Sunset and Evening Star

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	Sunset and Evening Star
Author(s):	Leslie Fish
Date(s):	1980
Length:	121808 words
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	online here
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Sunset and Evening Star is a Star Trek: TOS story by Leslie Fish.

It was published in the print zine Fesarius #5 and is online.

It takes off from two points: a story by Sharon Emily, called 'Proof Positive' (Showcase #2, 1975) wherein Spock meets Christ, and from the section of 'This Deadly Innocence' (1979) where Kirk and Spock read 'The Star' by Arthur C. Clarke, the story of the light that shone at Christ's birth. See more in one of the reviews.

Part of a Challenge

This story was published as part of a two-story challenge: "What would be the effect of the ST universe if Christ were not an influence?"

The other story was by Theresa Holmes and called Difference.

Description from a Flyer

From a flyer for Fesarius #5:

SUNSET AND EVENING STAR by Leslie Fish, could be a novel in its own right. While on a time-travel mission to rescue ancient Roman art treasures, a sudden flare of solar radiation causes Kirk to materialize in a Rome far different from our history's [sic], where technology, social organization, and the quality of life are far beyond anything possible in this time-line... or are they? Kirk must find away home -- and the Enterprise must find a way to keep their universe from being destroyed by a mishap in time. Rich in plot and characterization and undoubtedly controversial in its conclusion, Sunset and Evening Star is the product of four years of work and is one Leslie Fish's finest efforts. Beautiful illustrations by the author include a foldout and several full-page plates.

Art from the Print Zine: By the Author

A selection from a much bigger offering. It is used on Fanlore with permission from Leslie Fish.

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Reactions and Reviews: Print Zine Era

1982

There is also a major new novel from Leslie Fish called "Sunset and Evening Star." I predict that this novel will cause considerable uproar in fandom. Ms Fish is not one to duck unpopular causes, and in this novel she attacks monotheism, in general, and Christianity, in particular. The brunt of the argument is carried on by two crewpersons. Dr. Agnes Day, the historian, represents the Christian viewpoint; Ellison Hawk, the archeologist, represents the secular humanist viewpoint. Whenever these two meet the debate is carried on.

Now on to the plot. About three months before the time of the novel, Spock steps through the Guardian and meets Jesus Christ. He is most impressed. (This takes place in "Proof Positive" by Sharon Emily in SHOWCASE #2). Remember this. The Enterprise goes back in time to an Easter Sunday in Rome before the Fall of the Roman Empire. Their mission: to rescue works of art and records destroyed in the Fall. Hawk and Day are in the landing party to a temple when a post-Easter service pack of Christians sack and burn the temple. The landing party beams up, but Kirk beams back a few minutes later. However, a transporter malfunction occurs, and he materializes nine feet above a Roman fish peddlers pushcart in 7 B.C.

Meanwhile, the crew tries to effect rescue. Hawk manages to determine that Kirk was displaced in time, but before they can return to 7 B.C., they must return to their own time to relieve the Knaffbein stress on the engines. When they return to their own time, it is changed. The find the Roman Empire in Space represented by the starship Invictus.

They welcome the Enterprise warmly and render all possible assistance. The Imperium is a higher civilization than the Federation, and they give the Enterprise all kinds of information about themselves and their technology. Spock, however, censors all information given in return. What if they learned that rescuing Kirk could bring their universe to an end? The Invictus entertains the main characters at a banquet where Hawk and Day argue at length. Spock sides with Day. Why? Fish makes Day's arguments sound like nonsense. Eventually Hawk deserts. fie also spills the beans, and the Enterprise is forced to depart hastily for the past followed closely by the Invictus. It seems that Kirk is the key to the change in history. As Emperor of the Roman Empire, his inventions, innovations, and policies change the course of Galactic history.

Many people will be upset by this novel. Ms Fish depicts all Christians as hysterical, bigoted, rigid, Bible as literal truth, believe as I believe or burn forever, religious fanatics. This is far from the truth. And her Roman civilization is thoroughly sanitized before comparing it to the worst of Christian cultures. Slanting the arguments so obviously do not add to their credibility. Judaism, Buddhism, and other major religious movements are mentioned, too, and they are not treated any better than Christianity.

