Date: 27 May 2015 21:27 Title: Lesson In Logic
This was such a bittersweet read. It is so hard as a parent to teach these important moral lessons to children, and I'm sure doubly so when the child is half-alien to you.
(Actually, every child is half-alien in a way -- I know with my own kids, when they misbehave as I would have, I know just how to parent them, but when they misbehave as my husband once did, I'm at a loss. And we're all human in my house! At least, I'm pretty sure we are.)
I love the depth of setting you put into this tale, with the bits of language and the details about Vulcan culture. I also love that you gave us a peek inside Sarek's head and let us see that his motivation was not entirely about protecting his own reputation, but about sparing his son unnecessary pain in the future. There's an internal warmth here, but it still feels true to the character's strictly logical worldview. I love stories that take a fairly minor canon character and flesh them out (it's what I do myself in my own series), and you've done that beautifully here.
If I have any criticism about this piece, it's that there's a bit of head-hopping here -- I think it would have been more emotionally effective to stick with either Sarek's or Spock's point of view entirely and leave us to guess at the feelings of the other. But that's a really minor complaint -- overall, this was a beautiful piece.
Author's Response: Thank you for your insightful review. Just to explain...this is not a new story. It was written way back in the day when I was fairly new to writing, though not to Star trek. You're right about the head-hopping, though in TOS you do get the point of view of all the significant characters...and I couldn't resist exploring the mind-set of both Sarek and Spock in this piece.
Date: 05 Mar 2015 18:57 Title: Parents
Young Spock juggling and choking back a chuckle in his messy room. I like it, as well as his misplaced distress over his parent's conversation. He was very quick to tell his father that he had been "meditating", though he did "feel himself relaxing" as he gave himself over to the batons' motion. Doesn't that qualify?
By showing his human side, you've made him into a real boy.
Date: 03 Mar 2015 22:36 Title: Father's Day
Awww! Good story. I like.
Date: 24 Feb 2015 22:28 Title: Here Be Dragons
Amanda experiences her own nightmare of fear as she worries about Spock's safety in the night. No wonder poor Spock has trouble sleeping, when he is about to be torn from his family. No, no, no. That is so wrong. But then I am not a Vulcan.
You have a beautiful way of presenting an alien culture and the interesting relationship between Amanda and Sarek.
Date: 18 Feb 2015 19:33 Title: Father's Day
Oh, this was beautifully written. It's the first story I've read from Spock's babyhood, and a wonderful take on the "Daddy takes care of baby" plot. The scenes with little Spock were delightful. Learning to master the use of jom'ir, riding the old family pet, and playing with Daddy's computer.
Did Sarek really think it was safe to leave a 10 month-old with the sehlat? He deserved every bit of anxiety as he searched high and low for his missing son. Hopefully he has learned to keep a closer eye on young Spock.
Date: 26 May 2013 07:36 Title: Here Be Dragons
Ah, Sarek and Amanda. Such a sweet couple yet a very real one in Trek. Amanda is, by and large, my favorite Trek mother of them all. Her relationship with Spock in TOS was layered and deep. And the deepness started here in this wonderful story that fully immersed me into their world, her world as it were. She’s speaking Vulcan and you’ve constructed this world in brilliant fashion. Not only is it real to me in terms of environment or language, it just looks real to me. You’ve described it all very well.
But the star of this show is the relationship Amanda has with both the men in her life, Spock and Sarek. Both are different, clearly, but here Amanda is at her best in dealing with the unique needs that both have. For Spock, his half-human nature is something he constantly battles later in life and here he’s battling the classic “something’s in the dark” fear that all of us as children have.
Amanda deals with it as mothers do, holding Spock’s hand, trying to comfort her young child. It was sweet. It rang true. But then he constantly relied on her to drive away the dragons. That was a pain, as it always is. Sarek steps in and tries the logical, Vulcan solution.
Poor Spock is scared of that more than he is of the Dragons. The fear is palatable with him, the little things like the lip biting and the eyes being wide open … I can remember nights like that as a kid. Spock’s solution to the issue is great: bring in a big animal, scare the dragons away. Awesome idea.
The final scenes between Sarek and Amanda were just gloriously rich. They’re such an awesome married couple and their back and forth was quite believable and good. I’m glad he got the point about her concerns and I’m happy they resolved things.
Well done.
[Report This]Date: 29 Mar 2010 13:27 Title: Here Be Dragons
I really enjoyed this story, as I seem to do with all of your work. ;) It was a great and creative story line, and I just wanted to hug little Spock when he was terrified that there were dragons in his room. I was very pleased when Sarek walked Spock around the room to prove to him that there were no dragons. And you're right, there's no way he was the ogre he was painted to be. The chemistry between Sarek and Amanda was great, too. I loved Spock's solution at the end. I hope Ichaya WAS up to the task!
Author's Response: Many thanks for the review and your lovely comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed this story - and also the others that you've read of mine. Makes all the effort very worthwhile.
[Report This]Date: 26 Mar 2010 19:34 Title: Here Be Dragons
All of the power of Vulcan culture and the ethereal almost mystic flavor of Spock's heritage are in the fore-front of this tale. You really captured the essence of what I've always believed was his home life. Spectacularly done. I should think if SNG was still published you could easily become a finalist with this story.
Author's Response: Many thanks, Mistral, for reading and reviewing. Spock's childhood has always fascinated me. I couldn't quite believe that Sarek was quite the ogre he was painted. So, in this story, I tried to show a different side of him. Glad you enjoyed it.
[Report This]Date: 26 Mar 2010 01:21 Title: Here Be Dragons
That was a beautiful story.
Author's Response: Thankyou. Glady you enjoyed it. :)
Date: 25 Mar 2010 20:16 Title: Here Be Dragons
*smiles* This was sweet. The thought of Sarek wandering around the room with Spock to prove that there were no dragons was adorable and made me smile, as did the chemestry between Sarek and Amanda. I really enjoyed this!
Elerrina
Author's Response: Many thanks for reading the story and for taking time to review. :)