Star Trek #11: Yesterday's Son

You would think that a sequel to the original series' episode All Our Yesterdays, in which Spock gets it on with the prehistoric babe of the week Zarabeth, wouldn't be so... ship-teasing terrific.

I'm not even sure how I picked this book up. Perhaps it was the cover (I have a soft spot for the pointy-eared logic elf), and perhaps it was because it was written by A.C. Crispin. Her name does sound vaguely familiar (maybe because I've read her short stories in Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabba's Palace.)

I'm quite happy that I did, too. This is a really good story, and one that doesn't ignore or break apart the power trio that was the backbone of the original series. (I'm looking at you, Weinstein! Stranding Spock with Chekov of all people! in the middle of nowhere and ignoring him for nearly half of the book and he's on the cover! Everyone knows the bromance is the key...)

In Yesterday's Son, we find out that Spock's time in Sarpeidon was very productive indeed. An ensign finds a Sarpeidonite cave painting that looks suspiciously like Spock, which leads the Vulcan, with Kirk and McCoy in tow, to the Guardian of Forever in hopes of retrieving his son. They find the boy, of course, but he's no longer a child.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Murakami Haruki (Part 1)

You might not agree, but I'm a pretty smart person. I'm also a really shallow person. I can't really think too deeply about anything, mostly because it gives me a headache. (And yet, I'm going to try to be deeply analytical tonight.)

I am also a fan of Haruki Murakami. His writing style is very simple, and his stories always seem to be about isolation and loneliness. He usually writes about the here and now, but there's a surreal quality to his world that causes the extra-ordinary to occur. And when the places aren't real at all, like in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, there's a dull normality to it all that makes the surreal ordinary.

However much I love his stories, there have been times when I had been Murakami'ed out. I happened after reading a slew of his novels, particularly Dance Dance Dance, It happened a second time after I tried to tackle his short-story collection Blind Woman, Sleeping Willow almost immediately after reading Kafka on the Shore and After Dark. I ended up reading about three-fourths of the collection before throwing it on my reading pile. I can only take some much surreal stories about making connections with other people.

But, I pulled Blind Woman out of the pile and started re-reading it the other day. Let's see how much Murakami I can take this time around.

Fudanshi Monogatari by Narazaki Souta

Every yaoi fangirl worth her weight in slash doujinshi knows that 'fujoshi' is just another word for freak weirdo pervert a female fan of handsome guys in homoerotic relationships. Once a derogatory term, the fangirls have since reclaimed it and use it in a self-deprecating manner... at least according to Wikipedia, and we should always trust Wikipedia.

That term is the reason why this blog is called 'Rotten Reading'. I am a lost soul, forever doomed to look at the subtext and go, 'Yeah, I can totally see them hooking up.'

And I can't argue with the label. You have to be pretty rotten-minded to think of some of the things yaoi girls dream up. (Though, to be fair, fanboys can be just as bad.)

'Fudanshi' is the male equivalent of a 'fujoshi', i.e. a yaoi fanboy, and yes, they do exist. (I've even dated one once, just before I was infected by the BL myself.) That said, let's talk about a yaoi fanboy.

Let's play 'Spot the Bottom'.

Aoi Koi by Narazaki Souta

(I had to rewrite this because of some hiccup somewhere. Totes not my fault.)

Let's talk about Blue Love.

Aoi Koi is a two-part comic written by Narazaki Souta. It was published in Magazine Beboy, Feb. and March 2011. Shigemi is a baseball boy who accidentally walks in on an awkward scene, in which a girl was confessing her love to Rio, Shigemi's best friend.


Rio is your archetypical cool guy. He doesn't talk much, which gives him a mysterious air. He's very handsome, and that, with his mysterious air, makes Rio very popular with the girls. The twist: he is also a huge fan of Kamen Rider-style hero shows. Shigemi is the only one who knows about this, and is constantly rolling his eyes at the idea that this cool guy is the also the biggest dork he knows.

Rio turns the girl down, of course (gosh, I wonder why), and instead spends his free time with Shigemi. Shigemi, confused over why Rio rejected the girl, starts to think that Rio needs a girlfriend who understands him and tries to suggest that Rio would have more fun at an upcoming hero live-action show if he took a girl with him.

Rio refuses, saying that he prefers Shigemi's company. Shigemi, however doesn't get it, and he even tries to talk up some fangirls during their 'date' at the live-action show. Rio gets peeved, thinking Shigemi is hitting on someone during their 'date', and they finally put everything on the table.




Because I can't think of a more romantic place for a confession of love than a hero show packed with four- and five-year olds.

Star Trek #24: Killing Time

(It's not next on the list, but I needed to get some things off my chest.)

STATEMENT: Killing Time sucks.

ELABORATION: There was a time when Pocket Books would take any manuscript, apparently. Della Van Hise, a Kirk/Spock shipper (and fanfiction writer), is a prime example of this, although there was more to it than that.

The manuscript was riddled with blatant hints at K/S, and the fact that the more offensive bits weren't deleted before publishing is still a bit of a mystery. The first print edition is considered a lost book, though if you search long enough, you'll find a copy. Even the revised versions of the book are pretty slashy, and it's probably the slashiest official TOS books ever got.

... So why do I dislike it? It has slash overtones and it's about time travel, two things I enjoy. On paper, it sounded great. As soon as I heard about the book, I went off in search of a copy so that I could read it as well.

And now that I have... I'm pretty disappointed.

Star Trek #33: Deep Domain

I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of Star Trek (I grew up a lightsaber groupie, you see), but I love Kirk/Spock. (I am a dirty, dirty girl.) And the only reason I read Star Trek novels is to find some sweet ship teasing.

Deep Domain does not deliver on that. At all. Spock is sent off as a scouting party (of sorts) to a watery planet (with Chekov as company), and then disappears for half of the novel. Kirk doesn't even miss him all that much - he has an obnoxious Mary Sue lieutenant, a bad joke, and McCoy to keep him company.

And it's not like I dislike Maybri. I just think having a young officer act so snotty to her commanding officer because she can't go exploring is horrid. The fact that her skin darkens according to her feelings only makes me dislike her even more.