ST: Destiny Book Two: Mere Mortals

David Mack's book picks up where Gods of Night left off-with the crews of the Enterprise and the Aventine (under the command of Ezri Dax) ready to explore a series of subspace tunnels to seek the Borg- with Federation president Nan Bacco seeking allies to take the offensive to the Borg- and finding creative forms of persuasion-with Will Riker and the crew of the Titan trying to rescue their away team from the mysterious and advanced species, the Caeliar, an away team that includes a Deanna Troi who is in a state of medical and emotional crisis- and with Captain Erika Hernandez as the only surviving crew member of the lost pre-Federation era Columbia NX-02.
Well written and enjoyable, this book brings together different eras and crews in the ST universe without feeling forced.
Destiny concludes in Lost Souls.

SCE: Collective Hindsight by Aaron Rosenberg

In the fourth story in the Aftermath anthology, the daVinci's crew of engineers;, still reeling from great loss and tragedy, must face their ghosts head on when a ship they thought they had destroyed in the past shows up again. The Dancing Star had first shown up near a covert Federation listening post at the height of the Dominion War, and with regret, the crew of the DaVinci had destroyed it- or so they thought- to avoid detection by Cardassian forces. Why their plan didn't work I will leave to you, dear reader, to find out for yourself. The pain as the surviving crew must review logs of now dead crewmates, friends, and even lovers is poignant.

ST: Mirror Universe: Glass Empires

This book, which follows the rise and fall of the Terran Empire, is better ( and less dark) than the volume which follows.

Age of the Empress, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (story by Mike Sussman), has the First Empress Hoshi Sate rise to power by assassinating Jonathon Archer, Although she plans for a more benevolent empire, her strategically married husband, Shran and the rebel T'pol have other ideas. This story leaves several loose ends ( a few of them created by Arik Soong ) that I hope to find are woven in in another volume.

In The Sorrows of Empire, Spock assassinates Captain Kirk and cultivates a cadre loyal to him as a means to become Emperor- and to the destroy the illogical and unsustainable Empire. He does manage to destroy it, with the help of the Empress Marlena Moreau, Saavik, and other loyal Vulcans. The Vulcans must keep their touch telepathy secret to his generations long plan to succeed...

The final story in the volume, The Worst of Both Worlds, sees Terran archaeologist Luc Picard in the employ of Gul Madred. When Alliance Klingons beat the stree urchin Wesley within an inch of his life for trying to guard the Stargazer, Luc joins with the rebels Vash and Noonien Soong to seek the aid of a fabled advanced cut lure- the Borg.

Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances

Keith RA DeCandido, Peter David, and Sarah Shaw, bring us the Mirror Universe from three different perspectives- Voyager, New Frontier, and Deep Space Nine. This book takes a lot of liberty not just with relationships, but with killing. All of the stories ended with more of the characters dead than alive. There is also a large amount of cruelty in these books, probably a level I have not yet seen in Star Trek books. Do not read if torture or other types of abuse will upset you.

Star Trek 101 by Erdmann and Block

Star Trek 101 by Terry J Erdmann and Paula M Block, is listed as "A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where and Why". True to it's name, ST 101 assumes you know nothing about Star Trek and goes from there. There are brief articles on the fundamentals of everything from Klingons to Captain Proton.
My favorite feature of this book is the "Spock's Brain Award", which ranks the stupidest episode of each series.
Even if you feel you could have written all the articles form memory, this is a great resource for it's chronological synopsis of every episode. I will be unhappy when the library wants it back, as we almost daily turn to it to answer questions that start with "What was that episode....?"

