Remembering Mission to Horatius

"Mission to Horatius": until "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", it was the first Trek adventure in which both Janice Rand and Pavel Chekov appear.

I had a weird/joyful experience with "Mission to Horatius" (1968). One Christmas, my grandmother gave my brother and I a "Whitman Authorized TV Editions" book each one Christmas. I received "I Spy" ("Message from Moscow" by Brandon Keith), based on a show my Dad really loved on TV, and my younger brother received "Star Trek", based on a show we knew about, but did not watch as a family. I had a stint in bed, confined with a bad flu bug, and I finally read both books (and many other unread books on our shelves). I quite enjoyed "Mission to Horatius", but the rat story reminded me too much of "The Trouble With Tribbles" when I eventually saw that episode in 1975.

The Whitman books eventually moved to "the toy box" in my brother's room. After our teens, my brother moved out and I discovered Trek via "The Motion Picture" in December 1979. A few weeks later, I was rummaging second hand stores for Bantam and Ballantine Trek tie-ins, and found a bagged "Mission to Horatius" for about $AU 70.00 - a huge amount, especially in those days. I couldn't get home quick enough. A quick rummage through "the toy box" of stuff my brother had left behind... and there it was. Such a thrill, even though I knew the store had overinflated their price.

Eventually, Pocket Books would release an authorised "facsimile edition" reprint (1996):

More recently, I decided I needed the Whitman "Green Hornet" title ("The Case of the Disappearing Doctor", also by Brandon Keith) for my "Batman '66" collection as well, resulting in several weeks of frantic eBay patrolling. (I think I also have a copy of "Mission Impossible: The Money Explosion" by Talmage Powell, in storage. It was sent to me by a friend, who had noticed that Leonard Nimoy appeared on the cover as his character, Paris.

R.I.P. Gene DeWeese

Awww. Sad.

I just heard that "Star Trek" and science fiction novelist, Gene DeWeese, passed away last March.

If I recall correctly, Margaret Wander Bonanno (garamet on the TrekBBS message board) was a friend of his. Certainly, Gene himself briefly joined several conversations on the old Psi Phi bbs if/when anyone began discussing his books, sometimes only minutes after someone mentioned his name.

I swapped a few email exchanges with him about his contribution to "Star Trek" over the years. Always witty and chirpy. I'd really enjoyed the early "The Peacekeepers", the second orginal novel featuring "The Next Generation" characters, although "Chain of Attack", an original series novel, felt a little too techy to me; I was thrilled to notice it was actually a followup to Lee Correy's "Abode of Life". I know that, for many fans, "Chain of Attack" was their first original ST novel experience, being part of a major design rejig by Pocket Books - the first on shelves after the release of the much-hyped, international hit, "ST IV: The Voyage Home". "Chain of Attack" was released in the UK as Book #1 of a new publishing program (Titan Books).

For many ST fans, "Chain of Attack" is as revered as Vonda McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect". Or James Blish's "Spock Must Die!" Or Mack Reynolds' "Mission to Horatius".

The most memorable aspect of Gene's "The Final Nexus", a direct sequel to "Chain of Attack", was the feisty female guest character depicted on the cover, plus his very welcome reuse of Ingrit Thomson, the non-canonical female security officer shared by several other TOS writers of the day. "Renegade" I read, but don't really remember much about it now.

I do recall expressing my frustration, once, on Psi Phi, with how frustratingly dull and slow "Into the Nebula" was - so slow that I'd quite forgotten any details of the plot. To my initial embarrassment, Gene suddenly popped up - from a long bbs absence - to admit that he, neither, could remember anything about that novel's plot, except that the Enterprise-D crew went into a nebula.

Discussions by the regulars on Psi Phi and TrekBBS about the mysterious "Engines of Destiny" (listed in Steve Roby's online "Lost Star Trek books" archive after someone noticed several unpublished draft manuscripts that Gene had donated to a public library's reference collection), led to garamet summoning Gene to the bbs again to tell us more about it - and, ultimately, to then-Pocket editor Marco Palmieri reactivating Gene's contract to publish it.

R.I.P. Gene.

Therin again!

Star Trek: Titan: Fallen Gods

I picked up a new "Star Trek" novel from Galaxy Bookshop yesterday - and just discovered that my Andorian alter ego, Therin (from 1980), has once again been saluted.

"Titan: Fallen Gods" by Michael A Martin has a ship named after Shantherin th'Clane (aka Therin), a character first introduced in the pro novel, "Ex Machina" (Christopher L Bennett, 2004), and namesake of Therin Park and New Therin Park in five other novels!

A book on the porch is worth three in the hand

Ah! The postman just delivered my Amazon-bought hardcover copy of "Starfleet Academy: The Gemini Agent". It was a delight to hold a new "Star Trek" book in my hands which has cover art that I don't recall ever seeing online first. (It was a mere neutral rectangle when I pre-ordered it.) Nice cover! Green background. Chekov, Kirk and a dark-haired woman with pointed ears. Uhura on the back cover.

