Library Computer: Retro Review “Enterprise First Adventure” + Pocket’s 2009 Book Plans April 21, 2008
by Robert Lyons , Filed under: Books, Review, TOS , trackback
We are a year away from seeing JJ Abrams Star Trek origin story, and so this week the Library Computer journeys back to 1986 to look at how the books tackled this moment in (non canon) Trek history with "Enterprise: The First Adventure," by Vonda McIntyre. Also this week we look forward with news on 2009 Trek books coming out of New York Comic Con.
RETRO REVIEW - ENTERPRISE: THE FIRST ADVENTURE
In 1986, little was known about the origins of the Star Trek universe. Three televised seasons, twenty-two animated episodes, and three movies were available (with a fourth film in production). Speculation on Captain Pike’s decisions behind stepping down, why Kirk was given the Enterprise, and how the Kirk-Spock-McCoy triumvirate of The Original Series came to be was left to fan fiction. Enter "Enterprise: The First Adventure" Star Trek’s first attempt to explore the early days of Kirk’s Enterprise. The author, Vonda N. McIntyre, had successfully novelized both the second and third movies, and had a successful original work, "The Entropy Effect", making her an outstanding choice to draft this particular tale. Unfortunately, past performance, in this instance, did not ensure future results.
McIntyre’s story suffers from a significantly juvenile feel from start to finish. To put it another way, it feels like the Star Trek equivalent of "Muppet Babies". Jim Kirk, having just survived a major battle, assumes command of the Enterprise, but proceeds to pitch a fit when his comatose friend, Gary Mitchell, isn’t given the position of first officer. He throws a tantrum when he is told that is first mission on this glorious ship is to ferry the Warp-Speed Classic Vaudeville Company on what amounts to a twenty-third century USO tour to Federation bases near the Klingon border. Of course, like any child, his mother is nipping at his heels in his early hours aboard the Enterprise, scolding him for his poor attitude and his outbursts against Amelinda Lukarian and Admiral Noguchi.
McIntyre’s story also suffers from the continued perpetuation of over-exaggerated clichés. Within a few days aboard ship, Kirk is already chasing a woman, Spock is showing a level of contempt for emotionalism that goes far beyond his statements in any of the early episodes of the series. McCoy is off hiking the mountains with no way of getting any communications, and Janice Rand is a scared teenage waif who shivers in her boots anytime she is around Captain Kirk. And the ‘guest stars’ of the novel, Ms. Lukarian and an emotional Vulcan named Stephen, are every bit as annoying as the juvenile expressions of the Enterprise crew. The Klingon involvement in the novel is barely worth mentioning, and feels like something of a rehash of unused ideas from Star Trek III.
The climax of the novel is, predictably, over the top, and wraps up the story way too neatly. Suddenly, everyone wants to stay aboard the Enterprise, the circus act is performing away on the hangar deck, and James T. Kirk is the larger than life hero that he always wanted to be. "Enterprise: The First Adventure" was probably far easier to appreciate twenty-two years ago than it is today. While Gene Roddenberry commended the story to fans, too much time and history have passed since then. The origin story told in McIntyre’s novel is wholly unsatisfying and falls, at least for this reader, out of the realm of believability when viewing it as a part of the Star Trek ethos as a whole. Those who are nostalgic for the past may want to give it a try, but with so many other fine past Trek books (including McIntyre’s other excellent efforts), you can definitely pass this story by without missing much.
"Enterprise - The First Adventure
POCKET BOOK OUTLINES EARLY 2009 BOOK PLANS
At the NY Comic Con over the weekend, Pocket Books held a panel outlining plans for the next year. TrekMovie.com has already covered 2008 plans, but pocket did have news for 2009. Below are what Trek book lovers can expect for the first five months of 2009. The biggest news appears to be a return of Voyager and that the Voyager series will be brought up to be in sync of time with the TNG books (following the 2008 crossover Destiny Trilogy). There will also be a Titan book which is also in sync with the post-Destiny era.
January
ERRAND OF FURY, BOOK THREE: THE SACRIFICES OF WAR
by Kevin Ryan
Third and final book in the TOS-era Errand of Fury series which began back in 2005.
February
A SINGULAR DESTINY
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Described as a "Tom Clancy-esque" adventure in the post-Destiny TNG era. Not focusing on a particular crew, but more of a focus on the Federation (like "Articles of Federation")
March
MERE ANARCHY
by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore; Mike W. Barr; Dave Galanter; Christopher L. Bennett; Howard Weinstein; Margaret Wander Bonanno
eBook Omnibus reprint covering 30 years of TOS history (trade paperback)
TITAN: OVER A TORRENT SEA
by Christopher L. Bennett
The 5th book in the Titan series, will follow from the events of the Destiny Trilogy
April
VOYAGER: FULL CIRCLE
by Kirsten Beyer
First Voyager book since 2006, follows the events of the Destiny Trilogy (will also deal with events of other TNG era books that have used Voyager characters).
May
VANGUARD 4 (NOT YET TITLED)
by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
Where is the movie novelization?
One obvious omission from the above list of books from Jan - May 2009 is a novelization for the JJ Abrams Star Trek feature film. TrekMovie.com has been told that a movie book is still the subject of much discussion.
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Comments»
I have that book!
They never released these Trek books in Finland and so where i can buy Star Trek noves?
I have that book, too.
3. TerPor - April 21, 2008
They never released these Trek books in Finland and so where i can buy Star Trek noves?
Try Amazon.com
They have sites in …
U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany, France, Canada and China too.
The aspect of the novel I really liked was the worldship and its inhabitants. They seemed genuinely alien in a way that could never have been portrayed on the series. I also remember liking that the novel was very humane, with many of the problems the characters dealt with arising from conflicts of personality and differing viewpoints, rather than from explosions and battles and fist fights. Thus it would probably make a terrible basis for a movie, but as a read, I enjoyed it.
I don’t know if anybody remembers the abridged audio version, with George Takei and Leonard Nimoy, but it was pretty entertaining too. Takei did a lot of characters and voices. He and James Doohan did yeoman’s work on those audio books.
