Star Trek – How Much For Just The Planet

Arizhel picked up the Cat robber and shoved him into the closet.  She pressed the lock button, since Charlotte had the key, then shut the door, listening for the click.  She heard the cat stir within.  That was disappointing; she must be out of practice.
She went back towards the door.  Stitches popped like bursts of gunfire.  Instinctively she grabbed at the scraps of black as they fell away.  It seemed to make things worse.
But she did not need the Cat costume any longer.  She could simply change back into her dress…
Which was  locked in the closet, behind the Cat.

How Much For Just The Planet (#36 Pocket, # Titan) by John M Ford is another slightly experimental story in keeping with Ford’s rule not to write the same kind of story twice.   I think HMFJTP is a kind of marmite story, but very much in the style of TOS in that it could have very much been an episode of from the TV series.  Incredibly campy both in writing style and the events in the story itself, it is also very self aware.  Ridiculous things happen in HMFJTP, the whole latter half of the book is orchestrated slap stick comedy ending in a pie fight between all the characters.  The end is also moralising, and highlights one of the problems with the Organian treaty – what if the people of the disputed planet want nothing to do with either the Federation nor the Klingon Empire?

I was in two minds while reading HMFJTP, it was pure TOS through and through, brilliant characterisation, a refreshing approach to story telling, hell, I enjoyed it.  On the other hand the prolonged slapstick comedy sketch didn’t quite work for me and I couldn’t help cringing at this comedy of errors.

Stylistically HMFJTP is really interesting.  When the Federation and Klingon diplomatic delegations beam down to Direidi to attempt to negotiate who would be developing the planet and it’s dilithium resources the reader is made immediately aware that what the crew are experiencing is all staged and an act.  The reader has been told of ‘Plan C’, we know it’s all scripted and throughout the surreal experiences we often get given small ‘behind the scenes’… well… scenes.   The Direidians break into musical-esque song at the merest provocation, much to the bemusement of the Federation and Klingon crews, who are trying to be accepting of this strange people (which of course helps to keep the ruse going).  The songs are written in italicised stanzas, predominantly in rhyming couplets, and are often quite lengthy!  The songs work as a kind of shorthand for setting the scene, much as they would in a piece of musical theatre (they’re also mostly awful!).  We expect for the hi-jinx to begin when the ‘worlds collide’ as it were, however the strange, theatrical occurrences happen from the beginning of the narrative and in the formatting of the text itself.

Something that stands out immediately is that every chapter has a title, for example:

– In Space, No One Can Fry an Egg

– The Dilithium Crystal As Big As The Ritz

– All’s Fair In Love and Dilithium

and there are also ‘interlude’ chapters such as:

– Educational Short Subject: Useful Facts about Dilithium

– Historical Interlude: The Only War We’ve Got

which are written with a theme and are written stylistically differently.  The ‘Educational Short Subject’ is written as if it’s a sponsored children’s infomercial, the ‘Historical Interlude’ is a comically written explanation of the terms of the Organian Treaty and the Federation and the Empire’s respective opinions on it (that interlude tickled me!).

It’s also interesting to note that the strange goings on or perhaps the tone of the novel starts immediately in the narrative too.  From the beginning the whole story has a certain humour to it.  Whether it’s the replicator’s inability to produce orange juice which isn’t blue, Kirk deciding he was brave enough to try the electric blue concoction, or that the events of the story may have been put into motion by a sloppy Vulcan who spilt a minty milk shake over integral parts of her ship’s computer, causing it to become quite insane.  These events continue as Kirk & Co. are brought into the story, the diplomat for the mission is an old flame (whom he’d forgotten) and the sloppy Vulcan is known to Spock (he exhibits a slight tick when he suspects she’s involved); this is even before the diplomatic party arrives at the planet.

I mean… on one hand we have the expected ridiculous and scripted events on Direidi which really are laugh out loud funny (the cherry on the cake was the utterly ridiculous ‘pie fight’, but the multiple cases of misdirection and tongue in cheek film / theatre references) and on the other we have the ‘universe’ acting in much the same way which makes it both less and more absurd.  This is quite in keeping I feel with episodes of TOS which can vary between serious intellectualism to broad comedy, though HMFJTP is far beyond anything featured in the show.

I really did like that Ford continued with his expansion of Klingon society.  I really did like the internal thoughts of the Klingon characters who were by Klingon standards, quite pleasant.  ‘Proke’ was quite the match to Uhura and was definitely a development from Ford’s Klingons.  Proke and Uhura both worked out what was going on on Direidi, and so their adventure was the most strange (and the shortest) as they were preempting the directed events and essentially identifying the tropes and their origin films / series as they came across them.

I think the most fun comes from the variety of different adventures the different groups of the diplomatic party had.  One section was shamelessly drawing from ‘She’ (which made me chuckle), another with the party running over a golf course amid shell fire I know I’ve seen but I can’t recall the film.  Eventually the sets start to fall apart but by that time everyone is ready for a stress reducing pie fight!

Of course, unless you’re a director, you’re not going to escape a situation like this without egg on your face, and in this case the people of Direidi who don’t want any part of politics manage to manipulate the situation in such a way that their preferred proposal for Dilithium mining on their planet has to be accepted by the diplomats of both the Federation and the Empire.

Like I said How Much For Just The Planet is a reader’s marmite, I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, but I can honestly say that it is a well written Star Trek novel with a premise that could only be pulled off in practise by someone with Ford’s ability. 

If you know your 1940s, 50s, and 60s cinema and contemporary theatre, you’ll have a good time picking out the references!

4/5 – Here’s looking at you, kid.

Star Trek – Chain of Attack

Dr. Jason Crandall lay fully dressed on his bed, futilely trying to decide which was worse – the terrifying nightmare from which he had just awakened or the bleak reality that had replaced it.

Chain of Attack (#32 Pocket, # Titan) (1987) by Gene Deweese is one of those books which is sincerely a pleasure to read.  Almost clinical in its execution, Deweese’s clarity and excellent characterisation is only let down by a slight feeling of detachment as the author takes a ‘hands off’ approach to his characters emotionality.

As I was reading Chain of Attack, it felt very familiar and, looking back at my blog I notice that I have indeed read another book by Gene Deweese – Renegade which is #55 in the Pocket Book series.  Reading that review (from just over a year ago!) confirmed some of the impressions I got from Deweese’s writing; clinical, masculine, and lacking emotional depth paired with strong characterisation, story concept, and effective use of supporting cast.  I do think that Chain of Attack is a stronger story than Renegade however.

Memory Beta Chain of Attack story summary.

Chain of Attack begins with the Enterprise being hurled into a distant region of space via a spacial anomaly that appears to have been created by an ancient (and presumably extinct) species.  Isolated and with no way back home, the Enterprise explores the space around where the anomaly deposited them.  To their horror all the planets they come across have been decimated by weapons of mass destruction and over a long period of time.  Eventually they come across other space faring craft, however they attack the Enterprise on sight… as well as attacking each other.  Fortunately they are not as technologically advanced and the Enterprise has little trouble with dealing with these encounters, bu the crew are horrified by the alien species’ propensity for suicide.

Both species the Enterprise encounters refuse to communicate to either the Enterprise or each other… lost and along in this strange region of space, Kirk finds himself trying to understand these strange and destructive peoples and eventually, attempting to broker peace.

However, there is dissent in the ranks, and Kirk has to fight on two fronts.

It’s funny how different reviewers see different books.  Often when I feel strongly about something I ask my partner (as regular readers of this blog will know) to see if he agrees with me.  Often we do see things the same way, other times he gives me a different perspective.  I also double check myself on goodreads, sometimes a reviewer there will give me a better perspective… and very often I wonder if we’ve read the same book!  Some reviewers have said that they don’t think Chain of Attack has very good characterisation and that Kirk especially is out of character – I think completely the opposite!  To confirm how I felt, I gave my partner a few pages to read and he agreed, the representation of the characters is right on the money.  We both felt that when reading character interactions especially (but not limited to) between the trinity that they were jumping off the page, that it’s like what could have been acted out in, I think, season two of TOS.  I feel like possibly some commenters haven’t seen the series itself recently and so have a different impression/memory of Kirk et al.  The other criticism is one I have made of other Star Trek novels, but I don’t think applies here and that is that it’s not really a Star Trek story and that the characters are bolted onto a general sci-fi story.  I disagree, I think absolutely that Chain of Attack was conceived as a Star Trek story, it even has a character type seen in the original series and an slightly too convenient resolution for that character!

