TREK BOOKS ON SALE 02/22

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen <here>, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), there is so much more to the Trek universe to watch, take in, and, in this case, read.

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have (some reference to a super-cheap Trek tie-in product). But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in February!

Now, if you’ll forgive the indulgence, I have a couple of other books on sale I’d recommend this month:

The Devil Lives in Beverly Hills (An Orson Welles For All Seasons, Book 1) by Mac Boyle

In 1951, an ancient evil is unleashed, and the only thing that can stop it are Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin. If they could stand one another for more than a few minutes, humanity may live to see 1952!

Orson Welles of Mars (An Orson Welles For All Seasons, Book 2) by Mac Boyle

1938 is a bad year for Orson Welles, and that’s before he’s bested by a ventriloquist on the radio, the flying saucers arrive, the space-time continuum unravels just a bit.

Actually, now that I think about it, this one’s not completely divorced from the world of Trek-lit…

And while we’re on this topic…

The Once and Future Orson Welles (An Orson Welles For All Seasons, Book 3) by Mac Boyle 

Sure, it’s not on sale, but at $2.99, it’s still a steal and you can be the first on your block to get a copy when it drops on 02/15! It’s got a severed head in a bag, oblique references to Arthurian legend, and a raid on Area 51! Something for everyone!

Now, on to what brought you here in the first place: Star Trek books!

Encounter at Farpoint (novelization) by David Gerrold

I’m weirdly excited about picking this one up. The first adventure of the Enterprise-D may not be its finest hour, but an x-ray view of how they viewed the show (Gerrold was working on the show’s writing staff in the early days, and even worked on the first edition of the series Bible) before they knew what they had would be endlessly fascinating.

Star Trek: Nemesis (novelization) by J.M. Dillard

Say what you will about the fourth and final big screen outing of the TNG crew (and I could say a lot), but if an extended cut would help anyone get through this Frankenstein’s monster of a story, this might be as close we can get. More on Wesley’s brief presence at the Riker-Troi wedding… Any kind of explanation as to how Shinzon thought hiding B-4’s parts on that planet would be of any help… All that and more just might be contained within these mysterious pages. A guy could even dream of an attempt to explain why Worf is no longer the Federation Ambassador to Qo’NoS… but I won’t hold my breath.

Dragon’s Honor (TNG Book #38) by Kij Johnson and Greg Cox

This cover, and the tag line are telling me so ridiculously little, and yet tantalizing me with so much, I’ve decided I’m buying this one without reading the description. It could only serve to muddy the waters.

Triangle: Imzadi II by Peter David

I have fond memories of this one, but I will admit that I’ve been re-reading the original Imzadi lately, and it isn’t holding up like I had hoped. It might be that young Riker and Troi (combined with sad-sack alt-future Riker and dead Troi) are a bummer, but it feels like David never really had the right hold on the characters, and it wasn’t as mind-bendingly weird as Q-Squared. Maybe with more Worf in the mix, there’s more fun to be had? Only one way to find out…

Q-in-Law (TNG Book #18) by Peter David

On the other hand, it’s hard not to get excited about this one. Why did the series never give us the combination of Lwaxana Troi and Q? Are we not supposed to have too much fun in 44 minutes?

Q & A (TNG Relaunch) by Keith R.A. DeCandido (appeared previously in the 09/2021 list)

Here’s what I said just a few months ago, when it was last on sale:

If you’re wanting to get into the relaunch series, now that it will be wrapping up with the Coda miniseries later this year, this is not a bad place to start. Published early in the run, everybody’s still pretty much where you left them at the end of Nemesis. So it won’t be as jarring as some of the later books can be. I had already bought this one and read it… And I don’t remember it all that well. I may just be conflating it with a novella released around the same time, Q Are Cordially Invited. I don’t necessarily mean that as knock against the book, but you can take from that what you will.

Q Continuum (compendium of TNG Books #47, #48, and #49) by Greg Cox

Even if these books were awful (and, as with most of these books, I do have fond memories of these three), three books for $0.99 are just too good a deal to pass up. You’d definitely be disappointed to learn what kind of books I would buy at $0.33 a pop…

On that note, I’m beginning to sense a pattern here…

Star Trek: Picard

The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

The Dark Veil  by James Swallow (appeared previously on the 09/2021 list**)

Ah ha! There it is. Ahead of Picard’s season 2 premiere (and the triumphant return of John de Lancie as Q) in just a few weeks***, methinks Simon & Schuster are trying to drum up some intra-brand synergy. If I didn’t already own the complete run of Picard books, I might even be susceptible to such advertising.