"The Delta Anomaly" (#1) I originally found locally at Galaxy Bookshop, but only as a paperback, then I couldn't find "The Edge" (#2) anywhere - even now - so a few months ago I weakened and rebought #1 through Amazon, as a hardcover, plus #2, and pre-ordered hardcovers of #3 and 4. These "young adult" novels are set in the altered timeline seen in the JJ Abrams-directed 2009 movie, "Star Trek".

Doin' the happy dance.

I am Wheaton!

Twice this month, when I've checked my bag at Galaxy Bookshop's front counter, and received my check token, I've been... Wil Wheaton!

An unlikely earthquake survivor?

Not wanting to make too light of two international natural disasters, but this little plastic "Star Trek" Andorian charm was purchased on eBay a few weeks ago - and was rather late arriving from Japan. He finally turned up today, with an apology sticker on the envelope: explaining he'd been found in Tokyo, at the bottom of the returning mail bag. So back to Sydney he had to go. Seems he would have been caught up in the big Japan earthquake of 2011. (The envelope wasn't damp, so I guess he managed to avoid the tsunami.)

Andorians may not be punctual, but they are resilient!



The sticker reads: "Dear Addressee, We found the mail remaining in an empty bag which had been originally sent to the destination. Thank you. Tokyo International Post Office."

Meanwhile, this recently came back from Mr Kim, my favourite local framing guy:



It's the autographed cover of Dayton Ward's "Paths of Disharmony", for which I was a beta reader.



Dare you take a stroll in New Therin Park?

I know a secret...

... but I'll get dragged away by the blue people if I say anything more.

I can't wait till next January, when the fourth and final(?) instalment in the "Star Trek: Typhon Pact" storyline, "Paths of Disharmony" by Dayton Ward, shall begin to appear in the bookshops. I can reveal that this novel is set mainly on Andor, and will pick up threads from Heather Jarman's world-building "Andor: Paradigm" (from "Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Book 1"), in addition to picking up the pieces left behind by the post-"Destiny" novels of more recent times.

The dreadlocked Andorian with Picard (above) is Shar, the post-TV series' science officer of "Deep Space Nine".

Thanks in advance to Pocket Books and author, Dayton Ward!

The secret is revealed... HERE.

The Admiral is still dead. So far.

When it was leaked that Admiral Janeway was likely to die in a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" original novel, "Before Dishonor", I happily consigned the rumour to the "she'll be back in time for the next big anniversary" pile of story arcs. Margaret Clark, then-Pocket editor, later explained the reasoning that went into choosing this new direction for the "Star Trek: Voyager" characters. And being promoted to the Admirality in the canonical movie, "Star Trek: Nemesis" meant that Kathryn Janeway really couldn't suddenly return to her old ship, and her original Delta Quadrant storyline was done and dusted. The old "demoting the admiral to captain" chestnut had also been done - several times - with James T Kirk.

I remember another then-editor at Pocket Books, Marco Palmieri, saying he'd rather a ST novel polarise the audience with strong reactions than to produce a bland, throwaway novel that offended no one and was quickly forgotten. If I may say so, many of the numbered VOY novels were bland, throwaway novels that offended no one. I do tend to remember plot details of ST novels I read, but the early VOY ones were very hit-and-miss, with lots of misses.

Was it about a year after the character died that a group of TrekBBS Janeway supporters heard that the licenced fiction had dared to kill off their favourite character while they weren't looking? Some of us tried to say to them, "Don't worry, science fiction deaths of regulars - especially in licensed spin-offs - are rarely/never permanent", but some of their bizarre reactions seemed to make the possibility of Janeway actually staying dead an interesting, refreshing change from the status quo. If I'd been a Pocket editor, I'd be tempted to do something radical just to keep everyone on the hop. Despite Margaret Clark saying that, as far as she was concerned, Janeway was dead and never coming back, I've seen the same things said by others about Jean Grey, Spock, Superman, Batman, Tasha Yar, Kirk, Wonderwoman, Wondergirl/Troia, Bruce Wayne, The Joker, Captain America, The Flash, Ben Sisko and Data/B-4. And they've all come back! Even Janeway is in "Star Trek Online", a game which is long set after the events of "Before Dishonor" and "Full Circle". Not the same timeline, but she is back!

I still think Janeway will be back in time for the next big anniversary of VOY. However, even that will not satisfy the avid Janeway supporters - many of whom stated, very proudly, that they gave up on licensed ST tie-ins many, many years before Janeway was killed off - since they also seem to want her to undergo a demotion back to captain and somehow end up back in command of the USS Voyager, which is, I suppose, supposed to be her 'first, best destiny"? The solution we offered some of them was the concept of in-series novels, set during Voyager's seven year mission, but no, those stories would be forever tainted because they'd know that Janeway would be slated to die. This really is a "no-win scenario" for them. But it was a problem with its roots waaaaay back when they stopped supporting VOY novels. I wish I could offer them some advice that would be worth having, but I'm really at a loss as to what would pacify them. A personal re-set button? A Klingon bird of prey to slingshot themselves around a sun and reverse history? I really don't know.