As well as the excellent characterisation of Kirk, Spock and McCoy (I’ll restrict my gushing, lest it get a little repetitive), Deweese’s original character Doctor Jason Crandall is actually a really enjoyable character to get to know.  I mean, he’s infuriating on one hand, but on the other because Deweese lets us ‘see’ his thoughts and thought processes he’s almost understandable but with that you get a kind of tension… you know he’s going to do something but you’re not sure what the something is going to be.  The funny thing is that when he does act it’s a laughable failure, and that is… almost tragic I guess?  Crandall is just so deluded and his understanding of the situation so wrong he ends up being a really effective tragic character.  Even the fact that Kirk writes his attempts at mutiny off as not being particularly worrisome makes the character effective.  I get the feeling that possibly Crandall got some of his character traits at least partially from people who dislike Star Trek, or criticise Kirk as a leader/captain/character.  Certainly I have seen similar commentaries to Crandall’s in articles about Star Trek or various Facebook posts; He isn’t realistic, he has too much ego, he only wishes to satisfy his own sense of adventure, he throws his crews lives away – that kind of thing.  Crandall echoes this commentary, and if I’m right… that’s a fantastic in joke (with a clever tongue in cheek resolution).

I really liked the two alien species that were encountered, I liked how different they were physically but how similar they were mentally.  I liked their individual characterisations, that they didn’t all react in the same way (not all painted with the same brush) even if they were a little bit frustrating for Kirk to deal with.

Near the end of the book an unexpected third species is discovered, and actually an unexpected resolution for Crandall and the Enterprise crew.  Naturally, the crew of the Enterprise return to their original part of the galaxy (with some relieved passengers) and leave behind them the beginnings of peace for the two species they encountered there.

All in all a really solid novel, clean and concise with a very ‘Star Trek’ ending.  My only complaint is that Deweese is very distant emotionally and that is less enjoyable for me, but that being said I did really enjoy Chain of Attack a great deal, and even if you (like myself) like the more emotional novels, this one is worth a read.

It’s not very fun to write about though…?

4/5 – It’s done, I made it!

Star Trek – Mutiny On The Enterprise

“Of course life is precious.  That’s why our mission to Ammdon is to prevent a war.”  Kirk wasn’t the least bit surprised when both Ross and Kesselmann scoffed at that.  This was the single most prevalent opinion  he’d ever encountered among his diverse crew.  “Have you considered that you did not hold this odd belief until after you spoke with the alien Lorelei?”

You would not believe how much I wanted to read Mutiny on the Enterprise by Robert E Vardeman (1983) (#12 Pocket, #45 Titan), and that was before I read The Klingon Gambit.  Unfortunately Mutiny on the Enterprise is the last Star Trek novel by Vardeman published by Pocket Books, which I personally feel is a great shame because he really is an excellent author.

Mutiny on the Enterprise takes place during the original five year mission – ignore older Kirk and Spock in strange uniforms on the front cover.  Seriously, why can’t they illustrate the covers with the correct ages / uniforms of the characters?!  Was there some sort of Pocket Books edict that all covers must be wholly inaccurate?  That being said looks like the right bridge is in the background (red railing) and the alien Lorelei pictured on the front fits with her description.   Perhaps making Shatner and Nimoy (especially Nimoy) look 80s hero haggard and old was in vogue?

For once the tagline is accurate (shocking I know):

On a mission of peace, a bewitching woman sets the Enterprise at war – with itself!

I wondered, what would cause the crew of the Enterprise to mutiny?  The crew of the Enterprise doesn’t mutiny not with James T Kirk as captain or without some serious alien intervention!  Well, it is the latter, serious alien intervention, the funny thing is, it wasn’t until I looked up my review of The Klingon Gambit that I realised that Vardeman definitely has favourite story elements!

• Alien psychic intervention
• Mutiny / Crew disobedience
• James T Kirk & Spock remaining mostly immune
• McCoy definitely not being immune
• Threat of an established villain mixed in with some new aliens

All the above appear in both of his novels, I often notice that some authors revisit a particular story / characters / set of themes in an effort to, I guess, produce the perfect story.  It’s like they’re hammering away at this idea in their head that means a lot but can’t ever be happy with it.  An author who wrote one of my favourite trilogies as her debut does this, and although there are problems with her first iteration, I think it’s the best.  Subsequent iterations never quite capture the magic of her first attempt.  It would be interesting to read his other sci-fi works and see if he revisits these again under a different guise!

I kind of get this feeling with Mutiny on the Enterprise however, although Vardeman revisits the same story elements the story itself has a different overall message / theme.  In this way, it is more in keeping with the moralistic bent to the episodes than say the previous novel in the series Yesterday’s Son.  

Mutiny on the Enterprise starts in a rather cliched fashion, the Enterprise in on it’s way to a Starbase for some much needed repair work and some R&R for the crew, however a situation has arisen and diplomats will need to be transported to a distant system in order to avoid a war between two hostile planets.  Why is this so important?  The Romulans are trying to get a foothold in that part of space and are looking to capitalise on the encroaching war to achieve this.

Unfortunately for the Enterprise, it really is in need of repairs and can only make a weak warp two, sometimes three, for short periods of time.  Before they get to their destination they pick up a distress call, which is when the milk run turns sour.  They pick up a survivor from a very broken ship, she tells Kirk she is a speaker of the ‘Hyla’ a yet uncontacted race by the Federation, and her name is Lorelei.  Kirk notices that although she is not pretty she is attractive, he feels she has some sort of effect on him.  They continue on their way but Lorelei comes to Kirk, concerned.  The Hyla are total pacifists who (it is revealed) will not stand by and let another species go about its own business.  Basically they would ignore an idea like the prime directive in a lesser species if it would stop fighting, they would not allow a species to self determine because only their doctrine of pacifism should exist.

You can probably see where this is going to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Lorelei soon gets to work on subverting the crew to her way of thinking, using her own indoctrination techniques to control the crew and undermining Kirk’s authority.  Of course, she is never violent but her way of thinking even to the most forgiving of readers is destructive.  In a bid to get his crew under control (only Spock seems unaffected) Kirk sets up almost a speaking competition between the Tellarite diplomat and Lorelei.  Unfortunately, as good as the Tellarite is, he does not have the strange powers Lorelei has, and Kirk’s plan backfires as the Hyla woman cements her control over the crew.

How they should look…

The Enterprise is damaged, most probably sabotaged, and is left without warp power.  Left without warp they limp towards a planet which appears to have advanced humanoid life and crucially, a source for the shielding required to repair the warp engines. Spock, Mccoy and a security detachment beam down in order to negotiate with the inhabitants, however, this all goes sour as initiating contact caused an extreme reaction and they are imprisoned in a living prison.  The diplomats disobey Kirk and beam down, they also find themselves captured and one of their number is killed by the planet itself.  Finally, Kirk finds himself with a need to use the ship’s phasers to fire on the planet in order to break his crew and the diplomats out of their prison, however Lorelei’s pacifistic control of the ship is absolute and she exiles Kirk from Enterprise and beams him down onto the hostile planet.

While looking for the landing party, Kirk observes that even the buildings are alive and appear to grow and, it seemed that as long as he didn’t disturb anything he could wander unimpeded by the planet.

Kirk manages to save Spock, McCoy, the security detachment -1, and the diplomats -1.  They notice that there is an Enterprise shuttle going back and forth from the planet to orbit, they surmise that Lorelei has coaxed the planet into giving them some of the much needed shielding.  They manage to hijack the shuttle and escape.  McCoy gives everyone waxy earplugs in order to preserve them from Lorelei’s effects.  Unfortunately, all the diplomats are now well and truly dead.

The final parts of the novel play out as you might expect.  I won’t spoil the end, which frankly was a little bit of genius, but it was as satisfying as it was a bad idea (very).

Mutiny on the Enterprise has some interesting points.  There’s some talk on what total pacifism means – what does it look like when taken to extremes?  Well, like any extreme ideology it appears to have no room for reason and it breaks it’s own ideological ideals in order to maintain it’s status quo.  For example, Lorelei would strand Kirk and McCoy, probably Spock too on the hostile planet in order to avoid ‘disruptive influence’ despite the fact it would ultimately directly lead to their death by the planet organism.  Her ideology allows her to indirectly kill in order to ensure and propagate her agenda.  She also denounces self defense, even when her thralls are being eaten alive the ideology dictates they can’t use violence to defend themselves.  As such, this line of thinking extends to the Federation, she does not believe that they should have weapons for defense, despite knowing they have to defend themselves against foes like the Klingons and Romulans.

