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| The Spy, the Rebel, the Daredevil, the Fighter, the Lightbulb, the Muscle, the Fixer, the Rock, the Brain, and one ship shared by all. The tale continues... |
Wow! Has it really been ten years? Although I've marked the passage of time in every other aspect of my life it just caught up with me that my little series has been going strong for a decade now.
I never suspected that the SID would find on-line acceptance. It started because of some Farscape material I had written. That was my first foray into fan fiction. The writer's of the show incorporated some of my ideas into the fabric of the Scaper universe. I was really encouraged by this but I wanted a greater challenge. I wanted Star Trek.
The idea of playing in an established universe with thirty (back then) years worth of "real" world history and four centuries of "fictional" history appealed to me. DS9 had just ended and I was on a buzz from the conclusion of my second favourite incarnation (TOS being my one true love) and could just imagine where the Federation would go next.
Sisko's collaboration with Garak and the revelation of Section 31 opened up a darker facet of the Federation that had always been there but carefully tucked away. As a student of Soviet history, the concept of an engineered utopian society was familiar to me. The difference between the USSR and the UFP was that the Federation wasn't corrupted at its onset and learned from its mistakes as it went and adapted itself for the common good. Who wouldn't love that?
However, S31 opened up possibilities of exploring the dissent that inevitably tried to hinder progress and idealism. Utopia comes at a price. The majority too often squishes the grumbling minority and the rule of the many must enforce its will upon the few, often times with force.
Taking this ideological baggage into Star Trek, I still couldn't escape my fanfic roots in Farscape. Knowing that my group of characters would stretch the boundaries of the Federation's norms, I employed the style of Farscape without the characters or content of Farscape. Since I hate crossover fiction, I kept the universes separate but injected a little spice into the lives of Starfleet operatives.
Regarding canon, I've attempted to preserve canon as much as possible. I have been both praised and criticised for this. Where I have crossed the lines, I have attempted to minimise the damage and preserve the essence of the Trek canon if not its entirety.
The series itself began with the story "Just Another Day". It was originally written for Pocket Book's Strange New Worlds contest. It, like the subsequent "Mindbender", was in contention but ultimately fell short.
What developed out of this was a single character I wanted to fully develop: Brin Macen. Thus was born "Odyssey". The prequel "Factions" soon followed but I ended up being severely disappointed with the end product. I tried again but this time I chose to follow up on "Odyssey" with "Uprising", and here was born T'Kir's addition to the uppermost tier of main characters Macen and T'Kir are my obvious choices for being the top two main characters. As Kirk and Spock were the centre of the show in TOS, so too Macen and T'Kir carry on that legacy.
I have been asked why both of them possess forms of mental illness. The answer is simple: I have both Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Bipolar 1 with psychotic features.
I wanted characters who struggle with mental illness who can overcome their limitations. As in T'Kir's case, treatment holds my Bipolar and psychotic symptoms mostly at bay. And like her, there are facets of my illness that I actually enjoy and crave.
Macen, like myself, has learned to cope with PTSD with little outside assistance. In truth, my PTSD has been downgraded to a General Anxiety Disorder (yea!). With time, planning, discipline, and courage I can eventually eliminate this hang-up and move on with an improved quality of life.
As far as the future of the series goes, I'm working on the next instalment even as I take a break to compose this little treatise. Fair warning: expect the unexpected. Up until recently the teams experienced an unrivalled amount of success. As it can be noted that has all changed. As has been noted in an e-mail, "Sindis is a Bond movie villain". This is true. He is Moriarty to Macen's Holmes. The hunt for Sindis will be a theme for a couple of novels.
Next we will follow a plot thread discussed in "Twilight." Fans of the Pocket Books' Star Trek: Vanguard series should enjoy what happens then (B5 enthusiasts should also pay attention).
I must offer extreme thanks and appreciation to Bernd Schneider. Bernd has allowed me to post on his website for almost the past ten years. He has been a faithful provider of information, corrected my inaccuracies regarding canon, characters, and technical issues. He has offered feedback with his usual incomparable insights. And for the fun part he has provided me the use of the EAS Shipyards! His designs have helped expand and flesh out the SID Trek universe.
Thanks also go to J. Grey for collaborating with me. It was a first time experience and it taught me a lot. Next, I have to wholeheartedly thank Milo Pinter for incorporating the SID stories into his forthcoming "Dusk of the Federation" fan film. Milo has also provided me the use of the crew of the USS Intrepid from that film series. Without Milo there would be no Ian Delaney (Poor Grace).
I want to offer heartfelt thanks to those of you that read my work. While it's true part of my motivation is a bizarre ideological rant on utopian ambitions, my truest objective is entertaining the reader. If I can make you think, laugh, cheer, angry, plunge to the depths with the characters and then soar with them to the heights, then I have achieved my goal.
Best wishes,
Travis
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 | Last modified: 14.07.09 | |
| http://fiction.ex-astris-scientia.org/sid_anniversary.htm | ||