{Sunday Post} - Red Alert! There Are More Star Trek Books

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend. Mine is going well so far. I'm writing this post early on Christmas Eve afternoon because I'll be way too busy tomorrow with family stuff. 

Christmas Gifts

I received three books for Christmas. The titles are Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco, The Beginning by Beverly Lewis, and The Damnation Game by Clive Barker.

Happy Holidays!

 

What Am I Reading?

It's been a busy week for me. I wrote eight reviews and have three left for next week. As of this writing, I'm on Chapter 2 of Star Trek: Deep Domain by Howard Weinstein. Then I think I'll read Star Trek: Probe by Gene DeWeese. No, I didn't get the author's name wrong. Margaret Wander Bonanno got credited as the author, but that's not correct. She wrote the first draft and got rejected by Gene Roddenberry's office. Later, DeWeese got hired to rewrite the novel. He didn't get an author credit because Pocket Books had already designed the cover art with Bonanno's name printed on it.

Recent Reviews

The Christmas Promise

★★

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Revenant

★★★★

The Green Knight

★★★½

Operation: Rainfall

★★

The Spanish Princess: Part 2

★★

Twist

★★★

The Colony

★★★★★

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

★★★★★

And the Adventure Continues...

In last Sunday's Post, I talked about the "Star Trek Adventure" books I purchased from eBay. Well, I bought two more lots from the same seller. Two days after I got the first lot, I noticed the seller was selling two other $5 Star Trek lots. A couple of covers looked rough. There was one duplicate book, and I already owned a few. I put both lots on my watchlist. Later that night, the seller offered both lots to me for $3 each. I didn't hesitate at all. I immediately accepted the offer. With shipping, I paid $16.15 for 24 books.

The eight books lot had the following titles - The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein, The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane, Black Fire by Sonni Cooper, Yesterday's Son by A.C. Crispin, Triangle by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, The Klingon Gambit by Robert E. Vardeman, Mutiny on the Enterprise by Robert E. Vardeman, and The Abode of Life by Lee Correy. All are Timescape editions, a line of science fiction published by Pocket Books from 1981 to 1985. Twelve Star Trek titles got published under the imprint. Later, the first reprints added a "number" to the upper right-hand corner of the covers.

I'm splitting the 16 books lot into two sections because I couldn't fit all of them into one photo. The titles are Time Trap by David Dvorkin, The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold, Corona by Greg Bear, Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell, Enterprise: The First Adventure by Vonda N. McIntyre, Star Trek: Invasion!: First Strike by Diane Carey, Faces of Fire by Michael Jan Friedman, and Federation by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens. 

All the books are good to decent condition, except for one - Windows on a Lost World. The front cover's bottom corner is damaged, and the back cover is torn halfway down the spine. I can use invisible tape to repair the back cover. 

I already own Federation on paperback and Final Frontier. However, this Final Frontier is in better shape than my old copy. The front cover is attached to it! Two or three years ago, I bought a TNG book lot, and the seller through in a free book, which happened to be the Final Frontier. Why was it free? Well, the front cover was missing. I didn't complain because a free book is a free book. I have seen Final Frontier multiple times at thrift stores and used book shops over the years with the covers ripped off. Also, I've seen it for sale on eBay with the front cover missing. It must have been a manufacturing defect. 

Also, I already have Invasion!: First Strike on my Kindle, but it's nice to own it in paperback.

Now it's time to get to the good stuff or otherwise known as the reasons why I was interested in these lots in the first place. The titles are Star Trek 3 by James Blish, The Trellisane Confrontation by David Dvorkin, Mudd's Angels by J. A. Lawrence, Star Trek: New Voyages 2 edited by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, Perry's Planet by Jack C. Haldeman II, and Trek to Madworld by Stephen Goldin.

If anyone remembers last week's post, you already know I have all the novelizations by James Blish. The good news is this copy of Star Trek 3 is the 23rd printing with a different cover. Trek To Madworld is my second copy, but this one is the first printing in 1979 with Stephen Goldin's artwork. It's a rough copy, but I'm glad to have it.

I'm happy to get ahold of a copy of Mudd's Angels. While it has "A Star Trek Adventure" printed on the cover, it's the final volume in the TOS episodic novelization series. J.A. Lawrence gets full credit for writing the three stories, but her late husband, James Blish, did write part of Mudd's Women and I, Mudd.

The very first Star Trek book I ever bought was The New Voyages. I was a little bit kid whose mother gave him a quarter to pay for a beat-up paperback. It was one of the rare Star Trek books that I had during my childhood, and I still own it. Now I own the second anthology The New Voyages 2. 

Perry's Planet is part of Bantam's Star Trek Adventures series, and it's new for me. The Tellscane Confrontation, the last of the Timescape imprints. Timescape is missing from the cover, but it is nearly hidden in small lettering near the bottom of the cover spine. There were duplicate copies in the lot, so I have two copies.

Yes, there's still more! I made a bid for five books before buying the others. I put in a $2 bid and thought there was no way I would win. To my surprise, I got the books for $2 plus $4 shipping. Now, you probably noticed that Corona by Greg Bear is in the photo above, so now I have two copies.  

From time to time, I have run across the Star Trek Log books by Alan Dean Foster at antique stores. It's a series of 10 books featuring short story adaptations of the '70s Star Trek: The Animated Series. I've looked at the books many times but didn't want to shell out $6 to $9 each for heavily read used books. This lot had Log Three and Log Four in it, and they were my #1 reason for bidding on it. The original '70s Log books had a scene from the animated series printed on the covers. I can't explain it, but these never appealed to me. I prefer the reprints featuring the Enterprise on the covers. 

The other two paperbacks are Shadow Lord by Laurence Yep and My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane.

In the late-90s, I remember sending off for a .99 cent (plus shipping?) Star Trek: Universe starter or trial pack, which included several 8.5 x 11-inch cards and a TOS Enterprise coaster. I didn't continue the subscription. Included with the five books were 30-pack cards and four coasters, all still in their original wrapping. It brings back memories of the set that I had as a teenager.

What's New On the Bookshelf?

The last thing I need to do is buy more books, but I can't beat a good deal. After many months, the local Dollar Tree finally got a few new books in stock. I picked up the Swedish novel The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson (translated by Rachel Wilson-Broyles) and the western The Violent Times by C. Courtney Joyner.