Crackerjack

Portraits of Characters– The Crusher Clan

Portraits of Characters– The Crusher Clan

The Crusher clan does not end with Wesley. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Wesley Crusher of the Crusher Clan

Wesley Crusher of the Crusher Clan

Origins

I mainly started with Crackerjack, as I had wanted Wesley to have a home and a loving family. In addition, I wanted him to be a lot older and so the idea of him having grandchildren made a great deal of sense. Because I have already covered Wes himself and Lakeisha Warren, I won’t repeat what I wrote here.

Portrayals

As in canon, Wes’s mother, Beverly Crusher, MD, is played by actress Gates McFadden.  His father, Jack Crusher, does not appear, but there is a grandson with that name.

In addition, Wes and Lakeisha’s children are Tim Crusher and Ellen Crusher Farley. Ellen is divorced and has three children, Cynthia and Tara. Tim is also divorced but he has remarried; his second wife is Mei Lin and Mei Lin’s son from her first marriage is Scotty. Tad and Jack (named after the canon character) are Tim’s sons. However, they are of different races so perhaps only one of them is biologically from his first marriage. The other (I think Tad ends up older) would be, perhaps, adopted.

Sharp-eyed readers will also notice that Lakeisha’s maiden name is Warren. Yes, she is a descendant of Benjamin and Jim Warren, and she may have a connection to Rosemary Parker although I am personally a bit unclear on that.

The non-canon portrayals go as follows:

Personalities

First of all, a big part of the Crackerjack storyline concerns racism. As a result, I don’t show or describe the younger section of the Crusher clan. And that is precisely for this purpose. However, the actors I have chosen have differing races, because Tim is played by a Caucasian actor whereas Ellen is played by an African-American actress. Because Lakeisha is also of African descent, that tells me now, years later, that Tim was adopted. Also, perhaps the younger Jack is as well, for he is of African descent whereas Tad is Caucasian.

Or maybe I just messed up my casting.

Relationships

The relationships are only as described above. However, both of Wesley’s children had marriages which ended in divorce. So these days, that is a not so uncommon occurrence.

Mirror Universe

So some of the Crusher clan could conceivably exist in the Mirror. In addition, very intelligent people would score well on the standard examinations, and could conceivably avoid becoming cannon fodder.

Quotes

Scotty Chen: “What’s a bigot?

Jack Crusher: “But you and Grammy have always been together!

Mei-Lin Chen Crusher: “It’s a little warm out there.”  (while that’s not very exciting, but this is the only quote I have from her)

Tad Crusher: “More story!

Tim Crusher: “We should take a picture. It’s a great day for a family portrait.”

Cynthia Farley: “That’s really stupid. I mean, it’s like jumping to conclusions without knowing all the facts about somebody. What if you’re really wrong? I know I’d be, like, totally mortified.

Ellen Crusher Farley: “Well, there’s a little bit more, for you and Geordi changed a bit because of this experience, right?

Tara Farley: “The Reverend thought Geordi liked Rosemary. You know, like really liked her.

Upshot

In addition, do you like this page? Tweet it!


Finally, you can find me on .

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Portrait, 0 comments

Portrait of a Character – Rosemary Parker

Portrait of a Character – Rosemary Parker

Rosemary Parker makes a point.

Origins

When I first got the idea of writing Crackerjack, it was not supposed to be a romance. It was to be a story for a young (I believe he was aged 12 at the time) fan. As I developed the story, though, I realized that I wanted Geordi and Wesley to have an ally on the ground. And so Rosemary Parker was born.

Portrayal

Rosemary is played by Oscar winner Halle Berry.

Portrait of a Character – Rosemary Parker

Halle Berry as Rosemary Parker

I don’t believe I have ever seen this beautiful and sharp actress in a period piece. I bet she’d be great.

Personality

Kind and friendly, but also trying to be independent within the confines of her time period, Rosemary is the sort of person who was probably dismissed by the people of her day. When her father angrily tells her to finish secretarial school and then find herself a husband with prospects, she knows he’s only looking out for her future. But she resents that all the same.

