Cold Wars Synopsis: Missing for two hundred millennia, the legendary Iconians have returned, bringing with them the secret of interdimensional teleportation across vast interstellar distances. Awakened once more, their ancient Gateways are rewriting the map of the galaxy, and nowhere more than in the New Frontier®.... A century ago, the imperial Thallonians separated two feuding alien races, depositing each of them on a new world safely distant from that of their ancestral enemies. Now, however, the Gateways have made it possible for the long dormant blood feud to begin anew. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun of the U.S.S. Excalibur and his partner, Captain Elizabeth Shelby of the U.S.S. Trident, find themselves fighting a losing battle to keep the horrific violence from escalating, even as they gradually realize the catastrophic danger posed by the Gateways themselves! I admit that I never read any of the other GATEWAYS series nor am I probably going to any time soon. However, I didn't read this as part of the NEW FRONTIERS series and that's a crying shame. I don't know where this fits into the larger timeline but I hadn't read it and was feeling the need for a brain reset before I started on my fourth SPACE ACADEMY book (that's a series I write, not one that I read). The premise is a fairly interesting one that sort of embodies the spirit of the New Frontier books, which is that it takes the idea of a Next Generation starship, puts them through Captain Kirk-esque adventures, and then puts a zany kind of Loony Toons twist on it all by having the crew be self-aware comedians ala Buffy the Vampire Slayer or a more subdued version of Lower Decks. It is not a lie to say that this is probably the biggest influence on my writing other than possibly the Star Wars Legends books by Timmy Zahn or Michael Stackpole. By what I mean by Captain Kirk-esque adventures, the premise is that there's two species that want to annihilate each other and our heroes sort of blunder into their ancient millennia long feud. Captain Calhoun's heavy handed style and dozens of violations of Starfleet protocol actually go beyond Kirk and his usual self this time around to the point that I felt the book suffered for it. He's always been one to play fast and loose with the rules in the way Kirk has been accused of but was never guilty but it seemed especially egregious this time. However, I actually liked the mystery of the story as two Iconians (or one?) are apparently trying to arm the sides against one another. The funny thing being that both sides figure this out almost immediately and both the Iconians seem genuinely surprised by it. Sadly, the actual "meat" of the plot or whatever they were planning on doing is left for other books to explain. I must admit it's interesting to see various Trek books different takes on things like the Iconians since I'm mostly familiar with the Star Trek Online version that is very different from the bumbling salesmen here. The biggest appeal of the book is the inclusion of M'Ress and Arex from Star Trek: The Animated Series. I'm very glad that Lower Decks has been going a long way to reintroduce the concepts and characters of that period of Trek history back into canon. Here, Peter David found the perfect place for both of them and I actually felt M'Ress' story was poignant. It reminded me, unsurprisingly, of the handling of Claire Raymond ("The Neutral Zone") by Christopher Bennett (@Christopher) in his Department of Temporal Investigation books. There's also a handling of a "elf" race's "Knack" that basically functions a bit like the story he told about the Deltans in his RISE OF THE FEDERATION books. Unfortunately, the idea being that it may work like a date rape drug. It's a rather nasty and horrifying topic for a Star Trek novel that is otherwise fairly light hearted and humorous. You know, aside from the genocidal religious war and murder of a girl's family in front of her--wait, nevermind. Either way, I found it to be a solid and entertaining part of the series with some of my favorite moments from the series.
