Spoilers TOS: Miasma by Greg Cox Review Thread

[Idran]

Hmm.

Put like that I can't disagree, but I don't think their reaction was that strong. (Though they can certainly speak for themselves here, I don't want to put words in their mouth.) It's not that Spock and Saavik are doing something immoral in their eyes, was the feeling I got, just more of an "ehhhhhhhhhhhh".

 

[GaryH]

hmm.. I don't think anyone is being a jerk. It is a respectful discussion on the merits of having a beloved fictional character marry a character he imprinted on as a child and who he helped raise depending on how you read The books about Saavik's childhood. Is that really jerky? No one is criticising the intentions of the creators, just the Implications of a creative choice?

Or, to put a lighter spin on it, the question is whether you think Spock and Saavik are Woody Allen and Soon-Yi or not, and if one is comfortable having to consider them like that.

 

[Christopher]

Or, to put a lighter spin on it, the question is whether you think Spock and Saavik are Woody Allen and Soon-Yi or not, and if one is comfortable having to consider them like that.

I don't think that's a reasonable comparison, because it's failing to take timing and Vulcan lifespans into account. Spock and Saavik were betrothed in 2329, at which time Spock was 99 and Saavik was 65, going by the ages on Memory Beta. They were then married and had their first (post-Genesis) pon farr in 2344, at which time Spock was 114 and Saavik was 80. Saavik was not some helpless teenager at the time they became a couple, she was a seasoned adult. Enough time had passed that the difference in their ages had become a relatively small percentage of their lifespans. It's disproportionate to make a fuss over a pseudo-parental role Spock may have acted in for a few years more than half a century earlier.

Personally, I'd have thought that people would be more creeped out by The Search for Spock showing the adult Saavik implicitly having sex with the teenaged, mindless Spock, although the functional age difference there is probably just a few years. Heck, considering that Spock did, in fact, die and get reborn in 2285, Saavik is technically the older of the two.

 

[vegaslover62]

But the reason incest taboos exist in society is because of the genetic problems that can result from inbreeding.

That's not true at all. The taboo was around LONG before we discovered the genetics involved.

 

[Christopher]

That's not true at all. The taboo was around LONG before we discovered the genetics involved.

I'm speaking more from an evolutionary-behaviorist perspective. There's a theory that the reason we have a natural aversion to incest is because it was evolutionarily beneficial to develop such an aversion, whether we understood the underlying principles or not. If populations that engage freely in incest have more birth defects and harmful traits in their offspring than populations that avoid incest, then the latter group will procreate more successfully, and thus aversion to incest will be selected for by evolution. Although, granted, there are other theories.

Still, none of this has any bearing on Spock and Saavik, because they are not biologically related.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

For the first time since Easter, I got a day off so I was finally able to read Miasma.

I'll echo what others have said; this feels like an episode of a movie-era TV show and that's a good thing.

The Spock/McCoy interactions were in top form and a pleasure to read. I totally pictured Kirstie Alley as Saavik in this and much preferred this depiction of the character than the one presented in Unspoken Truth. With TOS characters, Greg can do no wrong, in my opinion.

I pictured the leeches as creatures that would fit right in with the nuTrek films.

After the landing party comes up with the blood spray repellent, my first thought was the "Guts" episode of the Walking Dead.

Was Yost's ancestor a character or extra on ENT or in one of the ENT novels?

All in all, a fun, fast read for my day off. Thanks, Greg!

 

[Greg Cox]

Was Yost's ancestor a character or extra on ENT or in one of the ENT novels?

All in all, a fun, fast read for my day off. Thanks, Greg!

Glad you liked it. But, no, I just made up the bit about Yost being third-generation Starfleet to flesh him out a bit. I didn't grab the name from ENTERPRISE.

 

[Gate11au]

Ok just finished this book and loved it Have been in the post TV series rebooted uni for a while and it was nice to come back to TOS and this short story was a great way to do that, I love the plant of the week stuff lol and i am a fan of movie era i was a fan of the DC comic of that time tho i never had copies of my own
(Must look in to getting them) Hopping for more of this time frame for the Books.
But as E-novela's go this is one of my Favourites and Thank you Greg for writing it so well.
Another great job

Altho i have started trying to remember what book deals with the larger Spock and saavik relationship i remember reading some but it was a long time ago and after reading this i am thinking of going back if only i could remember the books and reading order. I do hate that i have read so many trek book that i can't remember them.