I have that book too.
And I’m sorry to say that, but I rellay loved the Bagovanli character. He was quiet funny. The other parts of the book were indeed a bit boring, especially the space circus and Stephen.
Interesting that here and in other places, Rand is portrayed as being very young. (One fan story had her being underage for Starfleet.) Yet, the character was originated by an actress who was born one year before William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Grace is gorgeous in the part, but hardly a shrinking teenager. Hence, part of the conflict in Charlie X.
If we get a new Rand, is she gonna be a tween queen? Hannah Montana in Space?
I loved this when I read it in high school — back before TNG even, I think. I liked the cocky kirk and the extreme mccoy-spock tension. But that was 22 years ago (good grief) and I frankly could have been a little addled by mousse fumes.
Looking forward to Vanguard 4. In Germany we only have book1, yet. The second one comes out on next wednesday and #3 in june. I´m wondering when the 4th will come out here… I guess 2010? =(
I applauded Vonda McIntyre when I first read The Entropy Effect a few years back, then immediately bought all the other Trek books she had authored. Quickly enough, I became disappointed with her overblown novelizations of the movies - long on heretofore unknown characters and situations, short on major character screen motivations and thoughts. I also found myself immensely annoyed with her preoccupation with creating conflict and dire circumstances which were nonexistent in the films. Our beloved characters, in McIntyre’s hands, are cardboard cutouts, not good quality cardboard, at that. A shame, considering the potential she displayed in Entropy Effect. Sincerely hope she is not considered for future novelizations.
Never liked the idea of substantial Trek history being developed in non-canon novels. Just look at Star Wars where the prequels have messed up a few novels, with the books being canon on the other hand!! Good decision to have novels non-canon in Star Trek.
I would assume the movie novelization will be a hardcover, and thus could be released whenever without pushing one of the paperback slots out of the way.
#3 - So, Boborci, what did you think of “Enterprise: The First Adventure?”
I have this one, too.
I found it typical of most Trek books. Quite pulpish in it’s execution. A whole lot of eye rolling. Characters acting uncharacteristically. But you have to read all of them, if you are me.
cd - April 21, 2008
#3 - So, Boborci, what did you think of “Enterprise: The First Adventure?”
In general agree with the review that it doesn’t age as well, but still like it…
so bob…how many circus performers in your ‘first adventure’
I have to also agree with Rob. When I asked him to do this retro review i had fonder memories, but i re-listened to the audio book and well it was kindof silly. Kind of like a lot of the things from the 80s I no longer think are cool.
In the spirit of Infinite Diversity, let me say I think the review is a bit harsh. I liked the book. In fact, when I first heard of the Abrams movie I found myself wishing they could film this story. Yes, Kirk is brash and self-centered, but I thought it worked, considering this is supposed to be a young Jim Kirk just learning what it means to be captain. Spock rang true for me as well, especially having to deal with a new, young, brash captain. By the end of novel the characters have developed and begun to gel into the crew we know.
I’d agree about the circus; that didn’t do it for me either, nor was I fond of her characterization of the Klingons. But I did like the Worldship. I think McIntyre does a good job at creating truly alien aliens and cultures.
Anthony Pascale - April 21, 2008
so bob…how many circus performers in your ‘first adventure’
I have to also agree with Rob. When I asked him to do this retro review i had fonder memories, but i re-listened to the audio book and well it was kindof silly. Kind of like a lot of the things from the 80s I no longer think are cool.
A: We have magicians instead…
FOR A MORE ENTERTAINING “FIRST ADVENTURE…”
…try reading the DC Comics STAR TREK ANNUAL #1, published around 1985, I believe. Far more concise and entertaining, IMO. I seem to recall trudging through “The First Adventure” novel back in ‘86 and being fairly underwhelmed and bored.
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=39482&zoom=4
#16
I’ll take my Adam and the Ants posters down Anthony! :)
My fav Trek books- Price of the Phoenix and Fate of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshack and Myrna Culbreath (sp?). Also Yesterday’s Son (do not recall the author). Was able to buy a box of used Trek books at an estate sale for 2.00 and spent a few weeks devouring every word…except with McIntyre. I ended up throwing all hers out, except for Entropy Effect.
Anyone remember the Pocket novel that tied into “Here Come the Brides”?
Talk about an obscure cross-over that 99% of the readers were probably never even aware of! Those were some fun reads.
But yeah, Enterprise-The First Adventure wasn’t so hot. And the only thing worse than a bad novel is a long bad novel. Entrprise was a chore to get through. At least some of the Bantam stinkers weren’t so thick.
Strangers from the Sky and the two Phoenix books are my favs, although I fully confess it’s been years since I went Trek book shopping. At the risk of judging them by their covers, many of the newer ones seem fanboy driven… Kirk meets Sisko meets Frankenstein meets Bambi kind of things. (Am I kidding? An actual book involves the TNG crew meeting the X-Men. I guess Stewart gets a double payday if they make that into a movie.)
#20:
I’ll take my Adam and the Ants posters down Anthony! :)
Hey buddy - I STILL listen to that band!!! All those cd’s got reissued
recently w/ bonus tracks, so I’m not the only one listening to them.
thomoz — actually, yes you are the only one listening to those.
all the others are being used as coasters at Cyndi Lauper’s chain of “Planet of the Eighties” theme restaurants.
(he said, popping in his Monkees cd, which he only has because his Monkees vinyl and 8track no longer play)
Speaking of how the characters are portrayed at different points in their lives, I just (re)watched “The Conscience of the King” last night, I noticed how more direct and abrupt Spock was in the earlier episodes; he even shooshed Kirk during the phaser on overload scene. Obviously, there was some adjustment in how Spock was supposed to act as time went on and they figured out how they wanted Spock to be, but I think that quality was very interesting. Boborci, did you notice that aspect of Spock and is there some of that in the movie? IMO, I think much of Spock’s command presence may have been due to his service with Pike. Any thoughts you can share?
