Author's Note 1:

Fork in the Road

-or-

How to Understand the Two Universes I Write In

By Ma Anders

Okay. So if you're reading this you're interested in my writing. Let me start by saying THANK YOU. Even those of us not getting paid need to know someone one out there wants to read - and might even like - our writing. Even if it's only one sentence.

To understand why this document is even necessary, I need to provide a bit of backstory.

Backstory (because I might as well make it obvious, right?)

I work in the space program and have for a long time. I'm there for two reasons:

First, my mother worked there and some very kind people were willing to take time to answer all of a little kid's questions. I cannot repay their enthusiasm, expertise translated to kid level (without being condescending) and investment of time in my future. It's been a great ride and I've loved all the technical parts of it. I do harbor a desire to use bureaucrats as the first humans to be transported one-way into 4th dimensional space, but that's another story...

Second, I am part of the generation Star Trek aimed for. Gene Roddenberry may not have realized it but if that push from my mother's coworkers hadn't been enough, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and especially Spock provided the remaining energy necessary to propel me through years of ridiculously hard and confusing math and science.

So when I found Ff-dot-com one night in Summer 2013 after banging my head against particle physics books for days (I am NOT-NOT-NOT a physicist but all the physicists were out drinking and I needed an answer right away...) I was blown away at the care and devotion given to these characters who have been a part of my life practically forever.

I found myself reading and drawn into one story above all others - Kristen Elizabeth's "Opposite of Logic" [OoL]. The combination of particle physics, sleep deprivation, chocolate intoxication (in lieu of actual meals... *sigh...) and a great story affected me. I began to live in that world and ask "What If?..."

Now as most of you are writers, you understand implicitly how dangerous it is to ask that question and then to let your imagination actually cop some brain cycles to work towards answers. Had I not been zombified due to sleep deprivation and on a carbohydrate high I probably would have moved on.

I didn't. I wrote "For the Love of a Child".

Falling HARD into full on fan fiction addiction, YEARS of imaginative thoughts come roaring back. I dig Spock. Spock made it cool to be smart, sexy and detached about it. Gene Kranz - the mission director for Apollo 13 - was Spock in real life. A cooler more on-top-of-it guy didn't exist during Apollo. So for me the new Spock and the Spock-Uhura thing worked.

The Present Time-Space Coordinate System

I went back to the 2009 movie and "Into Darkness" to really learn the new canon.

Watching the 2009 movie again, J. J. Abram's editing got my attention: Uhura and Kirk have a *very* close on-screen relationship.

In the bar, she's almost inquisitive after he spouts off the description of xeno-linguistics. That's not irritation on her face, that's interest. Don't know if Zoe Saldana meant to play it that way, but it's there.

Then there's the "mouth breather" scene. Uhura's character spends zero time covering up when she throws Kirk out. Okay, maybe I'm old, but dude's under the bed trying not to get caught "hiding the salami" in the Orion roommate and she doesn't even try to cover up? I know you can see more skin on the beach, but why would she show him any of the goodies - even a preview?

Finally, there's the insubordination. Honest to God, if she copped that attitude with me in the middle of a crisis as my subordinate, I'd flush her to the ice planet with Spock Prime. Kirk takes it. James T. Kirk. Really? The guy who defined himself as captain before he had a ship or a diploma? C'mon, man.

Where there's residual nuclear radiation, there's a radioactive substance. Trust me.

So I decided that there's heat between Kirk and Uhura; the kind where - if they were free to explore it - the loving and the fighting would be equally scorching.

And therein lay my problem: I wanted to write both interactions - Spock/Uhura and Kirk/Uhura - and not blow TV and film canon to Kingdom Come (well... not completely to Kingdom Come).

I danced around it for a while (like the coward I am) by writing post "Opposite of Logic" stories. But Kirk kept inserting himself in the middle of my Spock/Uhura work. From this period came "Check Your Work", Chocolate and the Art of Zen Negotiations" and "They Only Serve".