Relationships

Geordi LaForge

A big part of Crackerjack was putting them together. The talk freely and their candid conversations seem more relaxed than Geordi  ever had with a woman in canon.  Of course it is not meant to be, but they enjoy each others’ company, and he trusts her enough to show her his eyes (the story takes place pre-ocular implants).

Warren (first name uknown)

In Play, which has not yet been released as of the writing of this blog post, Geordi mentions Rosemary, and he says, “She, uh, after 1941, all I know is that there was a woman named Rosemary Parker Warren who was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1964. She gave her profession as schoolteacher.” Hence Rosemary weds. She has to – she’s an ancestor of Lakeisha Warren Crusher.

Theme Music

Crackerjack is loaded with period music, but nothing really speaks to me as a theme for Rosemary herself.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Rosemary Parker

Halle Berry as Mirror Rosemary

There are no impediments to Rosemary existing in the Mirror Universe. But her circumstances would be far different. It’s highly unlikely that her father would be a preacher, as I write Mirror religion as being secretive. You don’t want to be indicating in any way that you’re not thinking of the Emperor or Empress 24/7.

Rosemary would be tougher and sexier and nowhere near as sweet. Would she find a man? Possibly; such a beautiful woman would not go unclaimed for long. As for whether it would be a love match or she would be treated well at all, that’s hard to say.

Quote

“I get it, it’s because we’re all individuals. Some people are kind, some are not, some are confused, some don’t know what to do, and still others are clumsy but they mean well. It takes all kinds, you know.”

Upshot

I was happy to bring her up a few brief times in the Barnstorming series. Rosemary gets arrested with Martin Luther King! But I’m not so sure I can bring her back for any other purposes. She’s a lovely character, but where can I put her?

Like this page? Tweet it!


You can find me on .

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Interphases series, Portrait, 2 comments

Review – Imprecision

Review – Imprecision

Imprecision addresses an imperfectly formed memory.

Background

So for a Star Trek fan fiction challenge about nightmares, I went with a dream that evoked a memory that was imperfectly realized.

Plot

Wesley Crusher has been, at the start of the story, spending time in the company of the The Traveler.

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Imprecision

Wesley Crusher with the Traveler

And this is a canon situation. However, also in canon, Wesley eventually leaves The Traveler. Hence in order to dovetail with Crackerjack, this event precipitates Wesley taking his leave.

At the start of the story, Wes wakes up from a nightmare. He remembers his parents fighting, and his mother throwing something. It’s awful; he recalls being a small child at the time, making it even more heart-wrenching.  Speaking with The Traveler afterwards, together they decide that Wes actually wants to return to a regular life. This is a marker, an indicator that there is unfinished business out there for him. Furthermore, he wants to find out about that memory, which he realizes is something that he suppressed.

Returning to Regular Life

Wesley essentially gets a beam out to his mother’s quarters. And he has been gone longer than the regular passage of time would indicate. I had this idea because his time with The Traveler has to be odd and unique and special. So for Beverly Crusher, it feels like sort of a dream, and sort of not. She tells him that it’s a few hours before Will Riker and Deanna Troi’s wedding (another canon event).

Also, Wesley is hurriedly given a uniform, and it does not necessarily show his correct rank (that is canon, in the film, Nemesis). A little bored with the proceedings, his eyes alight on a young girl playing the French horn for the Starfleet Academy band, which is providing the music for the event. With some confidence mustered up, he talks to her, and realizes that this is why he left The Traveler. It is to meet Lakeisha Warren and begin a new phase of his life.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is rated K+.

Upshot

It was great fun to bring Wesley’s character in line and bring the canon of the Nemesis film together with fan fiction in the form of Crackerjack and the Barnstorming series.

Review – Imprecision

Horn (instrument) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being able to write the first-ever meeting of Wes and Lakeisha was a treat, too.

Like this page? Tweet it!


You can find me on .

