smw@tilt.UUCP (Keeper of the Paths) (05/02/84)
Fan fiction has done it many times before, but this is a first for a published ST novel: a story set 50 or 60 years earlier than the Enterprise's days, to provide a historical background of the ST universe. The story is tied to the "present" by a prologue and epilogue in which Kirk reads the novel, which many of his crew have picked up on leave at a Starbase and been influenced by. It also has some rather gratuitous episodes with Spock as an 8-year-old and McCoy mentioned as an infant by his grandfather. Less gratuitous is the inclusion of Carter Winston (from the animated episode "The Albatross"). Normally, I loathe the creation of "facts" by ST novelists. I've flamed on it before. But this is different... this is GOOD! From the Klingon point of view, it tells of the earliest relations between the Federation and Klingons. It shows details of Klingon culture (noting in passing that the bumpy-headed Klingons are the "Imperial race") in such a way as to bring us a much better understanding of Klingons as a people. This one is a "must read," if you're an admirer of the whole ST universe, and not just the characters we know. The Klingon Captain Krenn is a very well- defined character, whom we can admire even though he is very much a Klingon. A few words of klingonaase: Kai kassai, zan John M. Ford! Kai komerex klingon! -- Stewart Wiener :-) "Read and weep as did Alexander Princeton Univ. EECS :-) when he beheld the glories of princeton!tilt!smw :-) Egypt." --G. Roddenberry