From what I've heard, the recent VOY novels have sold extremely well and have been positively reviewed. The old numbered VOY numbers did not do the sales figures Pocket wanted, and that was when the series was on-air, providing a theoretical prominence for those books. I started reading "Voyager: Full Circle" recently, and really only got through the prologue before I had to do other things - but it was beautiful! Can't wait to get back to it. I still think it's inevitable that Janeway shall return from her sojourn with Lady Q. It won't be to pacify anyone; it'll be because a clever idea comes along. The challenge will be giving her storylines that will make the most of the character's renewed potential. Spock, Kirk and Sisko returned from the afterlife changed people. As you would.

Captain's Log: Supplemental.

Before Admiral Janeway was killed off, there was a huge, angry, raging thread in the TrekLit section at on TrekBBS, which was polarized into two groups:

* One side demanding that Pocket Books "grow some balls at last" and be brave to kill off a regular character of "Star Trek", to make the ST novels more like real life.

* And the other side defending the fans of individual fans who might be advocates of a particular ST actor/character.

Some measure of begrudging consensual leeway was suggested that, when a regular ST actor dies, maybe it was time for that character to be "retired". eg. it was suggested that McCoy could be killed off now that DeForest Kelley had departed. (Mind you, that elderly TNG McCoy had already had a death scene in a comic didn't seem to ruffle anyone's feathers).

Then Margaret Clark started teasing about the then-forthcoming "Death in Winter" hardcover, and then the cover art sent the Crusher fans (and the ST Anti-Death Lobby) into a frenzy. The debate was renewed but, ultimately, there was no "death in winter" and the book seemed to disappoint a lot of people, probably because the book ended up covering very different ground to their expectations.

But the challenge had been issued: Pocket Books might soon "grow some balls at last" and be brave to kill off a regular character of "Star Trek". Who would it be. I recall Marco Palmieri and Margaret saying that, if it ever happened, it would be because the death set up the most, best story opportunities for all the other characters, and I do think they chose well.

Lurking in the background were "No more Re-set Button!" lobbiests. Hilariously, every time Paramount, CBS or Pocket grows some balls, someone else wants the Re-set Button to be pushed. Poor ol' Janeway.

Then along comes JJ and Bad Robot. They avoid the temptation to push that Re-Set Button at the end of their 2009 movie - and different people are angry and upset.

Where are all the Trek book tie-ins for kids?

Over on TrekBBS, some fans of JJ Abrams' recent "Star Trek" are pondering the total lack of book tie-ins aimed at children.

Putting my teacher-librarian hat on here:

As children in the 60s, my brother and I both read his copy of "Star Trek: Mission to Horatius" by Mack Reynolds. We enjoyed it, and my brother's book secretly made its way into my growing ST collection in 1980, but the book's content wasn't anything Earth-shattering. At least not for us, although it may have piqued our curiosity for TAS when we found that in b/w on Saturday mornings in the 70s.

Having met many members of ST's "first fandom", those who were watching ST as kids and who also craved reading about ST were devouring the James Blish (TOS) and Alan Dean Foster (Filmation's TAS) episode adaptations. The selection of ADF as writer of the 2009 ST novelization was met with much enthusiasm from those ST fans who'd learned to read with "ST Logs" 1-10.



Although I have the delightful Lawrence Weinberg "ST III Storybook" in my collection, and have bought additional copies for all three school libraries I have taught in over the years, it never gets borrowed. Likewise, child interest in the Pocket/Minstrel YA books for TNG, DS9 and VOY has been minimal compared to the war SW kids devour SW YA books.

If you look back at other seemingly YA ST books, they are also more appealing to adults (as collectibles) than to kids (as reading material). "ST II Biographies", the matching short story collections and choose-your-own-adventures for both ST II and ST III, the ST IV YA ("Young Adult") novelisation, the TNG movie YA adaptations... how many sold to/for kids, and how many went straight into adults' collections? Ditto the old TOS and TMP pop-up books, and Daniel Cohen's "The Monsters of Star Trek".

I do know some kids who collect all the "Star Wars" YA books, but (like "Goosebumps" books and "Ben-10" books), they collect them as they would gum cards, and they don't necessarily use the books as reading matter.

Both SW and ST can appeal to young kids, but the ones inspired by ST seem to have no problem becoming consumers of the regular ST novels, thus skipping the YA stage completely.

Cover story

Trekmovie has previewed a new batch of Star Trek novel covers and blurbs. I'm excited that I own the Tellarite costume ("It's A Wrap!" eBay auctions), that appears on the cover of "The Romulan War"!


Staff dinner - Harness racing at Club Paceway, Penrith.

Full moon, "Full Circle"

Maybe it was the full moon, but the Internet BBSs went wacky this week, what with people avoiding spoilers for the new Star Trek movie, others devouring spoilers for the new Star Trek movie, many celebrating/commiserating about their quest for tickets to the Sydney gala world premiere, plus the surprise preview screening in Austin, TX.

As diehard fans continue to grapple with how the new movie might affect their personal view of Star Trek, others are continuing to demand predestined assurance of a happy ending (ie. a resurrection) for the recently-departed Admiral Kathyrn Janeway, formerly captain of "Voyager". Killed off in a "Next Generation" novel, Peter David's "Before Dishonor", and dying again this month - from another angle - in the just-released "Voyager: Full Circle", the passionate Janeway/Kate Mulgrew fans continue to express their online anguish.

