avronreadstrek

[avronreadstrek]

project meta

I finished reading The Wounded Sky about a week ago, after reading very little during the first half of the month due to illness. Wanting to wait until I had at least tried to find the next book in series I started reading Fotonovels that I've had for more than a decade.

At the weekend just been I finally went and looked at the secondhand bookstore I was advertised to late last month. And acquired 20 more Trek books, none of which were the next in series. I'm going to consider finding other such stores in closer proximity when the weather clears again, in the hopes of finding what's next. If I don't I'll start skipping what I don't have (TOS 14) and move to what I do.

To keep up with the reading however, tomorrow I'm going to start reading through the James Blish novelisations, as I have all three of the 25th anniversary releases now. The next post here should be very brief recap of the First Season worth. (Probably not for about a week.)

[avronreadstrek]

Not a novel, but a collection of 12 "Fotonovels" published in the late 1970s, about a decade after the show started, and ending before the first movie. Made by taking what would have been screen caps from various episodes of the show, and putting comic style boxes with speech over portions of the images to retell the story.

About 160 pages each, listed as having 300 pictures from the episode. Memory-Alpha makes the reasonable claim that the advent of VHS killed the format; it would have became nearly as easy to record a re-run.

Only 12 were made, from a possible pool of 79 episodes. I own eight of them, and aside from today read through one a day over the past week (I read two today). Up until the last there was an "ad" in the last pages promoting the next to be released, the 12th has no such thing, providing a clue that it was going to be the last. It's been long enough since I watched the show that some of it was not familiar but mostly it seemed like getting a short form of the show. Needing to read instead of just watch was a bit odd, far less of the benefits found in the written word.

[avronreadstrek]

255 pages (five days of reading, and more than a week of none. I got sick)

First published 1983-12

Thirteenth numbered TOS Pocket Books

New system of space travel (Inversion Drive) thanks to a new race (sort of crystalline spiders), The Vulcans could barely follow the math behind the device. Klingons become aware that something important is being tested and try to ambush the Enterprise for it. (It doesn't go well for them.) May have been mention of half a dozen races among the crew that could not have been shown in the live action show; could have been on the Animated show though.

Sulu ends up destroying a Star as a way of dealing with the pursuit and attacks at the start of the book. He does ask for Chekov to find a star of type, something, that Spock provides detail of. Thus not blowing up a star with inhabited planets. (I wonder how often blowing stars up is a plot device in Sci-Fi space media? I can think of three immediately, the other two canon.)

Use of the new travel device starts letting crew experience memories (and not) of other members; Kirk sees what the ship itself "thinks" during the first use, then a span of Chekov in Russia before first assignment on the Enterprise, among others.

Repercussions of the Inversion Drive are that Entropy is failing, or at least being halted. Stars become constant in their radiation to an abnormal degree. And then the realisation that another universe, without Entropy, is 'breaking through' and will negate Entropy in ours. The ship heads to the central point of that interference and the crew experience one last, prolonged span of no-time, where things are put right, before returning to a fixed reality. With specific reference to the Federation expecting the Klingons to join at some point (four years before TNG had the empire at long term peace with the Federation).

Heavy focus on Kirk and how he experiences the Crews perspectives in the unreality. Very McCoy moment near the end, along with a few insights into the authors perspective on backstory. Including later contradicted reference to swimming with whales.

[avronreadstrek]

* 189 Pages (three days of reading) * First published 1983-10. * Twelfth numbered TOS Pocket Books.

Stardates 4769.1 - 5012.5 (a month or more passed?)

The Enterprise returns to a Starbase with the expectation of refit and repair along with shore leave for the crew. Instead they're sent off on a seemingly simple diplomatic mission as there aren't other ships in better condition available. Probably had more Stardates given than most of the books, and took place over a longer span of time than most episodes/books. Systems in need of repair seemed overly dramatic, with that level of difficulty the ship would be falling apart.

