Vulcan! by Kathleen Sky

[Damian]

I just finished this novel and figured I'd post my thoughts. I wasn't sure if it was really appropriate to create a review thread since the book was published back in 1978 by Bantam Books. But review or not, I just completed the novel and it's always interesting reading novels from the 1970s as they only had the original series and animated series to draw from. In this story the Enterprise is sent to determine if a species of arachnids on a planet named Arachnae (yeah, I know, pretty obvious) are intelligent. Due to an unusual ion storm their star system is being pushed into Romulan space. If they are intelligent and request to remain in the Federation, apparently they would be permitted to be part of the Federation. To help them make that determination they pick up a revered exobiologist named Dr Katalya Tremain. The only problem is she has a deep bigotry against Vulcans, and she is supposed to head the team with Spock. Adding another complication, Dr. McCoy is deeply attracted to her, but he finds her bigotry distasteful to say the least. Of course there is immediate friction with Captain Kirk as well. Strengths include the treatment of the characters. Sky handles McCoy's character particularly well. While McCoy and Spock argue at the drop of a hat, he has a deep respect with Mr. Spock and while it might be easy for an author to have Dr. McCoy sympathize at least partly with Dr. Tremain, she appropriately writes his character as being deeply bothered by her reaction to Vulcans. A weakness is that there are other crewmembers on the Enterprise that apparently have a racism against Mr. Spock, something that seems out of character. She may have been drawing on Lt. Stiles from Balance of Terror, but it was my impression his bigotry was the exception and not as common as it appeared in Vulcan!. There is a scene at the end of the novel that reminds me a bit of TNG episode "The Enemy" but I won't say anymore in case anyone wants to read the novel (I don't want to give it away). Overall I found it to be a good novel. You have to read it keeping in mind the time it was written, before TMP was produced. The determination of the arachnid species was a bit of a surprise to me, something I was not expecting, and there is a pretty decent explanation of why Dr Tremain feels the way she does toward Vulcans and a pretty satisfying resolution. Finally, just as a note, I did read in Memory Alpha that Sky's story was originally considered a possible episode if Star Trek had been renewed for a 4th season, before being adapted as a novel. A book I'd recommend reading if anyone were looking at an early novel to read.

 

[Christopher]

I didn't much care for this one. Tremain is a textbook Mary Sue in the original sense of the word, a guest character who overshadows the leads only because the leads are written out of character. Spock is made to act in a totally irrational and closed-minded way, clinging to his wrong hypothesis for no logical or scientific reason, purely so that Tremain can outdo him. And I had a hard time believing that McCoy would be so forgiving of such an outright bigot just because he had the hots for her. Sure, he had his own issues with Vulcans, but not to that extreme. (Although Tremain is nowhere near as bad a Mary Sue as Elizabeth Schafer in Sky's next novel Death's Angel.)

The most interesting thing I recall about the book is the way it addresses the idea of borders in space -- the premise that they're defined in terms of magnetic field strengths, like the boundary between the Sun's heliosphere and interstellar space, and that they can therefore shift over time. That was very clever and scientifically plausible.

 

[Damian]

I didn't much care for this one. Tremain is a textbook Mary Sue in the original sense of the word, a guest character who overshadows the leads only because the leads are written out of character. Spock is made to act in a totally irrational and closed-minded way, clinging to his wrong hypothesis for no logical or scientific reason, purely so that Tremain can outdo him. And I had a hard time believing that McCoy would be so forgiving of such an outright bigot just because he had the hots for her. Sure, he had his own issues with Vulcans, but not to that extreme. (Although Tremain is nowhere near as bad a Mary Sue as Elizabeth Schafer in Sky's next novel Death's Angel.)

The most interesting thing I recall about the book is the way it addresses the idea of borders in space -- the premise that they're defined in terms of magnetic field strengths, like the boundary between the Sun's heliosphere and interstellar space, and that they can therefore shift over time. That was very clever and scientifically plausible.

I agree about Tremain overshadowing the other characters. I found myself very curious about her motivations for hating Vulcans, which helped me overlook her prominence in the novels (plus, I guess I'm used to other characters being given more 'screen time' since I've come to accept a lot of original characters in the current novels, like the relaunches and New Frontier--so having an emphasis on a non on-screen character is nothing new for me).

I actually liked her handling of McCoy in the sense that never once did I see in the novel that he approved of her bigotry. He was infatuated with her (the novel even suggests he was falling in love) and he always thought there was something underlying her bigotry, which turned out to be true.

