Aren't You All Aglow In Your Thousand Yard Stare Prologue

Title: Aren’t You All Aglow In Your Thousand Yard Stare  

Author: ProvidenceMine

Fandom: Star Trek

Series: TOS Prime

Parts: Prologue, 1-8

Rating: R for violence

Codes: R, original characters

Summary:  Forget the Kobayashi Maru!  Can Rand get through Crossing the Rubicon?

Disclaimer: Paramount Pictures owns all of Star Trek and its characters.  This is simply fan fiction, and I don’t expect to profit from this or any story that I write hereafter.

Aren’t You All Aglow In Your Thousand Yard Stare    

Prologue

It was a most agreeable and elegant soiree, and Janice Rand was reveling in the thick of it.  Urbane, cosmopolitan couples attired in long gowns and pressed black tuxedoes coasted under the high, arched ceiling.  Graceful strains of violins mingled with the clinking of glasses, the gentle shoe tappings of dance floor rhythm, and the cadences of conversation.   Oriental paper lanterns hung from various areas of the mansion, giving off a soft, illuminating frame of light as it shimmered off of the glittery gowns and glowed off the whites of the tuxedo shirts.  Even the champagne flutes reflected this lantern light, darting on rims and stems in a delicate light show display.  Rand raises a glass to her lips, enjoying the dry bubbly fill the corners of her mouth, submerging her tongue in a jaunt of iciness.

“My, Janice!  You’re simply a vision tonight!  Is that dress haute couture?  I’m simply just mad for it!”    

The voice belongs to a petite brunette and her tall, lanky husband.

“Lucy!  George!  Look at you two!” 

The trio exchanged polite kisses and gave one another the once-over approvingly.

“Food for a starving man, Janice!”

“Oh, aren’t you the devil,” teased Rand.  “And with such a lovely creature on your arm!”

“Oh, you’re a dear, Janice!  I’d like to think that we shopped at the same place, but your gown is simply exquisite!  Love that peak of leg!  Simply wicked, dear!” 

“Man trap!  Man trap!”  yells George with his hands up.

The trio laughs.  They talk like this for a while, complementing one another on their jewelry, their aftershave, and the like.  Finally, Rand took a final swig of her champagne, downing the last of her drink.

“You must excuse me, I think all of this scrumptious champagne and excitement has done me in.  The little girls’ room awaits.”

The trio broke out in effervescent laughter as Rand headed towards the hallway.  While on her way to the bathroom, Rand caught a glimpse of herself in an old Art Nouvelle mirror, and had to admit, even to herself, how fabulous she looked.  Her flaxen hair swept up in an elegant twist that emphasized her long neck.  Slender diamond crystal earrings hung over bare white shoulders.  The sleek bustier shell of her black gown flared out into a sweeping layered taffeta skirt, which fanned out from a discreet slit, revealing a stunning portion of leg. 

“Janice, my dear, you are simply smashing,” she whispered to herself with a wink.  She turned to the hallway that lead to the bathroom, and sighed with relief when she saw the oval shaped, intricately carved mahogany door up in front of her.  The door opened, and a tall, slender, refined young man stepped out.  Handsome, elegant and self-possessed, he beamed when he spotted Rand and held the door open for her.

“Why Thank you,” she said upping her pace as she reached for the door, grinning at the young man.  Rand closed the door behind her.

“Must try to get his name later,” she thought. 

Rand smiled at the memory of that young man’s face, his manners, and his cologne as she raised the toilet seat and reached underneath her gown.

“What the hell?”   

Rand peered into the toilet with a mixture of disbelief and revoltion.  

There, floating atop the water in the porcelain throne, lay a big fat turd the shape of an overstuffed marijuana joint. 

It was definitely at this moment when that young man lost his appeal.

“How can that ding bat forget to flush when he squeezes something like that out of his skinny ass?!  Eassh!” 

She reached over to flush the toilet, her eyes still glued to the waste left by the young man.  But something made her stop, made her stand back and stare.

The turd, without any explanation, began to vibrate.

Rand looked around the toilet, the bathroom, and then back inside the bowl.  There were no outside vibrations.

“Nope.  It’s the fucking shit.”

The ripples surrounding the excrement became stronger and move violent.  Unable to help herself, Rand leaned in closer until her head was directly over the toilet seat.

“How is that thing…”

SPLAT!

