Not Tonight, Spock! Interview with Darien Duck

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Not Tonight, Spock! Interview with Darien Duck
Interviewer:	Sarah Leibold
Interviewee:	Darien Duck
Date(s):	1984
Medium:	print
Fandom(s):	Star Trek TOS, slash
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In 1984, Darien Duck was interviewed for the zine Not Tonight, Spock! #2.

Excerpts

At my first Star Trek convention, in New York, February 1980. I bought NOME 2 and COMPANION 2. The idea of K/S hadn't occurred to me before, but it certainly seemed "logical" as presented in the stories of those 2 zines.

I started out as a Spock fan. At first glance, Kirk appeared to be too much of a macho male. But there had to be something worthwhile in him to have drawn Spock, so I looked at the episodes more closely and found beneath the surface image, intriguing depths of character. Especially indicative to me were those episodes where Kirk made a complete ass of himself (Arena & Errand of Mercy come readily to mind), and then later he had the maturity to admit he'd been wrong. I think I've evolved into a fan of both, and particularly enjoy scenes between the two.

I don't feel comfortable with the idea of the bond functioning as their own private two-way radio. The more I've considered it, the more I feel that a bond would function on different levels, depending on its purpose: - The childhood link, such as that between Spock and T'Pring, would function only to draw the pair together at the time of the male's first Pon Farr. - A marriage bond, which would be formed during intercourse at the first Pon Farr. Perhaps this might result in a deeper awareness of the mate's feeling and prevent in jury. It might also allow one mate to be aware of the other's sexual activities when they are not together. Given what we've been told about modern Vulcan society, I wouldn t think that any closer relationship would be desired, at least initially. Perhaps there would be a further option for couples who found themselves to be compatible and who developed a close understanding (love?) during the years they lived together. Their ability to communicate telepathically might no longer require the formalities of a mindmeid. I cannot accept the idea that if one member of a bonded pair died, the other would automatically drop dead. It wouldn't be practical for a young family to lose both parents at once, nor for a person to drop dead during the performance of her/his duty (doctor, teacher, soldier) because his/her mate had just died. Perhaps this linked-in-death option could be the result of a joint decision and effected by a Healer who would have the skill and training to seal the bond so much more deeply. Older couples whose rapport had already deepened the level of their bonding, and whose responsibilities to society had been discharged, might choose this route….

My first story was published in ENTERCOMM 3, in the fall of 1980. Perhaps if I had the time, and the nerve, to go back and re-read those early pieces, I'd see a change, and I hope, some improvement, but I don't think I'm the one to be able to judge objectively. I'm a person who re-writes, and then re-writes, at least 3 times before anything gets typed. It drives me crazy to be proof-reading a "printer-ready" copy of something I've written and to see something that obviously could be better expressed. Frustrating as hell!

I'm now interested in exploring different story ideas. I've written myself out of "first time" stories, except for the one written into that novella I haven't finished. There are so many situations to be dealt with after "the first time". I don't see Kirk and Spock "living happily ever after". They'd have to work very hard to achieve an equilibrium. Most of the stories I've written have been attempts to explain things that bothered me in an episode or in one of the movies: from a Vulcan observing the very Human and seemingly illogical custom of birthdays in my latest effort, to Kirk's unthinking invitation to Spock in Wolf in the Fold. I've read in the APA and in some letter zines that some fans can't accept one or both of the movies because they don't fit into the picture that fan has of the charac ters. In my opinion, some of the episodes portrayed the main characters behaving atypically. I've found it a real challenge to explain these discrepancies to my own satisfaction.

Back to the question, I think that the focus of my interest has changed: from stories triggered as a response to ones that delve into varying aspects of a maturing relationship between Kirk andSpock. I think Spock's saying "this simple feeling" in ST-TMP didn't mean he was suddenly able to handle all those emotions he'd been repressing for 40-odd years. It would take along time and much effort for him to evolve into the mature, comfortable Spock we saw in ST-W0K.

[Regarding Canadian K/S fans]: What Canadian fans? I doubt that we could list 2 dozen Canadians who order our zine. In our last issue, we did have 4 writers who are Canadian residents, but the vast majority of our contributors and customers are from the U.S. I don't mean to be arrogant, but our zine, ANOTHER.... is the only "Canadian K/S" that I know of, and of the 2 editors, one is British and the other, Canadian. I'm not well-acquainted with "British K/S", for a combination of high postage rates and very heavy zines have made most British zines far too expensive to order with out a prior recommendation. A welcome exception has been the 2 issues of CLASSIFIED ASSIGNMENTS and the 2 issues of THE VOICE. There were enough good stories in each issue to have made me pleased that I took a chance on ordering them.

K/S may now be open, but it is still not accepted casually by many. Don't forget that in some places, editors still have trouble finding a printer willing to print their zine. Also, many writers must use pseudonyms for fear of having neighbors or employers learn of their work. This is in the "Real World", and I don't see any changes there in our lifetime. If I were to forget reality, I would quickly be reminded by the fans, who have appointed themselves the guardians of our "morality". They may preach "infinite diversity", but have put limits on the "infinity" they will accept.

When we started our zine, nearly 2 years ago, it was in desperation at the scarcity of K/S zines. Now there are so many available or promised soon, that I wonder whether there are enough writers to fill them all.

Where do I hope the K/S writers will go7 I hope that once they've finished their first time stories, they will remember the vitality and humor in the best episodes and start to give us stories in which these 2 elements are clearly present. It seems to me that once a writer has achieved some mastery over story writing, she has moved on to other fandoms or to professional writing, having found nothing more of interest to write about in Trek. I do hope that these newer writers won't take that route (abandoning Trek) but that they will look further for their ideas and try some of those stories that are just waiting to be written.