Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #31 – #40 Review

Previous Post – Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #21 – #30 Review

Finally it’s time for another summary, can you believe my last summary was back in September?!

This selection was again quite a mixed bag.

Books #31 to #40 are as follows:

#31 Battlestations! – Diane Carey – November 1986 – Year 2270, Follows Dreadnought! (after TOS)
#32 Chain of Attack – Gene DeWeese – February 1987 – Year 2270 (after TOS)
#33 Deep Domain – Howard Weinstein – April 1987 – (between TMP and TWOK)
#34 Dreams of the Raven – Carmen Carter – June 1987 – (between The Empath and The Mark of Gideon, TOS)
#35 The Romulan Way – Diane Duane & Peter Morwood- August 1987 – (between TMP and TWOK)
#36 How Much For Just The Planet – John M Ford – October 1987 – Year 2268
#37 Bloodthirst – J M Dillard – December 1987 – Year 2269
#38 The IDIC Epidemic – Jean Lorrah – February 1988 – Year 2267 (after TVAM)
#39 Time For Yesterday – A C Crispin – April 1988 – Year 2285
#40 Timetrap – David Dvorkin – June 1988 – Year 2287 (between TFF and TUC)

Immediate Observations

• Again no film adaptations – they are released separately to the numbered series.
• Six out of ten books have female authors (including joint authors), 3/5.
• Five out of ten books are ‘sequels’ to earlier novels – B!, TRW, HMFJTP, TIE, TFY.
• Three authors are new authors to the series, DeWeese, Carter, Morwood.

This selection seems better edited, or perhaps the return of some strong authors such as Crispin and Ford meant there was less chance of a dud.  I think the latter is true as Carey’s Battlestations! slipped through as well as a surprising and disappointing miss by Weinstein with his novel Deep Domain.  But what do I know, apparently people think Battlestations! is good…  Newcomer Carmen Carter and her novel Dreams of the Raven was a definite hit for me, and the return of Diane Duane and A C Crispin gives the series a much needed lift.  Ford’s How Much For Just The Planet and Chain of Attack offered technically good, different adventures.  The return of Dillard with Bloodthirst was middling, as was Lorrah’s The EDIC Epidemic, and Dvorkin’s Timetrap.  Timetrap’s 3/5 was due to lack of editing, which was frustrating since it had the potential to be a really excellent novel had it had more supervision.  Lorrah and Dillard are middling authors who again could have done with more supervision and editing, but after reading Carey’s two Mary Sue novels I feel more kindly towards them.  Again I ask what were the editorial team actually doing?

Context

This group of novels spans from November 1986 to June 1988.  Star Trek IV The Voyage Home was released in November 1986, and doesn’t have any inclusion in these books.  However, you might notice the forward looking Timetrap which places itself in a time period not yet covered by the films.

Star Trek novels which were not numbered were also released in this time period, but do not appear to have affected the publication schedule of the numbered series.  These were

Star Trek IV The Voyage Home – Vonda N McIntyre – December 1986 – film novelisation
Strangers From The Sky – Margaret Wander Bonanno – July 1987
Final Frontier – Diane Carey – January 1988

I can understand the film novelisations being taken out of the numbered series, but I don’t yet know why they took the decision to start releasing novels outside of the numbered series.  I haven’t read Strangers From The Sky yet, but it is apparently very good and has enjoyed a number of re-releases and even sports an audio book read by Takei and Nimoy.  I’m told that Final Frontier is also good – significantly better than Carey’s diabolical Mary-Sue stories.

Perhaps I should also read the unnumbered releases?  What do you think?

Story / Theme Trends

• Two time travel stories (TFY, TT).
• Two novels have female leads (B!, TRW).
• One novel with a main Mary-Sue type character (B!)
• Three novels that minimise the effect / appearance of the main cast in favour of OCs (B!,TRW, TIE, B).
• No overt K/S.
• One story with light K/S (TFY).
• Five novels feature Klingons (B!, DOTR, HMFJTP, TIE, TT).
• One novel has a Klingon focus (TT).
• Three novels feature Romulans (B!, B, TRW)
• Five novels which feature new aliens (B!, COA, DD, DOTR, TFY)
• One Kirk centric story (TT).
• One Spock centric story (TFY).
• One McCoy centric stories (DOTR).

This group of ten seems to shift away from the main cast in favour of OCs or a larger ensemble cast of characters.  It’s been a little harder to put this analysis together as I read four of these books quite some time ago – if I hadn’t reviewed them in the first place I really would have no idea!

Surprisingly we only see one example where K/S is present, and it’s very light, however Crispin made her point in her previous novel Yesterday’s Son.  Her commentary is more muted in Time For Yesterday but still nodded to throughout.

Klingons remain the more popular villains, possibly because they are easier to write than the Romulans.  Even where Romulans feature in Battlestations! they are only there as a kind of cameo, so really Romulan presence as agents in the story actually only numbers 2/10.

Klingons feature in half the books, but characterisation is varied as is understanding / use of the Organian treaty.  Battlestations! for example, characterises them as thuggish brutes and ignores the Organian treaty whilst How Much For Just The Planet follows more  smoothly from TOS itself and Ford’s The Final Reflection where although they are a warlike species, they are also cultured.  HMFJTP also hinges its plot on the Organian treaty.

Refreshingly, a number of new aliens are introduced as antagonists.  Again in Battlestations! they are undeveloped ‘cameos’, however Chain Of Attack, Deep Domain, and Dreams Of The Raven develop the new aliens which are the crux of the stories.  Time For Yesterday expands of the Sarpeidon species who were seen in the series once (I put them down as new aliens because they are built up as a new civilization).

Themes

• #31 B! : Coming of age.  Loss of innocence.  Friendship.  Loyalty.  Isolation of command.
• #32 COA : Radicalization.  Cold War.  Communication.  Fear.
• #33 DD : Environmental / activism.  Manipulation.  Fear.  Power of the state. Duty.
• #34 DOTR : Coming of age.  Loss of innocence.  Responsibility.  Duty.
• #35 TRW : Fear.  Responsibility.  Duty.  Courage.
• #36 HMFJTP : Self governance / independence.  Comedy.  Camaraderie.
• #37 B :  Fear.  Corruption.
• #38 TIE : Responsibility.  Duty.  Fear.  Supremacy.  The other.
• #39 TFY : Responsibility.  Duty.  Trust.  Different kinds of love.
• #40 TT : Trust.  Deception.

I think these themes were harder to pin down, or at least the time between reading these made it harder for me to look at them as a whole.  However, one theme which seems to have popped up with the most frequency is fear and as an extension of that distrust of the state and propaganda, and distrust of the other.  

There seems to be a reduction in the more positive themes, and more focus on stories with a darker tone.  This may be partially because of the reduced roles of the main cast in this selection, with less of a focus on these paragons, character decisions are darker… less good.  The books may have also been affected by the content of the films, especially TWOK and TSFS.

That being said, the idea of responsibility, and duty are recurrent but on the whole this selection is sadly lacking in positive themes and the hope of a brighter future.

Do you think I have anything to add here?  Disagree? 

Star Trek – Time For Yesterday

The harsh, pain filled breaths were coming from Spock, who was crumpled beneath him.  Zar quickly pushed himself  up, realizing he must have shoved the Vulcan down and then fallen on him when the worst of the – the whatever it was – hit.

Kneeling, he carefully turned the other over, gently brushed some of the ashy dirt from the austere features.

“Father?” he whispered hoarsely.  “Are you alright?”

Reminds me somewhat of a certain fanzine cover with Spock on an alicorn…

Time For Yesterday (Pocket #39, Titan #) (1987) is A C Crispin’s sequel to Yesterday’s Son.  It really is a sequel so it’s pretty pointless to read it unless you’ve already read Yesterday’s Son,  since Crispin refers to specific events and relationships throughout.  Actually, in order to get maximum reading pleasure you should probably catch up with the previous novels written by Diane Duane, Brad Ferguson, John M Ford, Jean Lorrah, Vonda N McIntyre ( 😦  ) and Howard Weinstein as characters and events which occur in their Star Trek novels are mentioned in Time For Yesterday and picking up on the references is precisely 10% of the fun! …Captain.

Ok, well, I can’t be 100% sure of the 10% figure, but I can tell you it gave me fannish kicks.

So… maybe you’ve finished Yesterday’s Son and you’re thinking, but I wonder what happened to Zar?  I mean, we know he influenced Sarpeidon’s past by causing a period of rapid technological advancement… but just how did it come about?  And did he meet a lovely lady and produce green blooded pointy-ish eared sproglings?  And of course did I really read A C Crispin right and does she really ship K/S that hard?  Followed by can I have more for dessert please?