Ok, ok. I’d definitely be susceptible. Who am I kidding?

That’s it for this month’s books. Be sure to check back here next month, check in on us at the podcast, and if you didn’t enjoy the “Kobayashi” episode of Star Trek: Prodigy, then I don’t know who hurt you in the past, but they did a real number.

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

**Here’s what I said at the time: Some might complain about the most recent Trek series’ first season finale, but anyone who has written off the series totally I think is missing the point. More to the point, I think they are willfully ignoring the fact that “Nepenthe” was easily the most satisfying hour of television in recent years, Trek or otherwise.This month’s list has a number of titles which I—like a real chump—bought long ago and have already consumed. I read this shortly after it was released. For those—like me—who wanted to spend some more time with the family Riker, you’re in luck. While this book’s story is a little hum drum, any time spent with Will and Deanna is time well spent. You might have to bring your own pizza, unfortunately. It’s also a good opportunity to spend some time on the USS Titan and with its crew without making the daunting commitment of trying to get through the massive series of relaunch books. We hardly get to spend time with any of them on Lower Decks…

***I’m heartened that the producers seem aware that the first season finale may not have stuck the landing like they might have hoped)

TREK BOOKS ON SALE 01/22

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer, Mac here. With Omicron on the rise, we’ve had to scramble our podcast recording schedule a bit. We’ll be back with more of season 1 TNG just as soon as we can, but in the meantime, this is as good a time as any to check back in on the world of Trek lit on sale!

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have not only have a Tom Paris collectible plate, but a Joe Carey one as well. But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in January!

Available Light (TNG Relaunch) by Dayton Ward

With Coda (and by extension, the entire “relaunch” timeline) having concluded, it may be time to dig into some of the later entries in that saga, as it can be viewed as a story with an (admittedly calamitous and depressing, if the reviews I have read are to be believed) actual, verifiable ending.

Or does that ending make the later entries in the saga mean less, if the characters are careening toward something that might very well be an anti-climax.

Homecoming (VOY Relaunch) by Christie Golden

Harry Kim gets promoted to Ensign. I repeat—and this is not a drill—Harry Kim finally gets promoted. What more could people possibly want?

I mean, if you’re a Voyager fan then there’s plenty to like. I actually read this one a few years back after a re-watch of Voyager, and it kind of eased the burn that was “Endgame**.”

Valhalla (DS9, Book 10) by Nathan Archer

I’ve written here on the blog about my affection for the numbered, semi-throw-away novels of days gone by. That goes double, maybe even triple for those set on Deep Space Nine. That cover tells me absolutely nothing, other than the book probably has some scenes on a Runabout and the color red might be prominently featured. Once again, I am sold.

Although that tagline is something else. I may need a day or two to parse out the syntax there.

Q Are Cordially Uninvited (TNG Relaunch) by Rudy Josephs

Looking for a quick read? The value may not be quite the same as some of the other books, but a later-era Q adventure is always a good time. And for those of you out there who have spent nearly 40 years shipping Crusher and Picard, this is all sorts of payoff that canon material is unlikely to ever give us.

On that note…

Q-Squared (TNG Hardcover) by Peter David

OK. Hear me out. This may very well be the greatest Star Trek book ever published. Epic in scope, and witty in its construction, the story weaves the best elements of “The Squire of Gothos,” and “Yesterday’s Enterprise” into a highly surprising narrative. It does many of the things “All Good Things…” (arguably TNG’s greatest episode) did, but only a few weeks after TNG went off the air.

I’ve spoken about how many of the Trek books are escapist fare, not much removed from what other people would get out of romance or western paperbacks. This one legitimately had an impact on my work as a writer. If you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it. If I didn’t already own it in multiple formats (including Kindle), it would be my first order of business to purchase it once again.