Another lack of knowledge regards distance in space (one of the prior books had a similar scale issue), this time Kirk suggests that two fleets could distance themselves by 20 AU while peace talks happen. That's nearing the distance between Earth and Uranus, even just one AU would have been excessive.

Seemed to get near the end before I noticed objectification on the scale that was rampant in some other books. Although the commentary about the antagonist was bordering on such from the start.

The ship starts having mechanical faults very early on the trip resulting in minimal warp speed, which felt out of 'character' even though it was needed for the story. Part way along the trip the crew encounters a derelict ship and take a single survivor on board.

That survivor is from an unknown humanoid species and is seen as barely past childhood by most of the crew that we see interacting with her. Her perspective on life (and that of her species) is extremely pacifistic and via species ability convinces most of the crew they need to stop being violent in any way. So the phasers are no longer crewed, and half the crew argue against the ship concluding it's mission. "when the Enterprise arrives the two worlds will go to war" so the crew can't take the ship there. Which also leads to more malfunctions as sabotage of engines occur.

Some of the crew end up on a planet that reminded me of one in another book (written much later and not Trek), leading to a few deaths before they return to the ship. Slowly retaking control before finally making their way to the original destination. Where things go wrong, as was expected by the stranger, until Kirk manipulates things. Resolution was as many would likely guess, and seemed unwise considering other aspects, but it fit well enough.

[avronreadstrek]

* 191 pages (three days of reading) * First published 1983-08 (Titan 1988-03) * Eleventh numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 6324.09

Seems set relatively soon after the series but before the first Movie. Referencing two very specific episodes and a couple of others less obviously.

The vast majority of the book concentrates on the Character of the Week along with the 'trio' so there's less opportunity for the objectification that a few of the other books have had. (Woman author also inhibits that tendency.)

After the events of All Our Yesterdays (one of the last TV episodes) Spock sees an archeological article about a cave on the planet, with a cave painting of a Vulcan looking figure. Surprisingly easy progress through Red Tape gets access to the Guardian of Forever (ep The City on the Edge of Forever) and the trio go in an attempt to retrieve his son.

After a couple of days they find the child, aged more than expected due to arriving at the 'wrong' time, and quickly end up going back to the Enterprise. Weeks of education and acclimatising to the 'future' leave Zar getting along with everyone until Romulans cross the Neutral Zone.

The Romulans are not aware of the actual reason for the Guardian having a ship in orbit, expect the Federation is hiding some military secret, and attack. Some infiltration mission type activity on the planet, leads to Spock and Zar coming close to family resolution and at the end Zar goes back to the past. So Spock never has to deal with his child again.

[avronreadstrek]

* 220 pages (three days with reading) * First published 1983-06. * Tenth numbered TOS Pocket Books.

Stardate: 3125.3 (spelt out each time instead of written as numbers for some reason.) Date fits between first season episodes, footnotes a few pages later reference a third season episode.

Description of 'minor' characters gave mainly qualifications (Biology degree etc.) for the men, and little more than appearance (long dark hair etc.) for the women. Uhura took a break between shifts in her quarters and the prose temporarily concentrated on skin colour.

Romulan forces appear at the edge of the Neutral Zone. The Enterprise computer has been reprogrammed to seem female and is causing problems. An Admiral is paranoid and convinced that war must happen.

I do not know if any episode detailed the width of the Neutral Zone, but I'm confident that it was not supposed to be narrow enough for ships on either side to have a chance of firing on each other.

The general representation of the Romulans felt accurate enough for what little was known on screen at the time. Aside from the computer presenting female there is only one new woman to get more than a couple of paragraphs perspective. She dies after declaring she loves her boss. Half a dozen men are introduced, the one that dies was old enough to have surprised others at still being alive.

[avronreadstrek]

* 188 pages (three days of reading) * First published 1983-03 (Titan UK 1991-07) * Ninth numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate: ?? (after first movie but only a few years)

Blurb indicates there's going to be some sort of Love Triangle (hence book title) even if it would be the mass media "triangle" that's actually not a triangle (more of a "V"). There's also a pair of opposing forces at odds with each other and with the Enterprise / Federation. So a second triangle that I wonder if execs were informed of whenever the book was pitched. "Appeal to the shippers but we actually mean this..." and then actually put the love stuff in as well.