Probably my most hated character of all time….

She’s a hypocrite.  In order to stop Kirk she uses force and violence.  In order to keep control she would indirectly kill.  She espouses an ideal of total pacifism where you can’t even defend yourself.  Absurd.  She reminds me of another character dedicated to total pacifism which drove me utterly bonkers – Relena Peacecraft from the anime Gundam Wing (1995).  The thing is with this character archetype, they still need other agents to do their dirty work and generally they don’t acknowledge that.  People are also expendable as long as it furthers the pacifistic ideal, even if it could mean the preservation of life.

They also tend to be incredibly naive and narrow minded, like most extreme ideologies of this nature, everything is black and white, never grey.  In the case of Lorelei, she is privileged in that she can enforce her ideals by brainwashing and eradicating those proven to be uncontrollable.  In Relena’s case she was privileged by birth, she had money and prestige and the sheltered environment needed to nurture her naivete.  The other children who pilot the war machines from the space colonies had no such privilege and had to develop inline with their abilities and experiences.

Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent then!  But Gundam Wing is one of my sci-fi favs and my first corrupting fandom influence!

I actually really liked the idea of the planetoid organism.  I didn’t expect that, but then perhaps if I’d thought about The Klingon Gambit perhaps I should have since Vardeman uses the idea of interconnected organisms on a planet in that one too!  Moving trees that attack… all the creatures being able to feel each other’s pain etc.  Of course in this case it’s slightly different as everything on the planet is one organism and even the humanoid creatures that live in the growing houses are as cells are in our bodies.  The unknown creatures such as the Enterprise crew are treated as bacteria or viruses, quarantined or broken down as our cells would to invaders.  The planet was able to be at least partially put to sleep by Dr McCoy using an anaesthetic (local) but it could also be wooed by Lorelei’s words.  I have to admit that was a little odd, since it was stated that there was no sound made by the beings on the planet and that nothing had ears… so how did she get what she wanted?  Perhaps I should let that one slide.

Characterisation is at times very strange, but that is easily explained by the brainwashing effect of Lorelei’s honeyed words!  I really enjoy Kirk centric novels (as you might have gathered) and I think Vardeman got his characterisation down pat.  Spock’s was also strong, although in one of his more aloof states although there was plenty of banter between him and McCoy.  McCoy was also wonderfully… McCoy about the whole drama, plenty of emotion, plenty of snide comments.  Keep ’em rolling!

A Tellarite from ‘Journey to Babel’.

I haven’t really touched on the diplomats yet, they were actually an interesting bunch and I kind of expected more to be made of them, I was quite sad when they all died!  We were meant to dislike them to a certain extent when compared with the gentle Lorelei but I couldn’t help but think that they could have been so much more.  The Tellarite diplomat got some good exposition, but the sentient plant was a really interesting character that didn’t get developed and met a grisly end.  The death of the immaculately clean and fashionable human diplomat was a disappointment, we learned he was actually a good man and he got killed by the planet.  So unremarkable was his death I actually read the section twice trying to identify when he died… poor fellow.

The last section of the book has Kirk playing diplomat.  Lorelei’s prediction of failure and the Enterprise being a catalyst for war was a self fulfilling prophesy.  I couldn’t help getting frustrated!  Well of course they’ve failed!  They were delayed by Lorelei, their diplomats are dead, their ship is currently held together with duct tape and a prayer, what was going to be the outcome?  I should think that had they been able to fulfill their mission of peace unhindered they would have succeeded.

I guess we’ll never know.

Again, this is a really strong entry into the series.  Not quite 5/5 but a respectable 4/5 on my highly subjective scale.  I did have a look at some reviews which bemoaned it as not being a good follow on from Crispin’s Yesterday’s Son, but I think it’s very much it’s equal.  Different scope, different style but just as enjoyable.  Mutiny on the Enterprise builds on Vardeman’s ideas in The Klingon Gambit and is definitely worth a read.

4/5 – No R&R for you!

Star Trek – The Abode of Life

Two nearly simultaneous explosions from the humanoids’ handguns shook the glade.  There was the solid sound of a projectile hitting one of the trees, followed by the whistling of another projectile ricocheting off some surface to warble off into the distance.

White smoke having the smell of rotten eggs, the characteristic odor of exploded black gunpowder, filled the air.

Oh dear, it has been a while!  I’m afraid I was on a bodily enforced hiatus – it was either mild flu or a cold with delusions of grandeur!  Either way it wiped me out for weeks (I’m only now feeling awake enough to write again!), and considering I’d pretty much finished The Abode of Life when I came down with it, I’m now having to stretch my Trek addled brain far further back than I’d like in order to review it!

The Abode of Life (Pocket, Titan) by Lee Correy was a welcome break from the overly dramatic silliness of Marshak & Culbreath and also allowed me to legitimately avoid reading another two that I’m not very excited about, to say the least.  Ok, what I really want to say is that I needed a man’s literary touch and Lee Corey managed to scratch that itch.  I’ve often said that there is a definite difference between male and female writers and it couldn’t be more exemplified than in the comparison between the emotional writing of Marshak and Culbreath and the succinct prose of Lee Correy.  The Abode of Life is spartan and Correy is generally uninterested in emotional exposition or character development (he in fact seems to have difficulty expressing emotion at all -Vulcan?-, I’ll talk about that later), instead his interest lies in writing an expanded episode, showing us a whole new culture and having Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise make first contact with a technologically advanced species so cut off from the rest of the galaxy that they believe they are the only sentient life and whose culture is built around that belief.

The cover is… ok? I kind of like Kirk and Spock being full length instead of floating heads though…

I don’t want to give the wrong impression, I really did like The Abode of Life, it was just what I needed and that’s all right with me.  As much as I like character driven stories full of exposition and relationship / character building, sometimes I just need to be reminded just why I like the series in the first place.  Essentially, it’s very easy to get bogged down with ‘fanon‘ (which is wonderful) that you forget just why it was love at first sight.  I didn’t get annoyed, I didn’t get emotional, I just got taken on a Trek adventure

The author is worth mentioning before I move on.  Lee Corey is a pseudonym of G. Harry Stine who as well as an author is one of the founding figures of modern model rocketry.  He has a physics background and worked at the Naval Ordnance Missile Test facility.  The Abode of Life is his only Star Trek novel, however he wrote a number of novels including his ‘Warbot’ series.  He has also published non fiction books on model rocketry and a number of space / space travel related books.  His non-fiction writing style peeks through in The Abode of Life, economical with language, a general lack of emotional description but a really in depth creation of a world and a culture and the possible science behind it.  Lee Correy writes plausibly, everything is believable from the science to the reactions of the characters.

The Enterprise is asked to scout a dangerous area of space full of spacial gravitational distortions.  Naturally, in an encounter with one of these distortions the Enterprise gets thrown across space to a sector of the quadrant which has not been yet discovered / explored by any other known race.  Badly crippled by the ordeal, the Enterprise limps under impulse engines to a lone planet circling a lone star, the readings of which defy even Spock’s understanding of star behaviour.  It soon becomes clear that the star and the planet were victims of the same phenomenon that the Enterprise experienced, albeit many years previously, explaining the odd behaviour of the star.

Due to the state of the Enterprise, Kirk makes the decision that he must make contact with the people on the surface of the planet.  Scans indicate they are technologically advanced and use a transporter system though they have not developed space travel.  Kirk finds himself in a first contact situation with a people who have no concept of any other life in the universe except for their own, and whose unique society could be irrevocably changed by contact with aliens…  Of course, the situation becomes more urgent when it is revealed that the unstable sun is due to start a cyclical event which will cause it to throw out lethal amounts of radiation, enough to destroy a crippled starship and her crew.  Kirk must decide whether to break the cycle and change a planet’s society forever, or save the Enterprise from certain destruction, all the while playing the part of Federation ambassador and tactician.

It’s pretty much a no-brainer, isn’t it?  I mean, even those of us who will defend Kirk to the ends of the Alpha quadrant know that there are certain things he won’t allow:

1) Destruction of his woman the Enterprise (unless it involves Spock, see 3))

2) Loss of his best bro, McCoy

3) Loss of his space husband first officer, Spock.

