The Night of the Twin Moons

Zine
Title:	The Night of the Twin Moons
Publisher:	Empire Books
Editor:
Author(s):	Jean Lorrah
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	April 1976 (the first printing was 300 copies)
Series?:	yes
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover of the first edition, first printing, art by Theresa Holmes and Caroline Carrock

front cover of a later edition

The Night of the Twin Moons is a Star Trek: TOS het fanfiction 159-page novel by Jean Lorrah.

It is about Sarek and Amanda.

Other fans that contributed to this zine: Caroline Carrock (poem), Theresa Holmes (art), and Monica Miller and Signe Landon (art) (the latter two in later editions, not in the first one).

This zine was followed by other NTM Universe stories.

The sequel to this zine was the 1984 tie-in pro Trek novel The Vulcan Academy Murders, also by Lorrah.

From Early Ads

• "If you enjoyed Visit to a Weird Planet, here is a whole novel by the same author, Jean Lorrah. It's a Sarek-Amanda adventure-romance... the role-reversal story you've heard so much about!"

flyer from A Piece of the Action #47, click to read

• "Over 1000 copies sold -- now in its fourth printing. It's 'The Night of the Twin Moons,' Jean Lorah's notorious role-reversal novel. 'Worth every penny you pay for it.' -- Sharon Ferraro. 'A Vulcan that anyone could love.' -- Anna Mary Hall. 'Overall, it is superb!' -- Diane Fouquet."

About

It was a huge seller, (especially for a non-K/S zine). By April 1977, over 950 had been sold. 300 copies were printed each for the first and second printings (April and September 1976), 400 for the third printing in November 1976, and 500 copies for each of the 4th-6th printings, February 1977, July 1977, and October 1978.

This zine was discussed in the 1978 essay: How about a discussion of one of everybody's favorite topics: money?.

This zine had a long-lasting influence on fans' view of Sarek and Amanda's relationship, on Vulcan culture, on pon farr, and on Amanda herself. (NTM Amanda created the first universal translator; an idea that later appeared in many stories.) In some ways, the NTM universe Vulcan was the anti-Kraith Vulcan -- interestingly, since Jean Lorrah also wrote Kraith stories.

The story could be considered a fix-it novel, as it spent a long time giving a possible explanation why Spock's parents didn't show up for his Kali-fi (in the TOS episode "Amok Time"), and why Sarek and Amanda's relationship could be both strong, and as we saw it on screen in "Journey to Babel."

In a few places in the novel, there are short references/flashbacks to pieces of their history together that had already been written in the NTM universe, followed by rather formal footnotes and references to the other stories being referenced. Generally, the text gave enough information, but the footnote allowed the reader to know there was more to the story if they were interested.

From Halliday's Zinedex: "The author has a refreshing view of Vulcan emotional control as something like a religious ideal - people strive for it, but keep falling short. This lets her write stories with convincing family dynamics in Sarek's household. She has a sensible vision of Sarek as not being your average Vulcan - Spock is more a standard model than Sarek is; Sarek is emotional and sensual."

Zines, Stories, and Essays in the NTM Universe

• The Night of the Twin Moons (April 1976)
• Full Moon Rising (November 1976)
• NTM Collected #1 (April 1978) and #2 (November 1979) (contains original material, plus works reprinted from The Halkan Council #20/21, Archives #1, Sol Plus #3, #4, Warped Space #16, #29/30, R & R #2, #2 #10, In a Plain Brown Wrapper #1, an unknown issue of Despatch, and Stardate Unknown #5)

Age Disclaimer

The zine first came out during the first controversy over adult fiction and art in Trek, and was held up as an example of an "erotic" work -- literary and adult without being pornographic.

An ad in the newsletter, A Piece of the Action, said it required an age statement requirement, making it the first zine to do so. The statement said, "Not for sale to persons under the age of sixteen." Today, it might be rated NC-17.

Shortly after the zine was published, Lorrah explained her age statement:

...basically, the "Not for Sale to Persons Under Sixteen" is there to avoid having kids looking for action/adventure shoot-em-ups from buying NTM by mistake.

From the Editorial

The Night of the Twin Moons grew out of the questions I had about "Journey to Babel" and "Yesteryear." Notably, what kind of woman could both be interesting enough to win Sarek, and be able to stand to live with the Sarek we saw in those episodes for forty years? Amanda did not play a large role in "Yesteryear," but in "Journey to Babel" it was obvious that her marriage was under considerable strain. As to my version of Sarek — I know many people will cry, "Too emotional!" Oh? Well, what did we see of this man? Sarek exudes sex appeal; I think we all recognize that he loves his human wife, but is disturbed by signs of humanness in his son. That's logical? This is a man who can refuse to talk to his son for eighteen years, deliberately snub him before his colleagues, and then scold Amanda for teasing Spock. He accepts an important mission, where his vote carries the vote of others, although he knows his health may not stand the strain. When provoked, hs not only reveals the way he intends to vote, but he insults a fellow-ambassador and then casually tosses him across the room. And is the observation deck of a starship the logical place to choose for private meditation? Here is a supposedly controlled Vulcan who smiles at his wife in private and teases her in public. Sarek is a mass of inconsistencies . . . just like every other emotional being. I have arbitrarily decided that the Sarek we saw at the end of "Journey to Babel" is the real Sarek. In "Yesteryear," he was under strain because his son was in very real danger of death if he was not properly prepared for the ordeal he had to undergo. In "Journey to Babel," Sarek knew that he had already had two heart attacks, and under the further strain of being on the same ship as his estranged son he could hardly have been acting normally. Once he was on the road to health and reconciled with Spock, we caught a glimpse in those last moments of a warm personality and a definite sense of humor. That is the Sarek I'd like to know. That is the Sarek you will meet in The Night of the Twin Moons. The Amanda you will meet here is the Amanda that Sarek could love.

