Monday, November 22, 2010

Favorites Monday: The Talking Stick/Circle series

I'm something of a Trekkie, and when I first heard the premise for Star Trek: Voyager, I was excited. It was about time the franchise put a woman in the captain's chair, and I thought the premise of a Federation and a Maquis crew far from home and forced to cooperate would create wonderful story arcs.

I watched for the first couple seasons, but the show never delivered what I was hoping for, and it remains behind DS9 and Next Gen on my ranking of the franchise. (The original series and Enterprise never quite hooked me.)

However, I did find the Voyager I'd hoped the show would be...in fanfic. This was back in the days of USENET, and I was a regular reader on alt.startrek.creative. One of the regulars, Macedon, wrote a lovely, thoughtful story from Chakotay's point of view, and another, Peg Robinson, responded with one in Janeway's. Macedon responded with more Chakotay, and before long they were collaborating on what became known as the Talking Stick/Circle series.

It's my favorite of all the fanfic I've ever read, and has stayed with me all these years later. It's got friendship and enemies, building community under difficult circumstances, romance, love and death, and toward the end Big Epic Adventure. Highly recommended for fans of epic, arc-driven Trek.

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