Complicated Relationships

 

This week I finished A Contest Of Principles by Greg Cox. It's a Star Trek novel set during the original crew's five year mission. Greg Cox channels Kirk, Spock, and McCoy well, and he peppers the story with numerous references to episodes of Star Trek, Next Generation, and the original cast's movies. He does throw a few too many truisms into conversations, which sound odd when spoken from someone of another planet and culture. He also splits up the primary characters, which seems a shame, as they play off each other so well. Still, I really like how he takes a worthy look at Spock and McCoy's complicated relationship.

 

 

I also finished Gamora And Nebula: Sisters In Arms. MacKenzi Lee takes the two sisters to Torndune, a planet that's been devastated by mining. Gamora arrives as the agent of an interstellar church. Nebula follows, also intent on winning the same prize. But who's she playing for? The sisters hunt for the heart of the planet. Whichever one brings it to the Grandmaster will win a bet for whoever they're playing for. 

I had trouble understanding the sisters' past--and the state of their relationship--in this one. My knowledge of Gamora and Nebula primarily comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and to a lesser extent the comics Marvel's published in the last decade. The story features the Grandmaster, who appears in Thor Ragnarok. Although unseen, the Grandmaster also mentions Topaz, an Ultraverse superhero who appeared in the movie. Sadly, she's rarely been seen in comics since Marvel bought Malibu Comics back in the 1990s. 

Gamora And Nebula: Sisters In Arms is more science fantasy than science fiction. I had trouble believing in the setting. Also, I wish MacKenzi Lee could have introduced the characters and the world better up front, so I could have inhabited the novel more. Still, I enjoyed the complicated relationship between the two sisters, and how each yearns to bridge the distance between them, even as outside factions--such as Thanos--continually seek to pit them against each other.  

Complicated relationships: I guess that's the theme for this week's reads!

How Times Have Changed

Last week while I waited for my wife to have outpatient surgery, I read a short story from Kevin J Anderson's anthology War Of The Worlds: Global Dispatches. It imagined Winston Churchill in South Africa meeting a character from H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain novels. 

 

I also read End Of The Line, a free short story I downloaded from Book Funnel. It concerns two immigrants trying to escape certain death in Central America by sneaking into the USA via Mexico. It's a particularly vivid portrayal of the difficulties faced by illegal immigrants, and serves as a prequel to a novel Jeff Kerr will release later this year.

 

While she had surgery, and then slept in Recovery, I read three issues of Bishop War College. For more, see my review of Bishop War College #4.

 

 

During the week, and later when my wife had to spend two nights in the hospital, I read A Contest Of Principles by Greg Cox. While Kirk oversees an election on one planet, McCoy goes missing on another. Spock follows the doctor, but gets kidnapped for his troubles. I haven't finished it yet, but it's nice to read a new novel set during the period of the original series. 

In my youth, I hunted for Star Trek books in bookstores, and comics on convenience store spinner racks. I rarely found everything I wanted, and few original novels set during the original series had been published. Now I read comics online, and can read books on my phone and kindle. Maybe I'm easily impressed, but I'm still a little in awe of how radically times have changed.