The Pro Book Sequel

I have news: Paramount has approved my Star Trek pro novel, THE VULCAN ACADEMY MURDERS, and I have a contract with Timescape to finish writing it by February, 1984. Interesting things are happening these days—it's possible for the "forbidden" topics of previous years to get approved. I hope all of you will be sure to read YESTERDAY'S SON by Ann Crispin, which should appear from Timescape this August— it's about Spock's son by Zarabeth! And of course, Ann is a trufan. The themes fans have been yearning to see professionally published for years are finally getting into print. My agent sent my novel proposal to Timescape only after warning me, "They never approve anything set on Vulcan." But they did! While Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are main characters (I'm not that dumb!), so are Sarek and Amanda—and the whole story except for Chapter One (in which I wreck the Enterprise) takes place in and around ShiKahr, mostly at the Vulcan Academy of Sciences. If any of you are thinking, "I've heard about that novel somewhere before," yes, it's the book I once intended to write as a sequel to THE NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS and publish as a fanzine. However, I got too involved in pro sf writing to write it as planned, so when the opportunity to submit a pro Trek novel arose I got out my notes, did massive revisions to legitimately involve the Big Three in the plot (they weren't in my fan plans), and gave it a try. It paid off!

Further Transformative Works

While Jean Lorrah asked that fans not write in her Epilogue universe, she "heartily encouraged" fans writing in The Night of the Twin Moons (and Full Moon Rising) universe:

There are plenty of other stories to be told that I don’t have enough time to tell. All I ask is if you want to write in the universe, please send me an outline before you start to write, so that if there is an inconsistency — which will probably be because I knew of something planned that hasn’t shown up in a story yet — then usually very minor tinkering can take care of that when the story is in outline form.

• Tradition's Move by Allyson Mann is a story in this universe. It was printed in Vault of Tomorrow #10 (1986) "with permission."

Translated into German

"The Night of the Twin Moons" has also been translated into German (with permission) and was published as Die Nacht der Zwillingmonde by Edition Pegasus. The zine has 142 pages in A4 format and contains many illustrations and a color cover. The same publisher also published a zine called Nacht der Zwillingsmonde with fanfiction and essays (about Vulcans and their sexuality) set in the Twin Moon universe. The zine has 80 pages in A4 format and the color cover shows Sarek with a Sehlat.

• 

  cover of "Die Nacht der Zwillingmonde": "Das Storyfanzine umfaßt 142 Seiten A4, enthält viele Illustrationen und ein Farbcover."

• 

  cover of "Nacht der Zwillingmonde": "Storysammlung mit Stories und Essays (vulkanischer Charakter und Sexualität) aus dem Zwillingsmond-Universumvon Jean Lorrah u.a. Farbcover (Sarek m. Sehlat), ein Muß für Vulkan-Fans!"

Gallery

• 

  uncredited, perhaps by Lorrah

• 

  interior art, Theresa Holmes

• 

  Theresa Holmes

• 

  uncredited, perhaps by Lorrah

• 

  interior at by Monica Miller

• 

  interior art, uncredited

• 

  interior art by Signe Landon, later reused for the cover of NTM Collected vol 1.

Strong Women

In May 1980, there was much discussion in Interstat about the role of strong women, and often the lack thereof, in Treklit. After reading this fan's comment: "Trek-lit seemingly always uses at least one of the three main characters," Jean responded:

