Star Trek - Memory Prime

Spock walked back to the interface console.  He inserted his hands.  Kirk winced as he saw Spock give a final push to make sure the leads were embedded directly in his nerves.  Then Spock went rigid.

It has taken me so long to read Memory Prime (#42 Pocket, #16 Titan) (1988) that I can barely remember the beginning, and that really saddens me because I was really looking forward to reading a novel by Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens.  Why? Well, because they wrote the 'Shatnerverse' novels and I've heard good things about them.  I wanted to enjoy Memory Prime because that means I'd be looking forward to all the other novels they have written... unfortunately Memory Prime was...

... boring ...

The cover is horrible and while it
contains elements of the plot
it's almost completely unrelated
to what actually happens.

There, I said it.  It bored me, I simply didn't want to pick it up.  When I read a few good books in a row nothing can stop me, Memory Prime brought me to a screeching halt.

A while ago a lady commented that the early novels were the best and that she lost interest as the Star Trek novels lost that little bit of special something, perhaps a bit of heart that the more amateur fan authors nurtured, a little bit of joyous play instead of the little too serious veneer of the professional author.

Memory Prime  is well written, but in my opinion paced poorly.  It took three quarters of the book to actually get going, I was reading a couple of pages every couple of days but I really couldn't find the motivation to keep reading until I hit the turning point and the 'action' started.  The final sequence itself was full of good characterisation and then... perhaps a bit of Tron?  I felt Spock's ability to 'dive' into the computer was a little contrary to the 'canon' they had set up in the novel, it felt clumsy and lazy.

I'm getting ahead of myself again.

Memory Prime on Memory Alpha

Unsurprisingly neither Memory Alpha or Memory Beta have a detailed summary I can link to... Perhaps other people also feel that nothing much of anything actually happens?  I'm also not going to write a summary because I can't remember enough of it.  Which having taken a peak at the goodreads page seems to be a recurring theme.  As a side note, who keeps rating the Star Trek novels so highly on goodreads?  Even the bloody awful ones often end up with a stirling 3 stars, do people just randomly go through series of books and rating them without reading them?  Thinking about it, I really wouldn't be surprised.

The big problem with Memory Prime is the sheer number of dead ends in the narrative, and although I guess the authors were trying to deliberately obfuscate and try to make it like a 'real life detective story', but still many of the digressions just feel like a waste of time.  This also goes for the characters that get developed, I don't feel particularly invested and I certainly don't feel the story is any richer for their inclusion.  The narrative seems complex for complexities' sake... not for the bettering of the narrative.  In some ways this is what Diane Duane does, but done badly, and at least the fleeting characters have some use in progressing the narrative and don't feel like cheap filler.

Speaking of Diane Duane her lore regarding the Romulans is referenced in Memory Prime.

Another issue with Memory Prime is that much there are far too many characters with ISS (inexplicable stupidity syndrome)... the plot wouldn't function about it.  Just when you think a character couldn't overlook another key plot point because it's so blindly obvious, they defy your expectations and fail... badly.  As you know, I hate HATE, ISS, it's just simply bad and lazy writing.

Screen cap from review on goodreads by
'Robin'.  Do they ship them? I think they do.

The main plot involving the computer intelligences was actually pretty endearing, at least when you were reading about their thoughts, it was a fun addition to an otherwise dull novel.  I really liked the different characterisations of the intelligences which was related to what they had been originally or how old they were.  However Spock interfacing with the machines despite not having any of the training / equipment / implants was hard to swallow especially since it had been built up that only the people with the implants could do that and they were proud of that.

Which reminds me.  The whole subplot with Spock being arrested with absolutely no evidence and the (female) commander with a chip on her shoulder just deciding she was going to ignore any protocol and threaten everyone because she was in control now?  Literally half the tedium of the book would be cut out if that character wasn't so contrived.

I guess what is really, truly annoying about this book is that it's written 'well' but the the content is poor.  You can tell, especially once the action starts that Gar and Judith are good writers but have settled on the most mediocre content.  The fact it's 'well written' is the only reason it's not getting a 1/5.

2/5 - as exciting as scanning for iridium.

Star Trek - The Price of the Phoenix

Jim Kirk scrubbed at his eyes and tried to see, tried to breathe against the sobbing that racked him in uncontrollable spasms, tried somehow to ease the intolerable mass of pain that was his whole body.

It was only a little worse where the big arm crushed him against the massive chest, carrying him now like a child, the single arm looped around his chest and under his thighs, balancing him on one hip, while the other arm reached for something.