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Review, 1 comment

Best Genre Treatment 2

Best Genre Treatment 2

For the best genre treatment 2, let’s take a look at my best stories in four more genres. Hence these are what are (to me) my best Star Trek fan fiction stories in particular writing genres.

Historical

There can only be one for the Best Genre Treatment 2.

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Concord | Best Genre Treatment 2

Concord

While I also love Crackerjack, and all of the HG Wells stories, I believe that, by far, my best historical fiction story is Concord.

I have never, ever worked so hard to get a story right, than I did with Concord.

From its cover (that’s the bridge leading from Lexington to Concord and, yes, there was an engagement on it), to determining whether men would tip their hats to women (yes), to figuring out Colonial Era market prices, to even deciding the name of one of the cows, Concord is an absolute labor of love.

The premise of the story is an interphase: Malcolm is transported to April 1775 Lexington, Massachusetts, and takes the place of an ancestor, just as a future time traveler, during the time of the Genesis Project, takes the place of his own ancestor, who is fighting alongside Malcolm’s ancestor. Injured in the fighting, Malcolm and the time traveler, Robert Lennox, are quartered in a home, where they meet, among other people, Benjamin Warren.

IDIC

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Future Matches | Best Genre Treatment 2

Future Matches

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations brings to mind LGBTQ story lines. In this genre, my favorite (which is also a reader favorite) is Detached Curiosity & Idle Speculation.

Working as both a prequel to There’s Something About Hoshi and a sequel to the E2 stories, Detached tells the story of how Dave Constantine and Frank Todd started dating.

With what is almost 20/20 hindsight, the men know that they were together and that their relationship worked out. But it’s still tentative and a little strange. But when they kiss, you want to cheer.

Romance

This was easily the most difficult decision, to figure out which was the best of these many stories.  Three stories get an honorable mention here. First is The Reptile Speaks, which is a Gorn romancing a Cardassian.  I loved the idea of putting together a rather different couple, and how someone who looks so menacing could, at bottom, be a truly good person.

Reversal has to be mentioned, as it is not only the love of the dark stranger for the light, but it’s also an amazing kick-off story. A ton of roads lead straight to Reversal.

The Honky Tonk Angel also deserves mention, as it’s another odd couple type of story, as Kevin O’Connor and Jhasi Tantharis go on their first date.

But the winner, the best one (and I might change my mind tomorrow) is The Three of Us .

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | The Three of Us

The Three of Us

All of the E2 stories were labors of love, but Three is really the big one. That is also due to, in part, its size.

Characters move from misbehaving and acting childishly, to acting criminally, to eventually maturing. Kindness, friendship, and togetherness, lead to more.

As you might expect from such a title, the relationship is an unconventional one.

But the parties persevere, and grow, as time pulls them along and they experience not just romantic love, but also brotherhood, fellowship, parenthood, and, ultimately, tragedy.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | The Sparrow and the Blue Jay

The Sparrow and the Blue Jay

This image becomes particularly important, and is a part of one of the story’s many high points.

I love this story, from its tentative, scared, damaged people, to its criminals, to its hopefulness, to its sorrow. As Lili O’Day says in Fortune, “There is something there.”

Tragedy

Nothing really comes close to Seven Women, when it comes to tragedy.  From the very start, I tell the reader that Tommy Digiono-Madden is going to die. A fireball is coming, the fire door is shut, and he cannot outrun any of it. He knows this is it. But instead of having his life flash before his eyes, Tommy instead thinks of seven pivotal women in his life. They range from the three women he called mother, to his first girlfriend, and more.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Seven Women

Seven Women

This was a character I had only written little snippets of, and very few as an adult.  As readers got to know Tommy, so did I. The best decision I made in that story was to not bow to internal pressure to give him a happy ending.

Spoiler alert: he doesn’t get one.

Upshot

The best romance story was easily the hardest of these decisions to make. Tune in; I may do this again next year.

Posted by jespah in Meta, Review, 6 comments

Progress Report – January 2014

Progress Report – January 2014

January 2014 had kind of a theme going on.

Posted Works

This month was all about Porthos, Wesley Crusher, and Eriecho, it seemed.