Star Trek: Discovery Novels by Various Authors

Drastic Measures by Dayton Ward

The Way to the Stars by Una McCormack

The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller

Wonderlands by Una McCormack

Not a full series reduced in price this month, but filled with more than enough gems to select. I still haven’t gotten around to grabbing Wonderlands (detailing Michael Burnham’s adventures between the year she arrived in the 32nd century) yet, but was sure to with this sale. Want to know more about Lorca from the prime universe, along with a Discovery-era cameo by a young James T. Kirk that doesn’t feel at all indulgent? Drastic Measures has you covered. Wondered what Pike and company were doing during the first season of Discovery (or just can’t wait for Strange New Worlds to finally make its debut)? Friends, The Enterprise War is ready to scratch that itch. Want to spend more time with Sylvia Tilly now that she has left the Discovery for greener pastures at Starfleet Academy? The Way to the Stars is the way for you.

That’s it for this month’s books. Be sure to check back here next month, check in on us at the podcast, and seriously, if you’re not bummed about Tilly leaving the regular cast of Discovery, then… I don’t know what to do with you, but I do know we aren’t friends anymore, and you’re no longer invited to my birthday party.

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

**OK, OK. It’s not quite the burn that “These are the Voyages…” but I’ll die on the hill that “All Good Things…”-lite wasn’t much of an ending, and you know I’m right.

TREK BOOKS ON SALE IN 12/2021

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen here, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), there is so much more to the Trek universe to watch, take in, and, in this case, read.

This blog has taken a bit of a moratorium for a moment, but as the December list is pretty brief, there was no better time to start things back up again.

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have (some reference to a super-cheap Trek tie-in product). But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! As a special holiday service for last minute shoppers, here are each of the books on sale in December!

Vanguard Series by Various Authors

I’ve been looking forward to picking up this series just as soon as the price dropped. I always imagined that they would become available in drips and drabs, but we’re all in luck Trek fans, all nine entries in the series (including the novella collection, Declassified). I’ve never read the series at all, and an epic Star Trek tale available in its entirety is a very alluring prospect right now. All I want to do right now is put a pause on the world and take a deep dive into the world of the 23rd century for as long as it will have me.

But then again, I suppose I’ve always wanted that a little bit.

Not enough for you? Well, there is one more book which might wet your whistle.

I, Q by John de Lancie and Peter David

Hard not to like those time when the performer takes on a first person narration, and whether Peter David (Imzadi, the New Frontier series) is truly ghost-writing the book or just collaborating, that’s not a bad pedigree all around for your late 90s Trek books. I remember reading this one back when it first came out and enjoying it immensely. After re-reading David’s Q-Squared recently, I can’t help but be excited to read this one again… whenever I manage to find the time to get around to that.

That’s it for this month’s books. With any luck, posts here on this blog will pick back up again (but as soon as I type that, I know I’m tempting fate). In the meantime, it sure does look like we’re not going to have to go more than a week or two without new televised Trek for a while. It’s a hell of a time to be running a Star Trek re-watch podcast, let me tell you.

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

TREK BOOKS ON SALE IN 10/2021

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen here, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), there is so much more to the Trek universe to watch, take in, and, in this case, read.

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have (some reference to a super-cheap Trek tie-in product). But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in November!

A Stitch in Time (DS9, Book 27) by Andrew J. Robinson

Here we have the very first novel (of which there are now many) to take place after DS9’s series finale, “What You Leave Behind.” There have also been a number of books written by cast members (more on that in a little bit), but by all accounts this one had no ghost writer, and is thus direct from the brain of plain, simple Garak himself.

…and somehow, I’ve never read it.

This needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

Ex Machina (TOS) by Christopher L. Bennett

Of all the various Trek eras, the time period between Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) is the one most neglected in secondary canon. That’s understandable, as that first movie is a trifle bore, and its aesthetic was among the first things abandoned with the rise of Mssrs. Meyer and Bennett…

…and yet, I wouldn’t mind to spend a few minutes in the atrium of the refit NCC-1701. They went through all the trouble to build that huge set, the least we can all do is imagine some additional scenes there! (The book better have some atrium scenes, is all I’m saying…)

Planet X (TNG/X-Men Crossover) by Michael Jan Friedman

For a brief moment, many years ago, Marvel had tripped over a licensing agreement with Paramount and tried to make it the most of it. For a year, there were endless variations of comics pushed out (the Pike and Company-centric Early Voyages was pretty good) including a meetup of Xavier’s students and the crew of the original Enterprise. (Yes, Kirk did hit on Jean Grey. No, it didn’t go so great.)

