Cheryl Petterson
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| Name: | Cheryl Petterson |
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| Fandoms: | Star Trek: TOS |
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Cheryl Petterson is a fan writer who wrote many Star Trek: TOS Valjiir Universe stories.
Fan Publications
- In a Different Reality (Star Trek: TOS)
- Travelling Companion (Doctor Who)
- Valjiir Collected (Star Trek: TOS)
- Valjiir Continuum (Star Trek: TOS)
Contrast and Compare: A Writing Team
Petterson wrote Valjiir stories independently, but also many with her writing partner, Susan Sizemore.
A fan described some of their writing styles:
Because there are two female romantic leads and two female authors in the original Valjiir writing partnership, people probably assume that one person “owned” each of the characters. As far as I can tell as a reader, this was never the case. A story with Ruth Valley as the focus is just as likely to have been authored by Susan Sizemore as it was to have been written by Cher Petterson. Trying to artificially assign a character to an author also ignores the fact that Dave Petterson was also an early co-author. Believing in a one character/one author relationship gets even more difficult when Susan leaves the partnership, Mylochka comes on board, and yet the stories featuring both women continue to appear unabated.
All this being said, I do tend to associate the character of Ruth Valley with Susan Sizemore because Ruth typifies Sizemore’s writing style a bit more than Jilla. Open any of the romance novels that Sizemore wrote after her fanfic writing days and you’ll find at least one character like Ruth – brilliant, talkative, impulsive, sensuous, sex-positive, daring, fearless, and nobly self-sacrificing. Her plots are fast-moving, full of double-crosses and angst, and always sprinkled with a piquant dash of popular culture allusions designed to delight the fannish heart.
In contrast Cher’s stories are a bit more like Jilla – quiet on the surface, but full of the extremes of emotion. Her angst is more angst-y. Her humor is more raucous. Her plots dwell on suffering and mourn betrayal, but also celebrate the bonds of friendship and love. [1]