So once the negotiations inevitably break down, Kirk has to take action.  In doing so he changes Mercan forever, which of course means that the story doesn’t stop there.  The Abode of Life is unusual as it continues on well after the main event has occurred, Kirk has to take responsibility for his actions, and that means helping to mend the rifts between the various factions on the planet and try to bring the isolated planet into the Federation for protection and for strategic purposes.

Much of the action The Abode of Life comes from the conflict between three factions which can probably be described simply as conservatives, liberals and military.  In this case the conservatives hold the power in the Mercan society being part of a ‘church of science’ (?) and they hold the knowledge of how to predict their sun’s behaviour and have control of the bunkers which the people have to hide in to survive.  The liberals represent ‘new-science’, challenging old views and trying to work out what the conservatives know in order to shift the balance of power.  The military are pretty self explanatory, they work for the conservatives but only want to act for the good of Mercan.

Pretty standard fare isn’t it?  The meat of the story itself is not original, but the setting is.  I think the real strength comes from the Correy’s world building.  His new characters are average, but the well thought out world with it’s interesting martial society and mix of new technology (world wide transporter system) and old (black powder pistols) is really interesting.  I actually liked the idea of this isolated, advanced society having this duelling system that uses old pistols to settle disputes.  The ‘mythology’ of the planet was really interesting too, after all, there had to be a reason they didn’t ever bother developing space travel and such. 

One of the points I had to laugh at was the characterisations, they were accurate I think, but because Correy’s weakness is description you get funny repetitions like ‘Kirk snapped’.  ‘Kirk snapped’ was used so many times that it kind of becomes a joke.  Does Kirk do nothing else but ‘snap’ as his crew?  It’s like he’s suffering a sugar low or something!!

It was nice having Kirk just being a captain and demonstrating how capable he is.  You know showing you just why he’s is the captain of a starship charged with not only the responsibility of the 400 or so lives on board, but as a soldier and as a negotiator and representative of the Federation – a diplomat able to initiate and preside over first contact situations.  Correy really emphasises Kirk’s sense of responsibility and his wisdom. 

Correy used a wide selection of the main cast, including Rand, who gets to be part of the landing party.  I’m actually rather fond of Janice Rand and when she is written into a story it tends to be rather satisfying for me.

The Abode of Life is really worth the read, it’s just good, solid, Trek.  What more do you want?

4/5 – Kirk snapped.

Star Trek – The Klingon Gambit

Kirk felt drained.  Spock fluctuating emotionally before his eyes, Scotty and his pilfering, Chekov and his wild desire to blast the Klingon out of space, the crew becoming edgier and edgier – all took a toll on his nerves  He felt more like  a mediator in civil disputes than the captain of  starship.  The dull throbbing in his head refused to die down as long as he sat in the command chair.

“Mr Spock, you have the conn.”

For the first time, Kirk added under his breath, “And I hope the ship survives it.” 

So if there ever was a book to teach me not to judge a book by its cover I guess this is the one!  The Klingon Gambit (#3 Pocket, #33 Titan) by Robert E Vardeman was actually one of first Star Trek novels I bought (it was included in a bundle of books on ebay), but I have repeatedly put it to one side simply because the cover art wasn’t to my taste. Foolish girl!  Will you never learn?

In my defense I am generally more attracted to stories with heavy character development in and they more often than not have compellingly large renderings of the relevant characters on them so I am naturally more drawn to those covers.  And… although I like star ships and technology I prefer people and aliens… and… Look frankly I find this cover ugly as sin, the Klingon ship is drawn in an ugly way, the colours don’t attract me in the slightest.  Believe it or not, the Titan Books edition is even less inspiring than the pocket books edition pictured here.  What’s more, the tag lines on the book makes it sound awful.

IS THE ENTERPRISE DOOMED AT LAST?

THE KLINGONS ARE HUNGRY FOR WAR… THEIR TARGET: THE ENTERPRISE

It sounds so generic, so uninteresting, so you will forgive me for being less than enthusiastic about this one.  But actually… it was really, really good.

Sorry, say that again?

It was really, really good.

… and I read it in two sittings.  Sure, it is a very modest book only 158 pages long, so that has something to do with it but even so it is very good, it’s a real page turner.  It kept me guessing.

The Enterprise is called away from mapping a new planet  in order to investigate a possible attack by Klingons on a Vulcan research vessel.  When they arrive at the scene they find the Vulcan ship drifting serenely in space and all the Vulcans on board dead.  There are no signs of struggle and the corpses of the Vulcans appear to indicate they died in a state of meditative repose.  Wary that the Klingons might have used a strange and powerful weapon, Kirk and the Enterprise approach the Klingon Dreadnought and make contact with the archaeologists on the surface of the planet.  The Enterprise keeps herself between the Dreadnought and the planet in order to protect the archaeologists,  but it is not long before the crew start acting strangely.  Spock starts to swing between being emotional wreck to being a cold computer, Scotty starts stealing parts to try to eke out extra power and efficiency from his beloved engines, Chekov is having trouble controlling his  violent urges to attack the Klingons – the whole crew is degenerating as each man starts to fulfil his own desires over his duties.

To make matter worse, the Klingon vessel is having similar problems.  Mutiny is rife and the Klingon commander tried to keep his charges under control, which adds even greater problems for Kirk – how will these erratic Klingons react? 

Kirk needs to work out what is causing the strange behaviour in both crews while trying to keep his in control and safe.  What did the Vulcans find?  What is causing the strange behaviour in his crew?  Are the Klingons to blame?

Throughout the novel there is one piece of information that we’re missing which keeps us in the dark (and turning pages) until the end – until Kirk asks the right questions.  The whole situation is utterly puzzling, made more perplexing by the fact that Kirk doesn’t appear to be influenced by ‘whatever it is’ and has to navigate the situation on his own as McCoy becomes increasingly cantankerous and anti-technology and Spock swings from emotional extreme to non-emotional extreme.

The book would be utterly spoiled if I reveal anymore on the story, so you’ll have to read this one yourself to get the whole story – I ain’t spoiling this one for you!

I really liked the overall message of the story, the ‘moral’ as it were.  The story is based around acting selfishly on your own desires and the damage that a person can do if he acts solely for his own contentment.  The Enterprise is society in microcosm, and this book demonstrates how a society breaks down if it becomes totally selfish.  It also demonstrates that people can be better and can beat their impulses and desires for the greater good – sometimes (like in the case of Chekov) we just need guidance from others to understand right from wrong.

Stylistically The Klingon Gambit is easy to read, and Vardeman has included a good amount of humour in his story.  I particularly enjoyed Scotty’s escapades with the engines!

My only real complaint is that it wasn’t long enough!  I honestly can’t fault it, it was just enjoyable.

EDIT:  I forgot to say!  The tag lines are completely misleading / off the mark!  The target was never the Enterprise and they aren’t hungry for war!  I say again – who writes these things?!

4/5  – I’m getting soft in my old age.

Star Trek – The Covenant of the Crown

‘I’m just an old country doctor, not a Prince Consort.’

But she chose not to listen.  Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.  It was not an innocent kiss, and to his own surprise, McCoy returned it.

I don’t know whether it’s a good or a bad sign to be moved to tears before you have even started reading the story.  By the time I had reached chapter one there was a distinct wetness to my eyes and a thought I want to know you.  What Howard Weinstein and David Gerrold wrote in the first pages of his book in 1981 I agreed with, hell, I could have written even though I am over 30 years removed.

I guess, in a way I was sad too, that I wasn’t around to experience that zeitgeist first hand.  Yes I feel that too!  Yes, I agree!  Let’s carry on that conversation!  But here I am, stuck outside of that time, interacting with a sentiment printed on pages over 30 years old.  Is that conversation finished?  Can we start that conversation again?

Perhaps I was just in an emotional mood when I started  The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein, or perhaps he just gave form to thoughts I was having at the time.  I had started to read another book, but I was struggling to stay engaged so I switched to something shorter that would require less commitment (I really couldn’t handle My Enemy, My Ally last week!).  Howard Weinstein holds the accolade of being the youngest person to have written the story for a Star Trek episode; Weinstein penned The Pirates of Orion which was the first episode of the second season of the animated series.  Knowing this, I wondered what format his novel would take – I wasn’t disappointed!