Well, if you have asked questions frighteningly similar to mine, then the answers are:

Crispin clears that up, yes – two actually, yes, and finally yes (just a little bit of sugar).

Once again Crispin returns to The Guardian in order to facilitate her jaunt into the past.  This time the Guardian seems to be malfunctioning, causing time waves to emanate from the ancient portal causing irreversible damage to stars and planets in its vicinity and resulting in the loss of a colony planet and a Starfleet vessel.  If the time waves aren’t stopped they will surely cause the destruction of all life, naturally Starfleet turns to one man (and his select crew) to try to stop the Guardian’s apparent malfunction; Admiral James T Kirk!

The resulting adventure takes Kirk, Spock and McCoy into Sarpeidon’s past in order to find Zar, bring him back to their present and use him to speak to the Guardian telepathically.  Ultimately the reason for the Guardian’s malfunction is revealed and we also get to meet the remaining creators of the Guardian.

However, the ending isn’t half as satisfying as the medieval fantasy romp which makes up a large portion of the book.  It’s fun for the reader, it was obviously fun for Crispin to write, and it feels suspiciously like a guilty pleasure.  The fantasy romp has almost nothing to do with the peril the universe is actually facing, and more to do with relationships.  The relationships between fathers and their sons, between lovers, between friends.  Time has passed differently for Zar and Spock, their age gap has closed and both are older and wiser men.  Spock is now more open with his feelings, while Zar has become a wiser, jaded man who has seen much hardship and personal loss.  I found the reigniting of the father-son dynamic for these two Vulcans very sweet, Spock’s reactions in particular are endearing.

I’m reminded of a comment I read a while ago which equated the relationship of Sarek and Spock with the father-son relationships in the 50s/60s.  The father being detached and aloof, not showing emotion and pushing the son away for not being the man he wanted him to be.  In a way, Spock had to overcome that conditioning in Yesterday’s Son, in Time for Yesterday however we see in Spock the more modern father, desiring of a closer relationship with his son, unafraid to show that he loves him, that he’s proud of him and that he’d risk his life for him.

Crispin contrasts this with Kirk’s apparent knowledge of David (this book takes place between TMP and TWOK) and his confused feelings of being an (by request) absent father.  We of course know that Kirk would meet his son during the events of TWOK and then lose him by TSFS.  It’s an interesting comparison, Spock and Zar vs Kirk and David.

I feel that Crispin very much wanted to finish Zar’s story for the sake of Spock, herself and her readers.  Everyone likes to know what happened next, they also like happy endings for the most part and Crispin delivers that… but not without a little tragedy.  Zar loved and lost many years ago and refused to remarry afterwards, however during the course of the novel he falls in love and bonds with a woman who otherwise would be his enemy (I’m going to comment again about the apparent fertility of Sarpeidons).  However she refrains from telling the whole story, leaving his eventual fate after he leaves his father’s side for the final time.

Is there a comparison between father and son here? You bet your pointy ears there is!  You might remember the commentary which ran through Yesterday’s Son in which Zar had problems understanding not only his relationship with his father, but also his father’s relationships with others, in particular Kirk.  However, towards the end of the novel he realises that they are incredibly close (like bonded close), by the time we get to the events in Time for Yesterday it’s not even questioned, it’s even the subject of a bit of humour.

“Fair enough. Why haven’t you remarried?” 

It was the Vulcan’s turn to raise an eyebrow.  “There is no single reason.  Once the liaison the family arranged for me was terminated by divorce, there was no reason to enter another immediately… so I elected not to do so.  Time went by… and my contemporaries were all partnered.  Then our five year mission was over, and I began the the study of Kolinahr disciplines.  When one is an acolyte in pursuit of Kolinahr, one must give up… external… links.”  He steepled his fingers.  “By the time I left Kolinahr, I also left Vulcan.  I have not been home since.” 

“So, you just haven’t met the right woman,” Zar said, deadpan. 

Shared amusement touched his father’s eyes.  “You could put it that way.”

Cute.

Characterisation wise Crispin was spot on again.  Really strong characterization of the trinity (McCoy was in top form again) and nice use of Uhura in one of the novel’s minor subplots (very minor).  I quite liked the medieval Sarpeidons as well… I could definitely tolerate another book with just Zar and his world in!  Crispin manages to create an interesting world for the length of book she’s been allowed.  One thing I would change however would be to cut a couple of sub plots which are quite unnecessary and turn over more attention to the end with the creators of the Guardian – but this is all quite minor (and I want more of the mindmeld bit, it was over too quick imo!)…

I don’t want to spoil anymore for those who haven’t read it, so I’ll just end with; read Time for Yesterday… I definitely recommend it, it definitely will not disappoint!

5/5 – would visit ancient Sarpeidon as a holiday destination.

Star Trek – The Romulan Way

“But if Intelligence learned of what you have just told me, hru’hfirh?”  It struck Arrhae even as she said it that the question was unnecessary, one with an obvious answer.  She was even more right than she guessed.

“Then they could have learned from only one source, and would also learn – from a similarly anonymous source – that my so-trusted hru’hfe is a spy for the Federation, suborned by her late master tr’Lhoell,” said H’daen silkily.  “Tell me, whom would they believe?”  Then he swore and scrambled to his feet with his hands reaching for her shoulders, for Arrhae’s face had drained of colour so fast and so completely that he thought she was about to faint.  “Powers and Elements, Arrhae, it was a brutal answer to the question, but I didn’t mean it!”

The Romulan Way (1987) by husband and wife team Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, is a novel of two distinct parts which is equally fascinating and frustrating.  Fascinating because I love Duane’s Romulans and the thought that went into describing their leaving Vulcan and the subsequent birth of the Rihannsu culture; frustrating because the alternating ‘story’ and ‘history’ chapters cause a ‘stop/start’ narrative which makes it difficult to settle into the story.

I feel those small figures at the bottom feature on many movie posters and book covers from the 1980s.

I honestly do love to read novels by Diane Duane (no experience of Peter Morwood at time of writing), but sometimes I do have to be in the right mood for them.  Subsequently, I didn’t pick this book back up for nearly three weeks after my surgery.  The reason?  The structure really bothered me, I really didn’t get on with the alternating chapters even though I could see the reason to them.  I think they needed to be there to set the ground work for Duane’s Romulans – her Rihannsu.  In order for her story to make sense and I think at this point to set herself up for sequels with her rogue Romulan Commander ‘Ael’, she needed to explain her Rihannsu history.  Since I doubt the powers that be would allow her to produce an independent non-canon Romulan/Rihannsu history book, the necessary history needed to be slipped into a novel, hence The Romulan Way.  The novel in its entirety is really just ground work for further novels, not only is it setting up the Rihannsu past, it is also giving exposition of their culture, their symbolism, language and their ‘current’ political situation ending with Ael taking away an ancient symbol of her people because she didn’t believe they deserved it any longer – they had become too dishonourable.

Memory Alpha in depth summaries

The ‘story’ is quite small scale for Duane, which is necessary since she and Morwood, were putting so much history in.  The blurb at the back of the book describes The Romulan Way as a ‘startlingly different adventure’, although it seems to be more referring to the history aspect, the story narrative itself is also quite different.  For much of the book the characters are all very small.  They aren’t larger than life heroes like Kirk or heinous villains – even McCoy is subdued.  Instead, the characters are fighting their own mostly inconsequential battles, making small overtures, small actions which in the scheme of things for the most part don’t have repercussions.  The main character Arrhae or Terise is one such character.  She is an extraordinary woman – no doubt – but she is just an intelligence officer who hadn’t made a report in two years while undercover as a Romulan.  She works as a housekeeper in a minor house, having worked up from the status of a slave.  She’s been changed so that she looks Romulan, and genetically changed so that she now bleeds green but she is just a Terran human.  Arrhae/Terise has been undercover for ten years living a quiet but hard life, but because of her long silence, Intelligence wants to pull her out, fearing that she’d ‘gone native’ and instigates a plan involving McCoy’s capture in order to make contact with her and bring her back to Earth.

For her part, she doesn’t want anything to do with it.  Her conditioning is so strong she is more Romulan than Human now, but McCoy’s peril at the hands of Romulan justice rouses her to continue her work for the Federation.  Of course, nothing much actually happens of much import in her sections of the story.  Backed up by the history sections, her master’s (and her) actions are explained, but Terise (or more commonly Arrhae) herself is mostly concerned with trying to live her everyday life.  At times it may as well have been ‘day in the life of a house keeper’ (although it is much more interesting than The Remains of the Day).   As such…. it’s somewhat difficult to give a summary of the story without basically telling you what happened blow for blow.