Book: TNG: Greater than The Sum

The latest book in the continuation of the story of the Enterprise E crew, post Nemesis. Read by both myself and Matthew, Christopher Bennet's book was a quick read, and enjoyable. This is another Borg story, one that brings Hugh back into the picture with his band of liberated Borg. The story brings an intriguing concept to the idea of what constitutes intelligence, and the tricky nature of managing first contact with an intelligence that is vastly different than humanoids.
It also introduces a new character, and half human, half Vulcan science officer ( now, that's original!) named T'ryssa Chen. Chen, unlike other half Vulcan characters, has embraced her human side. I did feel Bennet went to far, made her TOO over the top, to show how mush she disdained her Vulcan half. People ONLY act like that in stories.
Matthew especially liked the assimilated Federation ship nicknamed "Frankenstein" by Chen.

Enterprise: Kobyashi Maru By Martin and Mangels

I am usually a fan of Michael Martin and Andy Mangels, but I will say I found this book a bit slow. Not a bad story..but it took me over a month to read it (although Charlaine Harris is at least partly to blame for that).
Any fan of Star Trek knows what the Kobyashi Maru is- a no win test that command level cadets at Starfleet Academy must take in which they must decide whether, or how, to rescue a Federation freighter under attck my Romulans. This book looks at the origins of that test, casting the maru as a real ship manned by real, unusual and flamboyant people ( of the type it's hard to imagine survivin into the Next Gen era Federation)- and of course, with Jonathon Archer as the captain who must make the hard decision.

Myriad Universes: Places of Exile and Seeds of Dissent

Places of Exile by Christopher L Bennett is the middle novella in Infinity's Prism. There are a lot of great things about alternate universe stories, as I have mentioned before. Of course there is a down side ( there is always a downside). Working in an alternate reality give the mad shippers room to let loose, and outside of fanfiction.net or livejournal. This can be wonderful or infuriating depending on you feelings on the matter- if you're a Janeway/Chakotay or Harry/7 shipper, you'll love this story.
Places of Exile starts during the episode "Scorpion"- but diverges. Species 8472 disables Voyager, forcing Janeway to make compromises and alliances. Alomg the way, she and the other surviving crew members change from the goal of getting home to one of making home. Sometimes I had to raise an eyebrow at how some of the characters act- especially the "alternate" Annika/7. No woman would have written her that way.

Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow follows the classic "What if Hitler had won" with Hitler being Khan-premise. This is a fairly well written look at how the world might have looked if the Augments had won. Swallow does try to jam too many characters from too many series into the story, and it seems a bit contrived.

Myriad Universes: A Less Perfect Union

William Leisner's tale of an alternate TOS era timelime is the first novella in "Infinity's Prism". IN case I haven't said it before- I love " alternate timeline" stories. It has been said ( and I am thinking of Ursula K LeGuin when I say this, although she may have been quoting another) the the basic premise of any sci-fi story is, "What if?" Alternate time lines in an established sci-fi universe are like "What if- what if?" Sci-fi, supersized.
This story takes place in a timeline where Earth never joined the Federation, meaning Christopher Pike never went to Talos IV, and Kirk never rose above XO. T'Pol remained on Earth, but in hiding , as anti- alien sentiment runs rampant. Perhaps the best part, for me, is the way the story "explains" the fact that the Romulan commander from "Balance of Terror" just happens to look like Sarek- and what could happen if they meet.

Book: SCE: Aftermath

This time I will look at the first three novellas in the Corps of Engineers anthology, "Aftermath", which collects stories previously published as e-books.

First is the title story, written by Christopher L. Bennett. The da Vinci is just out of dry dock after a disaster nearly destroyed her and took the lives of many of the crew. Captain David Gold , Commander Sonya Gomez, and a mix of old and new crew members must investigate a seeming explosion in a San Fransisco just recovering from the previous year's Breen attack. What the crew finds is a first contact situation, and a dispute between two cultures and within a culture.

In the second story, "Ishtar Rising", the crew has yet to get out of the Sol system for any amount of time. The da Vinci is called to help an old friend of Captain Gold's with his terraforming project on Venus. Several types of project brew, with the project ( it wouldn't be an SCE book if they didn't have to stave off imminent disaster) and when the ship's Bynar crewmember, Soloman, has to deal with bigotry from project Ishtar's resident Bynars. Authors- the ever popular Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels.

