The review for Music of the Spheres, the original vision of the book that eventually became Probe, will come out next week. Because I am not reading it in my usual milieu—i.e., at my job, in book form, with no electronic distractions at hand—it’s moving a lot slower than usual. Other contributing factors: Music of the Spheres is a 238-page Word document, and it’s much tougher to stare at screens than at paper for extended periods; I haven’t had many days off lately where I didn’t flip my overnight schedule; and I rarely have opportunities to be on my home computer, especially during summer. I have downloaded a cleaned-up PDF version of the manuscript in hopes of reading faster by catching snatches of it here and there on my phone; just from the little bit I’ve used it, I’d say it’s likely going to be my recommended means for reading it.
Fortunately, with the bad comes a little good: I’m doing another Patreon rejigger soon. I won’t spill all the beans yet, but I will say that giving one dollar will actually get you something extra outside of just funding the books. Something to look forward to!
This week, it’s clear the Romulans have been to the movies lately. Suddenly they’re planning their own peace initiative, with blackjack, and hookers. While they and the Federation put together dinner and a show, the probe from The Voyage Home drives through space with a trunk full of unanswered questions. And when it makes a U-turn to get the truth, Kirk and Spock realize it’s going to take a lot more than showing it a couple of whales to satisfy its curiosity this time. Which Romulans are serious about peace and which ones aren’t? What does the probe have to look forward to when it goes home? Is this yet another flippin’ “Enterprise Incident” sequel? All this and more in Probe, the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! of Star Trek novels.
This week, the Enterprise picks up yet another blowhard ambassador to mediate a religious dispute involving a sacred animal, but Spock opts out to tinker with a cool laser on a terraforming colony. But the Klingons, up to their usual cloak-and-dagger shenanigans, descend on the colony to steal the beam in hopes of weaponizing it. Will Kirk and the ambassador figure out how to relocate the animals? Can Spock successfully collaborate with a bunch of tweens? And how much does it suck when annoying people are right? All this and more in Faces of Fire, the book that will make you openly yearn for the death of a child.
This week, the Enterprise finds an old ship from the planet Vemla that hasn’t had the last few Windows Updates. But during the grand tour, a stray injury leads to the revelation that they’re all androids on the lam. Matters go from sticky to sludgy when the androids’ builders show up charging them with terrorist actions and demanding them back for dismantling. Now Picard has seemingly only two choices: violate the Prime Directive or violate the Prime Directive. Will he find secret option C? Has Data finally found his people? And what’s in Picard’s special synthehol mix? All this and more in Spartacus, the book that sets the record for destroyed port nacelles.*
This week, peace sells, but who’s buying? The Klingons, that’s who. Perpetual war, it turns out, is not economically sustainable, and they’re on the prowl for a better business model. But players on all sides have a vested interested in keeping things the way they are, and a road that was as smooth as CGI Klingon blood suddenly becomes very bumpy. If Kirk wants to make a history omelet, he’ll have to break a few prejudice eggs—but starting a fire in his new digs might be kind of difficult. Where did the Organians skip off to? Why is Valeris so emotional for a Vulcan? And to what extent can a novelization critique the movie it’s about? All this and more in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the book that actually cares about things that happened in Star Trek V!