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

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.

Star Trek - Chain of Attack

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

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

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

Memory Beta Chain of Attack story summary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's not very fun to write about though...?

4/5 - It's done, I made it!

Star Trek - The I.D.I.C. Epidemic

"Yer right,"  Beau said.  "Only..."  His voice trailed off.
She looked at him.  "What's the matter?"
"Well," he began.  "I can't - 'ere, maybe it's easier if I just show you."  He lifted his robe to reveal a long, angry gash along the length of his thigh.  T'Pina gasped involuntarily, her own pain forgotten.

Not a very inspired cover all told.
Not much of these three in it either...

I selected Jean Lorrah's second Star Trek book The I.D.I.C Epidemic (#38 Pocket, #7 Titan) in a strategic move to get rid of what I expected to be one of the weaker books in this selection of ten (#31 to #40) so I could enjoy the rest of them peacefully (ignoring Battlestations!), and because I knew that if The Vulcan Academy Murders are anything to go by this book should be quite easy going.

Now I can't answer to whether The I.D.I.C Epidemic is one of the weaker books or not yet (I suspect that expectation will still be proven correct) I can happily report that although Lorrah is at this time still lacking in a lot of areas as a writer, she has improved considerably since  she wrote The Vulcan Academy Murders.  I can't say anything as dramatic as 'you'd never know it was Lorrah', ultimately her girlish silliness is still there, her basic narrative formula stops prevents any kind of mystery, and her clumsy, overly simplistic science makes it difficult to accept the greatest medical minds were unable to come up with a solution to the problems presented.  I can say however that Lorrah has matured a great deal since The Vulcan Academy Murders, all aspects seem a lot tighter and better thought out in The I.D.I.C Epidemic and she does a considerably better job on her characterisations generally.  I think this may be partially to do with the fact that she uses the 'canon characters' very sparingly and concentrates more on developing her cast of original characters (and her versions of Sarek & Amanda).  Usually I wouldn't encourage this, but in the case of Lorrah her strength lies with developing her own cast of characters within the Star Trek universe as her grasp on existing characters is tentative.  She tends to bend characters to the narrative as opposed to having the narrative bend to the characters.

The I.D.I.C Epidemic follows directly on from the end of The Vulcan Academy Murders, so I guess if you were set on reading these two books, you may as well read them together and in that order.  Unfortunately, when Titan published these books they were published backwards and four books apart (TIE is #7 and TVAM is #12) which must have been confusing for readers at the time, especially because characters like Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are very minor characters and much of the story is building on characters and events of TVAM.  Lorrah says in her foreword that you can read these two books out of order because 'all the Star Trek novels are designed like episodes, so that it doesn't hurt to miss some or read them out of order'.  I think Lorrah is over estimating her own ability here (as she does in much of her foreword).  Her writing although much improved is not good enough to really make this a stand alone novel, not with her transplanting of characters which had significant development in her previous book but who aren't redeveloped or explained well in the second.  Having read TVAM I still had some difficulty following some of the characters until TIE jogged my memory enough about the previous book.

The I.D.I.C Epidemic starts rather slowly I feel, which contributed to me taking far too long to read it, the story didn't really become interesting to me until over half way through; once I reached that point however I finished it pretty quickly.

Nisus is an inter-species science colony, so inter-species in fact that there is even a Klingon representative (who turns out to be quite a decent main character) of the 'Final Reflection' mould, and Orions are also involved.  Being a colony, there are whole families there and within them, many mixed heritage children, the implication for much of the book is that the diversity of the people there and in particular the children has caused the terrible mutating plague.  It begins with introducing the plague, the Klingon main character and emphasising the mentality  / presence of the Orions.  Lorrah also introduces the strange additional peril of ice damaging turbines and spring melts potentially flooding the colony; this whole side story I find quite a strange inclusion to be honest and ultimately just adds more silliness and drama to the plot.

The Enterprise leaves Vulcan some time after the events of The Vulcan Academy Murders carrying Sendet and a band of aggressive Vulcans which are supposed to be delivered to a penal colony of some form.  Also on board are Sarek and Amanda (now recovered from their ordeals in TVAM) on their way to a diplomatic meeting and two more characters from TVAM Sorel, the Widowed Vulcan Healer and Daniel Corrigan, a human doctor who married Sorel's daughter after the events of TVAM.  Also included in this group are T'Kar a Vulcan nurse and widow, and her adopted daughter T'Pina who were to be returning to their home Nisus which is now coincidentally plague ridden.  You following?  Good.  

The plague itself is found to mutate within the bodies of mixed-species or hybrid individuals, creating various strains and sub-strains in both iron and copper based blooded persons.  The interest that arises in this is the reaction to the mixed heritage people by people on Nisus - and here is the peril - even if Nisus is saved, can it still continue and an inter-species colony if indeed the plague is proven to have been caused by their diversity?  The answer to this is that Lorrah decides to cop out from tackling this question and instead devises a work around so that it becomes apparent that the hybrid children and inter-species couples were not the cause of the development of the plague at all.  This of course makes the resolution of the story relatively simple since one point of friction is easily removed all together.

But really the whole idea of the plague is secondary to Lorrah, what she really wants is a stage for her modified Vulcans and inter-species couples whom she had developed extensively in fanzines  in the 1970s.  She has a particular love of Sarek and Amanda's relationship and has developed these characters in her fanfic writing.  I think this is why I felt (and I guess still feel) a disconnect when reading TVAM and TIE; Lorrah has developed this characters to such an extent in her own mind that they have changed significantly from their incarnations in the series.  I guess if you haven't read her fanzines then meeting these two characters in her novels can feel a little bit disjointed, if you see what I mean.  The same goes for Lorrah's Vulcans who I find are characterised a little strangely, but again I feel this is due to her own development of Vulcan culture... I think definitely influenced by her friend Lichtenberg and her Kraith series.

