BOOK REVIEWS -------------- STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - TECHNICAL MANUAL ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda, Reviewed by Alex Kerr ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн So, the long awaited TNG Tech' Manual has finally arrived! Actually, it beamed down to bookstores everywhere a few months ago and has been selling well from what I hear... but, (to quote a reviewer's cliche) is it any good? In terms of physical structure, the book itself is an A4 paperback with a generous 192 pages, so you feel that you're gettting your money's worth right from the start. Of course, we're not that interested in the book's physical structure, more its information content! Now, as I'm a techie-minded type person I was slightly worried when I first heard about the book that it would shy away from getting "really technical" and just tend to blur details together when it focused on the individual components of different parts of the Enterprise. But, no fear... Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda are here! I needn't have worried. The technical advisors to TNG, these two guys along with the approval of (and an introduction by) the late, great Gene Roddenberry have created a fascinating insight into the NCC 1701-D's technical world. However, when a book such as this is so obviously targeted at a general audience, it needs to be approachable from a technical amateur's, an average fan's point of view rather than being just something that will appeal to people who have a subscription to "New Scientist" or "Scientific American"! The TNG Technical Manual achieves this by being very well visually designed and this is what you'd expect considering who the authors are. The whole book is more or less designed as if it were being displayed on a TNG computer display screen, with well spaced text and many clear, useful and interesting diagrams, schematics and ship's plans that break up the text into easily readable parts. All are of excellent quality, supporting and visualizing the information given in the text but simple enough so that they provide only the information needed. All the diagrams are drawn in blue, black and white but as you will see, colour is not necessary and might in fact have cluttered the drawings. However, it is the text that provides the real feast. Even I found this quite heavy reading and it is certainly not a book you would read cover-to-cover in one go. BUT, this is not heavy reading that makes the book more unreadable overall, so how does it manage to sustain the reader's interest? Firstly, it is so interesting to find out about and understand the technology of Star Trek that it encourages one to read more and more. Also, the authors can obviously not go into TOO much detail about the projected technology of several hundred years in the future (i.e. they certainly don't delve into the hardcore maths or physics behind it all as a real technical manual would). They keep a safe distance, covering as much as possible in as much detail so as to make it as convincing as possible without degenerating into the world of nonsense. The book has drawbacks for the average fan, though. In places, and because the whole thing is supported by the rather tricky task of projecting current technology forward into the future, it *does* get a bit congested with technical jargon and therefore quite a few small parts will have to be merely skimmed rather than read and understood. However, I don't think this is to be criticised too much. It is about time that a book came along that was brave enough to get to grips with Star Trek technology in an in-depth way. The TNG Technical Manual is more of a reference book than anything else. Overall, I would say that this book is definitely worth a look. I would advise taking a look at it before you actually make the purchase, as not all fans might enjoy reading such technicalities. STAR TREK 36 - HOW MUCH FOR JUST THE PLANET? by John M. Ford нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by John Kitts нннннннннннннннннннннн Originally released by Titan in October 1987 (number 5 in the series), this still must be one of my favourite Trek books of all time. If you've read "The Final Reflection", you know that John Ford is an excellent writer. What you may not know from "The Final Reflection" is that he can also be very funny. The setting for this story is that the Federation and Klingons both find a planet very rich in Dilithium ore and under the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, whichever side can show it can best develop the planet gets to keep it. However, the inhabitants of the planet have different ideas! If you've read THE NEXT GENERATION's "Q In Law" you'll know it's possible to stay perfectly within the STAR TREK universe and still have situations bordering on riotous farce - which is what this book does wonderfully. As you can tell, I think this is a terrific book which will appeal to almost everybody and I certainly won't pick any faults with it. If you haven't got it, rush out and buy it! 10/10 (I couldn't think of ANYTHING I didn't like about it!) STAR TREK 44 - VULCAN'S GLORY by D.C. Fontana ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн This novel, written by one of the more well-loved Trek authors of all time, sees a young Vulcan lietenant Spock on his first mission aboard the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. The Enterprise is travelling towards the planet Areta, a planet that was ravaged by a nuclear war and is slowly recovering. However, the population has been broken up into three warring factions (a nomadic group, townspeople