That’s all well and good, but then the experiment got out of the lab. Here, the crew of the Enterprise-D and the X-Men meet up to defeat a common foe…

So, what happens when Professor X and Captain Picard meet? The universe (or at least two of them) implode, right?

Rogue Saucer (TNG, Book 39) by John Vornholt

I have fond memories of this one. It’s a simple plot, an experimental saucer section that could soft land on a planet and then re-launch back into orbit runs afoul of nefarious forces.

Now, if only I could remember why they didn’t keep that tech around for Star Trek: Generations (1994). Oh, well. Just means its time to read it again.

Strangers from the Sky (TOS) by Margaret Wander Bonanno

This one has been on cheap lists before, and is a re-issue of a novel originally published in the 80s. The reviews occasionally complain about a time-travel plot (which doesn’t turn me off a bit; besides, when do Amazon reviews know anything?), and the author wrote the undeniably fun Catalyst of Sorrows and the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) sequel, Probe. So, I’m on board.

The Three-Minute Universe (TOS, Book 41) by Barbara Paul

All right, numbered novel from the 80s… You’re putting Uhura on front street. You better deliver the goods, is all I’m gonna say.

The Wrath of Khan - Novelization by Vonda N McIntyre

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. I’ve been on a kick lately where I read novelizations of old movies. I’m not sure why. It might have been an idea for a blog I was nursing at one point, but then thought better of it. 

But here, I’m all for letting quite possibly my favorite movie of all time take its time and live in my head. It may not be art (are any Star Trek books?), oh, but I do like it.

Ghost of a Chance (VOY, Book 7) by Mark Garland and Charles G. McGraw

Just look at that cover. It’s giving me nothing, and I am here for it. If being tantalized is cyclical, this book—judging by cover alone—is so uninteresting I’m suddenly fascinated again.

The Left Hand of Destiny by J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Lang

Book One

Book Two

This month’s series on sale is a duology offering more adventures of Martok, brought to us (at least in part) by the performer who brought him to life. Maybe the theme for this month is books focusing on characters written by the performers who played them? If that’s the case, where are my Shatnerverse books? 

Apparently, they haven’t even been released in Kindle versions… C’est la vie. 

That’s it for this month’s books. Be sure to check back here next month, check in on us at the podcast, and if you’re upset about that one moment on a recent episode of Lower Decks, then you don’t understand the first thing about Gene Roddenberry. He may have been the Great Bird of the Galaxy, but first and foremost, he was the single horniest person who ever lived.

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

TAS, We Hardly Knew Ye…

When The Original Series slinked off the air after their third season in 1969, Trekkies faced a decade of drought in the 1970s, with no real hope that they would be delivered of more gems from the Great Bird of the Galaxy. Gene Roddenberry wanted desperately to believe that Star Trek was a thing of the past*, and so tried to make a grand introduction into the world of feature films with Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)**. A series of pilots—including the infamous Questor Tapes, which permanently soured the relationship between he and Leonard Nimoy—came and went, but all would be (forgiven?) when the crew of the starship Enterprise made their (triumphant?) return in Robert Wise’s*** Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

But that isn’t the only new Trek we got in the 70s. Filmmation—they of He-Man, Fat Albert, and The Ghost Busters (not the one you’re thinking of)—managed to cut through the studio redtape and produce 22 episodes over 2 seasons…

And somehow, against all odds, the show isn’t the worst! With many of the more classic writers coming back to the fold, I would say the writing of TAS (as it has come to be called) is several notches above the dregs of TOS’s season three.

The animation is… well, it’s fine. It’s exactly what you would expect from a Saturday morning cartoon in the early 70s, which would mean it’s production value is just a notch or two below that of season three, as hard as that may be to imagine. One of the surprising budget cuts is in the arena of performers. Nichelle Nichols and George Takei play a number of characters, but Majel Barrett and James Doohan sometimes play three or more characters apiece during a single episode (aside from Scotty and Christine Chapel). Some of them have such distinct voices that it’s hard not to hear the essential Suluness or Uhuraness of several supernumerary characters. Doohan acquits himself well, but I think that’s largely because his most famous character is obscured by a dialect.

