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I'm sorry I missed deadline on this column last month folks. We had a fairly massive electrical storm that knocked out power for two days. Even though I got it finished on time, we hadn't gotten our internet, phone or cable working. On the plus side, it means you get two columns this month. That's right. I'm giving you, my readers, a present for my birthday. You better get me something other than socks or there will be Hell to pay. And yes, I know it seems like every other month is Star Trek month. Considering Star Trek books make up more than half of what is in my boxes it makes sense. This time there will be a few surprises. Amidst all the adventures of Kirk, Picard and Sisko are some unfamiliar characters. That's right- I'm going to read some of those novels that don't have a TV series to back them up. It wouldn't be the first time- I did read a Star Trek: New Frontier book last year. So let's begin...
- Star Trek - Vanguard - Harbinger By David Mack:
Off on the edges of the Federation's frontier is a place where you're just as likely to encounter Orion pirates, Klingon diplomats and the Tholian Army. This novel serves as a "pilot episode" for a Star Trek series that never existed. Set during Kirk's first five year mission- Vanguard is a Starbase in the mostly unexplored Taurus Reach. An area of space that Starfleet has put a lot of time into rapidly developing a fleet for mysterious reasons. Kirk and company put in for repairs there following the events of the classic episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." The book does a good job of using Kirk, Spock and Scotty as a way to introduce the new crew and setting. There is a stark contrast between the Enterprise and her crew and the crew of the Vanguard. . Commodore Reyes and his people function in an ethically grey area at best- sometimes crossing over the boundary.. Comparatively, Kirk and company are by the book. Everyone on the station has secrets- even the civilian characters. There are several of them here including: Tim Pennington, a reporter trying to figure out the purpose of the developments in the Taurus Reach and Cervantes Quinn a con man who gets caught and then blackballed by Starfleet intelligence. The book introduces a lot of characters but it does so with a purpose. Mainly so that their deaths will drive the rest of the characters to action. Once that happens the story goes in some wild unexpected directions for a Starfleet driven story. The main story about the loss of a ship under Vanguard's command- and the subsequent investigation and news reports into it- wraps up nicely. A little too nicely and in a way that makes you wonder when and how this will come to bite the crew in the ass. It makes you wonder who you should trust. It was a nice opening act for a strong series and I look forward to reading more of it in the future. But it will have to wait until 2013 because while I have the second book I did not order it in time for this year's deadline.
And now because somebody requested it- here's a Star Trek: The Original series novel. One that many claim remains a classic.
- Star Trek: Spock's World by Diane Duane:
This Star Trek novel from the 1980s sets out with an ambitious goal: to tell the definitive history of the planet Vulcan. It was written long before Star Trek: First Contact or Enterprise so a lot of the things that were later proven wrong can be forgiven. I'm also a huge fan of the two runs of Star Trek comics that were produced by DC Comics. Seeing some of the characters I'm familar with from those titles - mostly ones who were created Duane- was a treat. For me there were five serious problems. 1) The novel is set in the 23rd century and the electronic message system still relies on a BBS. Apparently in 23rd century computer technology hasn't progressed much beyond 1988. 2) It is completely impossible to place this story chronologically. Spock mentions his Kolihnar training which places it after Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Kirk is back as a captain, placing it after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. However remarks about not seeing a curly haired Vulcan would mean it took place before Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. I know Roddenberry's notebook said Saavik was half Romulan, but Duane's book says Spock is no less Vulcan for having a human parent. She can't have it both ways. 3) It mentions Kirk taking a demotion to Captain voluntarily places the whole thing out the window. That never happened. The best explanation for the ending of Star Trek IV is that he accepted his demotion as a reward for a job well done. Maybe that's the way Kirk would see it. 4) There is the minor subplot about genetically altered virus that lets you learn languages for brief periods that seem like a gimmick to make McCoy more palatable to the Vulcans. 5) There are quite a few laughing Vulcans. Laughing Vulcans- let that sink in for a moment. The surprising thing is- as an apocryphal story it is a lot of fun. The idea of Vulcan being prejudiced against humans is one Star Trek canon itself visits later. (Most notably various points throughout Star Trek: Enterprise.) Though here- the Vulcans take the step of being willing to secede from the Federation. The crew go in to attend the debates. A lot of the Vulcan flashback shorts have enough ring of truth to them that they could be legends of Vulcan- if not the true history. Most of the characters read like themselves. It's hard not the hear the voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard. In some places Duane's take on McCoy seems too verbose and just a tad too eloquent. That could be attributed to the virus translating his speech into Vulcan and the universal translator turning it into Federation Standard again but for large chunks of the book he doesn't quite sound like a plain old country Doctor. While the ideas he expresses are classic McCoy style thinking- it doesn't read like the way McCoy would say them. Considering McCoy is one of the two driving characters of the A story this presents something of a problem. As I said- it was incredibly entertaining but unlike many other older Trek books- this one just hasn't aged well.
