Book Log, 2009-05-10 through 2009-05-21

[ckd]

Not much book reading lately. (Well, apart from looking stuff up in O'Reilly books for work; I don't count that as "reading" the books....)

RR34. The Aliens Among Us, James White (mmpb)

Not quite a Sector General book, though of the seven stories in the book one of them ("Countercharm") takes place at Sector General, another ("Tableau") predates it in the same universe (and eventually leads to the creation of Sector General), and a third ("Occupation: Warrior") was originally written as a Sector General-verse story but was de-linked by editorial request. (White later had the main character show up as a Monitor Corps officer anyway, in effect re-linking the story into Sector General continuity.)

The other four stories include two that are a bit too similar to really work well in the same collection ("The Scavengers" and "Red Alert"), the first contact story "To Kill or Cure" (which has a Sector General sensibility to it, what with the "injured aliens that need medical care" and all), and "The Conspirators" which reminds me most of Poul Anderson's Brain Wave.

I generally recommend White, though this is probably not the best starting point.

RR35. Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Gene Roddenberry (ebook)

The novelization of the less-than-stellar first movie, this is better than one might expect based on the movie. It fills in some badly-needed characterization (explaining, for example, just why Kirk ever let them pry him out of a captain's chair in the first place) and also includes this classic "Take That" to slashfic writers:

[S]ince Kirk's and Spock's friendship was unusually close, this has led to some speculation over whether they had actually indeed become lovers. At our request, Admiral Kirk supplied the following comment on this subject: "I was never aware of this lovers rumor, although I have been told that Spock encountered it several times. Apparently he had always dismissed it with his characteristic lifting of his right eyebrow which usually connoted some combination of surprise, disbelief, and/or annoyance. As for myself, although I have no moral or other objections to physical love in any of its many Earthly, alien, and mixed forms, I have always found my best gratification in that creature woman. Also, I would dislike being thought of as so foolish that I would select a love partner who came into sexual heat only once every seven years."

Vonda McIntyre's novelization of The Wrath of Khan is my favorite of the movie novelizations, but this isn't too far behind.

Comments

[carbonel]

IIRC, Vonda McIntyre actually wrote the novelization of ST:TMP, and Roddenberry got to put his name on it.

[ckd]

I wouldn't be terribly surprised, though this interview makes the timing of that sound dubious. If she didn't start writing Trek until Hartwell was running the license for original Trek fiction, it'd be hard for her to get in "ahead of time" to do the TMP novelization. OTOH, having her picked as the first writer for the Pocket TrekFic license might indicate that she'd already been involved.

I do find it amusing that the original treatment for TMP was written by "Mr. Novelization" Alan Dean Foster, who did write the novelization of the first Star Wars movie that was credited to George Lucas.

[ashacat.livejournal.com]

Hm. I don't usually read the novels based on movies, but I might pick up this Trek book you blogged on. I have read and enjoyed a few by Diane Duane. Thanks for the recommendation!

[seawasp]

I was under the impression that ADF wrote the novelization of ST:TMP, just as he did for Star Wars. That was during the peak of his Novelization Powers.

I rather liked "The Aliens Among Us", but I agree it's mostly not White's strongest work. Of all the stuff he's written (that I've read, which is a fair amount), I think my favorite remains "All Judgment Fled".