The great film critic Gene Siskel used a clever litmus test to justify a movie’s existence. He would ask, “Is this movie more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch together?” Fan Fiction, a “mem-noir” nominally written by Brent Spiner, calls for a slightly modified version: “Is this style of writing more interesting than just a straightforward memoir?” The answer in this case, I think, is no.
In today’s episode, we’ll have a double order of Starfleet Academy, hold the artwork. Six cadets start out hyperventilating over a broken group project, but they soon go on to bigger, better, and much more dangerous things. How high is the bar for a Trill’s first host? How many swirlies did Harry Kim get as a cadet? And how many progressive points do Star Trek‘s first openly gay characters earn it? All this and more in The Best and the Brightest, the book that plays fast and loose with the Vulcan names.
In today’s episode, a worldwide transporter system represents a massive paradigm shift for the people of Birsiba. Unfortunately, it shifts their paradigms right over into the next universe. Now multiple Janeways must work together to stop the space vacuum conga. Why does only every other universe have a Voyager? Why are the differences between universes so trivial? And what’s the worst way to describe someone interrupting your dinner? All this and more in Echoes, the book with good B.O. genes.
In today’s episode, a Tal Shiar operative decides the ending of Star Trek VI needs a rewrite. But she paid so much attention to the movies that she doesn’t recognize an obscure episode of the TV show swooping in to thwart her plans. Should pets have human names? Which senior officer needs cyber-security training most badly? And what’s the best way for a hapless human to acclimate to time travel? All this and more in Assignment: Eternity, or, Call Me Ishmael Junior.
In today’s episode, the Mall of the Delta Quadrant turns out to be a not-so-elaborate front to catch a Kes. But when the 4000-year-old head honcho strands his dinner guests on his planet, their ingeunity and networking skills may prove too much for him to bear. Is true love in the cards? Are Bolians secretly Reapers? And which Star Trek character would win the misery porn Olympics? All this and more in Marooned, the book that doesn’t take off until it crashes.