Lorrah wants to make sure her characters are happily paired off in the end.  Her Widower from TVAM is pared with her new main character's mother - a widow - and by the end of the book her new girl character (who ends up being a Romulan... yep just let it roll) is paired off with the charming and probably cockney (sigh) half Human-half Orion pirate son, 'looks human, bleeds green' Beau Deaver.

There isn't really too much more to this book, since it's really about showcasing these original characters and their thoughts and feelings and actions.  McCoy and Kirk appear every so often.  Amanda ends up ill and on the verge of death again.  Spock ends up ill and we very briefly hear a bit of angst from Kirk.  Uhura is a voice over the intercom and Scotty pops into the narrative a couple of times before going back to doing whatever he likes with the Enterprise engines.

A real weakness to this story however is the premise that medical personnel wouldn't be able to spot plague transmission vectors and a say, Klingon engineer would because he's not thinking like a medical professional but like an engineer.  Once you kind of pick up on how ridiculously simple the answer to the problem is and how silly it is to be so far in the future and apparently they still don't know how to deal with plague outbreaks... it somewhat breaks your suspension of disbelief.  If Lorrah had understood a little bit more from a medical perspective, perhaps it would have worked a little bit better.

Finally, I'd like to draw attention to Lorrah's foreword (N.B. In this case I read from the Titan edition) which has a couple of interesting points.  Firstly, she talks about the fandom, the Welcomitee and the Star Trek Offical Fan Club, she then moves on to drawing the reader's attention to fanzines (which of course she was heavily involved with and where she developed much of her Vulcan/Sarek/Amanda headcanon).  She also talks about how to pursue the lofty position of 'professional author', and perhaps... perhaps I should just quote this bit:

"They cannot collaborate with you, write the stories you want to tell (you'll have to do that yourself), or critique your novels (they're busy writing their own).  All authors though, are happy to receive comments about their books, and most will answer questions."

Now, it's all very reasonable... I guess, but the tone of this (and the rest of the foreword) just rubs me the wrong way.  It seems a strange thing to put into a foreword but then again, looking at her fanzine history (and her slightly strange demands/requests as part of that) I'm not incredibly surprised.  I get the feeling that Lorrah has a lot of ego, in some aspects deservedly, but in others...

I think that in her foreword she is writing in her 'academic' style.  I haven't read any of her academic writing, but I suspect it will read rather like the foreword.

Thing is, in my opinion the quality of the novel and her ability as I have experienced it doesn't really warrant the arrogance with which she writes.  In her academic / non-fiction writing she could well be brilliant, or even her short stories which she produced for fanzines could well be top notch but at the time this novel was produced she really isn't a very good novelist.

Which isn't to say the novels I've read from her aren't enjoyable per se.  The Vulcan Academy Murders was enjoyable because it was ridiculous even if the writing wasn't that good and The I.D.I.C Epidemic is similar in that it's so silly and saccharine at times you can't help but laugh.  So... depending on your taste, you might want to give The I.D.I.C Epidemic a go, certainly if you enjoyed Lorrah's previous book The Vulcan Academy Murders but equally if you just want a bit of light read with OC characters as a focus.  I think this is the last Star Trek TOS novel which was released with side characters / OCs as the main protagonists to the story; it might be worth reading just for that!

3/5 - Plague! Crashes!  Flash Floods! Romance! A nearly absent main cast! 

Sorry for the delay, although I'm feeling much better than before the operation I've been somewhat out of sorts!  Hopefully back to normal programming soon!

Star Trek - The Romulan Way

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

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

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

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

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

Memory Alpha in depth summaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

5/5 - You should read this, mnhei'sahe.

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

Star Trek - TimeTrap

Kirk's eyes were slowly growing accustomed to the light.  He squeezed them shut, forcing out the tears, and opened them again more slowly.  He had been right: he was surrounded by Klingons.

So Klanth had won.  Kirk realized immediately what must have happened.  Some of the Enterprise Security team had been knocked unconscious in the same way he had been, and the Klingons had been able to overpower the rest and take them prisoner.

There just hasn't been enough Kirk recently, I thought to myself.  I need more Kirk! This led me to jumping ahead to Time Trap (#40 Pocket, #11 Titan) (1988) by David Dvorkin.  It just happens that this was first released in June 1988 - it was released in the month I was born!

You might remember that David Dvorkin also wrote The Trellisane Confrontation which was released four years previously in 1984.  There are similarities in that 'the big bads' are the Klingons, the story is quite small in scope, and although Kirk is treated as a main character (yay!) Dvorkin finds something that he can criticise him for (boo!). 

I actually enjoyed Time Trap quite a bit, even if at alternate times I had this super anxiety and periods of utter annoyance.  Mostly it had to do with Kirk's characterization, some of which is explained away but I do just think that Dvorkin wants to punish Kirk somehow and it's not kinky either!!

