coals of fire, the sequels to "machine child and the wild ape" above, by jat sapphire. kirk/spock. nc-17. some of the best characterization available, and together, they make a beautiful novella, one of my favorites.

the world turned upside down, by jenna hilary sinclair. k/s. r. an action and adventure story that's a bit too mushy, and in that way, slightly off in characterization.

idol, by j.s. cavalcante. kirk/spock. nc-17. i am isis. what will i be today?

the word witheld, by j.s. cavalcante. kirk/spock. nc-17. au from stvi on. spock never told jim the third meaning of t'hy'la--and lost him anyway. luckily, he's perfected the art of time travel.

fancy's hot fire, by jungle kitty. k/s. nc-17. another episode-based story for "shore leave." a cute and hot not-quite-pwp with a lot of character.

the wedding gift, by jungle kitty. pg-13. kirk/spock. a very sweet and reasonably short story, and one of jk's best.

handclasp, by kaki. k/s. nc-17. if vulcans are touch-telepaths, what does holding hands mean?

cover of night, by killashandra. kirk/spock. kirk may drown in regret if he's not careful. spock's coming back to life might have been a second chance, if he had deserved one.

in check, by k'sal. kirk/spock. spock is masterfully outflanked by kirk in an eventually rather desperate logical argument. best characterization of kirk you'll ever encounter.

incident report, by k'sal. kirk/spock, humour. in my opinion, these two pieces by k'sal are the best characterisations and the best stories in the fandom. this one is hilarious, witty and dryly urbane, all framed in a series of correspondence between kirk and spock following what may or may not have been an incident.

brothers, by liz ellington. k/s. nc-17, dark themes. mirror universe. you see so few good mirrorverse fics that i had to include this one, once i found it.

hidden pleasures, by liz ellington. k/s. nc-17. angst. gary's left all his personal effects to jim. legacies can be a mixed blessing.

just be a friend, by liz ellington. k/s. nc-17. what would you do if your vulcan first officer turned out not to be so sexless after all?

the last straw, by liz ellington. k/s. nc-17. not unflawed, but a nice piece into itself with an outstanding characterization of kirk. buriedblazingpassions!spock really lights my fire, too. ;) this is one of those stories i save on my hard drive to read over and over, just for this one hot, brilliant, glowing moment.

a place for me, by morgan le fey. kirk/spock. pg. based on barbara hambly pro novels. who is this new spock?

another country beckons, by rae trail. kirk/spock. pg. kirk's too busy for romance. consciously. very good. a bit reminiscent of the infamous intreat me not to leave thee, only it makes more sense, and it's better-characterized.

joyboy, by syn ferguson. kirk/spock. pre-tos adult. you didn't think there was world-building when you were using someone else's universe, did you? but there is.

thunderstorm, by vanasati. k/s. nc-17. back to the roots of k/s again. they're stranded in a cave and kirk is injured! oh no!

what you did to me, by vanasati. k/s. nc-17. she's a non-native speaker, so you have to wade through some mechanical trouble. also truly classic hurt/comfort. you read her for the story and the plot, not the presentation. you know the type.

improvisation, by varoneeka and ruth gifford. kirk/spock. varoneeka really lays on the emotion. sweet. exciting and entertaining and cute. a special mission... gone awry?

wanting and having, by varoneeka. k/s. nc-17. the mush is a little nauseating here at times--may not be for everyone. that said, they're really really hot. guilty pleasures, guys, guilty pleasures.

star trek: the next generation

much a-q about nothing, by ellen fremedon. picard/q; janeway/7. star trek: tng and star trek: voyager. r. q is sneaky and determined.

love reign o'er me, by ruth gifford and varoneeka. picard/q. tng. nc-17. a long long epic au with a desert oasis, a loss of identity, some hot sex and lovely wallowy angst, and some mischaracterization that you might be able to ignore in favor of the candy.

escher dreams, by the anon sisters. picard/q. tng. nc-17. this story is deep and involved, lush and sweaty and almost delirious. it's also highly sentimental, unapologetically mushy. i won't say this doesn't bother me, and i wouldn't call it great literature--but i really love this story.

the louder the song and an hour of eternity, by varoneeka. nc-17. two p/qs in two intersecting alternate universes. the second (picard and q in 1990s america) is absolutely one of my favorites. again, unapologetic sap and melodrama, luxurious to read.