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy play very minor roles in the NTM universe. However, I developed that universe after many years of writing other kinds of stories. "Visit," "Parted From Me," and other of my early stories always concerned the Big-Three—and never had Joanna Russ's requirement of female friendship. The reason the Russ criterion that Leslie Fish quoted seems so right to me is that I can see the development in my own work from conscious attempts at feminism to the uncon scious genuine feminist attitude as I slowly came to trust women as much as I did men as partners in writing and business. At first I tried to write strong women, and to play up some of the anti-feminist problems I had run into in my own career. For example, I have been "Jean," never "Jeannie," since I entered high school. When one of my male colleagues attempts to denigrate me by calling me "Jeannie," (and, believe it or not, this happens!), I respond by calling him "Billy," "Johnny," "Davy," or whatever. But, if Jimmy Carter can be President, why can't Mary Louise Webster captain a starship (EPILOGUE)? Sorry, Mary Lou, I invented Molly Webster several years before I heard of you; it is neither tribute nor parody. In another story I had a captain named Mary Jane. These names, and the roles, were quite deliberate. As to the Russ criterion, my early stories simply never had friendships between women. By the time I wrote EPILOGUE, I gave Molly a best friend, Margie Jones, but I neglected to give Margie a role to play! I just said she was Molly's best friend; I didn't show it. By the time I wrote THE NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS, however, something had happened to my subconscious. The female-dominant Penthesilean society, Amanda's role as Ambassador-- those things are the conscious feminist aspects of the novel. But how about Rille, Velinde, and Shira? I had never heard of Russ's criterion (how could I, if she didn't formulate it until last year?), but like all the best criticism, her comment makes me say, "Of course! Why didn't I see that for myself?" Ever since NTM, all my heroines have had female friends. In FIRST CHANNEL, Kadi's best friend is Carlana. In SAVAGE EMPIRE, Aradia's best friend is Lilith. My point is not to brag about what a great feminist I am (I'm not a feminist at all to the most radical feminists), but to point out that I began writing female friendships into my books unconsciously. Damnitall, I'll be doing it consciously from now on, but the original natural outgrowth of my relationships in fandom was the quite unconscious development of female friends in my writing. I'm sure I'm not alone, this kind of development is most certainly taking place among other women in fandom. Why doesn't it show in their writings? How many other women writing Treklit today published their first stories in 1968. As I said, it's not an instantaneous change. Furthermore, back in the dark ages there were stories about female friends in Treklit. The two-girls-aboard-the- Enterprise stories were a staple in the early days of fanzines. Usually, though, one got either Spock or McCoy, and someone came along and labeled them "Mary Sue stories" and scared them out of the fanzines. Too bad. Had they had a normal development, we might be seeing two-women-aboard- the-Enterprise-who-remain-friends-and-find-fulfillment- in-some-way-other-than-marrying-one-of-the-Big-Three stories. And I don't mean lesbian stories.

Story Tree

Like Kraith, the this was a sort of shared universe:

The women in the Star Trek community see their art not in terms of self-sufficient units but as an expression of a continuing experience. Traditional closure doesn't makes sense to them. At the end of a story, they feel, characters go on living in the nebulous world of the not yet written. They develop, modify their relationships over time, age, raise families.

Nor do these stories begin in a vacuum when the characters are all 35 years old. Spock has a childhood - sometimes happy, sometimes strained. Jean Lorrah's Night of the Twin Moons story tree, named after the fan novel that inspired it, concentrates on the relationship of Sarek and his human wife, Amanda, from their first meeting to their later years. Ms. Lorrah's story tree is notable for two reasons. It deals explicitly with sexual love in marriage, focusing on the main characters as young newlyweds and as an older, well-established couple. With didactic intent, the author takes the relationship of Amanda and Sarek, the human and the alien, beyond the romance to the point at which women meet the alien male in their homes and bedrooms.

Through the Night of the Twin Moons story tree, Ms. Lorrah teaches young women quite specifically that, though men may seem rough and strange, a committed and equal relationship is possible with the sacrifice of neither partner's identity. Amanda is a professor and ambassador like her husband. She often works with him but is not subservient to him. In the story The Tenth Night she teaches Sarek the importance of an equal partnership in bed as well as in professional life. Amanda has grown tired of taking the passive role in their sexual relationship. On the night in question, she asks her husband to grip a bedpost while she takes over the dominant sexual role. By the end of the story, the brass bedpost has taken the imprint of Sarek's hand, and he has come to understand his wife's sexual frustration. In fact, Amanda's brass bed has become a symbol in the community for the ideal of sexual equality.

The Night of the Twin Moons story tree begins where the traditional romance ends. It explores the equality possible in a committed relationship, a concept to which the romance pays lip service while denying it in action.

Reviews and Reactions

1976

NTM is an excellent Sarek-oriented novel...not sold to individuals under sixteen years of age. It tells of Sarek's inner feelings and reactions when he is sent to a planet where Amanda is the Ambassador and he is required to be her inferior - almost a slave. I don't want to give away any more of the plot - and I have a thing about revealing endings, so I'll just admit that I enjoyed it thoroughly and gnashed my teeth in envy at the sheer brilliance of the writing skill therein.

NIGHT OF THE WIN MOONS is the novel that introduced Jean Lorrah's Sarek-Amanda universe. Their union is examined against a backdrop of interstellar politics and intrigue. While not everyone will agree with her version of Sarek - a sexual, emotional male - who appears almost disquietly human at times - NTM is guaranteed to hold one's attention from beginning to end, and introduces some (to coin a phrase) fascinating new characters.

