The Tees Have It: Take Two (including Star Trek!)

Happy December 2018! Can you believe it? Last month of a short, whirlwind year. And with it comes snow. Posole. Christmas cookies. Shopping. Wrapping. Parties. Holiday cards. Family get-togethers. Craziness. The holiday season and all that jazz.

BTW, did you happen to catch one of my latest tweets? 'Tis the season (for stress and hair pulling), and I'm offering some relief -- well, temporarily, at least!

I don't have a holiday story out this year, but what I can offer readers is 90 minutes of escapism. https://t.co/tQGT69g2Mp pic.twitter.com/dYUnijDhKl

— Laurie A. Green (@SFRLaurie) November 29, 2018

Continuing my Sci-Fi T-shirt collection blog from last week (which you can see by clicking here: The Tees Have It: Wearable Statements of Sci-Fi Fandom ), this week I'm featuring a few more including ~ta da~ a couple of Star Trek tees.

Yes, sadly, I have a limited number of tees and a sweatshirt that fall into the Star Trek Wear category, but they're monumental in my eyes. I'm very selective about the t-shirts I buy, so I've only found a few over the years that inspired me to start the purchase sequence. I'm still looking for my Captain Janeway t-shirt...and I may have recently found one. In fact, I've found several to add to my overall collection, so I'll do a t-shirt update blog at some point in the future.

So, yes, Star Trek. Make it so!

Of course my collection has to include a shirt that portrays the iconic opening phrases from TOS and TNG series. This one features the classic as Captain Picard would have articulated it: "...where no one has gone before."

You see, I'm really picky about that. I've actually passed on t-shirts that said "where no man has gone before" because, hey, we're a species that has (at least) two sexes and both are part of our current space program, why should anyone be exempted from the equation in the future?

(I know, I know. TOS was a product of the sixties, and I do give it a lot of credit for expanding the idea that the future of space didn't belong to only one gender and only one race. We know better now.)

So, readers, may I present my Iconic Star Trek Opening Narrative (Revised Version) T-shirt. Can't you just hear Picard enunciating that? :)

The next in my collection is one with a lot of emotion attached to it. (I will hug it and squeeze it and pet it and call it George.) First of all, the graphic of the Enterprise in space is absolutely gorgeous, but the quote is one of my series favorites:

"Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise."

(If you want to see the clip where Picard says this from season three, episode 15 on YouTube, click here.)

I find this phrase inspiring. The Enterprise represents what science fiction can aspire to be--something that people remember, something that stays with them for a lifetime. Something that's embedded into our culture and our history, and even non-fans of the industry know the name.

The Enterprise has become an institution in our culture.

Name a great racehorse. Secretariat.

Name a great sci-fi starship. The Enterprise.

Even this huge Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, The Expanse (etc.) fan has to acknowledge that the Enterprise was her very first starship heartthrob, the vessel that's been with us the longest in her many incarnations...more than 50 years now. And look where her inspiration has taken us.

Science Fiction dares us to dream, and to reach, and to strive for things that may seem impossible at present but if we work at it hard enough, we know we can make it happen. We've seen it happen over the course of the last five decades. [ 12 Star Trek Gadgets that now Exist ]

Yes. Let no one forget the name.

My last t-shirt isn't actually a tee, it's one of my favorite hoodies. (Close enough!) Though it at first appears a bit generic sci-fi, the iconic Star Trek emblem on the upper left places it squarely in the Star Trek inspired group.

I wear this one a lot. :)

Though I don't think the series' female CO, Captain Janeway, ever uttered the words, she certainly could have. And I loved Janeway! What an inspiration she was as the first starring female starship captain of the franchise. The perfect blend of toughness and compassion, and always in pursuit of that perfect "Coffee. Black."

In my mind, she's the flagship of the thousands of female starship captains depicted in sci-fi and SFR. 

But I also love this hoodie because one of my characters utters a similar sentiment in Inherit the Stars. When Captain Drea Mennelsohn is confronted on the bridge of her prototype ship by an enemy military officer who declares, "If we ever meet again, I'll put you in your place!" She replies defiantly, "I am in my place."

