Last modified March, 2000, except where noted. How to read these reviews: Title Authors publication date; pages Rating (see more on that below) (Synopsis) Review, when I choose to do one. Ratings: - I haven't read it, or can't remember enough to rate it -0- Zero out of five -- utter crap, fit to be pulped. * One out of five. Don't bother. **1/2 Two and a half out of five. Average Trek book, readable, but barely ***** Five out of five. Excellent! Read right away! Early STPB - The Bantam Series and other precursors to the Pocket Series. ******************************************* Mission to Horatius Written by Mack Reynolds, illustrated by Sparky Moore. No ISBN, 210 pages - NB: A book for young readers originally published in 1968 by Whitman Books. Reissued in a facsimile edition by Pocket Books in 1999. Spock Must Die! James Blish 02/1970; 118 pages. Latest reissue 07/1999; 128 pages. ** NB: Written in 1969 and published in 1970, this was the first Star Trek novel to be widely read. It proved immensely popular, going through numerous editions -- each with its own lousy cover. (A transporter accident creates a double of Spock -- but which one is the true Spock?) A truly horrible book. One of the first stpb novels published, it has gone through reprint after reprint, despite being stunningly mediocre. First there's Spock acting out of character. There's two of them, so one of them has to die? This from the guy who said "I'm frequently appalled by the low regard you Earthmen have for life?" Then there's silliness involving Organia. Okay, so Organia's the target, meaning impending war with the Klingons, whole galaxy in danger, that sort of thing, but the telepathic battle was was pretty pathetic, the Organians look like wimps . . . The writing is stylistically clumsy, and sections of the book drag. Finally there's the left-handed, right-handed enzyme business. It's based (loosely) on real science, but there's the nagging plausibility factor. Would you want to tamper with your fundamental chemistry just to shed a few pounds? I wouldn't. Star Trek: New Voyages Edited by Sandra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath 03/1976; 236 pages. ***** A second volume, New Voyages 2, is reviewed further down in this document. (A collection of Star Trek short stories written by fans, with intros to each story written by Shatner, Nichols, Barrett, et al.) The best of the Bantam series, and a must for any Star Trek Fan. The two best stories in this collection are "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited," a hilarious look at what would happen if you transplanted the Star Trek actors in the Star Trek universe. (Kind of like GalaxyQuest, except this was written 25 years earlier.) The other story is "Ni Var," in which Spock gets split into human and Vulcan halves. (Not by transporter accident, thank goodness.) It's a premise that could go horribly wrong, but here everything goes right. It's something like Voyager "Faces," again, written 20 years earlier. I think "Ni Var" actually gives us an even better insight into Spock and Kirk than "Faces" does for B'Elanna Torres and Paris. The other stories in this collection are good too. [[09/2003 update: "Visit to a Weird Planet," originally published in Spockanalia 5, which "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" is based on, is now available online. Spockanalia, wonder of wonders, is still in print. For the K/S fan, there is a very slashy moment in the story "The Winged Dreamers." Claire Gabriel, who wrote "Ni Var," is now online, and her novel, "Simple Gifts" is as well. The story is Spock/f, although slash fans may also enjoy it.]] Spock, Messiah! Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr. 09/1976; 182 pages ** (-5) NB: Unfortunately the writing is technically sound, so I gave it a "**" for "You can finish it, but why bother?" As for content, this has to be the most awful Trek book I have ever read. Don't buy it, don't read it, don't even think about it. (Spock is transformed by contact with an alien consciousness which drives him mad. Now he believes he is the Messiah of Kyros and wil stop at nothing to revolutionize the world.) [3/17/2000] In terms of content alone, this is one of the most *horrible* Star Trek books I have ever read. Kirk, McCoy and Chekov are sexist, patronizing jerks, while Spock is an arrogant Vulcan chauvinist. The humans refer to him as an "organic computer and treat him in a way reminiscent of the Vulcan-bashing on Voyager.Even though Spock is in the title and supposedly the subject, he ends up nothing more than a passive victim. This might ahve been allayed somewhat if they had told some of it from Spock's point of view, but they do not, for plot reasons. The plot is very neat and tight, but who cares? This books is so sexist in the '70's way; there's nothing but sex, sex, sex. Women exist only as the objects of male attention. I don't even want to get into the extremely (s)exploitative storyline invlving the previously "prim" Ensign George who gets turned on to more "sensual" behavior. This is what you would get if you distilled all the most racist, sexist elements of Star Trek and put them together. take a little of "Mudd's Women," "Elaan of Troyius" and Spock from the mind meld on in "Is There in Truth No Beauty" and you have _Spock, Messiah!