One thing I found interesting is the resolution of the arachnids from Arachnae. I have to admit I wasn't expecting that. Spock's holding on to his hypothesis was interesting. I think Sky decided to make it a twist. I have to admit, I thought Spock would be right just because it was Spock. It was interesting that she took a different track.

And yes, the whole shifting of boundaries was quite a bit different. We always think of boundaries as fixed. I can see a star system maybe moving because of an interstellar phenomena (and of course the normal movement of stars in space) but how a boundary moved is interesting. Not to mention the idea that a system moving into Romulan space for any reason would have any say as to remaining in the Federation. Unless she was drawing from the Organian Treaty with the Klingons in some fashion.

 

[Christopher]

I agree about Tremain overshadowing the other characters. I found myself very curious about her motivations for hating Vulcans, which helped me overlook her prominence in the novels (plus, I guess I'm used to other characters being given more 'screen time' since I've come to accept a lot of original characters in the current novels, like the relaunches and New Frontier--so having an emphasis on a non on-screen character is nothing new for me).

There's nothing wrong with centering on a guest character per se. A lot of people misunderstand that about the term "Mary Sue," thinking it applies to all such instances, when it's just meant to refer to instances where it's done badly. After all, TOS was made in a time when TV dramas aspired to be like anthologies, and when the status quo for the main characters had to stay constant so that only guest characters could grow and change. So it was common at the time for episodes to be centered on their guest stars. The show that Roddenberry cited as a model for Star Trek in his original pitch, Wagon Train, was so devoted to a guest star-centered format that it actually named most of its episodes "The [Guest Character] Story." And a number of Trek episodes focused heavily on guest stars -- "Mudd's Women" was largely Eve and Harry's story, "Charlie X" was Charlie's story, "Balance of Terror" was largely the Romulan Commander's story, etc. So there was nothing wrong with early Trek novels and fan stories using the same approach and focusing on original guest characters. The original "Mary Sue" story was intended as a parody of the cases where it was done the wrong way, as merely self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing author insertion or just plain bad writing.

There are a number of early TOS novels focusing on original guest characters that I don't consider Mary Sues at all, because they're instances where the guest focus is done well -- Evan Wilson from Uhura's Song, Piper in Dreadnought!, etc. But there are other cases where the guest characters have all the hallmarks, where they're just too ridiculously glorified and the TOS leads are demeaned and distorted in order to glorify them -- including both of Sky's guest leads and Sola Thane from Triangle.

I actually liked her handling of McCoy in the sense that never once did I see in the novel that he approved of her bigotry. He was infatuated with her (the novel even suggests he was falling in love) and he always thought there was something underlying her bigotry, which turned out to be true.

I dunno, I just felt her virulent racism was repulsive and she didn't have enough positive qualities to offset it. It seemed that McCoy fell for her largely because she was physically stunning, which was kind of shallow.

One thing I found interesting is the resolution of the arachnids from Arachnae. I have to admit I wasn't expecting that. Spock's holding on to his hypothesis was interesting. I think Sky decided to make it a twist. I have to admit, I thought Spock would be right just because it was Spock. It was interesting that she took a different track.

I can see that, but it just doesn't work for me, because there was no plausible justification offered for Spock to be so inflexible. He was just arbitrarily made to behave out of character and be stubbornly blind for no reason just so that he'd be wrong. It just wasn't convincing.

 

[Damian]

There's nothing wrong with centering on a guest character per se. A lot of people misunderstand that about the term "Mary Sue," thinking it applies to all such instances, when it's just meant to refer to instances where it's done badly. After all, TOS was made in a time when TV dramas aspired to be like anthologies, and when the status quo for the main characters had to stay constant so that only guest characters could grow and change. So it was common at the time for episodes to be centered on their guest stars. The show that Roddenberry cited as a model for Star Trek in his original pitch, Wagon Train, was so devoted to a guest star-centered format that it actually named most of its episodes "The [Guest Character] Story." And a number of Trek episodes focused heavily on guest stars -- "Mudd's Women" was largely Eve and Harry's story, "Charlie X" was Charlie's story, "Balance of Terror" was largely the Romulan Commander's story, etc. So there was nothing wrong with early Trek novels and fan stories using the same approach and focusing on original guest characters. The original "Mary Sue" story was intended as a parody of the cases where it was done the wrong way, as merely self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing author insertion or just plain bad writing.

There are a number of early TOS novels focusing on original guest characters that I don't consider Mary Sues at all, because they're instances where the guest focus is done well -- Evan Wilson from Uhura's Song, Piper in Dreadnought!, etc. But there are other cases where the guest characters have all the hallmarks, where they're just too ridiculously glorified and the TOS leads are demeaned and distorted in order to glorify them -- including both of Sky's guest leads and Sola Thane from Triangle.




