I wrote this story in 1999 in response to “Fury”, the dark and sinister episode of Star Trek: Voyager in which Kes returned. I barely remember it now, but I recall being displeased with the story and, to be honest, Voyager was my least favorite Star Trek series up to that point. As much as I love Kate Mulgrew and looked forward to a female captain, I felt the show itself was weaker than its predecessors, and that Star Trek had run out of impulse power. Still, I had a wonderful time writing “Q Meets Girl” and now, reading it almost 20 years later, I can see that my enthusiasm shines through.
All posts by philgiunta@ptd.net
After Action Report: Mindful Writers Retreat – Autumn 2018
As I write this, it is the final night of the five-day Mindful Writers Retreat held in the Lamont Lodge at Ligonier Camp and Conference Center in Ligonier, PA. The camp is nestled in the magnificent Laurel Highlands region of the Allegheny Mountains.
The retreat, impeccably organized by the gracious and talented Kathie Shoop and Larry Schardt, occurs three times per year (winter, spring, and fall) and combines meditation with long quiet hours of writing. The cost of this week’s retreat was $400 and includes private room and bath and all meals prepared by the camp’s staff. Each attendee also receives a welcome pack overflowing with goodies including a coffee mug, handmade bowl, yoga mat, pen and pencil set, notebook, and much more.
While each attendee can use their day as they see fit, there are suggested activities such as a sunrise walking meditation where each writer sets off on their own perambulation of the trails and surrounding woods (flashlight recommended). This is followed by breakfast and a four-hour quiet writing session. After lunch, a 15-minute seated meditation helps writers refresh and focus before delving back into their work for another four hours until dinner. Evenings are reserved for dessert and yet more writing in the great room for the remainder of the evening. There’s nothing like writing by a crackling fire! And yes, marshmallows were toasted and S’mores were distributed.
While most of us congregated in the great room, other options include a second-floor balcony and, of course, sequestering yourself in your room. Speaking of which, each room has two to three sets of bunk beds. After all, this is a camp designed to accommodate scores of kids and chaperones during the summer. For the first time in probably 40 years, I climbed up a ladder to go to sleep each night because naturally, I chose a top bunk.
On this, our last evening, two of my fellow scribes performed a wonderful after dinner concert of flute and bagpipe. Later, several of us gathered in the lobby of the lodge to perform an audio drama written by one of the attendees.
Before the retreat, each member was encouraged to bring a book to swap, which I did, and ended up with a spectacular 600-page collection of mystery and crime stories culled from the Black Mask pulp magazine that began in the 1920s.
Will I return next year? Absolutely. After two months of upheaval in my life—which allowed for scant writing time— the retreat allowed me to catch up on the first draft of my WIP and write an outline for a new short story.
Also, on the second day of the conference, I received a call from publisher and editor Nancy Sakaduski of Cat & Mouse Press informing me that not merely one but both of my short story submissions were accepted for their upcoming anthology, Beach Pulp. Click here for more details on that.
Hmmm… Perhaps there’s even a little magic to the Mindful Writers Retreat!
Fan Fiction – Week XX – “Star Trek: Chasing Reflections” Part III
In the conclusion of “Star Trek: Chasing Reflections,” Captain Pike from the mirror universe attempts to abduct Number One on the planet Morex III, but an attack by the Klingons in the hijacked shuttle Copernicus levels the playing field.
Stay tuned next week for my final fan fiction story of the year, “Star Trek: Voyager – Q Meets Girl.”
Book Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle
Continuing in the Halloween “spirit,” the next book on my October reading list has also been in my collection since high school. In fact, like Great Ghost Stories (reviewed last week), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Wan Winkle was purchased from the Scholastic Book Club.
Washington Irving’s stories are classics of American literature. Both are set in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York state where Irving was born and raised.