For me, The Covenant of the Crown (#4 Pocket, #23 Titan) (1981) was a quick read.  It isn’t a challenging story nor is it particularly long, the book weighing in at 191 pages all in, but what it lacks in length it makes up in character.  Simply put, Weinstein knows what elements make a Star Trek episode and exactly how much of each ingredient is needed to make it feel right.  Of course, I’m not saying by any means there isn’t a place for the longer novels too – the ones that could never be an episode, as you know I do more like them! – but it is satisfying to be reading what feels like a slightly expanded TV episode.

At it’s simplest level The Covenant of the Crown is a coming of age story, a young crown princess must take up her father’s mantle and return to the kingdom she has been exiled from in order to stop the war that has choked her home land for many years.  However, put this well worn storyline in the context of Star Trek and it takes on a different flavour.  For one thing, the Klingons are involved and are directly responsible for the initial destabilisation of the planet, although it could be argued they just added fuel to the smoldering fire of malcontent.  There is also a slight clash of ideologies – a crown princess whose dynasty is ordained by the gods of her people, a mystical power which she must exhibit in order to be ruler of her planet – at odds with the somewhat more scientific approach of characters like Spock who explains the phenomenon away, or McCoy who doesn’t feel the responsibilities of tradition should rest on her young shoulders.

Age is very much a theme, there is the obvious coming of age theme as mentioned above, but also old age or at least the approach of it is explored via the character of McCoy.  McCoy is preoccupied with his age, he feels his age, he realises that he’s turning a corner and there’s no going back to his youthful self, both in body and mind.  McCoy is often used in the novels as a vessel to explore the theme of age, such as in Dreams of the Raven.  However during the course of this novel McCoy falls in love with the princess and she with him; McCoy loves her sensitivity, her sponge like ability to absorb information and the princess loves his compassion, his passions and his good ol’ country doctor charms.  Both McCoy and the princess show bravery in their relationship, McCoy shows the bravery of age, of wisdom, which allows him to pull back from the relationship whereas the princess shows the bravery of youth, which allows her to pursue a relationship no matter the age gap or the social barriers.  By the end of the novel she has also aged, she realises that her duty to her people must come first and, reminiscent of Kirk’s withdrawal from his love affair in the TOS episode ‘Elaan of Troyius’ in deference to duty.  That in itself is an interesting comparison, Weinstein asks just how do these very different, but very lonely men deal with turning away from love? 

McCoy and Spock and the princess (Kailyn) have a rough adventure on the surface of a dangerous planet in order to retrieve the ‘crown of the covenant’.  It’s pretty much a perfect episode planetside romp, shuttle disaster, hostile natives, deadly weather.  McCoy gets to cuddle the princess for warmth while Spock exhibits his super Vulcan resilience.  Couldn’t help notice that Weinstein conveniently forgot that Vulcans (even half Vulcans) are pretty rubbish in the cold, he did remember that Klingons hate it though.  It was quite a nice touch to have the pursuing Klingons effectively dealt with by bad weather, although I did somehow find myself cheering for a Klingon romance that ultimately wasn’t to be.

The characterisation of Spock and McCoy’s relationship is satisfying and more often than not funny.  Again Weinstein just gets it right.  They are satisfyingly antagonistic to each other, and without Kirk there they have to regulate themselves, or not as the case may be.

Kailyn (the princess) was actually a pretty tolerable female character – and I don’t think that often.  She was a very well written female character and in a quite short story Weinstein creates a surprisingly deep and rounded protagonist.  She isn’t trying to prove herself in opposition to men, she has to prove herself within her own boundaries, which actually turns out allows her to grow quickly and become more than equal to the men around her.  More female characters like her please!  Although her final actions are predictable (the story had to be resolved that way!) it still fit well and didn’t seem shoehorned in.

For his part, Kirk remains on the Enterprise and so, takes a back seat (so to speak!) in this adventure.  Weinstein add a little back story to Kirk, giving him a history with the exiled king and the princess.  This same backstory effectively removes Kirk from being a potential love interest for Kailyn, which I’m not going to complain about.  Although McCoy is complaining about being old, it is Kirk who seems the most weighed down by time.  Kirk is very aware of the amount of time passing since the king went into exile, mainly by his urging and request, and very much seems to have the world on his shoulders. The storyline on the Enterprise takes an interesting turn when it is revealed that there is a Klingon spy and Kirk must find him before he can take any further action.

A further amusing subplot, involves a set of malfunctioning scales, just for a little humour to finish the book on!  Poor Chekov!

I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m going to heartily recommend this book!  It honestly is worth the read, it will not take long and it really was enjoyable from beginning to end.  I really did like the pacing of the story, it didn’t dwell too much on one thing and wasn’t afraid to try to put a new spin on an old trope and make it work.

4/5 – Shine Bright Like a Diamond ~

Star Trek – The Starship Trap

‘He did not normally have such thoughts.  A starship captain must be an optimistic and clever person, in addition to the other attributes he or she might have.  For one thing, Kirk was philosopher king, a supreme and benevolent leader in his twenty-three deck realm.’

I didn’t pick this one!  I actually asked my partner to pick one this time, which is probably why the cover is unlike the others!  I was somewhat put off by the woman on the cover, don’t be afraid, she is not a romance option (I’m not biased at all nooooo….)!  I had to laugh though, she’s illustrated wearing a Starfleet uniform, but it is an important part of the storyline that she isn’t part of Starfleet at all.  I formulated all kinds of theories about how she would end up in a uniform, like, she was an undercover Starfleet spy keeping an eye on an errant anti-Starfleet Federation politician – needless to say, it was not the case.  Which leads me to ask, who did brief the artist on what these covers should be?  Mind you, can’t complain, the artist put Kirk on the front at his best (3/4) angle, and since the cover of the last novel I reviewed was Kirkless, well, I’m glad my eye candy is back!

The Starship Trap (#64 Pocket, #59 Titan) (1993) by Mel Gilden opens with a quote –

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

                                       – William Blake

                                          1757 – 1827

– and quite a lofty one at that!  It’s a very well known piece of poetry, and I have to admit I was a little dubious because of it.  Why?  Well, I sometimes feel that authors try and oversell their work by putting a ‘deep’ quote at the beginning, trying to make it more that it is.  That might have coloured my expectation of it a little and perhaps my perception of the narrator.  The narrator’s voice comes  across as pretty arrogant, and slightly aloof but his observations are usually smirk inducing.  The narrator’s main focus is Kirk, his thoughts, feelings and perspectives.  I think the narrator has a strong synergy with Kirk, or perhaps Kirk overwhelms the narrator a little… he’s charmed by him and the narrator digs in to Kirk’s smarmy nature for the best observations and reactions.  Spock and McCoy are strong supporting characters, well characterised especially when the narrator’s gaze moves from Kirk for a short while and reads their inner workings.

Much of Kirk’s interactions in this novel are characterised by a distinct weariness, which you can occasionally see in the series, there are certainly a couple of episodes in season three in which Kirk (or Shatner… perhaps both) is really fed up with the general state of things.  Short tempered, likely to say something with a ‘devil may care‘ attitude, tired of responsibility, tired of politics and bureaucracy.  This may sound like it’s going to be a heavy book with a description of Kirk’s temperament like that, but it’s not so!  The Starship Trap is an offbeat but funny novel that just seems to hit the right key.  I guess Kirk’s attitude in this story is best described as sardonic, which ousts McCoy from his usual role as resident cynic-come-humanitarian to bold-optimist.  It’s nice seeing Bones being cheery, and also RIGHT about someone!  Spock remains Kirk’s right hand, companion and quasi-computer, I’m fairly sure that he’s relieved that Kirk couldn’t go chasing tail this time!

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, I haven’t even summarised the story yet… but for once I don’t know where to begin!

The story begins with the Enterprise crew on shore leave, this gets interrupted with orders to go pick up one Conrad Franklin Kent and his assistant.  Kent is a Federation politician, Federation presidency hopeful and noisy critic of Starfleet, he is joined by his able assistant Payton, a woman who ‘gets things done.  On picking the Kent and Payton from Pegasus IV, Kent then orders Kirk to travel to Starbase 12.  You can imagine Kirk’s disapproval at this turn of events, especially since the Enterprise is being used as a taxi to a man such as Kent.  During this trip we are introduced to Payton’s mental augment; she has an implant which allows her to record everything she experiences for her records – this of course goes down a treat with Kirk, already not in the greatest of moods.  While on route to Starbase 12, the Enterprise is confronted by a Klingon starship, the captain of which claims that the Federation have been the perpetrators of attacks on Klingon vessels and responsible for their subsequent disappearance.  The easily dislikable Kent refuses to confirm or deny a weapon’s existence to the Klingons.  A truce is eventually brokered and the Enterprise continues on its way, Kirk still in the dark as to the purpose of the journey.

