Harp Solo

Fanfiction
Title:	Harp Solo
Author(s):	Animasola
Date(s):	2002
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Harp Solo is a Kirk/Spock story by Animasola.

"Love Song" by T'Sharien for Harp Solo -- "Someone who knows something about art (obviously not me!) needs to write LOC’s for the great art in Beyond Dreams 5. There’s lots of it, and some with styles a bit different that I find impossible to describe. Like this neat drawing of Spock playing his lyre that accompanies "Harp Solo". It’s not a super realistic portrayal of Spock, like one of Shelley Butler’s drawings, yet with just a few pencil strokes , T’Sharien has created a drawing that looks just like Spock. How does she do that? It looks a lot more like Spock than some much more detailed drawings I’ve seen. I liked this one a lot!"

It was published in the print zine Beyond Dreams #5.

Summary

"Spockʼs thoughts of his missing lover as he tries to decipher the runes from the obelisk."

Reactions and Reviews

What a unique and captivating story! I found this very short 3 1⁄2 pager to be a fresh, exciting look at my favorite Vulcan.

The first line, “He would never feel a thing,” sets up the mood of the piece immediately. It is the middle of The Paradise Syndrome, and McCoy has just left Spock’s quarters after threatening the first officer with intervention by Security if he continues to refuse food and rest. Spock has failed in his attempts to make sense of the glyphs found on the totem, and while he struggles to decipher the code, he consoles himself with the fact that if his lover is still alive, he will not suffer when the asteroid Spock will not be able to divert crashes into Jim’s planet. As he absently strums his lyre, we learn that the receptive instrument resonates to the many, often strident, noises on a starship: McCoy’s tirade, Chekov’s well meaning but “characteristically enthusiastic manner,” etc. The instrument also reacted to Kirk’s presence, and now “...the strings seemed sour at this time of night without his lover’s moans to inspire their harmony.” Oh. My. The masturbation scene that follows could have seemed oddly kinky and totally out of character for Spock. That it doesn’t is a tribute to the author’s writing skill and an inordinate amount of sensitivity. I found the idea that Spock would strum his lyre while letting his subconscious mind analyze the glyphs, (“The most efficient way to access this subliminal process was to let his mind simply drift.”), a little jarring as it seemed a far more human than Vulcan practice, but it is a necessary plot device in order for both Spock and the story to reach a proper climax.

Welcome to a new author, at least to zines, right? Someone with this much talent can hardly be new to writing. I will look forward to seeing more of her work. Much more.

Harp Solo by Animasola was such a unique idea, intelligently done, a history and explanation of Spock's beloved lyre I hadn't even guessed at. Exceptionally different! I loved the fact that he and Kirk were already lovers, even when Jim was down there with Miramanee. That's the way I adore it. But I wanted the story to go on and on, to be able to actually read about the denouement. Still, Spock's method of clearing his mind in order to decipher the glyphs on the obelisque and get back to Jim is more than ok by me! The whole story was a devastating little bombshell!

This is a fairly short story but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. It takes place during the events depicted in the episode The Paradise Syndrome, while Spock is trying to decipher the hieroglypics on the asteroid deflector in a bid to destroy the asteroid threatening the planet where Kirk is missing. Although this is really just a “moment in time” snippet, it was very well written, especially the part where Spock realises that the hieroglypics are actually musical notes and rather surprisingly in a tale where Kirk does not take part at all, it has some very “hot” moments too! Spock’s guilt that he had to abandon his lover on a planet threatened with destruction and his attempts to convince himself that Jim won’t suffer in the events to come are well written as is determination to get back there in time to rescue Kirk.