Perhaps Pocket will bring Janeway back as a surprise, unexpected event? They might not want us to know when, or why, or how long we must wait. In real life we never know how long we will take to recover from an illness, a death of a loved one, or adapt to a career change, a divorce, or moving house, Perhaps the creative team at Pocket, too, don't know yet what is in store for Janeway.

When the Borg ship needed to be secured who went charging in? The best woman for the job. A popular main character. She gave her last breath to help save the Federation. In fact, she gave that support beyond the death of her physical body. How heroic!

(Less effective alternate version: When the Borg ship needed to be secured who went charging in? The best woman for the job. A popular main character. She once again kicked Borg ass, just like every other time. How... repetitive!)

Now Pocket Books has a highly popular character waiting in the wings. Just as Wesley Crusher returned (twice) in the "A Time..." mini-series of novels (set between "Insurrection" and "Nemesis") to help save the day with his Traveler powers, now Admiral Janeway may be off learning new abilities with the Q Continuum. Considering if she still has a future with mortals? Maybe. Who knows? We aren't supposed to know. Yet.

As I told a few distressed VOY fanfic writers, I would have thought they'd realise how to manipulate the emotions of their readers by now. A writer learns to use his or her words in clever ways, to cause readers to experience strong emotions towards a particular set of fictional characters. Sometimes negative emotions, and sometimes positive ones. Because we, as an audience, all bring to a work of fiction our own sets of values and experiences, each individual reader's reponses to a story will be unique.

Some fans might not like the twists this particular storyline ("Full Circle") took, but it's part of an ongoing saga, and it's a licensed tie-in. As history has shown, all successful licensed tie-ins usually end up reverting to the status quo. Eventually. Because to continue too far beyond the canonical work, the tie-in stops resembling the parent show. I have no doubt that Janeway will return. You can't keep a popular character down, and the Janeway fans keep telling us how popular she is.

Surely it's the right of an author to use everything in his or her power - even death - but also a host of other life-changing experiences, to bring us the best possible story they can tell? Many VOY and ST readers are loving Kirsten Beyer's "Full Circle", and are eagerly anticipating the sequel, and are willing to bide their time in case Janeway returns. Some fans need to be a little more patient. (I waited from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", in 1979, all the way until the "Enterprse" TV series to get what I had always hoped for: a continuing, feisty, wonderful, antagonistic, ongoing Andorian character: Shran. I even got an entire ST DS9 novel, "Paradigm" by Heather Jarman, set on Andor itself! And then ENT set an episode on Andor, "The Aenar"!)

But I don't want a return to the situation of 1987-1991, where every licensed ST novel was guaranteed to be self-contained, and guaranteed to preserve the status quo, and - in the licensed comics - every new character added to DC Comics' TOS movie era and TNG storylines was only permitted to stay for a short story arc and then had to be dismissed forever. It got very tedious knowing the authors were so hemmed in, and their creativity was constantly being challenged.

Duck and cover! [SPOILERS for "Star Trek: Destiny" novel trilogy]

Omigosh, I accidentally found this (above) today on Memory Beta, the online Star Trek wiki concordance of licensed materials.

In 2381, Charivretha zh'Thane was amongst the 63 billion Federates killed by the Borg Collective during its attempted extermination of the Federation and allied worlds, gathered in Therin Park in Laibok along with hundreds of other Andorians awaiting their doom (ST - Destiny novel: "Lost Souls"). (Memory Beta.)

I finished Book 2 of David Mack's "Destiny" trilogy only yesterday, and am just about to commence the final book... Sob.

Where did they say????????????? Dammit D.M. Thanks so much for the nod, but......... Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Captain's Log: Supplemental.

Therin Park was coined in 2004 by author Heather Jarman, and named for my Star Trek alter ego, in the novel, "Andor: Paradigm", in "Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Book 1".

About a year ago, another ST author, Terri Osborne, briefly made reference on TrekBBS, as to how I might feel about what she'd done to Andor in the "Starfleet Corps of Engineers" eBook, "Remembrance of Things Past, Book 1" (2007). Now, I'm so far behind in my ST reading, so I haven't given the now-defunct eBook range much of a look-in, but this excerpt (of a much longer excerpt) turned up just now in a Google search:

Bart cringed. "I hope Sarjenka's got sickbay stocked with antacids. And speaking of stomach acid, where's Tev?"

Stevens gave a snort of derision. Much as Tev was making an effort to get along better with everyone, Stevens still wasn't a fan of having the big furry oaf in a social gathering, not one that he was throwing, at least. "He's not on board. Remember those bombings on Andor a couple of weeks ago?"

"Yeah, it was all over the Federation News Service. The Shran memorial, the Wall of Heroes, you name it. If it was a location worth hitting, sounded like they hit it. Last I heard, the real surprise had been why they hit Therin Park, but, man did they raze everything they hit to the ground. Still haven't caught the terrorists who claim to have done it." Faulwell paused, his eyes widening. "Wait a second, Tev wasn't there, was he?"

"We aren't that lucky," Fabian said with a shake of his head. "Turns out a friend of his from the Academy was in Therin Park, though. He was too close to one of the bombs when it went off. The Elgin escorted him to the funeral on Andor after they dropped you off."

