TrekGirl welcomes Rob Morris.  Yes!  A male author finally makes it with TrekGirl.... cough... I mean... a male author is finally featured here. (gutter minds!)
Rob readily agreed to an interview way back in May, but real life, being what it is, conspired to delay its publication.  I'm taking this opportunity to publicly apologize to Rob and to any regular readers who have been waiting patiently for a new interview.  Unfortunately, some things in life are beyond control.

Okay, enough of my whining, let's get on with the interview....
 

TrekGirl asks:

How would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as a comic book writer who got so frustrated with the paths comic books were taking that he found fanfic and converted. Oddly, I have yet to write a single comic book based fanfic.
The closest I've come is 'A Leap In Anger,' which was a Quantum Leap/TV
Bixby-Hulk crossover, and J*L*A* (Justice League of America), a fun amalgam piece I wrote where the Justice League is manned by the characters from the 4077th MASH.

I want to write believable unbelievable stories. Things that could never happen, but work when I look for connections. I guess, in the end, the best way to describe myself is as a writer who looks for connections.

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing online for two years this month (May). I always thought up stories when I was a kid, but putting them to pen and paper was always a challenge.
I have a near photographic memory, which helps in keeping my stories and
references straight. But until I bought my WebTV, I never found a place to put it all.
My first real story off-line was a piece called 'The Lore and Lure Of Godzilla.' In this, the time traveler Emiko from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) finds that time is still in a mess. As a very sinister alternate version of Godzilla chases her through time, a number of movie discrepancies are explained. (If you think Star Trek has it bad, these movies are a royal M*E*S*S*! )

The first fic I wrote online was the aforementioned 'Leap In Anger'.  The second, and one of my most successful was 'Through Early Morning Fog I See'. (X-Files/MASH) Set in 1998 before 'Fight The Future.'   Mulder meets with a much older Hawkeye Pierce who served in Vietnam with his wife, Margaret Houlihan, and who is now apparently an elderly widower whose wife vanished ten years before. Pierce relates how, after the tragic death of Lt. Colonel Henry
Blake, a young man came to the 4077th, and talked in an odd puzzle-speech that seemed to indicate that Blake's death was no accident. We are quickly made to realize that this was a very young Cigarette Man. Also quickly apparent is that Pierce, ever the con artist, is somehow playing Mulder.

You sure know how to take the simple route, don't you, Rob. ;-)

After that, the stories just started pouring out.

What is your preferred fandom and why?

75% of my stories are Star Trek stories, about 15% MASH, and then there are some other genres, like Quantum Leap and Highlander. I have a MASH/HL xover series, involving Radar becoming Duncan's protégé after the series end in 1998. I tie in events like Amanda's departure, Connor's return, Richie's death, as well as the shattered trust between Macleod and Methos.

But ST remains my one true. I was born on 8/15/66, and my Mom was a fan
from the beginning. By 71', when the reruns were a weekend fixture on WPIX Channel 11, NYC ( Its home for 27 years! ), I was watching the spaceship battles and the phaser fights and slowly realizing that there was something more to it.  Of course I watched other shows, including Lost In Space, ST's competitor of sorts. When I had my versions of Peter Kirk and Saavik meet Will and Penny Robinson, it was a dream come true.

ST says that we finally rounded the corner, but that corner was just the beginning. All our old challenges re-present themselves, in new and sometimes terrifying forms. It is optimism, with both eyes wide open. We didn't coast there--and if we don't remember all that has gone before, we will slide back.

Each version of ST has a power all its own. A unique place, a moment in history that it embodies. TOS showed us hope and glory. TNG showed us the triumph of reason. DS9 reminded us that the triumph of reason is never a settled matter. Voyager has shown us that when all seems lost, all you have are your ideals to fall back on.

