F/SF

I am probably supposed to be too cool for Barbara Hambly, who invented Callista, quickest of all Luke's love interests to be nuked by other writers (sorry for getting Wars in your Trek, guys). But I really enjoyed this novel, probably because in so many ways it was very fanfictional. Of course, if it were fanfic, it wouldn't have had all the callbacks to Kirk in the main timeline (unless it was K/S). Or maybe Biddy Stemple would have been Nurse Chapel's (or Uhura's) ancestress and it would have ended on a maybe-Spock-will-finally-love-Chapel (or Uhura - although that is definitely more in the Kelvin timeline than the one this novel is in) note. But I don't care. It paid a lot more attention to the characters as humans and as physical beings, and I loved the way Uhura was portrayed in the few scenes where she appeared. 9/10 would read again.

One of my favorites. ( )

During a layover at Starbase Twelve the Enterprise crew investigates suspicious activity surrounding a Klingon ore freighter which seems to be more than it appears. As they follow it into the Tau Eridani Cloud, the Klingon ship suddenly vanishes . . . with Spock still on board. And on Earth in 1867, a frontier businessman encounters an amnesiac stranger in the woods — one with pointed ears and green blood coming from his wounds.

Barbara Hambly's book is unique among the many novels in the Star Trek Pocket Book series. Unlike the others set in the Star Trek universe, Hambly situates many of the events in a different fictional world, that of the ABC television show Here Come the Brides which ran for two seasons in the late 1960s. To be honest I'm not a fan of such a conceit (and her insertion of thinly-veiled characters and references from other television shows and sci-fi franchises didn't help), but Hambly makes it work here, thanks to the strength of her characterization and her storytelling skills. There's also an underlying joke in her use of the series that proved rather clever once I understood what it was, and which highlighted the amount of work she put into realizing it. The overall result is somewhat different from most other Star Trek novels, yet it is that difference which makes it such a fresh and enjoyable read. ( )

This was the 23rd novel in the original Pocket Books paperback series of Star Trek novels. By reputation it is considered one of the very best of the early novels and I have looked forward to reading it one day. That day has come. So where do I start? How about with Bobby Sherman ...

The bluest skies you've ever seen in Seattle
And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
Like a beautiful child growing up free and wild
Full of hopes and full of fears
Full of laughter full of tears
Full of dreams to last the years in Seattle
In Seattle

And you can have a look at this very short youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNpa_vTjRM

Back in the late 60's for two seasons you could watch "Here Comes the Brides" with Bobby Sherman and David Soul and Bridget Hanley and even Mark Lenard, better known to trekkies as Sarek, father of Spock. Then in the mid 80's came this paperback, an improbable mashup of Star Trek and Here Comes the Brides that works way better than I could possibly have imagined. I stretch the description just a bit - this IS a Star Trek novel and a Star Trek story that finds itself improbably back in time in 1867 Seattle (and San Francisco) with characters you might just recognize. And there is even more, with Spock playing chess with Paladin, and cameos of characters you might recognize from TV westerns. They are just a little bonus fluff added in to a good story. My only regret is that I didn't read this 30 years ago.

4 solid stars (and maybe more) for a great Trek novel ( )