#voyager novel

[nevinslibrary]

Make It So Friday

In Mosiac Jeri Taylor looked at Captain Janeway’s life in detail (which has mostly been changed in the books and on TV). That was so much fun, and so, in this book, Taylor takes on the rest of the crew and their stories before they were on Voyager too.

From Harry to Chakotay to B’Elanna, and even Seven of Nine and Kes. My favorite story in this one was definitely B’Elanna’s, followed closely by Harry’s. All the stories were complicated (as humans and in this case humanoids are in fiction), but, Harry’s journey and B’Elanna’s just hit closer in a lot of ways.

As with Janeway’s life, on the one hand, Jeri Taylor was one of the co-creators of the Voyager series, and, so, you’d think that she’d have the scoop on what’s in the series’ bible. On the other hand, while a lot of this background on the characters is correct because she’s one of the co-creators, some of it has been changed. Either in the course of Voyager, or since Voyager.

Still, it’s always fun to see where those who create these TV serieses heads are at. Who they think the characters are vs. who the characters sorta turn into when they are put into the world and the fans get to decide who the characters are.

You may like this book If you Liked: Harm's Way by David Mack, Acts of Contrition by Kirsten Beyer, or The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard by David A. Goodman

Pathways by Jeri Taylor

[stra-tek]

Via Holodeck Four on Twitter

[tricorderreading]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

[bumblingbabooshka]

Star Trek Novel: Catalyst of Sorrows

[trek-tracks]

I feel like I simply. Could Not take the pressure of writing an official Star Trek novel or novelization, because, as someone who loves making silly jokes For The Bit, the potential repercussions are so intense.

You write one line about Spock getting drunk off the sucrose in a mint and suddenly there are 50,000 fics about Spock's addiction to chocolate and everyone has to rethink the entirety of the chemical properties of the Vulcan diet

Can you imagine what a misplaced pun might do

[agios-rio]

Ni Var by Claire Gabriel. In Star Trek: The New Voyages

[trillscienceofficer]

me when I'm definitely joking so I (softly) say "I know how you're feeling"

(From "Star Trek Scriptbooks Volume Two: Becoming Human")

[killermanatee]

Could I read any of the 20+ books that are on my "new books shelf"?

Sure.

But could I also reread the Voyager Relaunch novels and settle down in this deep, deep rabbit hole of J/C love?

I mean...

What kind of question is that, considering paragraphs like this one:

[iamenits]

Spock recalled an earlier, similar death, heat and radiation blasting around him as he struggled to save the Enterprise. That time he had succeeded. This time he feared he must have failed. He glanced for an instant at each of the people in the control room, at each of his friends. Only Leonard McCoy returned his gaze. The doctor looked at him for a long moment. Sweat glistened on his face. The ship plunged obliquely and McCoy had to snatch at the railing to keep his feet. He straightened again. He was frightened, but he showed no evidence of terror or panic. To Spock’s astonishment, he smiled. Spock had no idea how to respond.

-- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Vonda N. McIntyre (1986)

[perlukafarinn]

I'm back with another unbearably homoerotic story from The New Voyages (this one even has a foreword written by Leonard Nimoy)!

The story in question is Ni Var, written by Claire Gabriel and published in the first New Voyages volume in 1976. In it, Spock is split in two - his human half and his Vulcan half. He and Kirk also have unnecessarily intense and emotionally loaded interactions pretty much every page. Just look at this passage that happens right after Spock is split:

The moment Kirk sees Spock, he knows something is wrong. They have an emotional talk that turns into an argument that turns into Kirk asking Spock what's wrong and if he can help.

It's the way Kirk reads Spock like an open book! How Spock finds comfort in Kirk's offer to help, even if he's not ready to accept it.

And just when you think it can't get any more intense, bam - City on the Edge of Forever callback!

Kirk is having an extremely normal one.

Anyway, Kirk finds out about the split soon enough because damned if Spock can keep a single secret from him once he's determined to find out.

We are distracted from the main plot, however, as the Enterprise is sent on a mission to a planet whose natives love the taste of human flesh. Of course, Kirk insists on joining the landing party but Spock is Not Having It.

They are having this fight in front of the crew. If the rumors didn't exist before, they certainly do now.

Spock loses the argument on account of Kirk being Captain and goes back to his quarters to discuss the issue with his Vulcan half.

This, the text points out, is the first thing Spock's two halves are in complete agreement on. Protecting Jim. I am banging my head against the wall.

Then Vulcan Spock goes on a mental tangent about humans and emotions and one human in particular, and this passage drives me bonkers.

"Until he met Jim Kirk."

"A man for whom he felt friendship, perhaps even what Humans call love."