On reaching Starbase 12, it is revealed that the Enterprise is to firstly engage in the testing of a new shield configuration designed by the reclusive Professor Omen (who also designed weapons such as the photon torpedos)  and then go search for the weapon (with Omen’s help) which has been causing not only Klingon ships to disappear but also Federation and Romulan ships too.  Payton also is required to come along on the expedition in order to record the mission with her device and write report for Kent.  Naturally nothing goes to plan and the Enterprise is drawn into a trap, causing the Starship and crew to be thrown into another empty universe which they have to escape in order to stop a madman from sending the crews of hundreds, perhaps thousands of starships into other, unknown universes. 

I actually don’t want to give too much of this one away, because it’s one of those books which will be a pleasure to read and discover yourself.  The Starship Trap is probably more story development orientated than character development, but it is a good balance and Mel Gilden’s writing is really uplifting and enjoyable to read.  The twists and developments in the story aren’t incredibly obvious and I was kept guessing as to whether some characters had more information about the big bad than they let on.

Kirk and Payton are the strongest characters in The Starship Trap.  The way the narrator presents Kirk’s narrative is humourous and his slightly off colour mood just really works.  I think I just really wanted a Kirk-centric novel, and this fit the bill!  Aside from the narration of Kirk’s thoughts, I did like a particular section where Kirk wants to be involved with looking for a solution, only to find that he simply can’t be involved.  Payton is an unusually strong original character who is well developed and is actually useful!  I particularly like the use of her augment, and how it is used as a way to develop her emotionally.  It was also nice that she was out of reach for Kirk (she had absolutely no interest in him and is engaged to another man), which meant they develop a better relationship.  By the end of the book, I was sorry to let the original characters go, I would happily meet them again in another outing (even Kent!)!

Mel Gilden just does a seriously good job with this book, and part of me isn’t happy just seeing this in print.  I think it would have made a really good episode, which I don’t think is accidental.  Mel Gilden has written a huge amount of TV scripts as well as four Star Trek novels, but it’s clear he has a mind for television, the scene changes are often sudden but they are just in the right place to cut out any time wasting dialogue or actions.  At one point Gilden introduces us to an alien race in an alternate universe called the ‘Klingee’, they are of course that universe’s Klingons, but their ships are a dusky pink and they are less warriors and more playground bullies who are easily manipulated into retreating.  The Klingee just felt very in keeping with the humour of TOS, again television friendly, and aren’t we reading these novels because we love the television series so much?

4/5 – Yes, the poem does relate to the plot!

Star Trek – Ghost Walker

‘Dammit, Spock! Kirk screamed at him, voiceless, helpless, from the corner of the room where he stood; and he was standing, he told himself – feet on the floor, elbow a few centimetres away from the wall – he did have a shadow of corporeal body still… Don’t bend that fine Vulcan mind of yours to finding a reasonable explanation!  You’re the only one who might be able to hear me – who might be able to save me, to save Helen!

Well, it’s back to my usual programming for this post!  

As usual I approached my teetering pile of books, head craned to one side as I endeavoured to read the sideways spines.  ‘Oooh Ghost Walker’ I thought to myself and plucked it right from the middle of the stack, unceremoniously toppling the rest.  I’ve never claimed to be sensible, especially where books are concerned.

Then I looked at the cover…  No!  A bird man is on the cover.  Previous bird people related trauma grips me, until I notice the name Barbara Hambly.  A warm fuzzy feeling and a memory of a rather good book surfaces… And yes, it is one I’ve reviewed before – Ishmael, it’s also one I completely gushed over and gave it a top notch 5/5.  

Barbara Hambly, I have perfect faith in you, don’t let me down!

Ghost Walker (#53 Pocket, #44 Titan) does not disappoint, although not quite as brilliant as Ishmael it is still rather good and rather charming.

When I started reading Ghost Walker I did wonder whether I was in the right frame of mind for this kind of story.  I’d just put down a fanzine (it was making me too stressed) and picked up this one to recuperate from the destruction of the federation.   Surely Hambly would be able to soothe my grieving soul?  No, Hambly poked deftly at one of the more stressful concepts for me – the idea of a double or impersonation.  In this case it’s more a case of possession than duplication like in Double Double, but it still completely stresses me out!

Ghost Walker is a scifi ghost story, Kirk’s body is possessed by the mind/spirit of an individual from race of tiny little not-quite-birdmen.  On being transported back to the Enterprise his own mind is forced from his body and the birdman takes over.  Kirk exists as a kind of poltergeist on the Enterprise, desperately trying to hang onto to consciousness, while the other consciousness controls his body with the intent to cause harm to the crew of the Enterprise and to destroy elements of his own people who would make peace with the Federation.

These events come about because the Enterprise transports a group of anthropologists to a disputed planet, they are trying to gather evidence that the inhabitants of the planet have a culture and are a people who need to be protected from the designs of the Klingons.  Meeting the creatures the ‘Midgwins’ Kirk allows telepathic contact with them, this is the action which allows the ‘ghost walker’ the opportunity to possess him.

A subplot to this book is Kirk’s relationship with one of the anthropologists Dr Helen Gordon, in the weeks they have been travelling together to the planet of the Midgwins they have fallen in love with each other.  Although she was travelling to work with the anthropologists, she decides that she wants to stay on the Enterprise with Kirk, which involves her in the meat of the plot.

The plot itself is interesting and quite enjoyable and Hambly is careful to back up some of the more farfetched aspects of the story with references to actual episodes, but in trying to set up the ‘haunting’ aspect of the story the narrative stalls somewhat.  Although Hambly tries to mask what is going on, it’s almost immediately obvious what has occurred, so until the crew actually works out the nature of the events on the Enterprise the reader is stuck in a frustrated limbo.  Perhaps if you didn’t work it out rather quickly the prolonged mystery of the poltergeist wouldn’t be so frustrating.  That being said, the ‘haunting’ episodes does allow Hambly to do what she does best – detail.  Hambly slips in snippets of information and description succinctly (rather unlike me…) and creates additional characters and scenes.  I really enjoyed the additional minor characters she added in, they didn’t factor in with the main plot, but they did help the Enterprise come alive and made it seem less like a handful of people work on the ship.  Kirk in his poltergeist form is privy to all sorts of goings on amongst his minor crew members; an archivist has bribed an engineer to pressurise part of the hull so he can hide books in it, while another crew member has been trying to get the replicators to properly replicate chocolate.

Actually, while we’re on the subject of original characters let me talk about Dr Helen Gordon, to whom I hold a particular antipathy towards.  She’s an original character for this novel and, don’t get me wrong, she’s a well written character, but she’s presented as a kind of new ‘love of Kirk’s life’ character.  My problem with this really is, because it’s one of these novels, we know it’s all going to have to return to the status quo at the end.  The reader knows the relationship isn’t going to last, so when I was reading the novel I was kind of always against her.  The decisions she makes as a character initially are based on the fact that she believes she can have a life with him, but it’s just so futile!  I felt particular antipathy towards her because despite her expertise, intelligence and relationship with Kirk she doesn’t actually put two and two together until Spock has already done so.  Possessed Kirk also rapes her, and tries to kill her (secretly) but she never comes forward with her concerns particularly, even with her girly chums Uhura and Chapel.  Helen Gordon just seems to be there to have horrible things done to her for virtually no reason, well, aside from extend the haunting sections of the novel.

I did like the use of Uhura and Chapel though, they are often sidelined in the novels so it was nice that the two of them were proactive and well written.  They were really in supporting roles to Helen, and despite their suspicions about the captain, they also don’t say anything.

As you can probably guess, Hambly really likes the character of Spock; Ishmael almost solely centers on Spock and Ghost Walker also puts him in the hot seat.  I can kind of forgive Helen Gordon for not realising that Kirk’s strange behaviour isn’t Kirk, after all, she’s only known him for a couple of weeks, but Spock?  Spock just logics strange behaviour away and carries on as usual while poltergeist Kirk is trying desperately to get him to realise what is going on.  This is actually questioned by Kirk once he’s able to communicate, who unfortunately accepts a less than satisfying answer.  One of the key points is the idea of Katra, which is essentially what Kirk is existing as.    At one point possessed Kirk denigrates the idea of Katra, which does hurt Spock, but he still doesn’t twig that it isn’t Kirk! GAH.  What does save Spock is that Hambly’s characterisation of him is consistent and  at times quite endearing.  I kinda of expected Spock to end up keeping Kirk’s Katra within his own mind, however that didn’t happen, I may have been influenced by a certain fanfiction I read, I was a little disappointed then that didn’t happen.

