Light the Corners
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| K/S Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Light the Corners |
| Author(s): | Robin Hood |
| Date(s): | 1987 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Original Series |
| External Links: | |
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Light the Corners is a Kirk/Spock story by Robin Hood.
It was published in the print zine Way of the Warrior #1.
Summary
"Kirk, his memory gone, is taken in as a pet by the inhabitants ofthe planet he crashed on."
Reactions and Reviews
“Light in the Corners" begins with Kirk who is suffering from amnesia and stranded alone in the desert. He is rescued by Dreath, one of the gentle, lion-like inhabitants of the planet. After his injuries are healed, he becomes a slave/pet to Dreath, until/unless a prior owner claims him. Spock traces Kirk to the planet and we discover the psychological trauma that made Kirk develop amnesia in the first place… This story was rather ridiculous and implausible in places – particularly the way Kirk so easy accepts his role as a slave/pet – but I was able to enjoy it on a level of harmless silliness. Thought there is profanity in the story, there is no violence or explicit sex, and it has a certain degree of innocence. [1]
Combining the amnesia story and the slave story is not a new idea, but there are some interesting variations here. First, the amnesia is selective instead of total. Most K/S amnesia stories reduce the victim of amnesia to the mentality of children, but in this one Kirk retains his mental maturity and remembers much general information that doesn't tie into his personal past. This is believable. Selective amnesia does occur— particularly when the cause is psychological, as it is here. This institution of slavery, as it is portrayed in this story, is also slightly unusual. If someone other than the owner of the slave can establish a prior claim on that slave, then this other can take the slave away and the owner can do nothing about it, nor expect any compensation for the slave's loss. That's all very nice, if a trifle too convenient for Spock. Kirk's owner is also a relatively benevolent sort who doesn't believe in forcing his sexual attentions on anyone, but he isn't above using blatant psychological manipulation to get Kirk in bed with him. I have a feeling that the author was trying to prettify slavery here. If that's true, she didn't succeed with me. Nothing can make slavery a pretty situation. There was also a slight confusion over the absence or presence of a K/S bond. We start off being told that Spock refused to bond with Kirk, then later, on page 91 we are told that "their bond was still there." I wasn't sure whether Robin forgot that they hadn't bonded, or she really meant to write "link". In either case, it is a minor failure of the sort that can be easily eliminated. [2]
“Light in the Corners" begins with Kirk who is suffering from amnesia and stranded alone in the desert. He is rescued by Dreath, one of the gentle, lion-like inhabitants of the planet. After his injuries are healed, he becomes a slave/pet to Dreath, until/unless a prior owner claims him. Spock traces Kirk to the planet and we discover the psychological trauma that made Kirk develop amnesia in the first place… This story was rather ridiculous and implausible in places – particularly the way Kirk so easy accepts his role as a slave/pet – but I was able to enjoy it on a level of harmless silliness. Thought there is profanity in the story, there is no violence or explicit sex, and it has a certain degree of innocence. [3]
A very good story! I really liked it. I liked the way that it didn't begin by telling you just who was injured. I liked the mystery in it. The amnesia was not total. It was selective and that made it even more interesting because you could see that it confused Kirk. He knew things but just didn't know how he knew them. Also having Kirk land (well, crash-land) on a planet of large cats that just happen to find humans sexually attractive...now how many planets can there be where such a thing can happen. I liked Spock's jealousy in Kirk's friendship with Dreath, and his fear that Kirk will choose Dreath before he remembers the relationship that he has with Spock. I liked this story. [4]
Another emotionally intense story in a zine which has quite a few of them. This one opens with Kirk waking up alone and injured in a desert with no memory of how he got there. Even after he is rescued and taken back to civilisation, his problems are not over as he still cannot remember anything about himself and his distress at this situation is well described as he struggles to regain even a small part of his self knowledge. His realisation that this particular planet operates a slave culture does not help him much either, even though his rescuer reassures him that he will not be abused – humans on this particular planet are rare and cherished as pets rather than used for work, but Kirk is not at all reassured by this when he realises exactly what function slaves do have in this world. Meanwhile the story also effortlessly switches points of view and depicts the arrival of Spock who is of course frantically searching for Kirk and we learn that Kirk left the ship on leave after they had a quarrel – caused by Spock’s refusal to allow a death bonding with Kirk. Although he does not have much problem finding Kirk, that is by no means the end of the story since the only way he can apparently get his Captain back is if his memory returns, otherwise, he will be “claimed” by the individual who rescued him – which does not sit easily with the Vulcan, whose reactions and anguish are also portrayed very well. He is also more than a little upset by the fact that Kirk does not recognise him at all, and seems to actually prefer the company of Dreath, his rescuer to Spock, who manages to get into the household incognito to be with his lover and wants nothing more than to meld with him immediately to restore his memory. Spock’s struggle to resist doing this and to allow Kirk time to regain his memory on his own as he starts to recover is very realistically detailed as is Kirk’s bewilderment at what is taking place and his lack of understanding of Spock’s motives. Overall, this is a well written story with a satisfying conclusion which I won’t spoil by revealing in this review! [5]
'Light the Corners' is a type of story I don't think I've read from her before. It's a slave story, not the usual type but with Kirk (sans memory) owned by a large furry alien that none of us would mind being owned by. Because it is not a first time story, I was surprised by its author but with gritting reality from the first shuttle crash scene to the last loving but sexy recovery of Kirk's memory, it is well written. I am learning to look forward to seeing Ms. Hood's name in a zine these days. [6]