Barking up the Muse Tree | Janet Gershen-Siegel | jespah | Quill | January 2014

First of all, I finished spinning out The Further Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat on Fanfiction.net, and also added the story to Fictionpad. For the In Between Days Collection, I added The Further Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat, In Memory of Kelsey Haber, and Confidence. For Hall of Mirrors context, I added Ceremonial. I finished posting Crackerjack on Wattpad and finished posting Crackerjack on the G & T Show’s forums.

Progress Report – January 2014

In keeping with the Wesley Crusher theme, I added Imprecision, Overture, The Adventures of Porthos, The Further Adventures of Porthos – The Stilton Fulfillment and the beginning of The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat to Wattpad, and to G & T Show’s forums, as a single topic, Imprecision/Overture, plus The Adventures of Porthos, The Further Adventures of Porthos – The Stilton Fulfillment and The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat.

I began adding Flight of the Bluebird to Fanfiction.net. For Valentines’ Day, I combined The Best Things Come in Pairs and Complications into one story on Wattpad, and called it Loving the Alien.

Progress Report – January 2014

In response to my own monthly prompt about YOLO (You Only Live Once), I posted the Eriecho/Sybok story, Across the Universe.

I added a Stats page to capture all read and review data.

Milestones

The Stats page has all significant read counts. No new milestones were attained this month.

WIP Corner

I continued to work on Time Out, and on the wholly original story, The Obolonk Murders.

Prep Work

I overhauled the website and the blog considerably, adding all of the casting information here on the blog. This did not just bring more information directly to where I am getting the most views and feedback. It also served to help declutter the index for the site. I added a little to the Star Trek Expanded Universes Wiki, too.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

Apart from working on the jespah website, I also worked on my own professional website and did some social media blogging. It was a snowy January, and snow shoveling tends to give me wrist pain, thereby making it difficult to type. Furthermore, I started social media classes at Quinnipiac University.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Progress, 3 comments

Progress Report – December 2013

Progress Report – December 2013

December 2013 was chilly.

Posted Works

Barking up the Muse Tree | Janet Gershen-Siegel | jespah | Quill | December 2013

The month started off with creating and posting a completely unexpected holiday story about Carmen and Levi, called Calendar Turning Event #3111. To celebrate the holidays, I added Stocking Stuffers 2013 and Advice From My Universes to Yours.

Also, in response to a prompt about family, I added the Levi-Otra-centric Meeting of the Minds, where Marci Cavendish is first seen in any context other than a dream. In response to the favorite things challenge, I posted The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat.

Progress Report – December 2013

In addition, on Fanfiction.net, I finished spinning out Take Back the Night. And in order to fill in some stories I had written but not posted there before, I added Gossip, gossip and In Memory of Kelsey Haber. I then returned to the Daranaean Emergence series and added Temptation, Some Assembly Required, and Debate, and began to spin out The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat.

Also, I imported Gossip, gossip, Take Back the Night, In Memory of Kelsey Haber, Temptation, Some Assembly Required and Debate into Fictionpad.

I added There’s Something About Hoshi and There’s Something Else About Hoshi to my slash topic on The G and T Show. The reception was so good there that I began adding Crackerjack. I added The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat to TrekBBS.

Finally, on Wattpad, I finished posting the wholly original comedy, Revved Up. I also added Freak School. I added Alien Encounter, and began spinning out Crackerjack.

Milestones

For individual read counts, the following stories have 20,000 or more on one URL –

So for individual read counts, the following stories have 10,000 or more on one URL –

All of these were accomplished on Ad Astra.

The following stories have between 5,000 and 9,999 reads on one URL –

Combined Read Counts

Apart from the others at over 5,000 reads for just one URL, the following combine to 5,000 – 9,999 reads when all postings’ URLs are taken into consideration –

WIP Corner

I finished the first draft of Play and began the next book in the Barnstorming series, Time Out. I also worked on an original story, The Obolonk Murders.