Clawing my eyes out. The romanticism of it all. These are completely normal thoughts to have about your commanding officer!!

And then Spock decides to risk what he calls "for a Vulcan, torture" to ensure Kirk's safety. What this whole subplot is for is essentially to show that Spock's two halves can be united and the thing they unite over..... is Jim.

I am unwell.

Spock does manage to keep Kirk from throwing himself to the proverbial wolves, the plot moves on, and then they're back in front of the machine that split Spock and can be used to unite him again. Kirk has an angsty moment about that time he was split in two (the whole story, in addition to exploring Spock's split identity, is filled with callbacks to The Enemy Within and the toll that experience took on Kirk mentally and it's great).

This isn't a particularly Kirk/Spock moment but I had to include it because I love the mental image of Kirk flipping himself off and Spock laughing at it. Kirk would fuck his clone, actually.

Then the time is at hand to unite the two Spocks. Kirk puts a comforting hand on Human Spock's shoulder but then hesitates to do the same to the Vulcan half and this whole page has me crying, screaming, throwing up, etc.

God.

Spock is united, all is well, and the story ends with Kirk grinning at Spock and Spock responding with an oh-so-subtle smile.

In conclusion: gay.

[stra-tek]

Random spoilerific reasons to read Star Trek novels, with little to no context:

Ro/Quark is a thing

A Jem'Hadar joins DS9, tries to fit in but eventually snaps and tries to kill everybody

You learn the origins and final fate of the Borg

A thinly-veiled Dr. House clone joins the Voyager crew

Geordi briefly has 2 girlfriends at once (due to different writers not co-ordinating enough, but still)

There's a TOS book that's a musical

There are YA stories about Jake and Nog making mischief on DS9

YA stories about Worf, Geordi, Picard, Beverly, Kirk, Spock and McCoy at SFA

YA series about the Kelvinverse gang (including Gaila!) as cadets, taking on a drug problem at SFA and a very unique Borg scout in San Francisco

We very briefly meet the people who are to Q what the Q are to humanity

Janeway/Chakotay is a thing

Kirk's first mission in command of the Enterprise! Erm, at least twice.

Kirk was married between TOS and TMP

Her name was Lori

In the future, you have yearly marriage contracts that you either update or you don't and I think that's amazing

Trip didn't die! He faked his death to join Section 31 and go undercover as a Romulan

It's not great, tbh

The ENT books get better after the Romulan wars though, it's proper founding of the Federation stuff

We meet Jack Crusher (erm, the OG) when 4 timelines start overlapping and he's a bit unhinged

Teenage Kirk stole a car and his choice was go to jail or join Starfleet

What happened when Voyager got home? Seven broke up with Chakotay like 30 pages in

Kirk gets cloned, and his clone becomes the sub of an evil invincible super genius and its all very gay

George Kirk was Robert April's first officer on the first ever mission of the unnamed starship with the Naval Construction Contract 1701

Robert is a hard-core pacifist and has to turn command over to George whenever it's time to fire weapons

Data becomes fully human for a couple of days and it's really sweet

They never say "wristwatch" or "phone", it's always "wrist chrono" or "personal comm"

There are gays but they don't say that word because it's the 1990's and Rick Berman runs the franchise

Spock has a son in the past with Zarabeth

Everyone in the post-Nemesis era does spy missions all the time non stop, as if Starfleet has abandoned exploring the cosmos for doing Space Mission: Impossible

Bashir does it better than anyone else, he takes on Section 31 from the inside

Remember Control? It's from the novels, except the novels do it SO MUCH BETTER.

Remember how we never found out who Future Guy was? We do.

It's very underwhelming, nobody we know

We find out how the Romulans and Vulcans split

Surak was a Vulcan internet blogger

A Borg Cube eats Pluto

Janeway dies

Janeway gets better

At least one TOS book features a wizard

There's a Star Trek TOS/Here Come the Brides crossover novel

It had cameos from The Doctor (as in, Who), Han Solo, Starbuck and others

Whole book series about Section 31

Whole book series about the Department of Temporal Investigations

One time they do the Bill and Ted thing to escape confinement and it works

Wanna know how Riker and Troi met?

Wanna know what Picard got up to on the Stargazer?

Andorians have 4 sexes and it's very complicated

Data comes back from the dead as Data 2.0, and it was fresh and exciting because it happened long before ST: Picard did it twice.

Lal comes back too and we get father/daughter android stuff! They have a home and everything but keep having to save the universe

One time Mirror Seven is led around on a leash naked on Terok Nor

Geordi becomes captain of the USS Challenger, decides it's not for him because plot, and goes back to engineering on the Enterprise

Kirk is shot on the bridge and dies

Kirk gets better

They watch 3D holos of old Doctor Who episodes in the Enterprise rec room

The Enterprise also has an AI named Moira, which was Zora long before Zora

The TOS crew get together for one last mission. About three times.