and a group of the population who inhabit the still-ravaged areas and who have been mutated by radiation) and on Pike's earlier visit, he helped to initiate trade between two of them. The mission was intended to be a simple "check-up" to see if the trading had developed into anything more substantial As well as this, there is a sub-plot following the search for one of Vulcan's most valued treasures - a large gem known as Vulcan's Glory. I can't really go into the plot, as there are twists and turns at every opportunity and even telling you a small amount about the book will give away other plot elements! However, the book starts off with Spock being recalled to Vulcan by Sarek, who informs Spock that he should take more of a role in his Vulcan land- owning responsibilities and that he should arrange to marry his betrothed, T'Pring ("Amok Time"). He agrees with his father about marrying her, but he states that he has a mission to go on and he will return when he enters Pon Farr, by which time he will have no choice. Although the plot on Areta features Pike, Number One, Dr Boyce and the crew as seen in the cage, the bulk of the novel, as with most of Dorothy Fontana's work, revolves around Spock. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's only recently that novels have been focusing on other characters apart from Kirk and Spock and realising that there are in fact 7 main characters in Trek and not just the "big three". With saying that, there are a few nice scenes with a young Lieutenant in Engineering who decided to brew his own alcohol down there! His name? Montgomery Scott! It's a well-written story, and unlike many novels, the two plots are inter- wove brilliantly. The way the two plots eventually come together at the end of the book is nothing short of genius. What does let the book down is the way in which Spock is handled. He is given a love scene with another Vulcan, T'Pris, and at the end of the book he is found to be exhibiting a great deal of emotions including anger. Not really what you'd expect from a Vulcan. With saying that, it's not unexpected to find Dorothy Fontana giving Spock an opportunity to show emotions - in the original series, she seemed to be fascinated (sorry!) with the character and showing his emotions or having some form of relationship at every opportunity ("This Side Of Paradise" and "The Enterprise Incident" for example). That aside, I thought it was an excellent story, and well worth buying and was only marred slightly by the mis-handling of Spock. STAR TREK 58 - FACES OF FIRE by Michael Jan Friedman нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Colin Gunn нннннннннннннннннннннн This novel can be essentially viewed as a prequel to STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and what a brilliant book it is. proving once again that Michael is one of the best trek novel writers around. The story chronicles the early development of the Genesis device and the lives of Carol Marcus and a young David Marcus. The characters are handled really well, as they are in all his books. In this book we are also introduced to a very young Klingon officer who became the main antagonist of the film ST 3 - Kruge. There are a lot of background details to the two films ST 2 & 3. when you think of it, Michael has taken the key elements of ST 2, for instance, the scene in the Transporter room where Kirk says to Spock "Mr. Spock you remember Dr. Marcus?". In the book we get to read the details behind that meeting. And also Kirk's shock at finding out that David is his son. Don't forget in ST 2 by his reaction "That's David!" the impression is given that he knows of his existence. All the elements of this novel come together to make one hell of a good read. It's a shame Paramount don't accept the novels as Star Trek "fact" when they are written as well as this one. I strongly recommend that you go out and buy this book. You won't be disappointed. STAR TREK 60 - ICE TRAP by L.A. Graf нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн Another outing for the Classic Trek characters and once again, written by an author that doesn't want the world to know their first names! The story sees the Enterprise sent on a double mission dealing with the scientific research company, Nordstral Pharmaceuticals who are at the ice planet Nordstral mining a plankton-like substance, to search for and rescue a lost party of scientists who went missing after their shuttle crashed on the planet. To do this, a small landing party of Uhura, Chekov and three "red shirts" are sent down to liaise with representatives from Nordstral Pharmaceuticals (I'll call them N.P. from now on!) along with some of the natives from the planet. At the same time, Kirk and McCoy are investigating a series of mysterious illnesses that are taking place amongst the N.P. employees, rendering them insane. McCoy and Kirk go down to the planet with a research team to try and find the solution. However, things soon turn sour and Kirk and McCoy become trapped underwater in a mining submarine while Chekov and Uhura are being chased by hostile natives while having to battle against the elements. It may sound like a cliched story, and to a certain extent it is, but it's a very tense, atmospheric, action-packed adventure that was very difficult to put down once I'd started reading it. The rescue/medical missions don't really enter the novel and are little more than sub-plots, with the bulk of the novel concentrating on the two landing parties dealing with their respective predicaments. With saying that, when it's as well written as this, who cares! Characterisation is flawless, with Kirk and