You May Deny

Zine
Title:	You May Deny
Publisher:	imPRESSion
Editor:
Author(s):	Jean L. Stevenson
Cover Artist(s):	Alice Jones
Illustrator(s):	cover calligrapher is Nancy Jones, internal calligraphy of the Vulcan alphabet is by Juanita Salicrup
Date(s):	February 1979
Medium:	print
Genre:	het
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover by Alice Jones

You May Deny is a het Star Trek: TOS novel by Jean L. Stevenson.

It is a continuation of the story, "Cause Celebre: une danse," she began in The Turbolift Review.

This zine also contains a song by Leslye Lilker called "C'Resa."

This zine sold for $5.19 first class.

Summary

From Datazine #4: "T'Pring, suddenly freed of all ties, donates her time and scientific expertise to a small Federation expedition. Now outworlds surround her, slowly, they teach her that one doesn't know precisely what one can or cannot do."

From Warped Space #44: "YOU MAY DENY is the story of T'Pring after "Amok Time"--why she challenged, why she had to challenge, why she could challenge, and why her logic must be challenged."

Reactions and Reviews

'May Deny' is a 'movement in The Seasons of the Dance' dealing with T'Pring and Spock. In this movement, which takes place three years after 'Amok Time,' Stonn dies, freeing T'Pring to begin learning about herself. Her teachers are two humans, one Caitain, and one more-than-human telepath who comprise the four-man scout/survey team with whom she is sent on a botanical research mission. T'Pring's own lack of control leads to a low-level, five-way meld through which she comes to understand the concept of friendship and accept it as part of her life. The team's mission leads to capture by Klingon pirates and rescue by the Enterprise. Aboard ship, T'Pring again meets Spock, Kirk, and McCoy, and it becomes evident that the marriage bond is still strong. T'Pring begins a series of introspective meditations which destroys her antipathy to humans and renews her commitment to Spock. The novel is intricate and well-crafted: a number of sub-plots are deftly handled, characterization of both major and minor characters is crisp, and symbolism is extensive and well-developed without being heavy-handed or opaque. I have re-read the entire novel four or five times and still find new points which must be integrated into my understanding of the central characters. Yet the main story is incomplete, without a beginning or an end that is as developed as the novel. Despite the use of flashback, the reader needs the preceding movement, 'Cause celebre: une danse' in order to understand the relationship between T'Pring and Spock in 'You May Deny,' and despite the ending of the novel, the conflict between the two characters remains to be resolved. Serialization is a problem in Treklit because readers fear that they won't be able to get all the episodes. Nevertheless, I recommend 'You May Deny.' If Jean continues as she has begun, 'The Seasons of the Dance' is going to be a significant Trek series. I also recommend it for Alice Jones' evocative, gut-wrenching cover illo.

Thank you, [name redacted], for the incisive and generally good comments on my novel, 'You May Deny.' But did you have to tell the ending? Now, I'm reacting on two levels. The first is as author and sometimes critic, and in that guise I believe a review of literature, film, drama, poetry, etc. should be a comment on how well the creator has conveyed her/his creation to you, the consumer. But please leave to the writer, composer, etc., the joy of telling the story. And believe me, it is a joy to created characters, friends, a universe, to choose the words -- les mots juste -- to convey it all in the most interesting manner, just to to the work. Simply sharing ideas... that's why I write. In addition, I have tried my hand at reviewing. I put a lot of opinion on paper, but to my knowledge I never told the whole story. If so, I apologize in retrospect and perpetuity to those writers I so treated. Alternately, I am a rabid consumer of the written work and potential purveyor of the reviews in UT or any other zine. And in that second persona, I have to say I was infuriated by the review of 'You May Deny.' If I read a story -- short of long -- I read from beginning to end and try to second guess the author's purpose. I do not want to know what's happening. I don't read the last three pages of a mystery, nor do a I pick up a novelization before I've seen the movie. I hated it when a slip of the tongue by a friend robbed Darth Vader's astonishing claim of its proper impact. If I were George Lucas, I'd be disappointed to know that everybody knew the story before my film had been seen... At the very least, I suggest those who plan to review fanworks, take the time to read the columns in pro sf zines. Inevitably, you will cross the path of Spider Robinson (reviewing for Analog right now) and his in varying use of the a simple... 'WARNING: I AM ABOUT TO COMMIT A SPOILER. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE END OF THIS STORY, SKIP THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH.' I think that says it all.

You May Deny follows T'Pring's life after she rejected Spock in favor of Stonn. T'Pring and Stonn are working to cure a rather curious botanical plague when Stonn goes into pon farr. It makes the rest of the story work, but the manner of Stonn's death is a little farfetched. T'Pring risked too much to get Stonn, why would she later permit him to die?

For that point on, the story is well-reasoned out and well-written. T'Pring's adventures off Vulcan are interesting and dovetail well, including a nick-in-the-time rescue by (you guessed it) the Enterprise. The characterizations are all good and reasonably consistent. McCoy's initial anger at T'Pring is perhaps a trigle [?] overdone.

This is a novel about T'Pring, with all the action seen through her eyes as she moves from killing Stonn in his first pon farr since their marriage to a marital bonding with Spock. Ah, yes, the reader is asked to accept that Spock is stupid enough to try it again with a woman who has plainly demonstrated she is allergic to pon farr. His first, which she induced so she could get him back to Vulcan and permanently out of her life through death, then Stonn's as she decides he is not what she wants after all; and now she winds up offering to be there for Spock when his need time comes round again. Early in the story McCoy calls her a "first class Jezebel-type bitch", and while the seduction of the author's smooth writing and the twists and turns of a very fine plot serve to distract the reader from basics, she still fits that description at the end.

Stonn and T'Pring are botanical scientists, fighting for a way to control a ruthless plague that decimates every living plant on any planet it invades. Following his death (uninvestigated, unchallenged as far as we are told) she is assigned to a survey/scoutship with a tightly knit Caitian-Human crew, and they proceed to a barren planet for further studies to facilitate her research. Unfortunately, the Klingons are also interested in the project; and the team's capture, rescue by the Enterprise, and continued desperate search for answers to the killer virus form the bulk of the plot. T'Pring manages to develop a rudimentary sense of humor in the course of the story — Spock's teaching her Fizzbin is a particularly bright moment — and comes to think of the scoutship crew as trusted friends. However, it is mainly give for them, and take for her. But the biggest problem any reader will have with the plot is that apparently Spock never asks, "By the way, whatever happened to Stonn?" in spite of his life-saving deep mind meld with her which supposedly reactivates their child hood bond.

It's a beautiful zine with excellent editing and layout—I would have welcomed a lot of good artwork, though, to break up the eye's steady progress through the fine print. The plot certainly fits the definition of a good story, as we see T'Pring's character change slightly in response to the stimuli she encounters along the way, and the E's crew mellows their perceptions of her somewhat. The author's presentation of Kirk and McCoy rings absolutely true, not always the case with Spock/Vulcan fanfic, and altogether this zine is good entertainment and well worth its cost. Even if only to make waves with Jean about the ending!