_. It's no wonder Spock is down for the count in this book -- his morals, his thoughtfulness, his loyalty would get in the way of the macho parade in this book. It's a shame, in some ways, because this book could ahve been more. There have been lame attempts to deal with religious and/or racial fanaticism in other Trek books, but this one had the most potential to really take it on well. However, ad the book goes on,it gives into cliches and lazy writing. For example, the comparison is made to Hitler's speech-making abilities. Now, ther eare some people who can make speeches so well that you'd believe about anything, but the words are the curcial thing. Hitler had an audience because some Germans were listening, not because he had some sort of charismatic or hypnotic "power." But while Spock may have had charisma in bundles, this "Messiah" has neither charisma nor anything interesting to say. And he certainly doesn't say it in a compelling way. I don't buy it. For those of you who *have* read the book, I also have big nit. Wouldn't Kirk recognize Spock's voice? You would think so . . . This is the most sexist Star Trek book ever, even worse than TNG #38 _Dragon's Honor_. It's not just hte sex; Peter David puts a lot of sexual innuendo in his bos, but he isn't a leering jackass. And did I mention the drinking--? The Price of the Phoenix Sandra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath 07/1977; 182 pages * NB: sequel is titled _The Fate of the Phoenix_ I'm reviewing both together -- (Slashy, strange story in which Kirk must battle a superman named Omne who progressively gains the skills of his opponents.) Includes the Romulan commander from "The Enterprise Incident," like all good slash. Kirk gets cloned and she keeps the clone as an, uh, body servant. The worst thing aobut these books is the elliptical, "insider" dialogue, which no sane person save the authors could make heads nor tails of. [[09/2000 -- Yes, I was harsh because I wrote this during my little anti-slash period. Not all slash features the Romulan commander, after all. But I still think they suck.]] Planet of Judgment Joe Haldeman 08/1977; 151 pages ***1/2 NB: Haldeman was a Hugo and Nebula award winner, but not for this book. (The Enterprise stops briefly en route to Starfleet Academy to investigate a strange planetoid. Soon Kirk is trapped with an away team on the surface -- with beings who can bend the laws of physics at will!) Haldeman clearly has writing ability. His characterizations are excellent, aside from a gaffe where he calls Scotty a redhead. There are certain scenes which woudl ahve been wonderful on the series. However, the plot is something of a problem. It is not exactly as if Haldeman simply started writing with no idea how the story would turn out. Instead, he seems to have had certain goals by various plot machinations, but he didn't think it through very well. The breakdown of physical laws which supposedly occurs on the surface seems to be particularly haphazard and poorly thought out, as does the changing attitude of the natives towards the Federation people. While he makes a good attempt to present an alien psychology, some inconsistencies, like having beings who can flout physical laws using bows and arrows, really stretch the premise too far. It's unfortunately, because this book has much to recommend it in terms of what he does with the Star Trek characters. [[09/2003 This story is recommendable to K&S and K/S fans . . . Spock has some hidden depths.]] Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 Edited by Sandra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath 01/1978; 252 pages ***? Not quite up to the level of New Voyages 1. The best story in here is probably the Uhura story "Snake Pit," by Connie Faddis. [[09/2003 I don't have much more to say, except that for slash fans, there is the Marshak/Culbreath story "The Procrustean Petard," which is an absolute disaster of a work of fiction, and the sonnet "Soliloquy" by Marguerite B. Thompson on page 249, which is K/S in nature and quite bad.]] Vulcan! Kathleen Sky 09/1978; 175 pages ** NB: Sometimes listed as _Vulcan_ by Kathleen Sky and Stephen Goldin (A woman with a deep-set prejudice against Vulcans is trapped on a planet with Spock and hostile insectoid aliens.) Not particularly well-written, or enjoyable. Spock, for one, acts like a total prick. The aliens turn out, after many pages and plot twists, not to be intelligent after all. I also didn't buy how the other members of the landing party were conveniently killed off, while Spock and Mary Sue, excuse me, Katalya Tremain survived. (Katalya being obviously an avatar for the author, who, like many female Star Trek fans, clearly had a crush on Spock.) It is interesting to compare the Enterprise crew's reaction to Katalya's bigotry (the book is from the 70's) with the attitude of the Voyager crew in season six, particularly in "Ashes to Ashes." To those who say Star Trek has lost its