Date: 23 May 2013 16:03 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Poor Lili. I think I remember reading that story (if you're referencing one you wrote) and it's nice to see it referenced here if that's indeed the case. Lili did what she had to in that situation but the guilt for taking a life is still there.
Author's Response:
Yes, I did (I think you read "The Mess", which was done in response to a challenge). There's a reaction to it, once the adrenaline dissipates.
Date: 23 May 2013 15:57 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
Oh, poor girl. She seems to carry around a lot of guilt for something she didn't do during the war as opposed to something she did do, a different take than most war related stories. Her discomfort and despair at not praying is palatable and resonates clearly in the story.
Author's Response:
For someone who feels that her voice has to be heard by Allah every day, not being able to pray drops the bottom out of Maryam's world. She wasn't talking to God, and so God ignored them, and people died. This is the line that she has drawn, and this is the equation for her.
For all of them, the feeling is - what would have happened if things had been different? Maryam thinks, if she and Azar and Ramih had been able to pray, then maybe Hayes and Hawkins could have been saved.
Date: 23 May 2013 03:36 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Lili's concern for the fate of the enemy's family is real and touching. Her guilt over doing what she had to do to survive is all too easy to believe.
Author's Response:
She has had little Starfleet training of any sort (she's just sort of thrown on board at the start of the war, in order to replace three helpers and consolidate the personnel better) and definitely minimal weapons issues. She hasn't fired at anything but a target. And her leaving her sidearm behind is somewhat typical for her; she doesn't like cooking and having a gun on her hip at the same time.
And then this happen, so she's deeply affected.
Thank you for reviewing.
Date: 23 May 2013 02:24 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Hmm, a reluctant hero. On one hand she did well to defend her ship and yet, she feels for what she's done. Show's if anything there was more going on the ship than bridge/engineering.
Author's Response:
There is always more going on, I feel, and the series rarely have the time to show it, and the films even less. Just because it's below decks doesn't mean it's less important, or less passionate or dangerous, I feel.
Date: 23 May 2013 01:12 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Oh my God. Wow. Wasn't expecting that jespah. Wow. But yeah so totally Lili.
Author's Response:
I am humbly grateful for your kind review.
Date: 22 May 2013 22:58 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Oh, I like Lili. God, the heartbreaking conclusion of this piece rips me apart. War is like that, it doesn't allow us to see each other until the dust settles, and for Lili to feel it after all of this... heavens. Nicely done.
Author's Response:
I am humbly grateful for your review.
Lili is, in a lot of ways, the reader's surrogate, and she's my surrogate. And she realizes, in an instant, that there is a family now that's missing someone. Never mind that She ... would have killed Lili. Never mind that it was quick. Someone, somewhere, is now motherless.
I have now written that scene or its aftermath four times, I think. And each time, I guess it's my own personal Rashomon, and I see something different in it.
Date: 22 May 2013 22:44 Title: Chapter 4 - Ensign Charlotte Lilienne O'Day
Wow...wow wow wow...a level of conflict often forgotten about until you really start to think...everyone comes from a family. Everyone is someone's father, mother, brother, daughter...it's very easy to view your enemy as nothing more than an adversary, instead of seeing them as another person. Poor Lili
Author's Response:
When Season 3 started, the Xindi were very much a faceless enemy or at least one without a name or, it seemed, a purpose behind wiping us all out. And then the writers, slyly, started to add in little tidbits. Degra's name, and then the names of his kids. The Insectoid hatchery where the parents had clearly died in order to give their children a chance to survive. Etc. I was reminded of the dehumanization of enemies that's written about by, among others, Paul Fussell. Have you read him? He was a marvelous military historian.
So I named this Insectoid character She Who Almost Didn't Breed in Time as partly a wry observation on Lili herself (because she, too, almost doesn't marry until menopause), but also to, immediately, tell the reader, this is somebody's mother. And so Lili identifies immediately, that there is someone out there, automatically, who was bereaved the minute that skillet met Insectoid face.
Thank you for reviewing.
Date: 22 May 2013 22:40 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
While I can't completely understand, I know that feeling of loss that comes when you start to lose sight of your faith. Deployments certainly don't make going to church very easy, and it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day happenings of military life.