Still trying to avoid reading Memory Prime, I looked at my to read shelf and considered my options, all 100+ of them.

Then it caught my eye; I didn't think I had that one, says I, having obviously missed it when looking for the four Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath novels.  Well, since I'd been feeling a little down I thought, well, they're usually good for a laugh.

I was right!

The Price Of The Phoenix (1977) is Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath's first published Star Trek novel and... it's quite the experience.  Yes yes, it's not actually in the Pocket Series (it was published under Bantam) but the other two books in the series are and I've already read those!  So this is where it all began...eh?

Actually it didn't all begin here.

The first version of The Price of the Phoenix (and The Fate of the Phoenix) was Never Mourn Black Omne which was privately published and printed prior to reaching an agreement with Paramount and Bantam Books, and is extremely limited edition; it is unknown how widely this book was circulated.  I haven't read it myself (I think it would probably have to be a lucky ebay find!) but from an excerpt found on fanlore.org it seems fairly similar.

The thing is with Marshak and Culbreath is that the more I read their novels, the more I know them as people.  They're writing 'Star Trek' novels, sure, but they end up revealing more about themselves than actually reflecting the characters or the Star Trek universe.  I suppose that actually, quite a few of the earlier Star Trek books have this quality, it gives them a soul which is sorely lacking in some of the more recent releases.  Saying that however, I could probably have done with a bit less 'soul' in The Price of the Phoenix.  As I've mentioned before, Marshak and Culbreath were not stupid, in fact by all accounts they seem to be incredibly bright.  Culbreath founded her own private academy before selling it and moving down to live with Marshak and her husband.  Marshak earned a Masters degree in history with honours, she was planning a PhD and wanted to write 'culture changing non-fiction' and then... she discovered Star Trek and gave it all up to devote herself to the show and writing fanfiction.  Marshak (from the age of 13) was an avowed Objectivist (Ayn Rand) and believed that Star Trek advanced Objectivist ideals.

The idea of Star Trek advancing Objectivism is quite strange, since objectivism at it's core is right-wing / capitalist; which in many ways Star Trek is not (although I'd argue that even as a post scarcity society, it's not actually socialist at all.. anyway).  I tried to do a little bit of research on objectivism in order to try to apply it to Price but the work I was willing to do just acting on a hunch wasn't really enough to get anywhere particularly entertaining.  Superficially however, without going into the nitty gritty of Rand's philosophy there are some ideas which can be identified as objectivist in the broadest sense.

Anyway, attempting to cut the rambling about pseudo academia short, the most obvious objectivist idea in Price is

the belief that certain things, especially moral truths, exist independently of human knowledge or perception of them. 

and that

"...(Objectivism), in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." - Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged

The concept of the heroic being, is central to the narrative of Price, and actually all their novels I've read so far.  The heroic being is invariably Kirk who is basically a cinnamon roll too pure for this world characterised as being Adonis but with the tactical ability of Alexander.  The moral truths are also exemplified by Kirk, who is unaware of his virtue or power although every person who meets him recognises these truths in him.  Kirk is unique because his own happiness -being the captain of the Enterprise- is his moral purpose but also serves a greater purpose which exists dependently of his own will - independent of his knowledge or perception.

Kirk's purity of purpose is what drives... perhaps it's better to say 'causes' the plot.  Omne is attracted to him as a light to his darkness, as a contrasting figure who reminds him of who he was many, many years ago.  The events that take place are not incidental, it's all planned by Omne in order to take possession of Kirk body and mind; this is central, all other plots and machinations are red herrings.

Like The Entropy Effect which would be noted for the fact it kills Kirk outright in a slashy death scene, Price (which of course is the earlier work) also starts with Kirk's death and Spock's emotional response.  We're told it truly is Kirk who has died, no doubt in McCoy's mind.  Spock saw Kirk die...   of course he didn't.  A clone of Kirk was substituted for the 'real' one as he was transported away by Omne.  We're introduced to another clone Kirk who takes the name 'James' while the original uses 'Jim'.  The Romulan commander gets rather fond of 'James', though we're told that she probably got together with 'Jim' when she was being transported on the Enterprise previously.  Spock turns into a testosterone filled (or whatever the Vulcan equivalent is) super Vulcan, not quite VULCAN COMMAND MODE, but close.  All the incidents which lead up to the 'main event(s)' aren't really important, the're just a clumsy method for getting to Marshak and Culbreath's kinks (which I'll get to in a bit).  There's a chase through an under ground labyrinth, lots of sexual imagery, med bay in a bottle (spraycan), nudity, manly 'vulcanoid' fighting... and for once both the clone and the original Kirk survive!  The Romulan commander gets 'James' and Spock gets 'Jim', and everyone lives happily ever after... but they know one day Omne will return... (oh no...)