"Wow, I've got to admit, that's a surprise."

"What," Stevens said, "that Therin Park was one of the places that got bombed? Everyone's surprised by that, you just said so yourself."

Faulwell shook his head. "No, that Tev actually had a friend at the Academy. Learn something new every day." (Simon & Schuster website.)

Wow. I thought she was joking! I'm honoured, Terri. I think. So, had the park just been rebuilt in time for David Mack to um, "salute" it again in "Destiny"? Welcome to Ground Zero. Don't feed the thizzards.

Phunny phony Trek

A talented Photoshopper has been having fun with some Star Trek novel covers.

Check out: Mighty God King's blog!

I can't make up my mind on a favourite. "Collectible Plate" is pretty hilarious, but so are most of the others!

RIP Janeway

There is an hilarious debate raging over on TrekBBS regarding the seemingly permanent death of Admiral Kathryn Janeway, late of the USS Voyager, and promoted to an admiralty post sometime before the movie, "Star Trek Nemesis". Janeway's demise happened in 2007 (in "The Next Generation" novel, "Before Dishonor" by Peter David, and soon to be followed up in "Full Circle", the "Voyager" novel by Kirsten Beyer.)

My take on it?

Poor Janeway, the sap, she is dead,
Her katra has gone on ahead,
Of course now her fans want to veto
'Cos the Borg ate her - and Pluto!
Join the Q. Another time, another thread.

Hump Day of a long weekend

Sometimes the universe is just having a big belly laugh at our expense.

No one in Sydney wanted to believe the weather forecasts that predicted rain for the long weekend, but here we are, two days into it and very soggy underfoot. Mind you, after years of drought conditions and water restrictions in Sydney, our gardens aren't complaining.

A friend from Perth happened to mention she was going to be in Sydney over this weekend, for her husband's family reunion activities. Yay! Egged on by a mutual friend in the USA - the wonders of Facebook Friends and three-way texting on our virtual Walls, I started to make serious plans to rendezvous with her. But... she is spending most of the time on New South Wales' central coast, so I had to be up for two long train journeys to get to her.

No problem, I'm reading a good book at the moment ("Star Trek: Enterprise: Kobayashi Maru" - but you already knew it would be a Star Trek novel).

By the time I factored in that my friend's "free" part of the weekend was narrowing down to a small percentage of the whole trip, and that she'd have no transport of her own, and that she was staying in a town that doesn't even have trains stopping at it - add in a bus ride to my two long train rides - plus Daylight Saving, which started today and therefore we've all lost an hour already - plus inevitable train delays due to the heavy rain...

... it will be much simpler, and faster, to visit her in Perth.

I hope her in-laws' reunion festivities aren't too dire, but methinks I'm not going after all.

It's the thought that counts. No?

I can hear the universe chuckling to itself. Or is that thunder?

Sunday's magic number: 93.9 - no, maybe it was my own stomach...

Easter eggs for Midwinter Christmas?

Gosh, look at that date creeping up. The night air is chill in Sydney at the moment and it reminds me that i usually have my plans for Midwinter Christmas well underway - but this year I haven't secured a suitable date, or even an invitation list. It looks like the celebration may well pass me by this year. Sigh...

Over on TrekBBS, I've been discussing two aspects of Star Trek novels that many people find very frustrating.

Firstly, one debate that rages, on and off, is the perception that licensed TV tie-in novels are somehow inferior because they must take their lead from the parent/source material (ie. live-action Star Trek episodes and movies, as aired), and that new readers are discouraged from reading them. Or, there is the almost-opposing perception that inter-continuity between ST novels is so tight that the supposed result is the same: ie. that new readers are discouraged from reading them.

Now, I must add that I'm very happy with the status quo because the modern ST novels, as a whole, seem to be at a peak of quality at the moment: solid storytelling in very generous chunks, and plenty of variety. my main beef is that I've fallen so far behind, mainly because I spend so much time here (ie. online). Of course, there are others who strongly disgree, and claim that the heyday of the ST tie-in is long gone.

One poster complained about "Easter eggs", those wonderful little in-jokes and bits of trivia that ST writers will seed through their work, either to provide avid fans (and themselves) with amusement, or to provide some inter-continuity between the novels, short stories and comics in unobtrusive ways. I mean, if an Easter egg is so obscure that you don't recognise it, why even worry if it might be there?

Surely, it's all a matter of personal taste? For every reference that has ever annoyed one fan, or passed unnoticed by their geek radar, another fan has acclaimed, "Hey cool!" And vice versa. Some references I might not have cared for might have been significant for them. For example, I never care if an author says Warp 5 for a three-day trip when it should be Warp 7, but some fans actually do these calculations. Ditto stardate inconsistencies. Different strokes... etc.

I'm happy to know that the Easter egg references (if I actually notice them) were significant enough for the author that they were included. For example, I can always tell which ST novelists are fans of Filmation's animated ST series (TAS), since they are usually the only ones to reference TAS events and people in the novels. An author calling a shuttlecraft the Fontana is probably a fan of DC Fontana's work on the ST TV series. "Vanguard" novel titles are named after "Rush" songs - whoever "Rush" might be? - and so on. One doesn't have to buy "Rush" CDs to enjoy the "Vanguard" novels, and one doesn't have to watch or know TAS, or read Peter David's "Star Trek: New Frontier", if a new ST novel or comic contains an obscure (to some) TAS or NF reference.

