Ever had a "There's something in my eye" moment with Trek Lit?

[The Laughing Vulcan]

With me, it's the conclusion of Prime Directive that provides the catharsis.

The whole novel is a hefty emotional trial for the main characters, and through all that adversity they finally prevail.

That final chapter captures all the sense of wonder and hope that encapsulates Star Trek for me. I'm not ashamed to admit, that I get more than misty eyed, when that Talin child wonderingly asks about the "Starship" that has come to rescue them.

Ever have any similar moments with Trek Lit?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ever have any similar moments with Trek Lit?

The funeral of Thriss, Shar's Andorian bondmate (in "Andor: Paradigm", WoDS9, Book 1). I was playing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" movie soundtrack while reading, and the final song by Annie Lennox, "Into the West", kicked in just as the funeral procession started. I was a blubbering mess.

After I reviewed the book, author Heather Jarman told me she played sad "The Two Towers" music while writing/editing it! I felt like I was somehow channeling her writing process.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Duffy's death in SCE: Wildfire.

When he has that final talk with Capt. Gold, "don't tell Sonny"

And then when the aliens send him back to the da Vinci in their stilted language... "duffy...sacrifice...thank you."

I think that's Mack's best work and my second favourite overall.

 

[William Leisner]

^ Seconded.

 

[scorpius1701]

The end of Federation is pretty good. So is Imzadi.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

When Garak goes to the Oralian Way meeting looking for Palandine and finds Kel instead at the end of A Stitch in Time.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The finale of "Captain's Glory". I thought this was magnificent finale to the Trek story that spanned from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to that novel. A fitting final goodbye to Kirk and co.

 

[Art Vandelay]

The epilogues of both Provenance of Shadows and Burning Dreams.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Okay, this may sound strange, but...

"Make-Believe" makes me a blubbering wreck. I cannot read my own story.

Writing it, I had no problem. I was "in the zone."

The copy-edit and the galleys? A quivering mass.

And I wrote it. I wrote the story. And I can't read it.

Lest anyone think I'm overly sensitive...

I've watched a young woman weep while reading it. My sister told me my other sister let rip with the waterworks after reading it. I've had e-mails from strangers about how the story brought them to tears.

The story has that effect on people.

 

[trampledamage]

Okay, this may sound strange, but...

"Make-Believe" makes me a blubbering wreck. I cannot read my own story.

Writing it, I had no problem. I was "in the zone."

The copy-edit and the galleys? A quivering mass.

And I wrote it. I wrote the story. And I can't read it.

Lest anyone think I'm overly sensitive...

I've watched a young woman weep while reading it. My sister told me my other sister let rip with the waterworks after reading it. I've had e-mails from strangers about how the story brought them to tears.

The story has that effect on people.

I have got to read this story!

 

[captcalhoun]

i got a bit teary on reading Amanda's death in "Sarek". managed to hold it together thankfully since i was on a bus at the time.

Wildfire when Duffy's seeing the visions of his past life and when Sonya puts the ring on

think i also got a bit misty during Breakdowns IIRC, when Gold goes to see the families of the dead and the one guy kicks him out.

oh, and i actually cried *after* reeading the bit in "Oaths" where the plaque is shown from Corsi's axe. i was telling my mum about it and that made me cry, not the actual reading...

 

[phrog]

When Garak goes to the Oralian Way meeting looking for Palandine and finds Kel instead at the end of A Stitch in Time.

This.

Additionally, I was particularly touched by the return of Sisko and his sitting with Kira and telling her story of the three brothers from Jokala which echoed one of my favorite Kira/Sisko moments. The death and funeral of Thriss, despite my not being terribly ecstatic about Jarman's writing style, were both very touching.

But moreso, Vaughn's attempted sacrifice in the final pages of Warpath. The way it's phrased, with his realization of all the times he'd failed Prynn, failed Ruriko and his guilt all comes to a head and he decides that he deserves this death, but she doesn't. The way it's written with the mist in his eyes and the description of his tenderness surrounded by the burning wreckage around them.... combined with all the build up and suspense... it just hit me really strongly.