I agree with #19 that the first annual of the DC Comics Star Trek series had a more adventurous and generally more traditionally entertaining story as compared to McIntyre’s novel. Interesting that both were done so close in time and yet are so different. McIntyre’s take seems to be from the school of “screwing with the audience’s expectations”, which some people obviously didn’t care for. The “first adventure” is something that everybody probably has a difference expectation of, and one of the things that was nice about having a few “non-canon” takes on it is that everybody can kind of pick one that suits their taste.
Not for long though.
Vonda is going to be ticked by this review. Watch out!
As for 2009 books, the only one I want to see is a “Making of…” book. But that (and a novelization) might be victims of the uber-secrecy of the production of this movie.
22… “Anyone remember the Pocket novel that tied into “Here Come the Brides”?”
That was “ISHMAEL” and was a hoot. I think the author got in some trouble with Pocket for pulling that stunt, and never got to publish another Trek novel. The joke was that Mark Lenard starred in “Here Come The Brides” (so did “The Apple’s” David Soul.) and his “Brides” character ends up being an ancestor of Amanda.
There’s another Star Trek novel which features the Battlestar Galactica (original version) on the cover, albeity upside-down.
It’s a little unfair to dismiss Vonda McIntyre’s stuff so brutally, 20-plus years after it was written. As the review points out, there was precious little Trek spin-off material around back then: a few pulpy comicbooks and annuals, the James Blish novelisations and the film novelisations.
Holger (no 11 and, no, I’m not laying into you, I promise!) for example complains about large amounts of ‘canon’ being created in spin-off literature. But at the time there simply wasn’t anywhere else fans could get additional material. heaven forfend the thought that Star Trek would ever return to television!
Take Vonda McIntyre’s allegedly ‘overblown’ movie novelisations: they massively expand the universe these characters live in, also drawing from the likes of other drafts of screenplays and so on. there was no other TV show to do that back then.
In Star Trek II, Captain Sulu is on board the Enterprise for a fun jaunt with the trainees before taking command of the Excelsior. He nearly dies after being electrocuted and survives thanks to David Marcus. In Star Trek III, he agonises over his decision to join Kirk, knowing that he’ll never regain the Excelsior, which has been taken away from him in the aftermath of the Genesis explosion. All this more deeply embellishes what we see on screen.
Christine Chapel, who once loved Spock has to come to terms with his death. The aging of the various crew members is even more deeply felt, as Scotty returns to his family in the aftermath of his nephew’s death. Saavik’s grief at Peter’s death and her family background is explored, as is her romance with David. Oh, and we have Galaxy Class starships exploring the Andromeda Galaxy…
Perhaps the most noticeable thing with the novelisations (and Enterprise: The First Adventure) is how big and advanced everything is. The Federation has explored much more of the galaxy and are enthusiastically heading into Andromeda. The characters all have substantial family backgrounds and it’s clear that they have been to all sorts of places and met all sorts of people that a film script could never easily deal with.
There was a no-holds-barred 60s-ish feel that ‘everything is happening right now and nothing will stand in our way!’
When TNG came along, one of the first things Roddenberry did was diminish the scale of the pre-24th-century era’s technology and exploration of the galaxy, not to mention destroy TOS’s feeling of immediacy.
These are good books for their time and before the spin-off literature began to pilfer all the available shelf space in book stores the likes of the novelisations, Enterprise: The First Adventure, Strangers from the Sky and Final Frontier gave us an understanding of our heroes, their past and their present that simply wasn’t possible from the relatively little material made for TV and film in the previous two decades!
Huh? I must have read a different version of that book, because I thought it was great! Haven’t read it in about about 20 years though, so…
Thorny#29- I remember reading that! There was a line in there I remember during the scene at a wedding - Spock’s memory resurfaces when he looks up, sees Klingons standing in the doorway, and he thinks, “What are the Klingons doing at such-and-such’s wedding”, then poof, his memory is restored.
Another one I chortled throughout is How Much For The Planet? Funniest Trek novel, hands down. A scene where Sulu and Fed co-horts are (supposedly) kidnapped and taken before a droolicious, Dom-type, amazingly endowed woman wearing all-black leather begging for a wardrobe malfunction… a must-read, definitely …
…McIntyre’s story fails from the fact that Vonda was, is and always will be nothing but a low-quality fanfic author. Pocket had no business letting her write that novel, and the sole reason that Entropy Effect did as well as it did was that it showed up during a drought of Trek novels - there weren’t really any new ones being written around that time, and the old adage about a dying man drinking dirty water from a horse’s hoofprint applies here without question.
…A lot of us old Trek fandom types recall Vonda - along with Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath - and her early fanfic attempts, and to be blunt hers were lame at best. The general concensus was that Vonda *had* to have slept with -someone- in order to get the book deal for Entropy Effect, especially since it contained an obvious “Mary Sue” in the character of “Hunter” - something that Pocket did a pretty good job of keeping to a bare minimum until Diane Carey’s first two crap novels, I should note.
The bad thing is that Vonda had two more Trek novels in the works. The good thing is that fan reaction to First Adventure scuttled those quicker putting an “Eat Me!” sign on a planet with a Doomsday Machine passing nearby!
Somewhere, deep in a dark, musty corner of my mother’s attic, is an old box of Trek books from the 70’s that probably got more attention the most of my high school text books of the same era.
Jeez, am I dating myself, or what? LOL
I’ve re-read a lot of my “high school years” Trek novels; I still enjoy the novelization of ST:TMP after many years. My favorite — the one I always remember and have found a book club (hardcover) edition recently — is THE WOUNDED SKY by Diane Duane. The concept is great, though I found the ending a bit existential (but very Trek).
Favorite trek novel would have to be EX MACHINA by Christopher L. Bennett. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Machina_%28Star_Trek%29
One more thing: my favorite TNG Trek novel, I think, is still VENDETTA which, IMO, should have been the first TNG film.
Of all of the early Star Trek novels, my favorite still remains Star Trek Final Frontier by Diane Carey. That is a book that I can always pick up. Would’ve loved to see George Kirk in action in that one. By the way, if you have it, check out how closely the cover art looks like George Kirk in the upcoming movie…Boborci, have you ever read that one?
