The "adult" tag on a production automatically gives people connotations that it has graphic sex in it but this isn't always so. In some cases it is course language or graphic violence that makes it unsuitable for those who don't like to be confronted by that kind of thing or who do not want their children to be exposed to it.
However Star Trek was never created to be a children's or young adult program, it's target demographic has been identified as the 18-25 male audience many times so it is actually surprising that it hasn't got more material in it that is not suitable for the young. The answer is probably that the studio executives believed, probably correctly, that American TV and movie audiences weren't ready for a wide release franchise that graphically tested the edges of social conventions.
This is not to say that Star Trek was without confrontation and sex appeal, simply that it was more subtle and, perhaps because of this, had a bigger impact. Who does not know of Kirk and Uhura's first interracial kiss, which is held up as ground-breaking? I know that for an impressionable young boy, some of the costumes were quite sweat-provoking - and I don't just mean the mini skirts...
Star Trek fans have no such restrictions placed on their fertile imaginations, they are continually asking 'what if?' What if McCoy had not been there in the Vulcan arena to revive Kirk in 'Amok Time'? What if things had gone against Kirk & Spock on Organia in 'Errand of Mercy'? Of course, hopeless romantics that we are, many fans ponder the possibilities of romantic entanglements between canon characters, not just the ones known to exist, like Chakotay and Seven of Nine, but the unrequited affairs, like Chakotay and Janeway, and the more unusual ones like Chakotay and Tom Paris! To take the bull by the horns, gay romance is one of the mainstays of Star Trek romantic fiction, ranging from platonic 'hurt/comfort' stories to sweaty slash epics!
Today, we at TrekUnited release the second of our adult anthologies,
Click on the cover above to browse or download this free pdf anthology
of Star Trek fan fiction. With close to 400 pages of fiction and
artwork, this is another collation of peer acclaimed work that explores
relationships and genres from comedy to horror.
Whilst everyone loves a good book, personally I find short stories to be more to my taste.
Writing a good story is not necessarily easier than writing a good novel. In a book you have time to expand and develop on characters and scenarios, subplots and red-herrings, you have the opportunity to give real depth and subtlety to your story by going into detail over things of importance and peppering the text with allusions to you theme. A short story writer has to either eschew these things or find a way of delivering them with an economy of words that is a real skill.
I fell in love with the short story form through my teenage addiction to science fiction magazines like Analog, Asimov's and their ilk. They were the spawning grounds of the classic SF authors such as Asimov and Heinlein and the stamping grounds of editors like Ben Bova. A short story can fit in the empty spaces of your day - a train journey or a lunchtime - and yet, daisy-chained together as a series, can build to a sweeping saga.
Last year, TrekUnited Publishing introduced the first of our adult trek anthologies, From Quadrant to Quadrant and Person to Person, with the byline, prepare to be seduced by Star Trek, because be very aware, some of these have strong adult themes.
Click on the cover above to browse or download this free pdf anthology of Star Trek fan fiction. With 315 pages of content, punctuated with beautiful sketches and gorgeous screen captures, not to mention a breathtaking photo manipulated cover, the Anthology is a feast for the eyes and can put you, the reader, right into the action.
If you prefer something less adult orientated, try our other anthologies, such as...
Dispatches From The Romulan War , Vol.1 - Salem One
An anthology of short stories by TrekUnited members tells he story of the war, not from the perspective of those who fought it, but from the perspective of the news agencies that reported it, allowing the reader to experience the war just as someone within the Star Trek universe would.
Despatches From The Romulan War , Vol.2 – The Raptor Strikes
The second anthology of short stories by TrekUnited members telling the story of the war, from the perspective of the news agencies that reported it, allowing the reader to experience the war as if they were living through it!
HFO Personal Logs 1 – July 2011
Forget the eInk on your screen and cast yourself back to the seventies, to the days when fans shared their love of Star Trek in 'zines with that personal touch. Smell the ink, dog-ear the pages and revel in the glorious black and white! This month we have five short stories that reflect their author's common passion for The Roddenberry Dream - across all eras, based on canon and non-canon, featuring characters we have come to love and new, original ones!
HFO Personal Logs 2 – Feb 2012
TrekUnited keeps the grand tradition of Trekzines alive with another issue of Personal Logs! Our cover features a powerful action drama by GS Davis, spotlighting characters from his web comic, USS Tamarlane and the art throughout, including specially commissioned portraits by Sean Tourangeau, is stunning!
xxx
Fan film of the day - Star Trek Continues; Ep.1 Pilgrim Of Eternity
Apollo, played by Michael Forest reprising his role in the Original Series, returns to wreak havoc on Kirk and the Enterprise in the first episode of this new series which premiered May 24, 2013 at Phoenix ComiCon. Episode 2 is scheduled to premiere Feb 8-9 2014 at Dallas Comicon/Expo and will guest star Lou Ferrigno.
Fan animation of the day - Mudd In Your I
Tim Vining, producer of the amazing Star Trek: Aurora, has released the first part of his second Star Trek animated feature, " and after watching it all I can say is... Oh My! Harry Mudd, that interstellar rogue, is up to his old tricks--and maybe some new ones. A chance encounter with the old rascal has caused some drastic changes aboard the Aurora, and now Kara and T'Ling must race to catch up with Mudd before it's too late!
Friends. This is the seventh annual tribute I've done to Star Trek fan production under the banner of The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas and, unless I can find a suitable successor, it will be my last. Doing them has given me far more
than I have put into it - it has forced me into attempting projects and productions that I would
never otherwise have even considered doing! It
has brought me in contact with a large section of creative people who
are, by-and-large, pretty damn nice to know!
However all things have their season and this year must be my last.
Before I was a producer or a publisher or any of the grand, illusory titles I've worn. I was an amateur writer, voice actor, artist... I was a creator of works rather than a project manager bringing the works of others to a wider audience and it is time I did so once again. I
turn sixty next year and I feel that it is time for me to work the
plot-bunnies out of my own system! My children are now out in the world
creating their own legends, I have a wife who deserves an attentive
husband now that there are only two of us and, frankly, I need to put my
money where my mouth is to prove that fan production can be a viable
introduction to the creative arts.
Because, believe me, I am passionate in that belief.
I have had the privilege of watching as groups and individuals have taken their love of their fandom, in our case Star Trek in all it's guises, and have created something that has added to the fictional universe, the fanon that we as fans have created to extend on and embellish the world and characters that capture our hearts and minds. It has covered all media and genres, from comedy and romance to horror and tragedy.
Some has been superb and some has been cringeworthy but in all cases it came from the heart. When they have persevered these amateur creators have developed and blossomed, built on the experience of what they have done and advise and feedback of others. Some have remained amateurs, they remain true to the original sense of the word as being someone who does it for love. Others have used their work as a portfolio, a part of their resume or showreel, and gone on to join the ranks of the professionals we all admire.
Never be ashamed of sharing your heart, your love, your passion for it is this that lifts us up from our lives of common drudgery to the stars.
I am in the process of
discharging my existing commitments to TrekUnited Publishing and working
with others to ensure a continuation of the quality fan
fiction publishing we have started over the past two years. This year I am making our work the backbone of the presents that I am laying before you. Twelve blogs linking to free fan productions, some old, some new
releases posted on the
traditional twelve days of Christmas between Christmas and Twelfth
Night.
Beyond that there could
be a few surprises, in the past I've talked the talk but not walked the walk, I
don't want to do that again! However I've pulled a rabbit out of a hat
before now, I might do it again!