The turd catapulted out of the bowl, landing squarely in Rand’s face.  It latched onto her, dense and grainy like cement.  The dung made its way into her eyes, pressed between her teeth, and clogging her nostrils, which were being assailed by the putrid stink. 

Rand bolted upright in her bed, frantically slapping her face before realizing that she was back in her quarters, alone in the dark.  There was no party.  There was no fancy art nouvelle bathroom.  There was no ball of shit on her face.

Rand sighed, heavily and with profound relief.  She cradled her face with her hands and began to laugh.

“Good God!  Janice, what went on during the day to manifest that dream?!”

Shaking her head and still laughing, she tossed the covers to her bed aside and climbed out so she could go to the bathroom for a glass of water.

A Few Words about the term Mary Sue.

 Title: A Few Words about the term Mary Sue.

Author: ProvidenceMine.

I have been seeing the term ‘Mary Sue’ quite a bit in recent years, and I can’t say that I like it much.   It is a term that, I feel, has been used too much and too lightly.

For those of you who do not know, ‘Mary Sue’ describes a character, particularly in fan fiction but not limited to it, that is ‘too good to be true.’  These characters are always physically attractive, are smart, capable, and have ‘their shit together,’ for the most part.  It is usually applied to a female character, but has been applied to male characters as well.

Now, I’m not entirely unsympathetic with the sentiment behind the term because I have read books and seen movies, television and theatre pieces where a character was certainly so perfect, so flawless, so over-capable that they were exasperating. 

A sterling example of such a character was Dr. Evan Wilson, the pixie-like irritant from the TOS Star Trek novel Uhura’s Song.  Not only did this woman out-perform everyone, and I mean everyone at their jobs and talents-like Scotty, Kirk, McCoy, everyone- she was also loved by the whole crew, and the aliens of the planet that they were on.  This woman didn’t seem to have a character flaw at all, and she was highly full of herself.

Uhg!

And the worst part of it was, this woman completely upstaged Lt.Uhura, whose story this was supposed to be. 

Now, the book was a bit long and slow to begin with.  But, with Little Ms. Perfect in tow, I found the story a bit tiresome and I ended up putting the book down, but with the intention of finishing it.

I never did.

Dr. Evan Wilson is certainly a good example of a ‘Mary Sue.’  I get that.  However, I’ve read comments from people all over the internet where people leveled that term on certain characters in a way that I can only describe as questionable.

The character of Alya from the book Clan of the Cave Bear comes to mind.  There were so many comments by readers that labeled this woman as a ‘Mary Sue’ that it was quite alarming.  Now, I’ve read this book.  Alya was supposed to be a representative of the dawn of man, its collective coming of age.  She was able to figure out things, invent tools, learn about herself and others in a way that represented the ways in which our ancestors had. 

Jean M. Auel couldn’t write about every single prehistoric man, woman and child, now could she?  So, her main character was the embodiment of the human race in ascension.   

How is a character such as Alya a ‘Mary Sue?’ Is it because she’s beautiful and smart? 

I don’t get it.  I really don’t.

Another mention of a character described as a ‘Mary Sue’ was Claire Randall, the main character of the Outlander series.  A particular commenter on Amazon had referred to Claire as such because she was a strong female character who was a talented healer, and who was also beautiful and desired by many men.

Really?!

Let’s get something straight here.  Claire Randall is a heroine to a ROMANCE novel, okay?  The last time I checked, heroines in romance novels usually were beautiful and desired by many men.  Also, she is far from being perfect.  There is one incident where she puts her foot in her mouth while she is a dinner guest of the garrison commander of the invading English army, effectively putting her allegiance in question, and therefore her safety.  Claire Randall also marries another man in another time, and does end up fighting against the army of her compatriots.

Let me see, now.  Claire Randall is by all accounts a bigamist and a traitor to her country.  Does that sound like a ‘Mary Sue’ to you?

But the most galling of insults for me was when the creator of the term ‘Mary Sue,’ whose name I don’t know nor want to, had actually stated that Captain Kirk fit the mold of a ‘Mary Sue.’

What in the HELL?!

What on earth makes Captain Kirk a ‘Mary Sue?’  It is that he’s an attractive, assertive man who is a brilliant star ship commander?  A man who is desired by women and admired by his peers and underlings? 

I suppose that would make George Washington a ‘Mary Sue,’ right? 

I guess you can also throw in the roman emperor Hadrian in that silly mix.