My first was John Ford Klingon one where he followed with “How much for Just the Planet,? which I thought was not up to speed. Then there was a great book on the Romulans, if I am not mistaken, by Diane Duane on the Romulans, and perhaps the Vulcans as well. Been a while!
Ralph, I’m talking about the JAMES BLISH novels and the Whitfield book, among other ones. LOL We’re talkin’ REAL retro here…….
Dom#30- Must disagree with you, Dom. Trek literature has been around in the form of fanfiction since it first aired. When the conventions began after the series cancellation, these “fanzines” began circulating throughout the fan-based community, prompting Trek ‘pedias, commpendiums, sourcebooks, manuals, finally novels. These fanzines, comprised of short stories, novellas, novels, poetry and essays are still going strong today, and many authors published in fanzines, and now on the internet, are, by far, more enjoyable reads than most of the Trek novels on shelves in bookstores. Critique of an author is to be expected on this column, and where McIntyre, Blish and many others failed, fanfiction excelled. Anyway, Trek fans have been able to read thousands of volumes of spiral-bound, Trek-based fiction, circulated via conventions and the Post, ever since the series was still being aired.
AJ_ You didn’t like How Much For Just The Planet? I thought it was Hilarious… not even the Dom scene where she made our guys moan in frustration as she teasingly strutted back and forth cracking her whip (I think there was a whip)…
Denise:
Is there a good place to find this stuff? I read the “New Voyages” for a while as a child (where the actors are on the ship instead of their characters and meet the Klingons, now there was a good one), and that was ages ago.
I had fanzines with drawings of Kirk Spock and McCoy practically kissing each other on the cover, and people would write about the holy trinity, and that’s just silly. So is K/S slash. It’d be great for Kirk to get Rand or Marlena and have a relationship. Or McCoy, poor guy.
I guess it’s all googlable, but separating good from the bad before you read requires feedback from other readers.
Denise:
I bought it the day it came out. I remember nothing. Maybe it’s worth a re-buy.
I’d read Fords previous one twice. First time hated it, second time loved it, and wanted more of the same.
I had the first edition of that book and that had a secondary cover behind the main cover. Note the Enterprise in the corner, well the first edition front the corner cropped and you open and you’d see a great painted pic of Spock, McCoy and Kirk in second pilot uniforms.
That was absent in reprints but I’ve been looking for it for years now.
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Enterprise:_The_First_Adventure#Cover_Gallery
-cs™
AJ- There is so much fanfiction on the net you could read from now until doomsday, non-stop, and never read it all. However, some of the bound zines that I have picked up at conventions and on ebay I will give you the titles of (forget the preposition hanging out at the end of that sentence…):
The Company of Humans
Encounters
Shadows of the Mirror
Baselines
A Friend Such As You
Prince of Vulcan
Enterprise Incidents
Legends
Spockanalia
I would recommend these zines although I have read many others, as well as vintage Trek which is now on the net. I think I still have all of these in my collection - I have given some to friends to read and think I have gotten them all back. If I were you, however, I would go to the net first and just plow in. Just as an aside - there are many K/S zines (which I also love and own) which have the same titles as non-K/S zines, so if you buy look for notations of that nature.
21. Denise de Arman: Yesterday’s Son was written by A.C Crispen. And it is a favorite of mine as well. I can’t say the same about Sondra and Myrna’s output however. :)
25. CmdrR: Hey hey! I’m a Monkees fans too.
26. cd: I tend to prefer the 1st season no non-sense and super efficient Spock over the 3rd season serene guru Spock a great deal.
22. star trackie & 29. Thorny: Ishmael was written by Barbara Hambly. And it indeed was very interesting and very good. And the Mark Lenard connection was brilliant. :)
And Thorny, the other book with the Battle Star is a TNG novel called Ghost Ship. Here is a pic of the cover so everyone can see: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Image:GhostShip.jpg
33. OM : Sorry OM, gotta disagree as well. In addition to the comments above about the loads of fanfic. There were the Bantam books. Vonda’s Entropy Effect and the novelization of TMP were the first books put out by Pocket. But there were a couple more books that still came out from Bantam contractually. One of those was The Galactic Whirlpool. Now, certainly there wasn’t near as many novels then as now. But as a voracious reader and used book store scavenger, trust me, there was still a lot. :)
34. Viking: Mine aren’t in the attic. They are on shelf right across the room from me as I type this on my laptop. LOL.
37. Tony Whitehead: That’s John M. Ford and he was one of the best. I wish he had done more. His two novels couldn’t have been more vastly different but he executed them both wonderfully. The first Klingon oriented one was The Final Reflection. Simply one of my VERY favorite Star Trek novels of all time. He managed to give history and complexity to the Klingon’s without robbing them of their delicious nastiness. And it influenced the Klingons in many Trek fans minds from there and was even incorporated into the Role Playing Game and other things. AND they had a perfectly reasonable and logical explanation for the Bumpy head vs non bumpy head Klingons. Too bad TNG undid all of that and made the Klingon’s whipped dogs of the Federation. Feh.
38. AJ: Diane did several Romulan books. (Which were fine but why wasn’t Ford given the same opportunity to do the same with the Klingons? ) but the most famous and first was My Enemy, My Ally. Great book as well.
As for Enterprise: The First Adventure. I was very excited about the idea of the book and was very anxious to read it and read it eagerly as soon as I was able to buy it …and was throughly disappointed.
Totally agree with the review of First Adventure on all points. It did not feel like a “first adventure” and the crew was written so out of character. And Yeoman Rand a scared teenager?? Grace Lee Whitney is the SAME AGE as (in fact, a year older than) William Shatner! She NEVER looked any younger than Shatner, even in TOS. And Stephen read more like a silly boy than a Vulcan (he’d be immature as a human character as well). And the Vaudeville troupe were annoying, one and all. I know the hammy actor (Cockspur, or whatever name he had; it was something overdone like that) was the “comic relief” of sorts. And the big, funny pay-off of having the Klingons LIKE his bad performance was, to quote Geordi in Generations, “NOT funny.” When I read that book, I was relieved the books were conjectures only, and not canon! Kirk came off as so foot-stompingly petulant, it seemed that Janice Lester’s soul had invaded him in that time period, too! Bad book; best forgotten (in my opinion only, of course). To any that DO like it? Hey, I like plenty of bad stuff, too. So, we ALL have our guilty pleasures. But guilty or not, to me (in my opinion) this book was NO pleasure.