Again what I really liked was Duane/Morwood’s transient characters, the ones that fleetingly visit the narrative, and exit on their own business never to be heard of again.  This I find a real mark of an accomplished writer since there are rounded characters that the author doesn’t feel the need to ‘make a main character’ just because they’ve spent time creating them.  These fleeting characters are a bit of a theme in The Romulan Way however, punctuated with the final actions of an ensign who was only introduced a few pages previously.

I very much enjoyed the dynamic between Arrhae/Terise and her master H’daen.  Much of what you learn about H’daen is through Arrhae’s eyes, she is sympathetic to him and despite their differing status’ he is fond of her.  The end for them is very sweet I feel, and I am very much glad it ended the way it did, although I must admit I expected Arrhae to leave with McCoy since, from my perspective she was up against insurmountable odds.

Something that does bother me is that Arrhae/Terise will be significantly weaker than a Romulan woman (if they retain the strength of their shared Vulcan roots) and she will also be aging faster than the Romulans around her.  Romulans don’t have the lifespan of Vulcans, but they are still able to live some 80 years longer than humans.  Arrhae/Terise notes this a couple of times, so she is aware, but it doesn’t seem like a problem she (or anyone else) dwells on.

The Romulan Way is a good story and a great Romulan/Rihannsu history book.  It’s enjoyable once you get your head around the alternating chapters although perhaps it’s possible to read the history characters first and then read the story?  Perhaps that would be a more enjoyable way to read it?  Either way, if you’ve liked Diane Duane previously, you’ll like this novel too.  I’m not sure how much influence Peter Morwood had on this novel, since it reads like Diane’s hand throughout.  Although I’ll need to read the rest of Diane’s series of Rihannsu books to be sure, I do think that you need to read  this one to make sense of the rest, especially since Ael’s actions at the end are sure to have ramifications for future books.

5/5 – You should read this, mnhei’sahe.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention, a glossary is included at the back to help explain those pesky Rihannsu terms which are untranslatable into English!

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #21 – #30 Review

Previous Post – Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #11 – #20 Review

It’s time again for another summary and analysis, this time of books #21 – #30!  There’s been a bit of a gap between between reading some of these so I’m actually reading over my older reviews – I knew there was a reason I was doing all this!

What really sticks out for me in this selection is that the quality seems to have dropped considerably, aside from a couple of bright stars namely Ishmael and Killing Time (ok Killing Time is dubiously a bright star, but it started me on this insane quest so I’m going to give it some credit), the quality is either middling or poor.

Books #21 to #30 are as follows:

#21 Uhura’s Song – Janet Kagan – January 1985 – Year 2268 (TOS)

#22 Shadow Lord – Laurence Yep – March 1985 – Year 2266 (TOS)

#23 Ishmael – Barbara Hambly – May 1985 – Year 2267 / 1867 (TOS / Time travel)

#24 Killing Time – Della Van Hise – July 1985 – 2269 (TOS after The Enterprise Incident)

#25 Dwellers in the Crucible – Margaret Wander Bonanno – September 1984 – Year 2281 (before TWOK)

#26 Pawns & Symbols – Majliss Larson – November 1985 – Year 2270 (after TOS)

#27 Mindshadow – J M Dillard – January 1986 – Year 2270 (after TOS)

#28 Crisis on Centaurus – Brad Ferguson – March 1986 – 2269 (TOS)

#29 Dreadnaught! – Diane Carey – May 1986 – Year 2270 (after TOS)

#30 Demons – J M Dillard – July 1986 – Year 2270 (after TOS)

Immediate Observations

No film adaptations.

Eight out of ten books written by female authors (4/5) – highest proportion so far.

J M Dillard writes two novels in this selection.

Half the novels take place within the TOS timeline.

One time travel story.

Only one story takes place between films.

I feel this selection had poor editing and supervision.  This could have something to do with the editorial problems the department were having at the time of the publication of Killing Time – that is, lack of an editor at all.  What surprises me is that I remember reading that post Killing Time they said that Roddenberry’s office were going to be vetting the new novels – really?  And these were the ones they accepted and let through?  Of course, I don’t know if that ever came to pass in actuality, but if they did check these and let them through… what were they really checking?  For quality? Or were they really just checking for anything that could be considered homosexual?  In which case, on both counts they failed.

Context

Story / Theme Trends

I found that were were actually some distinct trends coming through in this selection, most notably a distancing from the ‘main crew’ characters and a focusing on original characters.

• Two time travel stories (I, KT)
• Five novels have female leads (US, DITC, PS, D!, D)
• Four novels have distinct Mary-Sue character types (US, PS, D!, D)
• One story that crosses over with another series (I)
• One novel which is overtly K/S (KT)
• Three novels with K/S undertones (I, DITC, M)
• Four novels that minimize the effect/appearance of the main cast in favour of OCs (I, DITC, PS, D!)
• One alternate universe / alternate timeline novel (KS)
• Two stories which expand Klingon culture (PS, DITC)
• One story which expands Romulan culture (DITC)
• Two stories which expand Vulcan culture (DITC, M)
• Three novels in which Romulans are a faction (KT, DITC, M)
• Three novels in which Klingons are a faction (I, DITC, PS)
• Three stories which have new aliens in (US, SL, D)
• Uhura dubiously the main character (US)
• One Sulu centric story (SL)
• Two Spock centric stories (I, M)
• No cinnamon roll Kirk or McCoy centric stories!
• Two novels in which Kirk and Spock share the lime light (KT, COC)
• Two stories in which humans are the faction (COC, D!)
• One ‘get-em’ story (M)

There is another shift towards more inward looking adventures, this could be because of the greater number of ‘Mary-Sue’ type characters in this selection combined with a greater focus on relationship building/analysis.  This could be caused by the high ratio of female to male authors.

Humans join the Romulans and Klingons as an ‘enemy faction’.

The crossover story of Ishmael was fabulous, and a first for this series.

Kirk and McCoy have no stories where whey are central, McCoy is particularly sidelined.

Four novels actively try to avoid using the main cast – this is an interesting shift, and surprising that they (the editors) allowed it.

Themes

• #21 US : Memory. Coming of age. Friendship. Loyalty.
• #22 SL : Coming of age.  Duty over self. Traditionalists vs Progression.
• #23 I : Stranger in a strange land. Friendship. Different kinds of love.  Helping the stranger. Destiny.
• #24 KT : Different kinds of love.  Destiny. Friendship. Loyalty.
• #25 DITC : Different kinds of love.  Friendship.  Loyalty. Coming of age.
• #26 PS : Coming of age.  Different kinds of love. Friendship.
• #27 M : Friendship. Duty.
• #28 COC : Duty. Radicalization.
• #29 D! : Coming of age.  Friendship. Radicalization.
• #30 D : Loyalty. Trust.

While reading this selection, I didn’t really feel like themes were very strong at all.  I wasn’t until I really tried to pull some out for this list that I started to make a few connections.

The inward looking nature of these ten books means thematically they mostly revolve around the same things.  The number of ‘Mary-Sue’ characters seems to have dictated the themes more than any other factors although you still get the ‘coming of age’ theme cropping up in novels without them.  Also, there is a lot of focus on ‘friendship’ and ‘different kinds of love’, as well as their companions ‘loyalty’ and ‘duty’.

Surprisingly there is a new theme, and that is ‘radicalization’, which I don’t think has really cropped up before in this way and appears in the two novels where humans are ‘the enemy’.

Another new theme is ‘stranger in a strange land’, which could I guess be applied to Mindshadow as well at a push as they both have Spock’s memory loss in them which causes him to be ‘the stranger’.  However Ishmael is distinctly ‘stranger in a strange land’ as even if Spock had his memory, the situation would be utterly alien to him.

Two novels use the theme of ‘destiny’, Killing Time using it to the extent that even in an alternate time line the universe tries to reassert a ‘best destiny’ for its main players.  Interestingly, one could apply this theory to the new films (AU) where the universe is thrown a curveball by the incursion by the Romulans and still manages to  put Kirk in the captain’s chair.  And I’m not the only one to have noticed the similarity, Van Hise has had something to say on the subject too.

