Hearts of Fire

Zine
Title:	Hearts of Fire
Publisher:	Merry Men Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Elizabeth Scott
Cover Artist(s):	Dew
Illustrator(s):	Dragon
Date(s):	June 1993
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:	zine excerpt at the Merry Men Press site
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Hearts of Fire is a K/S slash 176-page novel by Elizabeth Scott. Cover by DEW and art by Dragon.

Summaries

From The Zine Connection #34 (1995): "Welcome to the world of sexy, loving, plot-filled K/S at its best. Lots of intrigue, wonderful aliens and, of course, great K/S by one of fandom's best authors. Try it, you'll like it!"

From Gilda F: "In order to be accepted for a scientific expedition, Spock must marry one of the other candidates, a woman Kirk dislikes on sight."

Gallery

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  cover by DEW. The tree on the cover is a sentient being and is therefore an OC.

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  alternative cover, likely a fan-made copy

Reactions and Reviews

I was sailing through most of this 175-page novel, and I think the main reason must be because of the ultra sensitive way Spock's character was treated. Spock was something of a "poor thing", but he was presented in such a way that the reading of his problems was pleasant rather than painful. This was a very well plotted story, with each small mystery adding to the greater whole. The climax in Chapter 15 was eerie and original.

My one regret is that the trees were so interesting that I wish they would have played a greater part earlier in the story. I want to see more of them, and wonder if it's possible there could be a sequel. I enjoyed all the new characters presented. They were well-rounded without usurping Kirk and Spock's importance. I question whether the two Admirals would really have been "on hand" participants in the investigation (as opposed to leaving it to trusted underlings), but I enjoyed their interaction with each other and with Kirk. I thought too much time was spent on Nona and her life with Spock, since nothing came of it. Kirk and Spock's relationship still probably would have progressed as it did. and we didn't learn anything new about Spock from his involvement with her. Kirk and Spock's relationship did try my patience a bit. While I was relieved that they had some sort of relationship before the novel's end, it was frustrating in that they never could have an extended conversation or behave in the same manner toward each other for any length of time. Everything about their relationship was so abrupt, and had more ups and downs than a roller coaster. If I were them, I'a not sure I could have stuck it out. Thankfully, they did, but I wished there would have been some scene where they really talked things through. Also, I felt it a bit overly convenient to have had Keeper of Wisdom show Spock how to get over his wall. For me, the ending would have been more satisfying if Spock could have found the solution on his own. (Also, the idea of some "supernatural" influence pushing Kirk to pursue a relationship with Spock was rather trite and seemed out of place in this otherwise very natural feeling story.) Still, this novel had a feeling of charm and contentment that never let up. (My most favorite little moment was when Kirk informed Spock that the Vulcan didn't like women who were "whiny" — something Spock didn't even realize about himself!) It was a light, fast, pleasant read with a neat idea for a new species. It's a good story to snuggle up with.

Ms. Scott, after an absence of several years, has returned to writing with a wonderfully plotted, deeply moving story of a relationship that manages to survive and grow despite Spock's marriage to a spoiled self-centered woman, dangerous situations and Spock's own sexual immaturity. This novel has unique and intriguing aliens and well-fleshed out characters. "Keeper" is one of my favorite aliens of all time. The author also comes up with great names for her characters. This is a complex, well-written and thought out novel that travels from the Enterprise across the galaxy to a newly colonized planet. Tne plot complications kept me on my toes the whole way through, especially when the events and personality conflicts threatened to keep Kirk and Spock apart. It builds to a steady, unpredictable climax and finally manages to pull all parts together neatly to a satisfying finish.

For a particular mission and a fascinating one at that, Spock enters into a required marriage of convenience. While it is obvious to Kirk he should be the bond-partner, he has difficulty approaching the situation straightforwardly. The mission and its complications, both natural and the intrigue-

in-high-places variety, and the relationship and its complications, are woven together well and satisfyingly resolved. It was really a pleasure reading this novel. I think it is excellent in every regard: expressive language, imaginative detail, unique characters, innovative science/technology, authentic-feeling shipboard life, the building of intrigue, the maintaining of mystery. And as or more important to me, a credible progression of feelings, a heart-touching expression of love, fine sexual tension, exquisite erotica, and also some gritty, raw, frustrating pain. Every detail was engrossing, especially the planet and its beings. Exactly the kind of sci-fi to my liking, and K/S to my liking. I liked for this story that Spock does not feel the love Kirk does, but is willing to offer all he is and has to give. A satisfying scenario, that they come to love each other exactly as-is, as opposed to them both feeling the same kind of "human" love to begin with, or as opposed to one or both of them needing to change for it to work.

As a fan of this author's characterizations of Kirk and Spock and her ability to spin a good yarn, I read this novel eagerly, and it more than met my expectations. It's a rip-roaring tale of action, intrigue, danger, mystery and a neat science fiction concept that is revealed toward the end and helps to pull together and resolve all the strands of the complex plot. (I won't reveal it, but it involves Kirk's affinity with "inanimate" objects to which he attributes feminine gender-like the Enterprise.) This novel is also one of the best, perhaps the best, story of a slowly and gradually-developing K/S relationship that I have ever read, as well as a magnificent characterization of Kirk.

The story begins on the colony world Proserpina, where a group of Federation colonists have been murdered, and shifts quickly to the planet Cintous, where the Enterprise is on shore leave. Spock, we learn, is suffering a private hell because of sexual dysfunction-despite having reached the age of sexual maturity he is unable to have an erection. No physiological cause can be found for this difficulty. Spock tries so hard to perform with a local prostitute that he ruptures a blood vessel in his brain and is taken to a local hospital, where Kirk and McCoy rush to his side. After Spock is healed, the Cintousan doctor who treated Spock asks him to join a party of scientists being formed by a private interplanetary consortium to investigate the mystery on Proserpina. Spock, Kirk and Starfleet agree that he will go.

Kirk and Spock visit a small shop in which an elderly Cintousan woman offers them "absolution" from some experience in the past in which they have given pain. Under the old woman's ministrations, both share the same healing vision of the aftermath of Omicron Ceti 111, but after the vision is over, Kirk alone continues to dream of himself and Spock in a lover's embrace. Throughout the novel, Kirk keeps returning to this experience land at one point even returns to the old woman's shop, alone) as a defining moment in the development of his feelings about Spock. fie knows that Spock may be able to reciprocate those feelings eventually, but accepts the old woman's statement that his friend has "many roads to travel before [he] findls hisl peace."

Events happen thick and fast after this, and as Spock's preparations for the Proserpina mission go forward, the sense of mystery deepens. Because of a Consortium agreement that all members of the expedition will be married couples, Spock is forced to enter into a temporary arranged marriage with Noma Brady, a Starfleet lieutenant recruited by the Consortium. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot; suffice it to say that it appears that some unknown interest is trying to mastermind the Proserpina expedition, probably with help inside Starfleet. Events unfold so that both Spock and Kirk wind up on the expedition, where they deal in earnest with the multiple enigmas of the colony and with their own relationship.

There are an impressive number of well-rounded alien characters in the story, most of them original and likeable. The author obviously understands a great deal about bureaucratic organizations and inter-agency politics. Normally, I'm not a big fan of the "corruption and conspiracy within Starfleet" theme because I have found so many of those stories unrealistic. However, this story is an exception because, in the arrangement of the Consortium and the financing of the Proserpina mission, the author has laid out a believable structure within which a conspiracy could occur.

Our heroes engage in quite a bit of sleuthing, mostly by computer, to unravel the pieces of the Proserpina puzzle, and their detective work is satisfying and fun to read. Again, I felt that these pieces of the story revealed skill and knowledge of information systems on the author's part.

My biggest complaint is the character of Noma Brady. While I enjoyed the way in which Kirk and Spock tracked down the mystery of her real identity, I felt that her character strained credulity. I can't imagine anyone in Starfleet ever allowing such a flaky, immature and undisciplined person to serve on a starship, let alone participate in a sensitive and dangerous mission. Further, since the purpose of the "couples-only" rule was to prevent the discord that might arise through extramarital liaisons. Noma's promiscuity should have been a red flag. Someone should have deep-sixed her appointment, or at least tried very, very hard to do so.

More important in the overall structure of the plot. Noma's character flaws make her a very poor operative. A more stable, less ostentatious character would have created far better "cover" for the interests Noma serves. As it is, the reader distrusts her so thoroughly from the first moment she appears that almost nothing she does later is a surprise. The drama in the story would have been enhanced if she had initially appeared to be nothing more than a solid, competent officer (perhaps with the potential to become a real companion to Spock and a rival to Kirk) so that her ultimate actions did come as a surprise.

The plot is fast-paced, almost too fast-paced at times. I felt that some of the plot transitions had rough edges that could have been smoothed out in a onceover by a careful editor. An example is a conversation with Noma Brady's mother that forms a turning point in Kirk's and Spock's efforts to crack the mystery of Proserpina. Noma's mother spills a lot of personal information very quickly, too quickly I thought, before the requisite level of trust had been established by the Enterprise officers. At the same time, she didn't tell us quite all we wanted to know about Noma. The conversation was just too fast and elliptical.

Another example of rough edges is that many events appear as random coincidences which could have been linked more tightly to the developing plot, heightening the mystery without giving it away. For example, the connection of Avery Castion to the Indela/Scros system could have been made explicit early on, by identifying him as the owner of the private spaceway and the developer of the giant vegetables that appear here and then later in the story. By the end of the novel we can assume these connections, but I don't think they were ever made explicit and the effect is to leave them hanging.

A couple of nit-picky points: Noma is said to be 23 and five years out of the Academy, which would make her more of a prodigy than Kirk. Kirk has a colorful lotian friend, Zellica A. Finistua (wonderful name!), who is said to have been a fellow-student at the Academy. This is inconsistent with the history of contact between lotians and Feds as presented in "A Piece of the Action." Maybe I missed it, but I never learned the identity of Noma's mysterious dinner companion who later appears on Cintous.

But enough about the minor points. The underlying story is damned good, but the K/S relationship story is extraordinary. The author succeeds brilliantly in showing the progression from loving friendship to being in love to loving passionately without gimmicks or plot contrivances. (The episode in the Cintousan telepath's shop appears not as a gimmick but as something that happened because Kirk was ready for it to happen.) Spock's sexual dysfunction (which in turn seems to originate in deep sexual repression) is a serious barrier between the two men, but they face it honestly and openly.

There are no cheap misunderstandings in this story. For instance, in a scene while Spock's marriage to Noma is being arranged. Kirk nearly proposes to Spock that the two of them go to Proserpina as a couple instead. He stops short when he realizes Spock simply cannot comprehend how Kirk really feels about him. In a lesser story, this might be presented as a misunderstanding between the two men; here, it is simply the true state of affairs, the gulf between Kirk and Spock that must be overcome before they can become lovers. A later scene, when Kirk blurts out his love for Spock and Spock goes back to his research, yet keeps replaying Kirk's words in his mind over and over, is also wonderful.

I loved the characterization of Kirk. The author has an incredible grasp of the character in all its dimensions: his competence, his toughness, his compassion, his intuitive flair and openness, his ability to love deeply, his generosity-his charity. In his developing love for Spock, Kirk is shown as a person with a healthy, lusty sexuality who nevertheless is able to put love before sex, to wait for Spock as long as he needs to. (Fortunately, Spock is also highly motivated to put Kirk's needs before his own.)

I can't finish without commending the author on her superb portrait of Kirk the demanding starship commander, an aspect of the character that all too often is overlooked in K/S fiction. A speech in which Kirk chews out a laggard crewman is absolutely perfect: "I set the expectations on this ship. And they are high, Mister. Mr. Spock is MY operative in honing your science section skills. He knows well what I will tolerate and what I won't. If you're not willing to work hard enough to be worthy of that Enterprise symbol on your chest, I would suggest you ask for a transfer here and now." Now, that's our Captain!

There is no publishing information anywhere on this zine, which I purchased at Shore Leave from Robin Hood. Nor is there a table of contents where the art is identified. The cover an is wonderfully Kirkish and, if I've read the signature correctly, is by DEW. The interior art, by Dragon, is also very good, and I especially enjoyed the strong portraits of Kirk.