Date: 11/14/2014 12:17 AM Title: Chapter 53
I melted when I read "Vivet vita tua, et ambulaveris sidereo tua." How did Lori know? The deepening relationship continues to astound me.
Like other readers, I admit that whenever a new chapter is posted, I check to see whether the story is finished and heave a sigh of relief when I see it is now. Now I see that the next chapter will be the last, and while that is rather bittersweet, it does feel as though the story is coming to a place of natural resolution.
I admit I am imagining Kirk's mother arriving at the Idaho homestead and finding the stained comforter, the search history of Spock's 7 billion hits on the cortex, and an empty jar of coconut oil.
Author's Response:
Well, I think that Lori was a woman of uncommon perception and incredibly good at her job; I also think that she invested a lot of emotional energy in reading and understanding James Kirk, and that she and Bones are cut from the same cloth when it comes to the quiet observations and the unshakable - and accurate - conclusions. And I also think that Kirk and Spock are nowhere NEAR as subtle as they think they've been with the flirting and the eyesex and the blatant pining :-) Plus, I laughed hard at your comment about Kirk's mother arriving at the homestead, because that image has also been very firmly in my mind while I was writing. Because one can launder the sheets and air the rooms as much as one likes, but MOMS JUST KNOW :-)
[Report This]Date: 11/14/2014 12:15 AM Title: Chapter 54
Thank you so much for this wonderful story. I hope to enjoy more of your writing in the future.
Author's Response:
And thank you so much for reading! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. Couldn't stop now if I wanted to (and I definitely don't want to...) so there will definitely be more to come!
Date: 11/14/2014 12:09 AM Title: Chapter 52
The way the two men collaborate, collude, almost conspire in their efforts to bring each other pleasure and achieve the greatest possible intimacy is remarkable. The characterizations are crisp and clear even in the depths of passion. I love Spock's "research" and Kirk's delight in his scientific mind. I love the way they never stop being Kirk and Spock.
Author's Response:
It makes me happier than I ought to admit that Spock's scientific, analytical mind, having invested itself in solving a problem, comes to the conclusion that the only logical answer is anal sex. I LOVE THAT VULCAN. Thank you so much :-)
Date: 11/13/2014 10:58 PM Title: Chapter 54
I had a feeling that this was the last chapter and saw that it was before I read it. The chapter was lovely as was all the rest, and I was so glad to see the boys come full circle once again. Spock is still Spock - not partiularly humanized but still with his Vulcan perspective - but they can still love and still be together. Just as we want for them. Just as we want for ourselves.
Thank you for your huge investment in time and talent for this wonderful story. I have spent more time than I care to count following it, and I truly hate to see it end. My only thought is that, perhaps, you will go on to do something as rich and lush as Spice is. My words are inadequate to express my appreciation. I can only say thank you.
Author's Response:
Thank you! I was really trying not to humanize him too much - he needed to give a little, to have room to let himself love Jim the way he's always actually loved him but refused to acknowledge - but it's his Vulcanness that I love about him (and that Jim loves about him) and I didn't want to lose that. Their happy love makes me happy! Thank you so much for reading and for all your kind and generous comments throughout <3
[Report This]Date: 11/13/2014 8:19 PM Title: Chapter 54
BEAUTIFUL. Lovely, absolutely lovely. Brilliant writing and such perfect voices and I'm still swimming in the emotional depths and can't wait to read it again. This is a masterpiece and thank you, THANK YOU for writing it. -Cate
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you so much. It has been my absolute pleasure and privilege to write this; thank you so much for sticking with it and for all your lovely and kind comments throughout. I'm not sure what to do with myself now that it's finished! :-)
Date: 11/13/2014 8:00 PM Title: Prologue
Thank you, eimeo. I am at a loss for words to express my gratitude for a fic of such magnitude, depth and beauty. I have spent more than a year following this and I will miss the anticipation and the thrill of seeing every new chapter online. Earlier you mentioned in the reviews that you have ideas for more stories in this universe. I would be so happy to meet the characters again and see more of your fabulous writing! With love from St. Petersburg, Russia.
[Report This]Date: 11/13/2014 7:45 PM Title: Chapter 54
Damn. Damn damn damn. That was spectacular. I can't believe I came in on this late and only caught up in the latter part but it was so worth it. This has to be the ultimate love story and you captured it perfectly. The pull, the give and take, the joy that is them was present in every word and every line. Do me a favor and never change. I don't care if it takes 46 chapters and a prologue to get to the point, DO IT! Your writing is without equal. Thanks so much for this gift. I'm honored to have taken the journey.