McCoy's familiar tone of banter. Chekov is portayed quite accurately as a naive, yet passionate officer and Uhura is, again, faultless. I'd say that Michael Jan Friedman has some competition at last! The only flaw I found was the cover painting which has a superb illustration (by Keith Birdsong, I think) or Kirk and McCoy from the original series, but the novel is set sometime after The Motion Picture and before Trek II as Chekov is a Lieutenant and is referred to as Chief Of Security. However, if that is so, why isn't Kirk referred to as Admiral anywhere? A minor error, but it doesn't spoil what can only be described as an excellent book. I await Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Graf's next novel ("Death Count") with keen anticipation. Congratulations on a superb FIRST Trek novel! STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 20 - SPARTACUS by T.L. Mancour ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Colin Gunn нннннннннннннннннннннн Where can one start with a review with essentially what is a reworking of a 2nd season episode? The author has tried to expound on the storyline in MEASURE OF A MAN, i.e. are androids property (slaves) or sentient? Don't get me wrong. I did enjoy reading this book. But it should never have been released as a Trek novel. A sci-fi novel yes, but not Trek. This was the first of the novels vetoed by Richard Arnold when he was at Paramount as the Research Consultant along with CHAINS OF COMMAND (reviewed elsewhere in this issue). These two books should really have not seen print. The book also has it's share of mistakes. It would seem the author did not research the subject matter too well. Firstly. It's implied that this book takes place after the episode IN THEORY, by Guinan saying to Data that he's tried to fall in love before with disasterous results. O.K. so that puts the book in some sort of time frame. So what is Wesley doing on the ship? He left a long time before the events listed. Other mistakes include Data using a contraction when speaking to Geordie on page 166. He says "thanks". Data would not and has not ever spoken with contractions at anytime, in a relaxed formal time, as this scene implies, or any other (apart from in ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT, DATALORE and a number of other episodes - Ed!). The handling of the main characters, namely Picard & Riker is way off! On page 11 of the book Wesley (who shouldn't be there) is explaining something to Picard, when Picard rudely cuts him off with a "Don't explain it to me, just do it!". When has Picard ever shouted his officers down like this? His complete relationship with Data is off by a mile. All through the book him and Riker seem to be having difficulty coming to terms with Data's sentients. In fact Riker is in a right turmoil with his handling of the Vemlin androi...... oh sorry men! See what I mean. Both Picard & Riker were like that through the whole book. Forever correcting themselves. Also Riker, when finding out that the Vemlin are in fact androids, can not come to terms with this. He is very untrustful towards them in the book. Then as if by magic at the end there he is trusting and admiring the female android and offering to begin helping them in a small way by offering some seeds from the Enterprise stock! This is a book for fans like myself who are a completist and don't like to have gaps in their collections. If this was the first book that a first time fan was exposed to I think it would put them off reading Trek for sometime. All we can hope for is that Paramount see sense and let Richard start to look through these books before they are printed. Don't forget. This book was stopped once and shows a need for people like Richard to preview the novels. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 21 - CHAINS OF COMMAND ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн by Bill McCay and Eloise Flood, Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн This is the second in a current run of novels that appears to have either been previously "banned" from publication or has avoided the Star Trek Offices completely and following the death of Gene Roddenberry, Paramount seem to be approving almost anything for publication. First up was the previous novel, Spartacus, which although was released as number 20 in the series, was originally scheduled to be the tenth. Now we have the second, Chains of Command. The story is somewhat weak, and follows the Enterprise crew after they have just encountered a colony of human slaves, being overseen by a race of avian creatures called Tseetsk. The slaves organise a rebellion against the birds and the human slaves who look over the "worker" slaves. Picard, although he sympathises with their plea, he is bound by the Prime Directive and can't interfere. The leader of the rebellion, Koban, asks Picard for help, specifically in the form of weapons, so that he can attack the Tseetsk and to stop their slave driving permanently. Picard refuses and both he and Counsellor Troi are kidnapped in order to try and force the Enterprise to act. Sounds promising? Well, following on from Spartacus, I was dismayed to see yet another novel with slavery as the central theme, but that wasn't the real disappointment. What I disliked about the novel was that it simply ISN'T Star Trek. Why? The authors seem to enjoy making excessive use of violence to tell the story, and whenever violence is written into any scenes, it is described so graphically that you would expect it to be a scene straight out of a horror film. Now, I'm no prude and I enjoy the occasional horror flick, but there is NO place for