My copy has 34 chapters, each having the text starting 2/3 the way down the page, which I feel approximates 17 pages of 'wasted' paper. It's already shorter than all but one of the prior books I've read on this go through. It wouldn't quite have been the shortest with more standard formatting, but it feels like an attempt to pad things.

Kirk and Spock are both on an away mission to find/help/recover a "Free Agent" (elite operative of the Federation) Sola Thane, and upon seeing her are both instantly infatuated or similar. Spock obviously more reserved, Kirk realises they both want her and tries to step back so Spock can have her. ("want her" "you're mine" and other such language rife through the story.) Timing of the mission is coinciding with Spock's Pon Farr but he hadn't seemed to prepare for it.

The other storyline is attempting to deal with a "Oneness" and "Totality" that are both now reminiscent of the Borg Hivemind, just not as aggressive in their "recruitment". Kirk, as the pinnacle of Starfleet, is seen as the counterpoint of individualism and the target of both groups. If he can be convinced (coerced) to join anyone can.

It took until the last 20 pages before there was any mention of non-monogamy as a "solution" to the Kirk/Sola/Spock situation, which isn't particularly surprising. Although I suppose any mention at all could be unexpected for the time. End has Sola going off to deal with the Totality and try and get them to be less aggressive in taking people into the hivemind. After spending well over half the book experiencing psychic links of a sort with both Kirk and Spock. Granted, she had to leave in some way for continuity, but it seems weird to have that connection just abandoned. And Kirk / Spock back to normal after both trying to give the other to the relationship.

[avronreadstrek]

* 220 pages (five days of reading) * First published 1983-01 * Eighth numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 5505.6 (not the first given in the book, but perhaps the earliest in story chronology? I didn't note any earlier.)

May have been yet another passing reference to M'Benga, I've forgotten. During the story new uniforms were rolled out which implies later than the show, but the movies already had the new uniform? I'm not sure where this is supposed to fit Chronologically.

Author was scientifically illiterate regards stellar navigation to a degree that strikes me as almost absurd for a published novel in the Science Fiction genre. Two stars close enough to each other that they have a magnetic interference between them that is difficult to get a starship through, yet far enough apart to have a planet in the zone between them. Along with needing multiple hours at warp 3 to pass by a star, when warp 1 (light speed) would completely traverse our solar system in 12 hours. And of course, ... space has three dimensions.

I saw a couple of review type posts soon after starting to read this, which regard it as one of the best early novels (or even The best). It doesn't feel any better to me than others I've read so far.

Sabotage on the Enterprise causes a massive explosive on the Bridge, killing a bunch of cadets, putting Kirk completely out of commission, and nearly paralyzing Spock. Early portion of the book involves Spock and Scott going to investigate because the Admiralty don't want to believe the indications it was sabotage. While the injury Spock refused full treatment for continues to progress. (Behaviour that isn't completely out of character, Journey to Babel had similar I think. It stilled seemed completely illogical and thus not Spock like.)

The attack came from a new race, that has targeted Klingon and Romulan vessels as well. Spock and Scotty "desert" to investigate, end up in an uneasy alliance with a small group from each of those races; and then lose contact as the others get separated and/or killed off. Spock as Ladies Man ends up a plot point (and a smaller one later). Meanwhile Kirk has to deal with new crew (replacing Spock and Scotty) and they find the missing officers. Taking them back to the Federation where Spock is convicted of Treason.

Prison break, piracy (minor ladies man again), defection to the Romulan empire, and finally resolution of the threat. By near enforcement of birth control which struck me as very much not in keeping with Federation values. (The enforcement - birth control is mentioned in a late episode, The Mark of Gideon.) And a resolution of Spock as Traitor, defector, and everything else... that takes a paragraph. Before some wrap-up.

