No Kill I

I was just reading a story that promised to be quite nice, and then...

...there was a song playing in the background of a scene set in either 1985 or 1986. It's a song I know well enough to know the release date: 1987.

And yes, it's a story with time travel in it, but the song is clearly well known in context*. This is not the tale of the amazing time-traveling song.

Harrumph. How hard is that to look up, author? Betas? None of you noticed that? Aiiiiiii.

Now I'm wondering what else you got wrong, and don't want to read the story.


* it is also quite well known in the nonfictional world. It's not some obscure piece no one knows.

I've missed the Great Warning Debate this time around, and frankly: have a newborn. Not going to catch up on it.

Still, I thought I'd best state my warning policy:

In my own spaces, such as on my website or in my journals, I do not attach warnings.

When I archive elsewhere, I do*, and so archives or community journals are safer places for people with triggers to read my work. I also will answer questions; if you-the-reader have particular triggers, feel free to ask me if I think the story will trip them. I will answer you honestly and to the best of my ability. Of course, also feel free to ask for non-triggery stuff, such as personal squicks or just not wanting to read something depressing that day.

---

* There are some archives that didn't require warnings, and some old work of mine is archived at some of those places without warnings. This is especially true of old work originally posted to newsgroups or lists prior to 2000, so if you find some of that stuff, you may wish to use the "ask Laura" method if you need any warnings.

zvi just fired up a new community, vulcanreforged, ( spoilers )

I am very much looking forward to reading the work posted there! It is just the sort of thing I am looking for (as you might guess, if you've read my ST:AOS work).

Remix The Meditation of Blood for ST:AOS.

Your results:
You are Uhura

Uhura 60% Spock 59% James T. Kirk (Captain) 55% Chekov 55% Beverly Crusher 55% Will Riker 55% Jean-Luc Picard 55% Deanna Troi 50% Mr. Scott 45% Geordi LaForge 40% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 35% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 35% Worf 30% Data 28% Mr. Sulu 25%

You are a good communicator with a pleasant soft-spoken voice. Also a talented singer.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

I have noticed, floating about the fan-o-sphere, a lot of renewed interest in original-series Star Trek (aka ST:TOS) as a result of the new movie (aka ST:TOR AOS). One of the characters who has been catching a lot of the interest is Uhura, who was originated by Nichelle Nichols and is played by Zoe Saldana in TOR AOS.

I am not about to write a comprehensive history of the character -- that is what Memory Alpha is for. (Original timeline Uhura, Reboot timeline Uhura)

But here are some things you might want to know about her, going in, if you're going to write some fiction about her:

1. She's not African-American. She's from the United States of Africa and grew up speaking Swahili. The character is semi-established as identifying herself as Bantu (by which I mean "Gene Roddenberry said she was Bantu, but there's no canon about it that I know of.")

2. She's highly technical. Communications Officer is not just a glorified phone operator; she can rewire that whole damn board from scratch and make it dance a jig if she wants to.

3. She can also fly the ship. Better than you.

4. If you ever get trapped in a mirror universe and have to wear a skimpy-ass costume and deal with sexism so explicit that the only way to get ahead is to have sex with male officers, remember that Uhura, despite being completely freaked the hell out by the situation (WOULDN'T YOU BE? I WOULD. OH MY GOD), backhanded an evil Sulu right across the chops and then threatened to knife him.

5. She can sing well, and often does, to entertain or comfort fellow crewmembers. Or to tease Spock.

I was reading through the Snarry-A-Thon and came upon two stories in a row that I closed, without finishing, for Misogyny Reasons.

In one of them (Far Away), Hermione was an obsessed stalker; in the other (The Secret of Seeing Rightly), Ginny was a faithless tramp.

(After the reveal, I shall add the authors to my DNR, unless they have a REALLY GOOD EXCUSE, like a recent head injury. Because DAMN.)

So, I am trying to tag all the random fiction and things that I've put in my journal over the past few years.

"fiction" - fiction, humorous short nuggets, commentary, etc.
"recs" - for fanfiction, and other things
"movies" - reviews, squee, etc.
"tv" - tv commentary & whatnot
"books" - yay books
"snark" - also boojums
"fanart"
"writing"
"kerfuffle"
"vids"
"concrit"