Robert Greenburger's "Buying Time", is, naturally, a time travel story. The da Vinci is dispatched to investigate an area of space disrupted by chroniton waves. They find a tie machine on the verge of collapse and a Ferengi with the lobes to know time travel is the best way to play the market. I do have some problems with this story- otherwise self respecting female crew members rubbing the lobes of and Ferengi that will help them achieve their goal- but otherwise enjoyable.

ST Terok Nor : Night of the Wolves

This Lost Years era story cover events on Bajor, Terok Nor and Cardassia in the years 2345-2357. Written by SD Perry and Britta Dennison, gives us a look into the lives and motivations of many characters, both in the beloved and love to hate categories, before Deep Space 9 became Deep Space 9. How did Dukat become prefect of Bajor? What events led to Natima Lang becoming a dissident? What is the connection between the birth of Tora Ziyal and the death of Kira Meru? What led Ro Laren to leave Bajor and join Starfleet? This book answers many questions, but creates as many mysteries as it solves.

Book:VOY Section 31: Shadow and Episode DS9: Inquisition

Yesterday I was sick ( still am) so I accomplished a rare feat- I read an entire book, from beginning to end, in one day. I had bought the Voyager/Section 31 book "Shadow" for Matthew the day before, of all places at the children's resale store while looking for ballet shoes for Andrew ( got him Capezios for $2.50, by the way!). He read it that evening and I read it in one day, so it's obviously a fast read. However, this novel by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch packs in plenty of depth. It looks at two of the "tough" subjects of the Star Trek universe- How does one apply the Prime Directive to a species that is about to be annihilated by a disaster of some sort? Is it interfering in the natural development so stop their extinction, whether or not First Contact must be established to do so? I have always found the arguments for letting another species or culture die to uphold the PD specious-so I was happy to see the Voyager clue save the pre-warp culture in this book.
The other half of the plot of this book concerns repeated murder attempts against Seven. It is eventually found to be the work of a Section 31 operative ( though if you want to know how, you'll have to read it!)
Which brings me to the DS9 episode- in delicious symmetry, we watched "Inquisition" right after I finished the book ( not by design, but because it was next on the disc). Some of the same issues are paralleled, naturally; How can loyal Starfleet officers live with the knowledge that Section 31 exists. What does it say that a peaceful, advanced culture has people who can kidnap and murder with impunity- all in the name of preserving that peace?

New Frontier: No Limits ed. Peter David.

If you're a fan of Peter David's New Frontier series, this is a must read. Edited by Peter David, this collection of stories loosk at the lives of various USS Excalibur crew members before thet joined Mackenzie Calhoun's ship, and includes the personal stories of some auxilliary charatchers.

Far and way my favorite is Terri Osborne's " Q'andry", in which Dr Selar, during her time on the USS Enterprise, gets kidnapped by Lady Q and lands right in the middle of the Voyager episode "The Q and the Grey". This story is very much in the toungue in cheek tradition that has made me such a fan of Peter David's work.
Keith RA DeCandido's story "Revelations', in which Soleta ( a favorite character of mine) learns the shocking story of her background, is poignantly sad.
Glenn Haumann and Lisa Sullivan's tale of Xant, "Redemption", is a cerebral look at what makes a god a god, obviously influenced by Sullivan's theological studies.
Look also for stories of Shelby's first encounter with the Borg, a look at Xenexian customs through the eyes of Mackenzie's brother, D'ndai of Calhoun, and the long alluded to take of Mackenzie Calhoun and Elizabeth Shelby's honeymoon.