 

[Greg Cox]

Ok just finished this book and loved it Have been in the post TV series rebooted uni for a while and it was nice to come back to TOS and this short story was a great way to do that, I love the plant of the week stuff lol and i am a fan of movie era i was a fan of the DC comic of that time tho i never had copies of my own
(Must look in to getting them) Hopping for more of this time frame for the Books.
But as E-novela's go this is one of my Favourites and Thank you Greg for writing it so well.
Another great job

Altho i have started trying to remember what book deals with the larger Spock and saavik relationship i remember reading some but it was a long time ago and after reading this i am thinking of going back if only i could remember the books and reading order. I do hate that i have read so many trek book that i can't remember them.

You may be thinking of VULCAN'S HEART by Susan Shwartz and Josepha Sherman.

Glad you liked MIASMA!

 

[Leto_II]

Ok just finished this book and loved it Have been in the post TV series rebooted uni for a while and it was nice to come back to TOS and this short story was a great way to do that, I love the plant of the week stuff lol and i am a fan of movie era i was a fan of the DC comic of that time tho i never had copies of my own
(Must look in to getting them)

You might consider getting the Star Trek: The Complete Comic Collection DVD-ROM, which contains virtually every single last ST comic book ever published, from 1967 all the way up through the end of the Wildstorm run in the early 2000s (IDW's stuff isn't included):

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Co...3706&sr=8-1&keywords=star+trek+comics+dvd-rom

Every DC Comics TOS movie-era issue is there, including their long-running Enterprise-A series (which is when Miasma is set), in digital form.

Very, very nice resource, and I consult it all the time.

Hopping for more of this time frame for the Books

Definitely -- John Jackson Miller's upcoming Star Trek: Prey novel-trilogy looks to be jointly set aboard the Enterprise-A, and hopefully we'll be getting more tales from that era coming down the road, here:

 

[Bibliomike]

Now there's a book that gets a positive judgment from the cover!

 

[Gate11au]

You might consider getting the Star Trek: The Complete Comic Collection DVD-ROM, which contains virtually every single last ST comic book ever published, from 1967 all the way up through the end of the Wildstorm run in the early 2000s (IDW's stuff isn't included):

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Co...3706&sr=8-1&keywords=star+trek+comics+dvd-rom

Every DC Comics TOS movie-era issue is there, including their long-running Enterprise-A series (which is when Miasma is set), in digital form.

Very, very nice resource, and I consult it all the time.

OMG i am so getting this thank you no no more hunting to boxes getting bits of the comics and never reading the end

You may be thinking of VULCAN'S HEART by Susan Shwartz and Josepha Sherman.

Glad you liked MIASMA!

I will look that book up and thank you

 

[JWolf]

I just finished Miasma last night and I rather enjoyed it. One thing I really enjoyed was that the Saavik written about was the Kirstie Alley Saavik which is my preferred Saavik.

 

[Christopher]

I just finished Miasma last night and I rather enjoyed it. One thing I really enjoyed was that the Saavik written about was the Kirstie Alley Saavik which is my preferred Saavik.

I seem to remember Greg saying at Shore Leave that he flipflopped over whether he was imagining Alley's Saavik or Curtis's. I imagine he kept it vague enough that you could read it any way you preferred. (And really, how else could you do it? In-universe, they're the same person.)

 

[jaime]

I seem to remember Greg saying at Shore Leave that he flipflopped over whether he was imagining Alley's Saavik or Curtis's. I imagine he kept it vague enough that you could read it any way you preferred. (And really, how else could you do it? In-universe, they're the same person.)

She only changed because there was protomatter in her volumising shampoo.

 

[marlboro]

Just finished this one last night. I enjoyed it. I'll echo what others have said by saying that I enjoy these ebook novellas because they often feel like episodes of the show.

