Tangled Web (Star Trek: TOS zine)

You may be looking for "Tangled Web", the 19th episode of the Forever Knight virtual season, FK4.

Zine
Title:	Tangled Web
Publisher:	JKS Enterprises
Editor:
Author(s):	Karen Humphries
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	1987
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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Tangled Web is a slash K/S 105-page novel by Karen Humphries. It was edited by Sue Chamberlain, art by J.D. Tribble. It was published in the UK and is part of a series.

The cover of the zine version which contains all three novel. The covers of the other two novels are the same as the standalone versions.

The Series

• Tangled Web
• Twisted Labyrinth
• Bitter Sweet Resolve

Summaries

An A/U story of manslaughter. Lt. James T. Kirk is dishonorably expelled from Starfleet Academy shortly before taking his final year examinations. Determined to bring the real culprit to justice, he agrees to assume a dangerous pose that would let him get close to the man who was alleged to be the true murder. It was a pose which turned his life upside down and nothing would ever be the same again."

Reactions and Reviews

... highly recommended. A bit on the expensive side for a mere 105 pages, but well-worth the read. The plot centres on an alternate universe...and no, it's not a sado-masochist: tale. The story opens with Kirk's friend, Brad, being found dead in bed with Kirk and how the latter is suspected of the murder. As a consequence, he is dismissed from the Fleet and eventually finds himself entangled in a plot to prove the true murderer is a Vulcan named...yes, you've guessed it! In order to try and obtain proof of Spock's complicity, Kirk volunteers to 'act' the part of a homosexual (since Spock frequents gay locales) and, therefore, to gain Spock's trust. The manner in which our apparently heterosexual Kirk is gradually influenced by the Vulcan so that he finally he accepts the change in his sexual preferences is entertaining. All this is set against a background adventure which constitutes the Tangled Web a Who Did What, When and How. I don't know how to judge whether the characters of the other homosexuals that frequent this zine are realistically depicted, but overall this inability doesn't detract from the zine's enjoyment. Basically, of all the stories I've read by Karen Humphries, I'd say this is one of her best. Well, I liked it, anyway!

In this alternate universe Kirk is thrown from the Academy under suspicion of murdering his friend. There is no proof for his innocence or guilt. Together with another friend he travels to the funeral, bitter and in despair because his plans to become a starship captain never can be true. To find the murderer of his friend and to prove his innocence he goes under cover in the household of the suspect, a homosexual Vulcan named Spock. This Spock had a relationship with his dead friend, and because Kirk resembles his friend he is the only choice. The only problem is that Kirk is strictly heterosexual, or so he thinks. Despite that, Kirk falls for Spock. He discovers that Spock is not the murderer of his friend and that there is a plan to kill Spock.