Book: Stargazer: Enigma

Another worthy offering in Michael Jan Freidman's series concerning Jean Luc Picard's command of the USS Stargazer. An alien force is attacking Federation ships- destroying their defenses but leaving ships and crew intact. A crewman is not what he seems. Picard's job is on the line. Matthew notes: "A good book that tried hard but could have been done better". A quick read. Recommended, but buy it used or get it from the library.

Book: ENT Rosetta by Dave Stern

I must preface this by reminding you, Faithful Reader, that I tend to enjoy Enterprise novels a bit less because I have never seen the show ( which I hope to remedy by early next year. There is a package sitting on The Dungeon Master's dresser which is suspiciously shaped like season 6 of DS9, which means that before too long he will be FORCED to buy me Enterprise! Mwahahahaha!)
Anyway...
This book was well written if a bit slow moving. It focuses of communications officer and translator Hoshi Sato. The Enterprise encounters a race that refuses to aloow the Enterprise to move forward- and that is about to find itself at war with the Thelasain Trading Confederacy. Hoshi, and the best translators in the confederacy, are unable to translate the mysterious aliens' message. Despite battles, a bombing, and a kidnapping, in the end, intergalactic understanding and diplomacy win, in the best tradition of Star Trek.

Dominion War Books 1 and 3, John Vornholt

"Behind Enemy Lines" and "Tunnel Through the Stars" recounts some of the activities of Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise E during the Dominion War. In this duo of books, Riker takes command of the Enterprise while Picard and LaForge go undercover with Ro Laren to take out a verteron collidor being built by the Dominion to generate a stable wormhole. It also features "Lower Decks" character Taurik and Sam Lavelle; who, having been prisoners of the Dominion, are sent to mine a rare element needed in the collidor and escape to Ro's ship.
These books have a great story line; and the events on Ro's ship read like a well played game of Clue (Someone on this ship is a killer!) However, Vornholt's characterizations fall flat- he writes all the characters as if they're being impersonated by a founder. I also found his obvious shipping a bit annoying.

VOY: String Theory part 1: Fusion

An enjoyable book by Kirsten Beyer- the first book in the "String Theory" trilogy. Of course I read the last book first, somewhat spoiling it for me, but I didn't let that detract from my enjoyment. Great characterization, and an engaging plot. Digs deeper into the history of the race from whence The Caretaker and Suspiria came.

Episode: VOY: Real Life

This is, bar none, my favorite Voyager episode. Not many Star Trek episodes or movies move me to real tears, but this one does in spades. When the holographic Doctor decides to create a family, he first plans for no random elements (and wouldn't we all like that?). When Kes and B'elanna convince him that to really experience a family there must be random factors, he discovers that real life can be exceedingly painful. When he tries to do what none of us get to do- turn off the program when things get too hard- Tom convinces him to do the painful but growth inducing thing.

Eugenics Wars Book 1 by Greg Cox

This first book chronicles the beginnings of Khan Noonien Singh. We first meet him as a precocious 4 year old living in the Chrysalis project compund under the Indian Desert, and follow him to the age of 16.
Cox's well written book has many of my favorite elements in a Star Trek book-it tells us what happens to characters both before ( Khan) and after ( Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln) we meet them in the series. It reads as something of a history lesson for Khan's early life ( which also happens to be my lifetime), placing the forces that shape the fictional superman into a real historical context. And it still manages to keep it's sense of humor.

Mission Gamma Book 4 :Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson

Book 4 in a series I have not read book one and three in- still, these serial books list enough backstory to keep you filled in. Very sad inplaces, as this series has tended to be. Well written.

Rock and a Hard Place by Peter David

Early Peter David Trek fiction. Not as good as his later work, but amusing all the same. Enough action to appeal to The Boy (11).

Grounded by David Bischoff

By a long shot, the worst ever "Star Trek book I couldn't finish". Usually I give the gawdawful books to the Friends of the Library sale but due to the author's completely ignorant misrepresentation of autism, I won't even do that. Off to join my pile of "babyWise" and "No Greater Joy" that I buy at yard sales so unsuspecting people who might use them don't buy them. It's that bad.

