Jim Kirk scrubbed at his eyes and tried to see, tried to breathe against the sobbing that racked him in uncontrollable spasms, tried somehow to ease the intolerable mass of pain that was his whole body.
It was only a little worse where the big arm crushed him against the massive chest, carrying him now like a child, the single arm looped around his chest and under his thighs, balancing him on one hip, while the other arm reached for something.
Still trying to avoid reading Memory Prime, I looked at my to read shelf and considered my options, all 100+ of them.
Then it caught my eye; I didn't think I had that one, says I, having obviously missed it when looking for the four Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath novels. Well, since I'd been feeling a little down I thought, well, they're usually good for a laugh.
I was right!
The Price Of The Phoenix (1977) is Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath's first published Star Trek novel and... it's quite the experience. Yes yes, it's not actually in the Pocket Series (it was published under Bantam) but the other two books in the series are and I've already read those! So this is where it all began...eh?
Actually it didn't all begin here.
The first version of The Price of the Phoenix (and The Fate of the Phoenix) was Never Mourn Black Omne which was privately published and printed prior to reaching an agreement with Paramount and Bantam Books, and is extremely limited edition; it is unknown how widely this book was circulated. I haven't read it myself (I think it would probably have to be a lucky ebay find!) but from an excerpt found on fanlore.org it seems fairly similar.
The thing is with Marshak and Culbreath is that the more I read their novels, the more I know them as people. They're writing 'Star Trek' novels, sure, but they end up revealing more about themselves than actually reflecting the characters or the Star Trek universe. I suppose that actually, quite a few of the earlier Star Trek books have this quality, it gives them a soul which is sorely lacking in some of the more recent releases. Saying that however, I could probably have done with a bit less 'soul' in The Price of the Phoenix. As I've mentioned before, Marshak and Culbreath were not stupid, in fact by all accounts they seem to be incredibly bright. Culbreath founded her own private academy before selling it and moving down to live with Marshak and her husband. Marshak earned a Masters degree in history with honours, she was planning a PhD and wanted to write 'culture changing non-fiction' and then... she discovered Star Trek and gave it all up to devote herself to the show and writing fanfiction. Marshak (from the age of 13) was an avowed Objectivist (Ayn Rand) and believed that Star Trek advanced Objectivist ideals.
The idea of Star Trek advancing Objectivism is quite strange, since objectivism at it's core is right-wing / capitalist; which in many ways Star Trek is not (although I'd argue that even as a post scarcity society, it's not actually socialist at all.. anyway). I tried to do a little bit of research on objectivism in order to try to apply it to Price but the work I was willing to do just acting on a hunch wasn't really enough to get anywhere particularly entertaining. Superficially however, without going into the nitty gritty of Rand's philosophy there are some ideas which can be identified as objectivist in the broadest sense.
Anyway, attempting to cut the rambling about pseudo academia short, the most obvious objectivist idea in Price is
the belief that certain things, especially moral truths, exist independently of human knowledge or perception of them.
and that
"...(Objectivism), in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." - Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged
The concept of the heroic being, is central to the narrative of Price, and actually all their novels I've read so far. The heroic being is invariably Kirk who is basically a cinnamon roll too pure for this world characterised as being Adonis but with the tactical ability of Alexander. The moral truths are also exemplified by Kirk, who is unaware of his virtue or power although every person who meets him recognises these truths in him. Kirk is unique because his own happiness -being the captain of the Enterprise- is his moral purpose but also serves a greater purpose which exists dependently of his own will - independent of his knowledge or perception.
Kirk's purity of purpose is what drives... perhaps it's better to say 'causes' the plot. Omne is attracted to him as a light to his darkness, as a contrasting figure who reminds him of who he was many, many years ago. The events that take place are not incidental, it's all planned by Omne in order to take possession of Kirk body and mind; this is central, all other plots and machinations are red herrings.
Like The Entropy Effect which would be noted for the fact it kills Kirk outright in a slashy death scene, Price (which of course is the earlier work) also starts with Kirk's death and Spock's emotional response. We're told it truly is Kirk who has died, no doubt in McCoy's mind. Spock saw Kirk die... of course he didn't. A clone of Kirk was substituted for the 'real' one as he was transported away by Omne. We're introduced to another clone Kirk who takes the name 'James' while the original uses 'Jim'. The Romulan commander gets rather fond of 'James', though we're told that she probably got together with 'Jim' when she was being transported on the Enterprise previously. Spock turns into a testosterone filled (or whatever the Vulcan equivalent is) super Vulcan, not quite VULCAN COMMAND MODE, but close. All the incidents which lead up to the 'main event(s)' aren't really important, the're just a clumsy method for getting to Marshak and Culbreath's kinks (which I'll get to in a bit). There's a chase through an under ground labyrinth, lots of sexual imagery, med bay in a bottle (spraycan), nudity, manly 'vulcanoid' fighting... and for once both the clone and the original Kirk survive! The Romulan commander gets 'James' and Spock gets 'Jim', and everyone lives happily ever after... but they know one day Omne will return... (oh no...)