I challenged one poster to give examples of where references to other ST books have been "too gratuitous and/or uncool", and his response was to say that he was cancelling plans to buy any of the recently-announced TOS tie-in novels in 2009 and 2010. Gosh, my apologies to the ST novel writers! Looks like I managed to scare away one of their customers by disputing his disdain of Easter eggs in ST novels? (Guess I'll have to buy two of everything due in 2009 and 2010 now... Maybe there's still time? Eradicate all Easter eggs now!)



A different poster complained about which ST novels were targeted for reprint in trade-sized omnibuses. Of course, reprints are not made in an effort to gamble that the reprint will create a possible resurgence of interest. They are a response to the laws of supply and demand. Not enough demand, no supply.

There are many, many out-of-print ST novels out there. The ones that do get re-presented in some form are reprinted because their original sales figures were excellent and it is hoped they'll perform well again - to a new audience who might have missed them the first time. (ie. The four first "Rhiannsu" books, reprinted just in time for one, new, oft-delayed conclusion, "The Empty Chair".)

I suggested that a quick browse in a large second hand bookshop would uncover the mass market paperbacks he was looking for. I find it really hard to believe that London, UK, has less second hand bookstores than Sydney. (While our second hand stores have slowly vanished over recent decades, especially from the CBD, I still know about four with huge ST sections.)

A lot of second hand sellers have gone exclusively online these days. Sure, some ST novels are perceived as "rare" ("Mission: Gamma #1" before the recent trade paperback omnibus reprint) and command high prices, but I'm sure most ST titles would be quite reasonable online. Often, the postage is higher than the cost of the book. And online searching is so efficient!

It's called the "thrill of the hunt". I guess it's not for everyone? I did it - the hard way - for my first four or five years of collecting in the early 80s (every Thursday night and Saturday morning, for many months at a time, until all the shops knew me by name or at least reputation, and they'd often "save" things for me!) - and, you know, I still pick up the odd gap in my collection, but now using Steve Roby's Complete ST Library listings and the online searching facilities of Amazon.

These days many second hand stores have their entire collection on a database and, even if browsing in the bricks 'n' mortar stores, the managers can often tell you, as you walk in, whether the book is somewhere inside! As for early Pocket ST novels, many of these were on the bestseller lists, were kept "in print" for ages, and are in larger quantities than one might imagine. Every ST novel turns up somewhere, sometime! It's the thrill of the hunt to find the right title, in the right condition, and at the right price.

Missing Shore Leave

This weekend, the annual US "Star Trek" and SF media convention, "Shore Leave" - with its traditionally strong emphasis on the printed word - is taking place, and I'm feeling rather depressed that I'm not there. Last year, it fell towards the end of the school holidays. If I had have done some serious forward planning, I could have organised long service leave and gone - either then, or this year! Especially since this year it's fallen in the middle of my two-week vacation. I coulda been there!!!

Ah well, it's been fun sitting online at TrekBBS all day catching up on what's happening. Sigh...

My other reason for disappointment is that it's recently been announced that the big "Star Trek Experience" attraction, at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, is closing at the end of August. Drat, drat, drat. (I was so sure it would be renewed at least until they saw how well the new Star Trek movie worked - next May.)

It's been there for ten years, and I've never been able to get there... and I just can't contemplate racing around obtaining a new passport, getting a visa, applying for long-service leave, helping to find a trained teacher-librarian replacement who's able to do all of the days I'd be away, clamouring for decently-priced airfares and hotels, leaving plenty of work for my replacement to use, explaining the Premier's Reading Challenge to them (and demonstrating what needs to be done to enter all the students' details before September), and ensuring I was back in time for Book Week at school. Whew. I'm exhausted just contemplating it all. Double sigh...

Anyway, here's the current "Upcoming Star Trek Books" schedule, with some new stuff announced for the first time at the Pocket Books presentation at Shore Leave this weekend, presented by editors Marco Palmieri and Margaret Clark. (The list was originally posted by Keith R A DeCandido on TrekBBS, and he reminds us, "Please keep in mind that the schedule is tentative and subject to change, particularly as you get farther away from the present.")

I've added annotations from various other sources.

Key: hc = hardcover, ho = hardcover omnibus, tp = trade paperback, to = trade paperback omnibus, mm = mass-market paperback, mr = mass-market reprint, tba = to be announced

July 2008
"DS9: Fearful Symmetry" by Olivia Woods (mm)
(Already out!)

"Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism" by William Leisner, Christopher L Bennett, and James Swallow (tp)
(Three alternate universe stories)

August 2008
"TNG: Greater than the Sum" by Christopher L Bennett (mm)
(Continuing the TNG Relaunch)

"Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions" by Geoff Trowbridge, Keith R A DeCandido, and Chris Roberson (tp)
(Three more alternate universe stories)


Cover art by John Picacio

September 2008
"ENT: Kobayashi Maru" by Michael A Martin & Andy Mangels (mm)
(Continuing the "Enterprise" Relaunch)

"Star Trek 101" by Terry J Erdmann & Paula M Block (tp)
(Fact book)

"Star Trek" Calendar for 2009

"Ships of the Line" Calendar for 2009

October 2008
"Destiny, Book 1: Gods of Night" by David Mack (mm)
(Starting the crossover trilogy)

"Corps of Engineers: Wounds" by Ilsa J Bick, Keith R A DeCandido, John J Ordover, Terri Osborne, and Cory Rushton (to)
(Reprint omnibus of the eBooks)

November 2008
"Destiny, Book 2: Mere Mortals" by David Mack (mm)

"Academy: Collision Course" by William Shatner, with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens (mr)


Cover art by James Wang

December 2008
"Destiny, Book 3: Lost Souls" by David Mack (mm)

January 2009
"TOS: Errand of Fury: Sacrifices of War" by Kevin Ryan (mm)
(Completing the second of Ryan's TOS trilogies)

"Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows", ed. by Margaret Clark & Marco Palmieri (tp)
Short stories by Christopher L Bennett, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Peter David, Keith R A DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Jim Johnson, Rudy Josephs, David Mack, Dave Stern, James Swallow, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, Susan Wright
(Third volume of series)


Cover art by Tom Hallman

February 2009
"A Singular Destiny" by Keith R A DeCandido (mm)
(A "Destiny" trilogy follow-up)

March 2009
"Titan: Over a Torrent Sea" by Christopher L Bennett (mm)
(A "Destiny" follow-up)

"TOS: Mere Anarchy" by Mike W Barr, Christopher L Bennett, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Dave Galanter, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, and Howard Weinstein (to)
(Reprint omnibus of the original eBook mini-series)

April 2009
"VOY: Full Circle" by Kirsten Beyer (mm)
(Continuing the "Voyager" Relaunch - at last)

"New Frontier: Treason" by Peter David (tp)
(Usually a hardcover, this one's a trade pb instead; presumably takes up where the IDW comic mini-series left off)

May 2009
"Vanguard: Open Secrets" by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (mm)

"TOS: Crucible" by David R George III (ho)
(Hardcover reprint omnibus of the mass market paperback trilogy, with newly added story material!)


Cover art (from MMPBs) by John Picacio


* Speculation: Presumably, this month with also see the publication of the novelisation of JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" movie! *

June 2009
"TOS: Troublesome Minds" by Dave Galanter (mm)
(Set during the five-year mission)

July 2009
"TNG: Losing the Peace" by William Leisner (mm)
(Continuing TNG Relaunch; a "Destiny" follow-up)

August 2009
"DS9: The Soul Key" by Olivia Woods (mm)
(Continuing DS9 Relaunch)

"Seven Deadly Sins", ed. by Marco Palmieri (tp)
(Seven stories, featuring: "Pride: the Romulans" by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, "Envy: the Cardassians" by James Swallow, "Wrath: the Klingons" by Keith R A DeCandido, "Sloth: the Pakleds" by Jimmy Diggs, "Greed: the Ferengi" by David A McIntee, "Gluttony: the Borg" by Marc Giller, "Lust: the Mirror Universe" by Britta Dennison)

September 2009
"DS9: The Never-Ending Sacrifice" by Una McCormack (mm)
(Focus on Cardassians)

October 2009
"VOY: (title TBA)" by Kirsten Beyer (mm)

"ENT: The Romulan War" by Michael A Martin (tp)

November 2009
"Titan: (title TBA)" by James Swallow (mm)

"Myriad Universes" (title and authors TBA) (tp)
(Third volume of stories)

December 2009
"Vanguard: (title TBA)" by David Mack (mm)

"Corps of Engineers: Out of the Cocoon" by Robert T Jeschonek, Kevin Killiany, William Leisner, and Phaedra M Weldon (to)
(Another omnibus eBook reprints; this one has newly added material - an updated "minipedia"!)

2010
The following titles don't have publication months yet, but are intended for 2010:

"TOS: The Millennium Bloom" by Mike W Barr (mm)
(An early Captain April story!)

"TOS: The Unspoken Truth" by Margaret Wander Bonanno (mm)
(A post-ST IV Saavik story!)

Over at TrekWeb, you'll find some great new cover artwork.

Looks like a busy couple of years, Trek-wise. I'm still halfway through a holiday and I feel like I need... a holiday. If only transporter technology already existed...

Bantam Books, Star Trek and nostalgia

As a new Star Trek fan in 1980 - discovering fandom and the Trek merchandising behemoth - via "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", the most frustrating thing about the Bantam Star trek original novels was that there was no definitive list! The only way to know about titles you were missing was to read the little "Have you also read ______________?" messages inside.

I remember the day I celebrated in a poky little suburban newsagency (a drugstore without drugs for my US readers) after finding "World Without End", which I hadn't even heard of! How frustrating and exciting it was to know that the treasure hunt must continue: each new find would carry another title inside, for which I now needed to go looking.