Anyway Time Trap uses the events of the episode The Tholian Web to explain the strange phenomena that Kirk and his crew encounter.  While on route to a Starbase for some much needed R&R they pick up a distress signal from the boarders of Tholian space.  Naturally the Enterprise investigates the distress signal and finds that it is coming from a Klingon ship which appears to be breaking apart in the center of an unknown spacial disturbance.  The Klingons refuse aid, but Kirk wants to know what they are doing on the boarders of Tholian and Federation space and decides to lead a security team to board the Klingon ship in order to take the commander prisoner.  They beam onto the crippled ship, but almost immediately the ship takes catastrophic damage and the human boarding party and the Klingon crew are incapacitated.  In the meantime, the ship disappears from Enterprise's sensors and Uhura is suddenly rendered unconscious at her station from an apparent electric shock.  Enterprise itself is attacked by the strange phenomenon, crippling it.  Spock follows orders from Starfleet to leave the area and proceed to the nearest star base for repairs, much to disappointment of the crew who want to look for their captain.  Spock suspects that all isn't as it seems and proceeds with his own research.

Kirk however finds himself injured and surrounded by Klingons, but these Klingons are different from those he is used to dealing with.  He is told that a temporal phenomenon has resulted in him being thrown one hundred years into the future, where peaceful 'New Klingons' are the main faction in the Klingon Empire and have brokered peace with the Federation.  The 'New Klingons' are charming and scholarly and Kirk easily becomes friendly with them; this is especially true of a female Klingon who is a historian and who hero worships Kirk - Kalrind.  They quickly become lovers and Kirk finds himself utterly besotted.  However health problems continue to plague Kirk, as he often finds himself often collapsing and weak.

Another scholarly Klingon -Morith- explains to Kirk that he is needed to join these 'New Klingons' on a trip back in time in order to ensure that the 'Great Peace' come to pass.  On 'returning to the past' it is revealed that everything isn't as it appears.  An elaborate plot is revealed involving Klingon sleeper agents and an attack on the heart of the Federation - Earth, by Klingons pretending to be part of a peace fleet.  Kirk himself is dying from injuries sustained on boarding the Klingon vessel caught in the disturbance, and the Klingons that were drugged -including Kalrind- are returning to their original selves and it is revealed Spock's research paid off, as it was a massive cloaking device.  The Klingons are sent packing and McCoy puts Kirk back together again.

One of the things my partner said when I tried to explain Time Trap to him was that it sounded a lot more like a scheme that the Romulans would have come up with as opposed to the Klingons.  I kind of agree that it does seem a little too scheming for the Klingons we know, unless of course you take into account the Klingons from The Final Reflection and Dvorkin directly references parts of The Final Reflection, so I think we can safely say that this book fits in with that continuity and idea of the Klingons.

What I really liked in Time Trap was the 'time travel' aspect of it - not that there was any ultimately, it was all a trick, but I did like the thought that had gone into creating a believable scenario for both Kirk and the reader.  I liked how they gradually revealed the time travel scenario, and how because I knew that ultimately the Klingon Empire and the Federation would be at peace (and this is after the start of TNG) I could believe it.  I also managed to rationalise out Kirk's periods of weakness and illness, putting it down to 'oh it's because he's out of his own time, so that's why he'll need to go back to the Enterprise in the end', because I know I've read something like that before.  When Dvorkin used the time travel theory that they would succeed in going back in time because it had already happened, it was believable.  Kirk believed it too, so.. it all makes sense... right?  But all the while, you're thinking about a couple of new characters that have been introduced... and Spock's research, what is Spock's theory?  Why did Uhura scream and keel over before the Enterprise was attacked by the 'cloud' in space?

I didn't like Kirk's relationship with Kalrind however.  It made me roll my eyes, really Dvorkin, you're going to play up to that aspect of Kirk's personality?  Initially, I thought that Kalrind of an interesting character, as a 'New Klingon' she was likeable and the backstory (forward story?) she gave about what it was like in this future was kind of strange but believable.  I liked that she had this aspect of idol worship to her... I didn't like that the first time Kirk and Kalrind spent any time together at all they kissed and probably a bit more!  I think I was more angry that Kalrind ended up just being the  girlfriend than anything else.  She was interesting as an academic and really sweet, and it would have been fun to have a bit more to their relationship before they end up as an item.  To a certain extent Kirk's malleability and Kalrind's personality are all explained away as both of them are drugged - Kalrind has even been 'reprogrammed' herself to act the way she does.

I particularly liked McCoy's characterization, it was just right.  He wasn't the focus, but he was there in the same capacity as he was in the show and not sidelined by the author.  McCoy had quite a big role to play as regards the exposition of plot and making it clear that Kirk was actually dying from internal injuries and had been cured by medicines from the future.  Anyway, since there has been a Leonard drought recently, I was very happy to see him with an active role in the plot.

Spock was... how many male author's choose to characterize him, although Dvorkin is a little more sympathetic and makes him slightly more than a talking computer.  In an effort to keep the mystery alive, Dvorkin doesn't give any insight to Spock's thoughts which, yes keeps you guessing somewhat however this could also have been achieved with changes to the narrative structure.

Time Trap was a little convoluted at times, which could have been solved with a bit of creative restructuring but on the whole it's a relatively easy and enjoyable read.  I rather enjoyed being fooled as to the direction the plot was going (because, lets face it I tried to meta the story and for once it didn't work!) and for that reason alone I'd recommend it!

There are lots of little scenes which are written rather well, and are worth reading the book for in my opinion, although for those who like a bit more introspection in their characters it might seem a little dry.  I'm going to give Time Trap the same score as The Trellisane Confrontation - 3/5 - because although I feel there has been an improvement to Dvorkin's writing between the novels, I don't think it is really enough to warrant giving it a higher score.  If you liked his previous book though, you will probably like this one.

3/5 - what a fabulous monobrow... I see Boris is no longer the artist?

