It may have missed your attention that we’re about to celebrate 50 years since the appearance of the first series of Star Trek this year. (UK readers please note: we’ve still got three years to go yet…)
As a result, though, it’s probably not a coincidence that there’s a new movie on the way, a new TV series and a slew of new novel releases. Here’s one of the first celebrations of this landmark, a novella set in the Original Series timeline by Star Trek tie-in novel regular Greg Cox.
The plot is as follows, described by the publisher: “The Enterprise-A is transporting a party of diplomats when it picks up a mysterious alien signal emanating from a nearby world. The planet’s dense, impenetrable atmosphere makes it unclear if the beacon is a distress signal, an invitation—or a warning to stay away. Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Chekov are part of a team sent to investigate, but an unexpected catastrophe forces a crash landing. Now the landing party is stranded on a hostile world, unable to communicate with the Enterprise. While Captain Kirk and Saavik race to locate the lost crew, a badly wounded Spock struggles to keep McCoy and the others alive until they can be rescued, even if that means making an unthinkable sacrifice…”
Chronologically at a time after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Sulu’s away being Captain of the USS Excelsior, there’s mention of Seaworld and San Francisco from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and you may remember the Vulcan Saavik from the second and third movies) there’s no sign of the Next Generation here, but instead a solidly entertaining and competent tale that reminded me very much of the strengths of the Original Series (and how much I loved Mr. Spock.)
Greg’s a safe pair of hands here. It’s very clear that he knows his Trek history, slipping in little comments and reminders of previous tales that the devoted Star Trek fan will remember or recognise. They are not essential but they add a surprising depth to the story, and make the point that there is history here.
For me, as a rather intermittent reader of Star Trek tales (too many books, too little time), what struck me most is how good his characterisation is, presenting characters how I remembered them. His dialogue is just right, in that all the regular characters say what I imagine the TV/film versions would say. McCoy is typically curmudgeonly yet kind, Spock is the typically emotionless Vulcan but has learned with age and experience to take other more emotional perspectives into account and James T Kirk is his usual alpha-male self. Though clearly not quite as rash as his younger persona, Kirk is still determined to take action himself and save his crewmates at considerable risk to himself and his crew.
The situation is typical Original Series too. We have a landing party in peril, on a deadly planet, with some impressively nasty alien creatures (think of them like a cross between a leech and a Dune sandworm, with rings of teeth that act like a circular saw, and…. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.) Whilst you know that the main characters are never in true peril (and after all, Spock’s been killed and resurrected already!) it is a story that is very much in the style and with the enthusiasm of the Original Series. As things get progressively tougher, this made me realise what I liked about the first incantation of the Star Trek adventures – it’s all about the characters and how we hope they’d deal with difficult situations.
There’s the occasional slight clunk of overheated simile (‘Sodden clothing hung upon their exhausted frames, weighing them down like malfunctioning gravity plates.’) but overall this was a very pleasant and appropriate way of celebrating the heritage of Star Trek, to remind myself of the great adventures of Kirk, Spock, ‘Bones’ McCoy and Chekov, and especially Saavik, before JJ Abrams appeared. And read in not much more time than the length of an original episode.
Nothing too murky (see what I did there?) about this one! Good fun.
Miasma by Greg Cox
Published by Pocket Books, February 2016
ISBN: B015NCP7O8 (ebook only)
90 pages
Review by Mark Yon
That sounds like the perfect read. I’ll have to pick it up!