From Rags to Riches

Fanfiction
Title:	From Rags to Riches
Author(s):	Dana Austin Marsh & Phaedra Morgan
Date(s):	1998
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:	From Rags To Riches on AO3
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From Rags to Riches is a Kirk/Spock story by Dana Austin Marsh and Phaedra Morgan.

It was published in the print zine First Time #47 and online.

Summary

"Kirk sues the scandal sheet that has been running stories with a slightly slanted take on the Enterpriseʼs missions, which all inply that he is using the ship to further his sexual conquests."

Reactions and Reviews

1998

It was the best, bodacious, belly laughs, heart tickler, little blurp of a story I have ever read. As a combo these two ladies are the tops. One of the more interesting first time stories, but only one problem, I wish it was looonnngggeeer!

The Galactic Enquirer is printing paragraphs about Kirk (and Spock), all based on misrepresenting episodes. This story is just a bit of fluff, but it's cleverly

done and highly entertaining.

This delightful humorous piece hinges on the slang term “rag” for newspaper, and follows it on through to the very last line. (Although I had thought of the most distasteful term “she’s on the rag” as well, I couldn’t find any reference to that slang here. Might have been interesting, and a tremendous creative effort, if the authors had been able to fit it into a K/S story. The mind boggles ....)

Kirk is pursued by the scandal sheets, and eventually he sues. In the courtroom an editor detects signs that there might be something going on between captain and first officer — the hand laid casually on Spock’s arm, the soulful glances. Naturally that speculation goes straight into print, and naturally the fellows read it, and naturally — well, do they what comes naturally!

The only glitch in the construction of this story comes on page 165, when the concluding line of the scene, “Their rags have, after all, brought us to riches,” seemed to be a good conclusion to the entire story. But there are two more scenes to go, and so when the final, appropriate line does appear, it seemed anti-climatic to me. The “oomph” of this particular kind of ending comment had already been delivered two pages before. I think it would have been wiser to either eliminate the line on page 165, or if the authors wanted to keep the obvious pun, to bury it within a scene.

This is the kind of story to smile at broadly and not take too seriously.

Delightful! And a great collaboration from two talented K/S authors. More!

This story is a 23 page charmer by two long time K/S writers of solid reputation. This is a cutesy, silly story that made me laugh. -- Before I get to the story, may I briefly comment the three graphics with this were the only downer to the story for me. -- The title doesn't mean what you think it does. "Rags" refers to tabloids. And you can figure out what the "Riches" stands for. And it doesn't mean the settlement that Kirk wins in his case again the Galactic Inquirer. Trust me on this—you have to be absolutely against silly K/S stories to NOT like this one. The humor ranges from the very broad to subtle. The use of actual episodes makes this more "rear. A very interesting and amusing story.

A number of LOC's have already been written about this amusing and sweet story, but here are some things I especially liked.

I've said this before, but we can certainly assume that the media will continue to play a large and intrusive part in galactic society, yet we don't see or read all that much in ST showing this. So this story is great, and I just loved the headlines about the specific things we saw in the episodes. I also really enjoyed all the trial details.

And there is wonderful K/S. I like it that both of them are clear within themselves about their feelings, and each is inclined to believe the other also feels the same way, so that just some catalyst is needed to bring them together.

I can picture Kirk's ire, when he sees the latest headline and the photo which was made to look as if he and Spock were holding hands at dinner the night before. I can picture his stance when he says, "...their goddamn innuendoes that I'm paying you off.... When I make love to you it will be because...." Whoops. I love this moment—he stops before he goes any further and leaves the room.

And then a satisfying scene of their admitting their love to each other...and a good resolution and cute ending in line with the theme.

What can I say? This story was clever and amusing while still being revelatory of the K/S relationship. I loved Kirk’s responses to the distorted tabloid versions of his actions. By the way, those twisted interpretations of the episodes were very clever.

As usual, the story was skillfully done and effectively hit that line between funny and silly. The authors also remembered that the point of the story was the K/S aspects.

This tale is another reason why I always look for Ms. Marsh’s name when I buy a zine.

Clever and adorable, Kirk and Spock beat the tabloids. Much has already been said about this fun story, so my two-cents is “Headline news: Terrific Writing Duo Do It Again!”

2010

Muahahaha! That was cute. I did have trouble reconciling Kirk having a shouting match over newspaper headlines with the calm and rather controleld normal behaniour - and a few details like Jim taking time off the ship to sit in a tribunal room, but for the storie's purposes it was fun :). I liked the references to sneaky media convergence and sneaky lawyers, and I liked even better that Spock refused to sympathize with Jim about the time he was worried sick about his captain on the Roman planet and Kirk was getting it on with the girl *g* I'm sure at the end of all the trouble with the Galactic Inquirer Kirk would agree it was worth it, since it got him and Spock acknowledging their feelings.

It *is* a good thing the news didn't get wind of the nazi uniforms though. They'd have one hell of a field day about it. I sometimes wonder if that episode would have been authorized was the series having its first run today.

This was great, had a smile on my face. It's just written differently then the stories now. I love the original guys...thanks so much for posting your story...

Congratulations!! Great job! I laughed a lot while I eas reading it, especially at Kirk's fulmination whe he read the tabloid's headlines! And Spock's coolness and advises - it'd make a great episode. And of course, the outcome was satisfactory :)

2011

Finally I decided to register to be able to comment on this great piece of literature! Great story, really very well written! I appreciate your rich choice of words, it brings out so many nuances and really heightens the reading pleasure.

Can hardly wait for another story!

2012

Funny first time I read this as comedy but this time it seems like a study in perspective. How the same scene can be contemplated from more than one angle. Bit like watching TOS then reviewing it with slash tinted lenses. Or maybe I should stop reading Conan Doyle, can see such Spockian dialogue and Watson is very McCoy like.

2015

"Your missions are often high profile, and your solutions...unique". Bwaha. That's one way to put it. I love this. I like imagining sometimes how somewhat-more-sane people view the Enterprise missions, though this particular take has never occurred to me! Your sneaky journalists were hilarious, and, wow, were some of those missions twisted around. And some of them... weren't. Sleeping with slave-girls, indeed, Kirk. Really.

A very enjoyable read - thank you for sharing! :)