Pocket Book Star Trek Novels #21 - #30 Review

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

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

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

Books #21 to #30 are as follows:

#21 Uhura's Song - Janet Kagan - January 1985 - Year 2268 (TOS)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Immediate Observations

No film adaptations.

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

J M Dillard writes two novels in this selection.

Half the novels take place within the TOS timeline.

One time travel story.

Only one story takes place between films.

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

Context

Story / Theme Trends

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

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

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

Humans join the Romulans and Klingons as an 'enemy faction'.

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

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

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

Themes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Star Trek - Dreadnought!

"Put Piper on."
Damn, I knew it, I knew it! "Pi-" My throat closed up.
"Star Empire, do you read?"
"P-Piper here."
"Can you handle that helm?"
"Hell if I know, sir."
"I can command you from h-"
The ship shuddered and lurched to starboard, pushed by a photon blast on the underside of the primary hull.

So, it was with trepidation that I picked up my final book in this selection of ten Dreadnought! (#29 Pocket, #29 Titan) (1986).   Disappointingly, books in this grouping (#21 to #30) have been majoritively misses (for me anyway) with a couple hits.  I got about half way through Dreadnought! and was ready to write a scathing review.  I wasn't enjoying reading it, I didn't like the style, I hated the main character, I despised the puerile dialogue... and then I thought... perhaps I'm reading this the wrong way?

I like well written books, and frankly I've been spoiled.  I mean, when you've found an author or two who just get everything right for you, you're spoilt.  There is one particular author (not a Star Trek author) who just takes my breath away every time I read a new book by him, and damn it I want that sensation with more things I read!  Keeping this in mind, I took a step back from my own dislike of Dreadnought! and wondered who it was written for, who would like it, who would read this novel and dream they were lieutenant Piper.

It became so obvious then.  I'd been so unhappy reading it, holding it up against an impossible standard that I hadn't given it a fair chance.  I hadn't stepped back and thought that, well, perhaps I'm not really the intended audience, perhaps in its own way it is good, it's just not what captures my imagination anymore.

Anymore?

Yes, anymore.  When I took a step back I realised that actually, actually I would have loved this book fifteen years ago.  A silly, awkward fourteen or fifteen year old who dreamed about being older, not realising that as an adult she wouldn't be the same person, that she wouldn't have that same mentality.  A girl who didn't realise her glib remarks didn't really do her any favours and that sarcasm wasn't very flattering.  A girl who wasn't interested in the latest boy band, but who idolised star ship captains, and elves, and fairies.  A girl who still secretly played make believe while running around her family's land, making herself a main character in a myriad of games and make believe stories.  Could she rescue a borg drone from being a drone?  Yep, because she was special.  Find a magic lamp and make three wishes? Of course.  Somehow succeed against the odds, gain her peers respect, earn recognition?  As easy as breathing.

Yes, that little girl would have loved Dreadnought! and lieutenant Piper's exploits. 

Oh, of course that isn't going to get it completely off the hook, but once I realised some of this I started to be able to enjoy it (you might have noticed I'm a little bit mulish).

I guess my mind keeps coming back to that explanation of a Mary Sue; why they exist, what they represent, and I just get the feeling that (and I recognise I could be wrong) lieutenant Piper of Proxima may as well be called lieutenant Carey of 'somewhere in the USA'.  I very much think even if we discard the term 'Mary Sue', Piper is still a self-insert (made more likely by the rumour that Diane Carey modelled for the cover herself) and her adventures probably the outcome of many hours of play.  Carey herself says she was a first generation fan, she would have been what, thirteen or fourteen when Star Trek first aired?  It fits, doesn't it?

Lieutenant Piper is like... the dream outcome for an awkward, dorky girl in her teens.   She isn't one of the beauty queens or popular girls, but she's still pretty enough to have a 'lover' right?  And everyone seems to love her, even though she hasn't learned to love herself yet.  She makes friends easily, but importantly she makes mistakes with her relationships too... so she's realistic to a teenage girl trying to make her way through the minefield of school and hormones.  Piper gets angry with herself, berates herself, asks herself why she's being so stupid.  She makes those silly teenage comments that sound so clever to a child (what a come back!), but to an adult it makes you cringe a little bit inside (oh, why did you say that you silly girl!).  

Carey (or Piper, or both) realises that Kirk is off limits, after all no mere woman could come between Kirk and Spock (I caught all those little observations Carey, slash knows slash) so she creates her own Vulcan 'Sarda'.  Sarda doesn't look like Spock, his colouring is auburn hair and light eyes but he's still a Vulcan and... also caught between two worlds.  Although he is fully Vulcan, he has a penchant for weapons design.  Piper drew attention to this, Sarda got ostracised by his fellow Vulcans, cue teenage angst.

This is naturally what will draw them together in the end - and Carey Piper will have a deep and meaningful bond with a Vulcan, just like Captain Kirk whom she idolises.  Now I completely understand her passion for Kirk, completely but good grief girl, stop making eyes at the Captain when you've got a Vulcan waiting in the wings (and a forgettable ex, that's ok though).

Events move incredibly quickly, like a child recounting a story 'and then this happened, then this, then suddenly - this!' one minute she's a cadet in the academy taking the Kobayashi Maru test, then she's been made lieutenant on the Enterprise, then she's on board and before she can change her clothes there's an emergency.  Then she still doesn't change her clothes (because she's special don't you know!) and then she breaks out, steals a shuttle type thing, gets caught by the soon to be bad guy, then escapes, then captains the dreadnought, then we're all back home in time for an award ceremony and a buffet.  Later she's going to go sailing with Captain Kirk and they're both going to talk about what it's like to be bonded close friends with a Vulcan.

