Star Trek

📚 Present Tense by L.A. Graf

November 24, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

50/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Set directly after “The Naked Now”, the Enterprise decides to use their extra three days to do a low-stakes check on an away team on a boring planet. Suddenly, everything goes wrong! The first book in a trilogy, so nothing gets wrapped up here, but it’s the usual Trek adventures. Some extra points for having cave exploration scenes that were claustrophobic enough to wig me out a little.

Weirdly, the summary blurb on the back of the book (and thus, on this site) is entirely unrelated to the actual plot.

📚 Second Self by Una McCormack

October 15, 2022September 22, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

45/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Though the framing story takes place just after season one of Picard, most of the story is set just following the Dominion War, with tensions still high among Bajorans, Cardassians, Romulans, and Starfleet, all on a remote Bajoran planet occupied by the Cardassians. Lots of intrigue and mysteries abound.

📚 The Shocks of Adversity by William Leisner

October 15, 2022September 3, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

42/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kirk finds that new allies have some hidden secrets. Another entirely acceptable Trek adventure.

📚 Devil’s Bargain by Tony Daniel

August 23, 2022August 21, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

40/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A decent Trek adventure, with some interesting explorations of the Horta. However, yet another instance of Kirk immediately falling in love with a pretty woman from the planet of the week. I know it’s Trek cliche, but I wish more authors would just let Kirk interact with women as people, instead of so predictably and pointlessly as romantic interests.

🎥 Woman in Motion

August 23, 2022August 4, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

Woman in Motion (2019): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A little sad that I didn’t get around to seeing this until after Nichelle died. A really nice portrait of an incredible person, and a very important period in NASA’s and America’s history.

📚 No Time Like the Past by Greg Cox

August 23, 2022July 29, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

38/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cox again indulges in an adventure heavily reliant on references to past canon, but it works better here due to focusing primarily on three distinct TOS episodes, rather than peppering “remember when…” moments throughout.

📚 Savage Trade by Tony Daniel

August 23, 2022July 23, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

37/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another encounter with the Excalbians — those rock creatures who masqueraded as Abraham Lincoln and other historical characters. They’re back (as a new set of historical personages) and looking for asylum. A perfectly acceptable Trek adventure revisiting and re-exploring old adventures.

📚 The Rings of Time by Greg Cox

August 23, 2022July 22, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

36/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

An entertaining adventure across two time periods, but sometimes I think Cox gets a little too clever with the constant references to other Trek adventures. Sometimes it’s fun fan service, but sometimes it’s nice just to read a story without a wink-and-a-nudge on every other page.

📚 Inception by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison

June 25, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

34/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Set in the pre-TOS era, this explores some early relationships touched on later in the saga; one for Kirk, and one for Spock, who have yet to meet, though both end up involved in the framing story about the risks of environmental damage during technological and societal expansion.

📚 Designing Starships: Discovery

June 13, 2022June 12, 2022 by Michael Hanscom

31/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of a series of books looking at the behind-the-scenes design work for various ships in the Star Trek universe. If you’re into this sort of thing, you know. 🖖