A more sensible summary of The Price Of The Phoenix on Memory Beta.

I'm not going to waste time summarising this novel seriously, there's no point since it can be found elsewhere.  I am going waste time looking at the appalling descriptions, hyper sexual imagery, and general kinkiness.  I'm also going to repeatedly wonder how this got published.

So, I'm going to start with picking out a wonderful (?) example of the redundant descriptions which litter this hot mess, because everyone needs to suffer this with me.  At least I suppose they improved over time and sentences like -

"So," he said with the deceptive mildness which let the deception show through, "that makes it interesting."

- become less commonplace, but Price is full of them.  When I read a section to my partner, he had to stop me every so often to reread sentences.  Sure, you can work out what they are trying to say, but the descriptions are kinda what you'd expect from a fifteen year old dabbling in fanfiction for the first time; more often than not a horny fifteen year old at that.  Language is very clumsy and at times repetitive -

Kirk felt an odd jolt on some level he couldn't even name. Or-wouldn't.  Perhaps somewhere on the level of what he was refusing to name, even to himself.  Let it be blunt, brute fact.

 But this -

Clumsy, repetitive, badly edited.

Not to mention this particular section follows Omne telling Kirk he didn't want him in the line of fire.  Oh dear.  The big scary vulcanoid wanted to protect the weak pretty earth man, so he carried him off to his secret lair, ministered to his wounds forcefully and erotically.  You know, this is all very familiar; I seem to recall similar events occurring in two other novels by this deplorable duo, and I have little doubt that the next Phoenix book has rather the same kink in it.  I wouldn't be surprised if Omne erotically beats up Kirk again, Jim or James! Spock will go super angry Vulcan, then they kiss and make up, right?

Speaking of erotic.

I really could dedicate this review(?) to erotic imagery in Price but I'd be even more delayed in  publishing this than I already am.  There are two particular scenes / images that stand out to me.  One has already been mentioned, and that's the scene where Omne smashes Jim (the original) into a bloody, broken pulp while James (the copy) and the Romulan commander watch.  I don't even have to go into that James starts to feel the pain of Jim, and then this transmits to Spock.  The one-sided pounding fight between Jim and Omne is pretty much a H/C / sadistic exercise in homo-erotic voyeurism.  I mean, there is no way for Kirk to prevail, Omne is bigger, stronger, more intelligent, described as 'alpha male', king of the jungle following jungle laws (that extended metaphor is the cringiest cringe).

Serious cringe.

Oh gosh, I haven't even mentioned the strange virginity / loss of virginity / rape sections have I?  The clone Kirk is dressed in a white tunic (obviously because he's pure), but feels all the pain of the original (messiah comparison?).  In one section he slides down a pole (the main transportation through the underground labyrinth), but he has no trousers on so his thighs an nethers are scalded to bloody rawness by the friction from the pole.  So, after that he's basically walking around in a white tunic, bleeding between the legs... mmph.  How did that get past the editor too?  The original Kirk also feels these injuries... I'm surprised they didn't go further and describe him sharing that particular violation, or would that make it too obvious?

Anyway.

Let's just skip to the end.  The Price of the Phoenix is an awful book in any context and really just reinforces what I already knew about these two authors.  I don't understand how they were able to return again and again to rehash this same story with the same kinks in again and again.  The very worst of it is this obsession with emasculating Kirk repeatedly.  Yes, Kirk does have a soft side which is at times so gentle, but these two seem almost unable to actually write MxM stuff without making one of the characters a surrogate female.  You see this a lot in fiction involving gay men which is written for women.  One of the characters is always the female stand in, and in this case it's Kirk.

You know, I can't even say they 'know' the series well, because as far as characterisation goes, I don't believe they do.  It feels like they've developed Kirk, Spock and the others into other characters and not the characters they are meant to be.  I could say they they might as well be writing a series with all original characters but then it wouldn't stand out as having a prevailing sense of all round wrongness.

The Price of the Phoenix only stands out and is worth talking about because of how wrong it all is there is literally no merit in it.  By all means read it out of curiosity, read it because its kinda historical and because it costs a couple of pence to buy... but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those with an interest in early published slash / mxm stuff.

