Fanfiction

May

2017

Review – Hub of the Universe

Background

Hub of the Universe is a gift to a Star Trek fan fiction writer who goes by the moniker of funngunner.

The Hub of the Universe

Boston is often called that. So I played on the title and the imagery. The character has a description as being from Boston but little else. He did not even really have a look to me. Seth McClusky’s main description was ‘barrel chested’ and nothing more. He was the kind of forgotten third of a love triangle as well. Hence I decided I would shake that up. Seth would get a back story. And he would get a friend and a rough family life. I wanted to give him a personality and a history.

Plot

Just after World War III, Seth McClusky thinks about leaving Southie and hitches a ride with Jennie from the block, AKA Jennie O’Connor. Sharp-eyed readers will pick up on Jennie’s surname. Because she is a consanguineous ancestor of deep future engineer Kevin O’Connor.

And even sharper-eyed readers will notice her widow, Milagros Torres. Because Torres is a consanguineous ancestor of José Torres. Furthermore, in both cases, the characters are linked to future engineers, as is fitting, for Jennie herself is an engineering apprentice when she dies in Brazil in the Xindi attack on Florida and South America. As a result, Jennie’s little story is almost a harbinger of future In Between Days events.

Story Postings

Hub of the Universe on Ad Astra

Rating

The story is Rated K+.

Upshot

I love this title so much, I am more or less reusing it. But this time, for the 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, the circumstances are rather different. Hence that novel is called The Real Hub of the Universe.

However, the accents are admittedly a little difficult and may be hard for some readers to get used to. But I wanted Seth and Jennie to be real Southie people, and that meant more than just the occasionally dropped R.

As for the story, Seth’s original creator loved it.

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Apr

2017

Progress Report – April 2017

April 2017 turned out as yet another quiet month for Star Trek fanfiction writing.

Posted Works

First of all, on the G & T Show forums, I posted nothing. Because at that site, the forums were removed a few months ago, due to the influx of spammers. And at this moment in time, the replacement blogs have not yet been created or started. Hence, still nada!

However, at this time, I still have no replacement, and neither do they. Therefore, I posted very few stories and, as a result, the read counts did not advance too much.

And on Fanfiction.net, during April 2017, I finished posting The Point is Probably Moot. And then I started Shake Your Body. Because I had finished a book, I decided to update Fictionpad. As a result, I added A Long, Long Time Ago; Ohio; You Mixed-Up Siciliano; Spring Thaw; Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain; and The Point is Probably Moot to that site. While I receive nearly no read counts from that site, they still seem better than nothing.

Finally, on Wattpad, I finished You Mixed-Up Siciliano and added Souvenirs. Also, I started to post the next fanfiction piece from The Times of the HG Wells. And that turned out to be Spring Thaw.

Milestones

See the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

Because I finished and won NaNoWriMo in 2016, I sent The Real Hub of the Universe our for beta reading. And that has proven more difficult as usual, as people are just plain busy. Furthermore, this wholly original science fiction work takes place in Victorian Boston. As a result, I have mainly outlined the first sequel and as I have tried to get it started (and I even wrote a few chapters, but now I’m stuck again). However, I would like to put off writing the second book until I get at least a modicum of feedback on the first one, and that has proven elusive.

Also, the editing for The Enigman Cave is finished and it is ready for querying. However, it has proven hard to get psyched up to do that. It can sometimes be difficult to be able to mentally handle what can often be a lot of rejection.

I also wrote a short story (which currently has no place for posting) called The Escape Violinist. And I have a pretty well-formed idea for another one which will probably end up the length of a novella.

Prep Work

I next created a Wattpad draft for the following fanfiction piece from The Times of the HG Wells. And that turned out to be Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

As always, sometimes the muse just takes a vacation. And that can be extremely frustrating! I ended up working for five separate companies and that, of course, made me rather busy indeed. Furthermore, I wanted to take something of a break. The Real Hub needs editing and beta reading. Hence that means I need to take any changes into consideration before I can really start the sequel. In addition, I must get psyched up to query The Enigman Cave as it is ready and all I just need to pull the trigger.