"THE NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS got the second highest number of reviews of this issue...The reviewers gave this one a 10 for fiction. Artwork was practically non-existent and what artwork there was was mediocre. Good as the story is, it would have benefitted mightily from higher-calibre artwork. One reviewer's comments, Jean Lorrah's novella, NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS, is a beautiful example of the best in TREKlit. I cannot recommend it too highly. In Penthesilea, land of the twin moons, women rule. Intelligence is sex-linked, and no male can achieve beyond the level of the average human six-year old. The presentation of this society is beautifully worked out, down to the finest psychological detail. The Penthesilean male, like any American media-housewife, lives only for his mistress's approval, and can be validated only by her. The women protect and pet their men, but are pleased and touched when offered the devotion which is the only thing they cannot compel from them. Amanda is sent by the Federation to try to negotiate a trade agreement with the Penthesileans. When negotiations stall, Sarek insists on ioining her. But in order to remain on Penthesilea, he must adopt the role of the Penthesilean male.In this position of culturally-enforced weakness, Sarek thinks back over his life with Amanda. And for the first time, the Vulcan is able to recognize and come to terms with the elements in his character that caused the estrangement from his wife and son we say in JOURNEY TO BABEL. His character is, as Jean points out, only the Sarek we saw in the last few minutes of that episode. But what an attractive character it is. Of course, there are bones that could be picked. The finale depends not only on the forgotten communicator (Good Heavens',) but also on the psychological makeup of Cavayne, the Penthesilean queen, whom we never really meet. And Jean has not, in this novella, explicated her view of Vulcan sexuality, which differs from what we saw in the ST episodes. Very likely she will do that in the future.' On the other hand, one of my friends couldn't finish reading NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS because, she said, she was bored. *Sigh* I suspect your enjoyment of this 'zine will depend on how much you like Sarek and/or Amanda stories, and whether or not you get upset at a 'slight' humanization of Sarek ..."

Amanda and Sarek have been enigmas to Trekfen ever since we got our first unsettling look at them in 'Journey to Babel.' Fortunately for everyone, Jean Lorrah has put her considerable talents to work to produce this novel, which not only gives a believable explanation for Sarek and Amanda's erratic and (to many) unappetizing behaviors in that episode, but also draws a rich, moving, and very attractive portrait of the two characters as persons. 'Night' is a multi-level story, with two main plots and several fascinating minor ones. The major plot involves Amanda's attempts to negotiate a trading agreement with a world dominated by women, which has never known war, and which refuses, because of the genetic, sex-linked mental retardation of every male in the species, to either believe or accept the presence of male intelligence in Federation species. Amanda is, in this permutation, an official ambassador from Vulcan who frequently works in a team with Sarek to take on the more challenging diplomatic missions encountered as Federation influences expand outward. Sarek's uninvited presence on a world where men are capable of serving only as laborers or studs and are considered property, makes for amusing, and sometimes dangerous complications in Amanda's mission. The second main plot involves the final resolution of the major crisis in Amanda and Sarek's marriage, which was concurrent withe the events of 'Babel.' and which has left their relationship with hidden, though healing, scars. The development of the secondary plot takes us, by flash-backs, through the couple's entire relationship, from its beginnings on Earth, and its mature and logical in its premises. The story has enormous appeal. The Amanda and Sarek we meet [are] fully-developed persons, with varied talents and interests and values, and the inconsistencies in their personalities complete the credibility... While the various plotlines are complex, the pace is appropriate to enable the reader to keep track of all of them while reading... I did find some of the premises questionable... [one being] that the females of the Penthesilean species were dominate because of the sex-linked mental retardation of all the males of the species, precludes the novel's potential for serving as genuine feminist literature that has useful insights for we human readers; but admittedly, this is a science fiction story, not propaganda. Also, some question is raised by an implication that violence might be a predominantly male characteristic. And finally, the manner by which Sarek (with Amanda's compliance) 'thanked' their Penthesilean allies at the end of the story was a complete turnaround from how the tensions were developed throughout the plot to that point, nad the rationale of the altered attitudes that permitted the peculiar 'thank you' is too easy, too pat, and too swiftly disposed of. It also reeked of a very serious violation of the already-strained Prime Directive.