"Run, baby."

Good stuff.

 

[Rabid Trekkie]

Okay, this may sound strange, but...

"Make-Believe" makes me a blubbering wreck. I cannot read my own story.

Writing it, I had no problem. I was "in the zone."

The copy-edit and the galleys? A quivering mass.

And I wrote it. I wrote the story. And I can't read it.

Lest anyone think I'm overly sensitive...

I've watched a young woman weep while reading it. My sister told me my other sister let rip with the waterworks after reading it. I've had e-mails from strangers about how the story brought them to tears.

The story has that effect on people.

I read this story at the student center of my college and it took everything I had not to just start crying in front of everyone. Others have made me sad, Stitch in Time and Vanguard: Harbinger are the ones sticking out in my mind at the moment, but none have come close to making me cry like Make-Believe.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Yeah, the Corsi's axe "in memoriam" did it for me too.

Also, in Harbinger, when Lieutenant Oriana D'Amato is flying the Bombay at the Tholians and the rest of the bridge crew are dead, and she screeches "fascio di stronzo" (sp?; lit. "shit heads" IIRC) before the ship is destroyed. I had a tear in my eye then and couldn't help pumping my fist in the air with a "yes."

 

[Christopher]

Isn't a "fascio" a bundle or sheaf? As in the fasces, the bundle of rods that was a symbol of authority in the Roman Empire and that the Fascist movement was named after?

 

[David Mack]

You're probably right; Xeris misquoted the line. In Oriana's internal monologue, she thinks, You're not getting away, you faccia di stronzo!

 

[JD]

Ever have any similar moments with Trek Lit?

The funeral of Thriss, Shar's Andorian bondmate (in "Andor: Paradigm", WoDS9, Book 1). I was playing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" movie soundtrack while reading, and the final song by Annie Lennox, "Into the West", kicked in just as the funeral procession started. I was a blubbering mess.

After I reviewed the book, author Heather Jarman told me she played sad "The Two Towers" music while writing/editing it! I felt like I was somehow channeling her writing process.

I actually had something similar to this happen to me, although for me it was an action scene.
During one of my reading sessions the first time through Summon the Thunder, I got to attack by the Shedai attacked Ming on the planet just as the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack I was listening got to the music for battle in the mine. The two thing added together to this whole scene absoultely amazing.

As for the OP's question, I can't remember any specifics, but I know there have at least a few times this has happened to me during the DS9R, and maybe during Vanguard.

 

[Christopher]

You're probably right; Xeris misquoted the line. In Oriana's internal monologue, she thinks, You're not getting away, you faccia di stronzo!

Well, doing a bit of checking, I see that would translate literally as "face of turd." That's the word that most sites use to translate it, with the other scatological 4-letter English word being reserved as the translation for merda. I gather that what Oriana said was a relatively mild way of expressing the sentiment.

 

[David Mack]

^ Well, we wouldn't want the book banned or red-flagged in Italy, would we?

 

[Scott Pearson]

Duffy's death in SCE: Wildfire.

That certainly, but this small, understated scene:

"Eddy, still on the ladder, looked up at Stevens, her expression calm as she pulled the manual release for the access ladder's emergency bulkhead. The thick barrier snapped shut between her and Stevens, and the upswell of liquid metal struck it with a gruesome, muffled thud."

It's unexpected, so sudden, over so fast, Eddy doing her duty, and Stevens with no time to reflect on it. A nice moment between the characters seconds before sets up just enough emotion to give her sacrifice an extra wrenching feeling.

Pass the tissues, mommy, Mack just made me cry like a drunken schoolgirl. Or was that a drunken Mack crying like a maid in a girls school? Oh, hell, what's the difference . . . the point is he doesn't just bring the death like his rep, he also makes you feel it in your gut. That's what sells tickets, junior.