Star Trek: New Frontier: Renaissance Book 10 Synopsis: The ship is only a memory, but the drama unfolds.... The U.S.S. Excalibur has been obliterated. Its captain, Mackenzie Calhoun is gone. Now the surviving crew members are dispersed throughout the galaxy, seeking to forge new lives in the wake of the Excalibur's destruction. For Dr. Selar, the ship's former medical officer, that means facing a very personal crisis. Following the birth of her child, the Vulcan doctor returned to her homeworld, determined to raise the child exclusively in the way of logic. But the child's father, the Hermat Lieutenant Commander Burgoyne, has hir own views regarding their offspring's future, and s/he intends to fight for hir paternal rights, even if it means appealing to the highest authorities of two worlds! Elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, Lieutenant Robin Lefler and her enigmatic mother travel to the pleasure planet Risa where they encounter a genuine Starfleet legend.... Analysis: I'm using the German language cover of the book because, well, it looks awesome and is a lot better cover than the English language version. Odd fact, Robin Lefler AKA Ashley Judd used to be my babysitter in Kentucky. Yes, I grew up in Ashland, Ky and she and my family were quite close or at least my parents were with her mother. So I am one degree separated from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Basically, this continues the three-book Excalibur plot that follows the crew as they're separated from each other by the events of Requiem. In this case, it is Burgoyne, Doctor Selar, Robin Lefler, her mother, and a certain part of Thallonian royals. I'm not actually a fan of the crew being separated like this and feel like it should have been one big huge book but this came out in 2001, so I'm not exactly in a position to complain. Part of what I like about the book, though, is that it does tackle very un-Trekkian sort of things like a custody battle with Burgoyne and Doctor Selar. Frankly, it hasn't aged well as a plot, though. In addition to Burgoyne sexually harassing the Doctor for the first few books, their desire to involve themselves in the life of a child conceived during Pon Farr that he has only a biological link to hasn't exactly aged well. Basically, I'm going to be blunt that I think the relationship between these two is probably my least favorite part of New Frontier as a whole. I never liked the two of them together and they sort of make each other look worse, even with child on the way (especially with a child on the way). Which is a shame because Bugoyne is a character that has become more relevant with the introduction of non-binary people. Really, though, the best part of the book is definitely the Risa story. I don't know what it is about Risa but I find it a place where some of my favorite Star Trek stories are set. Yes, even the one where Worf becomes a terrorist. I think it's just the juxtaposition of the fact there's a vacation planet and everyone loves this world with the fact that it is apparently also a place no one can ever get any decent vacation time in. Perhaps also the fact that the utopian Federation is so nice that you kind of wonder why a vacation planet even exists. Mind you, I hope what I heard that Risa was based on Hawaii isn't true, though. Because, really, tourism is such a colonialist awful influence on that island and its natives that it becomes in incredibly poor taste. But the real appeal of the book is SCOTTY! Yes, James Montgomery Scott himself, now tending bar on Risa and enjoying his retirement in a way that I think sounded a lot better than him going off to a nursing home planet. Certainly, it has a lot more dignity and the fact that "Relic" suffered from a lot of ageism (the idea that old people didn't have anything to contribute in a futuristic world) was a pretty awful one. Here, at least, I think he's having fun and while I'm glad later books put him back in engineering, I think being a bartender isn't the worst thing he could do in his elder years. It's a shame he and Morgan Primus didn't hook up, though. 8/10
Wait a minute. I've never seen that cover, did I miss a book. No, it's the German cover. Kind of a Nighthawks vibe, eh?
Star Trek: New Frontier: Restoration Book 11 Synopsis: The ever resourceful Captain Mackenzie Calhoun abruptly finds himself at a loss—marooned on he primitive outback world of Yakaba after his ship, Excalibur, is destroyed by deadly sabotage. He is separated from his loyal first officer, Shelby, who has gone one to command the Exeter and is certain that Calhoun has been blasted into oblivion. On Yakaba's dry frontier, Calhoun meets and befriends Shula, an extraordinary woman beset by enemies trying to control or destroy her and her gift—summoning rain to her parched homeland. Trapped on this hostile world, unable to relay to his people that he survived their ship's cataclysm, Calhoun must stand against countless adversaries who will stop at nothing to gain power or keep it from others. Life and death hang in the balance. Out in the distance, mourning but determined to move on, Shelby must discover what sort of captain she really is. Analysis: This is the Western installment of the New Frontier series and I mean that in the most direct TOS sort of way. There's a big desert planet, an evil cattle baron, and Captain Calhoun comes down to become the new Sheriff in town. I actually