George Takei is getting married!!!

George Takei is getting married!!!
I am so happy for him, I wish his blog allowed comments so I could give him my congrats. http://www.georgetakei.com/news.asp
Quote:
Brad and I have shared our lives together for over 21 years. We've shared the good times as well as struggled through the bad. He helped me care for my ailing mother who lived with us for the last years of her life. He is my love and I can't imagine life without him. Now, we can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily.

Book: The Great Starship Race by Diane Carey

An interesting OS book about a race of broadcast empaths who hold a starship race. Romulan intrigue and revenge. Recomended.

Klingon Empire: A Burning House by Keith deCandido

Another excellent offering from deCandido. Any Klingon loving fans will want to read this series, although the quality of the writing varies wildly. Old characters, new characters, and Klingon Opera. If you want to know what happened to the Klingons in the Carraya system,. here is the answer.

Worlds on DS9; Ferenginar, the Dominion

The novellas take a closer look at the societies we see on Deep Space 9 while following the lives of select characters post series.
Satisfaction Not Guaranteed takes place mostly on Fereniginar, where Grand Nagus Rom must deal with Brunt, his brother, and the birth of his second child.

Olympius Descending concerns why the Founders sent out the 100, and where their society is going post Dominion war.
Excellent, must reads for any DS9 fan.

Book: Titan: Sword of Damocles by Geoffrey Thorne

Another excellent offering in the Titan series. Tesseracts, insectoid aliens, and interspecies romance. You won't be surprised to hear that one of the things I like best about this novel is the struggle the Bajoran character Jaza Najem has to reconcile his faith with his scientific work.Well written, and the end hints strongly that the next book will bring a new life to the ship.

Book: DS9: Hollow Men by Una McCormack

A Tale of the Dominion War.
Well written with interesting literary devices. Focusses on Sisko andGarak-one of my favorite characters. This book did make me a bit uncomfortable- while most ST books I've read recently posit the bekief that the neds cannot always justify the means, this book suggests that they do.

Books: Anniversery Collections

TOS: Constellations celebrates 40 years. It has a preview of the Shinsei Shinsei manga. all the stories are good- "Where everybody knows your name" by Jeffrey lang is an amusing story of mistaken identity; "Make Believe" by Allyn Gibson is poignent and timely.
TNG: The Sky's the Limit celebrates 20 years. Another good collection that spans untold tales from the first Captain of the Enterprise D to Picards letter to Riker as he assumes his first command.
Voy:Distant Shores celebrates 10 years. Always oen for the funny, my favorite is Talent Show. ON my "to buy" list!

Books:Doctor's Orders and Dark Mirror by Diane Duane

Doctor's Orders: When Kirk leaves on a routine mission he leaves the kibbutzing Bones in command. Of course things go all to hell soon after, so Bones has to call on skills he doesn't know he has. Like much of Duane's work, this book starts out strong but gets a bit tiresome by the end. Overall it's good. I enjoyed the reference to Orson Scott Cards Lusitanians.
Dark Mirror: a TNG mirror universe novel. Quite enjoyable. Fans of Duane's Young Wizard series will recognise the sapient cetaeceans who can sense the cosmis strigs.

Book: Ishmael by Barbara Hambly

I've enjoyed Hambly's other work and Ishmael was no exception. Aside from theexcellent writing, it was Spock-centric ( and we all know how I feel about all things Vulcan) and mostly set in Frontier Seattle. It was funny to see streets I can't find parking on described as muddy ruts. bit of trivia- this is actually a crossover novel, with characters and settings from two old shows, "Here Come the Brides" and "Paladin".