Prep Work

So I sent out my first-ever query letter! This was for Untrustworthy, my NaNoWriMo winner, and the letter was sent to Riverdale Avenue Books. It was for a competition. That site publishes eBooks, and only nine are listed in their HSF imprint (horror, science fiction and fantasy). So we’ll see; I should hear by the first of February. I’m not expecting the moon.

I also spent time looking for more possible places to submit Untrustworthy, and learning about how to improve my query letter and otherwise increase my chances for publication.

I split up the timeline pages a bit more as they had gotten rather huge and unwieldy.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

The holidays loomed large, at the same time that I was both looking for work and trying to learn new and better ways to try to become a published author.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Progress, 1 comment

Review – Detroit Rock City

Review – Detroit Rock City

Detroit Rock City? Yeah!

Background

Loomis Detroit Rock City

Loomis

So for the first fan fiction challenge on Archer’s Angels, I decided on a theme called “A Thousand Words”. A few images were gathered up and, because a picture is worth a thousand words, I asked people to write up to a thousand words about a particular image. I chose this image for Star Trek: Enterprise. This is the character Loomis from the canon Carpenter Street episode.

I decided he needed an ending to his story.

Plot

At the end of the canon episode, Loomis is hauled away in handcuffs, screaming about “lizard people” and a “chick with a ray gun”. At that point, the murders of various people from the Blood Bank are being tied to him. It looks like he’ll be going to jail.

Review – Detroit Rock City

In my story, the court never finds him competent enough to stand trial in the first place. Hence, instead, the court sends him to a psychiatric treatment facility. I intended it to evoke the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It is not a pleasant place to be.

While there, he stands in the medication line with a small cast of characters, including Lakeisha (meant to evoke Lakeisha Warren Crusher, from Crackerjack), Ogden (a lot like Big Chief in Cuckoo’s Nest) and Phyllis.

At one point, a new doctor, Morgan (an ancestor to both Dr. Cyril Morgan and Dr. Pamela Hudson), begins to speak with him, as he protests that he is, indeed, sane. Morgan reminds Loomis that it might be boring at the facility. But if he’s found competent, he’ll be heading to the State Penitentiary. And things are even worse there. Loomis accepts this, and takes his medication without incident.

Story Postings

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot

This twitchy character needed, I felt, a little closure. In some ways, I’d like to revisit him, although I’m unsure how to accomplish that without repeating myself. As of the writing of this blog post, this is the first chronological story in the In Between Days series. Concord and Crackerjack have scenes that take place earlier, and Richard Daniels goes to earlier times as well, but this is the first in-history story where all of the action occurs so early. The day it takes place, in fact, is the day that I originally posted the story.

Will I go back to this era? Possibly, but I’ll have to think of how to do that, as the HG Wells series was all about time travel and I’d rather not have yet more time travel in a future series. However, there’s no reason to not add some fill-in stories for Daniels, Crystal Sherwood and others, plus Eleanor can also talk about our time period.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Review, 5 comments

Review – Concord

Review – Concord

Concord is a favorite.

Origins

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Concord

Concord

The prompt was about “a page from the past”. I had long thought about dropping a Star Trek: Enterprise character into the extreme past, and had even done this with a pair of TNG characters, in Crackerjack.

But I wanted to go back even further, so I hit upon the start of the American Revolution and a local pair of battles – Lexington and Concord.

And what better person to toss into that pressure cooker than someone who would be in trouble the minute he opened his mouth?

Enter Malcolm Reed.

Plot Points

The Premise

Reed is unceremoniously dumped right into the middle of the Battle of Lexington, and that’s only the start of his troubles.

An Injury

Because he’s wholly unprepared for this form of warfare, he becomes injured, but not horribly so. However, in 1775, infected injuries could easily result in a loss of limb or life. I deliberately made it so that the surgeon in the regiment had already died, and the village doctor had joined the militia. These absences meant that Malcolm would have to be treated in some other fashion.

At the same time, the man next to him, Robert Lennox, is a lot worse off, and may die.