I read three of this selection some time before the others, when I was reading a little more randomly.  I did expect the quality in this section to be better than it is because of Ishmael and Killing Time.  Ishmael is phenomenal frankly, and even if you don’t like Killing Time it’s significantly stronger than the other eight.  Killing Time is more detailed, it’s writing is better generally and Van Hise has put thought into the themes of Star Trek and theorized in a big picture sense.  Her kinks aren’t for everyone though.

Anyway, roll on the next ten books! Hopefully we’ll see another upturn in quality?

If you think any differently, or think I’ve missed something I’d love to hear your thoughts!

New Guest Blog on trekfanproductions.com!

Hello everyone!

Just thought I’d share with you that I’ve written another blog for trekfanproductions.com which has just gone live!

This time it is a review of Joan Marie Verba’s Boldly Writing – A Trek Fan and Fanfiction History 1967 – 1987.

If you’re interested in my opinion / perspective of this book, please hop on over to Trek Fan Productions via the link below!

Review of Boldly Writing – A Trek Fan and Fanfiction History 1967 – 1987


Boldly Writing – A Trek Fan and Fanfiction History 1967 – 1987 by Joan Marie Verba is a quietly wonderful book which will appeal to those with an interest in the roots of fan fiction and the development of really the first true fandom as we understand the phenomenon today.Verba, an avid collector and contributor to fanzines from ‘the beginning’ (she first encountered the fandom in 1969 although she had loved Star Trek from the first episode), gives us a history of fanzines from the valuable perspective of someone who was actually part of the movement.

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #11 – #20 Review

Previous Post – Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #1 – #10 Review

Gosh, that came around fast!  Time for my second summary / analysis, this time (unsurprisingly) of books ##11 to #20.  Well almost #11 to #20, I haven’t read / reviewed #17 Star Trek III – Search for Spock, because a) it isn’t essential for the purposes of this review and, b) I don’t have the will to read another Vonda film tie-in massacre.  I will read it, don’t worry, I’m just currently enjoying not reading it.

Books #11 to #20 are as follows:

#11 Yesterday’s Son – A C Crispin – August 1983 – Year: 2270 (after TOS)

#12  Mutiny on the Enterprise – Robert E Vardeman – October 1983 – Year: 2268 (after The Klingon Gambit)

#13 The Wounded Sky – Diane Duane – December 1983 – Year: 2275 (between TMP and TWOK)

#14 The Trellisane Confrontation – David Dvorkin – February 1984 – Year: 2269 (After TOS)

#15 Corona – Greg Bear – April 1984 – Year: 2270 (After TOS)

#16 The Final Reflection – John M Ford – May 1984 – Years: 2230s  / 2270s

#17 Star Trek III – Search for Spock – Vonda N McIntyre – June 1984 – Year: 2285

#18 My Enemy, My Ally – Diane Duane – July 1984 – Year: 2275 (between TMP and TWOK)

#19 The Tears of the Singers – Melinda Snodgrass – September 1984 – Year: 2270 (After TOS)

#20 The Vulcan Academy Murders – Jean Lorrah – November 1984 – Year: 2267 (After Journey to Babel)

Immediate Observations

• One film novelisation – #17 Star Trek III – Search for Spock – Vonda N McIntyre.  Film tie-ins ignore publishing schedule.
• Six out of ten books are written by female authors (3/5)
• Diane Duane writes two novels in this selection.
• Only two novels take place within the TOS timeline.
• For the first time we see a ‘prequel’ story (2230s)
• ‘After TOS’ but before TMP is the most popular time period (4/10)

Personally I think that this group of ten are on average a better quality than the first ten.  A C Crispin, Diane Duane, and John M Ford are the strongest writers, though Robert E Vardeman doesn’t lag far behind.

Context

So here is where it all starts to get interesting as fans are starting to respond to the quality of the books produced in the previous ten tie-ins.  The rumblings in the fan community about the quality of the novels, within the time period of the next ten we’ll see a crack down on the guidelines for the novels.

Fans were complaining about the quality of Star Trek novels.   Some were pointing out that these ‘pro-authors’ couldn’t reach the lofty expectations of those who had read and enjoyed the 1970s fanfiction, propagated in fanzines.  Lisa Wahl in the June 1983 issue of Interstat, suggested boycotting the October and November novelisations (then Timescape).  This was met with opposition by fans who had read the manuscript of Yesterday’s Son however as it would interfere with its release.

On the other hand, there was (and is) always a market for even the most derided works, whatever the fandom.  I have myself seen reviews on Good Reads which give books I hated 5/5, praising them as some of the best novelisations available.  It all depends on which narrative is strongest.  At the time of the early Pocket/Timescape Star Trek novels, pro-authors who wrote in report positive feedback and letters from fans.

I have to admit, if I was alive and reading Star Trek novels as they came out, I would have been disappointed with the first ten too, reading the first ten all together was difficult!  Books #11 – #20 seem to have turned a corner quality wise however (well bar TSFS, I don’t have to read that to know it’ll be tripe) with some super strong authors trying their hand at Star Trek.

It’s good to see that yet again the majority of books are written by women in this selection and that the strongest books are also those written by women.

Story / Theme Trends

There was actually a lot more variation in these novels, and there appears to be less of a focus on individuals and more of a focus on the Enterprise and its crew as a whole.  This made it a little harder to pin down the story trends.

Ignoring the film adaptation.

• 1 ‘prequel’ story (TFR)
• 3 stories expand on Vulcan culture (YS, C, TVAM)
• 1 story expands on Romulan culture (MEMA)
• 1 story expands on Klingon culture (TFR)
• 4 stories in which Romulans are involved as a faction (YS, MOTE, TTC, MEMA)
• 4 stories in which Klingons are involved as a faction (MOTE, TTC, TFR,TTOTS)
• 5 stories featuring new species (MOTE, TWS, TTC,C, TTS)
• 1 story with obvious slash (YS)
• 2 stories with mild slash subtext (TWS, MEMA)
• First story with a focus on Uhura (TTOTS)
• 2 Kirk-centric stories (MOTE, TVAM)
• 1 Spock-centric story (YS)
• 3 stories which rely on out of character behaviour (TTC, C, TTS)
• 5 stories rely on strong original characters (YS, MOTE, TWS, TFR, MEMA)
• 2 stories which have Kirk injured as an important part of the narrative (YS, TWS)
• 3 stories continue the theme of entropy and the weaving / unweaving of reality (TWS, C, TTOTS)

McCoy is once again not a popular character as a focus but he is written well generally throughout this selection of novels.

In my previous summary I suggested that the first ten books were quite inward looking, focusing on adventure instead of wider social problems.  In this selection that trend has shifted more towards a consideration of society than the adventurous, wonderment of a select group of characters.

The Klingons and the Romulans are equally represented in these books!  Even to the point of having one Klingon and one Romulan centric book each!

The first ‘Uhura centric’ story was… and interesting experience, but I’ve noted it down as relying on out of character actions…unfortunately the out of character, character was Uhura…

Entropy, the nature of it and the importance of it (the necessity of it even) has grown as an important aspect theme / story element.

Writing of original characters was so much better this time around, original, well written.

Poor cinnamon roll Kirk was inflicted with serious injury twice for the sake of the narrative… and some slashy vindication.  Spock gets the emotional trauma, Kirk gets physical trauma.  Bless them.

Themes

• #11 YS : Family.  Different kinds of love.  The role/love of the father. Shame.
• #12 MOTE : Duty over self. Pacifism / inaction is still action.
• #13 TWS : Entropy.  Different kinds of love.  The best self.  Weight of responsibility. God and the soul.  Loyalty.
• #14 TTC : Appearances can be deceiving.  Best of two evils.
• #15 C : Entropy.  Change.
• #16 TFR : Life is a game.  For the greater good.  Appearances can be deceiving.  Different kinds of love.
• #18 MEMA : For the greater good.  Different kinds of love.  Duty over self.  Loyalty.
• #19 TTOTS : Entropy.  Duty.  Different kinds of love.  The best self.  For the greater good.
• #20 TVAM : Crack.   Family.  Different kinds of love.

As I was reading this group of books, I did feel that the same themes were cropping up again and again.  They felt more cohesive as a series although this could be put down to the average standard of writing being significantly better than in books #1 to #10.

However, I do think that TMP has influenced the themes in this selection, which perhaps it wouldn’t have in the earlier ones.  Essentially, the fanbase/writers have had time to respond to the themes which cropped up in the movie and this has bled into these novels.  Nobody can dispute the theme that dare not speak its name in TMP – love – and whereas there was no real thematic presence of ‘love’ previously we see it in the majority here.  And it really is the theme of different kinds of love too, and it seems that Yesterday’s Son was the herald for the change in tone with its depiction of two kinds of love, familial and whatever it is between Kirk and Spock.  Heh.  It is doesn’t even matter if you think it is romantic or not, it is devotion.

