Star Trek - Battlestations!

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

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

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

Irritation.  Disgust.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But.  That's.  Not.  All.

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

Still.  Not.  All.

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

End.

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

I'm not alone!

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

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

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

How did my hair get into this?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Star Trek - How Much For Just The Planet

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

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

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

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

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

- In Space, No One Can Fry an Egg

- The Dilithium Crystal As Big As The Ritz

- All's Fair In Love and Dilithium

and there are also 'interlude' chapters such as:

- Educational Short Subject: Useful Facts about Dilithium

- Historical Interlude: The Only War We've Got

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Star Trek - Time For Yesterday

The harsh, pain filled breaths were coming from Spock, who was crumpled beneath him.  Zar quickly pushed himself  up, realizing he must have shoved the Vulcan down and then fallen on him when the worst of the - the whatever it was - hit.

Kneeling, he carefully turned the other over, gently brushed some of the ashy dirt from the austere features.

"Father?" he whispered hoarsely.  "Are you alright?"

Reminds me somewhat of a certain
fanzine cover with Spock on an
alicorn...

Time For Yesterday (Pocket #39, Titan #) (1987) is A C Crispin's sequel to Yesterday's Son.  It really is a sequel so it's pretty pointless to read it unless you've already read Yesterday's Son,  since Crispin refers to specific events and relationships throughout.  Actually, in order to get maximum reading pleasure you should probably catch up with the previous novels written by Diane Duane, Brad Ferguson, John M Ford, Jean Lorrah, Vonda N McIntyre ( :(  ) and Howard Weinstein as characters and events which occur in their Star Trek novels are mentioned in Time For Yesterday and picking up on the references is precisely 10% of the fun! ...Captain.

Ok, well, I can't be 100% sure of the 10% figure, but I can tell you it gave me fannish kicks.

So... maybe you've finished Yesterday's Son and you're thinking, but I wonder what happened to Zar?  I mean, we know he influenced Sarpeidon's past by causing a period of rapid technological advancement... but just how did it come about?  And did he meet a lovely lady and produce green blooded pointy-ish eared sproglings?  And of course did I really read A C Crispin right and does she really ship K/S that hard?  Followed by can I have more for dessert please?

Well, if you have asked questions frighteningly similar to mine, then the answers are:

Crispin clears that up, yes - two actually, yes, and finally yes (just a little bit of sugar).

Once again Crispin returns to The Guardian in order to facilitate her jaunt into the past.  This time the Guardian seems to be malfunctioning, causing time waves to emanate from the ancient portal causing irreversible damage to stars and planets in its vicinity and resulting in the loss of a colony planet and a Starfleet vessel.  If the time waves aren't stopped they will surely cause the destruction of all life, naturally Starfleet turns to one man (and his select crew) to try to stop the Guardian's apparent malfunction; Admiral James T Kirk!

The resulting adventure takes Kirk, Spock and McCoy into Sarpeidon's past in order to find Zar, bring him back to their present and use him to speak to the Guardian telepathically.  Ultimately the reason for the Guardian's malfunction is revealed and we also get to meet the remaining creators of the Guardian.

However, the ending isn't half as satisfying as the medieval fantasy romp which makes up a large portion of the book.  It's fun for the reader, it was obviously fun for Crispin to write, and it feels suspiciously like a guilty pleasure.  The fantasy romp has almost nothing to do with the peril the universe is actually facing, and more to do with relationships.  The relationships between fathers and their sons, between lovers, between friends.  Time has passed differently for Zar and Spock, their age gap has closed and both are older and wiser men.  Spock is now more open with his feelings, while Zar has become a wiser, jaded man who has seen much hardship and personal loss.  I found the reigniting of the father-son dynamic for these two Vulcans very sweet, Spock's reactions in particular are endearing.

I'm reminded of a comment I read a while ago which equated the relationship of Sarek and Spock with the father-son relationships in the 50s/60s.  The father being detached and aloof, not showing emotion and pushing the son away for not being the man he wanted him to be.  In a way, Spock had to overcome that conditioning in Yesterday's Son, in Time for Yesterday however we see in Spock the more modern father, desiring of a closer relationship with his son, unafraid to show that he loves him, that he's proud of him and that he'd risk his life for him.

