T'itanic

Fanfiction
Title:	T'itanic
Author(s):	Khiori
Date(s):	1999
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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T'itanic is a Kirk/Spock story by Khiori.

It was published in the print zine Scattered Stars #13.

Summary

"A retelling of “Titanic” on an Earth where Terrans and Vulcans have both made their home."

Reactions and Reviews

"T'itanic" by Khiori is almost 120 pages, and it's one of two stories in this zine. I'm not familiar with this writer so I have no clue if she is a new writer or not. I frankly wasn't really thrilled at the start of this story since I never watched the movie Titanic (I am not a fan of Leo at all) and was frankly worried what was going to happen in this story as I started it. Having a "crossover" with the movie Titanic is not a plot device that I would ever chose to read had I not already bought the zine and had it in my possession.

Since I'm not familiar with the famous movie, I don't know how much is borrowed from the movie and how much is original. The story is complex and gripping. Kirk and Gary Mitchell are poor humans on the fancy ship, and Spock is traveling with his betrothed Stonn. Spock doesn't want to bond with Stonn and become chattel. But his father is demanding it because he had a hard time convincing Stonn to accept his son. Kirk and Spock meet and do the usual in these stories--they fall for each other immediately. Kirk is an artist in this story, and this plays a part in the story. Naturally the iceberg comes and sinks the ship. There's a lot happening in this story, and I would recommend it to people who do collect zine stories. However, it is possible that someone who has seen the movie and who is very familiar with it might not find the story as interesting. Basically Kirk is Leo, and Spock is Kate. Despite sounding weird, it does work.

If you are not a fan of the Scattered Stars series, however, this is hardly the best issue in the series, in my opinion. So if you are new to SS, I'd recommend buying one of the older issues first as Scattered Stars 13 is not a zine I would rave about. Only having two stories in it means that if you aren't exactly crazy about the two stories, "Buster" ... and "T'itanic," you have nothing left to read. I really liked the early issues of the series and do recommend almost all of them.

I must have been the only K/Ser who read this novella before seeing the movie that inspired it. When, through the generosity of a good friend (Thanks, Jay!), I did finally watch Titanic, I was stuck by how alike the two versions were. Even much of the dialog was the same. This of course was deliberate on the part of the author. She didn’t try to hide the fact that she was basically retelling this story by inserting Kirk and Spock in the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet

roles. I thought it a very interesting experiment. The plot is the same as the movie so I won’t waste space describing it here as I’m sure everyone is familiar with it. The Spock characterization was a bit too weak for my taste. For example, I found it hard to believe Spock would prefer suicide to declining a bonding with Stonn—that he sees no other way out of his dilemma. This seems to me to be a case of molding the characterizations to the story instead of the other way around. Now for the good stuff.... First of all, this was a very ambitious project. It took a long time to write this, and the care and effort expended on it were enormous and very obvious. Secondly, the writing itself is really quite good. Each scene is thoroughly and clearly written, painted with vivid, sharp details that enable the reader to easily follow the action. In addition, there was not one scene that I felt was rushed or incomplete, and there is certainly a temptation to hurry and get to the “good parts” in a story of this length and complexity. And finally, I thought the original parts that were added—namely the beginning about the Providers and the sweet, romantic positive ending— were innovative and beautifully written.

This is a new author, and I would very much like to see what she could do with an original story idea. Please, Khiori, let us see more of your work.