Star Trek Stories

I have always loved stories--of just about any kind. Which is why, I suppose, I love TV and movies so much. But believe it or not, I didn't always write Star Trek. Actually, my first Star Trek story was my first science fiction piece--and my first mystery. And my first completed novel-length story.

I started out writing historical fiction and will probably get back to that someday. You won't find those stories here because I'm actually attempting to get them published. Cross your fingers for me.

So how did I get into fan fiction? Actually, I didn't know it existed when I started writing my first Star Trek story. I began by thinking that two years had gone by since DS9 started and we still hadn't gotten a background for Doctor Bashir. So I thought up one that I though fit him and had enough angst to carry a story. But after 10 pages, "Melora" aired. In that episode, Dr. Bashir tells a little story about being 10 years old and on a planet with his father. It's a touching little story, but it contradicted what I wrote. So I put the story away. Then, when I decided to go away to Europe (to teach English in the Czech Republic), I also decided to write that story anyway. At the very least it would be a writing exercise. So to fix the contradiction, I made Bashir adopted (This has since also been negated on TV, but hey, I wrote this one way before we every heard about Julian's parents on the show.) I wrote 40 pages before leaving for Europe. But I hadn't thought of a B-story. All the episodes and books had B-stories. So I left blank spots for them and kept writing. I maybe wrote 100 pages before I found a B-story. Then a C-story found its way in there, then a D-story.

It's a very complicated piece, but I think it's a lot of fun. It took one year to write and I posted it on alt.startrek.creative when I returned to the States and heard there was such a place. That was in 1996. The story is called If It's Not One Thing. . . . and it won alt.startrek.creative's Best DS9 Story award for 1996.

My second Trek story was something I wrote for the PocketBooks Strange New Worlds contest last year. It's a sequel to "The Quickening" from DS9's fourth season. I didn't win, which is why I can put the story up here. It's called Healer, and it just won second place for Best Deep Space Nine Story in the 1998 Alt.StarTrek.Creative.All-Ages Tribble Awards.

I also wrote another short story as a sequel to someone else's. Valerie Shearer wrote a what-if about a different ending to "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" where it was found out that Bashir was illegally genetically enhanced as a child. Her story, The Exile, sparked a scene--unusual for me since it's non-canon--in my brain. So I wrote a sequel to hers, The Doctor.

My next big novel-sized story took over a year to write and was actually finished last September. But I was hoping to submit it to PocketBooks. I found out though that it's too long to even be considered. So...I posted it to alt.startrek.creative, and I've also posted it here to my site.

Shall I whet your appetite? A Klingon ship with Cardassian registry runs at the station and then veers off toward Earth. The Defiant must follow, unknowingly carrying a changeling infiltrator. Just as the ship nears Earth, it changes course and heads right for the sun: a trip that takes it four centuries into the past. The Defiant, again, must follow, to insure the timeline is secure. Don't let that fool you. It's not what the story is about. Two hints: the title--Oświêcim, and the year they go back to--1943. (And it was just annouced as the winner for alt.startrek.creative's Best DS9 Story for 1998.

I've just finished Pain of Memory, a story inspired by my grandparents. I had the thought: What would be harder? To lose one's mind all at once and not realize what's gone, or to gradually lose it, therefore retaining some but knowing what you've lose? This story is an attempt to explore the latter theme.

Stories available in print!

Oświêcim, If It's Not One Thing...., Healer and Pain of Memory are all presently available in print. For details, click here..

I'm working on two other stories now, and I wrote one for a fanzine. Since it's for the zine, I can't post it here until October 1999. But you can try and get the zine from Gayle Stever or Terry Rillera. It contains stories featuring Bashir and Garak and is currently running two volumes! It's called "Beyond the Wire." Each zine is 150 pages with a color cover. Volume One has 11 stories (2 slash themes) and Volume Two has 14 stories (6 slash themes). The price is $12 per volume U.S., 9 pounds per volume in Europe (order from Karen Colohan, 3 Whites Close, Greenhithe, Kent, DA9 9JL, England), and $18 per volume from Pacific Rim countries. Order from Gayle Stever, P.O. Box 11261, Scottsdale, AZ 85271-1261.

Here are some other places for stories: