In a Stone City

Star Trek DS9 Fanfiction
Title:	In a Stone City
Author(s):	Liz Williams
Date(s):	Feb. 4, 1997
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
External Links:	In a Stone City at alt.startrek.creative Archived at the author's website
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In a Stone City is an slash Star Trek: DS9 story by Liz Williams aka E. H. Williams.

It appears in In Exile #1 (1997) and was posted at alt.startrek.creative by Stephen Ratliff, at the author's request, where it had this introduction:

This is set in the 4th season; and connects to the episode which, if memory serves me correctly, is called 'For the Cause.'

It's a Garak/Ziyal story; however, there's no sex (although I have to say, practically the only thing that has stretched my credulity to breaking point in the whole ST canon is that two people would spend hours in a sauna without removing at least SOME of their clothes).

This is basically a mood piece, based on what might reasonably be expected to go through Garak's mind during a date with the child of his worst enemy.

The quote's taken from a poem by Lawrence Durrell; I liked it, so hope you'll forgive me a moment of pretension. Hope, too, that you enjoy the story; write and let me know.

— Liz Williams

Comments by the Author: 2000

In 2000, Williams participated in a fandom project called Writers and Writing in which fans submitted their answers to a series of questions. In it, Williams, mentioned "In a Stone City."

Question: "Most of you have written fanfic for a while. How does your very first fanfic differ from your latest work? How do you feel about that first attempt?" --

I only ever write DS9 fanfic - sometimes slash, more usually not - and I started purely because I got an idea for a story about Garak. After that, more ideas presented themselves and I've now written quite a few. What has changed over the 3 years that I've been writing fanfic is that I pay much more attention to structure: the first story (In a Stone City) was unstructured and much more of a mood piece. But in a way, it's still my favourite, because I like the writing in it, and I think I did a good job with the actual language.

Reactions and Reviews

Garak isn't easy to write and Liz does an excellent job. I've read this story three or four times.

— ARM

I must admit, I was getting a little tired of G/B stories, which all ended up sounding the same to me. But Liz managed to breathe new life into the pairing (at least for me ;) with her unusual stories and beautiful writing. And it doesn't hurt that she writes a good Dukat as well!

— Ariana

LIZ, a new author?? I'm impressed beyond words at the way she can write such moving, atmospheric, and thoughtful G/B - one of her stories affected me so much that I couldn't even write any feedback to her for days - I kept thinking and thinking of different situations she had written, but was a little too emotionally involved to write a coherent letter. Her imagination is incredible, and she writes G/B so appealingly well that I can hardly imagine not having her stories to read and consider.

— Mary Kay Knasinski

[I vote for] Liz Williams for best new author. Her stories are based around Garak, with such examples as: In a Stone City, Nom de Plume and Snakecharmer. Liz manages to retain perfect canon behaviour on the surface while delving deeply into every character that she writes, with tremendous psychological insight for every one. Her stories are also graceful and poetic with some of the most beautiful use of language I've seen anywhere (and that includes professional novels!). It is her work that has turned me into the rabid fan-fic junkie I am today.

— Diana Challis