When I write it, I try to create the world we all see on screen, and then throw in my own viewpoint. I usually try to make sure my viewpoint is something that could conceivably be seen on-screen. Therefore, Kirk can joke about being a 'reformed womanizer' but any serious speech about it is out. First of all, I don't believe he is a womanizer, and second, it would just be out of character for him to say so, except in private.
I will extrapolate from things implied on-screen, but if The Doctor told Chakotay that Seska's child really had been his, and that he only lied to mess her up, there would be no point. They can't go back to get the child, Chakotay would never forgive this, and whoever else knew would be a pariah. I'm sure that could lead to a very good story--but I wouldn't want to write it. On the other hand, I enjoyed writing a mystical piece where Chakotay explained to Tom the unseen reasons for the course of events on the ship.

Who are your favourite characters and what drew you to write about them?

My favorite characters are Captains Kirk and Sisko. One is Arthur, moving in an ultimately futile quest to keep the Kingdom at its peak.  The other is Arthur's little noted successor, King Constantine, who must aspire to survival after Camelot has fallen. Besieged on all sides, they endure against every foe, and are never appreciated fully until they vanish, perhaps never to walk among us again. Picard is Arthur at the Kingdom's peak of glory, and Janeway is the leader of a band of Celts fleeing Camelot's ruin, seeking to keep its ideals alive in foreign
realms, whose songs already speak of The Cycle.

Wow!  I really love this analogy, and put like this, it's very poignant.

From reading your stories, I'm not sure if I could describe you as a relationshipper, which is not to say that you don't write that way at all; I just don't think it's a dominant factor in your work.  So tell me instead, what are the motivating forces behind your stories?

I am not primarily a relationshipper, since I take a one-time approach to most canon or canonically extrapolated relationships.  Most times, I want to write THE J/C, P/C, etc. story. I may have succeeded in P/C with 'Remembering The Great Man.'  In this story, part of my 'Starting Over' AU, Beverly mourns Jean-Luc, who died on Veridian 3.  Speaking of how she's finally forgiven Kirk, now Captain Of The E, she unleashes all her emotions at the headstone, and literally faints. The response was to me, overwhelming.

That said, I have three main relationships that I write regularly.

1 - Saavik/Peter Kirk (Ancient Destroyer AU)- Using the AU concept to its fullest, I made these versions of the oft neglected characters the children of Kirk and Spock. (Though not by each other ;)) In this, I seek to answer--how do abused children get past it all?  Is true love possible when both have been destroyed over and over?
Their parentage gave them the strength to get through it all--but it could not protect them when the monsters came.

Best Moment : When Peter risked his sanity by bonding with a dying Saavik in the throes of Pon Farr, not merely out of love, but out of gratitude for her earlier rescue of him from the corrupt Admiralty.

Worst Moment : In a fit of petty rage, the sexually abused young lovers take turns raping each other, almost ending everything between them.

2 - Kirk/Uhura - (Ancient Destroyer Universe) In the ADU, Jim and Nyta
met on Tarsus Four, and joined to overthrow Kodos.  Making wild love thereafter, 16 year old Jimmy was floored to learn that his full figured, capable companion--was only 13. Since K/U, in my opinion, is an inherently unequal relationship, I decided to play off that fact.
I use the rank difference as a metaphor for Uhura's lesser role in the TOS eps/movies.  She's frustrated by, but understands it, to an extent.  Jim fears being seen as abusing his authority over her. Nyta fears being seen as a 'Captain's Woman.'  I try to emphasize how a common discomfort and recognition of role difference delays, but does not destroy, the long-term attraction between the two.

Best Moment : After Deneva 3, the two combine to give Peter Kirk a month
of the childhood he will never otherwise have.

Worst Moment : After the 2271 refit and the beginning of the second mission,
(which in the ADU began without interruption), the two part ways, lying to themselves about the need they both have.  Only the return of Peter in 2278, after he was believed dead for ten years, rekindles things--albeit slowly and clumsily.

Riker/Troi (Starting Over AU) - Not much to say here, except that Deanna is more interested than ever in the Command Track, an interest encouraged by her newest stepfather, Captain Kirk. Riker wants the pieces of his life, including his father (now married to Pulaski), Tom, and Deanna to all come together before he makes that fateful final bid for the center seat. Added to the mix is a Captain perhaps a little too much like himself, and the loss of a beloved mentor in the death of Jean-Luc Picard.

