Bantam, 1977. In which someone at Corgi apparently finally got the “Geez, can you tone it down” memo about the covers. In our fifth Bantam original: giant bugs! Illusion! Writing from an actual sci-fi writer!
What a great way to wash the bad taste of the craptastic Price of the Phoenix out of my brain.
Finally, no fanfic, finally no slash. Just a good solid story from a real science fiction writer who knows how to put together a story. Haldeman hits all the right character notes, in my judgement, showing off his knowledge of astronomy at the same time.
For a very slim volume, there’s a lot to enjoy here. A very Star Trek-y story involving a strange superior race that puts our crew in a tough situation, involving some mind tricks and some horrific modifications to a crew member. Some new characters get added but then oddly are not given much to do, but it still lends a layered novelistic quality to it. Includes some “clip show” style flashbacks to TOS episodes ( a la Blish ) and gives a peek into Spock’s childhood and McCoy’s divorce! Head canon fodder!
This is a kind of Trek novel that you might have read in the 70s and thought, gee it would be great if that movie coming out was about this. I highly recommend this one. Nothing fancy, but a great read, though because of the length the end feels a little abrupt.
Bunging a Rock at It 