I'm not going to waste time summarising this novel seriously, there's no point since it can be found elsewhere. I am going waste time looking at the appalling descriptions, hyper sexual imagery, and general kinkiness. I'm also going to repeatedly wonder how this got published.
So, I'm going to start with picking out a wonderful (?) example of the redundant descriptions which litter this hot mess, because everyone needs to suffer this with me. At least I suppose they improved over time and sentences like -
"So," he said with the deceptive mildness which let the deception show through, "that makes it interesting."
- become less commonplace, but Price is full of them. When I read a section to my partner, he had to stop me every so often to reread sentences. Sure, you can work out what they are trying to say, but the descriptions are kinda what you'd expect from a fifteen year old dabbling in fanfiction for the first time; more often than not a horny fifteen year old at that. Language is very clumsy and at times repetitive -
Kirk felt an odd jolt on some level he couldn't even name. Or-wouldn't. Perhaps somewhere on the level of what he was refusing to name, even to himself. Let it be blunt, brute fact.
But this -
Clumsy, repetitive, badly edited.
Not to mention this particular section follows Omne telling Kirk he didn't want him in the line of fire. Oh dear. The big scary vulcanoid wanted to protect the weak pretty earth man, so he carried him off to his secret lair, ministered to his wounds forcefully and erotically. You know, this is all very familiar; I seem to recall similar events occurring in two other novels by this deplorable duo, and I have little doubt that the next Phoenix book has rather the same kink in it. I wouldn't be surprised if Omne erotically beats up Kirk again, Jim or James! Spock will go super angry Vulcan, then they kiss and make up, right?
Speaking of erotic.
I really could dedicate this review(?) to erotic imagery in Price but I'd be even more delayed in publishing this than I already am. There are two particular scenes / images that stand out to me. One has already been mentioned, and that's the scene where Omne smashes Jim (the original) into a bloody, broken pulp while James (the copy) and the Romulan commander watch. I don't even have to go into that James starts to feel the pain of Jim, and then this transmits to Spock. Theone-sided pounding fight between Jim and Omne is pretty much a H/C / sadistic exercise in homo-erotic voyeurism. I mean, there is no way for Kirk to prevail, Omne is bigger, stronger, more intelligent, described as 'alpha male', king of the jungle following jungle laws (that extended metaphor is the cringiest cringe).
Serious cringe.
Oh gosh, I haven't even mentioned the strange virginity / loss of virginity / rape sections have I? The clone Kirk is dressed in a white tunic (obviously because he's pure), but feels all the pain of the original (messiah comparison?). In one section he slides down a pole (the main transportation through the underground labyrinth), but he has no trousers on so his thighs an nethers are scalded to bloody rawness by the friction from the pole. So, after that he's basically walking around in a white tunic, bleeding between the legs... mmph. How did that get past the editor too? The original Kirk also feels these injuries... I'm surprised they didn't go further and describe him sharing that particular violation, or would that make it too obvious?
Anyway.
Let's just skip to the end. The Price of the Phoenix is an awful book in any context and really just reinforces what I already knew about these two authors. I don't understand how they were able to return again and again to rehash this same story with the same kinks in again and again. The very worst of it is this obsession with emasculating Kirk repeatedly. Yes, Kirk does have a soft side which is at times so gentle, but these two seem almost unable to actually write MxM stuff without making one of the characters a surrogate female. You see this a lot in fiction involving gay men which is written for women. One of the characters is always the female stand in, and in this case it's Kirk.
You know, I can't even say they 'know' the series well, because as far as characterisation goes, I don't believe they do. It feels like they've developed Kirk, Spock and the others into other characters and not the characters they are meant to be. I could say they they might as well be writing a series with all original characters but then it wouldn't stand out as having a prevailing sense of all round wrongness.
The Price of the Phoenix only stands out and is worth talking about because of how wrong it all is there is literally no merit in it. By all means read it out of curiosity, read it because its kinda historical and because it costs a couple of pence to buy... but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those with an interest in early published slash / mxm stuff.
1/5 - bloody thighs, guys.
Speaking of erotic.
I really could dedicate this review(?) to erotic imagery in Price but I'd be even more delayed in publishing this than I already am. There are two particular scenes / images that stand out to me. One has already been mentioned, and that's the scene where Omne smashes Jim (the original) into a bloody, broken pulp while James (the copy) and the Romulan commander watch. I don't even have to go into that James starts to feel the pain of Jim, and then this transmits to Spock. The
Serious cringe.
Oh gosh, I haven't even mentioned the strange virginity / loss of virginity / rape sections have I? The clone Kirk is dressed in a white tunic (obviously because he's pure), but feels all the pain of the original (messiah comparison?). In one section he slides down a pole (the main transportation through the underground labyrinth), but he has no trousers on so his thighs an nethers are scalded to bloody rawness by the friction from the pole. So, after that he's basically walking around in a white tunic, bleeding between the legs... mmph. How did that get past the editor too? The original Kirk also feels these injuries... I'm surprised they didn't go further and describe him sharing that particular violation, or would that make it too obvious?
Anyway.