Now - some Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Much like the Worlds of Deep Space Nine book I read last year, this one is also a two novella collection.
- Worlds of Deep Space Nine: The Dominion and Ferenginar (Book of the Month):
A) Satisfaction is Not Guarantee by Keith R.A. DeCandido: As you can probably tell the title borrowed from The 19th Rule of Acquisition and serves as your one stop shopping for all things Ferengi. Grand Nagus Rom is in trouble. A secretive cabal is plotting against his social reform laws- which include fair wages, rights for women and health care packages. In spite of the fact that they have made business more profitable because it allowed them access to the post Dominion war Federation trade and rebuilding contracts. Worse yet- the cabal recruits Rom's archnemesis Special Agent Brunt of the FCA. So it is up to Ishka, Nog, DS9s new security chief Ro Laren and a very reluctant Quark to save the day. Unfortunately the increasingly senile Zek gets tricked into helping the people who hired Brunt. DeCandido's story is a rarity for Star Trek books- it is funny and charming without being completely silly. If you like Ferengi episodes- you'll like this novella. Every major Ferengi, including Lek, appears in some form or another. Plus- as an added bonus DeCandido sneaks references to "The Princess Bride" into Zek's dialogue- something I find completely and totally inconceivable. (Perhaps that word doesn't mean what I think it does.)
B) Olympus Descending by David R. George III: One thing you can say about David R. George's Deep Space Nine novels is that most of the characters, the ones who originated on the television series, seem like themselves. I would expect no less from someone who has been a writer for the Star Trek canon. Save for one minor typo- and the inclusion of Taran'atar this could be a lost DS9 episode. As for the story itself- the Taran'atar sections are probably the worst because of the use of "it was all a dream" gimmick to cover about 1/3 of it. The Odo in the present sections are probably the most interesting- since they cast a new light into The Founders and their motives. The idea that they do have- or have had- gods is an interesting one since they've had to keep this secret from the Vorta and Jem'Hedar in order to prevent revolt. The ending sets an even more interesting course for Odo and The Dominion. (One that parallels Odo's own meeting with the Female Changeling in "The Search".) It continues George and S.D. Perry's plot involving another powerful force in the Gamma Quadrant called The Ascendants. The weaknesses of the book comes from the Odo flashback sequences that attempt to expand on scenes from various actual episodes of the series by mentioning exactly what happened in them three or four times. If they are a big enough fan to read post series DS9, they are probably a big enough fan to have the entire series on DVD. The flashbacks don't really add all that much to the story- save for maybe pointing out that Odo has a better understanding of his friends on the other side of the wormhole than he ever will with his own people- though that should have been evident to anyone who watched "What You Leave Behind."
Then another novella collection from that bizarre and quirky realm of books only Trek fandom known as the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.
