Night of the Dragon

Fanfiction
Title:	Night of the Dragon
Author(s):	Gayle F
Date(s):	1978
Length:
Genre(s):
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS, K/S
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:	Night of the Dragon at AO3; Night of the Dragon at the KS Archive (offline)
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Night of the Dragon by Gayle F is the third in the Cosmic Fuck Series (a K/S pon farr fic), and sequel to Desert Heat and Beyond Setarcos.

In a Series

• Desert Heat (first published in The Sensuous Vulcan, then in Naked Times #2, and later in The Cosmic Collected)
• Beyond Setarcos (first published in Thrust, then in The Cosmic Collected)
• Night of the Dragon (also first in Thrust, then in The Cosmic Collected)
• Between Friends (first written and circulated hand-to-hand earlier as a story called "The Birthday Present." It was re-titled and published in Obsc'zine #3 in 1978 and then later printed in The Cosmic Collected).

Gallery:Rough Draft

From an undated rough draft:

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Gallery: Final Edition

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  for "Night of the Dragon" Note: Marked as sexually explicit; minimized.

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  for "Night of the Dragon" Note: Marked as sexually explicit; minimized.

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  for "Night of the Dragon" Note: Marked as sexually explicit; minimized.

A Term and Its Fanon

The term, S'Kandarai, is a fanon concept created by Gayle F.

1984:

I've noticed that any number of writers have adopted (and adapted) [Gayle F's] creation of the S'kan'dari, the Vulcan version of the Theban Band, and usually without citing the source, (which, incidentally, is her series DESERT HEAT).

1984:

S'Kandari? — Uh, I'm not sure but it looks a little like she took the phrase "S K and I" and ran it all together. Is this close? Setarcos/Socrates was easy. It might be kind of interesting to know what influenced Gayle's development of the S'Kandari. To me they've always been reminicent of the Mongol horse warriors of about 1200 A.D., especially the costumes and braided hairdos she sometimes draws them wearing.

1985:

I always assumed that "S'Kandari" was derived from "Alexander." I don't know the Greek form of Alexander, but in Arabic it is pronounced Iskandar, and Arabic forms are usually similar to the Greek with the addition of an "I" at the beginning.

1999:

Most of the basic ideas about Vulcan warrior society were inspired by [Gayle F's] S'Kanderai; I took the view that a chaotic, disorganised society would neither work nor survive, so the rules and codes of honour were important."

2000:

Ruth Lym remembers that "S'Kanderai was a concept used in the third story ("Night of the Dragons") of the Cosmic Fuck Series by [Gayle F]. Not sure where it first appeared, but Gayle got the name -- S'Kanderai -- from the name that Hephaestion [or maybe it was Bagoas: the reference is to Mary Renault's novels] called Alexander: Skander.

Reactions and Reviews

1983

How do I feel about: 1. Violence in K/S — it has no place. 2. S&M in K/S — a little is OK as long as both partners enjoy it and it is written well. [Gayle F's] "Mirrors of the Mind and Flesh" had just about enough for me (maybe a little too much). 3. Humiliation/degradation in K/S — I think that is disgusting. The only place where it might be feasible is in a story like [Gayle F's] "Night of the Dragon", where Spock is so freaked out that Kirk almost died, that he "punishes" Kirk by the violent way that he takes him. Wait a minute, maybe this is an example of #1 and not #3. Besides, Spock is ashamed and sorry afterward.

1994

Okay, okay, I'm probably one of two people who haven't read this [zine] (the other probably being my mother), but it's one of my huge collection of unread zines and therefore subject to my incredibly insightful, penetrating, discerning (sounds like Spock's eyes) scrutiny! So for that fine other person out there, this is for you.

This [Desert Heat, Beyond Setarcos, Night of the Dragon, and Between Friends], is a series of connected stories concerning Spock going into pon farr while he and Kirk are left for a week on an abandoned planet. So, of course, Kirk has to help out. The stories continue back on the Enterprise, and Kirk has to help out some more. In the last story, McCoy helps out, but more on that later.

I'd already heard about [Gayle F's] writing being a lot like her sexy, ultra-explicit, fantasy artwork. Well, it's not exactly like it. There's a bit too much of "he licked his chest, abdomen, legs, knees, ankles, feet, toes,..." (not a quote} for my taste. Then, there's lots of "telling" not "showing". Also, the characterizations are a little strange. For the most pan. Kirk is unrecognizable and Spock is cliche with his exacting, logical talk. The rest is inner thoughts that are so heavy with a kind of emotional poetry, that I was confused as to who was feeling what and especially, why.

The style of writing was frustrating to me. Done in short, clipped sentences, I had to work really hard to visualize things and believe me, there were lots of things I wanted to visualize) The use of repeating verbs didn't help imoi?), nor did leaving off nouns and the objects of verbs, and the "ands". Example: "Dropped his pants, kicked them away and jerked off boots, socks." There are many more examples, but you get the idea. Also, there are lots of hes, hims, and hises that totally confused me as to whose, whats and wheres.