[avronreadstrek]

* 223 pages (three days with reading) * First published 1982-07 * Seventh numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 8130.5

Set 15 years after the TOS episode with Khan, which doesn't feel like it lines up with the ST: TMP timeline. Movie was released about 15 years after the episode though. I suppose I was unobservant when watching the movies previously, it was brought up a number of times so obviously very intentional. (I may edit this when I do rewatch.)

Writing about technology has drawbacks. Mention of a computer program taking MBs of space and it being hard to store. Even just a decade later that was easily manageable on a standard HDD, 15 years later CD-ROMs were holding 650 MB or more. And now we're 40 years later I have a 64 GB drive on my phone, let alone TB drives being easily purchased.

Very early reference to a character from "The Entropy Effect" which was written by the same author. Mention of Galaxy class ships, that I momentarily was confused about but the publication is half a decade before the TNG show. And they were specifically stated to be smaller than the Constitution ships.

A lot of "off-screen" scenes, with a fair bit with the soon to be deceased. I don't recall seeing most of the Genesis crew except in passing during the movie. And the nephew gets fleshed out well before passing. I had not realised he was supposed to be that young, although it could be a case of author interpretation. I doubt very much that there would be a character quite that young now without it being seen as very odd. (Wesley Crusher on TNG was called out as an aberrant situation frequently, and older, even at the start of TNG.)

I don't know that the rest of the Reliant crew were ever mentioned in the movie. Aside from some engineers they were marooned on the Ceti Alpha planet in the early stage of the novel. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to give them a chance of survival or not. By the end of the book the Enterprise is going to go pick them up.

Genetically enhanced warlord Khan is not intelligent enough to use the third dimension when in charge of a spaceship hunting for another? Or uninterested in details and his subordinates are lacking the knowledge?

[avronreadstrek]

* 207 pages (four days to read) * First published 1982-05 * Sixth numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 5064.4

The Enterprise is performing scientific observations of gravitational anomalies and gets sent vast distance in an instant. Ending up between spiral arms of the galaxy, near a single isolated star and it's singular planet. The people on the planet have knowledge lacks due to the lack of "normal" night sky. And some technological advances regards transporters.

M'Benga is mentioned again, but not seen. Rand gets time on the planet as part of an away team, and then relegated to stenographer.

"Leaders don't rise to the top without a considerable amount of intelligence and wisdom, regardless of their culture in which they live." pg 183 - Good to know that even the early novels were still promoting the optimism and hope of Star Trek.

Resolution of the big pending hazard, is by Kirk making a decision that I don't believe the character would have made, not even the Kelvin verse version. Possible negative result was too extreme.

Last third of the book seems little more than the postmortem from the big decision and attempting to undo cultural change (and prevent damage) brought forward by their appearance.

One of the StoryGraph reviews I looked at near the end of me reading this indicates that this book incidentally sets up one of the other books that got printed. I don't recall enough to remember which.

[avronreadstrek]

* 190 pages (six days to read) * First published: 1982-03 * Fifth numbered TOS Pocket Books (two authors Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath)

Stardate ?? - I think I read one at some point but wasn't making any notes. Definitely set after the first movie as repeatedly refers to those events. The authors (or editors?) also specifically left footnotes to episodes of the show, and other novels that had been written. Novels from before Pocket Books was publishing them, that had been written by these authors. (Which I don't think I've ever seen.)

Title refers to the Greek Titan that gave fire to humanity and was endlessly tortured by having his liver eaten by an eagle.

Prologue starts referencing four individuals that readers should realise are Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a fourth that may initially be guessed at as Sarek. Early revealed to be a new character. Most of the story is very focused on the four of them, other regulars get little to do.

Insight into Vulcan culture and martial arts, as surmised by the authors. A role reversal with Spock being given command and Kirk relegated to First Officer. Three apparent attempts on the lives of the two Vulcans, all with short windows of opportunity to save those lives.

I didn't feel there was mischaracterization this time around. A little odd considering there would have been justification of it.