love when Star Trek does this sort of stuff because as nonsensical and weird as it is, it is fully the kind of genre-bending I enjoy. It also doesn't take place in a holodeck and I give props for that. I don't really have a problem with Star Trek being on the sillier side of things, blasphemy as that may be. I am happy to have our protagonists visit Wild West Planet, Medieval Planet, Gangster Planet, Cyberpunk Planet, or whatever else sort of planet we need for this weeks budget. Contrivances be damned. It's one of the major appeals of New Frontier that they're willing to put a bunch of TNG-era characters in TOS sort of situations and really is the ethos of the entire series. But is the story really good for Mac? Surprisingly, I'd say so because there's some very interesting character development for him. His single-target sexuality (Kat Mueller aside) to Shelby is challenged by the possibility of falling in love with the Girl-of-The-Week but the big difference is that it leaves him with huge consequences: a son that he chooses and raise as his own. I thought that was a brave decision of Peter David and it leads to some very interesting encounters along the way as Mac is forced to confront his biological son seeing his adopted one. Random aside, I actually liked the romance of Mac and Rheela because Peter David writes the former as a man capable in all areas except romance. Mac has been with, as far as we can tell, three women in his life with his awkwardness extremely apparent when he's in a romantic situation. There's the girl he lost his virginity to, Shelby, Kat, and now the "determined homesteader" archetype. Mac is confidant everywhere but here and it's really rather sweet to see how they bond while she struggles to deal with the fact he's uncomfortable with her overtures. The story goes in a very odd direction with the fact that Rheela had an affair with Odin and her rain-making son is the result. That'll come up later but is the kind of absolute batguano insanity that reminds you that Peter David is a comic book writer even when he's writing novels. It's also what contributes to making New Frontier so unique. Even more so, I like Shelby's plot in the book and her proof that she is worthy of being a Star Fleet captain who is going to save an entire race from genocide. Even more so, she works to try to prevent a war. The Prime Directive looms over this one a great deal but understandably so. I also feel like her First Officer really shouldn't ever be a captain by the way they act regarding Shelby's decisions. Basically, they just tut-tut about the rules and constantly miss anything deeper, which is exactly the opposite of what a captain is supposed to do. To sit in the big chair, you have to interpret them in a way that goes beyond rote repetition. In any case, this is a good "ending" for the series with the reunification of the crew as well as Shelby accepting they're her family even if she has her own command. I'm going to have some "issues" sadly with where the story goes from here.
I enjoyed that book. It seemed to me at the time to be an "homage" to the movie Support Your Local Sheriff.
That movie was itself a parody of a common Western formula seen in films like High Noon and Rio Bravo. Is there anything in the book that connects it specifically to the James Garner movie as opposed to the broader formula?
Been twenty years since I read the book and saw movie, so might have been a case of recency of both making the connection. I think at the time it was the similarities of a stranger coming to town, insisting they were just passing thru and end up becoming the sheriff and helping out against their best efforts to avoid involvement. Think there might have been a prison cell sequence that was similar in both too, but that could be a faulty memory.
Yeah, I'm inclined to think this is a homage to Wild West tropes in general as opposed to anything in particular. Mac plays the role of the Sheriff from out of town dealing with the local bullies but that has been done so many times with so many variations that you can't say any particular story beats stand out. I do like when Star Trek pays homage to Western roots, though, and explained to my wife that Deep Space Nine was essentially a "Wild West town in space" with Quark as the Al Swearengen-esque brothel owner. Really, though, I think the standout story of this book was actually Shelby's and I wish I'd gone into it more. The premise of her story being that someone attempts to kill an alien race with a biologically engineered swarm of locusts that Starfleet helps deal with before planning to leave. Shelby and company figure out its actually a genocide attempt and feel very pleased with themselves, only to find out the aliens who were almost wiped out want to (understandably) take revenge. Oops, you caused a war. Shelby manages to avert everything by sticking herself in the middle of the conflict (literally) and the genocidal aliens give up the scientists involved in the genocide attempt (while the leader gets away scott free). It's an interesting ending and I feel like something that works very well because it has a ring of truth that justice sometimes has to be sacrificed for peace. It reminds me a bit of ONCE BURNED with a happier ending as the "bad ending" of the story would be if the villains of the story were slaughtered by the good guys--which shows you what Star Trek's morality is all about.