Best Moment : In a scene I swear I wrote well before "Insurrection," the two find they are seized by fits of uncontrollable laughter. When R/T find Kirk and Lxwana together for the first time, the laughter grows wilder still.

Worst moment : Will accuses Deanna of ladder-climbing when she takes her
stepfather's last name. Deanna, somewhat bitterly, points out that she has never had the opportunity to turn down a Command, as Will has.

In the end, relationships are not the motivation for my stories. I can't pin down what is, except to provide these examples:

1 - Ancient Destroyer - What If all those old Japanese monster movies were as scary today as they were when we were 10 years old? What if it all fell apart, and only Captain Kirk could make it right, without the story seeming completely silly? What if ultra violent Japanimimation were mixed with Primal ST characterizations?
How could all this be accomplished while keeping the AU recognizable?

2 - Starting Over - What If Captain Kirk had survived Veridian 3, to then go on and Captain The E? Who would be mad, glad, sad, etc.? Would his return always be a good thing? Does the 23rd Century legend dog the 24th Century immigrant? What happens to The TNG crew when its leader is gone?

3 - The Never Ending Battle - Does making Hawkeye Pierce and the rest of
the 4077th interact with a Sci-Fi/Fantasy world make them less human or does it make Highlander, Forever Knight, X-Files, etc. seem more accessible?

4 - The Infinite Paths - They are derisively called Mary Sues. But when
Peter and Saavik Kirk (Ancient Destroyer) meet Wesley Crusher (Starting Over, after Picard's death) and their multiversal journey picks up Immortal Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly (Never Ending Battle), they find that their can-do solve-all-problems facade is just that.  Peter and Saavik have just endured a painful forced annulment; Wes's time abilities could not restore Captain Picard to life; former farm boy Walter is still torn by his participation in the brutal Game Immortals play.
They then encounter a young couple who have it even worse. In isolation on a colony world, the young man and woman have begun a sexual/romantic relationship that is revealed to be non abusive but utterly taboo. They are Will and Penny Robinson, from Lost In Space. To make matters go directly to their worst, they are targeted by Anti-Mary Sue, Anthony Fremont, the 'Cornfield' boy from 'The Twilight Zone.' What happens when Wunderkinder encounter a less subtle version of Damien Thorne? Rerouting a system just ain't gonna cut it.

What do you think makes for a good story?

The only thing I can think of is that the characters must have their voice. If, when I write Kirk & Riker, you don't hear without effort Shatner & Frakes, then I have failed.

When you read another author's fan fiction what do you look for?  Are these elements to be found in your own work?

When I read around, I look for clever takes on common wisdom. An excellent High Lander story has a beheading on Holy Ground, and had The Kurgan responsible for Joe Dawson's artificial limbs. Despite later canon, it kept the interactions true, and neither Highlander was diminished. I try to avoid grim-for-grim's sake, the whole 'Darker Still' scenario that embodies X-Men. No offense, but if you are at 11:59 PM, eventually, one must eventually reach and depict midnight--without time travel.  Stories can be grim--Rick Endres'
'Serenidad' series embodies this.  But it also shows the self-defeating nature of rapacious evil, whose advocates never know contentment, even in victory.

In an ST story, I look for explanations and follow-ups TPTB miss out on. Again, voice is critical. If Jean-Luc Picard uses the F-Word, it must be so carefully set up as to almost not be worth it.

Do your stories have any themes, such as loss, belonging, abandonment etc?  What are they, and are you trying to blend these themes with your sense of the ridiculous?