There's a Perry Mason book except it's about Kirk's lawyer from that TOS episode

Data 2.0 owns and runs a massive gambling empire on Orion

Spock keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

Scotty keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

Bones keeps randomly showing up everywhere in the TNG era

You're on Tumblr so you already know about Killing Time

There's a guy named McKenzie Calhoun and he's a total badass and captains a ship of weirdos and misfits

Kirk comes back from the dead, saves the galaxy repeatedly, has an intersex child (who identifies as male) with a Romulan/Klingon hybrid

Kirk beats up Worf

Kirk's child has superpowers

Kirk's child saves the galaxy at age 6

The Kirk stuff is 100% ignored in the other novels

About 50% of the novels are ignored in the other 50%, and the ones that are meant to be in direct continuity with each other aren't always quite

Just like the TV shows and movies, then

Lwaxana Troi meets Q, and it goes as well as you'd expect

Someone tells Data, yes you idiot you had emotions all along and he's like, oh shit you're right

McCoy is left in command of the Enterprise as a joke by Kirk, who is then immediately kidnapped

Ro Laren is captain of Deep Space Nine

Picard/Beverly is a thing, they get married and have a child named Rene. No running away and raising your kid in secret here

Riker and Troi are married, serve on the Titan together with a bunch of adorable weirdos and have a daughter named Tasha

You get to watch all the 24th century characters die horribly in the end along with their entire universe. Holy fuck it's a bleak horror show. Personally, I love it. But if that's not your cup of tea I'd skip the Coda trilogy

[agent-troi]

worst part of today: really bad sensory overload from trying to focus on a conversation with my boss while too many people were talking at the same time (my ears still hurt it was horrible i almost cried)

best part of today: new star trek novel just dropped!

it takes place across three different time periods and one of them is in the present day starring the host of a true crime podcast investigating gillian taylor’s disappearance (the whale biologist from the voyage home). i’m only on chapter three but a couple of things have already made me lol:

- random château picard mention

- bones being bones lmao

[bumblingbabooshka]

What I Say: I'm fine. What I Mean: There was a Star Trek Novel in which Tuvok and Jack Crusher (Beverely's Husband) have to go undercover in a bathhouse that they think is a brothel to get information out of a potential lead and because of a series of hijinks at one point must come to terms with the fact that they're definitely going to have to go into the boss's private room completely naked and might have to go even further than that to get the info they truly need. They were ready to go all in on that "I'm not gay but a mission's a mission" life.

Transcripts under the cut

[Image 1:

“We’re here to meet someone,” he said. “I was told that a Melacron named Pudris Barrh enjoyed visiting this establishment.” The alien smiled. “Oh, I see…you’re one of Barrh’s boys,” she remarked with a knowing lilt. Barrh’s boys? Crusher asked himself. What did she mean by that? He experienced a moment of alarm but kept his composure.

“If you can get past Old Scowly there,” the female continued, “you can join Barrh at his pleasures if you like." She raised a long slender arm and pointed to a gilded door to her right.] [Image 2:

“I don’t know for certain what kind of establishment this is,” said the commander, “but I can make a pretty good guess.”

“Unfortunately,” the Vulcan whispered back with sincere and undisguised revulsion, “so can I.”

"Still, we may have to go along with it.” Crusher regarded Tuvok. “Would that…pose a problem?”  “Naturally,” the Vulcan replied.

The commander grunted. “I was afraid you would say that.”

“And knowing what I do of human marriage customs,” said Tuvok, “I would imagine it would pose a problem for you as well.”

Crusher looked lost “Maybe we could just play along for some of it…for the sake of-”

“My master will see you now,” said Old Scowly. He had reappeared before the Vulcan knew it. “You may enter through the changing room, remove your clothes, and join Pudris Barrh at his pleasures.”] [Image 3:

As it happened, Tuvok wasn’t happy either. If he didn’t know better, he would have said that the uncomfortable sensation in the pit of his stomach was apprehension. Of course, that was impossible. His control over his emotions was impeccable. And yet the sensation remained.

“There must be another way,” said Crusher. “There is no other way,” the Vulcan told him. “This is the situation in which your plan has placed us.” He knew his words sounded biting, but he didn’t wish any of them back.

The human ran his hands through his thick, dark hair. “Damn it,” he said, “If Beverely ever…” “Find out about this?” the ensign suggested.