- TStar Trek - SCE: Wildfire:
A) Enigma Ship by J. Steven York and Christina F. York: This novella encapsulates the charm of the SCE books. These guys aren't the well stocked Enterprise crew. If the Enterprise is a space Aston Martin then the Da Vinci is an extremely crowded VW minbus that reeks of techie BO. It is a ship without a holodeck, heavy weapons and the crew are much more likely to play sports in the corridors. Everyone on the ship- even the civilians- have their own brand of insanity and somehow they make it work. The tone is a very light hearted. It's all the technology of Star Trek: The Next Generation with more of the Original Series sense of humor about itself. That has it's ups and downs in this story. There are some amusing- even funny- cameos. Some of the uses of the alien holodeck are simply inspired. Some of it was a little been there and done that. The ending seemed a little too Original series Deus Ex Machina style for my tastes. It's been years since I read and SCE book and I had forgotten who some of the characters were. There was quick refresher course. Usually I find recaps or roster pages annoying but in this case it is forgiven. Once I regained my bearings, I kept waiting and hoping for some of the ongoing plotlines from the previous novellas to lock into place. However this one seemed a little bit of a holding pattern on that front. Which is a shame because a little progression on those stories could have served to boost an otherwise uneven- but often grin inducing- story into something much stronger.
B) War Stories by Keith R.A. DeCandido: The Androssi are mysterious mercenaries and tradesmen who have been the big bad guys of many of the SCE novellas. Here the leader of many of these ops wants information on the Da Vinci's crew. So he steals their logs. Then this novella proceeds to go into subnovellas. Little snippets of where most of the crew was during the Dominion War. These are all things that have been alluded to and side stepped by the series in the past. At first the logs seem disconnected but there are little tiny threads holding these seemingly unconnected missions together. Each adventure seems well thought out. DeCandido does his usual good job with characterization- particularly on the established characters like Gomez and the brief cameos by Miles O'Brien. While the over all ending seems a little open ended the cliffhanger clearly indicates something big is coming. Maybe not immediately but soon.
C) Wildfire by David Mack: The SCE has spent an awful long time building a niche for themselves as a quirky, happy go lucky crew that it is probably more like a family than almost crew we've seen- save for maybe Voyager. Which is why this book packs the punch that it does. The crew are sent on a recovery mission to obtain an experimental device on the U.S.S. Orion, a ship that was presumed lost and destroyed. As fate would have it- the Da Vinci begins to show signs of meeting the same fate as their predecessor. The attempts to escape are all go for broke and the dice are not on their side. David Mack pulls no punches. A lot of characters- many of them small supporting cast members but one or two pretty major ones- begin to die off. Once the destruction hits it spreads like Wildfire. (Ooohh tagline.) Some of the deaths- you see coming a mile away. Others are out of the blue. Even the one you really see coming remains powerful... simple because you see it coming. They are given every chance to escape it- and choose not to because of what the consequence would be if they did. The status quo of the SCE is utterly obliterated. If you like your Star Trek as gentle space opera where the main characters never die you might want to skip this one. If you like to feel like even in a franchise book anything can and will happen- I can't recommend this book enough for this section for the book alone.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman:
Friedman has written so many of my favorite Star Trek books- like TNG's Reunion and TOS's Shadow on the Sun, that this book is a bit of a let down. The premise is a good one. Post-Nemesis, Beverly Crusher has taken a job at Starfleet medical. She gets sent on a covert mission into Romulan space to cure a plague on a distant Romulan colony. Picard recruits some of his former Stargazer crew members (including Dr. Greyhorse who the book reminds eight times tried to kill the entire surviving senior staff of the Stargazer in Reunion) to cure the plague and save Beverly. Throw in plots and counterplots by the Romulans and you have a story. I don't know if it was the three nearly identical recaps of Reunion, the more than excessive number of violations of the 'show not tell' rule or the dialogue near the end where Picard actually says something that we the reader (and Star Trek viewer) have known to be true about his feeling toward Beverly Crusher since "Encounter at Farpoint" but would be out of character for Picard to actually say that weakened the book. Picard and Crusher are not Riker and Troi. Their relationship is much more understated. They both could probably have been more or less content if they never acted on their feelings. They would have gotten the same results without violating established characters as much- by having then passionately kiss at the rescue sight- not later in the ready room with four pages of angst between the two scenes. Other than that the last half of the book is a pretty strong read.
Next: SThis very issue of The 52 Book Challenge does its second ever author themed column. But what author has the sheer gravitas to placed in the same category with Samuel L. Clemens? I'm not telling. Click the link already.
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