born to be a fangirl

[xparrot]

I was fanning before I knew what fanning was, long before I ever got online. In early high school, thanks to my town library's "YA*" paperback collection, I got into Star Trek (TOS, mostly) novels; they were my first exposure to fanfic, in particular the really gooey/sappy/smarmy/pre-slashy stuff that I'd always thought of as the "good bits" - usually a few paragraphs, at best a page or two of most books (except Lord of the Rings, which is crammed full of it). I used to keep a notebook noting the page numbers of my favorite bits. But in some of the Star Trek novels the yumminess (usually h/c) just went on and on - at least in the earlier novels; the later ones, not so much. But some of the first were most definitely written by fangirls - at the time I didn't know it; I just knew that what I was reading, while noticeably inferior in elements like plot and prose, was catering to certain tastes of mine more precisely than any book I'd read before.

* "YA" at my library apparently meant either "teen characters" or "sci-fi paperback". I think they got a sci-fi section later, but through my early teen years finding SF was a matter of browsing the unorganized paperback racks. Then I discovered 2nd-hand bookstores...

So it cracked me up when I was on Fanlore today and found that Killing Time was penned by a K/S writer who slipped what was in effect a pre-slash story past the Paramount censors by mysterious means. What gets me is that I remember this novel well - it's one of the dozen or so I bought for myself rather than just rereading the library's copy. I remember at the time of first reading it that I both adored it and thought it over the top in that ridiculous way that made me all deliciously squirmy (It involves a Romulan-made alternate time-line, in which, iffen I recall, the "golden-haired, golden-eyed" Kirk was an oft-abused drug-addict. And Spock was dreaming about him. Yeah.) Now I'm wondering if I actually read the original. Just checked and the copy I have now is the edited version, but I'm curious about the library's copy...

ETA: For my own reference: all the censored bits! (and maybe I'm hallucinating, but I swear I remember some of them...)

ETA2: And here we have a conversation about Kirk/Spock-y Star Trek novels! Should I be embarrassed or proud that almost every novel that's mentioned here is in my "dozen or so" collection? And that I want to reread them? (Nice to see Diane Duane getting credit, her take on the ST 'verse was awesome, love her aliens. --Zomg other folks like Dwellers in the Crucible! Which is really about a pair of female OCs who parallel Kirk & Spock...that being said, it is hands-down the most extreme h/c I have ever read between female chars. Am wanting to reread it just for that...(need to see Xena...))

Comments

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

Ha! :) Yes, I have Dwellers, and I think I have Wounded Sky. I've read Killing Time, back before I knew there was two different versions, but after reading that list of edits, I'm fairly certain the edition I read was the edited version.

I've also read Price of the Phoenix and some others by the same author - I understand the mixed reactions. They are very slashy, with lots of H/C, but that particular author also seemed to have a weird thing about making Kirk "fragile" - I remember a lot of emphasis on how much weaker Kirk was than Spock. So I kinda had a love/hate relationship with those books.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I loved Wounded Sky for the spider-alien scientist. She was so cool! (and apparently turned up in the final book of Duane's Rihannsu series. Which I didn't even know was a series, only the first two books were written when I was reading them, I think - now I want the rest of it! only the last book is out of print and very pricey - sigh!)

Price of the Phoenix - heh, yeah, that was Marshak and Culbreath, who I know nothing about except that all their ST novels are ridiculously slashy - they had to have been fangirls; the way they wrote was totally fanfic (plus they edited The New Voyages book of stories, which are fanficcy way beyond the novels...) Maybe they weren't slashers - smarm was more popular then (even if it didn't go by that name) and if they were really old-school they might have rejected the homoeroticisim, but fanficcers, yeah. And being ficcers, they totally woobified Kirk...

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

Yeah, smarm - better word actually. :) I'd forgotten about smarm, although I can't imagine how after reading through Sentinel fandom. LOL! :)

Yes, the spider-alien scientist was awesome! :) She's the reason I remember that book so clearly. I guess it was on that list of slashy novels you linked to, but I didn't remember that about it.

I think the most slashy novel I ever read was one of Marshak's though - I think it was simply called Triangle. It was about this woman who both Kirk and Spock were pursuing, and she needed to bond with one of them, and in the end she somehow bonded with both of them. Have you read that one?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I was a smarm fan way before I was a slasher, so...I admit I miss it sometimes ^_^

Diane Duane's novels weren't really listed as being slashy, I don't think, just as good stuff - in terms of outright quality (instead of just fangirl quality ^^) hers are probably the best. (I've read some of her original fic too and enjoyed it...)

Triangle is part of my collection, too! Though I don't recall liking it as much as the others...I didn't like a woman coming between them, and I didn't like romance anyway. From the slash perspective I'd probably find it more palatable...