#stranger trek

[that-guy-writes]

Well, tonight I watched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country for the first time, and... look, I’m not saying that I’ve, like, patented a new, female, Vulcan crew member turning out to be an extremist who assassinates a dignitary because she genuinely believes that it’s in the best interest of the Federation... I’m just saying that I had no awareness of what the plot of this movie was when I wrote that chapter.

[johnconstantius]

And All The Days Were Special - Chapter 2

In these dismal times of COVID and the Stranger Things hiatus, I figure why not drop some more content? So I just posted Chapter 2 of All The Days on AO3.

I must admit that I shamelessly ripped off borrowed the idea of Steve’s custom weapon in this chapter from @that-guy-writes, who first used the concept in the wonderful story Stranger Trek. That tale is also up on AO3, and if you like Stranger Things or Star Trek, you should do yourself a favor and give it a read.

And @that-guy-writes, in return for stealing borrowing your idea, I hereby promise to give you fifty cents of every dollar I make on All The Days. Which would be... nothing. You’re welcome.

A few non-spoilery images from the chapter below.

Oh come on, the demogorgon’s not a spoiler, you knew that shit was coming.

[johnconstantius]

any fics that you're into right now?

So I’m very lame and have only recently realized this was in my inbox! I’m so sorry! It’s such a good question.

Responses are AO3 only because that’s where I read & write. Responses are Stranger Things/Mileven only because that’s what I read & write. So:

I love and follow everything by the brilliant thottiedottie. These fics include Cold War, Manic Pixel Dream Girl, Milk & Honey, and the legendary A Private Education. She’s my absolute favorite writer on AO3 and her fics are freaking brilliant. Incredibly well written, great character arcs, challenging (in a good way) material.

I’m reading Snurvel’s fic Missing, which is a realistic take on post-season 3 canon El. The author presents beautiful insights into what it means to be a foster child and how El’s lab background would realistically impact her future. If you get tired of AUs where El basically acts like she’s Millie Bobby Brown, this is the fic for you.

Disneyprincess315 has written a series of beautiful Mileven one-shots called You Are Not Alone. I can’t even. Tears ahoy! Love this work.

The Jump by Lborealis is wonderful - a Mileven AU that actually turns out to be much closer to canon than you would have guessed. So much fun and the author is a gifted writer (seriously, I doubt Lborealis needs any props from me, everyone in the fandom knows/loves her work).

Stranger Trek by ItsThatGuy. The Stranger Things gang as the crew of the USS Enterprise (er... USS Hawkins), with Mike as Picard. Twenty-six episodes (chapters). The take on El and Mileven is lovely. So well imagined and the Mileven is very innocent and sweet.

I hope you find something you like!

[that-guy-writes]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

The final chapter of Stranger Trek is out!

Still reeling from Section 31′s boarding action, the crew of the Hawkins finds themselves in their most desperate bind yet, outgunned and fighting an invisible enemy.  Is there any way for them to win?  Is there even any way for them to survive?

[that-guy-writes]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 20 of Stranger Trek is out!

A joint research projects is a fairly routine thing for a Starfleet science officer, yet for some reason Dustin seems particularly pleased about embarking on this one...

[that-guy-writes]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Mileven Week Day 1 prompt: Music

It's an ordinary day on the USS Hawkins, and Mike is walking down the hallway when he hears a sound coming from El's quarters...

[that-guy-writes]

13 - Music

Just gonna scattershot here since no fic was specified -

The easiest answer for this one is Out Of The Ashes, which I got in the mood for by listening to Miracle of Sound’s Fury Road fansong, Road Rage.  (It’s a good song, go listen to it.)

I did at one point have a Spotify mood playlist for The Other Thing, though sadly I’ve since cleared it out of my library.  I remember that one of the songs on it was To The End by Elliphant, which I felt was a good expression of El’s powerful determination and refusal to give up in the face of danger.  Another one was In The Shadows by Amy Stroup, leaning into the darker, creepier moments of the fic.  Oh, and representing the fluffier Mileven parts I had Jackpot by Jocelyn Alice.

Stranger Trek doesn’t have much in the way of specific songs; I just found an ambient sci-fi soundtrack playlist on Spotify to listen to while I was writing.  I’m pretty sure it had tracks from Mass Effect, Interstellar, and Moon, amongst others.

Funnily, I can’t think of anything in the way of music for Anne with a Shard or Coffee As Black As The Tomb--it’s just not something that’s come up for either of those fics.

(Ask me questions about my fics!)

[that-guy-writes]

So as you know, I’m a huge fan of your Stranger Trek. It’s a brilliant reimagining of both Stranger Things and TNG. The Mileven is marvelous and I am *in awe* of your 20+ self-contained plots (episodes) as well as the broader character arcs. So in response to your recent reblog: 5. What part was hardest to write?

Aw, you’re making me blush .///.

As far as difficulty writing... I think the single chapter I had the hardest time writing was Chapter 6, with Will and Robin in the holodeck.  I had this idea in my head that I was going to make a series of videogame references, but when I sat down to actually bash it out I found I had a hard time thinking up a list of games that 1) I was personally familiar enough with to make an effective reference to, and 2) were popular and well-known enough to be recognizable--most games I thought of fell into one category or the other, but not both.  I ultimately wound up scrapping the idea, though pieces of it remain (the dragon on the bridge is the Hellkite Dragon from Dark Souls, for instance).  Overall it took me about 11 days to complete that chapter, which is a long turnaround time when you’re trying to update once a week; fortunately that was near the beginning, when I had a buffer of completed chapters to keep my update schedule on track. (Ask me questions about my fics!)