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crack_van2004-09-30 09:37 am
bradamante13.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-09-30 09:37 am
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After the Rescue, by Karmen Ghia (NC-17)
Fandom: STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
Pairing: Spock / McCoy and a whole lot more!
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Karmen Ghia
Why this must be read:In the spirit of saving the best for last, I had to close out the month by recommending Karmen Ghia’s amazing epic, After the Rescue. This is the first story in a trilogy, and it introduces a whole host of original characters and world-building like you wouldn’t believe. It’ll easily take you weeks (or lots of long nights) to read through the entire trilogy. And boy is it worth it! The writing is just spectacular, and gets better and better as the series goes along. It’s also hilariously funny in places, in both obvious and subtle ways (pimp fashions! The seduction of clueless Chekov! Vulcan orgies!).
The first story in the trilogy, After the Rescue, is my favorite because it focuses on Kirk and Spock and McCoy and all the rest from the original series. Everyone gets to play – you’ll see Sarek and Amanda as you’ve never seen them before. The four main original characters are the Talljet brothers, Hobie, Jir, Maja, and Ling, telepathic alien hybrids who grew up on Vulcan with Spock. The scene in part I, where Kirk et al. realize that Spock went to high school with an intergalactic pirate, is priceless.
But the story actually starts before we even meet the Talljets – it begins as a short post-episode story, “How things changed between Spock and McCoy after the rescue” (posted as the prologue). If you don’t remember the episode in question, don’t worry – the basic summary is that Spock, in a burst of non-Vulcan creativity, manages to save himself and McCoy from a fiery death. This changes the relationship between them forever. But don’t worry – Kirk gets to play too! The series really focuses on Spock, though, and he’s not the perfect emotionless alien who’s shown in so many stories. Instead, he’s flawed, and emotional, and doesn’t always act for the best reasons….like the other human (and non-human) characters in this series. The series has something for everyone, from hot sex (mostly slash, but I think there’s one het scene for variety) to swashbuckling space battles to tightly-drawn legal courtroom action. And it takes you across the galaxy, from Klingon artistic communes to telepathic Sargasso space.
I recommend reading this story with the appendices open in another window, especially the first time or two that you read through it. There are a whole bunch of original characters and locations, and most characters have at least three names depending on the context. Keep the appendix open to the list of characters so you don’t get confused as to who is who. There’s also some original vocabulary, but most words are explained in the text. (If you want to get a sense of the breadth of this story, just look at how long the list of characters is!).
The second and third stories in the trilogy, also linked from the main page below, are Dysecdysis and The Talljet Quartet. They mainly focus on Deep Space 9, and the characters of Garak and Bashir, as well as the four Talljets. They’re also excellent and well worth reading.
With this link I’ll relinquish the keys to the next Star Trek driver, and hope that I’ve left you with plenty of reading material!
The After the Rescue Trilogy
Pairing: Spock / McCoy and a whole lot more!
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Karmen Ghia
Why this must be read:In the spirit of saving the best for last, I had to close out the month by recommending Karmen Ghia’s amazing epic, After the Rescue. This is the first story in a trilogy, and it introduces a whole host of original characters and world-building like you wouldn’t believe. It’ll easily take you weeks (or lots of long nights) to read through the entire trilogy. And boy is it worth it! The writing is just spectacular, and gets better and better as the series goes along. It’s also hilariously funny in places, in both obvious and subtle ways (pimp fashions! The seduction of clueless Chekov! Vulcan orgies!).
The first story in the trilogy, After the Rescue, is my favorite because it focuses on Kirk and Spock and McCoy and all the rest from the original series. Everyone gets to play – you’ll see Sarek and Amanda as you’ve never seen them before. The four main original characters are the Talljet brothers, Hobie, Jir, Maja, and Ling, telepathic alien hybrids who grew up on Vulcan with Spock. The scene in part I, where Kirk et al. realize that Spock went to high school with an intergalactic pirate, is priceless.
But the story actually starts before we even meet the Talljets – it begins as a short post-episode story, “How things changed between Spock and McCoy after the rescue” (posted as the prologue). If you don’t remember the episode in question, don’t worry – the basic summary is that Spock, in a burst of non-Vulcan creativity, manages to save himself and McCoy from a fiery death. This changes the relationship between them forever. But don’t worry – Kirk gets to play too! The series really focuses on Spock, though, and he’s not the perfect emotionless alien who’s shown in so many stories. Instead, he’s flawed, and emotional, and doesn’t always act for the best reasons….like the other human (and non-human) characters in this series. The series has something for everyone, from hot sex (mostly slash, but I think there’s one het scene for variety) to swashbuckling space battles to tightly-drawn legal courtroom action. And it takes you across the galaxy, from Klingon artistic communes to telepathic Sargasso space.
I recommend reading this story with the appendices open in another window, especially the first time or two that you read through it. There are a whole bunch of original characters and locations, and most characters have at least three names depending on the context. Keep the appendix open to the list of characters so you don’t get confused as to who is who. There’s also some original vocabulary, but most words are explained in the text. (If you want to get a sense of the breadth of this story, just look at how long the list of characters is!).
The second and third stories in the trilogy, also linked from the main page below, are Dysecdysis and The Talljet Quartet. They mainly focus on Deep Space 9, and the characters of Garak and Bashir, as well as the four Talljets. They’re also excellent and well worth reading.
With this link I’ll relinquish the keys to the next Star Trek driver, and hope that I’ve left you with plenty of reading material!
The After the Rescue Trilogy
no subject
(Anonymous) 2004-10-17 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)So, thank you very, very much. You've made an old slasher very happy.
Yours,
Karmen Ghia
www.karmen_ghia.tripod.com (http://karmen_ghia.tripod.com/)
no subject
I don't remember when I first read the trilogy, probably a few years ago, but I've re-read it multiple times since then. And of course I had to read it yet again while thinking about what to include in the rec. I hope I sent some new folks your way with this recommendation :)
So from an appreciative reader, thanks again for writing such an amazing piece of work!