I don’t know how I really felt about Kirk’s consciousness being stored within the framework of an AI on the ship’s computer, that I find a bit of a stretch, although Hambly is careful to explain why she feel this could be allowed to happen… ok I’m more than little bitter that Spock didn’t retain Kirk’s Katra.  Sorry.  On the plus side, Kirk ended up the ‘ghost in the machine’ and the ghost in the machine – don’t try to tell me Hambly wasn’t aware of Ryle’s The Concept of Mind.  I think actually the whole idea of Katra is based off Descartes and mind body dualism, but that’s an exercise for another day when I’m motivated enough to think about philosophy… yuck.  I was quite nervous about Kirk being put in the computer, because he is essentially digitised… doesn’t he die when that happens?  I guess if I can accept that they are not being killed every time they use the transporter I should accept that he hasn’t died if his consciousness is put in a machine?  Kirk didn’t have much of a choice though, as he was unable to rest in the state he was in, as he was only tenuously able to hold himself together.  This is the same for the mind possessing his body – Kirk’s body does not sleep for a week by the time the events of the novel are over.

McCoy needs to hand in his medical license.  He gives the captain a physical but doesn’t seem to notice that he’s close to keeling over.  I don’t know about you, but after two days without sleep, I look like hell,  I think Kirk has a physical at about four days without sleep?  I think Kirk’s body should be failing at seven sleepless days!  Although admittedly the record was set in 1964 by a high school student, who stayed awake for 11 days (264 hours) for a science project.

There are two high points in the novel (both in the last quarter) which I particularly liked.  The first one was when Kirk (still in poltergeist form) warns the women about the danger Spock is in by writing in condensation.  This is the point when the everyone starts adding the events together and realise that the total jackass captain isn’t Kirk at all!  Poor James T… Your crew fail you again!  The other is when Spock and Kirk finally face off against the possessed Kirk, I won’t spoil but there is a particularly ‘Spock’ moment which will make you smile!

The end of the novel is actually incredibly satisfying!  It must have been so tempting to extend the ending, but Hambly makes the right decision.  I have to assume Spock did his naughty ‘memory wipe’ since we never hear about Helen again (of course!).  Thankfully, Kirk is left unable to remember much of what happened to him while separated from his body,  I can’t help but think that it would be terribly traumatic to remember everything that happened!

I really do recommend Ghost Walker by Barbara Hambly, it’s a good, solid entry to the series.   It’s a little ponderous at times but persevere through yonder slow bits and ye shall have thy reward!

4/5 – Bird People… redeemed?

Star Trek – Child of Two Worlds

“The Klingons have responded, sir,”  Garrison said. “They’re warning us not in interfere”.

Remember I said I’d bought a handful of the more recent novels on the basis of they had Spock on the cover?  This is another one!

Child of Two Worlds is written by Greg Cox, an experienced writer with many Star Trek novels and other franchise novelisations under his belt; his experience and knowledge of Star Trek shines through in his confident handling of the ‘pilot era’ Pike, Spock, Number One and the older Enterprise crew.  Even with limited knowledge of Star Trek TOS you could enjoy this story as Cox fills in all the necessary details for you without overloading you with information.

Child of Two Worlds is set in 2255 and not long after the pilot episode ‘The Cage’.  Spock is young, inexperienced and struggling (in a Vulcan sense) with finding his place.  Christopher Pike is the Captain of the Enterprise and his first officer is ‘Number One’ an Illyrian, whose name is difficult to pronounce so she is known by her title.  The initial premise is that a case of the rigelian fever has broken out on the Enterprise, they are far away from help and Boyce (the ship’s doctor) suggests a revolutionary treatment using a rare substance called ‘ryetalyn’.  Unfortunately, this substance is not easily obtained, however they could procure some from an alien colony situated on the borders of Federation and Klingon space.  Although they would have to take care not to agitate the Klingons, Pike sees little choice, as rigelian fever is lethal if not treated and highly infectious.

The plan goes awry however as the Enterprise picks up a distress signal from a small ship being pursued by Klingon vessel, which leads to the Enterprise and it’s ailing crew being caught up in a family drama and political machinations, delaying the receipt of the much needed ryetalyn.

Spock’s storyline ties in directly with the main one, in that his presence as mediator helps to resolve the situation between the Klingons and the Cyprians.  He doesn’t act  as a diplomat in an official sense, but his experience, his unique situation as a child of two worlds enables him to develop a rapour and an understanding with a young Cyprian woman who has been brought up a Klingon following her kidnap during a Klingon raid.  Her discovery by her sister and leak of her return to the Cyprian world’s press becomes a flashpoint.  The Cyprians want the girl returned to them and will not supply the Enterprise with ryetalyn until she ‘comes home’, but the Klingons threaten war if their adopted daughter is not returned to them.  The girl is also a child of two worlds, although in her case it isn’t biological, it is cultural; nature vs nurture.

Spock, like the Cyprian/Klingon girl is at a pivotal point.  He has been presented with an opportunity by Captain Pike to possibly transfer to the U.S.S. Intrepid, a Constitution-class starship manned by an all Vulcan crew as the position of first officer is available.  To take the position on Intrepid would be the next logical step in the advancement of his career in Starfleet, and being among other Vulcans would be more efficient.  However, Spock concedes he is not ‘most Vulcans’, and though he finds being with more emotional species tiring ‘chipping away at his hard won self control’ he find himself conflicted.  He is reminded of his mothers words “You will always be a child of two worlds,”  and then finds himself with a conundrum ‘What was preferable: to be the only Vulcan among a crew of humans, or the only half-human aboard a ship of Vulcans?’.  Spock’s interactions with Merata and the lessons he learns from the ‘Klingon by nurture’ helps him make up his mind.  I’m sure it can’t be considered spoiling to tell you that he stays on the Enterprise.  Of course, we also know the Intrepid and it’s entire Vulcan crew were lost in 2268.

Number One, the female first officer of the Enterprise has her character expanded upon, which I found quite welcome.  In the pilot ‘The Cage’ her character doesn’t appear very strong and the male characters take the limelight, though as first officer she should have been the eye of the storm in Pike’s absence.  Number One’s failure as a character is that she is altogether too perfect, in that, in trying to make a female character nobody could fault, she is also a character nobody can really like.  She doesn’t make errors, she is ‘number one’ (Number One in name and nature) in everything she does, as such she’s even less relatable to than the Vulcan, who has his own idiosyncrasies which make him rather endearing.  Her seeming lack of a name is explained and she has her own adventure on the planet surface with an away team to keep her busy.  I really enjoyed those sections of the novel actually, it was pretty refreshing to have someone different in charge.

Number One’s team gets caught up in the gradually worsening political situation on the Cyprian’s planet.  The politicians are using the situation with Merata to whip up the populous into a frenzied mob, who begin to perceive the Enterprise as an enemy, leaving Number One and her team in a dangerous situation.

Pike’s presentation in Child of Two Worlds really builds upon why we have Kirk and not Pike in the series proper.  Pike is likeable, capable and has peculiarities (like preferring print outs of reports etc.) which make him human, but also incredibly beige.  He seems to have lost the regret and self doubt which really eroded his character in the pilot, but that may be because he is simply doesn’t have time to indulge self pity or reflection.  I found that Child of Two Worlds endeared me more towards him than the pilot, due to his determination and tenacity to keep control of his ship while fighting a worsening illness.  He is very much a diplomat, a steady, intelligent man, reliable, fallible but making the right decisions… but there is something missing in his character that makes him fall a little flat.  Something missing that breaks Pike but makes Kirk.  Pike doesn’t have the vibrancy that Kirk has, but he is more the traditional naval captain, he trusts his officers to do their duty and stays detached.

Pike is most successful in his dealing with Krunn, the agitated Klingon captain who wants his adopted daughter Merata back.  Krunn is a well written character and to his credit, quite reasonable (for a Klingon), and I think, develops a grudging respect for Pike, despite his irritation.  Similarly, other side characters are satisfyingly written.  Merata’s tenacious older sister, her resentful younger brother and hopeful mother are all believable, Cox is careful to reflect Spock’s mother Amanda in Merata’s mother.