[avronreadstrek]

* 191 pages (five days to read) * First published 1981-12 * Fourth numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 7815.3 - While the cover image (and a couple of story elements) makes it seem to have been set after the first movie the author had started writing it before that movie was released.

The author was mid-late twenties when he got this published, mere years after having a story he wrote get made into an episode of the Animated Series. Unlike the other two 'new' novels this had an intro, that seems unneeded. Although it did provide a bit of context for the time. The Author's notes also make it obvious that there was a longer turn around for publishing when the Pocket Books Trek Novels were getting started - nearly a year from note to publish. (I think it probably dropped to less than six months before the turn of the century.)

The story is heavily focused on Spock, Bones, and the 'character of the week' as they attempt to reclaim an artifact. Kirk is less present, dealing with a limited threat from Klingons. Chekov gets bookend scenes dealing with weight gain* that seems merely story padding (and would have been to meet contract requirements for minimum screen time if this was an episode). Scotty and Sulu barely get a mention, and while Uhura is slightly more present there's a description of clothing that sexualises her in a very unneeded manner. (At the same age I might well have written similar were I to write, even with 30 more years of social progress.)

Kirk had spent a portion of his early career on a lightly populated planet with strategic resources for starship operation and befriended the King. Klingon interference in the politics of the planet led to the King, Queen, and Princess being taken to another planet for their safety. And them being stuck there for 18 years until it seems possible to bring them back safely. Having the Princess take on the role of ruler requires the artifact of their Gods benevolence be returned so there's an expedition on another planet to reclaim it. Hence the focus on Spock, Bones, and the Princess.

Unlike the earlier couple of books I've reread for this, I didn't feel like most of the characters were written poorly. Spock was logical, and frustrated with the emotional behavior of Bones. Bones was inclined to prod Spock on occasion and reacted based on feelings a lot. On the other hand he was displeased with aging, and was tempted to start a relationship with the much younger Princess.

*Weight gain that only existed as a result of a mis-calibrated scale in the medbay area. Discovered after he spent much of the book, in those short moments he was seen, exercising too much and eating too little.

[avronreadstrek]

* 158 pages (five days to read) * First published 1981-10 * Third numbered TOS Pocket Books

Stardate 4720.1 (during five year mission, implied third season)

After what I felt was mis-characterisation of main characters in the prior book, this one starts very early with similar, but it's intentional and called out as a plot point in the blurb. And continuing the trend there's another emergency message system to get the ship to where it needs to be. Along with insufficient starships in the vicinity.

Mention was made of Dr. M'Benga on at least a couple of occasions, as though he was still on the ship. But I think he was not an actual "seen" character.

A much shorter book than most of the novels were, I have no idea as to the reason, but it's obviously slimmer on the shelf. I "should" have finished reading in no more than three days but I struggled some. It may be due to the out of character behaviour, more likely just my mental state.

While conducting a planetary mapping mission the Enterprise is called away to deal with potential Klingon attacks on a survey team after a Vulcan ships crew all died. After arriving the crew start to behave oddly (as hinted at in the blurb) and Kirk has to ensure they aren't drawn into a shooting match.

There's some hints as to what's happening and why, so I wasn't annoyed by character behaviour seeming wrong. Because of how short the book is there wasn't as much build up of weirdness as might have happened with a more "normal" length of book. That might have made things feel better.

Upon thinking more about it, had this been an actual episode it could have resulted in levels of character development. As long as it wasn't particularly early in the run. (Sort of like how The Naked Now would have worked better later in the TNG first season.)

[avronreadstrek]

* 224 pages (four days to read) * First published 1981-06 * Second TOS Pocket Books release

More than 15 years before it was used in the sixth movie (The Undiscovered Country) this book gave Mister Sulu a first name (for the first time in any? media), Hikaru. A few variations on the cover image from the initial printing regards background colour (orange, blue, white) but all have the same trio of characters; Kirk, Spock, and a long-haired, mustachioed, Sulu that I need to remind myself is Sulu and not just a random character. One of the non-English covers (Der-Entropie Effekt) has Ilia from the first movie as the third character.

