Sweet Surrender (Star Trek: TOS story)
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Sweet Surrender |
| Author(s): | Deanna Gray |
| Date(s): | 2001 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Star Trek: TOS |
| Relationship(s): | Kirk/Spock |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sweet Surrender is a Kirk/Spock story by Deanna Gray.
It was published in the print zine First Time #53.
Summary
"Spock discovers a way to catch “scenes” from another dimension, and discovers a Kirk and Spock who live as master and slave...and as lovers."
The Art and an Autograph Line
A fan mentions the art for this story during a con report for Slanted Fedora 2002:
In addition to the two he would be signing with Bill, she had a picture of Spock in his uniform from STVI and I suggested she have him sign that, so she would have a matched set with Bill's pic. She agreed and also decided on Shelley Butler's "Sparkling Spock" pic. She also decided to have him sign the pic Liz Woledge did for her Mirror story, "Once and Again". So that left one more signature. Well, Deanna had just happened to bring First Time 53, which has her fantabulous story "Sweet Surrender" in it. She told me that she really, really wanted Leonard to sign the first page of her story, but knowing what happened the last time he was handed a FT to sign (he flipped through the entire zine, looked at all the artwork and read a poem), she decided to think on that for awhile. [1]
Reactions and Reviews
Spock discovers a window into an alternate universe where Kirk is master and Spock is his slave.
The recordings of this A/U goings-on shock Kirk, but of course fascinate him, too.
Boy! And are they ever fascinating.... The scenes are mighty hot—especially the ones where Spock administers some fellatio and where he offers himself to his master. If you’ve never thrashed on the carpet after reading a K/S sex scene, you very possibly will now....
Then when Kirk and Spock start their own relationship...wow.
The over-all story is kind of “Deanna Gray-lite”, but who cares when you got such mad, passionate, hot, towering-jade-pole-of-desire scenes? [2]
If you leafed through the pages of this story before reading it, you would think it was a pre-reform Vulcan AU. There’s a lovely color painting by Liz showing a Kirk-like figure in a loincloth holding a defeated looking Spock at the end of a chain, and others of a long-haired Spock. You would think this was AU, but you would be wrong. And if you were a person who isn’t fond of pre-reform stories, you would be just as pleased as I was with the premise.
The Enterprise has encountered an unstable nebula (another of this author’s fascinating ideas) through which Spock believes there is an opening to an alternate dimension. Spock buries himself in scientific research until he finally finds proof of the existence of just such a breach in the continuum, but that proof is more startling and unsettling to both Spock and Kirk than anything they expected.
As Spock’s investigation proceeds, bit-by-bit he brings Kirk disks with images from that alternate universe, and bit-by-bit the uneasiness both men are feeling deepens. This is Vulcan, but not the Vulcan we know; this is a primitive world where humans have enslaved the Vulcan race. As Kirk watches the drama unfolding in the other universe, a drama in which Spock is not only Kirk’s slave but also his willing lover, he begins to examine his feelings for his first officer. That, my friends, is putting it mildly. Kirk watching their counterparts make slow, sizzling love is very, very erotic and hot!
Characterization of the two men in their own universe is spot-on. Neither behaves like an idiot, but both are understandably off-balance because at this point they are friends and nothing more. The way they come to terms with what they’ve seen and the passion it has awakened in them both is a fine thing to see. As the old saying goes: when one door closes, another opens.
Sweet Surrender is another well-plotted, highly imaginative entry from an author well known for her ability to capture and hold our attention.[3]
Once again, this author has written an imaginatively wonderful story, for which the inspiration came solely from a wonderful drawing by Liz Woldege. When the author first told me she was writing a story based on this picture and that it was not an A/U story, but was going to take place in "our" universe, I really couldn't see how she was going to accomplish this. But after reading this story, I was more than pleasantly suprised at how she put it all together. I don't want to go into details about the plot in case some of you have not read this story yet, but I will say that I think the author did an excellent job with the premise she chose to use. I love how "our" Kirk is able to relate his own thoughts and desires when he watches the A/U Kirk and Spock together and how he comes face-to-face with the realization that what they have is exactly what he wants with his own Spock. And as usual, the characterizations as portrayed by the author are right on target, not only Kirk and Spock, but McCoy, as well.