It's honestly ridiculous, I mean she wears a black jumpsuit instead of her uniform the whole way through.  Her group bunny hop down a corridor as a diversionary tactic.  The amount of contact between her and Sarda is nearing on indecent, and some of the descriptions of things - 'orgasmic' oh you naughty girl! - are far past appropriate!

It's not so much a Star Trek story as a girl's fantasy.  To be the one at the centre of the narrative (and it can't be any other way written in the first person), to be accepted by people you admire, to work out and thwart a plot which threatens the galaxy AND manage to show that you listened in your social studies class as you talk about ideas like 'big government' and 'civil liberties'.

That being said Diane Carey has made copious use of the Technical Manual, which gives the specifications for the Dreadnought class ship and the name Star Empire.  She also uses a couple of the flow diagrams which are in the technical manual that describe Starfleet hierarchy.  In addition to this, there are also two technical drawings at the back of the book which show two smaller ships / shuttles - a one man fighter 'polliwog' and a two man 'arco attack sled'.

So... I guess although it's ridiculous, thoroughly unbelievable silliness, I guess it isn't totally terrible as long as you accept it for what it is.  Seeing that Carey wrote historical romance novels around this time, it makes sense that the Piper and this whole book should be written in this style.  Historical romances are aimed at women and the main characters are often just stand ins for the audience, and that's what Piper is.  She's making new friends and having encounters with men who are (in her world) possible romance options. 

Anyway, Dreadnought! has a lot of heart and despite not liking it, I'm going to give it a 2/5.  As I said, for what it is, it isn't bad.  It's not trying to be anything other than it is, which is a  simple teenage / young adult novel set in the Star Trek universe.

2/5 - because uniforms aren't for main characters.

Star Trek - Crisis on Centaurus

Kirk ran it through his mind again.  We're relatively safe as long as we stay in here, as long as Burke knows where we are and feels in control.  If we leave Burke will think he's losing control, and we're dead.  But we've got to leave.  Now just how the hell are you going to pull this one off, Jim?

First question: Was this novel sponsored by American Express, Coca-Cola, Hilton, and British Airways?

Second question: Did I watch the same Star Trek as Brad Ferguson (author)?

From the outset Crisis on Centaurus (#28 Pocket, #47 Titan) (1986) by Brad Ferguson delivers a quite warped view of the Star Trek future.  I'm not going to pull any punches; the story was pedestrian, characterisation was poor, and understanding of the Star Trek almost nonexistent.

Crisis on Centaurus isn't getting a good score, that's for sure.

There were so many things simply wrong about this book, it's difficult to know where to start.

Summary of Crisis on Centaurus - Memory Beta (as of time of writing detailed but incomplete).

The Story

The story was simplistic and uninspired and hinged upon beliefs and mentalities confirmed to be eradicated by this time in human history.  We know that the concept of money is a little hazy and that we know that racism within humans is pretty much unheard of, and we also know that Alpha Centauri IV (or in this case Centaurus) is a thriving Federation colony (in fact a founding member of the United Federation of Planets).  Much of the narrative of Crisis on Centaurus hinges on Centaurus being somewhat at odds with the Federation and Federation principles so ultimately Crisis is based on a faulty premise to begin with.

Initial conflicts of interest / principles with the Federation are apparent from the first page.  What really stuck on page one was the 'American Express' cash machine.  The use of real big name brands occurs throughout the book and to me indicates not only a lack of understanding of Star Trek but also a severe lack of imagination.  I might have been able to ignore the rampant capitalism if Ferguson had bothered to invent an equivalent but... for me the inclusion of American Express (which highlighted a monetary system), Hilton, Coca-Cola, and strangely British Air(ways) broke my suspension of disbelief.

Stretching for ideas, Ferguson uses racism to try and make his villains more... villainous.  Humans who are not only xenophobic of other species, they are also white supremacists!  So, did we watch the same Star Trek or did we see two different shows?  Star Trek TOS explicitly says racism doesn't exist within humans two or three times, humans have grown past that.

Additionally, part of the plot is that the planet's defence system has gone haywire and is shooting nukes at anything that flies...  Sorry, are we part of the Federation or not?

The story is so badly structured and conceived that in order to have an understanding of the motivations of the plot the main remaining villain gives a long winded hypothetical exposition.  Look, Ferguson, if you've got to the point where you've got to wrap up a book and the only way you can do this is by having the bad guy (who really wasn't behind the big explosion anyway) tell you everything from the motivations to the execution of the events because otherwise everyone is going to be none the wiser... you've failed.

A subplot is that the Enterprises' computer system has been damaged and it might have been sabotage!  Except it wasn't and nobody really thought about it too much and took quite a cavalier attitude to the fact there might be a saboteur on the ship, in that nobody actually investigated anything.  As it turns out a tiny black hole winked in and out of existence while the Enterprise was travelling at warp two and that's what damaged the computer system.  It's not really investigated until the end.

Ferguson also seems to forget how the chains of command works on the Enterprise and makes a big thing about Uhura being put in charge of the Enterprise (presumably because she's black or something and it fits with his white supremacists plot point).

Characterisation

Characterisation was poor all round with Kirk having some terrible dialogue and out of character moments, just take a look at this example of sterling writing:

"You can't afford to sneer, Barclay," Kirk said.  "You're too close to being dead right now.  So shut that hole in your face and stay down on the floor."

