Fic recommendation: "Delicate"
Nothing really spurred it, but I've been reading a shit ton of Star Trek fic recently.
The only Trek I've watched in the last few months has been DS9, but I've never felt a need for fic in that universe. Maybe because it ties up its loose ends enough that I don't feel I need fic, or maybe because I don't feel an incredible connection to any of the characters. I do like DS9 now that I'm older and have watched it with a more grown-up perspective than the teenager who tried watching it in the past. But I still feel like an observer, not really involved, with the series.
As for TOS and AOS, well, I've been like a man possessed.
It's meant that I put other reading and writing on the back burner while I've been poring through hollycomb's writing, which is good and bad, depending on your perspective.
The bad: it means I'm not working on my own writing, which I've felt a sudden burst of inspiration to do.
The good: her fics are fucking excellent and I love her grasp of character, so I consider it educational.
For example, I hate survival fiction. I do. I think it's dull and have thought so ever since grade school, when they made us read Hatchet. Maybe, like DS9, I might revisit that book as an adult and find it good, but as a sixth-grader, I remember hating it. I think the only time I read a survival book and enjoyed it was the year before that, when I picked Julie of the Wolves for a reading project.
But back to the main point here.
" Delicate" is Star Trek fic, but it forces Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov to try to survive on an uninhabited alien planet after their shuttle crashes there. It's a survival story in a sense, but unlike most of these stories, the characters aren't isolated except when interpersonal conflict pushes them apart. Maybe that's why I like it so much. The story comes from Sulu's perspective and because of that, he does some things that are ignorant - things that damage his relationships with Chekov and Kirk before finally bringing them to a tentative peace.
Also remarkable about this fic is that it made me actually believe a three-person relationship could work, rather than scoffing at the idea that two people essentially in love with one other person could learn to love one another, too. I felt awful for Chekov and Kirk, as Sulu's sort of satellites in this story. I felt awful for Sulu because he's trying to survive and keep the peace without going insane. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I cried, but it was more at how Chekov and Kirk both try to take care of Sulu in their own ways and both of them find themselves coming up short.
Plus, there are some little points of humor like spots of light in the otherwise fairly bleak tone of the story, and I needed the chance to crack a smile when something wasn't either going horribly wrong or somebody wasn't feeling betrayed.
So even if I tell you "Delicate" is a survival story, give it a chance. I didn't for a long time and read everything else hollycomb has written first, and I wish I had gotten to this one sooner. Fair warning: it's NC-17 and totally slash-tastic, but you knew that since I'm the one promoting it.
Meanwhile, cosplay drama has been happening but I'll deal with it later.
"Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."
The only Trek I've watched in the last few months has been DS9, but I've never felt a need for fic in that universe. Maybe because it ties up its loose ends enough that I don't feel I need fic, or maybe because I don't feel an incredible connection to any of the characters. I do like DS9 now that I'm older and have watched it with a more grown-up perspective than the teenager who tried watching it in the past. But I still feel like an observer, not really involved, with the series.
As for TOS and AOS, well, I've been like a man possessed.
It's meant that I put other reading and writing on the back burner while I've been poring through hollycomb's writing, which is good and bad, depending on your perspective.
The bad: it means I'm not working on my own writing, which I've felt a sudden burst of inspiration to do.
The good: her fics are fucking excellent and I love her grasp of character, so I consider it educational.
For example, I hate survival fiction. I do. I think it's dull and have thought so ever since grade school, when they made us read Hatchet. Maybe, like DS9, I might revisit that book as an adult and find it good, but as a sixth-grader, I remember hating it. I think the only time I read a survival book and enjoyed it was the year before that, when I picked Julie of the Wolves for a reading project.
But back to the main point here.
" Delicate" is Star Trek fic, but it forces Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov to try to survive on an uninhabited alien planet after their shuttle crashes there. It's a survival story in a sense, but unlike most of these stories, the characters aren't isolated except when interpersonal conflict pushes them apart. Maybe that's why I like it so much. The story comes from Sulu's perspective and because of that, he does some things that are ignorant - things that damage his relationships with Chekov and Kirk before finally bringing them to a tentative peace.
Also remarkable about this fic is that it made me actually believe a three-person relationship could work, rather than scoffing at the idea that two people essentially in love with one other person could learn to love one another, too. I felt awful for Chekov and Kirk, as Sulu's sort of satellites in this story. I felt awful for Sulu because he's trying to survive and keep the peace without going insane. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I cried, but it was more at how Chekov and Kirk both try to take care of Sulu in their own ways and both of them find themselves coming up short.
Plus, there are some little points of humor like spots of light in the otherwise fairly bleak tone of the story, and I needed the chance to crack a smile when something wasn't either going horribly wrong or somebody wasn't feeling betrayed.
So even if I tell you "Delicate" is a survival story, give it a chance. I didn't for a long time and read everything else hollycomb has written first, and I wish I had gotten to this one sooner. Fair warning: it's NC-17 and totally slash-tastic, but you knew that since I'm the one promoting it.
Meanwhile, cosplay drama has been happening but I'll deal with it later.
"Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man."