This is Jean Lorrah's first attempt at a lengthy piece of ST fiction. I can predict that this short novel will provoke a small flurry of controversy at the very least. The story is an Amanda/Sarek story taking place on a planet called Penthesilea where females are the dominant sex of the humanoid species there.... It seems that on Penthesila, males are mentally inferior to women because of a sex-linked genetic trait. Any attempt on the Federation 's part to sho them that theirs was an isolated incident and that the Federation was inhabited by humanoids all of equal mentality was treated with charges of treason and the ambassadors would be asked off the planet. Amanda is called in as the most likely female ambassador to the Federation. The major stumbling block in negotiations for the Penthesilean's ample supply of dilithium is the cultural bias people have. The only monetary unit on the planet are men, and they insist on trading men from the Federation for dilithium and other minerals. Sarek joins his wife on the planet and he must play the role of the subservient, and docile servant, but he has hopes of subtly showing to some of the ethnocentric leaders that he, as well as other males of the Federation, are just as intelligent as the women and not for sale. The premise for this story is bad. How many planets have been contacted to get their dilithium before the Romulans and Klingons do? Yet this is the only excuse Jean offers us. Despite the first shock of seeing the role of men and women reversed in sexual exploitation, this is probably the best thing Jean has created in the story. Her men and women act very plausibly within what might well be a workable socioeconomic system. That is perhaps the best part of the setting for this novellla. Aside from that, it is rife with inconsistencies and ideas that have been stretched too far. Aside from their seemingly odd sexual set-up (from a Federation point of view), the Penthesileans have a seemingly ideal world in most other respects. They have never had a war, their medicine and technology is up to par with the Federation and they lead a happy and serene life as we can see. Sociologically, it is hard to image any human race, male, female or mixed, that has never had a war or known violence of any sort. It is also hard to imagine a single society that could match the combined medical and technological resources of an alliance of hundreds of diverse planets and cultures. Jean gives little explanation for these and expects the reader to accept them with evidence and rational sight unseen. Then, too, probably the most upsetting thing in the whole story is Sarek's role. He is the most human Sarek I have ever seen. Jean does not even attempt to show him as the resident of another planet and another culture by using different mannerisms, gestures, or speech in Amanda's presence. When talking freely, Sarek uses American slang, swears, kisses, fondles, and makes love repeatedly and in all the best traditions. Part of it is used to explain the aspects of Sarek we saw in 'Journey to Babel.' A feat accomplished by several flashbacks in the story, but it doesn't come across well. Sarek shows no inkling whatsoever of being Vulcan aside from the fact that he thinks he is -- the reader doesn't, he's too badly constructed.... a human in Vulcan clothing. To end it all-- they leave the planet without resolving it, only to insert a scene (an implausible one at that) which makes it just perfect for a sequel. En tout, the story seems contrived. What I originally felt I would examine the most (the sex role reversal) was the best-constructed premise in the whole story. The rest of it falls apart though. I can't say that it isn't well written. It reads well, and enjoyably, although there is really only one tense moment in the entire story. It will spend the evening enjoyable but not profoundly. $3.25 is a mite steep for only a story that's mediocre at best.

Perhaps the best way to begin is to say that it was 1:00 am Saturday morning in the hospitality room with the novel tucked under my arm. I read straight through and finished it at approximately 5:30 am locked in the bathroom so I would disturb my roommate with the lights... I couldn't put it down! Like Kraith, the novel has an alternate ST universe setting, and like Kraith, the novel opens up many possibilities of stories that might be placed in that universe. Jean has done some herself. One is 'The Ambassador's Nightmare' which was published in Warped Space #16, and the other 'Domestic Scene with Sehlat' which will appear in Sol Plus III. The characterizations are superb! He portrayal of Sarek is perfection itself, and while I've always liked Jane Wyatt's portrayal of Amanda, Jean's is the stronger woman. More the woman I could believe in -- who didn't quite give up everything to go to Vulcan with her husband. The supporting characters, female and male residents of the planet Penthesilen are equally well-drawn. In fact, the entire situation --a planet where women rule and men, because of a genetic deficiency which limits their intelligence, serve only two function: manual labor and sex -- is extremely well-drawn, believable, and realistic. It is heresy to even think that a man could be as intelligent as a woman... so, Ambassador Amanda must negotiate the treaty for the Federation, and if Sarek is to there at all, he must pretend to be her devoted slave and her 'favorite.' After one day of walking two steps behind his wife everywhere, Sarek promises himself that Amanda will never have to follow the reversed Vulcan custom again. Jean moves the reader's emotions from laughter to rage to frustration and so, so subtly. She manages to interweave telling comments on the ideas and attitudes of men and women today. She makes rather extensive use of the flashback throughout the novel. Again, with the perfect touch! The sequences are neither obtrusive nor do they detract from the main storyline. And she manages to skillfully intermix her views on that famous mixed-marriage with what was seen on the screen in aired ST. I don't know what more to say without ruining the entire storyline for the prospective reader. If you haven't gathered it already, I'm crazy about 'The Night of the Twin Moons,' and heartily recommend that you buy/read the novel. I feel it will be one of the most talked-about novels ever to hit Fandom. Just let me leave you with this: one of the first lines in the novel is 'My husband, attend.'

Worth every bit you pay for it. There are two major (maybe three) points I would change. 1) put the apologia in the back. 2) get a decent artist. (Maybe go to a minor reduction, cutting 1/2 off the cost.)

Jean Lorrah presents a consistent, if flawed, tale dealing with Ambassador Amanda's adventures on Penthisilea with her"hunk" husband.

In general, I find Lorrah's view of Vulcan culture and of Amanda and Sarek in particular far more palatable than the Kraithian constipated Puritans. Her Penthisilean society is perhaps a bit stretched as far as believability goes and her portrait of Sarek leaves a bit too much of the childish and naive for any match with the strongly self-confident Sarek of "Journey to Babel" All in all, however, well worth the time and money. The art is 6th grade, with Theresa Holmes' two pieces only emphasizing the lack of dimension of the rest, The effect is a distraction rather than an asset. Rating: Graphics (art) 1; Content 5; $ Worth 5.