Child of Two Worlds is really worth a read, especially if you like Spock-centric stories.  It doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the table but who can really resist reading about 7 year old Spock trying to be ‘Vulcan’ in front of his mother, or having a little bit of exposition about his feelings at being half-human.  For me it was interesting to read about Christopher Pike as well, but it did really confirm my feelings that he wasn’t the right Captain!  A little bit of Number One being kick ass was an added bonus, but again, I’m glad she morphed into Nurse Chapel!  You can’t really fault the writing, Greg Cox is an experienced author, and it shows in the novel.

Read it, you won’t regret it! 4/5

Star Trek – Troublesome Minds

“Loneliness is the first thing that God’s eye named, not good.” – John Milton

Troublesome Minds is a Star Trek novel written by Dave Galanter and first published in 2009 by Pocket Books.  It’s one of the newer books and as such unnumbered which is either a licensing issue or a case of trying not to put off newer readers from the novels by presenting them with a large back log.  If the latter is the case, how wrong they are!  As long as people know that the books don’t have to be read in order then it isn’t really a problem.

The cover is pretty attractive, harking back to the painted covers of older novels, although, unless I am very much mistaken, I think the cover is an edited screen cap or promotional image made to look like a painting.  Either way, it’s a pretty thing and ties in with the other modern covers which use the same style.  Annoyingly the cover is easily damaged, even with the best of intentions, if you’re going to actually read your copy and not keep it in plastic the edges are going to scuff although the spine is quite resilient to bending.  The collector in me wants to buy a book and keep it sealed, but what’s the point of books if nobody is going to read them?  Back to the book, I estimate the word count at about 73,000.

As the cover of the book might suggest, the story is pretty Spock-centric.  The book revolves around a telepathic species (the Isitri) and a particular troublesome mind, a member of the species with telepathic abilities so strong they can dominate a whole planet with their will.  A neighbouring species the Odib know first hand the results of a hostile troublesome mind and their (justified) fear of the Isitri push them to an ultimatum, either dispose of the troublesome mind or risk genocide.

The Enterprise responds to a distress call and saves the life of Berlis, the troublesome mind and his two attendants.  Berlis was left to die by his own people but he claims not to know why, they want him dead but Kirk is left between a rock and a hard place, he can’t leave Berlis to die or give him over to those who want to kill him.  Although others on the Enterprise are affected by Berlis’ powers, Spock, being a telepath, is particularly susceptible and begins to behave erratically.  While trying to decide the best course of action, Berlis escapes the Enterprise’s protective custody and returns to Isitra.  Berlis takes control of all minds on Isitra and the neighbouring colony, provoking the Odib.

Kirk must then find a way remove Berlis and save both the Istri and the Odib before it’s too late.

Troublesome Minds – MemoryAlpha

I genuinely enjoyed Troublesome Minds.  I have to admit this time around I chose covers with Spock on them, so it was hardly surprising that I received two new novels which were pretty Spock-centric.  In my last review (Enterprise – The First Adventure) I raised a Vulcan brow at the characterisation of the Enterprise crew, Galanter colours within the lines in his offering and although Spock does go a little crazy and indeed ends up crying near the end, I can forgive it.

One thing that strikes me though, is that many of the TOS novel authors over the years have really overused the ’emotional Spock’.  In particular they like the image/drama of Spock being overwhelmed and crying.  It’s not a secret that Spock is emotional despite his best efforts and that Vulcans, despite their protestations do feel something they just override their emotions with logical thought.  However, the crying Spock image loses it’s impact when used as much as it is.  Isn’t the whole point that the Vulcans are tragic in that they struggle to control their emotions so much they cut themselves off from such a large portion of the experience of living?  Isn’t it more heartbreaking to see someone unable to feel, or refusing to feel rather than the image of ‘the strong man crying’.  I digress, but I will admit in the case of this novel, the displays of emotion are well handled.

Most of the successful Star Trek stories explore a human emotion or need.  In the case of Troublesome Mind it’s loneliness.  Berlis the ‘big bad’ of the book is a victim of his own incredible telepathic ability, he has influenced others for so long, and they have served him ‘willingly’ for so long that he is more a spoilt child than anything malevolent.  Berlis’ people the Isitri are powerful telepaths who are constantly aware of each other and speak telepathically, a troublesome mind however can Network the minds of an entire planet, erasing the wills of his fellow Isitri.  The Isitri influenced by one such as Berlis lose their time, when they are released from their thrall, it is as if waking from a dream.

Berlis needs to be connected to his people, it’s innate to him and through the guidance of a mind like his the Isitri can make huge technological leaps and become incredibly industrious.  In this state the Isitri love and celebrate him, however, like many leaders, loved for their charisma and their public face, the more minds Berlis touches the more paranoid he gets and the once peaceful leader twists into a paranoid despot focusing on production of weapons and war with the Odib.  Berlis gradually looses sympathy of both the Enterprise crew and the reader as the book progresses and we meet another troublesome mind who was sent into exile and who recognises the danger of her abilities and believes that her own happiness must be sacrificed for the good of the many.  She’s a recognisable character from throughout history and literature, the individual enlightened by suffering and experience, willing to suffer further for the good of the many.

One of the most interesting things about the Isitri is that they speak telepathically, and many of the population are deaf.  They have developed a ‘manual’ language, essentially sign language.  This is mentioned in the author’s own notes as one of his goals, himself able to use sign language.  As such, there is a lot of description of the various gestures the Isitri make, which is pretty immersive.  Some actions are noted repeatedly by characters such as Kirk which makes the language seem real. 

The characters are pretty well written, and there weren’t any jarring instances which made me Vulcan-brow.  The only part I did have a problem with I have already mentioned, but that can be explained away in the circumstances, so I’ll give that one a pass.  In fact, ingeniously the author can explain away any strange or out of character behaviour by the mere presence of Berlis, the effects of which he’s pretty subtle about.

Kirk and Spock are the main focus of this novel, their relationship especially strong.  Galanter is pretty hot on body language (especially because of his interest in sign) and so there’s a lot of physicality, a lot of physical expressions of the characters’ emotions and relationship.  The other members of the crew essentially tick over throughout the story, they are there but the focus is firmly elsewhere.

Kirk has a particularly driven and intelligent characterisation in this novel, even with Spock essentially removed from him for a while, he compensates.  He is diplomatic, he grasps concepts quickly – essentially Galanter recognises that the reader doesn’t need to be spoonfed.  Kirk’s actions are recognisable as Kirk’s from the original series;  the muted expressions and reserved reactions and the sudden bursts of activity and forcefulness on making a decision which is quintessential James T Kirk.

Spock‘s character is the most erratic in Galanter’s story, but this is approached sensitively.  Being a telepath he’s more susceptible to Berlis’ suggestions (again, this really overused plot device and another reason this offering isn’t getting higher than a 4/5) and almost from meeting him is overwhelmed and coerced.  However, he isn’t consistently presented as weak, with Kirk’s help he regains control of himself and is finally instrumental in restoring Isitri.  He proves that his own mental disciplines are enough to keep Berlis out once aware of the influence however, his susceptibility to emotions, to Kirk’s aggressiveness and his relationship with the Captain strongly highlights that his nature is essentially an emotional one.

There are quite a few strong scenes, and I don’t want to give too much away, but of particular interest to those who like character interactions would be when Kirk manages to get through to Spock while he’s in Berlis’ thrall and the banter afterwards between Kirk, Spock and McCoy.  Another touching scene is when they collect Meshu, the exiled troublesome mind and their trump card.  

Enterprise itself has a chance to shine too, as it is positioned between two warring fleets with the intention of disabling as many as it can before too many casualties occur on either side.  This takes place as Spock and Meshu attempt to free the Isitri home world from Berlis.

The resolution of the tale is satisfying, posing an unanswerable final question and wrapping up loose ends.  Really strong characterisation and food for thought at the end.  It’s not a 5/5 for me, no matter how I look at it.  I seriously enjoyed it, it was successful and thought provoking.  The inclusion of sign was a great idea and well implemented, but the use of Spock being overwhelmed telepathically (again) and crying (twice) really bothered me.  I’m probably being unfair, since the last book I reviewed also had Spock overwhelmed telepathically and losing himself (and crying!), and that one really got my goat!  At least there weren’t and pink and purple monkeys in this one (just pink and orange bird people…).

Either way – highly recommended!  While not being jaw dropping, a really great entry into the series.

4/5