Date: 30 Jul 2013 02:19 Title: Chapter 1
This might be one of the most adorable stories ever. I love Porthos and his thoughts, it's brilliant. And how he solves the crime, and then how Archer ends up making use of that knowledge to take out the Olathans and help the Azezans. It is a delightfully low key, low tech answer to the problem, well done!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you!
Porthos gets a sequel, too, 'cause I couldn't just leave well enough alone.
Some say he's the smartest one on the N-01.
I leave that for history to decide. ;)
Date: 14 Jul 2013 17:49 Title: Chapter 1
I love the Porthos points of views. I was immediately drawn in by his observations of Archer and his being at work. Laughed aloud at the blah blah dialogue and the good smell/bad smell bits throughout. In fact, it worked so well I was almost disappointed when we switched to the character POVs during it. I almost wish the entire story was in doggie. Alas, for the content matter, that would not have worked and we needed the clearer explanations for the heady material that came to light.
Though it has to be said, a story entirely from Porthos' point of view would be a glorious read to read and I can only hope that you do indeed try another such story again. Porthos is too much win here to not get another shot in the limelight.
Author's Response:
Thank you! Porthos does indeed have a sequel - The Further Adventures of Porthos - The Stilton Fulfillment. His vocabulary is a bit improved in that one. :)
I love getting into his little fluffy head.
Date: 17 May 2013 22:55 Title: Chapter 1
Another tightly, written piece from Porthos! Well done here. I liked the way Porthos was actually, indirectly, the hero here. He was quite the dog, sniffing out trouble, and going on the attack to protect his master.
The allusions to WWII Nazi Germany were also well done. Trek has addressed the issue of historical Earth parallels a number of times before and this was done with class. It's a touchy topic, but one that I'm glad Captain Archer and co. didn't take lightly. The solution they came up with in the end was quite good.
Porthos, FTW.
Author's Response:
Porthos, and dogs, to save the day (and to hopefully keep saving it). I wrote this story as a piece about the sense of smell and then I suppose it ran away from me a little bit, into far more serious territory.
Thank you for your kind review!
Date: 08 Dec 2012 08:33 Title: Chapter 1
I love this! First of all, the scenes from Porthos' POV were adorable; they just made me want to cuddle him. And you managed to get a fairly complex plot into a fairly short story and resolve it very efficiently. That takes focused and intelligent writing--it's not easy to do. The best thing, though, is that you explored some of the ambiguity surrounding issues of peace/war, cooperation/dominance, and past/future--issues that both TOS and Enterprise were dedicated to exploring. Think of "City on the Edge of Forever--" it was all about those issues. You work your way honestly through the questions to the place where ST usually arrives--because where else could they? Peace with the capacity for self-defense, cooperation without passivity, knowing the past in order to safeguard the future.
So, this story was both fun and profound--a rare combination, and one I deeply enjoyed!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you so much!
I loved trying to get into his head - I figure that smells would be so incredibly important to him that they would dominate his thoughts. He thinks in a lot of black/white, yin/yang, yes/no. You're good or you're bad. You smell good or you don't. That's what he trusts. So the viewer is a magic box, because there are strange cats on there, but they don't smell. He senses that, somehow, that's a deception.
I've also often tried to explore WWII as I think the idea of "space Nazis" can be a compromise and a cop-out on the part of the writers. During the run of TOS, instead of getting the affecting Death's Head Revisited, we instead get Patterns of Force, where the whole thing is a kind of one-off, and the Federation rep is more or less exonerated. I suppose that showing Nazis at all was a coup. But then in ENT, Storm Front is also a kind of cop-out story, where the Nazis are in with nasty aliens, and it's all an alternate timeline anyway. But what happens to people who are living it?
I also like the idea of exploring uneven planetary relationships. Technically, we're kinda supposed to let things go and warp out of there, chalking it all up to the almighty Prime Directive. But what do you do when people are being horribly oppressed? How do the members of the Federation sleep at night if they just let it happen all over again? Plus there's the other end of it - how do they get involved without it turning into Vietnam?
Thanks again!
Date: 08 Dec 2012 01:16 Title: Chapter 1
In a word...awwwwwwww.
Author's Response:
Thank you! I wrote this one a good 7 years ago or so. Psst don't tell anyone but he's getting a sequel. ;)