Many years ago, I was involved in Star Trek, Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 fandom. This was in the aeons before the Internet, so the publications were all very small press based, and sometimes involved pasting bits of photocopy together and re-photocopying!
During this period I had a lot of articles and letters published in DW/B7 zines, and four ST novelettes/novels published by ScoTpress, a respected fan press of the time, between 1981 – 1986, during the long period when there was no new Trek except the stories fans produced themselves.
The Star Trek stories may be available on eBay occasionally. They are all Classic Trek simply because that was the only Trek – and I still think it’s the most raw and interesting show though I enjoy TNG and DS9.
I found Star Trek a great vehicle to explore various themes, relevant within the science fiction context; stories that would not work if transplanted to a police procedural or hospital drama. For example, what does it really mean to obey the Prime Directive? But I also enjoyed creating my own characters who had quite an impact on the ‘Big Three’, Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Anyone reading some of these stories might think I have it in for Kirk in particular, but the reason he takes such a punishment is that I was exploring aspects that were sometimes glossed over, such as the real impact of violence.
The stories are:
Weaver of Dreams – three linked stories about Arwen Tithoniel, and her fight to take her rightful place as leader of a clan of Dreamweavers, which brings her into contact and conflict with the Enterprise crew. The Dreamweavers are one of the clans of psychically gifted aliens descended from those who were stranded on Earth thousands of years ago.
Spinner of Nightmares – the follow-up, consisting of four stories about the various clans, their interaction with the Enterprise crew, and the deadly conflict that results when they come up against the original culture from which their ancestors escaped. This novel-length set of stories features a character from the telepathic clan as well as Arwen, and really puts the Enterprise crew through the mill.
Mark of Cain – a standalone story, written as a reaction to another zine which featured the survivors of a nuclear war. As I didn’t see that as a credible scenario, I did my own take where two communities exist on an independent and isolated colony planet visited by the Enterprise. The colonists are desperately damaged in different ways after a limited nuclear powerplant accident generations before. One community is more genetically affected, but both suffer the effects of misapplied religion. The story also deals with cannabalism, and a realistic portrayal of a head injury, as people were always being glibly hit over the head on TV as well as in fan fiction and I wanted to show this was not a trivial injury!
Fall of Night – another standalone story which was inspired by William Hope Hodgson’s novel ‘The Night Land’ (though not written in that novel’s psedo Elizabethan style). Kirk and Spock lead a landing party on a planet of a dying sun and are caught up in the political and religious conflicts of the beleaguered and slowly dying remnants of ‘civilisation’. As well as showing how their involvement leads directly to catastrophe, this story explores the real meaning of the Prime Directive and how it might force Kirk to betray a young man who has put everything on the line for him.