forbidden fruit, by varoneeka and ruth gifford. picard/q, nc-17, st:tng. first-time pwp. rather silly, suffers from over mushiness. hot sex. sort of cute. soap operay, you know? the fun kind of bad.

from the great above, by ruth gifford. p/q, nc-17, st:tng. futurefic, in the form of an audio log. deals mostly with borg issues and no doubt having seen all the relevant episodes and movies is important. anger, pain, non-con warning. a messy and tangled kind of piece that speaks powerfully to the whole power-dynamic issue that omnipotence inevitably brings up. unfortunately doesn't refrain from mischaracterizing q while it's at it, imo. perhaps it's not possible to get him right.

le cadeaux, by ruth gifford. p/q, nc-17, st:tng, pwp. cute little first-time pwp, sweetish in that odd way, light and a bit silly and whatnot. not deep in any way.

love comes quickly, by laura jacquez valentine. p/q, pg, st:tng. picard pov, not quite as sophisticated as would be necessary to convince me. a bit of brooding. rather sweet. refreshingly uncomplicated and short.

q-poem by varoneeka, p/q, nc-17. a first-time story that starts with some of the best characterization i feel i've seen in the pairing. unfortunately by the end it dissolves into astonishing quantities of mush in a manner that i feel i ought to have been embarrassed to witness. characterization slithers right out the window.

debriefing, by t dancinghands, picard/data, nc-17, st:tng. a piece that starts off very well-characterized. densely angsty. goes mushy gradually, then degenerates into a particularly sentimental sort of porn. but the beginning was really surprisingly good.

she moves in mysterious ways, by atara stein. picard/ofc, p/q, nc-17, st:tng, het sex. set in the movie sequence. picard's sort of restless; but though it's his pov you'll find him surprisingly opaque. it works astonishingly well, faltering notably only towards the end. a very enjoyable read, even containing hints of humor--though not ultimately satisfying.

accidental, by shalott. p/q, tng. picard startles q considerably. just a short little ficlet. nicely in-character, which those heaps of angst so many authors like to indulge in just break all to pieces.

star trek: deep space nine

exercise, by andrea evans. garak/bashir, nc-17. despite a slightly suspect premise, this story's fairly well-put-together, only slightly silly and quite entertaining, until it dissolves in a lot of purple prose and extravagant sentimentality at the end. so in short: perhaps it's bad, but i found i enjoy slightly silly-angsty first-time stories. this one has a side-dish of what is evidently the author's kink for muscles and words like "massive".

cardassia sutra by arcady, aka liz williams. garak/bashir, nc-17. a very entertaining premise that starts off well and is worth reading even though the style dissolves into ellipses and sentence fragments for more than five paragraphs towards the end--a technique i personally find almost impossible to read. still--rather humourous and pretty much free of angst.

kanaar, by the archivist. g/bish, pg. soon after tain's death, garak introduces bashir to cardassian alcohol. an exquisitely-characterised and paced story, subtle and intriguing, touching on both points of view. really excellent, and beautifully done.

prelude to a kiss, the waiting game and a worthy adversary, by caroline crane. g/b (might be called pre-slash), pg. some punctuation errors distracted me at the beginning--nothing incredibly gross. but excellent characterisation of both, very thought provoking, far subtler than the fandom norm. all garak pov.

dreams into waking, by carolyn fulton. odo/kira, nc-17. basically a classic romance novel (although it's more novella length) in which kira starts having surprising erotic dreams. far better than your average harlequin, quite good, but still a bit sentimental for my taste.

selections from julian bashir's CV, by ellen fremedon. g/b implicit. drabble. i hate drabbles, so if i rec one i thought it was REALLY really good. this isn't prose, it's exactly what the title says: a bibliography-style list of published works.

a discreet private inquiry, by henrietta wotton. garak, pre-show, gen. an absolutely breathtaking story from the point of view of garak, whose work in the obsidian order happens to lead him to his favourite author. I always particularly treasure those moments when I can make an embarrassing admission with the guarantee that it will be received as an evasion. "Mr. Preloc, I have long been an admirer of your books, and the occasion provided me with a pretext upon which to make your acquaintance," I tell him.