1979

This famous fan-written novel has sold more copies than any other fan novel, and is now in its sixth printing. It is of particular interest to Mensans because of the role of intelligence in the culture it depicts. NTM is about Spock's parents, Sarek of Vulcan and his wife Amanda, formerly of Earth. They are on a diplomatic mission to establish a trade agreement with Penthesilea, a peacefull planet with an interesting social structure based on a genetically determined intelligence difference between the sexes. Females are of Federation normal intelligence, while the males are mentally retarded. The women run the planet, and the men are kept as slaves valued for their labor or kept as sex objects. When the Federation first contacts the Penthesileans, the women refuse to talk to the male representatives of the Federation, and order them off the planet. Amanda is called upon to head an all-female diplomatic mission. The negotiations soon run into difficulty, because the only item the Penthesileans want from the Federation is men - it's easier to buy them than to bear them. Sarek is permitted to beam down to accompany Amanda, under the condition that he conform to local customs and that the heretical notion that males can be intelligent is never mentioned. It is hoped that his presence will gradually accustom the Penthesileans to the idea that the males of other races can be intelligent (and therefore not for sale) without too much cultural shock. Unfortunately, his presence has the opposite effect, and therein lies a tale. But this novel is not just about human/Penthesilean cultural clash; it is also about Vulcan/Penthesilean and Vulcan/human cultural clash, and the resulting effects on Sarek and Amanda's marriage. Flashbacks reveal their courtship and marriage, Amanda's pregnancy, and incidents connected with the "Journey to Babel" episode. NTM is a charming love story about a long-married couple from greatly different backgrounds rediscovering their love for one another in a dangerous and exotic situation. The strong sexual sub-theme is handled with great tact and delicacy. The resulting work is a powerful statement about the roles of intelligence and communication in love and marriage.

1980

NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS: This zine deals with Sarek and Amanda, Spook's parents, and takes place while Amanda is serving as a special Federation ambassador to a troublesome planet. A tremendous amount of insight is given into the lives of both principal characters, and the entire novel, for such it is, is written in an interesting, intelligent, entertaining manner, and is consistent with the Star Trek mythos. In point of fact, this fanzine is of far higher quality than most of the paperback novels dealing with Star Trek. The only weak point is in the inconsistency of some of the artwork. Otherwise, this has to stand as the finest Star Trek original novel I have yet seen.

1984

"Night of the Twin Moons," or as they've been called, "The Adventures of Super Sarek and Amazing Amanda." I loved them. You do know there are three collections of short stories set in the NTM universe, right? Full Moon Rising is especially good -- very sexy and sensual. If you disapproved of R-rated material better skip it.

1988

Jean Lorrah's NIGHT OF THE TWIN MOONS universe, with Sarek and Amanda is classic, and I'd so glad that they're now part of the pro series of books, definitely adds class to the often lackluster offerings from Pocket.

I have just read the zine, NIGHT OF THE TWIN
 MOONS, by Jean Lorrah. It was a good story... and pretty much what I expected, except towards the end. Not to give it away, for those who haven't read it, Sarek and Amanda are on a planet where the male intelligence level is so low, that at best, they are are simpletons. Just before Amanda and Sarek are about to beam up (to go home), the three main characters ask Sarek to give each of them a child. They are hoping to introduce male intelligence, and therefore to solve all their problems. However, in Jean Lorrah's NTM universe, it is very difficult for humans and Vulcans to reproduce together. What's disturbing is that he actually does go along with their plan, despite the above difficulty. Since they don't have much time, he winds up in the sack with them. Amanda is a good sport about it. Nobody seems to think that these children aren't really going to solve all the planet's problems. These women think that the children will be everything that they hope they'll be. Amanda goes Mary Sue and makes a high-minded speech that they have interfered enough, and it's the least Sarek can do (despite the fact i's unethical). It's his duty to the Federation.

I really felt strange after finishing this zine and couldn't quite shake off the feeling for several hours. I'm not usually disturbed by things I read, especially fiction, but this really bothered me. I don't know why. I wasn't exactly angry, but I wanted to tear the zine up anyway. I wasn't exactly disgusted, either. Now, a few days later, I just think that the idea was plain dumb, from a practical standpoint. These babies aren't going to solve all their problems, even if they do make it to full term. Sarek should have put his foot down and just said "No." Suppose Amanda's husband were just plain Martin Smith from Earth. Would they have been as impressed with him and wanted his children? If I were Amanda, I would have flown into a Jealous rage the minute we were safely in our quarters on the ship. If they wanted to go that route, they should have waited until the Queen died, and made plans for a sperm bank. It would provide for more suitable donors and therefore, would spread the genes better. It would take a little longer, but the results would be less likely to be considered freaks. They also would be more likely to pass on those genes to future generations. Even if these kids are intelligent, they'll probably be told they're stupid! Stupidity would be what was expected of them and they'd believe it. If they're lucky, by the rules of the NTM universe, one of them should make it. It would be a little hard for one person to spread the male intelligence gene. They should have gone the sperm hank route and tried to overthrow the Queen. The Queen was ill. It seemed as if they forgot that, when they decided to hop into bed with Sarek. It appeared that she was turning out to be another Hitler and might cause harm to the planet. Why didn't they just take sperm samples and try gene splicing? The intelligence gene would probably spread better that way, and they don't have to worry as much about compatibility. They could have also kept then for artificial insemination and had bore chances in the future if something went wrong. Even if those genes catch on naturally, the planet Mill be ready to have the Federation return anyway, before they do. It would take several generations for then to take root in the population. These women don't really understand telepathy. What would the social impact of that be on their society? They would have more luck waiting for the Federation to come back. It's possible that the "right now" desire was working. They realized it would take time, but didn't fully realise they're probably messing up their reproductive systems. They still realised they would contact the Federation In the future-. What about the possibility of trading dllithium for compatible donations?