#46 - I’m thankful they’re stored in a cool, dry place 800 miles from here. You don’t know my wife when she gets her semi-annual home excavation bug up her whatsis. I gotta keep my guns, Trek ornaments, and R. Lee Ermey Marine doll locked up in the cedar chest, or they’d all disappear at one of her infamous yard sales. LMAO Our bookshelves are suspiciously lighter since last week, and I’m trying to figure out which books disappeared…….
My favorite Star Trek books (since my last overly negative post) are “Burning Dreams” (great Chris Pike life story; with a nice resolution, despite a “Crimson Tide” ripoff sequence mid-book). The first Eugenics Wars book was excellent, and a virtual encyclopedia of Trek characters and events well-blended into actual history. Tough job, but nice effort by Greg Cox. Also enjoyed Shatner’s “The Return.” Some great bits about the connection of the Borg and V’ger, plus good use of NG, DS9 characters, too. But not his later books with the mirror Kirk /Tiberius stuff (it’s just never-ending captures and escapes…dull). And I liked “The Good That Men Do.” Helped wash away the bitter aftertaste of “These Are The Voyages…” This book could’ve been subtitled, “These Are The Voyages….Oh No They Are NOT!” Some of the new books coming out sound promising, too.
Denise:
I found a piece of K/S fiction today online. First one I googled.
Kirk and Spock talk about work for 5 minutes, then get down to business. Love was clearly there, But the roles were wrong, and they both get out of character immediately.
Also, I respect all people, but I like girls, and it was a bid weird. And so do Kirk and Spock.
Not a discussion for this thread, either ;-)
I read Entropy Effect just last fall after finding it in a re-sale shop. It was an ancient copy.. probably a first printing. I thought it was “decent”. It got me picking up copies of practically any Trek novels I could find.
I’d like to just give Ms. McIntyre credit for producing atleast one good Trek novel and getting me interested in reading the old pocket paperbacks again… and killing some decent time till the new movie hits the screen.
thanks
30 - super true… i loved how advanced everything felt… consistent with the show but legitimately a 23rd century universe where folks had spent generations exploring truly alien cultures… I too hoped they might use some of that for the new flick. The same was true for her novelizations — I remember being disappointed that a lot of the stories and details didn’t make it into the films.
actually, now that I stop and think about it… that amazing 23rd cent. technology I mentioned included a lengthy description of the odd teen Rand making posters for the circus - in something that sounds an awful lot like late 90s photo shop.
AJ- You are right on that point - whole different topic, oh yes, my oh my, totally different… of course, I am absolutely open-minded when it comes to intergalactic space sex - human, alien, boy, girl, slave, master… But the writing must be good, and characterizations on point. If you want to google Trek fanfiction, try Star Trek fanfiction, Star Trek stories, etc. Pretty soon you will be inundated. Also look on ebay under Star Trek fanzines. And if you feel particularly open-minded, the best fanfiction author, in my opinion, is a K/S author by the name of writing alias JackHawksmoor at ksarchive.com. Several stories, all IMHO, 100% faithful to our characters- if this author wrote a story detailing the reasons why a silicon-based lifeform now exists and is riding the subways of New York City every day, I would have to believe him.
Skip this one and read The Entropy Effect. Its much better.
My favorite Trek book was Peter David’s Vendetta which by rights should have been the first Next Generations movie rather then Generations, Borg and Planet Killer together in the same book majorly cool.
54. Denise de Arman:
Ok. Now I know why you like Marshak and Culbreath so much. LOL.
I was once an avid Trek novel reader, but at some point (I don’t remember when) I simply became overwhelmed by the number of Trek books being published, and I gave up. Some books were pretty well done, while so many of them had the “fan-fantasy” quality. Such books never rang true to the characters, their “voices,” or the premise of Star Trek. I often found myself unable to get beyond a couple of chapters.
I’ve often wondered how the powers-that-be go about determining what books get published, and how do they conclude the fans are really going to want to read them. Again, so many Trek novels have left me bored, dissatisfied, or unable to finish them.
In my humble opinion, the better Trek books were written by people associated with Star Trek: David Gerrold’s “The Galactic Whirlpool,” William Shatner’s first three Trek books were terrific, DC Fontana’s “Vulcan’s Glory,” and Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of “TMP” is still one of my sentimental favorites…
# i might also add to my list Spock Must Die by the late great James Blish and Diane Carey’s Dreadnought, and Marshak and Culbreaths Price of the Phoenix and its equaly wonderful sequel Fate of the Phonix. Dianne Duane had some notable trek book especially The Wounded Sky.
Morg#57- LOL! Too erotically-charged for your tastes?
Mere Anarchy is not an SCE/CoE reprint. It’s a six-part TOS ebook series being reprinted as a TPB anthology.
OM : Sorry OM, gotta disagree as well. In addition to the comments above about the loads of fanfic. There were the Bantam books. Vonda’s Entropy Effect and the novelization of TMP were the first books put out by Pocket. But there were a couple more books that still came out from Bantam contractually. One of those was The Galactic Whirlpool. Now, certainly there wasn’t near as many novels then as now. But as a voracious reader and used book store scavenger, trust me, there was still a lot. :)
In order:
1) There *were* other novels, but between the demise of the Bantam contract and Pocket taking up the license, there was a gap of about 19 months, IIRC, and Pocket apparently didn’t do much in the way of promoting their first couple of novels. The local book stores were all really surprised when the first Pocket one showed up unannounced, and were doubly surprised that there were no POS material to help push it on consumers.