Author's Response:
For Maryam, faith defines her, for the most part. So when she can't practice it, it's like the bottom has dropped out of her life. To then lose two crew members, she can't help but to connect the two events.
Date: 22 May 2013 22:19 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
YES! I am SO glad you highlighted that situation! That is the absolute greatest example of just how high the stakes were for the Enterprise during this mission. It's an incredible, sad situation that was uncomfortable to watch Archer participate in, and there was no question it would leave its mark on him and his friends.
Author's Response:
Oh good; and thank you for reading and reviewing.
Other pieces may have been bigger, but THIS was the moment that did it for me. THIS was the loss of innocence.
Date: 22 May 2013 01:43 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
War's tendrils extend still. Refreshing to see others on the ship, i.e. religion/race.
Author's Response:
The tendrils do indeed.
The ship is completely multicultural.
Thank you for reviewing.
Date: 22 May 2013 00:10 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
As an author you often have touched on faiths and religion and you've blogged some about your own faith too jespah nut I have to say I always wondered why it kept so strong a presence in many instances in your writing. Reading your response to Steff you use to the line faith of the heart from the show's theme and you know it all just seemed to gel then.
It is perfect to explore faith in the context of space exploration because Trek has always been about exploring the human experience and our faiths can be such an important part of that experience. Throwing humanity out into the stars, facing new life, new civilisations, new wonders, and new faiths, belief systems and ways of life have to also inform and challenge faith. All the more so then in this era when space exploration is all too new and so the changes, challenges and resolve found in faith ever more prevalent.
But ultimately it is our personal experiences that inform our faith, our feelings and troubled emotions around it. This time, the Xindi War, is apart from the huge impact on Earth is also a huge telling on a personal level for so many people. This is why this peice is stellar because Maryam feels the loss and guilt of those deaths because she was adrift in being able to pray. Just a great line of thought jespah you take.
Author's Response:
I thank you most humbly.
I feel that faith will inform the human experience for a long time to come. And when (not if) we find life on other worlds, it will challenge our beliefs. Religion will need to change, or it will suffer and die out. I believe most organized faiths will try to find some way of adapting, and I also hope that fundamentalism, in all its forms, will finally be shelved by most people. If we want Roddenberry's vision of world peace, then I think that's almost job one.
Thanks again.
Date: 21 May 2013 23:08 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
Oh, that hurts. That poor dear.
Author's Response:
She is somewhat innocent, and is well aware of how removed she is from the other members of the crew, but still strives to be a part of things. For Maryam, if she isn't on duty or asleep or eating, then a lot of the time she's praying, and for her that's almost like getting out and pushing. To be unable to do that is painful and unsettling and then when something happens, she feels guilty.
Date: 21 May 2013 23:06 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Hah. The freedom of information, and then the abrupt cutoff. I like it.
Author's Response:
Thank you - that nerve got hit just a little too hard ....
Date: 21 May 2013 16:41 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
Oh, wow. We don't often get to see devout religion in Star Trek, particularly from humans, but it makes sense for this era. And I think a lot of believers blame themselves for "falling down on the job" when things go badly, thinking if they had just prayed more, believed harder, been a petter person ...
You nailed that dynamic here.
Author's Response:
That's how I want Maryam, Azar and Ramih (and other devout crew members, like Karin, Andy, Ethan and Josh, who are Jews; and Hoshi, who I write as a lapsed Buddhist; Malcolm is Church of England; José, Tracey and Oscar are Catholic, etc.) to feel, that their prayers and their thoughts and their hopes are helping to push things along. And even when they're unable to do anything else, that they can call on a higher power. And for Maryam, being unable to do so is terribly troubling.
Thank you for your review.
Date: 21 May 2013 15:31 Title: Chapter 3 - Crewman Maryam Haroun
Yes, war is Hell. I hope they get her counseling. And thank you for portraying Muslims, as well; very refreshing to see!
Author's Response:
If you've got faith of the heart, I figure that means ALL faiths. I hope for, someday, for this to be completely matter of fact.
