Deep Space Spines – Page 52 – A chronicle of the non-canonical since 2017.

#055: Strike Zone (TNG #5)

On 2 November 2018

This week, we meet the Kreel, who have spent over a century being the Klingons’ punching bags. But when the Kreel find an abandoned stash of powerful weapons on a backwater planet, the tables turn, and shockingly, the Klingons start to feel like maybe peace, love, and understanding aren’t such bad ideas after all. Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher has a burdensome boy-genius reputation to live up to, and he intends to maintain it by singlehandedly attempting to cure a friend’s terminal illness. How much does Riker’s beard annoy Picard? Did Worf just decide to leave all pretense of professionalism at home today? Do some people deserve to be bullied? And perhaps the most important question of all: does this book have The Knack, or The Rot?

#054: Vulcan’s Glory (TOS #44)

By jess

On 26 October 2018

In TOS

This week, we’re going all the way back to the oldest of the old-school: Captain Pike, sweaters, a number-one named Number One, the whole shebang. It’s Spock’s very first mission aboard the Enterprise, and Starfleet thinks it’s got a lead on the location of one of Vulcan’s most treasured artifacts, the long-missing titular jewel. Like most emeralds, however, where this one goes, chaos follows. Meanwhile, Pike’s reunion with some old road bros gets interrupted by an impromptu production of Romeo and Juliet. What makes Number One number one? How much is T’Pring making off Spock in US dollars? It’s the book that probably could have used a few more gamma rays in its hooch.

Shore Leave #13: The Butler Did It

By jess

On 23 October 2018

In Shore Leave

Shore Leave is the non-Trek culture arm of the Deep Space Spines website, posted every other Tuesday and made possible by donations to the site’s Patreon.

Not much to report this week, except that I’m finally getting around to digging further into the work of an author I’ve been meaning to check out more of.

#053: Survivors (TNG #4)

By jess

On 19 October 2018

In TNG

(CW: rape)

This week, Picard sends Tasha Yar and Data to survey a planet whose president has requested Federation aid to see if the lady checks out. Tasha gets abducted by an ex gone rogue who claims she betrayed him, but when he tries to lure her away from Starfleet and make it work again, she tells him they’ll always have New Paris. Meanwhile, it’s all she can do to not make a hash of the Prime Directive when the planet plunges into all-out war. Why does every woman who meets Data want to bone him? What would be in a What Would Riker Do? book? Do androids get tired of eating the same lunch every day? It’s the book that gives Tasha Yar the fair shake she always deserved.

#052: The Final Nexus (TOS #43)

By jess

On 12 October 2018

In TOS

Just three weeks ago, Gene DeWeese laid this site’s first ever goose egg, and already he’s back in the saddle to bring us The Final Nexus, the sequel to his first Trek outing, Chain of Attack. There’s nowhere to go but up—or in this case, through, as the gate that sent the Enterprise billions of parsecs off course starts leaking space diarrhea that causes people to do some frightened pants-soiling of their own. What would the Enterprise do without Spock? Who’s that foxy silver mama on the cover? It’s the book that teaches us why the human touch is so important.