Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #31 – #40 Review

March 8, 2018April 3, 2019 ~ Jenivix ~ Leave a comment

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?

New Guest Blog on Trek Sphere! – Where No (Wo)Man Will Go Again?

December 8, 2017April 3, 2019 ~ Jenivix ~ Leave a comment

Hello hello ~

Almost forgot to add this here (and that will not do!) – a new blog has gone live on Trek Sphere (formerly TrekFanProductions)!

This time I guess it’s an opinion piece on the dearth of female writers writing Star Trek TOS novels.

If you’re interested, please hop on across to the article on Trek Sphere using the link below:

Where No (Wo)Man Will Go Again – Where have all the women writers gone in Star Trek literature? And other fables.

Once upon a time in a decade not so long ago, a series of books began introducing new stories to a beloved franchise. Some of the stories were very, very bad, a selection of the stories were ‘alright’, and happily, a good portion were inspired.

One of the other most exciting things about this series of books was that the publishers in their desire for new and exciting content, cast their nets wide in order to capitalize on the success of their franchise. This resulted in a whole range of writers being published. Some were professional, published authors in their own right, others were fans and amateurs with promise, others still were scraping the bottom of the barrel – what were the editors thinking? I’ve asked myself after reading some of the more problematic love letters to the franchise.

The numbers vary in any year but if you look at the distribution of the authors something becomes very clear; in the beginning of the Pocket Books Star Trek TOS novel series there is broadly an even spread of male and female authors.

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #21 – #30 Review

September 30, 2017April 3, 2019 ~ Jenivix ~ 1 Comment

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!

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #11 – #20 Review

July 25, 2017 ~ Jenivix ~ Leave a comment

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?

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #1 – #10 Review

May 4, 2017April 3, 2019 ~ Jenivix ~ 5 Comments

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. 🙂

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

September 25, 2016 ~ Jenivix ~ 2 Comments

***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