 Um... What even is this dialogue?  Much of the 'character development' for Kirk revolves around that he'd much rather kill the criminals behind the atrocity but he's going to do his duty despite his desire to end their lives himself.  Laughable.

Spock gets off lightly and Ferguson puts in a few emotional lapses so he isn't a complete robot 100% of the time.  No really terrible dialogue that I can recall but nothing wonderful either.

McCoy is barely in the novel, nor is his daughter Joanna.  You'd think there would be character development here, McCoy being worried about his daughter, some exposition through his daughter.  Well Joanna makes an appearance for about 25 pages, McCoy for reasons unknown doesn't go down to the planet to help until after she is found alive.  Personally I would have thought that nothing would have stopped McCoy from going down to the planet especially since he wouldn't be going on the transporters since they are non-functional throughout the novel.

An OC nurse however does go down to the planet's surface in McCoy's stead.  Her purpose is to provide some cringe inducing dialogue from Chekov and to create some sort of tragic, abortive love affair with him.

Which reminds me every-single-woman is commented on or leched at by Kirk and/or Chekov.  Every time those lines came up I felt like shrivelling up in embarrassment.

The Villains are non-entities.  The scientist who started the blast was a bland nothing, the bad-guys Kirk was trying to save in order for them to be taken to trial and avoid the Centauran death penalty (what?) were bland, uninteresting and 'the big bad' was cliched.  The best villains were the government agents, who weren't villains at all and just wanted to arrest the terrorists under their own laws.  Kirk didn't like one of them... probably because the government official was competent and doing his job unlike everyone else in this version of Star Trek.

Basically, don't read Crisis on Centaurus.  It's a waste of time.  It's not even a good story, let alone a good Star Trek story.

1/5 - Product Placement.

New Guest Blog on trekfanproductions.com!

Hello everyone!

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

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

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

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


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

Star Trek - Dwellers in the Crucible

Some small part of her mind marvelled at the words that came out of her mouth.  She who had been known for the quality of her silences was transformed by her own rootlessness and her need to save one other.

Kaiidth! She would bargain with the Klingon and she would win, though the winning kill her.  The crucible of the t'hy'la could also immolate. 

Dwellers in the Crucible (#25 Pocket, Giant #2 Titan) (1985) by Margaret Wander Bonanno is very much the spiritual successor of its two cited inspirations The Final Reflection by John M Ford, and My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane.  Not only does Bonanno use the concepts of the Klingon and Rihannsu (Romulan) empires explored in Ford and Duane's respective novels, but she also minimises the impact of the Enterprise crew and characters, instead telling a story where the cast we know are incidental and two original characters take the fore.

I have to admit, I initially skipped over this one because I thought it wouldn't be an easy read, especially if it did follow in the footsteps of The Final Reflection and My Enemy, My Ally.  Truth be told, I was right, however the two mentioned instalments turned out to be fantastic, so what was I worried about? 

Margaret Wander Bonanno was already a professionally published author having penned three novels previous to Dwellers in the Crucible.  She is a talented writer and her previous experience in world crafting and character development is clear from the outset of Dwellers and her previous independence leads her to create an adventure within the Star Trek universe, using lore from other successful authors, but outside of the usual tinted lens of the Enterprise and her crew.

However, however, although Dwellers in the Crucible has the pedigree: good material, talented writer, good characters, it doesn't have the illusive something, that little bit of stardust which would elevate it into something (in my opinion) great.

Have you ever read The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro?  There's a film of it too starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.  It's a very clever book; cleverly written, a sad character analysis with a sad, hopeless ending.  It's a prize winner, a literary masterpiece - it is also one of the most dull, unrewarding, uninspiring books I have ever read.  It's a lesson in drudgery, of patience and dogged determination, AND frankly if a reader manages to get through it on their own steam they should reward themselves (a slice of cake will do) because you get not a jot from the book.  The film isn't much better, brilliant but good grief I shall not watch that exercise in dreary fatalism again!

Why have I told you about The Remains of the Day?  Well.. Dwellers in the Crucible elicits the same feelings from me.  I love the fact Bonanno knows how to write, I love that it's a 'quality' book, I like it's cleverness, it's structural peculiarities, I like the different focus.  I also think it is rather unrewarding and often painfully dull.  I can't truthfully call it bad (it simply isn't), but I also can't say I enjoyed it (because I didn't).  I'm glad I read Dwellers but on the other hand I had to force myself to pick it back up; the experience can probably be summed up as all stick and no carrot.

The Story

Dwellers in the Crucible is a story of captivity, friendship and survival of powerless civilians.  It's not a pleasure to read; it is heavy going and often hard to continue.  It contains torture, sadism, murder and suicide, but also loyalty, self sacrifice, compassion and love.

The Federation has adopted an initiative based on an ancient Vulcan practice - The Warrantors of Peace - an important person or people to the current world leaders are held hostage with a capsule embedded in their hearts which will detonate if removed or if the planet commits an act of war/violence on another.  The concept boils down to the threat mutually assured destruction should one planet commit an act of violence toward another (an agreeable cold war?).

The Romulans and Klingons in their uneasy alliance, formulate a plan to kidnap a number of Warrantors in order to destabilise the peace of the Federation.  Once the Romulans kidnap the Warrantors they are passed into the hands of the Klingons (frankly a terrible idea on the part of the Romulans) who amuse themselves by torturing their civilian charges whom they have under their control for about six months.

Meanwhile the Enterprise is on 'standby'.  Sulu is dressed up as a Romulan and sent undercover in the Empire (which we barely hear about), Scotty gathers information from the Klingons, and Uhura sets about sowing incorrect information for the Romulan listeners to decipher.  Kirk... well Admiral Kirk is getting rather agitated about the whole thing, while Spock keeps him company?

