Star Trek - Triangle

Kirk tried fitfully to stir, alarm bells going off in his head.  It was always a mistake to think of the Vulcan as if he was human.  He was not.  What deadly Vulcanism did Sola and Spck know about, which Kirk did not?  Something which was triggered by what Spock  could not deny  he had felt for Sola?

I've calmed down a little bit, I promise!

... I promise nothing.

I really have neglected reading the earlier novels, so I turned to my partner and said -

"Choose from the following titles - " I listed the titles #3 to #9.

"Triangle?  It has to be Triangle - what kind of a name is Triangle anyway?"

And so I read Triangle (#9 Pocket, #49 Titan)  by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath.  I didn't hold out much hope for Triangle, I had to concur that it was a very strange name for a Star Trek novel.  However, as it turns out it wasn't something as innocuous as a title I had to be worried about.

As you may or may not know, Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath were the two authors behind the William Shatner autobiography, 'Where no Man', and it isn't unknown that they have certain agendas.  They are also pretty notorious in the slash fandom some even going so far as crediting them for creating slash.  Typically I picked up the last book they penned together, soon after Sondra Marshak appears to have gone MIA - her former friends and writing partners don't appear to know where she is - and Myrna Culbreath went back to education and is credited with a phonics learning program.

-- Ok, maybe I'm not so impressed with that, I was forced to learn to read through a phonics program, and it didn't work for me at all  (I was instead taught to read at home by my mother without the use of phonics).  But it was trendy in the 80s and 90s so I guess I can't hold that against her... maybe. -- 

Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath are intelligent women, and are/were highly influential within the ST fandom.  They are also quite academic and mix their own agendas and themes into the novels, -sometimes fairly hamfistedly, sometimes with a sledgehammer - and are very influenced by the psychological studies of the time.  They were involved in much trouble and controversy, which eventually saw them banned and alienated from conventions and publishers.  They were busy!

Marshak and Culbreath published four Trek novels

- The Price of the Phoenix (1977) - Bantam Books
- The Fate of the Phoenix (1979) - Bantam Books
- The Prometheus Design (1982) - Pocket Books
- Triangle (1983) - Pocket Books

They also have been involved in editing / contributing to two anthologies, while Sondra Marshak individually was involved in Star Trek Lives with Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Joan Winston.

Triangle is a hot, messy hurt/comfort fanfiction, and it's a little uncomfortable to read... ok, it's a lotta uncomfortable to read although it did cause me to laugh and be anxious in equal measure.  You might have gathered by other reviews, I am pretty protective of our illustrious Captain James. T... I don't like misrepresentation of him and I don't like to see him degraded for no reason.  I think Triangle really does cross that line.

I think I should fess up that I'm really not a big fan of hurt/comfort stories, although I do enjoy stories that have some of it in (I can't really deny that), I don't really like it when it's literally the kink  whole point of the story.

Triangle actually started out fairly interesting, and I was quite excited by the promise of a story which picks up the New Humans idea which is first introduced in the Star Trek The Motion Picture novelisation.  Since Marshak and Culbreath seemed to have a lot of contact with Roddenberry (and at the very least, Roddenberry knew of and/or used sections of the Kraith fanfiction), I thought that perhaps they would have more of an idea of where that storyline/idea would be going.  I guess I wasn't totally wrong they did have a really good idea that at times was a bit far fetched but at the same time 'very Trek'.

So essentially we are introduced to one of the New Human groups that essentially want to move towards a group consciousness.  An ambassador from the planet Zaran wants to be taken back to his planet by a representative of Starfleet - in this case their best - with the intention of testing them against his 'Oneness'.  There can only be one choice, Captain James T Kirk.  This seems like a pretty cut and dry mission, but wait!  The Enterprise will also have to pass through an area which is known as a starship trap, the 'Marie-Celeste' sector.  So there is story line number two, Kirk is going to experience the peril of the starship trap.

Seems like a nice set up... but it's pretty much down hill from there.

Understandably, Kirk's trials are taking their toll on him.  Not only is he physically exhausted and injured, but he is also being mentally assaulted by the Zaran ambassador Gailbraith.

Captain James T. Kirk saw the Vulcan's dark head and pointed ears bend over the scanners, and he took advantage of Spock's concentration to move, too carefully, from near the turbo lift doors to the command seat.   

Not that there was much the Vulcan was going to miss about his Captain, or ever had, but the last thing Kirk wanted just now was for Spock to read whatever the hell was going on with his Captain.  Fatigue, that was all.  And a few half-healed injuries - ribs cracked and the like.  He'd been banged up a little too much lately.  And not getting much sleep with those peculiar nightmares.  Once, one of the nightmares has started to come by day... Suddenly, now, it came again...

Kirk is never really in top form, even from the very first page of the first chapter he is on the back foot.  I can actually understand his fatigue, that's fine, we can surmise he's under mental assault so he's not incredibly sharp, but the thing is Marshak and Culbreath keep him weak throughout the entire novel.  I don't mean just physically weak, but mentally weak too, and in a situation where he has to represent the strength of individuality against opposing 'onenesses' it's a little... off putting.  They stop short at feminising him, which some commentators have suggested Marshak and Culbreath are fond of doing (The Prometheus Design?)  but they do ensure that Spock is always the stronger one even when he's battling against pon farr.  Yes, this novel is set seven years after the events in 'Amok Time' and as such Spock is suffering from the beginnings of pon farr's effects.  Nobody notices of course, because... reasons... but if Jims not careful he's going to have sexy times with his first officer.

What makes you think that Jen?  Well friends, it's not so much homoerotic subtext so much as homoerotic text.  You see in the above passage, the language of possession?  Well it doesn't stop there!  Spock saves Kirk multiple times, when their mental bond is broken he is agitated and worried, instead of allowing Kirk to be taken to sickbay by the medical team he carries him there himself...

And then he uh... deals with his issue with the cat person / woman / freeagent / half zaran with hugely powerful psychic powers who is also in love with Kirk... who is in love with her... who is also in love with Spock.  And you know how triangles are?  You know how it's  love triangle not a love chevron?  Well that part doesn't get left out either to be honest, but it's not gay if there's a woman involved right?  She's essentially camouflage for the Kirk/Spock shipping, that even gets commented on near the end of the novel.

I know I've kind of jumped ahead, but essentially there are two opposing forces Gailbraith's 'Oneness' and the 'Totality', neither are particularly good, but when choosing allies better to side with the devil you do rather than the devil you don't, right?  The cat girl  / free agent is needed by the totality in order to be a super powerful psychic conductor and enable the totality to forcibly absorb the minds of people in entire galaxies.  However, in order to unlock this power she needs to mate and bond with someone.  She ends up wanting both Spock and Kirk but ends up with neither, finally commenting that she wouldn't be able to go with one of them because it would mean monogamy, and it isn't for her sake she's saying that either.

Oh yes, a threesome is definitely implied, in fact I said to my partner, that I thought a whole scene  / chapter was missing, then later I read that someone believed there were extra chapters floating out there amongst certain circles...  I knew I wasn't just making stuff up!!

Triangle is very convoluted and nonsensical.  It's mainly concerned with a hurt/comfort relationship between Kirk and Spock (especially at the end... poor Kirk) and... if that isn't your kink, well... I think it's a bit lacking in any substance what so ever.  I think it could have been a very good idea if they'd developed the story instead of torturing Kirk but hey... what can you do?

2/5 - I'ma just gonna leave this here.

I need to pick a good one next...