Let me tell you something.  I’ve must have watched every episode of Star Trek TOS, and I can tell you that Captain Kirk was no ‘Mary Sue.’ There were times when he barked orders and berated his crewmen in such a way that he came off as a downright jerk!  And frankly, there were times when he used women in order to meet an objective, even if a couple of these women were androids.  Watch all three seasons of the show, and you’ll see what I mean.

Captain Kirk a ‘Mary Sue?’  Ha!

See what I mean when I say that the term ‘Mary Sue’ is an irresponsible term?

It would be nice if the term would disappear from the face of the earth, never to be heard of ever, ever, EVER again!!  The woman who created the term ‘Mary Sue’ did a real disservice to writers everywhere- fan fiction writers and otherwise. 

Does this individual believe that all characters have to be like Archie Bunker, Commander Willard, Hal Carter, Scarlet O’Hara or Bella Swan ( before her transformation, of course )?

Maybe she thinks all characters should be like her. 

I shutter at the mere thought of that.

What’s wrong with a character who has his/her act together?  There’s a huge difference between that, and a character who is so perfect that they are impervious to believability…

…like Dr. Evan Wilson.

I think that people who have a love affair with the ‘Mary Sue’ term are clearly people who can’t tell the difference between such characters, and might be better served limiting their reading to coloring books or comic books.

Oh, maybe not.

They might think that Wonder Woman is a ‘Mary Sue’ as well.

You can’t win ‘em all.

Written and finished on March 24, 2015.

Leonard's Gone….

Wow.

Just found out that Leonard Nimoy has died.

Read his obituary in The New York Times.

I can't even begin to tell you what this man has meant to me.

His Spock is, for me, one of the best Speculative Fiction characters of all time.

I'm really at a loss for words here, except to say that I'm glad that he was the actor to play the original Spock, and that he will be the only Spock for me.

Todd Haberkorn, though, does a brilliant rendition of Nimoy's Spock.

However, Mr. Nimoy's other works were pretty impressive too.

Remember him in Mission Impossible?

How about my favorite Nimoy show outside of Star Trek, In Search Of!

That Golden voice!  No one did narration better than him, I don't care what British actor you put him up against!

I loved Leonard Nimoy in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers! I wish he'd done more movies besides the Star Trek ones. He had presence, strong character rendition, and of course, the voice.

This is truly a loss, even though I understand that he was a longtime smoker and that ultimately took his life.  I also understand that he was a longtime smoker who was 83 when he died.

It was still a life well lived! Actor, poet, writer, photographer--a renaissance man of the most supreme order!

An one sexy son-of-a-gun! A cool dark drink of slender, elegant 6'1 proportions, intense dark eyes, and of course--the voice!

Always that voice.

Well, there's not much more that I can say at this time.  I just wanted to express my profound sense of loss, and how it's so keenly felt in these times of lousy movies, anemic television, and less than stellar actors, who seem to be much better at posing for the covers of GQ and Marie Claire than they are at either conveying complex emotions or character development.

Oh, well.

I guess this is truly Goodbye.

Goodbye to my favorite Vulcan, and favorite Bostonian.

Thanks, Mr. Nimoy, for everything.

Leonard Nimoy
1931-2015

May You Live Long and Prosper in the next dimension.

Godspeed, sir.

I need some help, if you don't mind...

Hey,

guess who.


This is going to be short.

I've been trying to find Star Trek fan fiction blogspots for a while now, but I have not been too successful.

I know that there has to be some.

If anyone out there knows of any, can you please leave the name of the blogspot in the comment section under this entry.  I'd really like to follow them.

If possible, can you make sure that these are blogspots that are still active?


Looking forward to what you find.


Thank you,

Prov :D

Finally...

Hey, Dear Reader!

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? 

I apologize for that, but you know how it is for a writer when writer’s block becomes a constant companion.

And what a companion it’s been.  Talk about an uninvited guest that refused to leave!

However, I’ve got some pretty good news to share.

I have a working outline for the next story on this blog! 

YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve had it for a while, but this summer’s been a bit busy so I have not been able to improve on it.  Mind you, it’s just a working outline, but it’s an outline nonetheless.

Hey, working outline or final outline, it feels great to be writing again!

And it couldn’t come a moment too soon, either.  All of the vegetables I had been trying to grow have either come out too scrawny, or they haven’t grown at all.  The only thing they were good for, quite frankly, was the compost bin. 

So, I guess they’ll be no summer garden vegetables for me this year.  Oh, well.