acts of kindness by ja chapman. g/bish, rated g. a fascinating and subtle short story about culture barriers in which garak tells bashir a piece of cardassian literature.

once upon a time, by ja chapman. g/bish, g. garak tells bashir a little story about his stint as a gardener on romulus. "You aren't going to tell me some cock and bull story about how you worked as a waiter for some Klingon restaurant and got shorted a tip by a diplomat who later died choking on gagh or something equally bizarre, are you?" "Not today," Garak replied.

especially the lies and the thread of truth by kathryn ramage. garak/bashir, pg. this is an older story with some rather melodramatic bits, but it's subtler by far than the usual and mostly consists of some intriguing dialogue.

mutual acquaintance by kathryn ramage. g/bish, pg. garak and o'brien have an honest discussion about doctor bashir. nice, polished, believable, well-characterised.

emigre, by mark russel stanley, is an established-relationship post-series garak/bashir. i don't usually like established relationship pieces, but this one's post-war-relief background is intriguing; the plot, dialogue and characterisation are good; and the tone and atmosphere are just right for it.

frightfully fun, by olivia monteith (aka spacechick). g/b established, pg. this doesn't have *much* of a plot, but it has a rather original premise and it amused me. it's also just rather fun and heart-warming. it involves garak's first halloween on earth.

let me call you sweetheart, by olivia monteith. garak/bashir, nc-17. this is a long story with a good beginning and a bad end--a marriage of convenience premise, some very hot sex, then some unneccessary and rather unbelievable plot twists and egregious sentimentality.

mealtime musings by olivia monteith. g/b and o/k, pg. odo, garak and bashir have a lunch time conversation. this one's scattered with rather baffling errors, as if it wasn't proofread. a little unsophisticated, but makes an entertaining point well.

sigh no more by the plaid adder, g/b, pg. hilarious parody of shakespeare and star trek in five acts. new to thee, the sequel, likewise but a different play. there's more to the series, all established g/b, and all quite dependent on the rest of the series. all were good, and i enjoyed most of them very much, but they vary a great deal.

working lunch, the lone short story, is funny but maybe a bit over-silly. i never is hilarious at points, but i find it hard to believe in the officers of ds9 playing "never have i ever". the chair is a a very solemn piece in which garak is kidnapped and tortured--excellent overall and funny in places, but i felt the end weak from poor application of sentiment. in the horror, the horror, the cast of ds9 perform the rocky horror picture show live, with bonus appearance of deanna and lwaxana troi, and scully and mulder from the x-files--suspension of disbelief is no obstacle to how absolutely delightful and hysterical this piece is, even without prior knowledge of rocky horror. bloodheart returns with seriousness again to garak's kidnapping as odo and kira investigate it, and garak struggles with aftermath--it's possibly the best one in the series. and langue d'amour combines deft humour (the universal translator goes out) with affecting and very romantic scenes between garak and bashir. this one's rated r, and the links at the bottom of the parts don't work, so i link the prologue and five acts here: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5.

a dark stone for a heart, by penumbra. g/b, nc-17, futurefic. this is not quite emotionally subtle enough for my taste, but it's refreshingly sombre and is also, i think, one of the better treatments of garak and bashir's emotional attachment i've read--they come together after the war, after a long separation and in a time of some bleakness. suffers, i think, from being a little too short.

converse symmetry, by terrie drummonds, is the most ambitious story in this fandom i have encountered. g/b, nc-17. it is a novel in which alternate universe versions of some station personnel are briefly marooned at ds9, and so much more. it moves effortlessly between multiple povs; uses the contrast of the universes expertly for shrewd, perfet, bewitching character studies; and deftly develops an exciting plot. it is truly stunning--excellent and satisfying in a variety of ways--and reminded me strongly of science fiction by some of my favourite authors. 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-21. [there are sequels which i almost didn't include here--i feel their quality is much lower as the writer goes from the incredibly original creation of the novel to trying to fit her creation into (and otherwise make sense of) a canon that's frankly nonsensical and inconsistent. the results are uneven and left me unsatisfied, but the latter two both have strong merits--startling insights and powerful scenes. assymetrical (pg); one man's dying (pg); and tangents of or (r; the series' first time story, highly emotional).]

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