Some random thoughts:

If I were just to describe the plot of the story it wouldn't sound like much. What makes it worthwhile, imo, is the fact that the author writes the characters perfectly. Lots of great Spock-McCoy moments. Nostalgia plays a lot into why I love Trek. Reading a book like this is like revisiting old friends.

I like that we get to see a hellish world full of predators. We see plenty of inhospitable planets in Trek but due to budget restraints we rarely see ones that make you think "I think we've boldly gone a bit too far. Nuke this place from orbit and let's head back to Earth."

Uhura's final translation didn't result in her saying "It's a COOKBOOK!" but the truth about the planet may have been almost as horrifying. Those creatures were pretty gnarly.

My only complaint? The title. It just doesn't grab me. It's the equivalent of naming the book "Ennui" or "Malaise" or " meh. " If there is a sequel, maybe they should go with something a little more bold like "Blood Feud 2: The Suckening. " That's a joke, obviously, but be honest: wouldn't you pick a book off a shelf with that title before you picked up one called Miasma? Sometimes stupid but eye-catching is preferable to sensible but inconspicuous.

P.S. This book is available at Amazon for $2.99 right now. So it's not just good, it's a good deal.

 

[JD]

I just finished reading this last night, and I enjoyed it. I agree with what a lot of other people here have said about it feeling like an episode.
The novella length keeps it being able to go real deep with things, but what we got here was still good.
The characterizations were a highlight, especially the stuff with McCoy & Spock on the planet.
I've always liked Saavik, so it was nice to get some stuff with her here. I think I must be the only person on here who pictured Robin Curtis. I actually saw The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home before I saw The Wrath of Khan, so I tend to default to Curtis whenever I come across Saavik.
The planet and the giant leeches were definitely creepy. I've always wished we got more strange creatures in the books, and the leeches in this, did a good job of scratching that itch.
I voted above average.

 

[Damian]

I just finished reading this last night, and I enjoyed it. I agree with what a lot of other people here have said about it feeling like an episode.
The novella length keeps it being able to go real deep with things, but what we got here was still good.
The characterizations were a highlight, especially the stuff with McCoy & Spock on the planet.
I've always liked Saavik, so it was nice to get some stuff with her here. I think I must be the only person on here who pictured Robin Curtis. I actually saw The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home before I saw The Wrath of Khan, so I tend to default to Curtis whenever I come across Saavik.
The planet and the giant leeches were definitely creepy. I've always wished we got more strange creatures in the books, and the leeches in this, did a good job of scratching that itch.
I voted above average.

Yeah, I enjoyed it as well. First, I always like stories that take place after TFF. There are very few books that take place in that era. And I love thrillers and horror movies and this gets into creepy territory for sure. I read it a few years back but can still remember it pretty well.

IIRC it was written around the same time as Greg's other post-TFF novel, Foul Deeds Will Rise, another good read if you haven't read it (and, of course, another post-TFF novel).

Part of me wished this was a full length novel, but part of me liked it just the way it was. Sometimes short stories can be more exciting because the story has to move quickly.

 

[Greg Cox]

Part of me wished this was a full length novel, but part of me liked it just the way it was. Sometimes short stories can be more exciting because the story has to move quickly.

Honestly, I don't think there was enough plot to sustain an entire novel. It started out as a pitch for a 50-minute VOYAGER episode after all, so it was better suited to a short story or novelette in prose.

 

[Damian]

Honestly, I don't think there was enough plot to sustain an entire novel. It started out as a pitch for a 50-minute VOYAGER episode after all, so it was better suited to a short story or novelette in prose.

Yeah, reading it I can't really pick out anything that makes me think it could have been developed further without just being 'fluff' or some secondary story going on at the same time. It was good just the way it is. Probably part of it was that it was a post-TFF story, and I can't get enough of those Christopher seemed to have taken up the post-TMP mantle with his Ex Machine series. Maybe he'll continue that to the post-TFF time period at some point in the future

But your comment made me think of novels in general. I know sometimes I've thought of them as just episodes of the series, but in reality, they are probably more like mini-series. When I think of A Contest of Principles, for instance, there's no way I can see that fitting into a 45-50 minute episode. At minimum it'd probably take up to 3-2 hour segments to cover the plot. Ditto for many other novels. Whereas Miasma could likely adapted to a 1 hour show.