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Fire PlainsAuthor - JadziaKathryn | F | Genre - Angst | Genre - Challenge: Sincerest Form of Flattery | Rating - G
Fan Fiction Main Page | Stories sorted by title, author, genre, and rating “Sincerest Form of Flattery” CHALLENGE Fire Plains By JadziaKathryn Rating: G The Fire Plains of Vulcan, churning below them, were the most alien thing about the planet. Viscous lava seethed with an intensity that it seemed out of place in the ordered manner of the rest of the planet and, moreover, its inhabitants. As far as Trip Tucker could see, the multi-hued rocks at temperatures fatal to all know life rose and fell, playing out a dance that had been going on for millennia before he viewed it and would continue on for millennia after. T’Pol was marrying Koss, and it would have been far, far better if she’d done it three years ago instead of playing with his heart. Inviting him to her home was too much: he thought it was a new step in their relationship, meeting her mother, and instead she was going to marry another man. The chimera below mocked him, taunting him as a fool for believing he could ever have a future with her, taunting him for believing he knew her at all. Vulcans would have the rest of the galaxy think that they were unchanging, but T’Pol was proving that they could be as fickle as the Fire Plains. He doubted that she would appreciate the irony. In his self-absorption, he did not try to see through T’Pol’s façade, did not probe her as he had previously. It had not been successful by any means, and he wondered what kind of fool he was to believe that a human and Vulcan could have a relationship that worked. Oh, there was the other timeline, and Lorian, but that was a false hope. That they managed a relationship in an isolated ship from the future was hardly a good comparison to the world that they lived in. A thought surface like a new patch of glowing lava: he was jealous of that other version of himself. There were a lot of other things he missed out on, but he had T’Pol’s love. He pushed it back into the depths from which it came. There was nothing as useless as envying another timeline. He could not bring himself to say anything, but continued to stare away from her at the Fire Plains, as if the place she used to frequent held the answers that only she could provide. She had allowed him the silence, giving him the space he needed, but now approached him anew. He did not appreciate the intrusion, while wondering if it was the last time she would stand so close unless it was related to her duties. - We should begin the journey back. It is a dangerous path once the suns set. He nodded mutely and looked to the edge of the Fire Plains for another moment, seeing the shadows form. He understood that he was a man who deluded himself into thinking he could have what would be forever out of his reach, and he ached with anger and regret. If you want to know which author JadziaKathryn was imitating, check out the "Sincerest Form of Flattery" Challenge: Author List Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS! A whole mess of folks have made commentsOh, goody, goody! I finally get to guess! Sigh. Unfortunately, I have no clue. Okay... I'll throw out the humorous and irreverent ones. I don't think it's Poe, either (not spooky enough)... or Twain (not down-homey enough). Bronte always wrote in first person, so it's not her. Conan Doyle's "Lost World" was very descriptive, but also in first person. Could be Joyce, I suppose... but I don't think it's obscure or disgusting enough. Not enough internal dialogue for Herbert. The pain and regret could be Hemingway, but he wasn't so fancy with his descriptions. I suppose it could still be Hemingway with a touch of JadziaKathryn. : D OK, let's follow Dis' lead and approach it methodically. The approved list is: Douglas Adams It might be Pratchett, Tolkein, Hemingway. I don't know Bronte or Fielding so I can't include them. Pratchett is a real possibility. His later work is growing increasingly rich with emotional depth. Tolkein simply wasn't that introspective. Hemingway was too full of himself to write something that sympathetic. Based on my experience, I am going to say Pratchett, i.e. his later Discworld Vimes novels. So... JK. Are you gonna put us out of our misery? Who's right? Is either one of us correct? Oh, I didn't think I was allowed to say. Neither one of you has got it. I've actually never read Pratchett at all - sorry, BnB! Douglas Adams = no I can only conclude that it must be Bronte or Fielding. Otherwise I am stumped. I've read Bronte. She writes in first person as the narrator of the story. I've never read Fielding, but her best known book when I searched was "Bridget Jone's Diary"... I've heard of that and it bears no resemblance to this that I know of. We must be missing something, BnB. It's a good story, JK... I just don't see the resemblance to anyone on the list. Can you point out the elements in your story that you feel characterise the author you're trying to emulate? Wow...I promise that it is an imitation of one of the listed authors! The last line in particular emulates one of this author's most famous lines - also a last line. Here's the thing: I didn't imitate this author's "seminal" work. I'm tricky. C'mon, y'all. That last line is a dead giveaway--even if I didn't know who the author is.