In the quaint, isolated village of Sleepy Hollow—where fables and superstitions abound—locals are all too happy to regale newcomers with the legend of a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon ball during the Revolutionary War. Ever since, he prowls the woods atop his steed in search of his head. When meek but socially ambitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane comes to the village, he courts Katrina Van Wessel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. This immediately puts him at odds with local ruffian, “Bram Bones” Van Brunt. After Katrina turns down Crane during a party at her family home, he storms out, but his disappointment turns to fear when he confronts the Headless Horseman along a dark country road…
Hen-pecked husband Rip Van Winkle avoids gainful employment—and his wife’s nagging—through daytime jaunts in the woods with his dog, Wolf, and helping his fellow villagers with odd jobs. One morning, Rip ventures a bit farther up the mountain than usual and begins to hear thunder. He is soon beckoned by a man in outdated Dutch clothing struggling to carry a keg. Rip lends a hand and together, they enter a nearby cave where other such men are playing nine-pins (bowling). After drinking heavily from the keg, Rip falls asleep and awakens 20 years later, having completely missed the Revolutionary War…
Book Review: Great Ghost Stories
In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to re-read a book I’ve had in my collection for nearly 30 years. This anthology of six supernatural tales, published by Watermill Classics, gathers works by such famous scribes as Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Guy de Maupassant, and Bram Stoker. My favorites in the book are “Keeping His Promise” by Algernon Blackwood and “The Hand” by Guy de Maupassant. There are two in the collection that I would not consider ghost stories but were no less eerie— “Caterpillars” and “The Squaw.”
In “Keeping His Promise” by Algernon Blackwood, a university student pulls an all-nighter to study for an exam when a former classmate from elementary school arrives unexpectedly. Seeing that the man is in dire straits, the student invites him in for a meal and a place to spend the night while he studies. Things become a bit odd the following morning when his old friend can be heard but not seen…
In E.F. Benson’s “Caterpillars,” a man staying overnight at an Italian villa has visions of abnormally large glowing caterpillars amassing in various parts of the house. The following day, one of the other guests captures, then later kills, a smaller version of the same caterpillar—and suffers dire consequences.
A boisterous American visiting Nuremberg, Germany accidentally kills a kitten, sending its mother into a rage. Later, when the American visits the Torture Tower museum and tempts fate by placing himself in one of the devices, mother cat takes advantage of the opportunity in “The Squaw” by Bram Stoker.
In “The Hand” by Guy de Maupassant, a French judge meets an Englishman living in Marseilles and is eventually given a tour of the Englishman’s villa. Among the man’s gun collection is a severed human hand chained to the wall. The Englishman explains that the hand belonged to an enemy and must remained chained—lest it escape…
Ambrose Bierce brings us the tale of two men who use an abandoned mansion to hold a knife fight. One of the combatants ends up dead—but not at the end of a blade in “The Middle Toe of the Right Foot.”
A realtor is hired to partition a haunted estate inherited by three women. During his inspection of the property, he is confronted by the town idiot, a raving wild man named Dickon. The groundskeeper explains that while the previous owner of the estate was a kindly gentleman, he despised the three women, but died before he could change his will. Legend has it that the gentleman still roams the property, causing death and madness in “Dickon the Devil” by J.S. LeFanu.
Book Review: Joe Haldeman’s Worlds
In 2084, sexually promiscuous college student Marianne O’Hara leaves her off-world colony of New New York (one of many known as the Worlds) to attend university in New York City on Earth, where she meets a Bohemian poet and artist named Benny and an FBI agent named Jeff Hawkings.
Marianne and Benny become entangled with an anti-government group that seem at first innocuous—until one of their members is murdered and Benny finds his apartment bugged. As their suspicions about the organization grow and their safety is jeopardized, Benny decides to inform the FBI about the group then move to a remote farm in South Carolina after assuming a new identity. Meanwhile, Marianne takes several months to tour the world with some of her classmates from New York University including Jeff Hawkings.
Upon returning to New York, Marianne is attacked and nearly raped. As tensions build between the Earth and the Worlds over trade agreements, Marianne and Jeff arrange to leave Earth for New New York—but not before she visits New Orleans. While there, Marianne is persuaded to audition for a jazz band as a clarinet player. She soon becomes famous on the local scene—resulting in her abduction by a wealthy businessman who demands ransom from New New York.
How will Marianne escape from her kidnappers and what will happen as negotiations between Earth and the Worlds disintegrate into threats?
Worlds is considered a classic SF novel and while I enjoyed several chapters at the beginning and end, the story suffered from a sagging middle. Marianne’s globetrotting was told in the form of diary entries and much of it was tedious. There was little character development during these chapters aside from the budding romance between Marianne and Jeff and her fleeting concern for Benny back home.