This author knows these characters well and does her usual excellent job of bringing them to life for the reader. And this story, like all her works, flows easily, yet never leaves the reader feeling short-changed or rushed through anything and everything comes together neatly in the end.
Once again, this author has written another "must read" story for every K/S fan. [4]
What a great story! Deanna Grey is one of my very favorite writers, and I always look forward to anything she writes. She has an amazing imagination and always comes up with interesting stories that are so well written, and that usually have the added bonus of very hot love scenes! This story was no exception.
(Warning: I'm going to give away the plot, again!) Deanna has taken an AU scenario that is not one of my favorites (the master/slave story) and made it part of a fascinating story set in the regular ST story line. In this story, after the experiences with Lazarus, and the Mirror Universe, Spock is experimenting with investigating alternate universes. As a result of his research, the Enterprise is able to view images from another universe. The very first image is illustrated by the beautiful color picture by Liz that accompanies the story, that of a blonde man standing next to a kneeling Vulcan slave with Mount Seleya looming in the background. Further scenes from the parallel universe reveal that those men are Kirk and Spock's counterparts. Kirk is appalled by the fact that in this universe Vulcans are slaves to the humans, and that he would own Spock as a slave. However, he is intrigued by the relationship that his counterpart has with the other Spock. The alternate Spock's love and devotion for Kirk, and his willingness to make any sacrifice for Kirk are the same in both universes. This starts Kirk thinking about Spock's submission to him in the two universes, and this bothers him a lot. As succeeding images from the parallel universe are discovered, the encounters between Kirk and Spock become more and more erotic. (Boy howdy, do they ever! Major thrashing on the carpet time!) I love this paragraph as our Kirk watches the fellatio scene with the alternate Spock and Kirk: "Kirk gasped, his own cock hardening as he watched his alternate being sucked.
Gods, Spock was sucking him. Spock. Sucking him. A red alert went off in his head, warning him to shut off the machine now, he was not ready for this. But he knew there was no way he could stop. The Romulan Praetor and Klingon Emperor themselves could beam into the room this instant and it would make no difference." I love the image that conjures up! By the end of the story, Kirk and Spock have acknowledged their love for each other, and then an exceedingly hot first time love scene between our Kirk and Spock ends this great story.
There was, however, one jarring note for me. There is one small section that I really wish had been left out. In it, Kirk muses on the fact that normally first officers provide an outlet for their Captain's sexual needs, and mentions that Gary Mitchell had performed this service for Kirkwhen he was first officer. My first impression when I read this story was that I didnl like the mention of Gary Mitchell, and didn't likethe mention of the first officers in the story at all, but couldn't really articulate exactly why. (Other than I hate stories that have Kirk and Mitchell together!) Then I talked with Jenna about the story. I just love discussing K/S stories with her. Lots of times I can't really explain why one story works better than another, or is more satisfying for me to read than another. However, Jenna can often pinpoint why. She thought that the Gary Mitchell reference was distracting because it didnl fit into the theme, and in fact it diluted the propelling purpose of the story. As she pointed out when discussing the story with me, in the story Kirk comes to terms with the fact that he loves Spock and desires him. The theme is that Spock's surrender to Kirkis appropriate within the context of their particular relationship, that it is proper and correct—for the two of them—for Kirk to allow Spock to make that surrender. When the tradition of first officers taking care of their captain's needs is mentioned, Jenna thought it instantly trivialized everything that the story is attempting to make special. She felt it seemed to say that this "surrender" is okay on a broad basis (not that ifs something special) and that it is appropriate within the general context of any command structure. When the story mentions Gary and Jim's sexual behavior, and April's and his eventual wife's, and Pike's and Number One's, Jim and Spock are instantly put in a long line of command teams who get together sexually. She thought that by inserting this small section, Jim and Spock getting together is made much more inevitable by making this common behavior, and the theme was diluted because so many other first officers "surrendered." Jenna felt that one reason this story was so good was because Deanna clearly had a theme and followed through on it so beautifully for most of the story. Therefore, this part I didn't like stood out primarily because Deanna treated the theme so excellently well throughout the rest of the story.