Ultimately, The Animated Series probably gets a bit of short shrift in the Trek canon. Once Roddenberry could get his crew of intrepid space heroes on the silver screen, he viewed these twenty-two shows as apocryphal, and Trek fandom altogether largely followed suit. Even I hadn’t managed to watch them until the entire series was released on DVD in 2008****.

It’s been a few weeks since I finished my rewatch of the show, and I must say… it’s not that bad. Sure “The Infinite Vulcan”***** ends in a bewildering fashion, and “More Troubles, More Tribbles” is a pale imitation of its great progenitor, but even the run-of-the-mill episodes here are rescued by the blissfully shorter half-hour format. Had “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” run for an hour, it would have felt like an eternity. As it stands, just as the episode begins to wear out its welcome, its already over.

And there is a truly great episode in the mix! “Yesteryear” brings back the Guardian of Forever****** for a story where Spock reckons with his childhood, and painting a fairly touching story about losing a pet. Trust me, it’s better than I’m describing. 

For Trek fans out there, I would say The Animated Series is worth a look, with some marshaled expectations. You’re not going to get the original cast (sorry, Chekov) all back together again, so a few more hours in the one, true 23rd century isn’t too bad of a deal…

Besides, it makes Robert April’s first tour as captain of the Enterprise (semi) canon in its series finale. Nothing wrong with that…

*And not what it ended up being: the first, last, and only line of his obituary.

**I mentioned this during the season 3 blog, but, if you haven’t seen it… Whew. It’s every bad instinct Roddenberry ever had, minus all of the things that made Star Trek endure long after his death.

***There is little doubt in my mind or in the historical record that the author of the film is actually Mr. Roddenberry himself, regardless of what the auteur theory might tell us.

****I did manage to read a few of the episode novelizations by Alan Dean Foster over the years, and I found them… pretty weird. Which, in all fairness, makes them pretty faithful adaptations of the source material.

*****It is nice that Walter Koenig managed to get a gig out of this, writing the episode, when Chekov was unceremoniously omitted from the cartoon in favor of the admittedly visually interesting (read: could never have been done with any degree of belivability on the live-action show) Caitian, M’Ress, and Edosian, Arex.

******That they weren’t sued into oblivion by Harlan Ellison is no small miracle.

TREK BOOKS ON SALE IN 09/2021

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen here, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), there is so much more to the Trek universe to watch, take in, and, in this case, read.

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have four gross of those marshmallow dispensers Kraft offered as a tie in to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in September!

The Dark Veil (Star Trek: Picard) by by James Swallow (technically on sale for $1.99, but still a good deal)

Some might complain about the most recent Trek series’ first season finale, but anyone who has written off the series totally I think is missing the point. More to the point, I think they are willfully ignoring the fact that “Nepenthe” was easily the most satisfying hour of television in recent years, Trek or otherwise.

This month’s list has a number of titles which I—like a real chump—bought long ago and have already consumed. I read this shortly after it was released.

For those—like me—who wanted to spend some more time with the family Riker, you’re in luck. While this book’s story is a little hum drum, any time spent with Will and Deanna is time well spent. You might have to bring your own pizza, unfortunately.

It’s also a good opportunity to spend some time on the USS Titan and with its crew without making the daunting commitment of trying to get through the massive series of relaunch books. We hardly get to spend time with any of them on Lower Decks…

The Enterprise War (Star Trek: Discovery) by John Jackson Miller

Yet another book I picked up shortly after its initial release. Filling in the gaps left from the second season of Discovery, this details Pike, Spock, and Number One’s adventures during the Federation-Klingon war that made up that show’s first season. Between this and the first Discovery tie-in novel, Desperate Hours, there is plenty early-Enterprise to keep one sated while we’re all waiting patiently for Strange New Worlds to see the light of day.

