The Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett

27/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A “year four” adventure that serves to both bridge the gap between TOS and TAS (and explain some of the changes to the ship and crew between the shows) and to take a much deeper dive into the First Federation as first introduced in The Corbomite Maneuver. Along the way, we get to learn more about Balok’s threatening puppet, Spock gets some introspective assistance, and Kirk…well, Kirk does his thing with impassioned speeches and eyeing alien women. The exploration of the First Federation is obviously the core theme, and it’s done well, extrapolating well from what little we learn in the TOS episode. One of the better TOS novels.

Me holding The Face of the Unknown

Year 50 Day 347

Me standing in the parking lot outside the La Huerta International Market, eating a vanilla and chocolate cookie.

Day 347: Our morning wasn’t quite as relaxing as planned, thanks to some somewhat unexpected early morning maintenance work on our building. However, to avoid the noise, we went out and stopped by a local Mexican bakery to pick up pastries, took a nice walk along the Green River, and got the car washed. Work was still going on when we got home, so we went down into the basement, took a nap, and then watched a movie; by the time that was done, we could come upstairs without there being constant banging on the ceiling. In the end, it’s been a pretty good day.

Year 50 Day 346

Me in front of an outdoor sculpture of a large spherical rock seated in a depression in another rock in front of a curved, textured grey wall.

Day 346: Today was the final day of the DSSC/WAPED conferences, and thus the last day of my explorations of the Green River College campus. It’s been a nice variation for the week with a lot of good conversations, but also a lot of fairly intense braining. I’m definitely ready to zone out for the weekend.

Read more

Year 50 Day 344

Me standing outside a building next to a metal cage decorated with metal leaves and locked with a padlock. Inside the cage is a metal sculpture of an alligator.

Day 344: Day two of conferencing for the week. Green River College’s sports teams are the Gators, and I spotted their mascot on the way in! Good thing that cage is securely locked.