Well, I definitely agree with Jenna's analysis and thank her for taking the time to discuss this with me. However, this was my only quibble with this otherwise wonderful story, which I highly recommend. [5]
What an imagination this woman has. And she's proved it again with Sweet Surrender. I love this story. What's not to like? HOT SEX. Intriguing premise. Good characterizations. HOT SEX. Good writing. Have I mentioned HOT SEX. Well there is. In fact, don't read this story without a cold shower or a husband handy.
Okay, hot sex aside, I liked the story line. Pervert that I am, I enjoyed watching Kirk watch a version of himself and Spock. One thing that really stuck out for me was the fad that in any universe, no matter the circumstances, Kirk and Spock would always be lovers. I love that particular scenario. That Kirk and Spock are somehow destined to be together no matter what.
Deanna's charaders are right on, her McCoy in particular. I could practically hear them in my head. I love it when that happens. The writing is clear, clean and easy to read. A wonderful story. Enjoy. [6]
"Sweet Surrender" is a 33 page story, a length I really like. My favorite stories are normally in the 20-30 page range. And I absolutely loved this story which kept me engrossed from first word to last word. Spock is investigating alternate universes. This is after "Mirror, Mirror" and also the episode with Lazarus, the name of which I forget.
He comes across an alternate universe where they see Vulcan, and humans at this time on Vulcan are the masters and Vulcans are slaves. Somehow, they can watch and record various events happening in the alternate universe without stepping foot in it. And, of course, it just turns out that the master and slave that they are watching are an a/u Kirk who has an a/u Spock as his slave. At this time, Kirk and Spock are not lovers on the Enterprise, but it's clear from what McCoy says that they do love each other and that McCoy realizes it.
This is an extremely erotic story, and I highly recommend it. [7]
I think of all the stories written by Deanna Gray, and that is a whole lot, Sweet Surrender just might be my favorite. I qualify that because it would take a long time to review Deanna‘s body of work, which is such a contribution to K/S fandom, and it would be a delicious task to read first one and then another, trying to decide which one stirs me the most. But this story would definitely be up at the top of my list.
I am intensely curious to find out from Deanna whether she planned the opening four pages of the story from the beginning, designing it to work with her theme, or whether this was one of those happy products of the writer‘s subconscious. For I am impressed like crazy at those first four pages, which fit in beautifully with the title of the story and the conclusions that the author will present by the last page. Great job!
I am often irritated by the role that McCoy plays in some stories, but here he works just right as the catalyst and then the inhibitor in the developing relationship between the fellows. For me, he seems perfectly in character here.
And the imagination behind this story! Deanna is known for her imaginative plots, and this is a great example of another one. Spock is working on another one of his projects, and he ends up getting projections—pictures with no dialogue—from another universe. Those pictures lead him and Kirk to come together, but not without a lot of soul-searching and understanding of themselves. I must say that initially, when I read this story, I didn‘t care too much for the final characterization of Spock and the way it affects his love of Kirk, but on subsequent re-readings, I‘ve come to really respect how consistently Deanna carries out her theme. It would have been impossible to render Spock in any other way without violating what she was trying to accomplish in this story, and I really applaud her for that.
Is my memory correct that this story was written around the lovely color picture that accompanies it? I think so, and it is delicious to imagine the creative process that led from that picture to the tale that the author spins.
Just one terrific story. I recommend it. [8]