Sleep Not, Dream Not

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	Sleep Not, Dream Not
Author(s):	Connie Faddis
Date(s):	March 1975
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Sleep Not, Dream Not is a Star Trek: TOS story by Connie Faddis. This is Faddis' very first pieces of Star Trek fiction.

It was published in T-Negative #26.

A Tuckerism

The story contains a Tuckerism that references David Gerrold: "'Surely, Doctor, you could engage in more profitable pursuits than the gaudy, inaccurate depiction of Auralian gazelles and Gerroldian epiphytes'."

A few months later, a fan commented: ""Anyone notice the little mention of "Gerroldian epiphytes" (look it up) in "Sleep Not, Dream Not"? [14] Get you thinking? What's DG's place in ST fandom? Maybe he is feeding off of us, but [is it] malignantly or benignly?"

The Story Was Published Later as Original Science Fiction

Years later, Faddis filed off the serial numbers and published it as original science fiction:

I started submitting art to science fiction fanzines, and then when the Star Trek fanzines started popping up....I submitted art to them, as well....It was several years before I got the...courage to write something that resembled a story. And I did know how to write because, you know, I’d been writing my own private stuff...

Here’s what really kicked me into the writing. I wrote a [Trek fan] story. I think it was called “Sleep Not, Dream Not," and I submitted it to Ruth Berman. Shame on me! I cannot remember the name of her fanzine to save my life. But she had ...probably the top-notch fanzine in terms [redacted] [of] the quality [of its] content. [redacted] Ruth, I believe, was a published author, and she wrote back to me, and she said, in essence, “This is a professionally written story. I think you ought to...file the Star Trek trademark off of it, change the names of the characters and submit it for publication.” Which, some years later, I did, and it was published as a separate story in "Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine."

Summary

The Enterprise encounters a planet full of dead people, a ship full of dead Klingons, and old woman Nal, a prisoner who cannot be approached because of a nightmare barrier. Another summary: The Enterprise finds a Klingon ship orbiting a class M planet. All aboard the ship are dead as a result of murder or suicide. The only survivor from the planet, found in the brig of the Klingon ship, is an ancient female humanoid, the Nal. She appears to be the cause of all the deaths. No one can communicate with her or even approach her as she is surrounded by a terror field. As the Nal slowly dies, McCoy defies his Captain and risks his own life in an attempt to save her life.

Fan Comments

Rather nice McCoy tale. Enterprise encounters a planet full of dead people, a ship full of dead Klingons, and old woman Nal, a prisoner who cannot be approached because of a nightmare barrier, and who ends up dying, linked tightly to McCoy.

'Sleep Not, Dream' not about an encounter with an alien who has a dangerous telepathic shield and Dr. McCoy's efforts to reach her. It is well-told and can undoubtedly be judged as one of this year's outstanding pieces of ST fanfic.