I’ll probably write up my own thoughts about this in a while, but I was happy to appear in Mike Duquette’s Hollywood and Spine newsletter to answer some questions about Vonda N. McIntyre’s excellent adaptation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

If you’re not reading this fun look at a now-obscure art form, you should sign up. It’s free! The internet loves free stuff!

The other day, I decided that I needed a new project in 2020, and that it should have three core concepts:

• It should be fun.
• It should keep me away from screens a bit.
• It should help me write again.

Soon after, I thought:

• I read a vintage Star Trek novel a while back and really enjoyed it, but didn’t really have a platform to discuss it.
• I have a whole lot of vintage Star Trek novels that I should read or re-read.

So here we go, a retrospective of the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing phenomenon of the 80s, starting with Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (published in late 1979, but it’d be weird to skip it) through Julia Ecklar’s The Kobayashi Maru (published in December 1989.) This will include the other film novelizations as well as the “Giant” novels written by Vonda N. McIntyre, Diane Carey, Diane Duane, and Margaret Wander-Bonnano.

(And before you ask: yes, this will be oriented around Kirk and crew; I think The Next Generation is fine, but I wanted to focus on the part of the franchise I was most knowledgeable and passionate about.)

I’m excited to go through these again, just to answer a few questions. Are there some hidden gems worth consideration beyond the franchise? Can I tell which ones are retooled spec novels? Will I be able to finish The Prometheus Design?

Come back in a few weeks for the first post, and in the meantime, check out They Boldly Went, my long-running (if dormant at the moment) Star Trek Tumblr.