Tolkien? What are they teaching in the public schools these days? These days? I'm 45. I can validly claim enroaching senility. It can't be Poe. It isn't grim enough to be Poe. It isn't horrible enough for Poe. It isn't perverted enough for Poe. There is no death in it. Poe is out. Sorry, guys. "Aching with anger and regret" just doesn't ring any bells. I must not have read any of this author's "non-seminal" works. You're too tricky for me, JK... and I went to private school. ; ) Well, the piece this emulates was required reading for my Fiction Writing Class at a public university. (Oddly enough, it's an author I don't even like.) Does that make you feel better, Bucky? I never took any fiction writing class. I took a technical writing class. And chemistry. And classes on soil science, and erosion control, and population dynamics, and statistics, and stuff like that. Required reading for a fiction writing class, huh? Then not a modern writer like Fielding or Adams or Pratchett. Probably not an SF writer either. They don't get no respect amongst the literary intelligentsia... and JK has confirmed that it's NOT Hemingway, Poe, Tolkien or Pratchett. I still don't think it's gross enough to be Joyce. That leaves only Twain, Conan Doyle and Bronte of the non-SF writers. And JK doesn't like the author. Hmmm. Never met anyone who didn't like Twain. I suppose Bronte could have written something in 3rd person, but I've never read it. Conan Doyle maybe? Didn't he write some angsty stuff in his Sherlock Holmes novels? My guess is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Douglas Adams = no I am officially stumped. It just doesn't smell like Doyle to me Dis. Doyle wasn't that angry. Have pity. I am going to go down the list, explaining my reasoning for each one. Will you please tell me where I went wrong? Douglas Adams = Humorist. Sarcasm, not angst. No way it is him. Piers Anthony = No. He is too crazy about puns. Charlotte Brontë = ?. I do not know here work at all. Clueless here. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle = No. Doyle wasn't that angry or angsty. He got dark sometimes, but good always triumphed ultimately. Helen Fielding = ?. Same as Bronte. Ernest Hemingway = no, confirmed Frank Herbert = Doubtful. It just feels too depressing to me to be Herbert. James Joyce = hah! No way. That creature could not have produced something this coherent on the best day he ever had. Edgar Allen Poe = no, confirmed Terry Pratchett = no, confirmed JRR Tolkien = no, confirmed Mark Twain = You gotta be kidding. Kurt Vonnegut = Don't think so. Vonnegut is hard edged enough I think. But I somehow don't feel like he is dark enough. Maybe I am wrong. But it doesn't really feel like Vonnegut to me. Sorry, it isn't Doyle, Distracted. If I am dismissing the author out of hand, it is not Bronte or Fielding. Therefore: Charlotte Brontë = no, confirmed Which leaves: Mark Twain = ? If it is a famous short story, I fear that I have not read it. Sorry, I am not a member of the literary intelligentsia. I am a lowbrow who reads science fiction, mysteries, westerns, and very old ballads. Classic literature leaves me insensate. Having just graduated from a public high school a few months back, I'm woefully unprepared to hazard a guess. But I think it's James Joyce going with the whole epiphany thing he had in his short stories. *sigh*...I guess this is what I get for going to a high school with a 25% English proficiency..... Just looking back at my comment I can't believe how horrible my grammar was. "Woefully unprepared" makes no sense. I mean woefully prepared. Point proven! :D And I can't believe I didn't comment on the story. Either way, it was beautifully written. I've always liked stories about Trip's inner thoughts dealing with "Home", it's a very interesting episode with lots of possibilities. Great job! I guess the only ones it can be are either James Joyce or Kurt Vonnegut. I really don't think this story captures the feel of either of their work at all, but you're the author, so if you say that's what you were trying to do, then I'll have to take your word for it. I'll toss a coin and say James Joyce, too. Thanks for the clue, Gammaent. "Epiphany" is not something I'd associate with Joyce, but there's definitely one in this story. You'll have to pardon me if I don't go back and read a Joyce short story to make sure. Life's too short. I'd MUCH rather read this one. : D Well, James Joyce's "Araby" ends with "...and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." Great research, Bether! You're so brave to go back and read it, LOL! Guess that settles it, then. Did Gammaent win, JK? I also said epiphany beacuse James Joyce's short story collection 'Dubliners' has epiphany in I believe every story as a literary device. Perhaps public schools do teach a thing or too even today! :) Why do I always eat my own words? I meant teach a thing or two...nvm...I'll just be quiet and enjoy reading all the great stories and give up attempting to sound coherent. Stop