Crispin contrasts this with Kirk's apparent knowledge of David (this book takes place between TMP and TWOK) and his confused feelings of being an (by request) absent father.  We of course know that Kirk would meet his son during the events of TWOK and then lose him by TSFS.  It's an interesting comparison, Spock and Zar vs Kirk and David.

I feel that Crispin very much wanted to finish Zar's story for the sake of Spock, herself and her readers.  Everyone likes to know what happened next, they also like happy endings for the most part and Crispin delivers that... but not without a little tragedy.  Zar loved and lost many years ago and refused to remarry afterwards, however during the course of the novel he falls in love and bonds with a woman who otherwise would be his enemy (I'm going to comment again about the apparent fertility of Sarpeidons).  However she refrains from telling the whole story, leaving his eventual fate after he leaves his father's side for the final time.

Is there a comparison between father and son here? You bet your pointy ears there is!  You might remember the commentary which ran through Yesterday's Son in which Zar had problems understanding not only his relationship with his father, but also his father's relationships with others, in particular Kirk.  However, towards the end of the novel he realises that they are incredibly close (like bonded close), by the time we get to the events in Time for Yesterday it's not even questioned, it's even the subject of a bit of humour.

"Fair enough. Why haven't you remarried?" 

It was the Vulcan's turn to raise an eyebrow.  "There is no single reason.  Once the liaison the family arranged for me was terminated by divorce, there was no reason to enter another immediately... so I elected not to do so.  Time went by... and my contemporaries were all partnered.  Then our five year mission was over, and I began the the study of Kolinahr disciplines.  When one is an acolyte in pursuit of Kolinahr, one must give up... external... links."  He steepled his fingers.  "By the time I left Kolinahr, I also left Vulcan.  I have not been home since." 

"So, you just haven't met the right woman," Zar said, deadpan. 

Shared amusement touched his father's eyes.  "You could put it that way."

Cute.

Characterisation wise Crispin was spot on again.  Really strong characterization of the trinity (McCoy was in top form again) and nice use of Uhura in one of the novel's minor subplots (very minor).  I quite liked the medieval Sarpeidons as well... I could definitely tolerate another book with just Zar and his world in!  Crispin manages to create an interesting world for the length of book she's been allowed.  One thing I would change however would be to cut a couple of sub plots which are quite unnecessary and turn over more attention to the end with the creators of the Guardian - but this is all quite minor (and I want more of the mindmeld bit, it was over too quick imo!)...

I don't want to spoil anymore for those who haven't read it, so I'll just end with; read Time for Yesterday... I definitely recommend it, it definitely will not disappoint!

5/5 - would visit ancient Sarpeidon as a holiday destination.

Star Trek - Deep Domain

"It's my life, and I'm willing to take that risk.  Instead of arguing with me, you should be going over all your medical data and learning everything you can to make sure you don't kill me."
"Bones."  Kirk's tone was solemn.  "Is it possible?"
Incredulous, McCoy spun to face the Admiral.  "Jim, I've never treated a garden variety, air-breathin' Akkallan, let alone one who's turning into a fish!"

I had high hopes for Howard Weinstein's 1987 novel Deep Domain (#33 Pocket, #  Titan), not least because it is the result of Weinstein being involved in a brainstorming session with Leonard Nimoy when ideas for ST:IV were being bandied around.  As a consequence of the meeting, Weinstein wrote a story outline based on some notes he had made just in case he might have a chance at submitting one for the movie.  It turned out that the basic story had already been decided on and so, Weinstein never had the chance to submit his idea, however instead this story outline evolved into Deep Domain.

Howard Weinstein acknowledges in his forward that there are similarities between ST:IV and Deep Domain because they came from 'the same pot of ideas' but the differences become clear as you read the book.

He's right there I suppose.

I've been in such a rut with this book.  I have been gazing lovingly at my future conquests but because of my own self imposed rules I can't skip this one or start another one until Deep Domain is finished and reviewed.  It's taken me oh... over a month to get through it, it's just so incredibly dull.  Ok, to give Weinstein his due, the last  eighty pages or so is reasonably paced, as the author races to the... end?  Where was the climax?

