📚 Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds

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10/2024 – ⭐️⭐️

This is not a good Star Trek book. The Enterprise, with a crew at risk of what’s essentially violent cabin fever, is dispatched to the Horatius system to investigate a distress call. There, they find three planets: one with a stereotypical Native American civilization (“backward savages”, of course), one with a mid-20th century American civilization, and one with space Nazis. Oh, and there’s a “B story” involving a plague-infested rat loose on the ship. So, no, as a Star Trek adventure, there’s not much to recommend it.

However: It’s the first officially licensed Star Trek novel, and therefore gets a bit of leeway…or at least recognition that the treklit landscape was far different (nonexistent, actually) in 1968 than it is today. Not really recommended unless you’re a collector, but if you are and can track it down (especially if you can find an original rather than the 1999 reprint), it’s a quick read and kind of fun to see where the print side of Trek began.

Me holding Mission to Horatius

Year 50 Day 280

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Me in a hallway wearing my winter coat, with a skeptical expression on my face, and holding a travel mug with the Starfleet delta logo and text that reads "I am functioning within normal parameters".

Day 280: I got to work and the elevator was locked out, so I couldn’t get to my floor until someone from Facilities happened by and could key me up. Then I got to my office and realized that I’d forgotten to bring my computer in with me this morning, so I had to turn right around and drive home and back before I could start my work day. After all that, I think my mug might be mocking me.

Year 50 Day 279

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Me wearing a t-shirt and hoodie, with a salmon-colored scarf wrapped around my head.

Day 279: While seeing my wife off to work this morning, she needed a place to put her scarf as she was putting her coat on, and I was apparently conveniently placed.

Year 50 Day 278

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Me in a sunbeam on our couch, with the Norwescon website visible on the laptop open on my lap.

Day 278: After a night out at the club, a slow day is in order. Slept in, had breakfast, took a nap, ran a couple errands and took care of laundry, watched a movie, and then dinner and dumb TV while doing Norwescon work before heading to bed. Not bad at all.

Year 50 Day 277

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Me bathed in red light in front of a concrete wall under a red neon sign that says “OPEN MEMBERS ONLY”

Day 277: Back out at the Merc for Caturday! Love this goofball mix of goth, retro, and just plain silly. Just danced to a mashup of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and CeCe Peniston’s “Finally” that I am definitely going to have to track down. And then Utah Saints’ “Something Good”, which I haven’t heard on a dance floor in ages. Such a good night!

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Year 50 Day 274

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Me in front of a wall of large glass bricks.

Day 274: Noticed this wall of glass bricks on my way out from having lunch with my wife in her office. A pseudo-sequel to last week’s shot from the optometrist’s office, I guess?

Year 50 Day 273

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Me in the parking lot outside my work building, with the sun setting behind trees in the background.

Day 273: We knew a couple later days were coming, so we escaped from work a little early while the sun was still up! Then sat through an unusually long slog home that took almost twice as long as usual. Ah, well.