Now, a spoiler warning! I am going to reveal the ending — something I do not normally do. If you object to this, skip the rest of this paragraph. After Kirk is rescued, he mind melds with Spock and uncovers a great secret. When Spock met Christ, Christ placed secret orders in his mind and obscured the fact that in reality Christ was an evil alien being (much like the Apollo of the TV episode, but evil) who was creating a death wish society from which souls could be harvested for some evil scheme. Kirk, of course, deprograms him. This is definitely a controversial ending.

Those of you who are not easily offended and like intellectually stimulating fan fiction will find this novel a MUST READ; however, I cannot promise that you will like it. Others will want to read it just to see what all the fuss is about. It is well-written, imaginative, iconoclastic, amusing, well-researched, etc. and the depth, the breadth, and the width of the novel are rarely seen in a work of fan fiction. And in the day of the $20 fanzine this long novel is comparatively cheap, making FESARIUS V a BEST BUY as well as a MUST READ.

1983

'Sunset and Evening Star' takes off from two points: a story by Sharon Emily, called 'Proof Positive' (Showcase 2 C.1975 O/P) wherein Spock meets Christ, and from the section of 'This Deadly Innocence' where Kirk and Spock read 'The Star' by Arthur C. Clarke, the story of the light that shone at Christ's birth. From these starting points Leslie postulates an Earth ruled continuously by Rome developing unhindered by the evils of the Dark Ages (ignoring the fact that current archeology is proving that those ages were not so dark after all.). Spaceflight develops 1,000 years early (c. 1500 A.D.). People grow up tolerant and sophisticated, freed from the trammels of religion.

The pivotal point in this change of history is Kirk, who is trapped in the past during the reign of the Emperor Octavius (Augustus) Caesar. In this timeline Kirk becomes Emperor, replacing Tiberius of evil fame (see Suetonius 'The Twelve Caesars'). Believing he is in an alternate universe, Kirk sets about improving the lot of the people and unwittingly alters his own history. The Enterprise, thrown forward in time, encounters the results of Kirk's interference; an attractive, mature, hybrid people with far advanced technology. Spock must destroy all this and reroute history to reclaim Kirk. In addition Spock has been 'taken over' by the Master (i.e. Christ) and all his mental processes are being forced into the Master's mould.

Having come this far, the reviewer is confronted with a problem; that of making some kind of pronouncement on the quality of the story, and this is most difficult. To to ease the difficulty, I have divided my thoughts into two; firstly on the style and form of the story; secondly on the believability of the argument.

Undoubtedly Leslie Fish is a writer of enormous talent. In imagination and mood, the story is very rich with the tapestry of detail so evident in 'This Deadly Innocence. The word 'powerful' still seems most applicable.

The second part of the analysis is the more difficult, and although I believe that a reviewer's persona should not intrude, I think some explanation of viewpoint here is necessary for fairness. Therefore: I am an historian in part, although not of the ancient period, and I believe in no systematised religion.

Leslie has set out to attack and destroy, not only Christianity, but all god-centred belief. Christ is 'Fleecer, milker, eater of souls'. All gods want the same thing from us; adulation, worship, mental energy, their food. Christianity marked the arrival of the 'first large scale exploitative cartel into what had previously been a small business market'. Beings are 'livestock'. Christ, in Kirk's view a renegade Organian, Melkotian or Metron, is able to dominate Spock because the Vulcan cannot resist the all-accepting Ioving that the Master appears to offer him. Only for Kirk, can he break away. I find this whole section unconvincing when we have seen Spock resist the Melkotians, the mind sifter and the weight of thousands of years of Vulcan history.

Whatever the truth of this atheistic view, it is strongly argued - too strongly - I think, for the bitterness of the tone pervades the whole, creating a recoil in the reader in proportion to the original intensity. The vehemence of the argument is carried through long and sometimes tedious 'set-piece' conversations again causing possible recoil on the reader's part.

As far as the historical facts are concerned, Leslie has undoubtedly done her homework, and it would take considerable research for a non-ancient historian to argue on a par, even if such argument were relevant to a review. However, I cannot resist one reservation, not with the content of Leslie's history but with the historical method that makes so broad an extrapolation from a single historical inversion, ignoring all the other civilisations of Earth and their potential.

Finally, from what I understand of the Roman character (somewhat inflexible and pragmatic), I cannot see that Roman philosophy would form a basis for the intellectual development Leslie outlines - roads and roublic health aren't everything.