More Beautiful Than Death (Kelvinverse) by David Mack

The sale list this month is certainly representative of more recent Trek**, and I’m actually intrigued by the idea of joining those crazy Kelvin-kids for another adventure, especially when it is not at all certain we’ll ever see them again on the big screen. I like Pine and the rest, give or take a Benedict Cumberbatch or two…

Interesting side note, this novel was written as part of a run of Kelvinverse books intended to be published around the release of Star Trek (2009), but were only published within the last year. I wonder how it will hold up after sitting on a shelf for a decade…

Q & A (Star Trek: TNG Relaunch) by Keith R.A. Decandido

If you’re wanting to get into the relaunch series, now that it will be wrapping up with the Coda miniseries later this year, this is not a bad place to start. Published early in the run, everybody’s still pretty much where you left them at the end of Nemesis. So it won’t be as jarring as some of the later books can be.

I had already bought this one and read it… And I don’t remember it all that well. I may just be conflating it with a novella released around the same time, Q Are Cordially Invited. I don’t necessarily mean that as knock against the book, but you can take from that what you will.

Memory Prime (Star Trek: TOS Book #42) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

What with this looking a lot like Library Trek, not only did I buy this book this month, I’m likely to read it as quickly as I can. And, as I mentioned in last month’s list, you can’t go wrong with the Reeves-Stevenses.

On an odd side note, Amazon lists the paperback available at just over $900.00, which oof. The out-of-print book market is something else. Rare that you see the magical 900% markup when going from ebook to print copy.

The Captain’s Honor (Star Trek: TNG Book #8***) by David and Daniel Dvorkin

I’m an absolute sucker for the bland, nondescript tie-in book from the 80s an 90s, and boy-oh-boy does this ever fit the bill. Faces? You mean, this book’s got some legit faces in it?! And a sword? You had me at “it’s $0.99.”

The Expanse (novelization) (Enterprise) by J.M. Dillard

Direct novelizations of episodes can be kind of a drag at times. They are often more hastily put together than feature film novelizations, which is saying quite a bit. But if you’re Trek of choice brings you The Faith of the Heart, then a little more insight into the peak of their third season arc may just be worth a look.

Trials and Tribble-ations (novelization) (DS9) by Diane Carey

One more episode novelization, but it is a great one. The single TOS/DS9 crossover isn’t the best  episode of the series (some would disagree with me), but for the obligatory gimmick episodes produced in conjunction with the franchise’s 30th anniversary, this one works far, far better than it has any right to. While the Forrest Gump tech wielded to put Sisko and crew in the middle of “The Trouble With Tribbles” ages a bit on screen with the twenty-five years that have passed, reading about these proceedings just might keep a seamless quality to the illusion.

Only one way to find out! Purchased!

Day of Honor Books 1-4

Ancient Blood (TNG) by Diane Carey

Armageddon Sky (DS9) by L.A. Graf

Her Klingon Soul (VOY) by Michael Jan Friedman

Treaty’s Law (TOS) by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I’m actually really excited that this is the series that Pocket/Gallery is putting on sale this month. I tried reading it way back in the day and had the damndest time getting into it from the first book. Now, if nothing else, an opportunity to spend some time smack-dab in the middle of a DS9-era Worf story would have maybe, almost caused me to pick this one up at the full price.

Oddly enough, this series had some synergy with canon at the time, as it fed directly into the Voyager episode “Day of Honor” from the same year.

That’s it for this month’s books! Be sure to check back here next month for more books on sale, check in on us at the podcast, and how about those clips released on Star Trek Day. Dare I say, Prodigy looks like it might actually be fun?

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

**I’m patiently waiting for Gallery or Pocket Books to start publishing books based on Lower Decks… They would be… pretty weird. All right, truthfully, I’m waiting for the opportunity to pitch a Lower Decks book series.

***A brief note about the numbered books. Pocket used to number their lines for TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and NF, not unlike comic books. As titles became less frequent in the 21st century, those numbers became less frequent. Any TNG, DS9, or VOY novels taking place post-Nemesis (often referred to as “relaunch”) eschew the numbering scheme… Whew. Everyone still with me?

TOS Season 3, We Hardly Knew Ye…

Here at The Holodeck is Broken, we were starting to have a wee bit of a crisis of faith (of the heart?) during our march through Star Trek: The Original Series. The one-two-three punch of “Patterns of Force,” followed by “The Omega Glory,” and then “Bread and Circuses” led us to wonder if Kirk and company had started to tread water…

And I, your trusty first officer, Mac, knew things were only going to get worse once we drifted into the much-maligned third season of the show.