2) For those unaware, Galactic Whirlpool was a “fleshing-out” of a rejected David Gerrold script proposal for TOS that he submitted prior to his A Fuzzy Thing Happened. Gerrold even allows himself a “Mary Sue” cameo as “Specks”, the ship’s librarian. Possibly the best of the Bantam novels, but sort of fails when compared to some of the pre-”Melakon Arnold” Pocket novels. Still, it would be good to see Gerrold write another novel - a Harry Mudd vs. Cyrano Jones story would fithis style of humor perfectly!
…Whoops! Forgot to comment on this one:
In the spirit of Infinite Diversity, let me say I think the review is a bit harsh.
…Embracing IDIC doesn’t not preclude calling a turd for what it is and acknowledging its stench, nor being repulsed by and subsequently rejecting for said stench. What Vonda wrote - and her attempts to foist those same Klingon backstory elements onto Trek “canon” by including them in her ST3 novelization - was, without question, a turd. And one with a rather large page count at that.
Also, I respect all people, but I like girls, and it was a bid weird. And so do Kirk and Spock.
…The K/S freaks basically got handed a death blow some years ago when Gene added a footnote at the bottom of a page in the TMP novelization. This one was Kirk basically squashing the whole “K/S” mess by pointiing out that a man of Kirk’s libido would never settle for a sexual partner who would come into heat once every seven years. True, there’s been a few out there who refuse to let “K/S” die, but it’s nowhere near as pervasive in the fanfic circles as it was prior to TMP.
Thank God/Yahweh/Roddenberry, natch…:-)
18. Boborci - April 21, 2008
” We have magicians instead…”
Bullwinkle will making an appearance in the movie?
“Nuthin’ up mah sleave…”
It’s a little unfair to dismiss Vonda McIntyre’s stuff so brutally, 20-plus years after it was written.
…Not really. It was just as “brutally dismissed” when it first saw print, for many of the same reasons the reviewer here pointed out. Probably the only one he missed involved the debate over whether Gary Mitchell was Kirk’s first officer prior to his demise in the 2nd pilot. There’s quite a bit of evidence in the episode to support both sides, but based on established naval traditions a ship’s CO usually has some significant say-so on who his/her XO is. Considering some of Mitchell’s actions prior to getting “barrier zapped”, it’s somewhat clear that if he wasn’t the ship’s XO, he was damn well acting as such.
60. Denise de Arman - April 21, 2008
” Morg#57- LOL! Too erotically-charged for your tastes?”
Nah, but it isn’t something I would exactly list as the high water marks of Trek literature either. ;) Though it has its place and can certainly be fun in its own way.
What always amazed me was how Sondra and Myrna got three books loaded with that stuff into the mainstream like that. I respect them for that if nothing else. Things were certainly different then thats for sure. LOL.
Ya know, ol Myrna and Sondra were a going concern and pretty big in fandom back then and pretty tight with Shatner as they also did a book on him as well as you likely know. I wonder what they are up to these days?
62. OM:
1. I admit I wasn’t aware there was that much of a gap. But unless you had read everything thing that had been published before that point, there was not really a dearth of text. The Blish books alone. It’s obvious you really REALLY don’t like Vonda’s work. LOL. Which I did not like anything she did later but I did like Entropy Effect. But it has been awhile. :) Of course I had read everything else so I was hungry for more Trek stories. AHHAH! LOL.
And yeah it was a very strange change over from Bantam and Pocket. And then I discovered that Pocket was a part of Gulf Western and the picture became all to clear. Paramount/GW couldn’t have been any less interested in Trek license before TMP and all the sudden it became much more important once they were attempting to launch a multi-million dollar franchise. So Bantam and Ballatine and other folks were SOL.
2. Yes I liked the novel as well. And also think its one of the best Bantams. It would have been interesting to see how Coon and the boys would have attempted to make the premise work within the confines of the TOS budget. And I agree I would love to see David write a new Trek story. And I like your suggestion of Mudd v Cyrano.
OM, your facts are pretty much wrong on all accounts. First of all, Vonda McIntyre was in fact a Hugo Award-winning author for DREAMSNAKE long before she was ever approached to do TREK fiction. The notion that she was “nothing but a low-quality fanfic author” is absurd — she was, and remains, a respected SF author independent of her TREK work, and was =before= she ever wrote a piece of TREK fiction.
Also, there was =no= gap between Bantam and Pocket. In fact, Pocket published the TMP novelization =before= Bantam finished their run of books. Pocket had to wait until Bantam’s books were done before they could start their line, which is why there was a gap between the TMP novelization and THE ENTROPY EFFECT, as they had to wait for Bantam to publish DEVIL WORLD and THE GALACTIC WHIRLPOOL.
69. Keith R.A. DeCandido : Ok, so then I WASN’T crazy. LOL. Thanks.
I remember enjoying the first 25% of this novel, finding it a bit slow for my hyperactive teenage needs in the second 25%, and never reading the remaining half.
I liked the Marshak/Culbreath stuff, and I liked Black Fire (for the very nice trick at the ending, and the pleasantly fan-ficcy jabbing at the TMP visual changes), and I remember enjoying the breeziness of Vulcan Academy Murders (even if, as a kid, I still thought it was a bit weak as an actual murder mystery).
I don’t think I read too many more … I remember one with like a transparent spider-thingy on the front? I had a stack of them, but read only a few.
71. S. John Ross : That is The Wounded Sky and has been mentioned many times in this thread. Excellent novel. Diane Duane’s first Star Trek novel.
It was extensively rewritten and then aired as the TNG episode Where No One Has Gone Before.
Right. That’s the title! I think I still have it in a stack somewhere … maybe I should finally read it then :)
Youre too harsh OM, unless you have proof Vonda slept her way to the top I suggest you shut it!
Ahhh… Books. What ever happened to them? They were such a part of my youth. I guess I just got old.
I still laugh when I think about the phrase - “In Space, No One Can Fry an Egg.” Cracks me up to this day.