The Enterprise is called away from studying an abnormal Black Hole on ultra secret business (through different means than the movie novelisation uses) and finds that it may have been improper use of the call.

Love interest for Sulu being part of why the author gave him the name Hikaru. (Awkward to write that sort of thing with "Mr Sulu I love you" type phrasing.) The Kirk relationship mentioned a few times was with a woman in a poly relationship. (Surprising considering the network conservatives.)

The mission seems to be little more than prisoner transfer to begin. Then people end up dead and the reset button is hinted at very early. Some of the new characters are less "human" than normal for the show but could have been make up and prosthetics, one would have been quite difficult 50 years ago.

On the whole there is even more of a reset than is normal for the books, which can't really change 'canon' at all, and which tend to be careful about backstory etc. Interesting idea behind it I suppose but it makes the story seem irrelevant as most characters remember nothing of what happened.

Characterisation of at least a couple of the characters seemed off. Maybe the author intended the anomaly to have impacted people more than I felt was shown? But it didn't detract all that much. And the love story seemed almost completely irrelevant.

[avronreadstrek]

Why this exists

I'm intending to read through all the Star Trek novels I own (400 or so), in the order they were initially published. (Maybe even find library copies of those I don't own.) There won't be many beyond the turn of the century unless I get more invested than I'm expecting.

First part of each post, after the link to LibraryThing.com, will be four lines

* Page count (and how long I took to read it)

* First published (as best I know), most have a month as well as year indicated. I might check memoryalpha on occasion.

* Where it comes in the ordering.

* Stardate, if I see and make note of such

Some commentary should follow before the "Read More" - after which I'll provide some potentially spoiler filled story recap. There won't be a lot of either.

I don't intend to "rate" any of what I read. I have never felt inclined to rate books (or movies, etc.)

Everything should be tagged "Star Trek novel" unless it's some sort of meta post (like this is). I'll also tag with the series and number, e.g. "ST: TOS 01", "ST: Voy Unnumbered", "ST: CT 1", etc.

[avronreadstrek]

* 252 pages (three days to read) * First published 1979-12 * First TOS Pocket Books release

Novelisation of the first movie (screenplay by Harold Livingstone), with the initial story by Alan Dead Foster. (I should rewatch the movie for a better comparison.)

One of the few Trek novels published before I was born, and (I think() the first by the Pocket Books imprint that had USA license for around 25 years 30 years until corporate restructure (still part of Simon & Schuster). The UK license for some of that span was Titan, which was the publisher of the copy I read.

Seems to follow the movie well enough, with the expected divergences due to wanting internal character monologues etc. And because of the author, a more sexualised narrative than the network/studio would allow on screen. Nothing explicit but it's a bit jarring to see mention of such compared to the implied issues in the movie. Also addresses the widely discussed Kirk/Spock relationship at the start in a way that seems character consistent to me, going by the perception of Kirk that's propagated for decades. Unneeded but fitting for Roddenberry and his hetero view of things.

Kirk was promoted after the five year mission and gets sent a message direct to an implanted chip in his head about a dangerous 'thing' in space, which is headed to Earth after easily destroying three Klingon ships. He gets command of the Enterprise, which is nearing the end of a refit so not in battle ready status. Most of the series crew are onboard, Spock went back to Vulcan in the interim.

Trip to the object with technical issues due to unfinished refit. Spock shows up and doesn't want to be a part of the group. Attempts at communication with the object in space. More background on how it came to be, compared to what the movie was able to show.

End of the book seems a little rushed compared to the movie? Two thirds of the book seems to correspond to half way through the movie? My expectation is that the publishing turn around required the author deciding earlier on things that weren't finalised on film the same way. (I've read indications that some of the Trek movies were still being finalised days before release.)

EDIT: I have watched the movie again, the differences can mostly be explained as being adaptation issues. Internal monologues don't work on screen; description of visual things is not required when just showing them on screen. I still think the proportions are different between formats, but not to the extent I initially thought. Some of which will be the extra time at the start with setting up the story in the book.