1/5 - bloody thighs, guys.

Star Trek - Mission to Horatius

Grang said excitedly, "This way! Quickly! The warriors will soon be upon us."

Kirk looked at him.  "I assume you mean the real tribal warriors.  Very well, Grang, we're in your hands.  We have nowhere else to go.  Lead the way!"

Needing a change of pace (and because I had misplaced Memory Prime) I pulled out Mission to Horatius (1968) by Mack Reynolds and illustrated by Sparky Moore.  For those that don't know Mission to Horatius (published by Whitman) was the first original novel based on the series and is targeted at a child audience.  The first published book written for an adult audience would be Spock Must Die! authored by James Blish and published by Bantam books in 1970.  Mission to Horatius would be the only original fiction published by Whitman based on the series.  The book was republished in 1999 by Pocket Books (Whitman had gone out of business) in celebration of their holding the Star Trek license for 20 years.

Mission to Horatius was a very quick read.  In the preface to the 1999 edition, the editor - John Ordover - recounts his finding the book in a used book store in 1970, when he was eight years old.  Having recently just discovered Star Trek he was delighted to find a book devoted to his new found heroes; the book was bought and devoured in short order.  Ordover obviously enjoyed the book as an eight year old as the memory of it stayed with him and I think that now we must keep in mind that Mission to Horatius was written at a very different time, and aimed at a particular audience.  This, however, shouldn't be used to excuse the failings the book does have but we should certainly think of it a little more charitably.

The author, Mack Reynolds (1917 - 1983), had been active since the 1950s and was quite a prolific writer, arguably the 1960s was when he wrote his best works.  I'm unsure if previous to Mission to Horatius he had experience writing for a younger audience but certainly it feels to me like the prose you'd find in many contemporary children's stories, although possibly a little dated and perhaps stylistically leaning more towards the 1950s.

Perhaps Mission to Horatius' dated feeling was part of Roddenberry's dissatisfaction with the novel.  Producers of the television series felt that the novel was dull and badly written, it was also felt that there were lots of inaccuracies with terminology and characterisation.  There was also concerns about offensive descriptions of Sulu and Uhura; Sulu was described as a 'bland faced, short oriental' and Uhura as a 'negress' who sings a 'spiritual'.  Ultimately changes were made; however, Roddenberry remained unhappy with Mission to Horatius and wrote an analysis about what was wrong with the novel.  I don't have a copy myself so I can't give any examples to you, however I can certainly guess!

Mack Reynolds used his favourite themes in Mission to Horatius, which generally revolve around the ideas of 'Utopia', alternative socio-economic systems, and revolution of the systems / Utopias.  Although interesting subjects (certainly some of my favourite sci-fi deals with this!) I think as a subject for a children's book in which there is no intention to really delve into or demonstrate the various situations because of either page constraints or the misguided over-simplification which children's literature often suffers, it is indeed dull.  That being said, Reynolds does create an interesting situation which probably would have benefited from being written as an adult book.  The scope of Mission to Horatius is a little too large, Reynolds would have been better condensing his ideas and cutting out some of the more superfluous elements (Mickey the Space Rat being one of them).  On the other hand, I have to remind myself that it's a children's book and so I need to accept that Mickey the space rat is probably a good move for the younger audience.

The structure of the narrative is relatively simple, the Enterprise receives a mission to answer a distress call from a distant system.  On arriving at the system the Kirk and the Enterprise must investigate where the distress call came from.  The first planet they investigate is Neolithia which is populated by humans who wish to live a primitive (stone age) existence, obviously the distress call did not originate here.  In their investigation of the planet they meet a young teenage boy named Grang, who acts as the reader's surrogate.

The second planet, Mythra, is a theocracy, the inhabitants of which are living in a strange mixture of time periods from the medieval (from observation) to the 1900s (on the basis that they have radio).  Kirk and his crew find out that the Mythran elites have been drugging the population in order to keep them happy and compliant.  Naturally Kirk makes sure this can't continue by releasing an antidote to the drug into the water supply.  These people too are too under-developed to have sent a subspace transmission however and so the Enterprise moves to the next planet.