My favorites were probably the KILLING TIME and TIME FOR YESTERDAY and YESTERDAYS SON. DOUBLE, DOUBLE and A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE were good ones too if I recall correctly.
Entropy Effect is definitely a class of its own. But I think First Adventure still had some enjoyable moments.
And Marshak/Culbreath are fantastic, because they brought something off the beaten track to Classic Trek novels. In addition, My Enemy, My Ally by D. Duane (Wounded Sky is most impressive, too), and of course the wonderful Reeves-Stevens’ Memory Prime and Prime Directive are some of my all-time favs.
#64 OM
Although I personally would agree to interpreting GR’s footnote as “sqashing” K/S , but to be fair it should be said here that there’s a rather strong fanfic writers’ base out there interpreting said footnote differently. I personally think that quite a few of the K/S stories (naturally there are some stinkers, as well) are aptly written and deal with the relationship and friendship in the most respectful manner, their individual charactization of Kirk and Spock being true to the original. Reason enough for me to read and enjoy those stories once in a while. In addition, I don’t feel that K/S is nowhere near as pervasive in fanfic nowadays - I get the impression that www is rather crowded with K/S.
@ Denise - have to check out JackHawksmoor. I think ksarchive.com has some quite “readable” authors in general.
#58
- and Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of “TMP” is still one of my sentimental favorites…-
Same here. Alone letting Kirk write the preface was a most exceptional and wonderful idea.
Hi Denise de Arman.
I was talking about officially-licenced, not independent fan-fic. That’s always existed, but for a child/teenager in the UK in the mid-1980s, the licenced material was all someone ordinary like me (rather than someone who could actually afford a convention and get a parent to take them) would ever get to see! Mysterious ring-bound books by the fan hardcore were a thing of mystery and (given the somewhat obsessive levels the fan harcore can reach) fear and embarrassment!
It’s sad to see people being so nasty about Vonda McIntyre, though! There’s a difference between fair criticism, such as in the review, and some of the actual bitchiness on display on the discussion forum (I’ve been talking on these forums since the site started, so believe me, I know!))
As for Janice Rand, I always assumed that the character was meant to be much younger than Grace Lee Whitney was, but, in typical US TV style, was played by someone much older!
Just to weigh in on the McIntyre debate…
I actually enjoyed “The Entropy Effect” a lot - even the audiobook of it was outstanding. I also appear to be in the minority when it comes to her novelizations. I absolutely loved ST:II and ST:III as she novelized them. Just as Dillard added a great deal of good material to both ST:V and ST:VI, so McIntyre’s writing made both II and III even more enjoyable with background material that we didn’t get anywhere else. I don’t care that it wasn’t canon… it made the story interesting, which is a plus in my book.
Rob+
So many of these trek novels would have made better movies then the movies that we got, sad isn’t that novelist can come with better stories than the many of the best writers producers and directors in Hollywood . it would be nice it they could all come together. But for some reason Holliwood just does not have a clue here.
totally agree garovorkin, tng would still be making movies if they had peter david or the reeves stevensons writing the scripts
The Final Reflection by John M. Ford. A great SF book that happens to be set in the Star Trek universe.
One of the few Star Trek “novels” that really deserves to be called literature. It has atmosphere, strong characters, and a really thought provoking theme. To fit Pocket Books rules it has a framing sequence with Kirk and crew but it’s really about Klingons and the history of the time period around the founding of the Federation.
It is too bad TNG onward didn’t cleave closer to The Final Reflection in it’s depiction of the Klingon. But so much of the “feel” of the Klingons in TNG & DS9 is the same that I feel Ron Moore must have read it. And the seeds of Enterprise’s Terra Prime are in there too.
In addition to the ones mentioned above, I remember Tears of the Singers (Melinda Snodgrass) being good in the “Woah - This could have been a TV episode” way.
And yeah lets lay off Vonda McIntyre. She was and is respected author enjoyed by many readers. I remember when SF paperbacks were shortish and had editors. Today “name” authors rabble on for 500/600/700 pages and nobody seems to point out longer not always equal better.
I’m still waiting for the Third Edition Chronology.
[sigh]
Reading that book synopsis really takes me back.
Now I remember why I never bothered to reread it.
What a lousy plot– from a terrific writer.
But the cover art is great– open the page to reveal a terrific portrait of
a very young looking Kirk Spock and McCoy- the best part of the book.
The best trek novel is ‘To Reign in Hell’ by Greg Cox - the story of Khans time on Ceti Alpha V inbetween Space Seed and Trek II
I saw on the Star Trek II wikipidia page that after the success of Trek II Paramount considered doing a prequel film charting Khans stay on Ceti Alpha V from Space Seed to Wrath of Khan
Now I’m not sure it thats true or not
If it had been done as a film it probably would have come out in 1983 (inbetween Treks II and III) or 1985 (between III and IV)…they could have filmed it at the same time as the regular movies as Shatner, Nimoy etc wouldnt have been in it..just Montoban and maybe Walter Konig at the start (explaining how Khan knew who chechov was) and end…I dont think they would have numbered it ‘Star Trek III’ or ‘IV’ but maybe ‘Star Trek: The Exile of Khan’ or something..and maybe Nicolas Meyer would have wanted to direct it.
Pity they didnt do it as i think id have been awesome..The Greg Cox novel is great…
Actually its a pity that Paramount didnt do it for Star Trek V in 1989 instead of going ahead with Shatners awful god story (Shatner wouldnt budge from that story as he was director)..it could have still been a ’star trek’ movie and included an opening and closing sequence set after Star Trek IV of Kirk, Spock and Bones using their shore leave to check out how Khan had been living on Ceti Alpha V and finding Khans journal (as in the Greg Cox novel) then the bulk of the movie as a flashback with Khan
Montoban could have still pulled it off in 89…and then there wouldnt have been an awful movie in the 6 original cast films..
i think a standalone ‘Khan’ film could still have been a success as Khan was an immensly popular villian in Sci Fi cinema in the 1980s..second only to Vader (and even now)
Obviosly they couldnt do it now with someone else as khan would have zero appeal..
