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
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 rollKirk 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!
If you think any differently, or think I've missed something I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Interesting observations! I think you see it more because you are reading the novels so quickly so you can notice threads and themes. When me and other fans of that era read them, we had some buffer time between books. I wonder what other authors were turned away during this period-- you noticed that there was no real vetting at all from Roddenberry's office. What I found of the later novels is lack of depth of characterization and they were almost exclusively male authors who seemed to lack a dimension I was seeking. I also read these earlier books in the middle of teen angst years, so they probably resonated with me then! I also stopped reading any series novels because they were churning them out assembly line-like, and it seemed TPTB (the powers that be) were just looking to cash in on our fandom. Looking forward to reading more reviews!! Thanks so much for doing this!
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