Author's Response:
It *is* the ultimate love story, isn't it? I'm something of an Antony and Cleopatra afficionado (can you tell from all the quoting? :-D), and even I can see that Kirk and Spock's love outstrips pretty much everything that's come before or since. But... you know you're just enabling my verbosity, right? I mean, now I have an EXCUSE the next time it takes me 300,000 words to write a one-shot :-) Thank you so much for this. And thank you for reading and commenting and just being generally awesome <3
[Report This]Date: 11/10/2014 5:58 PM Title: Chapter 53
I am at a loss. I just... to use a phrase the young'uns use nowadays, I can't even. Your writing continues to astound and thrill, and your story is still the best one out there. Jim and Spock--Nogura knew? Who else knows? What does it all mean? And that ending. Whew. Took my breath away. What more can I ask for? Thank you so much, especially for a Spock who doesn't read Latin. I don't feel so bad now. Until the end I remain your faithful reader.
Author's Response:
Thank you so much! Yeah, not much gets past Heihachiro Nogura (whom I adore, by the way; he's too much fun to write, at least from someone else's perspective. I'm not sure I'd have as much fun with him if I were writing from his POV, but, then again, I never have to find out!). As regards your second question, I would refer you to the Footnote, and that's all I'm going to say for now :-) I do have this horrible suspicion that, having been caught out in his Latin deficiency, Spock will soon be found with Dead Terran Languages 101 on his bedside table in the near future, but, no, it doesn't seem like a logical thing for him to have learned to date :-) Thank you again for reading and for your lovely comments!
[Report This]Date: 11/09/2014 11:13 PM Title: Chapter 53
Oh, eimeo, this was perhaps the best chapter of K/S I've ever read. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed it, and your line "that will never cease to take his breath away" was so romantic and real and made me breathless, too. Thank you so much for this story. -Cate
Author's Response:
Oh my goodness - really? Thank you so much! And I'm so pleased you liked that line. I fell in love with that line a little bit as I wrote it (which is why I had to give it a reprise at the end of the chapter), and there's nothing quite so satisfying as hearing someone else loved a thing that I loved. Thank you again!
[Report This]Date: 11/09/2014 8:54 PM Title: Chapter 53
I love the high respect you show Jim to have towards Lori, despite their differences, regardless of the suffering they have given to oneanother. Your language is so beautiful, like the touches of a paintbrush, light in some moments, with harsh decision in others, always clear and proportioned.
The moment of gloom in the aircar and the way it was instantly broken by the brightness of Spock's presence, that was memorable!
Author's Response:
Oh, I think Jim genuinely loved Lori--he just couldn't be IN love with her, because his heart was already spoken for. And I think that once she realized that, and got past her own sadness and anger, they were able to find the beginnings of what would have been a really deep and meaningful friendship, if stupid canon hadn't gone and gotten in the way :-( But thank you! I'm really pleased you liked this chapter!
[Report This]Date: 11/09/2014 1:08 PM Title: Chapter 53
A masterful chapter. Are we going to see any melded sex, bonding etc?
Author's Response:
Oooh, I love me a bit of melded sex as much as the next woman, but I'll only write it if it feels like it needs to go in there. (Like "t'hy'la"; I wasn't sure if I was going to drop the t-bomb until it just kind of... happened, because the boys just do what they're gonna do, and often I have no say in the matter.) So, no, probably not in Spice, but I have a bunch of other stories I want to tell in this universe, so who knows? Glad you liked the chapter - thank you! :-)
[Report This]Date: 10/26/2014 5:09 AM Title: Chapter 49
I just love this chapter. You have such a visual mind my friend. You see them so easily and it shows. It's like watching it unfold in front of us. The dialogue is perfection, the little things that are true in love making afterwards is often discarded but you give us everything which makes it so believable. I also like the fact that you mentioned Lori. Lori was there for Jim when he needed someone and I think Spock was grateful for that. I like thes lines:
“She knew, you know,” says Jim now. His head is pressed so close against Spock’s that Spock feels his words in the bone of his jaw. Jim’s arms slide quietly around Spock’s waist. “About this,” he adds. “About you and… us.”