So we decided to skip it. We weren’t going to watch The Animated Series, so the bounds of our mission to watch “all” of Star Trek from the very beginning were arbitrary. A (first of many?) COVID year under our belt, and with a desire to not tread water ourselves, and we immediately moved from our episode covering “Assignment: Earth” and “Spock’s Brain”* to covering Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

But I just couldn’t help myself. I went ahead—podcast be damned—and watched the remainder of Season 3…

…and we definitely made the right decision.

Produced largely so that NBC and Paramount (which had recently purchased the floundering Desilu) could stem the tide of angry fan mail demanding that the five-year mission of the Enterprise continue unabated, almost every moment of these twenty-four episodes feel less-than. 

Gene L. Coon—who had shepherded some of the finest hours of season 2–had left the series for greener, less Roddenberry-filled pastures. Roddenberry himself was so incensed by indiscriminate budget slashings and a shift in the time slot to Friday night that he opted to become a producer-in-name only** and moved on to write and produce the feature Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)***.

The resulting shows—run by Fred Frieberger—had an almost uniformly slapdash quality. Sure, there’s a glimmer of adventure and a larger sense of the Trek galaxy in the season’s second episode, “The Enterprise Incident,” but things never quite recover from there.

I had long since feared watching “The Paradise Syndrome” with my fellow away team members, as its resoundingly tone-deaf treatment of indigenous people really shouldn’t sit well with anyone. 

Re-tread ideas from previous episodes are still the order of the day with “And the Children Shall Lead” and “Plato’s Stepchildren.” That latter episode has the distinction of featuring the Kirk-Uhura kiss that shocked the nation. Given that notoriety, I had always thought it aired in one of the earlier seasons. Now I tend to discount the potency of the controversy. Were enough people still even watching the show? That doesn’t even begin to cover the fact that their moment is entirely coerced, with not a scintilla of consent between them.

Someone from the production once said that they had almost enough money to do a really good radio show. Almost. There are episodes so preposterously cheap looking, that it’s a marvel they even aired in the first place. “Spectre of the Gun” and “The Empath” have all the production value of bad community theater.

And then there’s the sexism. Oh, my word, the sexism. “Elaan of Troyus” makes “The Enemy Within” feel like it passes the Bechdel Test. And say what you will about “These Are the Voyages…”, but I don’t think its controversial to say “Turnabout Intruder is the worst series finale of any of the Treks… 

And, yes, I’m begrudgingly including “Endgame” in that distinction. 

The world did not need to see William Shatner’s interpretation of a woman, and Janice Lester’s (Sandra Smith) assertion that women aren’t allowed to be starship captains sparked the fire of every bad-faith belly-ache about both Voyager and Discovery.

Indeed, the only time I found myself consistently enjoying the season was during a sustained run where we were treated to successive guest stars Yvonne Craig, Frank Gorshin, and Lee Meriwether… But that’s entirely a Batman-related thing. 

So, no. I don’t think our away team will miss much of anything by skipping the third year of the first Star Trek series. We want to have fun with this rewatch, and if our reactions to the TOS movies are any indication, brighter days lie ahead…

…although I do have some trepidation about TNG Season 1, if I’m being completely honest.

*Watching “Spock’s Brain” helped us get over any remaining qualms we might have had about omitting season 3.

**To be fair, the Great Bird of the Galaxy had largely taken a hands-off approach to his creation after the early days of season 1. But he was really absent for that third year.

***I’ve seen it. It’s every bad instinct Roddenberry ever had, with none of the virtues Trek possessed. 

TREK BOOKS ON SALE IN 08/2021

nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen here, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), I’ve taken it upon myself to start a The Holodeck is Broken blog! We’ll have Trek-related stuff here, usually on the weeks the podcast is off. Check this space in the weeks to come for my breakdown of both the third season of The Original Series and The Animated Series (which we skipped in our re-watch), but in the meantime, let’s get started with what I hope is the first entry of an ongoing feature.

Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar, but you may also find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in August!