Eventually the remaining Warrantors are saved, and Kirk and Spock see a reflection of themselves in the two women.  The Federation finally decides this whole 'Warrantors of Peace' concept was a terrible, terrible idea and is in the process of scrapping the whole program by the end of the book.

The overarching story isn't at all well developed.  Some reviewers have had a problem with the 'Warrantors of Peace', however the Federation is capable of doing remarkably stupid things so I can give it a pass... plus the Vulcans suggested it so I can conceivably imagine the Federation diplomats and higher ups agreeing it was a good idea.  Other problems include the under developed Sulu mission which could have been a book all by itself, Admiral Nogura's strange decisions about what Kirk should or shouldn't be doing, and the fact that the Enterprise is left idling for six months.  I imagine Kirk was climbing the walls!  However, Dwellers in the Crucible is not concerned with 'the big picture', but with the relationships between the Warrantors, and the Warrantors and their captors.

The Crucible(s)

The term crucible in the title applies to different aspects of the story, but is most strongly summed up in the following quote:

The Vulcan friendship mode is a crucible.  There is that in it which can purify, refine, strengthen.  There is also that which can immolate, destroy.

Just remove the reference to 'the Vulcan friendship mode' (I really hate the 'mode' terminology since Vulcan Command Mode) and replace it with 'love'.  Love is the crucible.  Poignantly this novel is set between TMP and TWOK, and in TMP love is the word which is never mentioned except in euphemism.  In Dwellers, love of the same flavour as Kirk and Spock's is explored - t'hy'la - through the guise of two women, Cleante al-Faisal - a human female, and T'Shael - a Vulcan female. 

However, love isn't the only crucible in Dwellers, although it is the most poetic.  There are several events which act as crucibles, some are in the novel's 'present' others in the characters' pasts.  The shared pasts of Cleante and T'Shael (which is a significant portion of the book) highlights moments of change which would eventually lead them to the realisation of their status of t'hy'la.  Some of the moments of dramatic, others are moments of understanding for one, or both of them.

I think the most obvious 'crucible' is their prison on the abandoned planetoid - certainly a place which can purify, refine, strengthen or immolate and destroy.  The situation as engineered by the Klingons (or specifically Kalor) causes the deaths of the three Deltans.  The Deltans lived for love both physical and mental however in the crucible that love destroyed them.  On the other hand, the pressure felt by Cleante and T'Shael to save the other caused both of them to be forged into something better both as individuals and as a unit.

Cleante & T'Shael

Cleante and T'Shael are Kirk and Spock's stand ins respectively.

What makes it quite interesting however is that Cleante and T'Shael are civilians and come from very different backgrounds to Kirk and Spock.  I think it would be interesting to speculate what changes there would be to this story if they weren't civilians or if it was Kirk and Spock in this same situation... No doubt there there is a fanfiction on this subject somewhere.

I can't talk too much about the characters without giving away too much of their story.  However Cleante is very much an impulsive, young, human woman with altogether too much pride; T'Shael is a reticent, reserved young fully Vulcan woman who is humble and 'known for the quality of her silences'.  Both women come from less than ideal families, Cleante's mother never affectionate and work driven while T'Shael's parents are dead - her uncaring mother died on the Intrepid while her father died of an incurable wasting disease.  However, both women are incredibly lonely and this loneliness brings them together despite their difference.  I think this is also what is brings Kirk and Spock together initially, command is a lonely place.

I think it interesting that although Cleante and T'Shael are the analogues of Kirk and Spock, that they are not copies.  T'Shael is humble however Spock has great pride (as I think most Vulcans do), while Cleante is prideful while Kirk will lower himself for the greater good.  These differences in both relationships evaporate however when they are truly 'bonded' and when the other is in danger both pairs gain the capacity for great self sacrifice.

I think perhaps most women will find something of themselves in either or both Cleante and T'Shael, perhaps that's what made their situation (their captivity and torture) so horrible to read about.  It's much easier to read about the appalling treatment of a male hero character; it's not so close to home and you know that the hero character is trained for this and they can handle it.  In Cleante and T'Shael's situation you don't have any of that reassurance, you're wondering when they are going to break.  I think it's most galling because you can't even put your trust in Vulcan fortitude, you're wondering when T'Shael will break too, not just the highly strung human.

Ford's Klingons and Duane's Romulans

To me it seems odd to set out to use existing lore by other novel writers and then use so little of it that it almost seems wasteful to have considered it in the first place.  Although there are nods to Ford and Duane's ideas, the Klingons and the Romulans remain more Bonanno's creations that the other writers.

Ford's Klingons were sly gamemasters, and if a Klingon should rise through the ranks from a lowly background you'd expect them to be intelligent - not so apparently.  Krazz is one of the more stupid villains despite his rise to a position of power.  Ford spent much of his novel The Final Reflection giving a different reading of the Klingons, trying to find common ground that perhaps even Kirk could in some way empathise with.  However Krazz and Kalor (Krazz's second in command) are simply exactly like you expect a Klingon to be - and to be honest, if I were Kirk the actions of Krazz and Kalor would have closed me down to any possible positive feelings towards the Klingon species.  Kalor is the worst of the two, a cruel sadist who engineers the deaths of the three Deltans under the premise of science.  Lets face it, if he was a 'scientist' doing experiments on rabbits and enjoying causing them suffering, you wouldn't want to know him right?  Ok, well now apply that to three Deltans, one of which is a child.  No Bonanno, he can't have my sympathy now that he's found he has a soft side now that he's coerced Cleante into sex in order to save her friend from his sadistic experiments.  Nor am I going to listen to Cleante when she starts sympathising with him as her mind is breaking.  His 'redemption' came too late in the game, I think he's a poor representation of Ford's Klingons.