For my last offering today, I'm going to segue into my Star Wars collection with the very first Star Wars t-shirt I ever owned.

This baby is ancient--probably well over 40 years--as the slightly worn material and the stretching of the neck may show.

Hey, it looks great for its age! And it has been much-loved over the past few decades.

This tee was produced not long after the original movies hit the screen by a company that created the Rebel Wear label. It doesn't feature some of the splashy, colorful graphics of later tees, but it was clearly part of the brand.

Almost everyone who saw it immediately knew what "Rebel Wear" was all about and what it referred to.

This t-shirt is also one of very few from my collection that features front and back graphics. Though the Rebel Wear brand may not be that familiar to you, I'm sure you've seen the image portrayed on the back many, many times over the years.

So that's it for today.

Next time, I'll blog about the balance of my Star Wars t-shirt collection, which account for the lion's share of my SF inspired tees.

Do you have any favorite SF t-shirts you haven't seen here? Tell me about them. (There just might be a bonus for one lucky commenter.)

Have a great week!

There's Coffee in That SFR!

Coffee. Yes, I'm one of those. Among the legion of writers who probably couldn't survive without it.

Coffee gets my mental gears turning and gives my muse a heady wake-up call that it's time to get to work. I can't tell you how many scenes I've written while CUIC (creating under the influence of coffee) or WWC (writing while caffeinated).

One of my favorite t-shirts is all about my coffee relationship. It says:

Instant Human

Just Add Coffee 

 

Yeah, that. :)

My fave brand for home brewing? Maxwell House. I know. Borrrrrrring! Though I do have access to David's somewhat more creative array--currently Laughing Man Ethiopia Sidama Light Roast Coffee, McCafe Pumpkin Spice Aribica Coffee, and Gevalia Carmel Macchiatos. And yes, we have both a Keurig and a Cuisinart home brewer that will grind fresh coffee beans when we're in the mood.

 

Ah, the aroma of freshly chopped beans!

 

But I know I'm not alone. Coffee is deeply ingrained into our culture and such an important part of our lives, that it frequently finds its way into popular fiction. And even Science Fiction with/without Romance.

 

One prime example is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Star Trek Voyager franchise. Captain Jean Luc Picard is known for his iconic Earl Grey tea and likewise, Captain Janeway craved her coffee. Black.

 

 

 

Design for products
available on Zazzle.
www.zazzle.com

Probably one of the most famous Janeway quotes is:

 

"Commander, set a new course. There's coffee in that nebula!"

 

Captain Janeway even declared she'd beat the Borg with coffee.

 

Yes, she's a true sci-fi coffee addict, but far from the only one. Just like the Earth-bound variety our fictional coffee worshippers come in many forms.

 

One of the more recent sci-fi epics to come to television is The Expanse, based on a series of novels by author (actually writer team) James S. A. Corey. In case you missed my recent post, you can discover a lot more about it here:

Seven Reasons You Should be Watching This Show.

 

In The Expanse, one of the central characters, James Holden, is on a never-ending quest to find a good cup of coffee in the depths of our own solar system. It seems an impossible quest.

 

In one scene, after taking a sip, Holden deems the coffee, "Criminal." 

 

Ade, a female navigator on the ice trawler Canterbury shows him a trick of whittling match heads into a cup of very bitter brew because the sulphur cuts some of the bite. She then smiles at his dubious expression upon taste tasting the result. "It's an acquired taste," she tells him.

 

Holden and Ade end up bonding over that strange concoction, though Holden continues to search for the remembered goodness of the miraculous product he once enjoyed on Earth. He finally finds what he's looking for aboard a Martian gunship, the Tachi, that he and his crew are gifted as a getaway vehicle after a catastrophe occurs.

 

And what does Holden find on the Tachi-soon-to-be-renamed-Rocinante? Yes! A fully stocked galley bursting with actual brew!

Holden be like...

 

And of course, being the coffee appreciator that I am, coffee also finds its way into my novels.