I dunno, I just felt her virulent racism was repulsive and she didn't have enough positive qualities to offset it. It seemed that McCoy fell for her largely because she was physically stunning, which was kind of shallow.




I can see that, but it just doesn't work for me, because there was no plausible justification offered for Spock to be so inflexible. He was just arbitrarily made to behave out of character and be stubbornly blind for no reason just so that he'd be wrong. It just wasn't convincing.

I did find it shocking at the beginning when she basically said she would not be working with a Vulcan under any circumstances. I found it sort of hard to believe Starfleet would assign her on such a delicate mission knowing she would have to work with Spock. Though Sky did make it clear she was more or less unparalleled in her field so I decided to go with it on those grounds. I found her bigotry distasteful but I figured there'd be a big reveal and resolution of that, which there was. I can see where McCoy falling for her was a bit out of character. However, I figured he (and Spock) were already impressed by her credentials and both couldn't wait to meet her, and that maybe opened the door for him to start to have feelings for her. And then he seemed to find her a damsel in distress, that combined with her appearance I guess caused him to have strong feelings. Plus he felt her bigotry was not bigotry in the traditional sense, but arose out of some potential trauma. She added a twist to the end as to why she felt that way toward Vulcans, another element I was not really expecting.

I found it interesting that when some characters who felt similarly about Vulcans came to her seeking an ally she quickly and unceremoniously rebuffed them. That also led me to believe there was more than simple bigotry going on.

The story was largely a McCoy-Tremain, then Tremain-Spock story. Kirk had a few moments but was largely relegated to an also starring role. As far as the other characters (Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura) they were virtually nonexistent.

I admit, also, some of her characterizations of Spock seemed a bit off. She had him smiling a number of times. Granted in the tv series he was known to offer a sort of smirk. But smiling. And his attempts to goad a reaction out of her with sexual innuendo was definitely out of character. As far as his belief in the arachnids intelligence. I figured his strong belief was two fold, one was his study of them previously. And when they discovered the arachnids building cities, I thought he had been vindicated. But also it was mentioned Sarek believed the opposite and it was inferred in the book that may have played a role, Spock even mentioning at one point he and his father frequently found themselves at opposing viewpoints. But yes, I'd probably add her characterizations of Spock as a weakness overall.

 

[E-DUB]

I thought her other work, "Death's Angel" was better, even though it had a "Mary Sue" character as well.

 

[Damian]

I thought her other work, "Death's Angel" was better, even though it had a "Mary Sue" character as well.

That's on my list to read as well. Up next I plan to read "World Without End". I noted on another thread in the summer I spend a lot of weekends at my camper and I typically read older Star Trek books when I'm out there. Something about being out in the woods and reading old Star Trek books seem to go well together. I believe I should be able to finish the last of my Bantam books this summer (I have 4 left).

I also have one older Pocketbooks to read yet, Killing Time, of which I got my hands on a first edition. That should be interesting reading to say the least (though I was warned by a couple people that the story itself isn't the best).

Reading Desert Kris' post about his reading the 1980's books sparked my interest in re-reading some of those myself. I think I'll take that up next for my 'summer' reading. It's been years since I read most of those. It'll be interesting to read those considering everything that's been added to the canon and novelverse since then and see how people viewed Star Trek before there was a TNG, DS9 and so on.

The Bantam books are fascinating also though, since they were written with only the original series (and animated series) to go on. I guess in some ways I give them more leeway because they had much less to go on. Perhaps I was a bit too forgiving of Vulcan! as a result. I tried not to be overly critical because of the time it was released, perhaps I was too generous.

 

[E-DUB]

Check your copy of "Killing Time". You may have a rare one there.

https://picclick.com/RARE-Star-Trek-1st-Edition-142327047952.html

 

[Damian]

Check your copy of "Killing Time". You may have a rare one there.

https://picclick.com/RARE-Star-Trek-1st-Edition-142327047952.html

Yeah, I checked it out. There was a website I found that listed some of the things to look for and I checked it out and it was all there. I actually found it in a used book store. It said first edition inside, but I wasn't sure if that meant it was the original release. So I went online to see if I did indeed have the 1st release.

That's interesting to see how much it's going for there though. I guess I got lucky. I bought it for under $4 and my copy is in pretty decent shape too. I guess the key will be does anyone fork over what they are asking for? A lot of fans may be curious about it. But are they curious enough to pay that much for it? For me personally, no. I'm glad I got a copy but I probably wouldn't have paid much more than what I did--maybe up to $10.