Literally nothing particularly good jumps out at me, aside from that I've finished it and won't have to read it again. Weinstein what happened?!  There's... a lot of bad aspects to Deep Domain though, like poor pacing, off key characterization, strange OCs, and a bit too much wink wink nudge nudge foreshadowing.

So... where do I start?

Deep Domain is set between TMP and TWOK, and actually positions the events within as the final mission before Kirk gives up command of the Enterprise for the second time.  Weinstein also sets up Chekov's move to the Reliant as one of the last actions of the narrative.

The book is dominated by a contrived political situation on a water planet called Akkalla, which ultimately results in a military coo / martial law being enacted in line with the plans of an ambitious femme fatale.  Akkalla is a dubious member of the Federation, since they control their media with propaganda and use forbidden interrogation methods like... well.. torture, mainly to do with half drowning people.

Akkalla is under attack from a neighbouring planet, who having destroyed their own planet's ability to provide their population with food, have turned to illegally plundering Akkalla's oceans.  Greenpeace The Cape Alliance use small boats to try to disrupt the Whaling Vessels / Fishing Trawlers Chorymi harvesters, but their actions are considered criminal by their government who initially had a treaty with Chorymi.

A third Akkallan faction is the Collegium which is supposed to be a neutral educational institution but the government for some reason thinks they're dangerous too (despite repeated attempts to distance themselves).

The situation is made more complicated by the inclusion of a Federation research base, the mistreatment and then capture / disappearance of three Federation scientists.

Add into this the possibility of another ancient sentient race potentially being endangered by the Chorymi harvesting, the disappearance and capture of Spock and Chekov, the inclusion of a wide selection of overwrought original characters and you have a confusing mess.

Thank goodness it was never made a film.

It probably would have made an interesting not-Star-Trek sci-fi TV series though.

Really, there's just a bit too much going on, far too much for 275 pages and Deep Domain would have benefited from some significant editing of the plot and cutting out at least three characters to streamline it and -forgive the expression- cut the crap.  The story is bloated, it's boring, and I don't care about the colour changing cat girl who likes chocolate milk...!  I'd rather have more development in a smaller cast than a large cast with some half-hearted exposition of 'important characters'.

It's a shame because his previous novel The Covenant of the Crown was a really enjoyable book which was a quick read (191 pages) and used a smaller cast of characters with a simpler story line.  As happens with many authors across all genres, when they start to get a little more ambitious they over extend themselves a little bit and try to over complicate the story too much; this is definitely the case with Deep Domain.

I was a little surprised by Weinstein's noncommittal approach to emotions and relationships which he veered away from throughout Deep Domain, as previously he has explored emotions more thoroughly (actually making them more of a focus).  There were several points in the novel where I wished it had been written by a woman because those sections were just ripe for some emotional exposition and character development... and it just didn't happen.  I just felt like at times I wasn't being rewarded for slogging out page after page of not very much happening - all stick with no carrot.  This particularly annoying because it is clear that for the most part Weinstein has the main cast down pat, but he skips over any emotional confirmation which I can only put down to word count / page limitations.

Weinstein's OCs in Deep Domain are a little too numerous, but I found the little cat-girl ensign a particularly strange addition.  If I didn't know the author's name I would have expected a female author to have produced her, she's that kind of cringe inducing OC that really didn't need to be included in the story in the first place (and certainly not have as many pages wasted on her) and a faceless crew member would have done just as well.  If I was editing, she would have been the first to go!  There's also a trio of OCs (the leader of the Akallan government, the woman who is controlling him and her army toy boy) which could have done with being merged into one character for the sake of brevity, as their story line does nothing to really enhance the novel thematically, and again wastes precious pages for no real gain.

There are some really good and clever ideas in Deep Domain they just never get fully realized, which is a real disappointment.  I did like the idea of the Akkallans returning to the sea for the last half of their lives, I like the positive message / warning which echoes Star Trek:IV but there just isn't enough development - all plot points are just spread far too thin.

2/5 - I commit this book to the deep.

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!