TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Sho]

​

Jeff Mariotte has been busy, turning in his second TOS novel within one year on April 28th - just two days shy of last year's street data for The Folded World. This new one, titled Serpents in the Garden, is a follow-up to the TV story "A Private Little War" from the show's second season.

Blurb's got the details:

Early in his five-year mission commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk found himself caught up in a grow*ing conflict on the planet Neural. To maintain the balance of power against a force being armed by the Klingons, he provided weapons to his new friends, the Hill People. Years later, Admiral Kirk learns that the Klingon presence on Neu*ral has grown considerably, and in possible violation of the Treaty of Organia. Did his impulse as a young captain turn out disastrously wrong? Could he have done more to eliminate the Klingon threat? To find out, Kirk must embark on a secret mission back to Neural—where he might just be the only person who can prevent an interstellar war. . . .

No excerpt, unfortunately.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

^"A Private Little War" should be in quotes not italics.

 

[Sho]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Fixed.

 

[Reanok]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I ordered this book early and hope to get it next week.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I will go to a B&N to pick a copy up.

 

[JD]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I'm not real familiar with Jeff Marriott's work, so I'm going to wait and see what kind of reaction this one gets around here before I decide if I want to read it.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I'm not real familiar with Jeff Marriott's work, so I'm going to wait and see what kind of reaction this one gets around here before I decide if I want to read it.

Same here. TOS books are the only ones I don't automatically buy (though I do wind up getting most of them in time).

 

[Reanok]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I read Jeff Mariotte's TOS novel The Folded world last year.It was okay but not one of favorite novels.I rate it as average for a Tos novel. I didn't really like some of the Enterprise sercurity crewmembers in this book fighting over the same woman in that book. It was Too much like a soap opera storyline.

 

[Leto_II]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Definitely sounds like a movie-era novel, then (the references to "Admiral Kirk," and Kirk being a "young captain" during the events of the TV episode), as opposed to a Lost Years-era book, as was a speculated possibility.

 

[ClayinCA]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Never liked "A Private Little War" very much, but I like Jeff Mariotte's work and I'm a sucker for any movie-era novel not written by Marshak & Culbreath, so I'll be picking this up.

 

[Jeff_Mariotte]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Two notes: There is actually an excerpt on the Amazon page now (though it ends not just mid-sentence, but mid-word), and here's a post I wrote recently about my long history with Star Trek publishing. Thought it might be of interest to some of the folks here.

Thanks for your interest in the book!

Edited to add: The book takes place a few months before ST:TMP. So just slightly pre-movie era.

And edited again, to add: Oddly, the excerpt is only on the mass market paperback Amazon page, not on the Kindle Amazon page. Go figure.

 

[Jeri]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Thanks, Jeff! I love TOS and TOS novels; I'll be checking it out.

 

[Defcon]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Two notes: There is actually an excerpt on the Amazon page now (though it ends not just mid-sentence, but mid-word), and here's a post I wrote recently about my long history with Star Trek publishing. Thought it might be of interest to some of the folks here.

FWIW The excerpt on the Simon and Schuster site doesn't stop mid-word.

http://books.simonandschuster.com/S...rek-The-Original-Series/9781476749655/excerpt

 

[Reanok]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Interesting chapter I like stories that take place during the TOS movie era.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Two notes: There is actually an excerpt on the Amazon page now (though it ends not just mid-sentence, but mid-word), and here's a post I wrote recently about my long history with Star Trek publishing. Thought it might be of interest to some of the folks here.

Thanks for your interest in the book!

Edited to add: The book takes place a few months before ST:TMP. So just slightly pre-movie era.

And edited again, to add: Oddly, the excerpt is only on the mass market paperback Amazon page, not on the Kindle Amazon page. Go figure.

Welcome, Jeff! If you let moderators know you're here, they can change your title to "Writer" to match some of your colleagues who also post on this forum.

--Sran

 

[YubYubCommander]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I got my copy tonight and will probably start reading it tomorrow

 

[YubYubCommander]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Just finished the first chapter and I have to admit I nearly fell out laughing at Kirk's nickname at Academy

Spoiler: Nickname

"A Stack of Books With Legs." The nickname and Kucera's description of him just didn't ft with how I've always viewed Kirk

 

[Christopher]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

^That description of Kirk is from the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." See also "Shore Leave," where Kirk said that in his Academy days he "was absolutely grim."

 

[trampledamage]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

Two notes: There is actually an excerpt on the Amazon page now (though it ends not just mid-sentence, but mid-word), and here's a post I wrote recently about my long history with Star Trek publishing. Thought it might be of interest to some of the folks here.

Thanks for your interest in the book!

Edited to add: The book takes place a few months before ST:TMP. So just slightly pre-movie era.

And edited again, to add: Oddly, the excerpt is only on the mass market paperback Amazon page, not on the Kindle Amazon page. Go figure.

Welcome, Jeff! If you let moderators know you're here, they can change your title to "Writer" to match some of your colleagues who also post on this forum.

--Sran

Yep - send T'Bonz a PM and she'll organise it for you. Welcome to the forum Jeff, I hope you have a good time here.

 

[YubYubCommander]

Re: TOS: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte Review Thread (Spoile

I'm about halfway through with it and I've gotta say I'm enjoying it a lot more than The Folded World. The story is a lot better in my opinion. I'll post more thoughts when I hopefully unsigned it tonight