I've not seen it, but a friend who has says he thought Restoration owed more than a little to Oblivion, the low-budget sci-fi western Peter David wrote about a decade earlier.
No Limits Anthology Synopsis: In 1997, Star Trek: New Frontier® debuted and became an instant sensation, chronicling the exciting adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the U.S.S. Excalibur, as told by New York Times bestselling author Peter David. Now, over a dozen books later, Peter David has gathered some of the finest Star Trek authors to tell new tales of the Excalibur crew. Analysis: No Limits is an anthology of New Frontier stories written, mostly, by people other than Peter David. I think this is a good thing because while it's a great thing to have your OG Star Trek characters achieve the kind of love that the New Frontier ones have, it's another thing entirely that they're loved enough that other authors want to play with your toys. It's a status that only a few spin-off characters ever achieve like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Darth Revan. Generally speaking, all of the short stories are character pieces that give us a sense of who these people are. Some of them being slightly different (or at lot different) than Peter David treats them. Others are similar enough that it was hard to tell the difference between his writing versus other people's. Which is a compliment to the strong nature of the characters and storytelling. I will say, using Shelby and Selar is something of a cheat since both of them have origins in TNG. "Loose Ends" by Dayton Ward: I've always loved "The Pegasus" episode and frankly, like Admiral Jellico himself, there's a very good argument Admiral Pressman was right in his conclusions even if he's wrong in the cowardly way he abandoned his crew. Mac does a great James Bond impression here and works better as a secret agent than Julian Bashir, that I never felt really fit into S31 even beyond the moral issues. "All that Glistens" by Loren L. Colemen: A TNG Shelby story rather than a Peter David's Shelby. As much as I love the character, I like remembering the hyper-competent badass from "The Best of Both Worlds" and think she would have made an excellent Number One if Patrick Stewart had left. "Waiting for G'Doh" by David Mack: This is an absolutely hilarious story and a sign that David Mack definitely "gets" New Frontier humor. The idea of Kebron as a park statue is so hilarious that it warrants full marks. The ending is especially awesome. Deneva. Hehe. Lefler's Logs" by Robert Greenberger: I've always been a fan of Robin Lefler (Ashley Judd was my babysitter in RL). This is a good and sweet story about her character and incorporating her weird relationship with Morgan Primus. "Alice, On the Edge of Night" by Ilsa J. Bick: Morgan Primus is an interesting character and while she's now divided from being Una Chen-Riley, probably for the best, I really like how dark this story is. It's the story of an immortal abandoning their family and that's always been a creepy idea. I remember a Twilight Zone episode that was particularly dark about it. "Revelations" by Keith R.A. DeCandido: I love Soleta. In an entirely unhealthy geek romantic way illegal in most countries. She's my favorite Star Trek Expanded Universe OC aside from T'Ryssa Chen and T'Prynn. Which, come to think of it, makes a disturbing pattern. I really enjoyed Soleta getting flat out ticked at the not-so-subtle attempts at flirting that Security Chief Chan Pak tries to make. KRAD really gets the character. It's also the best one of the book, IMHO, because it deals with Soleta dealing with such a traumatic revelation of her parentage as well as how it ruins her friendship with Worf (who hates Romulans). "Turning Point" by Josepha Sherman: This is a good story about how Si Cwan eventually became known as the People's Royal. I like this story as it is a good tale of someone becoming aware of their privilege and the systemic abuses that are inherent in the system. All without a Monty Python reference. "Qunadry" by Terri Osborne: I like Q stories and seeing Selar dropped into the Q Civil War from VOY was a very big surprise for how unexpected it was. I also enjoyed the incorporation of a certain human-born Q. Oil and Water by Robert T. Jeschonek: Burgoyne tries to deal with what he assumes is a bigoted non-gendered race to stop a dangerous rogue alien artifact. In fact, it's about the fact that said alien is a pacifist, which is a nice subversion. "Singularity" by Christina F. York: A pretty good story about Mark McHenry accidentally skewing a scientific experiment because his supernatural piloting skills make a project seem easier than it actually is. "The Road to Edos" by Kevin Dilmore: This is my second