I read it because a friend recommended it and because I liked VULCAN ACADEMY MURDERS. But those few pages I have discussed, have somewhat disillusioned me about Jean Lorrah. It seems like she didn't have her thinking cap on straight. It seems to me that this was added as an afterthought. It would have been a tighter story if they just beamed up. This business had very little to do with the plot. It would have worked if this were a pornographic novel—where you need a situation to get them into bed together. Did she ever plan to write a sequel? This kind of leaves you hanging. I shouldn't take fanzines as gospel, even Jean Lorrah's stuff.

An impossible planet, with customs totally alien to Vulcans! Amanda and Sarek are assigned to Penthesilea for it is rich in dilithium. But its customs! These are the stumbling block because of genetic differences, men only serve in two ways: as unskilled labourers and sex objects. Sarek becomes the focus for the three strongest women rulers to circumvent their system. He does give in gracefully and the diplomatic trade mission. They abandon this after agreement between Rilie, Velinde and Amanda - in the present state, Penthesilean win not change and the Federation could not succeed there so for now, the planet win be quarantined. A well-written, interesting story, out does fall into the trap of placing your characters in impossible situations and not knowing how to get them out. Jean should take better care. I enjoyed this, it gives us the insight to the forces that drew Amanda to Sarek and what keeps them together. Recommended.

This is the only fanfic-thing I've ever bought, and that was at a British Fantasy con in Chicago about 8-10 years ago.

I was dating a Dr. Who fan at the time (these mixed relationships never work, IMHO). Imagine trying to read something with a drawing of Sarek and Amanda in bed on the cover while trapped in a hotel room with ten drunken yowling Who's.

I had to take it with me every time I went to the john or else they'd start passing it around and reading it out loud. Then, of course, they'd be pounding on the bathroom door, wanting to know *what was taking so long in there*, punctuated with moans and breathy, falsetto cries of, "Oh, Sarek!"

Yes, I did manage to garrotte at least one of them with his long, striped scarf.

Still, I was too traumatised to seek out more smut until recently.

2017

Theresa Holmes

"I have to re-post this fan art from Jean Lorrah’s fanzine novel, Night of the Twin Moons, because that peek at Sarek’s butt makes me so happy.

If you like mature Star Trek fan fiction, this is a zine well worth reading. You won’t soon forget the scene where Amanda schools Sarek on being a better lover.

She makes him hold onto the rungs of the brass headboard (which she brought with her from earth) and keep his hands there, to show him what it’s like to have a sexually dominant partner who leaves you frustrated in bed. He gets so frustrated he bends the brass with his bare hands – but he doesn’t move!

Re blogging to answer questions here and in my messages about where to find NTM. I’m guessing it would be one of the easier fanzines from that era (late 70s) to find copies of now, because it was so popular that Jean did 4 or 5 print runs.

If you do find an old copy for purchase, be aware that there are 4 zines in the series: Night of the Twin Moons, Full Moon Rising, NTM Collected 1 & NTM Collected 2 (the last 2 being collections of stories from the NTM universe, most of which had been printed in other zines).

I will be donating my copies to a collection when i pass on, but in the meantime, I will ask Jean if she still holds the copyright on these and if they can be posted on line. If she gives permission, I will see about getting my copy scanned and uploaded.

2018

Recently, while I’ve been editing the OCR of my zine Enterprise Lost, it’s occurred to me how influential Jean Lorrah’s work was on my early writing. So I pulled her fan-published novel Night of the Twin Moons off my shelf. I’m glad I did. I hadn’t read it since buying it from Jean herself, by mail, back in 1984. That was during the peak of my own fan fiction writing career, and right after a fellow fan at Shore Leave had told me that Pocket Books was about to publish a Trek novel by the great Jean Lorrah. Well, I had to find out who that was, and why she was great!

And she is great. I realized it on first reading, and I realize it again all these years later.

So what is this Trek novel that didn’t sell on bookstore shelves all about? Well, it’s not about worldships, which is what damn near every Bantam Star Trek novel was about. It’s not about a planet that’s about to explode, or the nature of which is about to destroy the Enterprise, causing the crew to have to solve a complex “science-puzzle” in order to prevent said explosion. Seriously? I mean, isn’t that the plot of a video game? And yet Pocket Books editor John Ordover told me, back in the days that I was trying to sell a Trek novel, that that is what Paramount had declared must be the plot of all Star Trek stories. It sure explains some of the really tiresome episodes of Next Gen they turned out in later years.