Devotion, duty, loyalty also are strong themes here, although seen in TMP, I think we can certainly look to TWOK ‘s influence for the proliferation of those themes.

Certainly I think that the films have on the whole influenced the novelists here to look at the wider picture and deal with the bigger issues, bigger questions.  We still have ‘smaller’ issues like seal clubbing,  or personal human experience like ‘family’ but the authors are also tackling God and the soul, pacifism, life’s purpose, the nature of entropy.  Big concepts for media-tie ins, right? 

Star Trek – The Final Reflection

“There is always,” Manager Akten said, “the Komerex zha.“
“I do not acknowledge the existence of the Perpetual Game,” Margon said without turning.  “Society is society, war is war.  If they are games at all, surely they are not all the same game.  I deny it.”
“That is a favoured tactic,” Akten said.
“Green Lancer to Level Nine.”

If I wasn’t systematically working through all these Star Trek novels and gave myself an option of whether to give myself a pass on ones I didn’t like the sound of (based on the blurbs), The Final Reflection (#16 Pocket, # Titan) (1984) by John M Ford would have been one of them.  If I had indeed done this and not just forced myself to read something that sounded ultimately uninteresting to me I would have seriously missed out on a top notch Star Trek novel from the Pocket Books series.

Spock and Krenn play a game of chess while Sarek looks on? (Sarek isn’t there in the book)

Saying that, I wouldn’t say that it has converted me to novels with this kind of focus, it is still not really to my taste, however saying that I can’t deny that it is well written, well plotted, well paced.  Characterisation is very strong, the narrative is consistent and well framed.  The suggestions about Klingon society believable and well thought out (unlike the later novel Pawns and Symbols).  It’s almost a shame that this is a Star Trek novel because I think it could almost be better not constrained by Star Trek.  Much of the novel is I suppose speculative in a way and set well outside most fans knowledge of Star Trek bar the framing narrative it could be its own standalone story.  I expect that the framing narrative was bolted on in order for it to be published by Pocket Books as a TOS novel since although the narrative works it isn’t the strongest.  Although I generally like framing narratives and the like (this is pretty much the earliest example of it in a TOS novel) I do feel it is the worst aspect of The Final Reflection.

The late John M Ford seems to have been an interesting character to say the least (he died in 2006).  The Final Reflection was his fourth published novel and was released hot on the heels of his 1984 World Fantasy Award winning novel The Dragon Waiting.  Ford would go onto write another Star Trek novel ‘How Much For Just The Planet‘ and also write a Klingon orientated RP scenario for the FASA RPG series.  Ford was known for his aversion for doing things that had been done before, which would explain his framing narrative (not seen until now in the Pocket Book series) and his introduction of ‘Klingonaase‘.

The framing narrative is an effective if perhaps a little ham fisted way of getting rid of the TOS cast for the duration of the actual ‘story’ that Ford wants to tell.  In essence, you start The Final Reflection, the Pocket Books version you are holding in your hands, read the prologue, and then start the book that Kirk is reading in his cabin; title page, contents, prologue and all.  I think it was a nice touch to have the contents page there and the ‘note from the author’, as well as quotes from the characters who reportedly took part in the events of the novel within the novel.

As a consequence of the novel within a novel format, we end up with three dates to take into account.  The Final Reflection of our world was released in May 1984, the events of the framing narrative take place in the 2270s (I’d say between TMP and TWOK), and the events of the novel within the novel take place over about 15-20 years… ish… in the 2230s.  It’s interesting to note that TSFS came out in June 1984.

The acknowledgement by Ford at the front of the book asserts that Ford had been developing this story for about 15 years… and it shows in two ways.  Firstly, it is an excellently constructed story which frankly, only comes about from serious time and work.  Secondly it is also regularly confusing as some characters / sections seem to have been added in to account for the change in looks between the TOS Klingons and the Klingons from TMP onwards.  As far as I understood while reading the main character is of the ‘new’ style Klingons (pointy teeth and forehead ridges), although sometimes it seems he isn’t (especially as he seems to be a ‘fusion’ – hybrid to you and me).  There is a notable character who seems to be a ‘TOS era’ Klingon who is definitely a ‘fusion’.  However, I could be misunderstanding, it would however possibly fit in with various fan theories at the time (one being that the Klingons seen in TOS were a group used for diplomatic purposes etc.).  Of course we now have an explanation for the change in appearance thanks to Enterprise, but at this time there was no such explanation.

The bulk of the novel follows the life of Krenn and his fortunes, starting as a talented youngster and ending as an established commander and one could say, diplomat.  There are through necessity frequent time jumps, some of which can be a little confusing.  Krenn is generally a likable character for a Klingon, I mean, he’s still a murderous bastard but he is intelligent and charming in his own way.  The friendships he builds up and his relationships especially with Dr Talgore are endearing.  Although I think the sweetest moment of the whole novel is that he ends up romancing his childhood sweetheart… well as sweetheartish as Klingons get anyway.

Of course, this low key but super cute (do I need to add for a Klingon again?) beats the Kang relationship in Pawns and Symbols hands down.  It’s quite obvious that The Final Reflection heavily influenced Pawns and Symbols, as there are quite a few cultural parallels between the Klingons and the narrative is similar in that the ‘main cast’ are excluded from much of the action.

There are a good few scenes/characters that stick out to me.

– The death of Krenn’s adoptive father and his household.
– Sarek & Amanda – then the chess game between Krenn and Spock
– Scene with McCoy’s grandfather.

Honestly, the assassination of the ‘Thought Admiral’, his consort (who happens to be an Orion), and his servants is possibly the most gut wrenching event.  Testament to Ford’s writing ability, I actually felt appalled and saddened by the deaths of these characters he barely told me about.  The death of the ‘winged’ alien was particularly nasty.  Krenn thought so too, although all he was doing was watching a video of the assassinations taking place.  I thought it particularly moving that he realises ‘love’ between his father and the Orion consort, although he doesn’t understand it until much later.

The chess game depicted on the cover is a very minor cameo of a young Spock, and Sarek never sees it, Amanda does.  Some nice observations here.

McCoy’s ‘cameo’ is by reference.  Some people have derided the choice of actually referencing him instead of making it more ambiguous, but I actually like the way it’s done and I don’t actually think it detracts at all.  I had to laugh though since Kirk was no where near born at this point, but I think McCoy has been aged a little?  I could be wrong.  I think Spock is just a child (much younger than the picture, so I think it makes sense… I haven’t done the maths).

Life as a Game – Klingons and the Perpetual Game.

At the forefront of The Final Reflection is the idea that everything that occurs is part of a universal and never ending game.  Some people subscribe to it, some people reject it, some are players and others are pawns.  Ford suggests that Klingon society revolves around this belief and that Klingons see their actions, their lives and interactions with others as a game – this to a certain level accounts for the Klingon distrust of each other, and their devious nature.

Excluding the framing narrative and the book ‘bumf’, the opening of Krenn’s story is a game in which he is a pawn – a lancer – in a bloody deadly game where the ‘players’ move pieces (children in this case) around a board.  When they meet an opponent they have to fight until one is incapacitated defending a ‘goal’.  The one who reaches the top wins the match.  Characters are introduced and just as quickly exit the story; their games are elsewhere for the time being.  Eventually some characters will come back as pawns or players in their own right.  Ford does very well in creating the illusion that the universe is bigger than just Krenn, characters weave in an out of the narrative playing their own games, Krenn is just one player amongst billions.  Krenn doesn’t know all the characters (nor does the ‘novelist’ persona) but there is just enough information about them to make you want to know more, which, for the most part you are never given.

Krenn (or perhaps more accurately the novelist) plays games in a broad sense with the reader.  One of the lessons Krenn learns young is not to say anything you do not wish to be heard, basically ‘keep your own council’, because of the constant surveillance of the Empire.  The reader is also kept in the dark at several points, which sometimes makes Krenn’s actions inscrutable.  At times the reader does not realise that Krenn knows something, which can make him hard to follow.  This actually fits into the framing narrative, because the novelist also doesn’t know everything, he’s recreating events that sometimes, not even he understands.  Not even the author understands the rules of the game.