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Feb

2017

Portrait of a Character – Kaitaama

Kaitaama Origins

Kaitaama (Padma Lakshmi)

Kaitaama. The character is, of course, canon.

It is a fairly classic trope, the Precious Cargo episode. Beautiful alien woman, crash landing, all alone on a planet? Not the best ever Enterprise episode. Not by a long shot.

Portrayal

As in canon, the character is played by actress Padma Lakshmi. While Lakshmi is certainly stunning, the portrayal was, let’s just say, less than stellar.

Personality

Imperious, spoiled, and kind of bratty, this character is more than a little bit difficult. In fact, I disliked her so much, I had Otra see an alternate universe vision of this character being beheaded as a kind of space Marie Antoinette. Maybe that’s what being the First Monarch of Krios Prime does to a gal. Who knows?

Yeah, I’m not a fan.

Relationships

Tripp Tucker

In canon, she and Tripp hook up briefly.

James T. Kirk

As I write her, Kaitaama and Jim might or might not hook up.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Kaitaama existing in the Mirror Universe.

Mirror Kaitaama (Padma Lakshmi)

As with most Mirror Universe women, she would be on the make. As a very good-looking one, she could potentially have status.

She might even be kind, although I see her instead as being a lot more ruthless. She would need to be. Can’t blame her for that.

Quote

“Why should that matter? Your job is to cut ropes, not be flattered and cosseted.”

Upshot

This bratty and difficult character is, I suppose, easy to put into nasty situations. Maybe I will resurrect her if I need to write something harsh. An annoying character might be needed for, I don’t know, something or other.

I am so mean.

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Jan

2017

Review – Eight

Eight was a labor of love.

Background

So this is a mixed bag of stories intended to fill in a few small gaps and inconsistencies or untold stories. And the truth is, I was most likely the only person who ever noticed or gave a damn about these little untold moments or inconsistent bits. No problem. Because it is always important to keep writing. Hence I was able to do so with this small set of exercises. Furthermore, it may serve as an introduction to my work for some people.

Eight

As a gift for the Chanukah holiday (to myself), I decided to write eight little family-centric stories taking place within my various universes. The various characters would interact, or not, but the main idea was for each story to be related to family somehow.

Plot

So even in the future, and regardless of species, it is all about family. Home and hearth abide, even in space.

Hence the stories cover In Between Days, the E² timeline, the Daranaean Emergence series, the Eriecho series, The Times of the HG Wells, Hold Your Dominion, and there is also a second HG Wells story which focuses on Levi Cavendish and Otra D’Angelo. Hence this story brought together a number of somewhat disparate timelines and casts in order to give a reader some perspective on what I write.

Story Postings

Eight on Ad Astra
in addition, Eight on Fanfiction.net (full series)
also, Eight on Wattpad (as part of Later Days)
Eight on Wattpad (full series)

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

Unfortunately, I am not so sure if anyone can relate to this series of stories as well as I can. Hence maybe they’re more like inside jokes? I don’t know.

These stories. And these worlds. Plus these timelines. And the same number of universes. And in all of them, home and hearth abide.

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Jun

2016

Progress Report – June 2016

June 2016 is in the books!

Posted Works

As has been my pattern recently, June 2016 proved to be a month of very little new writing. Instead, I concentrated on getting older works spread and promoted as school and work at the wedding blog, plus podcasting, took up a lot more of my time and for very good reasons. My summer Capstone project keeps me hopping but the work is of interest and it is bringing in actual paying work. Plus I got a raise at the wedding blog!

Furthermore, at the G & T Show, we are looking to spin off my law and fandom show, Semantic Shenanigans.

On Fanfiction.net, I finished posting You Mixed-Up Siciliano. I then started to post Spring Thaw.

On the G & T Show forums, I kept on posting Together.

On Wattpad, I further expanded Later Days, adding The Rite, Finnan Haddie, Bread, Escape, The Decision, The Medal, A Hazy Shade, Completely Hers and the beginning of Faith.

Milestones

See the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

I continue to work with beta readers on The Enigman Cave. Beta reading takes a while and the story is a long one. I can see it will need some overhauling but I am simply far too busy to do that right now. It will be tackled in late August or in September in anticipation of sending it out for professional editing and then querying later in the year.

