The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive

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Archive
Name: The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive
Date(s): 2005 – 2022
Archivist: Killa
Founder: Killa
Type: eFiction, automated archive
Fandom: Star Trek, Kirk/Spock
URL: http://www.ksarchive.com
ksarchive collection at AO3
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The K/S Archive was an archive for Kirk/Spock slash fiction. It's primarily slash, but gen "friendship" stories was also permitted. RPF was not allowed to be posted to the archive. The import to AO3 was completed in December 2022 [1]

First banner, showing image of Kirk and Spock (2006)

In 2009, with the new movie, the archive expanded to include that universe, and in late May 2009 was reorganized further to allow visitors to search specifically for Star Trek: TOS stories or ST XI stories if they wished. The archive's banner reflected the change, showing images of both sets of Kirk and Spock.

New banner, showing images of both sets of Kirk and Spock (2009)

On July 19, 2021, it was announced that the archive would be moving to Archive of Our Own through their Open Doors project, citing increasing difficulty in maintaining the eFiction software.[2]

Last banner, showing images of both sets of Kirk and Spock (2014)

Some History

Available and popular is wonderful, but it’s probably safe to say that the majority of K/S fans prefer not to be restricted to pieces free of all adult references. It seemed like the advantages of the electronic information age were not being tapped. The adult archives were fragmented; the dominant one was restrictive to authors and perpetually only partially indexed. Server space and bandwidth prices had dropped dramatically, and it was the age of dynamic Web pages and free open source scripts. It seemed that it should be feasible to have an area of the Web where writers could publish, modify or remove a Kirk/Spock related story at will. A place where readers could go to read stories for free, print them out if they choose, and self-assemble a personalized zine with one’s stories of choice.

Other fan fiction sites were doing it. Why not K/S? In 2005, it happened when Killa opened up ksarchive.com. Says Killa, “With this archive, I’ve tried to create a space for K/S that’s inclusive rather than exclusive—a ‘one-stop shop’ for all things K/S. For this reason, the archive does welcome stories about the Kirk-Spock relationship that are pre-slash, or gen; it does welcome polyamorous stories, and stories where K/S is not the only relationship. The idea is that, while welcoming stories that fit a broader definition of K/S (and might be of interest to K/S readers), it also allows readers to select from specific categories, so that they can view only the stories that interest them.” Currently, it’s over 500 submissions strong and growing with both brand new fiction and previously printed stories finding a new audience in online readers.

While the K/S archive is about ideal for K/S authors desiring a Web presence, would-be readers are impeded by the fact that stories being added are at the author’s discretion. Authors must be willing to have their works presented there and must take the time and effort to submit a copy. Only a minor fraction of all the K/S out there has been added. [3]

Some Comments from the Terms of Service

See the entire Terms of Service here.

The policy of this archive is to leave warnings to the author's discretion. This means that the author may or may not choose to warn you about the content of their story. This includes warnings for such things as non-consensual sex, character death, infidelity, and other plot elements, so proceed with a mature sense of responsibility for your own sensitivities, please.

The general policies of this archive lean toward inclusiveness as much as possible. The idea behind the archive is to offer a central resource for all stories that might interest those looking for K/S. This means that generally the policies will support inclusiveness wherever possible, and may mean that you need to filter out stories that don't interest you. Our philosophy is that it's better to have everything in one place and offer tools to find what you want to read, rather than trying to limit or impose reading tastes on everyone. If a significant portion of any story focuses on Kirk and Spock and their relationship, it will be welcome here, regardless of what other factors/fandoms/characters/relationships/source texts may play a role in the story. This isn't likely to change.

The policy against Real Person Fiction is also not likely to change. This is not a judgment on anyone who writes it. This archive is simply focused on Kirk and Spock.

References