Vulcan Reading Binge

[PDX Trek]

OK, so I picked up my old copy of Spock's World by Diane Duane and gave it a long overdue re-read. (I read it when it first came out in 1986 - in hardcover.)
WOW! That is one hell of a good book. If you haven't read it, I highly reccommend it.

So I looked over my Trek library for novels about Vulcans and found The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah. It was OK, a nice example of early Trek novels and very much an 80's book.

Well, I just finished that one and picked Vulcan's Glory as my next adventure. So far, a wonderful piece of work by D.C. Fontana. I really enjoy her work - hard to go wrong with her.

What I am wondering is where to go from here... Keeping in mind that I am interested in reading about Vulcan and Vulcans, which novels shoud I read next?

 

[Geoff]

Well, if you're looking for something epic in scope, that banner is presently carried by Jo Sherman and Susan Shwartz with their series affectionately known as the "Vulcan's Noun" books:

Vulcan's Forge
Vulcan's Heart
The Vulcan's Soul trilogy: Exodus, Exiles and Epiphany.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Off the top of my head:

All by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz:

Vulcan's Forge
Vulcan's Heart
The Vulcan's Soul trilogy

J.M. Dillard:

Surak's Soul


EDIT: DAMN YOU, TROWBRIDGE!!!!!!

 

[Geoff]

Dayton Ward said:

EDIT: DAMN YOU, TROWBRIDGE!!!!!!

Oh, I've been damned for awhile now.

Another one that just came to mind is Sarek by Ann Crispin.

 

[KRAD]

If you enjoyed The Vulcan Academy Murders, you should try to track down The IDIC Epidemic, also by Jean Lorrah, which was a sequel to TVAM.

In addition to those listed above, I'd recommend The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes and Crucible: Spock: The Fire and the Rose by David R. George III.

 

[PDX Trek]

Thanks!

I am going to Powell's this week and I want to stock up on some good Vulcan reads. The " Vulcan's Noun " series is on the list.

KRAD - Thanks, I have The IDIC Epidemic and I think I will hit that after Vulcan's Glory .

Do you think we will ever see a Vulcan book series ala your Klingon books?

 

[Mysterion]

Dwellers in the Crucible by M.W. Bonnano has some interesting vulcan material in it if I remeber correctly.

 

[ClayinCA]

And of course, there's Sarek, by A.C. Crispin, and the Zar books as well (though those are not so much "Vulcan" books as they are Spock books, which is almost always good enough for me).

 

[AN_D_K]

Aw ...when I saw the subject title I thought it was the beginnings of a new drinking game.

Have a vodka everytime "as the humans would say" comes up

Down a pint whenever something like "if he was emotional he would have felt" is used

... basically drink whenever the writer attempts to communicate things across to the reader by shorthand human terms and justifying them.

 

[Trent Roman]

Knock one back whenever someone is described as arching an eyebrow.

Empty half your glass every time a Vulcan says "indeed".

Chug the whole bottle at every mind meld. (Notice: the administration recommends small bottles for any story involving known mind-meld-whore Spock.)

Slurringly express your deep, genuine amity for the person to your right whenever meditation occurs or is mentioned to have occured.



Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[AN_D_K]

Tuvok is way more a mind-meld whore. Remember back in the day when they were meant to be dangerous to non-Vulcans ...I don't think Voyager got that memo.

 

[Ronald Held]

I was unaware that there were "Vulcan" drinking games. In the interest of completeness, is that all there are?

 

[William Leisner]

^ Are you kidding? There are drinking games for every-damn-thing.

In fact, your post just required the rest of us to do jello shots.

 

[Christopher]

AN_D_K said:
Tuvok is way more a mind-meld whore. Remember back in the day when they were meant to be dangerous to non-Vulcans ...I don't think Voyager got that memo.

When were they ever meant to be dangerous to non-Vulcans? During TOS, Spock performed mindmelds or mind-touches on Simon Van Gelder, the Horta, an Eminian guard, Nomad, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Kirk again. In the movies, Kirk and McCoy underwent mindmelds. True, Spock's katra meld with McCoy posed dangers, but that was because of the katra, not the meld per se. Similarly with TNG's "Sarek" -- the danger to Picard came from Sarek's Bendii's Syndrome, not from the melding process itself.

 

[AN_D_K]

Damn, I'm going to have to watch all of TOS again to make sure of this.

 

[ClayinCA]

I wouldn't ever challenge Christopher on a point of Original Series trivia - especially not one involving Spock! For what it's worth, I believe he is correct.

 

[Ronald Held]

I do not recall anything on air that mentioned this. I may have read in novels, probably ENT based or the latest Vulcan Trilogy, that Vulcan mind melding started with the marriage meld, then because more "accepted" with other family members and then other Vulcans.
I do not think many Vulcans(by percentage) are involved in melding with non Vulcans to say either way.

 

[William Leisner]

Actually, I think it was the EMH who, the first time it was suggested Tuvok meld with someone or another, that there were risks inherent. So, yes, Voyager did get that memo... and threw it in the same wastebin with the "there can only be a limited number of shuttles aboard" memo and the "what is this bullshit about a holodeck with an incompatible power source?" memo.

 

[Christopher]

Actually I think the Doctor was consistent throughout VGR in his skepticism and concern about mindmelding. But, as with most dangerous things he advised against, people went ahead with it anyway. If anything, VGR shows that the Federation medical community had gained a greater understanding of mindmelding than it had had in TOS days.

However, the Doctor's objections were not that it was dangerous to other species; on the contrary, when the issue first came up, he was more concerned about the risk to Tuvok. From "Ex Post Facto," courtesy of Chakoteya's VGR Transcripts site:

EMH: Let me tell you something, Lieutenant. Believe it or not, I know more about mind melds than you do. I know what every Vulcan doctor has said in every study of mind melds, and I still cannot tell you what will happen if you do this. If these cycles cause damage to a human brain, there's no telling what the risk might be to a Vulcan.

And from "Meld":

Vulcan mind melds. Utter foolishness. Anybody with an ounce of sense wouldn't share his brain with someone else. Would you? I certainly wouldn't. And of course, when something goes wrong, and believe me it does more often than they'd like to admit, the first thing they call out is 'Doctor!'

So he never said it was dangerous to other species -- rather, he said that it was intrinsically a risky undertaking for the Vulcans or anyone else who participated in it. But he was something of a mother hen by nature.

(And who says there can only be a limited number of shuttles? They have replicators, don't they?)

 

[T'Bonz]

Christopher said:
when they were meant to be dangerous to non-Vulcans

From "Dagger of the Mind":

It could be dangerous.
Do you understand?
It requires I make pressure changes...
in your nerves,
your blood vessels.
You must open my mind.
Let me warn you and explain to you.
This will not affect you, Dr. McCoy,
only the person I touch.
It is not hypnosis.

Note: It's late, too late at night for me to pull the actual DVD and watch the scene. I've pulled this from an online site that had a transcript. I had remembered them saying somewhere along the way that the mind meld could be dangerous. They dropped that later, of course.