My main theme is that TV-Land is a 'real' place, waiting just around the corner. It is alive and vital, though, not at all 'Pleasantville.'  Actions we have seen on screen have consequences. Darrin Stephens' (Bewitched) frequent downing of Martinis leads to liver problems, although he actually gives up this habit without the usual movie of the week routine--or his wife's magic. Harriet Olsen (Little
House) eventually tells her twisted adoptive daughter Nancy 'No.'  But it is too little, too late, and the psychotic girl turns on and kills the unrepentant busybody.  Since 'Lost In Space' never solved the question of Penny and Will's long-term needs, I was forced to craft a taboo solution--with a twist. Their physical relationship, it turns out, is one they can live with. But loneliness has forced another consequence--they are in love. But for all this, it is still TV Land, and things move as we've seen them. The story with Darrin's drinking (Ensign Stephens) does not focus on that, but rather on a time traveling USS Voyager.  Harriet Olsen's fate is addressed briefly at the end of the story (Little Horseman On The Prairie--featuring Methos of HL) but the main focus is on an attack in Walnut Grove by the Melvin Koren gang, leading to an early Methos-Kronos battle. The LIS incest story line holds within it several secrets, one of which lessens the disaster.
The Robinson family survives this turn because, despite slips, they are still the strong family we saw and loved on the small screen. TVLand may morph, but we must know the point of divergence, otherwise, its just a story with named and licensed characters.

I'd like to share an example of your writing style, please choose a scene from one of your completed works and describe what you are trying to achieve in the snippet (dialogue or narrative direction).

I chose this scene as my absolute best.  It doesn't involve my usual humor, but it was actually exhausting to write. In it, part of the main arc of The 'Ancient Destroyer' Cycle, Kirk has just learned that Spock kept vital information from him. The events of this AU have driven the two apart on a fundamental level. Now, the greatest friendship in all of ST---dissolves in fire.

From "Behold, The Ancient Destroyer!" ....
Chapter Nineteen - If Tomorrow Comes

 "You--knew that my son was alive?"

Spock nodded, wrongly sensing that Jim's overwhelming fury had snuffed itself out somehow. In truth, he merely sat at the eye of this vast emotional storm,  uncomprehending of the flesh-ripping winds beyond. Neither man yet knew how close  this clumsily-unleashed torrent had come to killing Peter and Saavik.

 "After David explained his 'dream' to me at Peter's funeral, I approached Admiralty  Hall--and there, I sensed--you. Or, Rather, I sensed a psyche so like your own it  could only have been Peter. Jim - I had many reasons for not telling you."

His eyes reflecting fervent prayers that all this was not so, Kirk turned around, unable to bear looking at Spock.

 "Spock--do you know what they did to him there?"

 Spock now felt the emotional cascade, and realized too late that he had chosen the wrong manner in which to tell Kirk this wrenching news. Unsure of his footing, he attempted to retreat into the safety of the logical approach. But there was no safety to be had on that day.

"Based on what we now know of The Order's activities, I would assume that Peter was sexually assaulted, prior to being cast into cryo-stasis."

 Spock only tangentially saw Kirk grip the chair he was holding. He did not register at all how quickly the Captain smashed him in the face with it's bottom supports.   He only felt himself falling back, in no small amount of pain. The next thing he heard was Kirk's ranting. His voice was full of salt and fury.

"Three-Hundred-Times, Spock. They RAPED him three-hundred-times!"

 Amazed that his jaw was neither smashed off nor broken, Spock took in this information.

"How could he survive? The blood loss involved would be staggering."

 This time, the chair caught Spock in the chest, but he went back no further.

"Blood loss? What about a young man's dignity and self-worth? His sense of safety?  Spock, those slimy bastards broke him with their bodies. They--invaded my boy.  Killed my Mother."

"For which you blame me?"

"Don't be foolish. I couldn't have stopped them. But I could have avenged my family, Spock. Because my best friend knew it all. My older son contacted his younger brother, David. Told him via some kind of telepathy where he was. Despite Carol's warning, David told you. You reasoned out the rest.  Carol I understand---she was afraid David's dream would upset me. That--and she was just plain nuts, sometimes.  But you? You, Spock, I have to admit, I have never understood--at all. Wasn't destroying your own child enough? You wanted mine, too?"