Frowning, Crusher nodded. “But as you say, there’s no other option open to us. I guess we’ll just deal with whatever comes as best we can.” He grunted. “The things we do for king and country.”] [Image 4:

When the air cleared for a moment - a byproduct of their entrance - the Vulcan was able to get a better look at their host. He was rather corpulent for a Melacron, it seemed, and more pale-looking than most.

As thick, sludgy ripples made their slow way outward from Barrh’s generous torso, he waved to Tuvok and Crusher. “Please, gentlemen, join me. We’ve not met yet, but there are few better places to get to know someone than in The House of Comfort!”

[Crusher] and Tuvok exchanged a quick glance. Taking a deep breath, the human walked up to the carpeted stairs and placed first one foot, then the other, into the hot, liquid muck.

The ensign had little choice but to follow suit. He assured himself, as he sank up to his chest in the thick, surprisingly pleasant-smelling stuff, that there was realy no logical reason T’Pel ever had to become acquainted with this misadventure.

Besides, he reflected, there was quite a good chance that the majority of his and Crusher’s actions would be classified. He had to confess that he found some comfort in the prospect.]

Bonus:

Tuvok and Crusher apparently both go home and tell their wives about this experience. I don't know if we learn of T'Pel's reaction but Beverely apparently thinks its hilarious!

[mllebleue]

It is in my hands! Officially out July 1st from McFarland but on order now. 16 essays on Star Trek novels and their authors.

Table of content:

Introduction: Into the Vastness of the Novelverse

­Caroline-Isabelle Caron and Kristin Noone 1

Official, but Not Canon: The ­Tie-In Writer’s Dilemma

David Mack 19

Feinting Forward, Barging Backward: Philosophical Analysis of Spock, Messiah!

Anne Collins Smith and Owen M. Smith 37

Growing Up with Deep Space Nine: Recruiting New Fans and Teaching Ideology Through YA Literature

Judith Clemens-Smucker 52

“300 ­full-color action scenes”: The Star Trek Fotonovels, Multimodal Storytelling as Paper Television?

Caroline-Isabelle Caron 69

Putting the Romance Back into Space Opera

Valerie Estelle Frankel 90

“The dream of stars”: Judith and Garfield ­Reeves-Stevens and the Star Trek Epic

Geoffrey Reiter 107

Imzadi, (Almost) Happily Ever After and the Female Gothic Tradition

Carey Millsap-Spears 124

The ­Tie-In Novels of History: Adaptation and Expansion in Diane Carey’s Star Trek Fiction

Kristin Noone 141

“What’s in a life?” Grappling with Genre, Gender, and Liberal Humanism in The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

Mareike Spychala 159

Wind-Riders, Divers, and Merry Whales: Vonda N. McIntyre’s Star Trek Novels

Una McCormack 174

“The sheer unpredictability of the insane, demented galaxy”: Peter David’s New Frontier Novels

Val Nolan 192

The Hurt and the Comfort in J.M. Dillard’s Mindshadow: ­Tie-In Novels and/as Fanfiction

Agnieszka Urbańczyk 209

Surviving the Borg? Exploring Vengeance and Humanity in Peter David’s Vendetta

Brian de Ruiter 226

Contaminated Community in Jean Lorrah’s The IDIC Epidemic

Leah Faye Norris 243

Kira Nerys: Bajor and Beyond

Sherry Ginn 255

A Coda on Coda

Caroline-Isabelle Caron 266

[tricorderreading]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

The novelization gives us the wonderful gift of spock's internal thought process before he dives in the tank

[trillscienceofficer]

Dark Passions Susan Wright Book 1 - January 2001 (232pp) Book 2 - January 2001 (200pp) Before Kira and Bashir stumbled upon the mirror universe, there was plenty of intrigue going on. Agent Annika Hansen of the Obsidian Order has been ordered to to eliminate the new Overseer of the Alliance, Kira. Even assassins don't appear immune to her considerable wiles, however. Familiar characters play evil and manipulative to the hilt. When Kira obtains an Iconian transportal device, no one is safe from her wrath. Susan [Wright] said, “I'm fascinated with parallel universes. ‘Mirror, Mirror’ was my favorite TOS episode, and I enjoyed the DS9 mirror universe episodes. So when my editor at Pocket Books, John Ordover, said he wanted me to write a ‘bad girls’ of Trek, I was up for it. I created the story for one book, and afterwards it was expanded to two books. I made Seven of Nine and Intendent [sic] Kira the two main characters, and put them into a relationship. I thought it was great that Paramount allowed the interaction. I loved writing characters that were familiar yet fundamentally different. For example, Seven was trained as a Cardassian assassin since there is no Borg in the mirror universe.”

From “Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion” by Jeff Ayers (2006)