Unsure of how to move forward (and how to eliminate Kirk safely) I wussed out and wrote my own canon to replace OoL as the basis for my universe. The result was "Adaptation", a foundation of my Spock/Uhura universe that now had Kirk bonded to Spock and Uhura's son.

You sense a pattern here?

I work in the space biz. I know that all you need for a novel solution is a white board, some Twinkies and a case of quality root beer. And duct tape. And maybe some Jack Daniels.

So I thought up an answer. I stuck a FORK in the middle of my universe. That FORK (because it's a darn BIG fork in the scheme of things) is the story "Time's Keeper - Nexus of Decision".

I could give you a grandiose rationale for why I did this but the real reason is simple: I now have two universes I can write to, one Spock/Uhura and one Kirk/Uhura. I don't have to write any infidelity-between-friends or three-way-encounters or aliens-made-me-do-it or plant-spores-drugged-me plots. I can write about two phenomenal love affairs with complete honesty and integrity.

And carnal lust. They are married in both universes.

So here's a roadmap.

All of the alt-alt universe Kirk/Uhura stories will have "Time's Keeper" or "TK" in their titles. They fork AFTER "Adaptation" - Grayson is Spock's son (at least biologically).

None of the Spock/Uhura stories will have this; they'll be plain-Jane titles as they have been up to now.

And for you sadists out there, I have no intent (while sober and sane) to recross these universes.

Not while I live and breathe.

Unless J. J. Abrams pays me to.

PM me if this is confusing.

I'll be dropping these insights (clarifications, really) whenever I've confused myself enough to know I owe you guys one.

Ma Anders

Author's Note 2:

Hiding Your Addiction

-or-

Why Your Relatives Should NEVER Find Out You Write FanFiction

I'm not sure how it happened. One minute I was typing in edits for some new story ideas and the next minute the words I was typing were echoed in my right ear.

My family's roots are firmly planted in the American South. In said locale bad manners are a crime punishable by death and post-mortem classes in culture and deportment. So I KNOW from personal experiences that reading someone else's stuff without asking permission is the height of bad manners.

Didn't stop my big-mouthed sister from announcing my activities to the planet.

Then she asked (as if it wasn't obvious) - "What's that? Star Trek?"

Because my brain works at half the speed my mouth does I answered her.

I love my family most when I'm nowhere near them physically. Text, chat, skype and phone family are dear to me - I cherish them. Up-close, in-person and violating-your-hidden-addiction family? Not so much.

When my brain screamed "Shut UP, Stupid!" it was too late. I had revealed my recent but serious addiction to writing fan fiction.

The interactions can be summarized as follows:

Sister - "You getting paid for this?"

Under-employed Brother - "When do you find time?"

Unemployed brother - "Hey! Let's turn this into a script!"

Step-mother - "You know, I've been researching and your father's family has a lot of undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Is this your manic phase? Have you been checked? You might want to try (insert some medication that isn't root beer)"

Step-mother's boyfriend - "What's this 'REVIEW'? Looks like we can leave comments"

My response to this last discovery was:

"WELL! Look at the TIME! I have about 10 hours of driving and have to work tomorrow! Love ya! See ya!"

Scuttling and moving noises could be heard right before my spouse - the traitor - said:

"Look on fanfiction-dot-com for The Watcher Observes - all one word."

In seconds I transitioned to "Death to Smootchie" mode spluttering curses and threats but the damage was done.

So for the last weeks I have been fielding texts, chats, emails, skypes (some from Australia) and phone calls to answer questions, explain how to leave guest reviews and...

...to listen while they tell me what I SHOULD be writing and how the stories SHOULD go.

Robert Frost's neighbor was partially right - PHYSICAL DISTANCE, not fences, makes good neighbors... and great families.

So if you read my stuff and see weird comments, they are lovingly sent long distance through the Internet to help me manage my addiction.

They are my family - they understand we all need support at some time.

They are my family - they stress me out so I have to write to stay sane.

I owe you guys this explanation 'cuz the crazies are coming for my addiction. And they're related to me... *sigh...

Ma Anders