Death Wish

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Title:	Death Wish
Creator:	Cheryl Rice
Date(s):	January 1976
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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Death Wish is a 1976 essay by Cheryl Rice.

It was printed in Spectrum #22.

Some Topics Discussed

• fans tend to talk more about lay stories, than death stories
• why do fans want to kill off people they like?
• it is not satisfying when characters die by accident, fans tend to want flamboyant, meaningful deaths for their heroes
• the author includes a tongue-in-cheek outline for a death story called "Send No Flowers" or "Let's Cut the Crap, Trekkies" -- in involves a variety of bad guys, including "conservative Republicans"

The Essay

Recently, thanks to some kind and generous friends, I have had the opportunity of reading quite a selection of old fanzines. It seems to me after studying them that there exists one particular type of fan fiction that has not received the attention I feel is its due.

Much has been said about the various "lay Spock," "lay Kirk," or other sexually oriented stories but no one seems to have mentioned the number of what I think could be called the "death wish" story. I find this rather hard to explain as there are a goodly amount of them. Some are well done, for instance, Lament of the Unsung Dead which was mentioned in Star Trek Lives!, and a very short story called Straw Death , that seems to have acquired a definitely uncalled-for obscurity.

Some of these stories have flaws, especially ones in which the death of the character is only accidental. One that comes to mind is this regard is Remembrance of Echos by Laura Basta , in which the alternate universe James Kirk was rather blithely disposed of, by Spock no less, so that she could get on with the story. Some other attempts in this line are, to be truthful, just plain dreadful.

For me, however, the reason behind these stories is much more interesting than their relative literary merits. Why should any fan want to see these characters, who are by now practically members of our families, done away with? In my opinion it is another attempt on the author's part to control these people's lives- rather a case of playing God. We know that they live only in our imaginations, but what power that gives us! He very literally have the power of life and death over them.

This is all well and good...we can work off our fantasies without hurting anyone and get a bit of practice In writing at the same time. My point is that most of these stories (plus a number that lurk, I'm sure, in the back of dark drawers somewhere) are just not very realistic. The character's ends all seem to be violent, which is realistic perhaps considering the work they do, but also a bit flamboyant which sort of spoils things for me. We hope that if our "friends" have to die it would be to some good purpose, but the odds would be against them saving the entire galaxy from a fate worth than death by undergoing it themselves. For the same reason I would discount the chances of long death-bed speeches.

To be quite truthful, I must confess that I myself wrote such a story much along these lines one night when I was feeling particularly morbid. At the time it seemed like a great idea--now it rests unseen in the dark which is a great boon to mankind. However, with tongue a bit in cheek, I have written another very short story that I think could be considered a bit closer to what might really happen, knowing as we do the people involved. I call it:

"Send No Flowers" or "Let's Cut the Crap, Trekkies"

The Big E is Investigating yet another Class M planet much like Earth on which something mysterious is occurring.

Dramatis Personae: A landing party consisting of the Captain, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Chapel, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, this week's guest star, two expendable Security Guards, and the key grip for all I know. In other words...the usual group who beams down to an unknown and probably dangerous place.

Scene: The landing party has been ambushed by a mixed group of Klingons, Romulans, Kzinti, and conservative Republicans. The good guys are pinned down be hind a jumble of boulders, outnumbered and outgunned. Once again Kirk has pushed his luck too far. So he decides to do the heroic thing, again, figuring somehow he'll manage to get out of the situation safely.

Action: Our brave Captain leaps forward into sight of the enemy and their weapons. With a theatrical gesture he throws down his phaser and calls out to them: "I am Kirk, the one you want. Kill me but spare my men." So they did, but then they didn't.