To Lose The Earth (Star Trek: Voyager) by Kirsten Beyer

During our Medical Emergency series last year, Captain Lora and I came clean and admitted the saga of the NCC-74656 was not our favorite of the various series, but I must say this volume has me intrigued. With her duties on Picard, Beyer has proven herself more than equal of carrying the 24th century torch into new territory. Also, as the timeline for the novels post-Nemesis has largely been negated by that new series, Pocket Books has done the only decent thing and allowed those various relaunch series to reach their natural end.

Here, we see the Voyager and parts of her crew truly ride off into the sunset! I’ve enjoyed what little I’ve read of the post-Endgame novels, if for no other reason than Harry Kim finally got that promotion.

The Eyes of The Beholders (Star Trek: The Next Generation Book 13)

From that golden-age of Trek books where all you needed was a number, a Keith Birdsong painting, and five bucks burning a hole in your pocket. Episodic in the extreme, it was hard to have a bad time with any of these books. A.C. Crispin was a great writer (her work in the Star Wars universe scratched particular itches long before the movies bothered to show us When Han Met Chewie) so I’m looking forward to this one as well. Hell, there’s an Andorian on TNG! And a geode is getting ready to kill everybody! What could be be better?

Triangle (Star Trek: The Original Series Book 9) by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath

Not to be confused with Peter David’s oddly-titled sequel to Imzadi.

From the TOS-line of numbered novels, this one is a bit of a head-scratcher. Kirk and Spock are clearly wearing their uniforms from The Motion Picture, but the Enterprise appears to be the pre-refit version from the series…

Other than that, there’s not a lot to go on… Ah, hell. At $0.99, I can’t/won’t/shan’t say no.

Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido

The only book this month I’m not buying. Why? Because I had bought it originally came out fifteen years ago.

This one saw me coming a mile away. Merging Trek-lore and the aesthetic of The West Wing, we spend some time with Federation President Bacco and her staff as they deal with—among other things—a shipload of Reman refugees about to cross the Romulan border into Federation space. It’s a shame that the Bacco Administration didn’t get a series of books on their own, but she and her staff show-up throughout the interconnected post-Nemesis books, and are always a welcome addition to the growing universe.

If you’re a fellow West Wing-ite like myself, or looking for a good gateway into this timeline, I couldn’t recommend this book more.

Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

This book comes direct from some of the most-celebrated Trek authors to ever play in Roddenberry’s backyard. They wrote, for my money, the most fun, most epic Deep Space Nine story—outside of the television series itself—with their Millenium trilogy. When Enterprise needed some heavy-hitters for their fourth season, they called the Reeves-Stevenses. When William Shatner needed someone to ghost-write (and it’s clear they did the lion’s share of the work) his novels detailing the resurrected Kirk’s adventures in the 24th century, he called the Reeves-Stevenses. They’re simply the best.

This book might suffer a bit from being rendered canonically inert after the events of Star Trek: First Contact, but I’m hard pressed to pass up a book from them. If you can keep the various versions of Zefram Cochrane sorted in your head, you’ll do just fine. It’s a steal at twice, nay ten times the price.

Star Trek: Enterprise: The Rise of the Federation** (Books 2-5)

Tower of Babel by Christopher L. Bennett

Uncertain Logic by Christopher L. Bennett

Live By The Code by Christopher L. Bennett

Patterns of Interference by Christopher L. Bennett

Pocket Books makes a point of reducing the price on a mini-series each month, and here they are paying some long-overdue attention to the fifth live-action series, quite possibly for its forthcoming 20th anniversary. On an unrelated note, how did we all get so old all of a sudden? Like… “Broken Bow” was just a few years ago, right?

For those Trekkies among us who had Faith of the Heart that the NX-01 would make it to seven seasons and beyond, the post-finale books for Archer and company take the opportunity of the under-loved series and run with it. The death of Trip was retconned fairly effectively in the early goings, so they are free to fulfill their promise of fighting with the Romulans and finally, thankfully (if the title of the series is to be believed) give birth to the Federation we all know and love.

That’s it for this month’s books. Be sure to check back here next month, check in on us at the podcast, and if you’re not excited about the second season premiere of Lower Decks… Keep it to yourself, will you? We’re all trying to have a good time here.

*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.

**I’m sensing a pattern here…