I got the same 'slash' fiction feel when I read the Price of the Phoenix. I kept thinking, nah, I'm probably reading too much into it, until others here noted the same thing. I still have to read the Fate of the Phoenix so it'll be interesting to see how much of that carries over.

 

[E-DUB]

Yeah, I found all three books of the Babylon 5 "Telepath Trilogy" at a library sale and those are supposed to be pretty rare.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I found all three books of the Babylon 5 "Telepath Trilogy" at a library sale and those are supposed to be pretty rare.

I have all the trilogies. The first two books of that one are pretty good, but the trilogy as a whole suffers a bit because there's a big piece of the story missing between books 2 & 3, a key event that Straczynski intended to tell later in TV or movie form and thus was just skipped over. So it isn't as cohesive overall as the other two trilogies.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Check your copy of "Killing Time". You may have a rare one there.

https://picclick.com/RARE-Star-Trek-1st-Edition-142327047952.html

$145 for Killing Time? That's CRAZY! I could see maybe $20. Don't get ripped off.

 

[Damian]

$145 for Killing Time? That's CRAZY! I could see maybe $20. Don't get ripped off.

Yeah. I'd be surprised if anyone bought it for that amount. It's a curiosity, even a rarity. But I never would have paid that amount.

I do feel lucky to have found it at a used book store for under $4 because I too could see someone who knew what they had trying to get 10 or 20 bucks for it.

 

[David Weller]

$145 for Killing Time? That's CRAZY! I could see maybe $20. Don't get ripped off.

I got this 2nd hand last year. I don’t know what edition it is but I got it off an Amazon Marketplace seller for £0.01 plus postage.

Condition is quite good.

 

[Kor]

$145 for Killing Time? That's CRAZY! I could see maybe $20. Don't get ripped off.

There is a is a story behind this. Roddenberry himself pushed Pocket Books to recall and destroy all copies of the first edition because he was angry about the Kirk/Spock sexual/romantic tension that slipped through the editorial process. So now this is a rather rare collector's item.

As for that particular listing, the price is $145 "or best offer." I've found that it's not uncommon for such listings to have the insta-buy option priced ridiculously high, possibly in hopes that a buyer would just pay it without having done research on the market value of that item, or possibly make an offer that is lower than the list price but still much higher than what the item usually goes for.

Kor

 

[E-DUB]

All collectibles markets are based on what economists call "the greater fool theory". Rare books, Lionel trains, Beanie Babies, Trek stuff, etc. Basically stated, it's this: If I'm nuts enough to pay a hundred bucks for this thing, someone else will be nuts enough to pay two hundred. Either someone with the same income as me but a greater interest in the subject or someone with the same level of interest but greater disposable income.

 

[Damian]

I got this 2nd hand last year. I don’t know what edition it is but I got it off an Amazon Marketplace seller for £0.01 plus postage.

Condition is quite good.

The below link takes you to a website where you can check to see if you have an original version, or a 'clean' version.

I checked the various pages noted below, plus mine has the original book cover cited as well.

https://lexx-the-flex.livejournal.com/877.html

 

[F. King Daniel]

I had a mint first edition, then managed to accidently rip the cover off...

 

[Desert Kris]

I'm happy to have gotten a hold of the unedited version of Killing Time; I found a copy in decent condition at a used bookstore that was priced like it was any other used paperback. I had already armed myself to look for a few tell-tale indicators: the title in a more pronounced gold, and a paragraph at the end of a chapter. I had seen the comparisons of the same passage at the end of that chapter in both versions. So when I saw the title in gold, and read the text, I knew that I had found one in good condition for a good price.

 

[Damian]

I'm happy to have gotten a hold of the unedited version of Killing Time; I found a copy in decent condition at a used bookstore that was priced like it was any other used paperback. I had already armed myself to look for a few tell-tale indicators: the title in a more pronounced gold, and a paragraph at the end of a chapter. I had seen the comparisons of the same passage at the end of that chapter in both versions. So when I saw the title in gold, and read the text, I knew that I had found one in good condition for a good price.

When I saw the copy I got at a used book store, I wasn't sure what version it was. It was the last of the numbered books I needed so I picked it up. I remember hearing something about Killing Time in the past but didn't give it much thought. Then I happened to come across something about it and checked further. I found the above website on Memory Beta and decided to check the novel I bought and lo and behold I discovered I actually got a 'first' edition. So in my case it was just fortunate happenstance.

I know even the guy who posted the website noted storywise it's not a great book. I'm going to try to get to it this summer though. I've always been fascinated by alternate timelines, so I'm hoping it's a decent story. At the very least I'll try to keep an open mind, even if the characterizations are off.