No, Night of the Twin Moons is another somewhat-typical-of-its-time kind of story, but not in a tiresome way. From the time that the women’s lib movement really took hold with Gloria Steinem as its advocate, and even occasionally before that, science fiction stories explored the idea of a female-led or even female-only society. Take a caricature of the patriarchal society that dominates Europe and America (and it must be a caricature, because reality is a bit too nuanced to make for a good story) and turn it on its ear. Put the women in charge. Make the men slaves, or get rid of them entirely. Star Trek played with this in the lamentable “Spock’s Brain.” (Which I love, so, if you’re a fan, don’t be offended.) Lost in Space turned out the equally lamentable “The Colonists.” Gene Roddenberry’s second Dylan Hunt pilot, Planet Earth, had John Saxon squaring off against Diana Muldaur’s matriarchal culture, where men were servants called “dinks.”

Philip Wylie’s The Disappearance was published before Gloria Steinem came to prominence and was probably more inspired by the phenomenon of Rosie the Riveter during World War II than by women’s lib. Nonetheless, it told the tale of a world in which the men disappeared and the women had to step into roles that, in Western-dominated culture, they had not traditionally filled. Such stories can open up quite a discussion about what our gender roles are, why they exist, if they’re necessary or even rational, and if we can do better. Good fiction is always there to help us learn more about ourselves.

Penthesilea, the world on which Night of the Twin Moons is set, is a female-led culture. The name of the planet suggests that, if you know your mythology. Penthesilea was a queen of the Amazons, sister to the more-familiar Hippolyte, whom she had killed in a hunting accident, making her queen. In Greek myth, the Amazons were not, like Wonder Woman’s Amazons, women who lived without men on an island. They were warrior women who dominated their timid husbands, lopped off one of their breasts to make them better archers, and lived in the city-state of Themiscyra.

Lorrah’s Penthesileans are likewise women who dominate their men, with the added wrinkle that there is a tremendous IQ differential between the women and the men, with few of the men being of even average intelligence, compared to humans, while the women’s intellects are comparable to those of earth people, or even Vulcans. The women therefore use men for breeding, swap men, retire (and castrate) men when they become too old to be attractive. It is heresy on Penthesilea to even suggest that a man could be as intelligent as a woman. Men are, essentially, livestock. Indeed, “one man” is a unit of currency. But Penthesileans are not Amazons, for the very simple reason that they are not warriors. War has never occurred on their world, because there is literally no competition between the sexes, and the choosing of a mate is so well regulated that there is no jealousy.

Into this unusual paradise comes the Starship Enterprise, on a diplomatic mission to negotiate rights for the planet’s dilithium resources. Two big challenges are evident: One, the ambassador has to be female, since Penthesileans don’t believe men can think: two, the Penthesileans expect, if trade is to be opened with the Federation, to be paid in men.

Ambassador Amanda and her female team bring Sarek along in hopes of letting Penthesilea’s rulers learn firsthand how intelligent a man can be. An elite group of women does learn this. Sarek instructs them in archery, (one hopes they will not later lop off their breasts!) and construction of musical instruments. Amanda, limited by the prohibition against even discussing male equality, still manages to get across the idea of marriage to them. And she’s (mostly) successful in convincing them that Sarek’s services as a stud are not for sale.

Laced into this narrative is back-story about Sarek and Amanda’s first meeting, the consummation of their romance, how Amanda learned the hard way that there is nothing romantic about Vulcan’s idea of a marriage ceremony, how their son Spock was born and why he was an only child, and how Sarek hid from his wife a near-fatal heart condition. Turns out Sarek was told not to have sex any longer by his Vulcan doctor, and he decided he’d rather die.

Illogical? You bet. The Sarek we met in his brief TV appearances was likewise illogical, and there was never time to explore it fully. Jean Lorrah made part of a career out of exploring just that illogic of which Vulcans are capable, as well as the fact that they feel love, anger and jealousy. They just use their discipline of logic to deal with it. Sarek respects Amanda’s strength of will and intelligence, yet doesn’t know her well enough to know that it is the joining of their minds that she treasures most in their relationship. Lorrah thoroughly explores what it means to be in a relationship where the telepathic joining of minds accompanies the physical joining of bodies. It’s still possible to hide things from each other, but, as a result, partners know each other—and love each other—at a much deeper level.

What emerges through all of this is a portrait of two very complex, interesting, strong people who make each other better. We didn’t see this side of them on TV because we largely saw them through Spock’s lens. And we rarely see our parents for the people they actually are. For some idiotic reason, we especially assume that their sex lives were already long dead when we came along. That is not true for sixty-something Amanda and century-old Sarek in Lorrah’s stories.

So I liked Jean Lorrah’s work, okay. So she made two minor characters into two very important characters through fan fic. Yay. Why does it matter? It matters, to me, because, as with revisiting The Wrath of Khan, revisiting Night of the Twin Moons has reminded me of how rich the Trek universe was for me long before sequel series began to be made. In many ways, those sequel series—to an extent even the Classic Trek films—have limited the scope of that universe, dulling the vision that fan creators brought to the table while Star Trek was still nothing more than a ten-years canceled TV show that was lucky enough to get an enjoyable Saturday morning cartoon version. [...]