Book:This Grey Spirit by Heather Jarman

Book Two in the DS9: Mission Gamma Series. Iy's post TV series, so many favorite characters are gone, but some new favorite characters are developed. Well written, with fascinatating new Gamma quadrant species.

yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday by AC Crispin

We all know what happened between Spock and Zerabeth in All our Yesterdays -AC Crispin takes it one step further- what if Zerabeth had Spock's child? What if Spock had reason to contact him? Also stars The Guardian of Forever. A Trekkie must read.

Gawdawful TNG fiction

Metamorphasis and Survivors by Jean Lorrah- aside from being poorly written, Lorrah's blatant Data/Yar shipping is nauseating.
Boogymen by Mel Gilden Wesley make his boogymen leave the holodeck and they endanger the ship.I assume he saves the day, but I couldn't finish.
Nightshade by Laurel K Hamilton I can only imgain her writing improved before writing this and her vampire novels. Either that, or people are so desperate for vampire soft pr0n they'll read anything. Another I couldn't finish.

Q in Law and Q Squared, by Peter David

These two novels take a look at the chaos that could result from Q meeting two of the more memorable characters from TOS and TNG.
Q in Law pits Q against the only character who stands up to him in the TNG universe for strength, charisma, and the ability to annoy Picard- Lwaxana Troi. The producers of TNG lost out by never making this an episode- it's hilarious, and should have been done.
Q squared answers the question a lot of the long time trekkies asked themselves- isn't Q a lot like Tremaine? Yes, and when they come together the whole universe is threatened.
Highly enjoyable reads about one of favorite Trek characters.

Books: Vulcan's Forge, Vulcan's Heart, Exiles

This post is copied from May '07
I'm on a Star Trek kick, and more specifically, a Vulcan kick. Right now I'm reading "Vulcan's Forge" by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz. ONe thing I love about the book is that it has Starfleet humans who practice religion. Yep, I know it makes roddenberry's ashes roll in their urn, but I enjoy. This is the third book of theirs I have read and as I have sometimes done, read them backwards, starting with " Exiles" and then "Vulcan's Heart".

In which I rate the Star Trek movies

ST: The Motion Picture - One of the most pointless movies ever made. "Hey, remember that great episode with Nomad? well, what if the Voyager probe went nuts!?!
ST II: The Wrath of Khan - One of my top 3, even though it gave me a life long severe earwig phobia
ST III: The most memeorable thing about this movie for me is that when I was a kid, I won tickets on the radio for a preview showing 3 days before it came out. The day it officially premiered there was a costume contest and a friend made me a "kid Spock burial robe" costume (complete with custom fit fabric ears and lo, I also won the costume contest.
ST IV: The Voyage Home - I love it. It was funny, and I remember more lines from this film than any other.
ST V: The Final Frontier - I can only say..."Gah! Hurts my brain!"
ST VI: The Undiscovered Country - Highly enjoyable, love Chang and the tie ins with Worf.
ST: Generations -Another top 3. A great segue from TOS to TNG movies
ST:First Contact - Love it.The movie's Zefram Cochrane is much for enjoyable than the TOS one. Forever changed my emotional reaction to "Magic Carpet Ride"
ST: Insurrection - I like it more than some folks do.
ST: Nemesis - This sucks as much Final Frontier.

Book:To Reign in Hell:The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox

This EXCELLENT tome looks at what transpires with Khan and the rest of the Botany Bay survivors between Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan. Well written, full of literary references, with emotion and a keen insight into the characters, this is s story of love, betrayal, loyaly and hardship. Highly recommended.

Book: Surak's Soul by JM Dillard

A readable but but not exceptional Enterprise novel in which Sub-Commander T'pol must contend with the delicate balance in serving on an earth ship while staying true to the pacifist path of Surak.

Book: Missing in action by Peter David

The latest in the New Frontiers series. Like any Peter David book, this has the "more out there" feel that can simultaneously make his book the most entertaining and the most annoying. Lots of caharcter development for Soleta, who os one of my favorite characters, and the death of my least favorite NF character (let's see if he stays dead- this is ST)