Prep Work

I continued to research this year’s planned NaNoWriMo novel, The Real Hub of the Universe. I have also been putting together the outline, which I can see while sprawl over maybe three books.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

School, work, and podcasting – aren’t they enough?

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Oct

2015

Progress Report – October 2015

So October 2015 kept me going. And I needed that!

Posted Works

First of all, on Fanfiction.net, I posted The Stranger. I then added A Lesson and began to post A Long, Long Time Ago.

In addition, on Wattpad, I began to post Fortune.

So then on the G & T Show forums, I posted Letters from Home, Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses, Paving Stones Made From Good Intentions, Bribery, The Light, First Born, and Waiting. I then started to post Reversal.

Finally, on Fictionpad, I posted the Clockworks collection, consisting of: A Lesson; Briefing; Candy; Desperation; Marvels; Pat the Bunny; Preparations; Recruitment; The Honky Tonk Angel; and Where O Where. I also imported Faith, Seven Women, The Decision, and The Stranger.

Hence there were a lot of changes although admittedly many of them were pretty damned effortless or close to it.

Milestones

See the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

There is a lot going on. However, the Barnstorming series is mainly on hold as I work out NaNo and do schoolwork.

Prep Work

So as the month wound down, I got caught up in getting reading for this year’s NaNoWriMo. Also, this meant more work on The Enigman Cave, including naming many of the characters and the ships in that fleet. Because these are small decisions, but they can really slow you down if you don’t get them done, I am happy to have them all set in advance of the first of November!

This Month’s Productivity Killers

School work and travel! In addition, my cousin got married in the middle of the month and that of course changed my routine. We also put together the 24 Hours of G & T and that kept me busy. I was one tired pup!

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Sep

2015

Progress Report – September 2015

September 2015 was a good month but not for writing.

Posted Works

This month, as the new semester started, I was not able to get a lot of straightforward writing in, as I was also working at an internship.

I decided that the method of posting one longer ‘story’ which is really an anthology of sorts for short works, was the way to go on Fanfiction.net. Most of the single chapter works there do not do so well, whereas multi-chapter works get a good number of read counts and reviews. Therefore, for the HG Wells stories, the plan is to put prequels up, in an anthology called Clockworks, then post the books, and then post the post-Stranger books as another anthology, called Deep Future.

Clockworks now includes Desperation, Recruitment, The Honky Tonk Angel, Briefing, Preparations, Marvels, Pat the Bunny, Where O Where, and Candy.

On Wattpad, I finished posting Temper and added Coveted Commodity to In Between Days.

On the G & T Show forums, I posted The Puzzle and added More, More, More! to Before Days.

Milestones

See the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

I spent a small amount of time on the Barnstorming story, Overtime, but it was my lowest priority during the month.

Prep Work

I spent more time working on outlining this year’s NaNoWriMo project, The Enigman Cave. I worked out many of the names and logistics (ship size, etc.) so that I would not have to figure those out during NaNoWriMo.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

School! I was hammered with papers and reports, and it doesn’t seem as if it will let up anytime soon. This is distressing and very tiring. So whose idea was graduate school, anyway?

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Jul

2015

Progress Report – July 2015

July 2015 saw me adding onto more preexisting Star Trek fan fiction works. In addition, I wrote parts of the Barnstorming series. However, two years later (welcome to the future!), that series does not yet have an end point.

Posted Works

First of all, on Wattpad, I added to the In Between Days Collection by posting Tumult, Achieving Peace, Shell Shock, The Conspiracy, and Gilded Cage. I started to post Temper.

Also, on Ad Astra, I finished posting Infinite Diversity.

Furthermore, on Fanfiction.net, I finished posting About Nine Months and then posted Education, The Decision, and Faith.

In addition, on Fictionpad, I added Education.

Finally, on the G & T Show, I finished Theorizing and then posted Gratitude; Gossip Gossip; Onions; Penicillin; Demotion; and started Conversations With Heroes.