A Place to Go

Review – Concord

The quartering of troops is very real to history, and so I had Malcolm’s commanding officer push for a farmhouse to accept the two injured men. Malcolm is apologetic at the same time that his commander – the true to history Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith – is rude and blustery. The mistress of the farmhouse accepts the two wounded men as she has very little choice in the matter. She is a colonial and is sympathetic to the revolutionary cause. Her husband has even gone to fight for it. But she is alone and is not about to let Malcolm or Robert die on her doorstep.

Some Soon to be Familiar Names

The mistress of the house introduces herself as Charlotte Hayes, wife to Jacob Hayes. She and her servant, Benjamin Warren, keep the home and assist the two wounded men.

Because the Concord story begins right before Voracious, the names O’Day and Hayes are not yet familiar to the characters. Furthermore, the name Warren also figures in my stories. In Crackerjack, Wesley’s wife’s maiden name is Warren. And in the E2 stories, there is a Science crewman with the name of Nyota Warren, who ends up with canon character Billy Dane. Benjamin is an ancestor of them just like Charlotte and Jacob are ancestors to Lili and Jay (thereby making Jay and Lili distant cousins).

How Did He Get There? And How Does He Get Back?

Without giving away too many spoilers, suffice it to say that Malcolm’s presence in 1775 is due to a defective temporal experiment.  His return can only happen if the experimenters figuring out the problem, and solve it.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is rated K.

Upshot

I love how the historical aspects worked out. I did a great deal of research in order to understand how the farm would run, what things would cost and any number of other details. The story was extremely satisfying to put together. And it is easily one of my absolute favorites.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Review, 26 comments

Progress Report – September 2012

Progress Report – September 2012

September 2012 was busy.

Posted Works

Barking up the Muse Tree | Janet Gershen-Siegel | jespah | Quill | September 2012

The month was extremely productive.

On Ad Astra, I added the following In Between Days stories to context – Ceremonial; Shell Shock; The Best Things Come in Pairs; To Wish, To Want, To Desire and Tumult.

For the HG Wells collection, I added the following stories to context – A Long, Long Time Ago; Ohio, Fortune and Temper. I also added The Point is Probably Moot. For the Transitions challenge, I wrote the Mirror Universe story, Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses. In order to add context to the many Mirror Universe stories, I also created a cover and a series for them, called Hall of Mirrors. I added Paving Stones Made From Good Intentions, First Born, Reversal, Coveted Commodity, Temper, Fortune and The Point is Probably Moot to that particular context. I also created an actual contextual piece, called Hall of Mirrors and added Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses.

On Fanfiction.net, I added Voracious and its direct sequel, Harvest. I also added Protocols, which is another Lili-centric prequel and The Mess, which also features Jay. I also added the extreme prequel story, A Single Step.

On Star Trek Logs, because they were celebrating the Mirror Universe there, I added A Lesson, which is an HG Wells story featuring Eleanor Daniels, and The High Cost of Dissidence.

WIP Corner

The E2 stories continued to challenge and perplex. So I am working on the fourth book and sometimes it’s not so easy.

Plus I also began working on a new Interphases story starring Commander Tucker. I don’t write him too much so I am learning how to get into that character’s head. This story also briefly brings back HG Wells characters Milena and Noemy Chelenka and their neighbor, Mrs. Klinghofer.

Prep Work

I am beginning to get more than just an inkling of how I want to work on more Interphases stories, as I have been brainstorming quite a bit regarding ways that interphases can actually happen. This has been helpful in terms of getting ideas for more stories in that genre as I am looking to cover not only the entire main canon crew of Enterprise but to potentially branch out into other series (as in Crackerjack).

I also created an HTML version of Shake Your Body, in anticipation of spinning it out in October.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

I started off the month by turning 50! All of my celebratory stuff was early, so I was past that and well into production afterwards. The Adult Trek Anthology continues to be a lot of work, but very rewarding. A lot of it is finished or close to being finished, but cover art will likely prove to be a lot more time-consuming. Plus I am still looking for work, and am doing SEO work for a friend.

Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Progress, 0 comments