Duane's Romulans / Rihannsu are represented a little better perhaps, but this may be because we don't see them half as much.  Bonanno seems to have used some key points from Duane's Romulan development like the term Rihannsu, and the imagery associated with the Praetor / Empire.  Much of what could have been included regarding the Romulans (and perhaps there was more in the first draft) would have been Sulu's adventure undercover in the Romulan Empire,  but since this is barely touched once introduced (and consequently the results of the investigation is only a confirmation of what they already know - they would have gone to the same place without confirmation anyway), so it isn't really important in the long run.  I found it interesting that one of the main plot points to Duane's story My Enemy, My Ally is that the female Romulan/Rihannsu Commander whom Spock tricks in order to get the cloaking device is disgraced and sent into exile,  however in Bonanno's iteration she still has the favour of the Praetor - surely this is a major change to Rihannsu thought?

All in all, I don't think Bonanno uses enough Ford and Duane's ideas to have really warranted her giving them credit at the beginning, although... there is mild influence.  I don't think the representation of either species is bad though, don't get me wrong.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty

Odd.  Just Odd.

I don't know whether it's because Bonanno is doing her best to keep them out of the limelight, but the established characters are often a little 'off'.  Out of all of them, I'd say that Scotty and Uhura have the most true to form characterisation.  Uhura certainly feels like she's presented similarly as in other novels (although some of her dialogue with Spock is a little saccharine), while I could vividly see Scotty on his mission in my minds eye - shame it was so short.

Sulu was... out the way for much of the novel, doing something simultaneously important and unimportant, which ultimately didn't lead anywhere.  It was kind of annoying really as for once I wanted to know what Sulu was actually doing (my dislike for Takei unfortunately bleeds into my feelings for Sulu) as his mission was the most dynamic of the lot.

Kirk, Spock and McCoy only really get going in the final section of the novel when we're beaten with the t'hyla stick - but frankly if you hadn't got that Bonanno has made a parallel couple out of Cleante and T'Shael in order to investigate the depths of the concept of T'hy'la whilst circumventing the radars of certain audiences then perhaps you deserve it.

No need to open her eyes this time.  What little strength she had left she raised one hand.  It was gently embraced by two human hands, and T'Shael's pain receded in the emanation of love from those hands.

Did she dare smile? If death were to claim her before she could let Cleante know the depth of her gratitude, her yes - call it love - even in the presence of strangers -

For the first time in her life, T'Shael smiled.

"I'm here," was all Cleante said, and it was all that was needed.

Jim Kirk looked at Spock, who acknowledged the scene in silence before setting the controls (...). 

Sound familiar by any chance?  It's pretty much a verbatim rendition of Spock and Kirk's scene in TMP.  This book is also set between TMP and TWOK... Whodathunk.

McCoy knows everything, and even when Kirk is being dense he makes sure to hit him with the t'hy'la hammer:

"(...): whatever happens to her depends in large part on Cleante.  And vice versa."

Kirk gave him a puzzled look.

"Explain." 

 "Oh, come on Jim!  You've seen it as well as I have, and so has Spock.  These two are forged together for life.  They're almost a mirror image of you and Spock, both of them falling over each other in self sacrifice.  There's an old phrase in Latin - amicus usque ad aras. 'A friend in spite of all differences; a friend to the last extremity.'  There's even a Vulcan word for it, isn't there Spock?"

"The word, Doctor is t'hy'la," Spock murmured, ignoring McCoy's obtuseness.

There is also a section where McCoy leads Cleante away and sees the same look of devotion in her face as he had seen so many times in Jim Kirk's.  McCoy's role here is very much to draw attention to the parallel couples and I guess his character development / exposition is the depth of his understanding of his two closest friends.

So regarding Kirk and Spock... sure they have only a small part to play in this novel ultimately, but despite this the novel is about them or at least their relationship.  Nobody really cares about a couple of one off characters who disappear into the ether at the end of a novel, not really - what do they change ultimately?  Well nothing at all except perhaps our understanding of the term t'hy'la and the personal transformations which take place in a relationship of that depth.

While thinking about Dwellers and the concept of the 'crucible' and forging an unbreakable bond, I thought... when was the point that where at least one of them realised he was bound to the other?  When was Kirk and Spock's 'crucible' moment?  I thought about it for a while, but certainly Spock's 'moment' had to be Amok Time; I think that would be the time he realised he was bound to this human for life (that smile when he realises that Kirk is still alive...).  What about Kirk?  Well... like Cleante I think Kirk innately knew and recognised the other part of his soul, perhaps he didn't think about it in poetic terms until later, but from Kirk's reactions and the way he looks at Spock from the beginning (aided by Shatner's phenomenal acting), I think he knew all along.

So yes ultimately Dwellers in the Crucible is a very good, well thought out character study.  A little bit subversive, a lotta bit clever - I would recommend reading it for the questions it asks and for the thoughts it provokes.  However it is not an enjoyable book, I didn't take a lot of pleasure in reading it and it was at times a chore to read which is not a feeling I like.  I did feel like I was forcing myself to turn the pages, so this leaves me in a strange position.

I didn't like the book, but I liked the points it made and the questions it evoked... which is why I'm going to give it 3/5!