I think she'll be all right. ;)
Date: 21 May 2013 04:34 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Ooh. Haven't seen many many episodes of ENT, but I'm positive I've seen the scene to which you are referring. No wonder Archer comments that it left an indelible mark on him. He went into his mission of exploration wide-eyed, naive, trusting in the good inherent in all beings. It must have been a rude awakening when he had to become that which he despised in order to guarantee the safety of Earth. You captured beautifully that moment of self-loathing as he was forced to relive that.
Author's Response:
I thank you - yes, it's the airlock scene. Later in that season, he does things that, on balance, are worse, but the airlock scene in "The Expanse" is the turning point for him.
Date: 21 May 2013 04:16 Title: Chapter 1 - Introduction
I like this beginning! Reminds me of the episode of M*A*S*H where reporters interviewed everyone in camp.
Author's Response:
YES! :)
Date: 21 May 2013 01:13 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Great work on Archer's voice, facing up to his mistakes, dealing with his regrets, but still strong enough to tell the man to turn off the damned camera at the end. I actually quite enjoyed Enterprise, so I look forward to seeing what else comes from these ficlets.
Author's Response:
I thank you for your kind reviesws. :)
Date: 21 May 2013 01:11 Title: Chapter 1 - Introduction
"And their stories deserve to be told as well."
Indeed they do. Excited to see what you do with this, although to be honest you had me at Enterprise NX-01 and Xindi War! :)
Author's Response:
Oh, merci!
Date: 20 May 2013 23:27 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Archer getting testy on camera! I don't necessarily recall what event he's describing but I think it's the one where he jacked the warp coil? I'm not sure. But I like the way he reacts to remembering that event and how he still can't quite put it into words ... and how he doesn't want to try more than he has to.
Author's Response:
It's not even that one.
It is actually one of the first episodes in season 3, called Anomaly, where Osaarians board and steal a bunch of stuff, but leave one of their injured people behind. Archer throws the guy into an airlock and slowly lets the air out. The guy panics and finally gives up how to get to his ship, so that Archer can get his stuff back.
The line's been crossed, and there's no going back - the jacking of a warp coil happens later. This is what leads up to it, eventually.
Date: 20 May 2013 22:43 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
See, this is why the much maligned fate of ENT series needs someone like you jespah to champion it. The Xindi War arc and particularly the character arc for Archer was terrific.
In many ways, he's the character at the end of this season that he perhaps should have been to sate many fans at the beginning of the series. However, the journey, the character growth, the cost it all took on him and the dark calls he made would have been missed.
Terrific way to portray that here too. Archer knows/knew the lines he was crossing but felt it too necessary to cross them in order to do his duty. A hard call on his part and all hard decisions to live with. All that we get here in this piece. Very well done.
Author's Response:
Oh! You're very kind!
What I loved about ENT and, in particular, season 3, is that actions had consequences, and characters had regrets.
Date: 20 May 2013 22:38 Title: Chapter 1 - Introduction
A very intriguing approach to use this journalistic interview of characters to explore pieces for the Ficlet Challenge but also because we know that the Xindi War was indeed such a momentous ordeal for the people of Earth and their future as explorers. The examination of the fallout and consequences and the reprecussions any of the characters might feel around this topic will be fascinating to follow.
Author's Response:
I humbly thank you.
Date: 20 May 2013 20:51 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Nice take on the NX-01 legacy and I think you got Jon Archer down pat. I look forward to the remainder :)
Author's Response:
Gracias. :)
Date: 20 May 2013 18:32 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Yeah, people, at their core, can't help but be a little self-centered. I don't mean selfish. I just mean that sometimes something relatively small in the greater scheme of things has a much greater impact on your memory because it changed YOU. It seems this was the case for Captain Archer.
Author's Response:
Yep. This was the turning point moment for him, where he put a guy in an airlock and started decompressing it until the Osaarian talked and gave up where their stuff was.
Date: 20 May 2013 15:45 Title: Chapter 2 - Captain Jonathan Archer
Talk about prodding at open wounds! Archer's need to talk, and then his recoil, were both exceptionally well handled.
Author's Response:
Thank you so much!