Of Crystal Persuasion

Zine
Title:	Of Crystal Persuasion
Publisher:	Cathi Brown and T'Elfie/T'Ciao Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Sharron Crowson
Cover Artist(s):	Christine Myers
Illustrator(s):	Christine Myers
Date(s):	April 1983
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS with Darkover
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover by Christine Myers

back cover by Christine Myers

Of Crystal Persuasion is a gen Star Trek: TOS McCoy 89-page novel written by Sharron Crowson, illustrated by Christine Myers, and edited by Cathi Brown.

This zine was first proposed as the fourth issue of Trek Continuum. See that page for more details.

From the Editor

From the zines' editorial:

With the galaxy's good grace, this one should have less typoes and grammar errors than other publications the Press has put out. 1 snatched up two "kind" souls who volunteered to help. Elaine Batterby and Shelly Stein. I thank you both. Now if only we could dispense with the mimeograph and find a copier--as good as the DC-131 and reasonably priced--that prints on both sides of the pages without wrinkling said pages, we'd have it made in the shade. But until then, this combination will have to do. Excuse the highs and lows of the mimeo's feed system. I think Sharron penned an excellant tale here, and that Christine equally lent her superb artistic talents to highlight the same. Comments are welcomed here at the Press site, or may be directly sent to Sharron and Christine.

Summary

• "A Darkover-tinged ST novel."
• "McCoy stumbles across an innocent-looking pebble. But is it as innocent as it seems? Could it be the source of McCoy's new mental powers? Will Kirk and Spock find a way to save him from them?"
• "Dr. McCoy stumbles across a seemingly innocent-looking pebble. Only hitch is that it's a matrix stone (Darkover) and things might never be the same again. Will Kirk and Spock find the reason for the change in McCoy? Will they find it in time?"

Some Interior Page Samples

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  inside page, art by Christine Myers

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  inside page, sample text

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  inside page, art by Christine Myers

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  inside page, art by Christine Myers

Reactions and Reviews

The big three are on a landing party investigating a beautiful Earthlike planet called Dalgarien IV when McCoy falls off a rock and breaks a rib. While awaiting rescue he picks up an interesting little rock and puts it in his collection pouch. During convalescence, he sorts out his collection pouch and finds the interesting little rock. For some reason he is attracted to it and keeps it to himself. He calls it his worrystone. Fondling it seems to bring him comfort. McCoy returns to active duty, but has some unusual empathic reactions to people, especially injured people. He starts avoiding all physical contact and takes comfort in his worrystone. He accompanies a landing party to mine topaline on Roncolan II. There is an accident and Kirk is seriously injured. McCoy tries to examine him, but the emphatic reaction to Kirk's pain and panic overwhelm him until Spock touches him. The touch steadies McCoy. He is able to treat Kirk and get him into the shuttlecraft -- with Spock's help. When Spock and Nama-sura disengage the excavator from the shuttlecraft, they rouse a hostile creature which seizes the shuttlecraft, preventing takeoff. In his anger, McCoy yells at the creature to drop dead. It does. McCoy passes out. McCoy is suffering from exhaustion. Spock tries to help him with a healing trance, but sensing tension, tries to remove the tension first. The source appears to be McCoy's worry stone which he has clenched in his fist. When Spock tries to remove it, it shocks him across the room. Three days later, McCoy revives. Kirk and Spock question him about the crystal worry stone. McCoy admits that he has become very sensitive to others' emotions since acquiring it, but had seen no connection. Now he realizes the danger inherent in the crystal. He also finds that he cannot let go of it for more than a few seconds. Eventually Spock is able to mind-meld with McCoy and separate him from the crystal long enough to destroy it by phaser. After that, you could imagine how unhappy everyone was when the Enterprise is ordered to return to Dalgarien IV to pick up a good supply of those crystals for the Medical Center on Starbase Eleven. Spock and McCoy are also ordered to leave the Enterprise to participate in the medical experiments with the crystals. The bulk of the zine deals with the details of the medical experiments, and the story culminates in a long (and I mean LONG) distance attempt by Spock and McCoy to save Kirk's life. OF CRYSTAL PERSUASION is an interesting and intelligent short novel dealing with the professional side of Dr. McCoy. McCoy fans will be very pleased with it. The characterization hews closely to that of the series. The novel shows how the crusty but likable character has his life changed for the better by his experiences with Spock and the crystal. The mood of the novel is upbeat. The details of "crystal technology" are sufficiently convincing and appear to be heavily influenced by the "matrix technology" developed by the professional writer Marion Zimmer Bradley in her Darkover series. The storyline and content and rated G. The quality of the mimeo reproduction varied from page to page, but was always readable. The artwork by Christine Myers is uniformly good and reproduced well. The Acco binding is sturdy but not particularly attractive. My copy arrived in excellent condition.

A crystal found on a planet possesses an injured McCoy. He overcomes it with Spock's help. Later McCoy and Spock are removed from the Enterprise and involved in research to harness the crystal's power. As a telepathic team they use it to heal the sick, even helping Kirk across the parsecs. Even successful research does not prevent McCoy from missing Kirk and his Enterprise home. Warmth between McCoy, Spock and Kirk highlight this story.