When Spock took umbrage at this and got up, Kirk swatted him again with his cushioned bludgeon. This time, though, Spock deflected some of it with his arm.

"You don't like what I'm saying, Mister? Too Freaking Bad! My son lay in that hell with those demons for Ten Years. He survived what was done to him because they pumped him full of genetic accelerants. Do you know what 'Pierce Syndrome' is, Spock?"

The contempt in Kirk's voice was crystal-clear.

"Pierce Syndrome is an extreme form of personality detachment. When genetic accelerants are used to artificially evolve a subject, motor, cognitive and social skills must be completely relearned. The subject often describes 'leaving themselves behind.'  Jim--I am sorry."

When Kirk swung the chair twice again, Spock ducked it entirely, and each time it hit the transparent duranium alloy window looking out into space.

"Spock--I honestly don't know if you're sorry. I only know that--you are going to be sorry."

This time, he hurled the chair at Spock, missing him entirely, striking at the same spot as before. Kirk pulled back his fist and threw a punch, which Spock stopped in mid-throw with one hand.

"This has gone far enough. You will permit me to explain myself, and I will not permit you to destroy me."

Kirk spat in his face.  "Screw You."

Feeling his own self-control almost vanish, Spock savagely back-handed Kirk, who went flying.

"No, Jim. Screw You."

But the warrior in Kirk knew exactly whom he was attacking, and had rolled with the blow to a large extent. He ran forward and rammed his head into an exhausted Spock's stomach, putting him clean against the wall. He punched Spock square in the nose.

"That was for my son!"

Spock turned for the next punch, but still caught much of it.

"That was for my daughter!"

Moving furiously, Kirk still managed to strike the side of Spock's head as he pulled away.

"That was for their first marriage, which you dissolved in a kangaroo court!"

Barely thinking, Spock kicked Kirk in the shin, then punched him in the stomach, actually lifting him up as he did.

"Hear me, Jim! I will not be pushed much further. Moreover, Saavik is now my daughter once again. You and your son have made her far too human for her own good. I thank you for your efforts--clumsy as they were."

Kirk did not move against Spock right then. Grabbing his stomach, unsure of whether his guts would hold together, he sneered at his once-brother.

"You must be nuts, if you think I am ever entrusting that young woman's care to a man whose life is little more than a series of psychotic episodes? Why should I? So you can re-annul her marriage? Maybe force her not to have the child?"

 Spock had not questioned his own rationality in this confrontation. This changed once he spoke his next words.  "Both those things, may, in fact, become neccessary to restore her emotional balance."

As he felt Kirk foot-sweep him, Spock realized in horror what he had been doing. Why he had chosen to be alone with Jim when he told him. Why he had almost dismissed how Peter--a young man now fully a member of his own family--had been brutalized by The Order. He knew it all, now. But things were too far along. Kirk yelled out.

"Who are You? I Don't Know You! Was it all always an act? Our friendship? Our lives
 running this ship? Are you a traitor or just a functional psychotic?"

Spock shoved Kirk against the window, hard.

"You are a fool. What I did, I did for you. Had you moved to rescue your son, we would all be dead now. They were The Admiralty, Captain! They knew exactly how to destroy us. Had I told you, you would have been unable to not respond.
It was Peter's life and your happiness against the lives of billions threatened by those coup-hungry lunatics. In that, I have no regrets. To fulfill my many oaths, I chose to sacrifice one young life. I will apologize to Peter for this, and then to Saavik for being a poor absentee father."

Furious, Kirk then tripped Spock, caught him, and hurled him at that same Briefing Room window. He bounced off, and hit the floor. Kirk stood and pointed.

"Don't you go near my boy, you coward! And you were not an absentee father to Saavik-- I was! YOU weren't around enough to be an absentee father. To you, she's a posession. To me--she's beautiful. Do you know what your excuses did to her self-confidence? She only recently decided to let Peter tell her how pretty she is."

Spock looked up, plaintively.  "I was in pain, Jim. I had been used, betrayed by Sybok, and had Saavik torn from my arms. I was forced to leave her behind. My shame overwhelmed me, and she suffered for it."