favorite story in the anthology with Arex of TAS being the incredibly helpful alien friend to a guy who is utterly unqualified for his job. Seriously, you'd think he'd at least learn the guy's homeworld before he started taking him home. "A Lady of Xenex" by Peg Robinson: I really enjoyed this D'ndee story because I've always felt that Macs brother was one of the more interesting and genuinely morally ambiguous figures of the setting. Mac thinks of him as a collaborator with their former oppressors and weasal, and maybe he is to an extent, but the narrative never says he's WRONG about any of his conclusions. "Making a Difference" by Mary Scott-Wiecek: A really tragic story of the Excalibur versus the Borg. It has a genuinely terrible moment where someone is captured by the Borg asking for her husband and soon will be condemned to a fate worse than death. It's a depressing but very well-written story. "Performance Appraisal" by Allyn Gibson: I'm a bit iffier on this one because while I love the character of Kat Mueller, this feels more like a Tomalak story. Especially since Kat Mueller never really wants command and is closer to a security officer. On the other hand, I love Tomalak and feel he's a dramatically underused Star Trek villain when he's arguably Picard's archenemy. "Redemption" by Glenn Hauman and Lisa Sullivan: An interesting story about the idea the Great God Xant of the Redeemers is literally true (or maybe it's the dying hallucination of a man) and that the Redeemers might be, well, redeemed if someone were to reach out to them. It feels a bit more Terry Pratchett than Star Trek. "Out of the Frying Pan" by Susan Shwartz: Soleta and Spock try to escape some Ferengi pirates when their friend tries to sell them into slavery to cover his gambling debts. I kind of wish this was a Saavik/Spock story but otherwise really enjoyed it. The captain of the ship is utterly contemptible, though. "Through the Looking Glass" by Susan Wright: I really liked this story about Burogyne making a lover of hir jealous and getting a psychic rock as revenge. I wish we'd gotten more insight into what the woman was trying to accomplish by screwing with them, though. "A Little Getaway" by Peter David: Obviously, this is by Peter David and I love this handling of Mac and Shelby's romance. Shelby wants to prove herself by Xenexian standards and the Xenexians are playing headgames with him that I absolutely would want Mac to throw them off a cliff for. Still, very humorous and very fun.
I have still have books to read after this, to say the least, but am curious whether people would like to see me continue my re-reads. I was debating VANGUARD, KLINGON EMPIRE, or THE DEPARTMENT OF TEMPORAL INVESTIGATIONS next.
First off, @Charles Phipps, thanks for the kind words about the anthology in general (which I did most of the work putting together) and about "Revelations." The story originally had a "contemporary" framing sequence with Ambassador Worf being ferried on the Excalibur to a diplomatic mission and having a reunion with Kebron, McHenry, and Soleta, and also doing his calisthenics program with Calhoun on the holodeck. We wound up cutting it for space, but if you want to hear that frame, I read the full version of the story in my KRAD COVID readings series in 2020. Secondly, there are a few misspellings in your post: it's Josepha Sherman, not Joseph, it's Christna F. York, not Fork, it's Ilsa J. Bick, not Isla, it's Terri Osborne, not Osbourne, and the protagonist of Kevin Dilmore's story is Arex not the Greek god of war.
My bad. I knew I should have double checked the work but I was sadly working from my Kindle app not a physical copy and constantly trying to go back and forth in a hurry since I decided to add the authors names to the post after I finished the post. If we could pretend those never existed, I'd really appreciate it. Fixed. The first rule of writing is to always make sure anything to be seen by the public is triple checked and never rush your work. The second is to never multitask while doing so. So my fault there. Arex forgive me for associating you with your polar opposite in personality!
It's definitely a very strong story with a lot of subtle and not so subtle jokes about Soleta as well as how she differs from standard Vulcan behavior even before she develops her complex about her conception (which is perfectly understandable). I am anxious to read the full story as I really am interested in how Soleta and Worf would look back from a more mature period in their lives. Thanks for sharing it. Also, I think the anthology was a fantastic idea. I appreciate you taking the time to help make it a reality as I know exactly how much effort goes into these sorts of things and suspect it must have been even harder.