Review – Temper

Background

I originally wrote Temper for two reasons.

Temper

One, I wanted to introduce a way into a vague idea I had for a Star Trek fan fiction time travel series. And two, I wanted to not only continue the story of Doug, Lili, Malcolm, Melissa and Leonora, but I wanted the kids to be older without aging Lili and Doug quite so much. After all, Doug is fifty-five when he meets Lili. Therefore, he would be in his sixties for any stories where the children could really interact and be an integral part of the plot. But a time travel story could rather neatly fix all of that.

Beyond that, I also wanted a way to continue the saga of the Empress Hoshi Sato and her son, Jun, the son of time traveler Richard Daniels. Furthermore, I wanted more kids in the royal family. For the Empress, it would be a Machiavellian move – she would have several children of different fathers, thereby diversifying genetically and, perhaps, given the tenderhearted paternal feelings that go along with the Y Chromosome Skew, she would get the male members of her senior staff to keep her alive, at least until her children reached the age of majority. And in Temper, they are just about all there.

Plot

The story begins with a snapshot into how the arrangement among Malcolm, Lili, Doug, Melissa and Leonora really works. Doug and Melissa are out hunting linfep, and then perrazin, with phase bows. Malcolm and Lili are going on vacation to Fep City. And the children are either with Leonora or are being cared for by Yimar. The occasion is that Melissa wants to have another baby.

But then Malcolm must return to the Enterprise, and Lili comes home early. Time Traveler Richard Daniels arrives and tells her that he needs Doug for something. She’s not so sure she believes him, and is a bit peeved that he’s landed his ship, the brand-new HG Wells, right on top of her day lilies. In order to fix this, he adds a drop of his blood to the soil but does not tell her that it’s spiked with stem cell growth accelerator.

Rick Steps In

When Doug and Melissa get in, and Malcolm is reached via communicator and Leonora arrives separately, Rick tells them why he needs Doug – the Empress is experimenting with what’s called a pulse shot. She’s looking to get over to our side of the pond, because she thinks that she can get more ships like the ISS Defiant.

But her few attempts are clumsy, and they wreak havoc with time itself, causing breaks in 2166 and 2161, including people from our universe crossing over to the Mirror and being trapped there (this includes the three eldest children, Joss, Marie Patrice and Tommy). Rick’s best information is on 2166, so he needs that part repaired first. Doug is the logical choice because, being from the Mirror originally, he sports a radiation band that matches that universe. Lili is chosen to accompany him because she’s considered non-threatening and, with false calloo tattoos on her arms and legs, she can pass for a Calafan. Rick explains that he cannot go as the Mirror government of his time period forbids it. This is due to the debacle about the siring of his son, Jun, which is explained in First Born.

Once Doug and Lili cross over, they find a totalitarian regime and just what’s going on with their children.

Music

Temper is less musically-driven than Together, but that makes sense as it is more of an adventure tale than a love story. However, there are still individual themes.

• Rick’s theme is The Records – Your Starry Eyes
• Malcolm’s theme is Paul Young – Every Time You Go Away
• Doug’s theme is Dog’s Eye View – Everything Falls Apart
• Jun’s theme is Edwyn Collins – A Girl Like You
• Kirin’s theme is the Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
• Arashi’s theme is Pink Floyd – Money
• Takeo’s theme is Cracker – Get off This
• Takara’s theme is Tori Amos – God
• Izo’s theme is U2 – The Fly
• Joss’s theme is Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
• Marie Patrice’s theme is Sinead O’Connor – I Want Your Hands on Me
• Tommy’s theme is Green Day – When I Come Around
• DR’s theme is The Cure – Why Can’t I Be You?
• Charlie’s theme is Warren Zevon – Trouble Waiting to Happen
• The baseball game is evoked with John Fogerty – Centerfield
• Empress Hoshi’s theme is ELO – Evil Woman
• Lili’s theme is Blind Melon – Tones of Home
• Arroz con Leche is a Spanish lullaby. Here, it is sung by José Feliciano.

Story Postings

• Temper on Ad Astra (contains reviews)
• Temper on Fanfiction.net
• also Temper on Fictionpad
• Temper on Wattpad
• and Temper on the G & T Show forums
• Temper in In Between Days context
• and Temper in Times of the HG Wells context
• Temper in Hall of Mirrors context

Rating

The story is rated M.

Upshot

I like, for the most part, how the story turned out, but it is deeper into my universe. Therefore, it can be a confusing read for someone who is not fully familiar with works that cover the earlier time periods. I do make an effort to create stand-alone stories, but I believe that the effect was somewhat mixed here. Temper is usually on the lower end of read counts for the first five big books (Reversal, Intolerance, Together, and Fortune are the other four), along with Intolerance, but in the case of Intolerance, it’s because it’s a shorter book. I suspect that Temper is a bit harder to get into. A pity, as it’s the lead-in for the HG Wells stories.