But Kirk was having none of it.  "I am so damned sick and tired of hearing about your pain. You're in pain, so The Enterprise is diverted to Vulcan. You're in pain, so the Babel Conference is badly jeopardized. You're in pain, so you let a god-damned flower with attitude lead you to mutiny. You're in pain, and so you start to become like Gary when Q gave you half his powers. Your pain drove you to end those kids blessed union, even though you were half a galaxy away on Q'Onos. No more, Spock. I can't handle the pain of a man
 who, in theory, should be more than able to do it himself, and yet insists on exporting
 it to everyone else. You and Me--We're Done."

No words could have cut Spock more deeply.

"I beg you--do not say that. As for my pain--you have viewed the parlor tricks of our Vulcan emotional regimen. You have seen the discipline, the strength, the endurance.  But you do not see the struggle. The struggle to maintain the control. The struggle to maintain the peace. The struggle--to be your friend, Jim. You make it so hard, sometimes. After our first five years, I considered a retreat to Gol. I--needed that retreat. But you needed me here, with you. A choice was made. That choice was made on your behalf. As was the choice to protect you at Peter's expense. Despite my failings, can you not see past the 'overman' facade and accept that I have suffered on your behalf? That boy has restored Saavik's soul. For that, I love him--and again, because he is his father's son. We are a family, Jim. We have each played our role in building it. Can you not at least thank me for taking the burden of the very sorriest role?"

Jim desperately wanted to end the confrontation, to bring back the bond between the two friends that was reflected in their children. But the fact that Spock could have helped Peter, when the boy was in Hell, hit him once again, and all the good reasons vanished in an instant.

Kirk kicked Spock in the ribs.  "Don't do me any favors."

Time in the Vulcan's mind spun back 5000 years in that one moment. In a cold casual movement, he threw Kirk back against the wall by the Briefing Room window.  As a stunned Kirk stood there, a  Spock driven by two kinds of adrenaline ripped the Briefing Room Table out from its moorings, and held it over his head. Kirk attempted to rush him, but was kicked back again. He stared at the thing that was once closer to him than his own breath. He shuddered when he realized what was really going on. But again, it was far too late.

Spock threw the table at Kirk.

Kirk ran, and the table missed him entirely. It did not, however, miss the oft-beaten window, weakened in the battle with Ghidorah, and further weakened by their own savagery. They both stared over at it.

At first, it merely seemed to vibrate. A sudden remembrance about slagged computer systems and supressive force-fields now rendered inoperable came over them. As the window briefly turned into silicate-based, framed, crushed ice, the two stared at one another once again.

Suddenly, Spock saw his own errors with such crystal clarity, he wondered why Jim hadn't tried to kill him years ago. Or for that matter, why Saavik herself hadn't.

Suddenly, Jim saw the way he sometimes took those he loved for granted, and wondered why Spock or Peter had ever bothered returning to him. Or why Nyta stuck by him, through it all.

As the vacuum claimed the first minute particle of window, they turned and said the same two words to each other.

"Forgive Me."

The next word was just as simultaneous.

"Forgiven."

Now the window was gone, and the eternal night pulled them into its airless embrace. Kirk and Spock were together again-perhaps for the last time.

.... End of Scene

I am unequivocally an evolving writer, with my best work well ahead of me. My evolution to date throws me whenever I read my first works from 98'. Hint : I knew not of formatting.

How do you keep improving your skills, what help did/do you have?

I really have yet to use a beta. My WebTV's limitations mean that I must write and post it all on the fly, and go back later if I so choose.

Is professional publication your goal or are you just having fun?

I am having a lot of fun, but would like to go pro--but with my own stories, not licensees.

Which of your own stories would you recommend to the Internet reader and why?