All this is far from a 'shall I order or not decision' and all I can say is that if the subject matter is of previous interest then it's worth the investment. It is thought-provoking.

A last word - Leslie's illos are extraordinary, conveying a sense of movement and strength. Those familiar will know that they are slightly 'cartoon' in style but they glare a strong sense of the spirit, of the characters and the Spock/Christ/Kirk is chilling.

Ah, but then we come to the Fish's "Sunset and Evening Star". My only real complaint is the title. It's meaningless, innocuous, unmemorable, and unfit for the masterpiece Leslie has written.

There is one complaint I expect many people to make (though it is not one of mine) so I should mention it: there is a lot of conversation in this story. There's some very gripping action and it is plentiful, but there is more conversation and it's a 150 page novel. Don't let that bother you — once you start, you will whiz right through it instantly because you will be caught in the Fish's incredible mind. There is SO MUCH in this story! I don't know where to begin. Leslie uses the old transporter malfunction bit (to her credit, the Big E is on a time travel jaunt to ancient Rome, not using the Guardian but the method used in "Tomorrow is Yesterday". Also, Leslie acknowledges she is using a time-worn gimmick by calling the chapter Transporter Malfunction of the Month") and sends Kirk back into time to ancient Rome. The Enterprise is forced to return to the present before rescuing Kirk and finds the universe drastically changed. Rome never fell and has founded a very advanced, benevolent space confederation. Since there were no Dark Ages, space travel was developed in 1500. Meanwhile, Kirk is encountering — and falling in love with — ancient Rome, which is nothing like we in the present, with our prejudices, believe it to be. Leslie has drawn a basically accurate picture of ancient Rome (which has been emasculated by people of my profession — historians — down through the centuries, who so readily believed ancient propaganda spread by Rome's enemies); a Rome with labor unions, surgery, public service, religion, ethics (yes, ethics! A morality very similar to ours), silk-screened printing, and so much more. To present the atheist-vs.-Christian confrontation, Leslie presents us with two characters: Ellison Hawk (good ol' Harlan) and Agnes Day, a perfectly hateful character. I can see a lot of religionists getting upset with Leslie's portrayal of a devoted Christ-follower. The only thing Leslie could be attacked for in this instance is portraying a Christian in such a stereotypical manner. I can't. Having been brought up in Roman Catholicism, Agnes comes very close to many priests, nuns and lay Christians I have known. The underlying subplot is a beautiful exploration of Spock's love for Kirk. The only problem I have is Leslie's portrayal of Spock. He is much too emotional and much too "evil". I should mention that Leslie's story is meant as a sequel to Sharon Emily's "Proof Positive" in her Showcase zine, wherein Spock meets Christ and becomes a Christian. Leslie's presentation of this is that Spock is "dominated" by a powerful entity and behaves in very unpleasant, intolerant, bigoted ways. His behavior should be looked at with that in mind, but it is still so unSpockian that I'm still uncomfortable with it. All that aside, the story is magnificent. I haven't even touched half of it. This is a morality tale in the old-fashioned sense, and so some of Leslie's characters do not come off being very well fleshed out. But "Sunset and Evening Star" is such a good story (and impossible to put down) that this can be easily overlooked. Above all, this is a story where one learns and thinks constantly, a phenomenon decidedly lacking in fanfic. Leslie forces you to take a position — agreement or disagreement. And those who disagree must come away very angry.

Fan writers, by and large, have trouble thinking up interesting and believable alien sociology. The last thing I'm willing to waste my time or money on is "My Jesus is better than yours and I've got a Vulcan Master to prove it" kinds of nonsense. If you want good fan fiction on religious themes, try Fesarius V which finally came out this fall, in my opinion a story can say more of a truly religious nature by how its characters treat each other and do their jobs than any number of religious ceremonies, sermons or pious invocations of this or that god will ever provide. After you've read the stories in Fesarius V, disconnect your prejudices and judge both stories on the basis of plot, characterization, motivation and style and then give an honest judgment on which is the more truly "religious" tale.