Milestones

Please see the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

I continued preparing The Enigman Cave for this years’ NaNoWriMo in November. In addition, I also kept perfecting the last two books in the Obolonk series, The Polymer Beat and The Badge of Humanity. Hence this was to prepare and clear the decks for this year’s NaNoWriMo project. Also, I finished the first draft of the Barnstorming book, Time Out, and began the final book in that series, Overtime.

Prep Work

Also, I spent time on Wattpad getting future postings together in draft form. Hence that was meant to save me time later.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

So I had plenty to do at school. Plus I became a Wattpad Ambassador, and that took up a lot of my time. Because time is a finite thing, it had to come from somewhere. Hence it mainly came from Star Trek fan fiction writing time, I am so sorry to report.

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May

2015

Progress Report – May 2015

May 2015 held a lot of promise.

Posted Works

However, I kept the postings down as I was busy with school.

First of all, on Wattpad, I continued posting Together. I entered a fanfiction contest with Red.

In addition, on the G & T Show Forums,

Old North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts. Where the ‘shot that was heard around the world’ was fired (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I followed the same format I had followed on Wattpad, and began to spin out Before Days with If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Cobbled Together. I began to add Concord.

Also, I updated The All-Stars on Ad Astra. I added an unexpected little In Between Days story, If I Could See. For the Twelve Trials of Triskelion, I posted a Times of the HG Wells story about Richard Daniels‘s many conquests, The Stranger, for the Ficlet Flashdance. I dipped into Captain Sarine’s Restoration universe for a drabble, Appearances.

Furthermore, on Fanfiction.net, I finished posting Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. I started posting Theorizing.

Finally, I added Promise and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere to Fictionpad.

Milestones

Please be sure to see the Stats page for individual read and review counts.

WIP Corner

So as a part of clearing the decks and prepping for November, I continued editing and polishing the wholly original story, The Badge of Humanity. The Obolonks Murders went in for more beta reading, as did The Polymer Beat. In addition, I had the start of a story for November.

Prep Work

I worked some more on the Barnstorming series in order to work on resolving it, and came up with an idea for another series after that one. I also got some ideas for upcoming writing challenges.

This Month’s Productivity Killers

School, as one semester ended and a new one began.

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Mar

2015

Review – Barely Tolerable

Barely Tolerable fills in a missing scene.

Background

After writing Intolerance (which is kind of an odd story within the original five-book In Between Days series), I wanted to add something considerably lighter that would showcase Captain Archer a bit.

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | IBD Arrangement | Barely Tolerable

In Between Days, the Arrangement

Furthermore, he behaves like a perfect gentleman in that book, whereas some of the other men do not quite measure up as well. However, I wanted it to be a case where he would look at Blair and Pamela and bemoan the fact that he absolutely would not be allowed to touch.

Hence the idea humanizes him in a big way, I feel. After all, he is the captain, yes. But he is also a flesh and blood human being and, as such, he has desires.

Plot

The story barely has a plot and is really a lot more like a drabble. And essentially, Jonathan Archer, like all of the other single straight men on the NX-01 Enterprise, is a bit taken by both Pamela Hudson and Blair Claymore. As a person who is unattached, there is nothing stopping him from looking. But he knows he will need to hold back, as they are both quite a bit younger than he is, and he is the captain of the ship. For him, it would probably be seen as improper.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

At the time that I wrote this story, I did not realize it, but it is truly a foreshadowing (actually, it is more of an afterword or afterthought) with respect to the E² stories, where I have Captain Archer also looking and not touching, desiring but never actually going through with anything.

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Review – Hub of the Universe

Background

Plot

Story Postings

Rating

Upshot

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Progress Report – April 2017

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Portrait of a Character – Kaitaama

Kaitaama Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Tripp Tucker

James T. Kirk

Mirror Universe

Quote

Upshot

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Review – Eight

Background

Plot

Story Postings

Rating

Upshot

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Progress Report – June 2016

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Progress Report – October 2015

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Progress Report – September 2015

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Progress Report – July 2015

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Progress Report – May 2015

Posted Works

Milestones

WIP Corner

Prep Work

This Month’s Productivity Killers

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Review – Barely Tolerable

Background

Plot

Story Postings