Different games are mentioned and/or explained.  They are predominantly board games which resemble to a differing extent, chess.  A few are referred to throughout the novel as events unfold and they are reflected in the moves and goals of the games themselves.  Like the first game we see, the game of life is lethal and Krenn relearns this lesson early as he witnesses the fall of his adoptive father, his father’s consort, and his household, because his father is outmanoeuvred in his play.  It takes some time for Krenn to realise the extent of his father’s love for Rogaine (his Orion consort), even when watching his father reaching toward her as he died.  Krenn realises his own feelings later, and no doubt acts with his father’s actions in mind.

Krenn’s final ‘play’, which prevents galaxy wide war isn’t just an altruistic action.  Although it prevents war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire which is obviously a good thing from our perspective, it also prevents the Federation from fully allying through fear and pooling all their resources against the Klingons.  Krenn’s stance?  It is left up to the reader, but from my perspective Dr. Talgore was successful in his influence of Krenn and although his actions benefited the empire in the long run, I think Krenn, with his exposure to the other races and his strategic mind had decided peace would be a better option if not joining with the Federation.

For his part, Krenn influences those around him by changing the way he is perceived in order to get the upper hand in an exchange of words and wits.  He has many masks, which are assets to him in his game.

So, what is the final reflection? Humans and Klingons reflect each other, or at least the Klingons reflect an aspect of humanity which is pretty much how they were developed (although sparingly) and then developed through the future series and films.  In The Final Reflection, we see instances of humans playing the same games as the Klingons, corrupt games of power, misdirection, and devious strategies – even inciting a war is not too great a price to pay in these games.  However, the reflection is like looking into an infinity mirror.  Even whilst we point out the flaws of the Klingons, Ford points to their humanity, to Krenn, and his trusted friends – the ‘other’ isn’t so different after all.

Essentially Ford is drawing attention to the way we perceive and treat our enemies.  Klingons, Conservatives, Socialists, Liberals, Muslims, Jews, Christians, pro-life, pro-choice,  people gain from demonising the other, they benefit from dehumanising and preventing conversation.  Even in the final section, the closing of the framing narrative Kirk reports that Star Fleet are announcing that The Final Reflection is all fiction, even though its effect appears to be positive.  The Final Reflection, a novel within a novel tries elicit understanding beyond the Organian Peace Treaty, which does not facilitate understanding at all (it’s essentially mutually assured destruction – a cold war). 

The Final Reflection contains some of the best that Star Trek has to offer.  Star Trek is always at its best when being used as a vehicle for asking (and answering) the big questions of our time.  Ford shows us a story told without the main cast can be done and done well, however I still think some of the charm is lost without their presence.  Even though the development of the series took the Klingons in a different direction to Ford’s vision, this is still a great read and well worth your time.  Call it an AU or put The Final Reflection as a work of liberal Federation propaganda, either way I seriously recommend it.

5/5 – Let the games begin!

“Be a storyteller, an embellisher, a liar; they’ll call you that and worse anyway.  It hardly matters.  The Tao which can be perceived is not the true Tao.” 

– Dr. Emmanuel Tagore, to the author.

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #1 – #10 Review

With finishing #7 Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan I finally complete my goal of reading the first 10 books in the Pocket Book Star Trek novel series (naturally out of sequence).  Every 10 I intend to do a little summary / analysis of the books in that number range, I suspect that there will be some interesting trends!  It’s not really an essay yet, just some thoughts.

Warning: This is probably quite dry and boring!

The first 10 books are as follows:

#1 Star Trek The Motion Picture – A novel by Gene Roddenberry – December 1979 – Year : 2273

#2 The Entropy Effect – Vonda N McIntyre – June 1981 – Year – 2270 (after TOS)

#3 The Klingon Gambit – Robert E Vardeman – October 1981 – 2268 (between ‘By Any Other Name’ and ‘Return to Tomorrow’)

#4 The Covenant of the Crown – Howard Weinstein – December 1981 – 2276 (between films 1 & 2)

#5 The Prometheus Design – Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath – March 1982 – 2274 (between films 1 & 2)

#6 The Abode of Life – Lee Correy – May 1982 – 2270 (after TOS)

#7 Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan – Vonda N McIntyre – July 1982 – 2285

#8 Black Fire – Sonni Cooper – January 1983 – 2270 (after TOS)

#9 Triangle – Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath – March 1983 – 2274 (between films 1 & 2)

#10 Web of the Romulans – M S Murdock – June 1983 – 2267 (between ‘Tomorrow is Yesterday’ and ‘Space Seed’)

There are couple of observations we can make right off the bat:

• The most special aspect of this start to the Pocket Books series is that it starts with a novel attributed to Roddenberry himself.  These by the way are not the first published Star Trek books (I wrote about that here) but it is Roddenberry’s first and only Star Trek novel.
• There are two film novelisations.
• Six out of the ten books are written by female authors (3/5)
• Vonda N McIntyre, and writing partners Marshak and Culbreath write two novels each (2/5).
• Only two novels take place within the TOS timeline.

This is the only group of 10 books in which there are two film novelisations.  Vonda N McIntyre will not write another original Star Trek story until Enterprise – The First Adventure.  She will however pen another two film novelisations.

Publishing & Authors Notes

Looking at the publication dates is quite surprising.  There is quite a gap between the publication of the TMP novel – December 1979 – and the publication of The Entropy Effect – June 1981 – a gap of eighteen months.  Personally, I would want to capitalise on the release and popularity of the TMP novel and schedule the next novel within the next three months, but obviously this doesn’t happen and they wait a year and a half for their next release.  After the release of The Entropy Effect they then release 3 a year at irregular intervals.  Again, why not keep it regular?  That way you can have your audience expecting the next book – perhaps publishing worked differently in the 70s… Do you think if I wrote a letter to them they would be able to shed light on the subject!?

Although only two of the novels take place within the TOS timeline, only three of the eight non film novels take place between the two films.  Three of the books take place ‘after TOS’.

Robert E Vardeman, Howard Weinstein, and Lee Correy were all at this point previously published sci-fi / technical authors.  Weinstein wrote an episode of Star Trek The Animated Series, and remains the youngest writer to pen a Star Trek episode.

Marshak and Culbreath, McIntyre, and Sonni Cooper were well known in Star Trek fanzine circles.  Marshak and Culbreath had already penned two Star Trek novels under a different publisher, Triangle and The Prometheus Design are continuation of that story, which I think is another really strange decision.  Sidetracking a bit, but Marshak & Culbreath reference events in their previous novels under the other publisher along with continually referencing events from the series in foot notes.  The absolutely stinks of feeling they have to justify themselves to a wider fan community.  I think it’s a strange decision to allow referencing to part of the series under another publisher.  Marshak was also involved with the production / writing of Star Trek Lives.

Considering the perceived sexism in Star Trek / Sci-fi / Comic fandoms / fan communities, I really did find it refreshing and positive that over half of the novels published in the first ten Pocket Book Star Trek series were published by women.  I am however disappointed by the standard of writing, which in my opinion (which is of course subjective) is well below that of their male counterparts.  Sure, the men who are published here were already establishing themselves as authors, but, Marshak and Culbreath were also published previously, as was, I believe Sonni Cooper (although I may have misunderstood the forward).  I think that M S Murdock is the only author here not to have been previously published.

I know that perhaps I’m a little harsh on some of these novels, and I rip them to shreds if I am feeling inclined, but I feel the excuse of ‘but they weren’t using professional novelists like they are today’ a poor reason for so-so quality in published books.  Perhaps it’s more the editors that are to blame for the problems with the novels, but even so it’s not like the publishing schedule in the mid 90s where they were publishing every month or two – and that is cited as being a period of poor quality.  Three books a year isn’t really a fast turn over.

I also wonder if certain prejudices against women writers within Star Trek could at least have come from impatience or disappointment with books like Triangle and The Prometheus Design.  It’s a shame since women were such a massive force behind the fandom.  Currently, Star Trek publications are dominated by male writers.  The last Star Trek TOS book written by a woman was in 2010.  For the last seven years the same male writers have dominated the Star Trek TOS novel scene.  I really don’t believe that women are not submitting manuscripts!

Story / Theme Trends

Actually, this was tougher than I thought it was going to be.

Usually I’m pretty good at spotting trends and such and I expected there to be perhaps a dominant theme within fan writing (certainly I have noticed it in later novels) but there doesn’t seem to be a particular trend.