Where 'Difference' says everybody should have a god, preferably the same one, Leslie Fish in 'Sunset and Evening Star' is all for celestial-free enterprise. Christianity laid the Empire low. Not only that, it proposes a conspiracy of truly cosmic -- or paranoid -- dimensions. Yeshua ben David, see, is this super-version of Rev. Sun Yung Moon, a Being on the same order as Apollo and Kulkukan, as was Yahweh before Him; they are like these soulsuckers who entrap humans with the Beatific Vision and occasionally instigate religious wars to skim off a load for some theocentric purpose... Her presentation of the early Empire will indeed upset notions some readers may have formed from Sunday School... a must-read for anyone whose personal beliefs, religious, atheist, or agnostic, can withstand probing.

I found the Leslie Fish story boring, precisely because of the long harangues of Ellison Hawk, and Agnes Day. Harlan Ellison is many things, but not boring.

This is the first zine story that I have abandoned, only partly read. Maybe, when I run out of other things to read, I'll go back to it.

Thanks for telling me about Fesarius 5. I enjoyed Leslie's story very much. I like these philosophical debates over dinner -- takes me back to my college days. I think she needed a clearer headed proponent for the opposition view than Agnes Day, someone who could argue more like a Jesuit. I'd be curious to hear her responding arguments.

"Evening Star" boring? I couldn't put it down — literality: The day I started reading It I was scheduled to go to an outpatient clinic for some minor surgery. I read and read all during the tests and pre-op procedures and only reluctantly agreed to leave the zine outside the operating room. I picked it up again the second I came out of surgery recovery room. "What on earth are you read???" everyone kept asking me"! You can imagine the looks when I showed them. Anyway, I thought Leslie's novella was one of the most fascinating pieces of fan fiction I've ever read, and certainly one of the most brilliant. It's definitely K/S, and the ending blew me away! It is one of the few ST fan-written political dramas where the alien culture and political situation was fully developed in its own right, and not just a backdrop for the characters. Leslie brought her own version of ancient Rome to life with such vividness, color, and humanity that I could only shake my head in wonder at her incredible mind and talent.

1984

That explanation of Leslie Fish and The Weight and how she used the story to move message struck a true note, for in my own case, it explains why I never read all the series. [snipped] ... Anyway, if Leslie was suckering us into reading her political position with this story, she failed in my case, became I could not see these people as characters from Star Trek, and I finally gave up. She did get it in the story in Fesarius -- I enjoyed that one tremendously, despite the Harlan Ellison clone, even though her views don't precisely match mine.

Reactions and Reviews: Online Era

The story was posted online in 2012 at Archive of Our Own.

2012

Below is a selection of some 2012 fan comments, some with author response.

[Shichinin]: I am at a loss of words to tell you how awesome your tale is. It is not only a well written Star Trek fiction, but also and above all a clever philosophical analysis of religious consciousness, without hubris and poses. Before hanging on some god, we need to understand what we can do by ourselves and to learn to grow our garden. To tell the truth, such an idea does not even eliminate the very possibility of experiences in which we go beyond ourselves. It helps us, however, to choose only "gods" that do not require us to kneel in their presence."True love can exist only between equals", indeed.

[Leslie Fish]: Thanks, Shi. Glad you enjoyed. As mentioned in the intro, this story was written as part of a challenge after I complained about a ST fan injecting blatant Christian preaching (some of which I quoted) into the ST universe. After I'd argued the point for months in ST fanzine letter-columns, the fanzine editor gave me and the other author a writing challenge, and this was my entry. I tried to stick rigidly within the the ST:TOS universe, referring to the various "superior beings" in the series who had turned out to be only more advanced aliens. Why not, I wondered, take the "advanced aliens" theory a step further? I noted, too, that the TOS "gods" were judged, in the series, by how useful or damaging they were to humans and other intelligent beings -- and chose to take that another step further too. This is the result, and I'm glad you liked it. Thanks.

[sketchnurse]: Oh goodness. Not only was this a gorgeous read, with wonderful world-building and intriguing plot points, but it was also a calm, rational, non-biased argument against the type of religions that Christianity not only became, but was at the beginning, without resorting to arrogant atheistic arguments. The gods were real, and every bit as terrible as they should have been. Religion became ridiculous not because there were no higher powers-- quite the contrary!-- but because as free beings, slavery to others, no matter how gilded a cage one is kept in, is unjust, and anathema to our natures. Why shouldn't the gods exist? Why should they automatically be worthy of worship if they did? And if there are no higher powers, let us be as free as we would be if there were! Every argument you made through the Romans was well thought-out, rational, and, as a Mr. Spock whose mind was no longer prey to the manipulation of his weaknesses would say, infinitely logical.

