Weirdest Trek novel

[I am not Herbert]

My nomination for weirdest Trek novel goes to:

Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell
Pocketbooks #65 1993

Kirk and Chekov go thru a "Guardian of Forever" type frame on a now uninhabited planet. This transforms them into crab-like crustaceans on the other side of said planet. Most of the book is the Enterprise crew slowly figuring out these crabs are our missing crew on the one hand, on the other we see things from the POV of Kirk and Chekov as they inhabit these crab bodies and try to figure out how to operate their bodies and get rescued. WTF?

Hair-raising premise but an excellent book, actually. The description of what it would be like to have your consciousness trapped within an entirely different type of creature, with its own autonomic system, etc was very well done. Although the premise is weird on its face, it shouldn't be put into the category of the Black Fire's of the world, and other campy-but-fun books. Windows isn't campy at all, and at some point begins to feel, dare I say, plausible?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Perhaps I missed it but I’m pretty surprised no one has mentioned “Nightfire” yet.

Spock becomes a pirate, the enterprise is threatened by people flying modern rockets, Spock is kept as a space cavewoman’s pet, someone writes love poetry about Spock, and Spock goes to prison. The author was obviously in love with Nimoy

I think you might be thinking of Black Fire, which is where Spock becomes a pirate. I don't remember the rockets or the cavewoman's pet stuff, but it's been a minute since I read it.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I've read Black Fire a few times; I suppose that (like Death's Angel, and maybe even Spock: Messiah) it might even qualify as a "guilty pleasure."

I don't think I've read Intellivore more than once or twice, but the very title itself is a callback to The Romulan Way. Diane Duane is brilliant.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

You mean Black Fire by Sonni Cooper

Ah yes Black Fire, sorry for the misnomer. I also recall it took days for the Enterprise to fly around the sun

 

[Christopher]

I also recall it took days for the Enterprise to fly around the sun

Oh, yeah. That bugged me too.