Youre too harsh OM, unless you have proof Vonda slept her way to the top I suggest you shut it!
…Considering your own tone, the only reply worth wasting my time on you with is this:
Pot. Kettle. Black.
[shakes head in utter dismay]
Although I personally would agree to interpreting GR’s footnote as “sqashing” K/S , but to be fair it should be said here that there’s a rather strong fanfic writers’ base out there interpreting said footnote differently. I personally think that quite a few of the K/S stories (naturally there are some stinkers, as well) are aptly written and deal with the relationship and friendship in the most respectful manner, their individual charactization of Kirk and Spock being true to the original. Reason enough for me to read and enjoy those stories once in a while. In addition, I don’t feel that K/S is nowhere near as pervasive in fanfic nowadays - I get the impression that www is rather crowded with K/S.
Again, in order:
1) According to many sources - including Gene himself - Gene specifically wrote that footnote in hopes of squashing all the really perverse K/S stories that were floating around - i.e., the ones where Spock introduces Kirk to another internal use for the Vulcan Lyre, or how the Vulcan Nerve Pinch can be used to stimulate the prostate in ways that have those of us of a hetero bent forever vowing never to have our own prostates checked, ever! Granted, there’s some K/S writers who really took great care with their works, and it was obviously a labor of love, but by the time Gene wrote that footnote things were getting a bit out of hand. IIRC, what set him off was one he read where Kirk’s birthday was celebrated by a gangbang featuring every single male member of the main cast, some of the guest stars, and a cameo by Trelayne where he actually frowned on the whole mess because he was straight.
2) I did some googling on K/S, and have to agree with your own observations. THere are quite a few K/S stories out there, and a large amount of them are actually new - written within 2-3 years. Of course, you can always claim they take place in a “mirror universe”, but as with anything you don’t like about fiction, the multiverse is a great place to sweep the mistakes under. Which is probably why DC Comics keeps destroying it every decade or so :-P
OM, your facts are pretty much wrong on all accounts. First of all, Vonda McIntyre was in fact a Hugo Award-winning author for DREAMSNAKE long before she was ever approached to do TREK fiction. The notion that she was “nothing but a low-quality fanfic author” is absurd — she was, and remains, a respected SF author independent of her TREK work, and was =before= she ever wrote a piece of TREK fiction.
Also, there was =no= gap between Bantam and Pocket. In fact, Pocket published the TMP novelization =before= Bantam finished their run of books. Pocket had to wait until Bantam’s books were done before they could start their line, which is why there was a gap between the TMP novelization and THE ENTROPY EFFECT, as they had to wait for Bantam to publish DEVIL WORLD and THE GALACTIC WHIRLPOOL.
…Again, in order, different target:
1) Vonda was *not* approached - *she* approached Pocket about doing both Entropy Effect and Worst Adventure. Where you’re getting confused is on the fact that Pocket asked her to do another novel after EE’s sales proved sufficient to warrant letting her attempt another novel.
2) Prior to Dreamsnake - written in 1978 - Vonda was well-known among the fanfic writers as a low-quality hack WRT TOS fanfics. She may have hit her mark with Dreamsnake, but her fanfic Trek stories left little to be desired.
3) Not that I really want to get into an argument over this, but please cite source on your shipping overlap between Bantam and Pocket, as this goes against what was being delivered locally here in Texas.
I never finished this novel. I got to the circus with the Klingons scene (?) and then this blonde laughing Vulcan juggler named Stephen shows up and the floor fell out. What the hell was up with that?! I have no regrets at never finishing it.
I did really enjoy “Final Frontier” and even “Strangers from the Sky” somewhat. I think those were the next two ‘giant’ Trek novels after “Enterprise:TFA”.
OM:
The novelization of Star Trek the Motion Picture was released by Pocket Dec 1979.
Bantam’s Perry’s Planet was released Feb 1980
Bantam’s Galactic Whirlpool was released in Oct 1980
Death’s Angel, the final Bantam book was released April of 1981.
Pocket’s Entropy Effect was released June of 1981
Sources are Memory Alpha, Memory Beta, Star Trek Book Guide, Star Trek Books Board, The Complete Starfleet Library.
Where are you located in Texas. I live in and grew up here in Texas as well and I recall trouble with comic and book and magazine distribution back then.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned McIntyre’s Sulu obsession, taking an offhand snipped comment from ST:II and practically writing another novel about it.
Unrelated I’ve always found Sulu to be one of the most boring Trek regular characters ever. At least George Takei made his scenes more interesting than the character as written merited.
I just think its awesome that Bob Orci & Keith R.A. DeCandido post here with us.
Oh, and I have that book, too. Somewhere probably in the back row of my oldest bookshelf. I kind of remember liking it.
#88: Vonda didn’t know it was snipped when she wrote the novelization. The lead time on writing novelizations is sufficiently long that the novelizer rarely is aware of cuts to the film. And even then, you include that stuff anyhow because a novel has much more storytelling space than a movie. (To give a personal example, there were a bunch of scenes with Inara in SERENITY that were cut, but they’re all in my novelization.) So as far as she knew when writing the STAR TREK II novelization, Sulu =was= a captain about to take over Excelsior, as was in the script she had available to her.
When she wrote STAR TREK III and IV, she decided to be consistent with her previous work.
… the ONLY Trek book I’ve read yet!
perhaps I’ll read more…
I love reading!!!
:)
91. Go Spock!
“… the ONLY Trek book I’ve read yet!”
There are many much better Trek novels that you can enjoy. John Ford’s “The Final Reflection” is an *excellent* book that happens to be about Star Trek. Diane Carey’s “Final Frontier” was good, and the awesome Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens’ “Prime Directive” and “Federation” are great (they were also writers on ENT season 4) as well as their DS9 “Millennium” trilogy. I still love Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of ST:TMP.
She did have a major boner for Sulu. I seem to remember a description of his sinewy form somewhere along the line.
There was a novel I remember wanting to see as a movie when I was 13 — I think… Uhura’s Song… with the race of cat people. Perhaps I was still missing the Ewok Adventures or something.