Every time I thought I'd completed my set, there was more out there! The Star Trek Welcommittee had no list available, so they mentioned "Books in Print". I went off to the NSW State Library and checked every volume from the 60s through to 1982, finally satisfying myself I had them all. The frustration for Australian collectors was because we not only had the Bantam printings (of original ST and the James Blish adaptations of TOS), but also the Corgi UK versions! This made keeping one's collection consistent almost impossible. If I saw a new title in Corgi (which also did Alan Dean Foster's TAS adaptations for the UK), did I grab it and replace it later with a Bantam, or did I just wait patiently"?

"Devil World" was exciting: my first "new" ST novel from a Dymocks' "New Release" shelf, IIRC! Then came "Perry's Planet", which I'd actually seen listed in a "Locus" a few months before. "The Galactic Whirlpool" was so eagerly awaited: "Starlog" had carried preview chapters rather like the Titan ST mag does today! (Amazing to know some content in advance!) Then came "Death's Angel" - I was very disappointed by it, only to discover, at ST club meetings, that a few fans were calling it the best novel they'd ever read.

And "Locus" was promising that finally, the oft-delayed "The Entropy Effect" (the first from the new license holder, Pocket Books) was coming from an award-winning science fiction author, Vonda McIntyre. The delay was because Pocket had to wait for all of Bantam's contracted novels to come out and Sky's "Death's Angel" had been that last one. I'd never heard of McIntyre, but the local SF community even seemed to be interested.



With so much new product coming these days, I'm unlikely to be able to do more than skim the Bantams every so often. Although they are steeped in nostalgia, they don't hold a candle to most of what's coming out now.

Sunday's magic number: 93.5 - yay! I was beginning to worry the scales were broken.

Audio silence?

Simon & Schuster Audioworks hasn't abridged a Star Trek novel since William Shatner's "Captain's Glory" in 2006, and it was the first not to be released as an audio cassette. CD and download only! Obviously, Star Trek abridgments have become unprofitable, much as I enjoyed collecting (and listening) to them.

A company called Recorded Books has done a set of unabridged Star Trek audios for the "Vulcan's Soul" trilogy. But, even though I think of myself as a completist, I've had no desire to commit to the expense, let along find the time to listen to many, many hours of these stories, word-for-word, when I've already read them. I feel that unabridged audios are aimed at people who probably don't intend to read the actual book, or want to hear the whole thing again on a looooong journey.

To me, abridged audiobooks often have a fresh take on a story, even if shorter, and they sorta, kinda, feel like an official adaptation/episode.

Every now and then, a fan will ask if there's a place in the market for original audios, but it seems no one has secured the separate license for these since Simon & Schuster's three "Captain Sulu" audio-only experiments in 1994-95. I recall John Ordover, a then-editor of the print novels, once saying that Simon & Schuster was not able to present the audio tracks of the "Star Trek Academy" computer game as an audiobook, (as they had for 1996's "Star Trek: Klingon" and "Star Trek: Borg") when that game came out, because they'd let the part of their licence lapse.

If another original-to-audio series was mooted, it would be very hard to judge what the audience would be. "Doctor Who" and "Blake's Seven" went to original audios when there was a dearth of official new visuals being made. I hear "Star Wars" is about to relaunch as original audios.

Does anyone know if S&S Audio's ST license has actually lapsed, or is there a chance they intend to adapt the big, controversial crossover novel trilogy, "Star Trek: Destiny", later this year? (If they intended to, I'd assume Book 1 would be underway already.) It's odd that S&S would wait so long between audios if they did intend to produce more.

Does anyone know any contacts over at Recorded Books, and if they have more Star Trek plans?

A novel completist

Over on the Star Trek online bulletin boards, there's been a thread about people who ask, but don't always receive, more information about upcoming Star Trek novels from Pocket Books. Who's in it? Where is it placed in the timeline? What's going to happen? Will it clash with other recent ST novels? Will it clash with older titles set in similar territory? Will it get overruled by JJ Abrams' new movie? And so on.

So how much should one know about an upcoming novel before it's "too much" information?

It seems to me there are a lot of ST fans who are very curious about the storylines of ST novels, but lack the finances - or the inclination to find the time for actually reading a novel. They will then seek out reviews or spoilers so they either don't have to read it, or they will seek out spoilers so their curiosity is sated, or so they can say, "Sounds stupid, why should I spend my money?"

When I ran ST clubs (we had a group which grew from 200 to 1000 people over about twelve years), there was only ever a small percentage of members who maintained completist collections of ST novels and comics. I did a column in the newsletter calling "Publishing news" and many of our members were happy enough to read that, and perhaps the odd book review - and not buy the actual books - or they'd grill the completists at monthly meetings.

I see, quite often, people asking online for exhaustive reviews of certain ST novel mini-series - stories that are crossovers with ST series they don't follow, or mini-series that are too long to attract their attention, or mini-series where a few titles are perceived as being weaker than others. When "Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion" (2006) was coming out, I remember people boasting they could finally "catch up", as if Jeff Ayers' summaries of all past novels and short stories would somehow be enough.

Perhaps my available funds allow me to be more extravagant? I choose to buy all ST novels and comics, after all, and try to keep pace with reading them all. Maybe if I ran a car and had to educate a family of young children, I'd be scrimping to buy the odd ST book, and perhaps would be scrounging for novel spoilers to satisfy my curiosity, too?