The third planet, Bavarya, is basically populated by Nazi's who clone themselves and want to take over the other planets in the system, eventually trying to dominate the entire Federation.  It turns out that the distress call was sent by Nummer Ein's daughter, who wanted to try and stop the corrupt government.  Kirk, Spock, and Grang are forced to fight a gladiator style battle against clones before breaking out and destroying the cloning facility which causes the death of all the cloned soldiers.  Mission accomplished Enterprise turns for home (after dropping off Grang), however, McCoy fears a break out of Space Cafard, which is basically cabin fever, and engineers a game of hunt the rat in order to give the crew something to do and to prevent madness.  The game is a success (although not for the rat) and the crew stay sane until they can have some much needed R&R.

The idea itself of the contrasting societies isn't a particularly creative one; however, I was most interested in what Reynolds had to say about the cloning, the idea of 'ghost dubbing' (a term I'm borrowing from Shirow Masamune for convenience) and the question of whether clones have souls... well at least clones made in a particular way (the answer here is no by the way!).

Ghost Dubbing Machine in Shirow Masamune's
Ghost In The Shell (1989-1990)

I think probably the most disappointing part of Mission to Horatius is that ultimately the 'big bads' are space Nazis, which is just lazy narrative shorthand for "look, aren't these people irredeemable and deplorable?!".  Well, that and there's not an alien in sight just fringe humans being mostly terrible to each other; which somewhat defeats the object of having alien races representing different facets of humanity, yes?

Characterization isn't very good on the whole, but perhaps would be satisfactory to younger children.  it surprises me that a capable author would get stuck on some characterization elements,  There's only so many times you need to mention that Spock looks 'satanic' for example.  Kirk's characterization is very off key and isn't really the Kirk we can really recognize from the TV show, books, or fan fiction... he's just wrong.  Whilst I accept that everything is simplified; bad characterization doesn't have to be a direct result of writing for children:  If anything characterization should be stronger in a children's novel.

A definite shortfall which blights the whole book is that it has been artificially simplified 'for children' and so made dull.  That being said adults seem to have hated it while children liked it, so what do I know, eh?

Anyway, I think it's an interesting, quick read for those interested in fiction contemporary to Star Trek being on television.  I don't think there's much merit to the book personally although the dated illustrations and language add to it's charm somewhat.  I'm glad I read it out of interest, but I'm unlikely to read it again, if you see it going for pennies, it might be worth getting, but otherwise don't worry about adding this one to your collection.

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 - Battlestations!

I'm not going to let him work our windward Piper, bring the jib sheet in two pulls.  You left it too free."

Always the cut.  Always the barb.  Why?  Didn't he have enough laurels to sit on?  Not ten people in a million had his status.  Why pick on me?

But as I glared at the captain, ire mixed with a stab of sympathy for him...

Irritation.  Disgust.

That is my overall feeling when reading about Lieutenant-now-Commander Piper, and the strong desire to put the book down shortly after picking it up.

Battlestations! (#31 Pocket, #  Titan) is Diane Carey's sequel to Dreadnought! 

Once again the adventures of one Piper nee Mary Sue is the last novel in a group of 10 that I had to read, and the prospect of reading another  adventure of Piper the cringe inducing wasn't very attractive.  Now, I feel I was pretty magnanimous when I reviewed Dreadnaught!, these novels just aren't for me... perhaps a younger me would have loved them, but not now and I can't be forgiving now that I have read two of them.

From the outset Battlestations! is ridiculous.  The events occur mere weeks after the events of Dreadnaught! although Piper (Carey?) seems to have a weak grasp on what weeks actually means and Piper is on a sailing ship, on earth, with James T Kirk on whom she has a sizeable crush.  Dr McCoy is on the schooner (named Edith Keeler) presumably to stop any potential cheating on their respective Vulcans.  Suddenly, Kirk is whisked away on charges of stealing transwarp technology, brave Piper then has to sail the schooner (not before assaulting a number of security personnel) to a rendez-vous point where she meets up with old pals Scanner, and Merete and her new command the Tyrannosaurus Rex soon renamed S.S. Banana Republic (because renaming a ship is your first concern right)?  She also meets Spock later who informs her that Sarda (her pet Vulcan) is with the traitors who have stolen the transwarp technology.

The motley crew (Piper is in charge of course, even of Spock and McCoy) upset Klingons (while undercover in a bar on a technologically backwards planet) but eventually are joined by Kirk (having got off being arrested for stealing transwarp technology?).  They storm a research facility save(?) Sarda, get captured, watch as Spock and Kirk exchange deep and meaningful looks after they have been captured, get attacked by Klingons (again).

The moral repugnance of the main traitor is underlined as not only is she trying to sell of the transwarp technology to the highest bidder (causing an interstellar scramble) but also used a dangerous drug to knock out Enterprise's crew, take control of the Enterprise and install the transwarp drive in her.