The flowers haven’t faired much better; the spiked primrose and candyturf had grown rather enemically, so they ended up in the compost too.  The pussywillow and white rose bush have been pulled out of the ground, potted and put aside for next spring, because they haven’t grown at all.

There is one bright note in the mist of all this; the hydrangeas are growing, albeit slowly. 

Oh, wait! 

The tulips and daffodils I had planted back in the fall did grow back in the early spring!  I almost forgot about that.

Maybe all of this less-than- fruitful gardening helped me to get those creative juices flowing again.

Creativity begets creativity, I suppose.

Who am I to question it?

YIPES!

Hey, guys!

Here I am!

Just saw something that was a little unsettling to me, so I thought I'd give myself the opportunity to get something off my chest ( yes, again) :P

I spotted a poll on a website called Slice of SciFi which asked its readers out of all of the fan productions listed, which one would they like Paramount to pick up for television or a web series?

According to the writer that put up the poll, the idea of picking up one of those fan productions for network viewing has actually been bandied about.

When I saw this, I could feel my heart leap to my throat!  Absolutely no way, I thought!

If this were to come into fruition, the fate of the web series would be pretty grim.

First thing that would be dropped from the show would be the cast members, then the writers, then the producers...

...and so on, and so on, and so on.....

The end result? A mediocre professional production without the unique vision of the original web series' artists.  It could even usher in an age of Hollywood highjacking of fan productions.

Now, I don't know about you, Dear Reader, but to this blogger, this prospect is, like I stated before, pretty grim.

I can't understand why Trekkers feel that only Hollywood can do justice to Star Trek? Haven't the fans more than risen to the occasion?

Judging from Enterprise and JJ Abrams' take on Star Trek, I'd say that Hollywood has lost its steam in that department.

Of course, I can't enter into the minds of the producers of these fan productions.  They might just love the idea. I can only speak for myself.

Hasn't big business done enough highjacking of independent work?  What Hollywood calls independent film these days is an utter joke!  What about Amazon.com grabbing hold of fan fiction writing?

Seriously, people?  Do we really want this?

We truly need to get over this fixation!  Big Business does not do a better job in creating than independent artists! They need to get their big fat corporate hands off of these works!

No, the big guys do not do it better!

I said it before and I'll say it again!

Leave it to the fans!

Period.

Note:

Poll I am referring to was placed on 2/23/14.  You can find it by googling Star Trek Continues Controversy.

It's Been Awhile, But I'm Still Here...

It’s been awhile, but I’m still here…

Remember back during your college days, when, by the end of the semester, your brain felt like it had been dosed with a healthy shot of procaine it was so numb and heavy from all of that studying it had been subjected to?  Remember how relieved you were when spring break or the winter holidays came along?  Each break was always a much- needed vacation for your head, wasn’t it?  A mental getaway for your intellectual faculties; refreshment and fortification so that you can face, head on, another round of rigorous studying when you returned next semester. 

Well, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling, maybe even more so, because, unlike the average six month semester a college or graduate student has of non-stop studying, I’ve been writing non-stop since 2011—a three year roll, you could say!

People, when I say that I need a break, I mean that emphatically!

Frankly, I don’t feel like sitting in front of the white glare of the computer pounding away at the keys!  I don’t feel like jotting away on a legal pad or a notebook until my fingers ache!

I just want to take it outside and commune with nature right now.  I just want to roll in the dirt with complete abandon!

Then, afterwards, I want to shake myself off and work in the garden.

I just got a $229.00 dollar Toter composter from Amazon and I can’t wait to use it!  As soon as my brother comes over with his drill to make a drainage hole at the bottom (why the makers couldn’t add the hole themselves is beyond me) I’ll be good to go!  I can’t wait to throw in the greens with the browns, the nitrogen with the carbons and neutrals and watch them burn!  I want to give witness to seeds becoming sprouts while I plant bulbs for the following spring, and sample my tumbling batch of cherry tomatoes once they’re fully grown!

I need fresh air, folks!  I need the sun on my shoulders, the wind on my back; even the rain pattering down on my head would be a welcome!  I plan to take much of this spring and summer in order to, as the late Rod Serling once said, “replenish the well!”

Now, this is not to say that I won’t write the occasional commentary—as a matter of fact, I already have an idea for one dancing (albeit sluggishly) in my little head.  However, it’s my storytelling that needs to be put in the backburner for awhile.

So, I hope you all have a great spring and summer!  Myself, Janice and the gang will see you all real soon!

Happy Planting!