Ignoring the two film adaptations:

• 1 Time travel story (TEE)
• 2 Kirk-centric stories (TKG, TAOL)
• 1 McCoy-centric story (TCOTC)
• 2 Spock-centric stories (TEE, BF)
• 2 stories in which Kirk is removed from the narrative by death . injury (TEE, BF)
• 3 stories with obvious slash (TEE, TPD, T)
• 2 stories with mild slash subtext (BF, WOTR)
• 1 story tries to expand on Vulcans (TPD)
• 2 stories featuring Romulans as a main faction (BF, WOTR)
• 3 stories featuring Klingons as a main faction (TKG, TCOTC, BF)
• 7 stories feature new species (TEE, TKG, TCOTC, TPD, TAOL, BF, T, WOTR)
• 4 stories which rely on out of character behaviour by one or more characters (TEE, TPD, BF, T)
• 2/3 stories written by men have Kirk as the ‘main character’ (TKG, TAOL), 1/3 have McCoy (TCOTC).
• The female writers tend to prefer Spock or pairing him off with Kirk (skewed by Marsh and Culbreath).  McCoy does not seem to be a favourite character amongst this group.

Themes in the eight non film novels seem to be quite inward looking, in contrast to the original TV series which often dealt with social issues.  This set of novels seems to be more concerned with adventure rather than exploring social problems, which is quite strange considering some of the most loved episodes were ones which highlighted current problems.

Themes could be considered as:

• #2 TEE : None. Time travel story, no analogue.
• #3 TKG : Life is diverse.  Always thinking the worst of your enemy causes problems.
• #4 TCOTC : Duty over self.
• #5 TPD : None.  ((Hurt/Comfort fiction))
• #6 TAOL : Church and State / Traditionalists vs. Progression / Conservative vs. Liberal
• #8 BF : Change is possible.  Trust & Loyalty.
• #9 T : None. ((Hurt / Comfort fiction))
• #10 WOTR : Patience is a virtue.  Desperate times, desperate measures.

That’s probably the best I can come up with.  Instead of dealing with ‘big’ issues like racism etc.  the authors have chosen to deal with smaller subjects which deal with internal, personal problems.  The exception being The Abode of Life which deals with the always contentious problems of church and state and conservative vs liberal ideals.

That’s all the thoughts I have on this for now!  If this interests you, let me know what you think!  Perhaps there’s something I’m not seeing.  🙂

Star Trek Legacies – Captain to Captain

“Right on schedule,” Kirk observed.  “I always heard that she was known for her punctuality.”
“You heard correctly, Captain,” Spock said.  “In my experience, she is admirably precise in all matters.”

Ok so, there’s kind of a funny story to go with reading this one.  Well, I go away to visit the family for Christmas and then manage to not take a single book with me to their place because my bag with my life in got left at our place.  I was not amused to say the least.   Anyway, after Christmas we went shopping, there happened to be a Waterstone’s book store, I went straight to the Scifi section (you know the drill)… and would you look at that, somehow I ended up buying the 50th Anniversary ‘Legacies’ trilogy.  Considering I have 127 books on their way to me by mail, my partner was not amused… but The Special 50th Anniversary Trilogy hunny!

Before I launch into the review proper, I’m going to clue you up on The Special 50th Anniversary Trilogy (I just like putting it in bold, I get kicks out of strange things) is.  As you can probably guess (unless you are a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fan) there are three books in this trilogy (not four)  and they are as follows:

Star Trek Legacies

Book 1 – Captain to Captain by Greg Cox

Book 2 – Best Defence by David Mack

Book 3 – Purgatory’s Key by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

So, we’ve got a trilogy written by four different authors, not particularly unusual.  If Greg Cox sounds familiar, you may have read one of some of his many Star Trek novels, or you might have read my Child of Two Worlds review.  I’ve come across the names of the two other authors once or twice before but I don’t think I’ve read anything by them.  I’ve got to admit, I’m a little disappointed that there are no female authors involved in this project, considering the number of female authors who have written Star Trek novels and how influential female fans have been to Star Trek generally.  Are there no active female authors in the Star Trek novel world at this point in time.  Sorry rambling again.  Anyway, Greg Cox writing the first novel can only be a good thing right?

The Legacies trilogy was initially released from June to August 2016 with the paperback releases running from July to September 2016, all ready for Star Trek’s 50th anniversary in September.

For the cover art on all three books they have employed Alan Dingman and used the more ‘photographic’ or should I say ‘photoshop’ style for the covers.  I’d say the strongest cover of the three is ‘Best Defence’ while the weakest unfortunately is ‘Captain to Captain’.  The three books are colour coded Captain to Captain is predominantly green, Best Defence is most definitely blue and, Purgatory’s Key is… red.  Have you twigged yet?  The original colour for the command uniform was green, science is blue and red is operations / security; they have reflected the uniform colours in the colours of the books.

I have to admit, the cover didn’t win me over immediately, although I was intrigued by Number One or ‘Una’ being on the front next to Kirk and Spock.  I was torn between getting the trilogy and a book with a prettier cover, but as you probably gathered, the trilogy won out in the end.  Probably because book two has a very pretty cover.  You’ll notice on this one though, that Number One has got captain’s braid on her sleeve, unsurprisingly Miss ‘Number One in everything’ got busy climbing the ranks in Starfleet.

Being the first book in a trilogy, Cox has a lot more play in how complex a story he can create.  Being a planned trilogy he doesn’t have to worry about wrapping the story up in one episode, and certainly doesn’t have to worry about tying up any lose ends or returning the universe back to the status quo by the time he types his last word.  This kind of freedom cuts both ways for Cox who has the opportunity to play with a character he really seems to love and get on with but consequently seems to spend a little too much time on her.

Captain to Captain (2016) revolves around a secret, a secret that only the captains of the Enterprise and their trusted first officers have knowledge of.  The secret is a key which has been concealed even from Starfleet and kept on the Starship Enterprise since the time of Captain Robert April (the ‘first’ Captain of the Enterprise) through to Captain James T Kirk (the ‘third’ Captain of the Enterprise).  The ‘key’ is a device that can open a door to another dimension from which a race of technologically advanced but hideously paranoid and genocidal ‘slugs’ hail.

The officer who first led the mission which ended with sending the ‘slugs’ back to their dimension and acquisition of this mysterious key?  None other than ‘Number One’ or ‘Una’, who is of course Majel Roddenberry’s (nee Barrett) character in the original pilot.  In Captain to Captain, Number One is back now as ‘Captain Una’, on track to being promoted to Commodore Una, she has to act fast to undo mistakes of the past before she is stuck behind a desk and new territorial lines are drawn which may put the Libros system deep in Klingon territory.  Captain Una takes a well considered risk and steals the key from a secret compartment in Kirk’s quarters and escapes from the Enterprise and into the Libros system, slingshotting herself around a sun to give herself the edge over a pursuing Enterprise.  At this point I expected some cooky timetravel escapade, but instead I was forced into a walk down memory lane which felt like it was never going to end.   Una’s ‘adventure’ is actually her recollection of the first away mission she lead, which of course went hideously wrong.  For all intents and purposes it really shouldn’t have gone wrong, Una is apparently an incredibly able and intelligent Illyrian, but… she’s also remarkably dull.  I rather liked Cox’s rendition of her in Child of Two Worlds where she is competent and no nonsense, but here she seems stricken with ISS and a strange psychosis where she keeps reminding herself (and us) that she’s number one in everything, aside from critical thinking.  Perhaps I’m just suffering from ‘Number One’ over exposure, since about 80% of the book over concerns itself with her.  Kirk and Spock are on the cover just to reassure us that they will have a part to play eventually.  I have to admit, I don’t find young Una a very compelling protagonist.  ANYWAY long story short, her away mission crew get transported into an alternate dimension by the horrible slug people, the secret item is the key for unlocking the stargate device that could bring them home.  Unfortunately, at the time she was unable to manipulate the machinery to bring them back (and she was explicitly told not to by the good slug person), but now, in a nice link to the episode ‘Mirror Mirror’ and her excellent memory she is confident that she can bring them back, if they are even alive.  After an incredibly protracted sojourn in the past, we return to the present to follow Una again and watch her cock up again until she finally meets up with a waiting Kirk & Spock who finally get some action.   

Predictably, although she can manipulate the machinery, the arrival of the Klingons gives her little time to locate her crew members to bring them back, so she goes into the desolate alternate universe to find them, hoping to bring them back to the right location in 30 days and have Kirk and Spock operate the machinery and bring them home.  Of course, the Klingons are now swarming the place and coming back to the planet seems almost impossible.

Kirk and Spock are then left to their own devices to escape the Klingons, which they do, but not before their ship is irreparably damaged and only get saved by the Enterprise in the nick of time.