The work of mine that I would recommend to The Internet reader would be hands down, 'Dear Connor.'  It was my first Highlander/MASH story, set in 1952, and is most like what an actual XO ep would be like for both shows. Written as a correspondence to Connor Macleod from Duncan Macleod, it relates Duncan's month and a half as a medic at the 4077th. The two worlds mix and match well, as certain MASHers are revealed as Watchers and Immortals. Others have secrets of their own, and absolutely everyone is in perfect voice and character. (IMHO)

You have a chance to recommend another fan fiction, not your own, what would it be and who is the author(s)? (consider any pairing or characters)

Other authors I would recommend :

Istannor - The TOS Correspondence series; Randy Landers - Chekov's Enterprise; Marlissa Campbell - Funeral Arrangements; Dave Rogers - The Virtues Series; Paul Gadzikowski - T*R*E*K*, as well as Doctor Who XO's.
Kevin Johnston - 'Shadows And Suns' and 'Enterprise Awakened'; Jungle Kitty - Creator of Captain Brandt; Wildcat - Best S/U author and Eleiece Krawiec - High-powered Quantum Leap author, very deep characterization.

[Author's Web Page]

Would you recommend this exercise to another author?

This questionnaire is an excellent mental exercise, and a lot of fun, too.
I recommend it heartily.

Is there a question that you wished I had asked, if so what was it?

What is your greatest failure as a writer, and what form did that failure take?

Now, answer your own question! :-)

My greatest failure was the original version of 'Behold, The Ancient Destroyer!'. It was badly formatted. It attempted to tell way too much story in too little time. I ignored the enmity between Godzilla-Fans and ST-fans until I woke up, and then wasted my time trying to convert the hard-core antis on either side, rather than listening to those people who liked the story but had some valid criticisms of it. I didn't even introduce Captain Kirk until the end of Chapter Five. I used too much monster, and not enough story. Ultimately, I could bear no more, and walked away. This was my smartest decision to date. I restarted the series with a short called 'Peter's Christmas,' a story superior by far to the overwrought 'masterwork' I left behind.

Then, a few months into the new series, I learned the old one had been named a 'Best Smeller' by Godawful Trek. I became vengeful, whiny, and defensive. I slammed them back on the NG, never admitting to myself that, their tone aside, GATF was merely stating the reasons I walked away. Worst of all, my tirade started a multi-week flame war that I was soooo glad to see die. I posted a mea culpa, but by then the NG's well was poisoned, and it took time to clear. I had started a big to-do over a piece that I suddenly raised up to masterpiece level through rose-colored memory.

In the end, this inspired me to get the series away from monsters and space ships, even more so than I had already done. So I reconnected Peter and Saavik, and made them young troubled lovers.
'I'm A Believer,' the story that dealt, very explicitly, with the rapes the two had suffered as children, was a turning point in many ways.  Ironically, someone on GATF's BBS nominated IAB, but couldn't remember its name. Realizing that this story, too, could have been done better, I offered its name up on the BB. I wouldn't say it was entirely maturity that drove me.  I mainly hope that this helps to erase my prolonged 'How Dare You Not Like It?!' phase from public memory.  Eventually, IAB will be revised as well.

So more so than the story, that phase of my writing is a great failure, and I fear it may have given me a rep as having a temper, though I hope this is not the case.

While good came of it, it came the hard way, to be certain.

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me, Rob, and for your patience!
 

The featured author's recommended own work :
Dear Connor
Rob's short stories
Rob's Ancient Destroyer Series

E-Mail the featured author :
Rob Morris

The featured author recommends *you* read :

Istannor - The TOS Correspondence series

Randy Landers - Chekov's Enterprise

Marlissa Campbell - Funeral Arrangements

Dave Rogers - The Virtues Series

Paul Gadzikowski - T*R*E*K*, as well as Doctor Who XO's.

Kevin Johnston - 'Shadows And Suns' and 'Enterprise Awakened'
(Kevin currently has no Web page. Contact Rob for further information)

Jungle Kitty - Creator of Captain Brandt

Wildcat - Best S/U author

Eleiece Krawiec - High-powered Quantum Leap author, very deep characterization
 
 

 Complete the Circle