I found Proof Positive on the web, and had to force myself to keep reading it. As a non-religious person, I was repulsed. Suddenly Spock is shown the light, the way to eternal salvation, and doesn't question it! How out of character! But the real reason for his instant conversion is explained here, and how sick a reason--and how true, even in this supposed new era of enlightenment and science. The message is as true and necessary today as it was when this was first published. You demonstrated that there were rational people in the world, who refused to stand by and watch religion enter into realms it didn’t belong. What use would God’s children, formed in his image, have for space travel anyway? To seek out new life, vastly different from their own, and therefore inferior? I’ve seen little evidence of widespread Christianity in Star Trek; what, then, was it doing in Trek fiction? You effectively quashed that with this work. Well done.

To make a long comment short, thank you. It was a delight to read, and think about when I was doing other things, and I will recommend it to anyone I think would read it.

[Leslie Fish]: Thank you, Sketch. Yes, this story was written as a reply to a challenge, after my annoyed comments about "Proof Positive" raised a long letter-war. I took the opportunity to consolidate all the ideas about "gods" that had been floating around for some time in the Star Trek universe, in the light of what I knew about real Roman history, law, customs and religion -- and it seems to have worked. I forget who wrote the opposing story, but I must admit that I never saw it again, so I guess the fans judged me the winner of the challenge.

[OcarinAttorney]: Ow, it really hurt to read this whole thing. It's painfully beautiful and marvelous because I was torn apart from being a Christian and a logically-sane reader at the same time while I was reading. Perhaps this is why people separate literature from religion. It made me look at my beliefs in a different point of view, and I do say, it was foolish for the author of "Proof Positive" to link the religion and TOS. Very foolish. Long story short- I'm Christian and I fucking love this. Contradictory, but fuck the rules.

[Leslie Fish]: Hi, Ocarin. Thanks greatly for your comments. I forget who Spock was quoting when he said "The unexamined life is not worth living", but that could apply to religions, too. Any faith that can't stand up to examination and questioning is... of questionable value. Assuming, as ST-TOS does, that a lot of super-human beings have posed as gods -- even adapting to local mythology to get themselves worshipped -- a really valid religion would have to study and judge such beings and, if necessary, go beyond them. For example present-day NeoPagans deliberately go shopping in the marketplace of local gods, coolly judging them and deciding which ones to "buy" into; the Unitarian Universalists postulate an independent cosmic being beyond these, but assume it's as vast, complex, alien and -- above all -- indifferent as the universe itself, having no need of human worship to sustain it, and therefore taking no more than academic interest in the doings of one breed of mammal on the third planet of a 4th-rate sun in a 3rd-rate galaxy. The idea is that any "god" who takes active interest in humans is necessarily small, local, and definitely needs our "faith"; therefore, we'd better be careful just what we trade our faith for. The original Jesus, as described in the New Testament, actually looks pretty good by this standard. It's only the mythology grown up around him since that allows "blind faith" and its attendant evils to creep in.

[Dontaskpcandy]: Somebody told me about this story in 1986 at a con, while we were standing at a zine seller's table with the long table cloth and the K/S stacked in paper form underneath...discs costing more and not being as trusted. Being a dealer then meant having a few copies as inspection and going to the spare room wardrobe at home after the con to post pages of A4 to people. The whole thing was run on trust, fans met up yearly and if a page was missing or unreadable from a zine you'd correspond with the writer/seller long after because you'd become such good friends. It was this actual story that we couldn't find, and to read it here is very greatly welcome. Thanks for your hard work in getting it into text form across the great technology divide that we now take for granted. May your data-solids never be inadvertently used as coasters LOL and always always feel courageous enough to put forty quatloos on the newcomer. Regards, Liz.

[j]: Loved it~ Thank you for writing this. I am going to have to recommend this to a friend of mine, though she does not often read Star Trek fiction. This was wonderful. ^^ I am definitely going to have to keep a copy of this in my personal library. It would be a shame if this somehow disappeared. I loved the characterizations and the conflict, and way too many other things to even list. Thank you very much.