Spock remembers her eyes, placid but impenetrable; the way her expression shifted as Jim spoke, as though he’d answered a question that she hadn’t asked; and he finds himself unsurprised. “Ah,” he says softly.
“Yes.” A beat. “It made for some… lively debate.”
I can just hear Nimoy say Ah...that is so Spock to say that word. Plus Jim's response and that pause after some... lively debate.
You are very gifted mon amie. Forgive me for the late review.
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you, my friend! I couldn't let Lori just slip away the way she does in (semi)canon; she became waaaaaaay too important to me while I was writing her, and I'll always be sorry that canon won't let me write her as their groomswoman at the big space wedding, grinning ear to ear as they take their vows, because once she realized that she could never be with Jim, and why, I think she'd have been the most passionate K/S shipper of them all. Thank you so much!
[Report This]Date: 10/21/2014 10:09 AM Title: Chapter 52
These two make me so happy I'm almost delirious. I can't stand how perfect they are together. I'm so happy for them. You write an awesome Kirk and Spock. Thanks so much for the update.
Author's Response:
Oh, I know--I sometimes wonder if I'm in danger of completely distorting my own attitude to love because of how nothing can ever be as perfect as these two are for each other :-) Writing these chapters has been the most fun EVER. Thank you!
Date: 10/20/2014 8:40 PM Title: Chapter 52
I have to agree with angelocustode. Each time I see a new chapter posted I check to see if Spice is a WIP or fiction b/c I know that I want to savor and cherish each word of the last chapter as much as I have all the other. As pleased as I am to see a new chapter, I am beginning to live in dread of the end of this story.
I have read and written K/S a long time. I first became acquainted with it in the late 70s or 80s. Yet in all the slash I have read (and I have read a lot) I don't remember enjoying a project as much as I have Spice. It is chocolate topped with chocolate, and I appreciate each and every word. Thanks!
Author's Response:
I really have no words for how awesome this is to read. Seriously. I've read a lot of slash myself (though I can't imagine nearly as much as you!) and there are some truly magnificent works out there. Thank you so much!
[Report This]Date: 10/20/2014 7:04 PM Title: Chapter 52
This is going to make you laugh: your "Spice" is the only fic I hope will stay a WIP for a very long time still. At each update I fear to see a yes in the COMPLETED column.
This chapter has a new level of perfection: it should be a textbook example of how to write sex scenes that are realistic (because anyone ever REALLY thought that such a first time could be NOT painful and awkward, with an ever precarious balance between abandon and displacement, analysis and passion) and so deeply tender and passionate at the same time, playing all the registers of a secure characterisation and a subtle humor that never ever is at the expence of the characters, but rather a smiling WITH them. Every sentence, every word is chosen, is perfect, every detail is right and perfectly placed. I really lack the words to express the level of my admiration for your writing.
Author's Response:
Aw, thank you! I must admit, I'm dreading the day I have to mark it completed - it's been three years since I started writing it, and I'll be so sad not to have it in my life anymore. But on a happier note - thank you, thank you, thank you! For me, part of the fun of writing sexytimes is trying to find the humor, because unbridled passion is great and all, but it takes time to find your groove with a new partner, and maybe it's just me, but I do find that there's something inherently absurd about a process of discovery that's conducted while naked. Maintaing a healthy sense of humor is fundamental to enjoying the experience, and Spock, fortunately, is now in a secure enough place--with himself and with Jim--to do just that (though he'd never categorize it in those terms!). Really glad you enjoyed it!
[Report This]Date: 10/20/2014 6:46 PM Title: Chapter 52
That was spectacular. Amazing, and I can't say enough how perfect the characterizations are for our TOS boys. Loved, loved this chapter! -Cate
Author's Response:
*air punch happydance* Yay! Thank you. Writing the physical stuff is SO MUCH FUN but trying to keep them in character while they get their lovin' on is an... uh... interesting exercise in writerly imagination :-)
Date: 10/17/2014 12:08 AM Title: Chapter 51
So many thing to love in this chapter. I loved: Spock's endearing seriousness, earnestness and honesty. The way their intimacy has deepened, so naturally and effortlessly that it seems destined to be -- without the corniness that can, in the hands of a lesser writer, accompany that concept. The insatiable making love -- and as sexy as it is, it is truly making love. The scene in which Kirk "[wrung] pleasure from every corner of [Spock's] body" was deeply loving. The way you dealt with the age-old K/S conundrum of how to deal with McCoy -- this was one of the best ever.
