In about four months, this site will begin its seventh year, and I thought it was time to give this introduction a second look.

I've enjoyed telling the Dark Horizon tale, and I hope you've enjoyed reading these stories about Mei-Wan, Jack, Melissa, Hank, and the other characters who inhabit this universe I've spun together.

As I stated in the first version of this introduction, this site's purpose is to entertain. You may not put down your hard earned dollars, but you do take time out of your busy day to come by and take a gander at what the individual at the other end of the connection has created for you.

I intend to tell human stories about characters not too far removed from who we are. It's my contention that human beings have changed little over the millennia and I seriously doubt we're going to evolve beyond who and what we are in a few short centuries. So, the characters you'll find here won't be the all knowing, near angelic, so lofty they crap marble types you may be used to. They will have the rough edges and less than omniscient decision making skills most of us live life with.

The heart of drama is conflict, HUMAN CONFLICT, and that will be the driving force in Dark Horizon. Real human beings don't live in The Galaxy of the Happy Nice People. They love and hate, laugh and cry, help and hurt, and sometimes do things that don't elevate the species as a whole. If a writer doesn't tell the truth about humanity then all they're doing is blowing smoke up the collective keisters of their readers. Writing is communication and simply communicating to someone "here's the way I wish we could all be if we rewrote our DNA, changed the laws of physics, and thought happy, happy thoughts all day" seems to me to be a waste of time. So don't look for utopian visions here.

The stories I tell will generally fall within the range of PG-13 material. But on occasion I may swim into the deeper end of the pool and tell a side of the characters' lives you may not be used to seeing or reading in Trek. This is not something I approach lightly. Nor will it spring out of your screen like an electronic jack-in-the-box. These more adult stories will have appropriate warnings for those who aren't interested in that kind of material. Some may have alternate "PG" versions. Others may not. None of it will be gratuitous. Whether it be violence, sexual situations, or language, it will be there because that is who the characters are, and because it is necessary to the telling of their story.

The characters you'll find here will be as real as I can make them, but remain firmly in the Trek universe, though of course, it will be my interpretation of that universe, not just a retread of what you've seen before. They will face obstacles, experience pain and loss, and some of them won't be the nicest folks. They may come up against unknown lifeforms on worlds light years away, but they will still be human beings from a little chunk of dirt in a spiral arm named Orion.

So hang on tight. This should be a fun ride. . .

-Michael Gray

23 June 2008