But.  That's.  Not.  All.

Piper the ever annoying manages to damage one of the nacelles with the Banana Republic, she and her crew then get on the Enterprise and save the day, however the day is not saved as Klingon, Romulan and other powers start trying to take control of the crippled Enterprise.  A firefight ensues where Kirk orders the transwarp drive be repurposed as a weapon and used on the enemy ships, with... somewhat devastating effects.  After what seems like an eternity the cavalry come to save the day and finally the end of the book is in sight.

Still.  Not.  All.

Bonus(?) comedy chapter to prolong the reader's suffering longer.  Piper is going to go sailing with Kirk again, she's going to remain on the Enterprise, and Scanner video'd her unfortunate veil dance and initial harassment by the Klingons.  Then, when she goes to get some sleep, Scotty comes in because she broke his ship.

End.

There.  Now you don't have to read it.  I've spared you from the incessant Mary-Sue-ing, the bad writing, the ridiculous contrivances, and ISS (Inexplicable Stupidity Syndrome).  And lets face it, the universe must have come down with ISS, because that's the only way Piper(Carey?) could ever be the brightest bulb in the box.

I'm not alone!

Now, in my review of the previous book, I gave it/Piper/Carey the benefit of the doubt.  Now that I've had to suffer two of these unfortunately unforgettable books, I'm less inclined to play nice.  It's getting a 1/5 (instead of Dreadnought!'s 2/5), I can't handle the sheer amount of utter tripe I've had to read from this author so far.  Apparently the other ST novels she's written are better, and from a fellow cynic!

And you know, it isn't just a dislike of first person narratives.  I mean, I don't particularly like them or dislike them as a narrative style... but as you know I'm picky, fussy, and critical and I just want books I read to be written well.  Even if you overlook that Piper is an awful character, even avoiding the stigma of the term Mary-Sue, both Dreadnought! and Battlestations! are terribly written.  They are simply badly written, poorly structured nonsense that frankly shouldn't have been published.

"... hair fell around my face as I stared at the floor, cloaking me from their eyes.  I'd have liked to think of my hair as golden, but somehow it never got past pyrite.  The worse the situation got, the browner my hair felt.  Even after all those weeks under earth's sun... 

How did my hair get into this?"

This is the level of inanity ladies and gentlemen, and this is frankly what I hate.  I really, really don't care about this girl's thoughts, I don't care one iota.  I don't care about her hair, I don't care about her various insecurities or about how much she idolizes Kirk.  I don't even want her reasoning for anything because it is flawed and silly and just screams ineptitude.

I really don't want to watch as perfectly acceptable characters have to be shotgun to this girl idiot who can only exist in the position she is due to obscene plot contrivances.  One part that really irked me (one of many) was they were trying to break into the computer of the Banana Republic that Spock and Kirk had put on autopilot.  Why were they trying to break into the computer?  Because Piper doesn't like being manipulated, also Carey has to show that Piper can out think Spock.  Everyone is amazed that Piper out thought Spock and nobody else could have come up with such a easy way to bypass the computer... after all -

"Machines are idiots.  They're marvelous tools, but they're stupid.  You know why they don't put legs on computers?  Because they'd walk off a cliff if you told them to."

Wonderful.  Thank you for you insight.  You're fabulous Piper.  I am surely enriched by your words.  Please carry on. ((She hasn't heard of the three laws of robotics then??))

The only down side to Piper being designated a Mary-Sue is that it gives you a false hope that she'd die at the end of the story.  Alas, she remains fully alive to the end and beyond.

Unlike the goon she disintegrates with a Klingon disrupter because she "needs to be taken seriously".

Apparently Carey has been very open about Piper being a Mary-Sue character, well done Carey, you sold two sub par stories and got a nice little pay cheque out of it, you also ensured that there would be no further Star Trek TOS books with a focus on a main character NOT of the main cast, since after these two sorry excuses a ban was put in place prohibiting them.

1/5 - "Aw, that stinks" quoth a character with a brain cell.

Star Trek - How Much For Just The Planet

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

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

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

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

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

- In Space, No One Can Fry an Egg

- The Dilithium Crystal As Big As The Ritz

- All's Fair In Love and Dilithium

and there are also 'interlude' chapters such as:

- Educational Short Subject: Useful Facts about Dilithium

- Historical Interlude: The Only War We've Got

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4/5 - Here's looking at you, kid.

Star Trek - 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.