fussing, Gammaent, or you might end up sounding like me. Besides, imperfection is a GOOD thing. Perfect is boring. In my book, anyway. I suppose I can see some of the similarities in this story and 'Araby'. The boy in the story likes a girl and he ends up feeling down about love. This is from my generic perspective, of course. What's with these authors anyway? Couldn't they find any joy in life? You know, see the beauty in small things? Sigh. Guess I'm O/T again. Good story, though. I guess I see your point, Bether. I suppose I just had my blinders on. The possibility did honestly occur to me while I was reading it, but when JK's lovely descriptions didn't degenerate into something that made me want to toss my cookies, I crossed Joyce off the list. I suppose it would make sense that EVERYTHING the man wrote wasn't disgusting, otherwise no one would read his work. ; ) Joyce it is! "Araby" in particular was the model. Gammaent and Bether were both spot-on. Kudos! Thank goodness! I was afraid that there was something wrong with me! But it was Joyce all along, so I feel much better about myself now. :) Y'all should go read "Dubliners." "Araby" is just one of many fine stories. Probably the most famous is "The Dead." It was made into a movie a while back. Surely you jest madam. Read something by Joyce voluntarily? A freely consenting adult? Who is not incarcerated and under threat of torture? Bah. I had nooooooo idea. But then again, I'm the poor little university student with not much beyond "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Lord of the Flies" under my belt. Well, that and some Shakespeare. Anything else is done on my own time. Heck, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was on my own time. My school made us read "The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson", and if you've heard of that, I salute you. Nicely done, JK! :) Yay! And why can't I be paranoid, that's just part of who I am (and goes with being a university student!). I myself have never read any of Joyce's work either, just known some literary theory pertaining to him. And I'd much, much, much rather read your work than Joyce's! "Lord of the Flies"? I absolutely HATED that story and could never understand why they made middle school students read it. It's just plain sick. Anyway, it was fun trying to guess the author here. I actually pulled out one of my college books to reread "Araby". This site is quite educational. : ) There are just a couple of the listed authors I haven't read, Joyce is one of them. Didn't have a clue who it was supposed to be - didn't stop me enjoying it though. Well done! They made middle school students read Lord of the Flies for the same reason that they made us read West Side Story in Freshman Literature. The entire functional purpose of public English classes is to destroy the students interest in reading. No other explanation makes any supportable sense. Why else do they consistently pick the worst of the worst to cram down the poor kids throats? It was a horror that haunts my dreams to this very day. That merciless woman hammered and hammered away at the parallels between West Side Story vs. Romeo and Juliet over and over and over again. She kept droning on about the similarities between Juliet on the balcony and what's her name on the fire escape until I wanted to climb up on the desk and shriek in agony, "I GET IT! I GET IT! HAVE PITY ON US WOMAN! WE ALL GET IT!" But she was relentless. By the end of the semester we were all glazed eyed zombies who flinched at cowered at the mere mention of Shakespeare's name. To this day, I cannot read the man's work anymore. The only play's or poems of old Will's that I have read in my life are the ones that I read on my own time, on middle school, prior to taking that Freshman English class. It is a wonder I did not stop reading entirely. Sorry. I apologize for my outburst. Conditioned reflex. A bad teacher, eh? Don't feel bad. It could be worse. I once took a creative writing class in college where our professor read us a story that included some rather grotesque scenes between a human and a pig. He then proceeded to discuss it in great detail. Not that any of you needed to know that...I just think that perhaps it would be a better idea if schools would focus on the positive aspects of human nature a little bit more. Or, at least, show a lesson learned from bad experiences or prejudices. Or a way for us to improve our ways of thinking and behavior etc.etc. Like say, for instance, the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". One of my favorites. I realize this current discussion is off-topic, so I'm going to stop talking now. Funny how a story can lead you down the O/T path. Sorry. Well, I have to agree that high school English by and large ruins those classics that are any good to begin with. Anyway, I'm excited that my story generated all this discussion. =) Thanks to everyone who read and left nice reviews. Now it's someone else's turn! (Wink, nudge.) Tee hee. My turn again. |