way, this is certainly more proof. [[09/2003 The fact that this book was published at all seems an act of sheer nepotism. Steve Goldin was buddies with David Gerrold, who wrote "Trouble with Tribbles" and some TAS episodes. Both men eventually wrote Star Trek novels for Bantam. Kathleen Sky was Goldin's wife. She has no other published books, as far as I know. Sky seems to have formed a conception of Spock without watching one episode. (Or perhaps the one episode she did watch was "Spock's Brain.") To me, this is a clear case of getting published via connections, and a great argument for merit versus the old boy system.]] The Starless World Gordon Eklund 11/1978; 152 pages * (The Enterprise is drawn to a primitive planet ruled by a "god" named Ay-nab.) Like Star Trek V, yet dumber, if possible. Trek to Madworld Stephen Goldin 01/1979 **** NB: This book includes a hilarious introduction by David Gerrold. ("Stephen goldin is a were-koala.") Stephen Goldin was Kathleen Sky's husband. Also, the original cover for this book was just awful. (The *Enterprise* is en route to Epsilon Delta 4 to evacuate the colonists there when it is brought unwillingly into the realm of a mad Organian named Enowil.) This book has some silliness, but it's actually better for its serious aspects. I thought the solution to Enowil's problem was insightful. Overall the science was good, although this book is not "hard" science fiction (little Star Trek fiction is). The author shows a definite prejudice for Romulans over Klingons, but if you had TOS "Balance of Terror" and "Day of the Dove" as your guides, as the author did, as opposed to TNG "The Enemy" and "Redemption," you would feel the same way too. This is a pretty good little book -- excellent by Bantam standards. World Without End Joe Haldeman 02/1979; 150 pages *** (The crew explore the hollowed out interior of a planetoid.) [[09/2003 Never got around to a review for this one.]] The Fate of the Phoenix Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath 05/1979; 262 pages * NB: The sequel to _The Price of the Phoenix_ Reviewed with _The Price of the Phoenix_ above. Devil World Gordon Eklund 09/1979; 153 pages -0-? [[09/2003 I can't remember, but at some point I thought it sucked.]] Perry's Planet Jack C. Haldeman II 02/1980; 132 pages ** [[09/2003 This is another case of nepotism. Jack Haldeman is Joe Haldeman's elder brother, and an inferior writer.]] (After being improbably attacked by crazy Klingons, the Enterprise proceeds to abandoned Earth colony Perry's Planet, now an established settlement, to pitch to them the benefits of Federation membership.) [[9/2003 Where do I begin with this horrible little book? It aspires not to be a good science fiction novel, but rather a middling quality Star Trek episode in print. The result is a shallow, unfocused book. What might have been covered in a real script by the performance of the actors and the work of the director is left in all its bare and fleshy nakedness. For example, Haldeman (Jack, that is) introduces an original character, a female virologist, who turns out to play *no significant role in the story whatsoever*. At first I thought she might be a love interest for McCoy, and later I thought she would play a role in isolating the virus from Perry's Planet, but the H-man fakes us all out by having her do nothing of importance at all. Clever! [[There's no character development, even of originals. Kirk's characterization is completely off. Spock's dialogue is, conversely, right on target, but the H-man isn't interested in him as a character. There's a halfway decent attempt at showing a future dystopia, but the villains are tissue thin: an obsessed Klingon and a megalomaniac. The writing job is horribly uneven, distracted, even rushed. Big bro may have thought he could do anything little bro could, but he was wrong.]] The Galactic Whirlpool David Gerrold 10/1980; 223 pages **1/2 (The Enterprise discovers a sublight generation ship from the early days of human space exploration headed straight for a black hole.) The science is good -- the most hard space sicence I've seen in a Trek book except for _Dyson Sphere_ (TNG #50) by Pellegrino and Zebrowski. The drama is pretty wimpy, though. It could have definately used more work. I just couldn't buy the YAATE solution of the colony's problems. (reminds me of some rrecent Voyager episodes that ended badly -- like "Spirit Folk.") [[09/2003 The main weakness of this story is that Gerrold just didn't spend enough time on the human side of the story. The generation ship's society makes sense to a degree, but it never quite connects, and neither do the characters. It's a shame, because this book could have been really good.]] Death's Angel Kathleen Sky 04/1981; 212 pages - NB: The last new Bantam novel published. In 1981 the contract for Star Trek novels and trade paperbacks when to Simon & Schuster, which eventually published STPB under the Pocket Books label. Bantam and Ballantine eventually were brought under Random House publishing. ----------------------------------------------------------- The original text of this document dates to March 7-28, 2000.