Escape Artist

Fanfiction
Title:	Escape Artist
Author(s):	Charlotte Frost
Date(s):	1991
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Escape Artist is a Kirk/Spock story by Charlotte Frost.

It was published in the print zine Counterpoint #5.

Summary

"Uncomfortable with his responses to Kirk, Spock tries to break it off with his lover."

The Author's Comments

One of those “let’s over-psychoanalyze ourselves to death” stories. My recollection is that this is a story where every reasonable thing Kirk says, Spock contradicts. And I don’t think it had anything to do with sex. I remember one of the co-editors saying, “I was exhausted with them”. I assume the readers probably felt the same way…. if they managed to read word-for-word. ;-)

Reactions and Reviews

1991

This is not the type of story I've come to expect from the author. She is breaking new ground and doing it very well. The life of the mind is always difficult to portray and an alien mind more so, yet Charlotte has, I think, focused on the 'logical' reactions that Spock would have following his initial sexual encounter. He would retreat, analyze, distance himself, and, in doing so, he would make the joy of sex harder to attain. This is a somber piece and I'm glad it ended on an up note.

Though it commenced with the most sensitive and tender moments, this story quickly became somewhat perplexing to me. Complicated. Frustrating—which I'm sure is exactly what the Author intended and she did it expertly. Something's going on with Spock, but like Kirk, I hadn't the faintest idea, so I could relate very well to Kirk's concern and consternation. I sense here a person who has a very real perception of what it is like to be in over one's head, to be totally incapable of being what they want desperately to be. Such terrible hurt and trepidation overcomes Spock. His need to flee a situation completely beyond his control or even his understanding is palpable, and I felt his desperation acutely. The end contains a positive note, but I can't help but wonder if that is realistic given the awful conflict Spock has been show to experience with his budding emotions. As a person who finds it very difficult to express emotion, I relate to this lonely Vulcan very much and wish I believed the answer was a simple one of being understood. I'm afraid in reality it would take years of psychoanalysis. It is, however, much better reading to have the answer in the package of a loving understanding James T. Kirk.

1992

Reading this story makes ae realize what a simple, or perhaps a better word would be... uncomplicated person I am. Not that everything is black or white to me. I acknowledge many shades of white gradually blending into black. But I could have no more written this story than I could wear a size five. True, we don't have to actually experience everything before we can write of it, but we do have to realize what we write of exists. Especially when dealing with emotions and reactions to them. This story has opened areas of realizations and reactions I never dreamed were there. It has even explained some of the behavior I've never understood in 47 years of marriage. (Will Vulcans prove to have some Swiss Italian ancestors somewhere?) This was a deep study of a complicated subject, written clearly and with understanding. In addition, it was a fine, different K/S story.