Perhaps most of all, I appreciated the subtle but tangible way you show them almost brought back to life by loving each other: "The fires burn again behind Jim’s eyes, and the emptiness that has hollowed Spock’s belly for so many years has left him."
I confess I loved this chapter so much I read it four times. The fourth time I read this chapter, I was listening to Handel's setting of "My heart is inditing of a good matter," with its duet between baritone and countertenor -- English Baroque music is so gay -- it seemed to fit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dq2WNHLhvk
Of course I am looking forward immensely to seeing Spock's paradigm shift -- it seems we are on the threshold of a scientific revolution! It is sure to be a doozy.
Finally, I love Spock's thought that "they will find a way to fold together these new selves that they have discovered in the cradle of the mountain with the men they used to be." That, I am dying to see. I hope you don't end the story without showing us your vision of how that will be. That is the ultimate challenge of K/S, and you are capable of the task as few authors are.
Author's Response:
So, I'm writing this response while listening to your excellent musical suggestion and, yes, I see exactly what you mean :-)
I swear, I have waaaaaay too much fun with McCoy. If I could get him in every chapter without compromising the narrative flow, I totally would, because I swear he ships them as hard as any K/S fan (and maybe more so, because, after 8 years of watching them pine after each other, you have to imagine he's very much over the "Awww, they love each other so much; that's so cute" stage and more into the "AAARGGH JUST KISS ALREADY GODDAMMIT" bit). And thank you so much. When I was quite new to K/S, I read the most fantastic analyses of TMP and the novelization, which irrevoably entered my headcanon, and more or less demonstrated to me that Kirk's attempt to convince himself that it's the Enterprise he's missing is basically shot to hell the moment he fails catastrophically to become TOS-era!Kirk when he gets her back, and only starts making sensible and coherent command decisions when Spock reappears. They just don't work without each other. And I guess, when you're missing one half of your heart with no realistic prospect of ever having it returned to you, the only way to process it and go on is to pretend that you don't understand what's happened to you, that it's fixable only under the most unlikely of circumstances, and so it's only really possible to let yourself start to heal once you're presented with incontrovertible proof that things are going to be all right. And, finally, the ridiculous thing is that I don't actually know, yet, how much we'll see of their life together on the Enterprise before the story ends. I have a feeling I know now how many chapters there'll be (though I've thought that before, and regularly laugh derisively to myself when I consult my initial chapter plan for Part IV), but the boys will do what the boys will do and I have only nominal control. But I can promise that, no matter where this fic ends, I'll be back to explore the Spice universe again!
[Report This]Date: 10/14/2014 6:12 PM Title: Chapter 51
To look at what they are experiencing "through" Spock's eyes is priceless. The analytical mind that tries to sort out reasons and stimuli, that tends to catalogue and then lets slip everything because what IS takes hold of everything that is not brain and simply washes over all the carefully sorted out data; this simple feeling, just FEELING.
Author's Response:
*g* See, I love writing Kirk, but I LOVE writing Spock, especially now. Opening himself up to the possibility of epic love doesn't stop him being who he is, and you just know that Kirk gets completely turned on by that analytical mind, but, equally, passion is in no way rational, logical, or ordered, and it's just too much FUN having him try to assimilate this fact, now that he's ready to let go. Thank you!
[Report This]Date: 10/13/2014 7:37 PM Title: Chapter 51
As if I hadn't already forgiven you before you asked, this chapter is worth that many, many times over. I love their love. It's so pure and endless. Thank you so much for a great update!
Author's Response:
Thank you! And I promise to be on better behavior from now on - the next chapter is actually almost ready to post and I'm hopeful I'll get it up over the weekend. I love their love too - it makes me so happy to write it. (When chapters behave themselves, of course.)
[Report This]Date: 08/18/2014 9:10 PM Title: Chapter 50
I love your characterizations of Jim and Spock. I LOVE them. So TOS, and just perfect. And this chapter was also perfection, and I am so happy to read that you will be continuing to explore their happiness a bit longer. I'm interested to see how they'll solve their "problem", but also look eagerly forward to simply reading their interactions and spending some time in your world for them. -C
Author's Response:
Thank you so much! Their happiness makes me happy; I am kind of a little bit addicted to writing these chapters. I don't know that their problem can ever be solved, per se, but there are ways and means of enjoying a healthy and vigorous sex life in the presence of lava lube, and these guys, I'm quite sure, are the ones to find them all :-)