In Inherit the Stars, the word "coffee" has evolved into "kinna" over the centuries, and a good cup of the stuff is still a sought-after experience. Here's a brief scene where hero Sair is sharing a cup with a fellow crewmember (and former nemesis) in an enemies-to-allies moment.

____________________________________________

Sair and Zjel settled down at a two-person table, mugs of kinna in hand. He gave her a quick smile. “Having a heart-to-heart is something I never pictured us doing when I first boarded the Specter.”

Zjel took a sip of her kinna, screwing up her face. “Specter’s processor makes a damn better product.” She placed her mug on the table. “I had some misconceptions about you, Sair. I was wrong.”

He pursed his lips and rotated his cup in quarter turns on the table. “No harm done. Well, maybe one small scar.” He showed the now-healed line on his palm and grinned.

____________________________________________ 

 

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Inherit the Stars Part I: Flight comprises roughly a third of the entire tale and ends on a terrific cliffhanger. It's currently being offered for free via Instafreebie.

 

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But Inherit the Stars isn't the only story that features coffee consumers.

The characters in future release The Outer Planets are on a mission aboard a planetary exploration vessel dubbed the NSS Robert Bradley when they begin to forge a cautious alliance over two cups of Joe in the vessel's self-serve coffee shop.

It's cautious because one of them knows a whole lot more about the other than she's willing to reveal.

____________________________________________ 

The coffee shop was little more than an alcove off the main corridor with five small roundtops and a self-serve beverage and snack bar. Walls of soft blues and greens suggested sky and grass and blended well with faux cobblestone floors. Silk flora sprouted from plant wells to create a park-like atmosphere.

The environs had even been engineered to generate artificial weather. It seemed to be in Quiet Morning mode with artificial rays of soft sunlight falling in slanted diagonal beams from hidden projectors high on the walls. Despite the inviting oasis and not so late hour, the tables were deserted.

Lissa selected a Brazilian coffee blend from the brewer menu. Looking over the holograms of the soy-based donuts with suspicion, she decided she wasn’t hungry. Mitch seemed to come to the same conclusion. Coffee mugs in hand, they settled at a table near the back of the shop.

“So tell me more about you,” Mitch prompted.

Lissa took another long sip from her coffee and lowered the mug. “As a friend. Or am I being questioned by a member of security?”

His foot slipped back to the floor and he shifted forward. “As a friend.”

Lissa drained half her mug and set it down on the table. Why was she always so quick to go on the defensive with him? You know why.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“You,” he answered. “Tell me about your family.”

Lissa gripped the chairseat on either side of her thighs. Simple question for most people. Hot potato for me. “One brother. But we haven’t seen much of each other since…” My father’s death. Five years and I still can’t say those words. “…our father’s funeral.”

“I’m sorry,” Mitch said, with just enough feeling that she knew his words were genuine.

“I never knew my mother. She died shortly after I was born. There were complications.”

Mitch’s gaze fixed on the liquid in his cup. “That must have made for a rough childhood.”

“Well, not growing up with a mom, I never really knew what I missed.” Lissa quirked the right side of her mouth. “I would have liked the chance, though. People tell me I take after her.” She took another sip and batted the ball back into his court. “And you? Family?”

“My parents were killed in a flyer accident eight years ago.”

While on their second honeymoon in Aruba. “I’m so sorry.”

“I have a sister I’m very close to.” Renee. “A couple of nieces.” Tammy and Sarah, who you dote on. “And a brother I don’t speak to.”

Lissa straightened and pulled her feet under her. A brother? He’d never mentioned a male sibling before. From the sudden flatness in his voice, it seemed there might be a good reason. “Should I ask?”

He shook his head and dropped his voice. “No.”

So much for their conversation. “I guess family wasn’t such a great topic after all.”

“My fault,” Mitch muttered.

They both lagged into silence as they finished their coffee.

____________________________________________ 

Now it's your turn.

Have you encountered coffee culture in reading, writing or viewing SF/R? Please tell us more in comments. I'm always eager to seek out new blends and new variations when it comes to coffee in the entertainment universe.

Have a great week.

 

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