Kirk and Spock seal the Key back into the new safe in the Enterprise, and finally let McCoy in on the secret, since not trusting your crew mates /  friends is what got everyone in this mess in the first place.

There’s a plot twist right at the end, clearly marked with flashing neon signs.  It’s incredibly contrived and irritating.

End of Book 1.

Number One is kind of a problematic character, in that she’s this super confident, super able officer and she has apparently always been this way but suffers from the author’s attempt to make her young and inexperienced – think what Vonda N McIntyre did to the crew in her abomination ‘The First Adventure’.  It was quite surprising actually because Cox’s treatment of Number One in Child of Two Worlds was really strong and a really nice expansion of the character.  Cox obviously has a love for the character of Number One and I can see his enthusiasm, but… I can’t feel it.  It’s unusual but, I didn’t dislike the character but I felt a little confused over what she actually was.  Oh sure, I know she’s an Illyrian, I know she’s outrageously competent, I know she prefers trousers to skirts but I don’t know why she has to keep confirming her competence.  I don’t think she’s arrogant, she just knows she’s the best and it’s true, but then why does she have to confirm her actions or her intentions or her abilities over and over again with internal dialogue like ‘because I’m Number One’?  Is she actually nervous? Neurotic?

I agree that if you are going to use Number One for any length of time then you’ve got to do something to the character to bring her down to earth, but even with her slight neurosis and hideously stupid mistakes she remains unrelateable – which is a problem when 3/4 of the book concerns itself with her.  Although her idiosyncrasies and illogical actions were at times frustrating, she doesn’t spoil the book, I just got the feeling that there was a better was to express her or perhaps a better way for the events to unfold.  Perhaps, for example, it isn’t her leading the landing party and she has to fix other people’s mistakes but it’s too far down the pan for even her outstanding abilities.

I don’t want to give too much of the idea that she’s a bad character, you might have less of a problem with her than I do, and certainly it’s not a bad story by any means. It’s just a little weak at times, which I can only really attribute to the prolonged section in the middle with Una (formerly Number One)… and then the prolonged section in Enterprise’s ‘present’ with Una.  I’m Una’d out! 

Pretty much the only interaction with the TOS crew is between Kirk and Spock, McCoy is pretty much written out Captain to Captain pretty early on and other characters are just bit parts.  Even so, characterisation is both good and bad in equal measure.  In the first part of the book, before the story jumps backwards to Number One’s first away mission, nothing really jumps out at you as being inconsistent.  Again the focus is on Captain Una and not on the Enterprise crew, interaction is limited to Kirk and Spock exchanging furtive glances and shutting down McCoy’s enquiries.  The final section of the book (post Una’s departure) details Kirk and Spock’s escape was fast paced but also had the most lapses in the characters of Kirk and Spock:

“I think I’ve had enough of you piloting, no offence”
Spock gave him a bemused look.  “If I had feelings they would be hurt.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”

Yeah, that face you’re pulling?  That’s my face too.  I’ll make sure we’re on the same page with an emoji – 😒 .  The less said about that stirling dialogue the better, yes?

Some reviews I’ve read for this novel have been glowing, others less so.  For me personally, it was OK, middling, worth reading but nothing special.  I’m still looking forward to the rest of the trilogy though because the story is interesting and I’m also looking forward to seeing what the other three writers are going to bring to the table.  First books in a trilogy are always pretty difficult for writers, especially when they are only writing the first volume, and while I don’t agree with other reviewers that the instalment can stand alone, it’s merits aren’t completely dependant on a follow on story.

3/5 – Time to change pilots.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!  FYI, I’m in a good, rested mood, I’m not just being mean!  EDIT: Also, I can’t seem to spell… ahh well, all fixed!

A note on Pocket Books, Titan Books & Simon & Schuster Editions.

***Warning – the content of this post is exceptionally dry***

So until recently I hadn’t really looked up the differences in editions.  I had been confused as to why the numbering was different between the US Pocket Books edition and the UK Titan Books edition.  I was also wondering why newer books in the UK were being published under Simon & Schuster and not Titan and why I have an Orbit edition of The Entropy Effect.  Another query I had was why all the numbering has been dropped.  I’d also noticed there are new editions of the older novels coming out from Simon & Schuster.

I may have all the answers now (and perhaps a few answers to questions I hadn’t asked…)

Pocket Books & Simon & Schuster (US) (UK 1993 – present)

Pocket Books is a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster.  Simon & Schuster was sold to Gulf+Western (also owners of Paramount Pictures) in 1975.  Simon & Schuster was incorporated into Viacom in 2002.

Pocket Books acquired the license to publish Star Trek fiction in 1978 because Gulf+Western wanted to develop a book line alongside Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Pocket books then became the sole officially licensed publisher for Star Trek novelisations.

The TOS novelisations are numbered to 93 – In the name of Honor (2002) – subsequent installments are left unnumbered.

After Titan Books’ final release in 1993, Simon & Schuster published under the Pocket imprint in the UK.

Titan Books (UK)

Titan Books (a division of Titan Entertainment) was the UK publisher for the Star Trek novels as published under Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books.  Titan Books has it’s own numbering scheme because it started serialisation with Pocket’s latest release – Chain of Attack (Pocket #32) – and opted to slot in the older novels between new novel releases.  In addition to being out of sequence with Pocket Books’ numbering, Titan Books also opted to release the longer Pocket series novels as repackaged ‘giant novels’ which were also not allocated a number; four ‘giant novels’ were released in total.

The final numbered TOS novel published in the UK by Titan was The Great Starship Race (1993), and was numbered 62 (Pocket #67), after which, Pocket Books released further TOS novels through Simon & Schuster UK.

Whitman Books (US) & Bantam Books (US)

Before Pocket Books,  Whitman Books published a single volume ‘Mission to Horatius’ in 1968.  Bantam Books then published 16  original Star Trek novels starting with ‘Spock Must Die’ in 1970 and ending with ‘Death’s Angel’ in 1981.  Bantam reprinted their 16 Star Trek novels throughout the 80s and 90s.

Between 1967 & 1978 Bantam books also published TOS episode adaptations.

Ballantine (US)

Published a line of animated series novelisations between 1974 and 1978.

Wanderer Books (US)

Published four books by William Rotsler in 1982 and 1984.

Archway Paperback (US)

Archway Paperback is an imprint of Pocket Books which is a division of Simon & Schuster.  Archway published two Star Trek game books in its series of 26 in 1984 & 1986.

Corgi Books (UK)

Corgi Books published seven Star Trek novels from the Bantam Books range starting with ‘Spock Must Die’ in 1974 and finishing with ‘Mudd’s Angels’ in 1978.  In the series of reprints in the 80s, only six were reprinted.

Corgi books also published Ballantine’s animated series novelisations.

Orbit Books (UK) 

In the UK, Orbit Books published one Star Trek novel ‘The Entropy Effect’ in (1981).  This book was number 2 in the Pocket Books range in 1981 and number 17 in the Titan Books range in 1988.

Simon & Schuster are currently in the process of reprinting selected TOS novels as well as continuing to publish new volumes.  I’m not sure how I feel about the covers to be honest!  They have decided to do away with the older style painted covers in favour of photoshopped images.  While I’m not surprised, I can’t say I like the change.  The older covers have so much character, and most of the newer covers are just generic, although some are quite pretty.

Titan, Pocket & Reprint Entropy Effect Cover.

Ok, so perhaps the Entropy Effect (urgh Vonda McIntyre) wasn’t the best example, but it is one reprint with a redesigned cover I happened upon the other day while on a book hunt.  While I’m not fond of the original cover, it does have a certain character to it.  I mean, you can’t mistake it for any other cover, Sulu with long hair and a droopy tache, the deliciously dated graphics that scream that particular late 70s early 80s aesthetic.  The new reprint could be anything, any story with Spock under some kind of psychic strain; I just don’t find it that appealing. 

Anyway, I hope you found this interesting, it was really for my benefit for getting it all straight in my  own head.  I realise there are reference books and the like as well as Shatnerverse novels which do not fit into continuity of the Pocket novels, but for the purposes of this post I’m leaving it with this.  It’s probably for the best, after all, when I was talking to my family about this they maintained a glazed expression for almost the entirety of my excited and interested spiel.  I find publishing histories and such quite interesting, but then again, I do tend to like quite dry subjects…

If I find anything else interesting regarding publishing and such I’ll add to this post.

References:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Novels

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Pocket_Books

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Titan_Books

http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_novels
http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries/tvscifibooks/startrek02.htm