Let's just skip to the end. The Price of the Phoenix is an awful book in any context and really just reinforces what I already knew about these two authors. I don't understand how they were able to return again and again to rehash this same story with the same kinks in again and again. The very worst of it is this obsession with emasculating Kirk repeatedly. Yes, Kirk does have a soft side which is at times so gentle, but these two seem almost unable to actually write MxM stuff without making one of the characters a surrogate female. You see this a lot in fiction involving gay men which is written for women. One of the characters is always the female stand in, and in this case it's Kirk.
You know, I can't even say they 'know' the series well, because as far as characterisation goes, I don't believe they do. It feels like they've developed Kirk, Spock and the others into other characters and not the characters they are meant to be. I could say they they might as well be writing a series with all original characters but then it wouldn't stand out as having a prevailing sense of all round wrongness.
The Price of the Phoenix only stands out and is worth talking about because of how wrong it all is there is literally no merit in it. By all means read it out of curiosity, read it because its kinda historical and because it costs a couple of pence to buy... but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those with an interest in early published slash / mxm stuff.
1/5 - bloody thighs, guys.
I was wondering when you'd get to this one! Hot mess indeed. But who wasn't, at 15, which is how old iI was when I read it, just timed at the cusp of discovering K/S. I'm sure I would cringe now-- just reading your excerpts was enough. How many times did you catch that "flying wedge" reference every time Spock was leading a security team to rush into some place-- at first I thought, that is clever imagery, but it repeated enough for me even then to think "Oh, come on!" From your sociologist perspective, the story's concept and (mis)characterizations are, in a word, fascinating. I know very little of Rand, so your reference to her "heroic being" was interesting, and I would like to learn more about objectivism. I read about Campbell's hero around that same period (mid teens), along with Mary Renault's Alexander books, which I am told is a curious commonality for readers of slash. Why do we need to see heroes suffer like this? Why do we (females?) get off on alpha males emasculating Kirkian heroes? What came to mind was that scene in Outlander, which if you know what I mean, is very similar: obsessed antagonist Jonathan Randall doing practically the same thing by enjoying torturing Jamie (aha!) Fraser, then ministering to his emotional and psychological pain by doing what we would probably be thinking about when reading Omne/Kirk in the late 70s. Honestly, that Outlander scene shocked me because I did not think they would actually "go there", but they did, and it was riveting, creepy and titillating all at the same time. Aren't humans fascinating? I wonder if you'll give a pass on the "Price" sequel, "Fate of the Phoenix"-- more pages of more bad writing, more heavy handedness, less pay off. I'm always astonished at the depth of your research-- I was not aware of an earlier version of the story, "Never Mourn Black Omne". Marshak and Culbreath were certainly an intriguing pair. Their book "Star Trek Lives!" changed everything for me. PS: Holy crap, I think I've been footnoted in Fanlore! I was looking up the pair of authors to see where they are now, and came across a quote that may be mine from another blogger!
ReplyDeleteHello! Yes! I've been feeling a bit down recently, and it was just brainless enough to read / write about!
DeleteActually, I really hate researching philosophy, I have no patience for it! But I wanted to understand Ayn Rand's work because it was quite influential with young people in the 70s to 90s. You see it referenced quite a lot in fantasy and sci fi, but although it was a popular philosophy, it is also deeply flawed and can't actually exist using its own rules, it's not a 'closed system'. However, superficially at least you see a lot of Rand's ideas like the 'heroic being', although in more modern writing any reference to the idea is more likely to be coincidental or unknowing exposure to Rand through reading another author's work.
I think the most interesting aspect was that Rand's 'Objectivism' was developed out of her own fiction, so it's almost tailored to women who are interested in a certain type of story or attracted to certain types of characters.
So... I guess readers of slash look for certain character archetypes, and are perhaps attracted to the idea that characters like Kirk and Spock have a 'truth' to them which is external to themselves. You'll find this also in 'Killing Time', no matter what the characters of Kirk and Spock feel in their current incarnation, the truth which is external to themselves - perhaps the will of the universe - tries to reassert itself and make them live their 'true' reality regardless.
... This feels like a potential essay, doesn't it? Haha.
Honestly re. 'alpha males emasculating Kirkian heroes' think about the idea of the 'Byronic hero', think Wuthering Heights and the character of Heathcliff, for me it's more the idea of the Kirkian hero being the surrogate female. It's using a man who can 'take a beating' and dominating him, the man often has female characteristics or attitudes, he's often feminised in his reactions; but it's not a woman so it's safer, you can get away with more, there's a barrier between the writer / reader and the violence. Imagine the same scenes but instead of a male being beaten up, replace it with a woman. Take some scenes from Price and instead of Kirk being beaten to a bloody pulp, make it a human woman, or that imagery where the clone is running around bleeding from between the legs. How does it make you feel? Does it feel less comfortable? Does your perspective of Omne change? What about consent? When Kirk tries to refuse Omne's ministrations, Omne strips him off and does it anyway. Does the imagery become more or less acceptable with a woman in the same situation? The strength difference between Omne and Kirk puts Kirk in the same position physically as a woman against a man.
Ahah! You're now fanlore famous!