graphic violence in STAR TREK. The most we have ever seen is the creature being implanted into Chekov in Star Trek II, or the death of Commander Remmick in "Conspiracy". What makes it worse is that the whole novel seems to trivialise and glorify death. There is a scene where Picard openly encourages one of the slaves to use a disruptor on one of the Tseetsk. Picard would NEVER do this. If it wasn't for this, the book would be quite enjoyable, but after reading a few pages, you frequently come across a violent scene or a scene that just doesn't fit in and you feel like putting the novel down or, at times, throwing it away completely. Unlike Spartacus, Chains of Command wasn't banned by the studio. Instead, I found out after contacting Richard Arnold, that it was NEVER even checked or approved by anyone working on the show. This novel should not be on sale and it certainly shows that it hasn't been vetted. It seems as if it has been released to make money for Paramount, knowing that it is guaranteed sales of over 300,000 copies just because it has STAR TREK on the cover. Overall, I would urge all STAR TREK fans to avoid this novel. It should NEVER have been released, and if this is what we can expect to look forward to following Gene's death and the closing of the STAR TREK offices, I can't really see much of a future for TREK. I would ask that you write to Paramount to tell them that we won't stand for novels of such a low quality. As with the incident of Richard Arnold's dismissal, letters should be addressed to Paramount's president, Brandon Tartikoff, at the following address: Brandon Tartikoff President of Paramount Television 5555 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles CA 90038 USA STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 22 - IMBALANCE by V.E. Mitchell нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн At long last, 4 years after their initial, albeit off-screen appearance in Trek, we finally get to find out more about the mysterious insect-like race, the Jarada. The Enterprise has been assigned to negotiate with the Jarada, who have approached the Federation with a request for membership. To further the negotiations, the Jarada have personally asked for Picard and the Enterprise and they seem to know an unusually large amount about his crew. They arrive at Beltaxiyan Minor, a Jaradan outpost, and Picard beams down with an away team comprising of Riker, Crusher, Worf, Deanna and Keiko while Data is left in charge of the Enterprise. After a surprisingly uncharacteristic amount of hospitality from the Jarada, the Enterprise crew are offered tours of the city..... individually. Picard, in order to further promote trust between them, agrees reluctantly and his crew are taken to various places on the planet that would be of interest to them e.g. Crusher taken to see the Jaradan medical facilities. Shortly after, Picard returns to the Enterprise and slowly the remaining crew discover that they have lost contact with the Enterprise and there are a growing number of hostile Jarada after them! The story is quite an interesting one and I found it quite entertaining, although it takes too long for the actual story to develop and too much time is spent on describing the most minute details of every event. Characterisation was quite good, with most of the characters handled well. The only exceptions to this were Data (the author over-emphasised Data's OCCASIONAL use of human mannerisms to the extent that he tried something in every scene such as fidgeting awkwardly), Keiko (who seemed to be a little too headstrong) and Picard who appeared to talk down to his officers occasionally. It also seemed that the author didn't really like writing for Picard and found an easy way to write him out of most of the book by returning him to the Enterprise. An interesting sub-plot was seeing a bit more of Keiko and O'Brien's relationship in the early stages of their marriage (the book is set shortly after "Data's Day") and it was nice to see a human side to the story. However, I was slightly confused as to the author's continual reference to Keiko as "Keiko Ishikawa" throughout the book. Didn't she change her name after she married O'Brien? There were a few flaws in the novel, particularly a reference Picard made to the card game, Fizbin, which Kirk MADE UP while on Iotia and doesn't actually exist. Also, I felt that there were the occasional unecessary to the original series - Tribbles were even mentioned.... TWICE! The only real weak point was the ending that appeared to have been written to tie up any loose ends that may have been opened up during the novel and to make it a self-contained story. This has obviously been done to try and prevent any future contradictions with other storylines, but I would have preferred a real ending instead of an easy way out. Overall, not a bad book, but not one of the classics either. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - REUNION by Michael Jan Friedman нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by John Kitts нннннннннннннннннннннн First off, let me say that this is nothing to do with the NEXT GENERATION episode of the same name. It is, however, the first NEXT GENERATION book to come out in hardback (for г15 no less), so what is it like? Well, the author should sound familiar to you - he's written a long list of STAR TREK titles including the excellent DOUBLE, DOUBLE and LEGACY as well as A CALL TO DARKNESS, FORTUNE'S LIGHT and part of DOOMSDAY WORLD for THE NEXT GENERATION. Nice one Mr Friedman. The story opens with one of Picard's former officers from the U.S.S. Stargazer taking what should be a simple trip on the Enterprise to his homeworld for his own coronation. With him he will be taking an honour guard of other Stargazer survivors, including Picard. However, en route there is a murder attempt and Picard must face the fact that there is a would-be murderer amongst his trusted former crew. Another Star Trek favourite appears in the form of "Enterprise suddenly in danger sub-plot", but unlike some of the episodes ("In Theory" comes to mind), this actually helps the plot along nicely (shades of "Hollow Pursuits"). The characters are all excellently handled and written, with untold stories of Jack Crusher, a well paced, well written who-done-it storyline and a real NEXT GENERATION feel and atmosphere to it, that makes it a pleasure to read. I won't give any more story points away, but if you're dithering and waiting for the paperback (available now), I'd advise you to lash out and treat yourself to a great read. 9╜ / 10. PATRICK STEWART VS. WILLIAM SHATNER by Pat Henkel ннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн Not really a book, this is a special produced by Celebrity Books, known for their range of Celebrity Comics which feature unauthorised biographies of well known personalities, which includes two series devoted to both of the Star Trek casts. This is a one-off special released in February this year, focusing on the two captains of the Enterprise, Patrick Stewart and William Shatner, featuring potted histories of the careers of both actors along with a brief history of their involvement in Star Trek. It is a 52 page "comic" with about 3 or 4 pages taken up with adverts, two used for the cover and the rest dedicated to the "book". The book follows the set format of text with a small black and white line drawing or cartoon on one page, followed by a full page colour painting and so on. First impressions are very good. There is a stunning cover painting by Toni Taylor of Picard and Kirk and on the rear is a painting of Kirk's head and shoulders set inside the Starfleet insignia. Things soon go downhill however, when you actually look inside. The line art is quite good and surprising detailed for it's small size, but the full colour paintings are attrocious. Well, maybe that's too harsh, but the majority of of a very poor standard (and these are supposed to have been painted by some of the cover artists working at Celebrity Books!). Many seem amateurish and a large number are either "washed-out" or they don't resemble the actual actors. Granted, there ARE some good paintings, but at least 60% of them are sub-standard. The text isn't too bad, but it's in large print and after the line art and the sizable top and bottom margins, there is little space left for the text. In fact, there is probably more text in some of our larger articles than there is in this book! Most Trekkers won't actually find anything new in the book and it doesn't seem to have been researched properly. I have found a number of silly mistakes that shouldn't have been overlooked. For example, according to the book, we saw Picard's brother, Robert, in the episode "Brothers" (!), Gene offered the idea for Trek to NBC in 1966 (it was infact two years earlier in 1964) and that William Shatner appeared in "T.J. Hooker" BEFORE Star Trek: The Motion Picture was made! I would only recommend this to die-hard William Shatner or Patrick Stewart fans and I don't really think it's worth the asking price ($5.95 or around г3.50) for a badly researched book with weak artwork. If you have the money to waste, then be my guest, but all other Trekkers should take a look before parting with any money. FINAL FRONTIER Issue 1 нннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн What's this? Are we so desperate to boost our already over-inflated egos that we have to review ourselves? Well, no actually, this is the premiere issue of a new British Star Trek magazine released this month and published by Trident Comics, known for their frequent releases of re-prints of American magazines and comics, including Starlog's STAR TREK VI special and their comic featuring reprints from the DC Star Trek titles. It is a 36 page magazine retailing for г1.99. As with their previous releases, FINAL FRONTIER is 100% re-printed material. While this may be a good thing for those who don't have access to the original American magazines (all the articles are re-prints from STARLOG and from the "technical" books by Pocket Books), I feel that a magazine with NO original material is cheating it's readers. To make things worse, many of the STARLOG articles refer to other articles that appeared in previous issues of STARLOG. Now, the casual reader may wonder why some of the articles refer to issues as high as number 171!! However, they are planning a letters section so there will be some "home grown" material! I have absolutely nothing against the articles in STARLOG, in fact, I'd say that STARLOG has got to be the definitive sci-fi/fantasy magazine on the market, but is it really so hard to find good writers in the UK? That aside, the actual articles in the first issue were somewhat limited in their contents. There was a small interview with William Shatner, 12 pages devoted to their "episode guide" (this is part of the focus on each episode by assorted Trek writers that was featured in the STARLOG 25th Anniversary Special), a photo feature on The Motion Picture, an article on the re-fit of the Enterprise (from the wildly innacurate "Mr Scott's Guide To The Enterprise") and a 4 page interview with the director Leo Penn (who's only contribution to Trek was directing just ONE episode - The Enemy Within). Now, with this there were 6 pages of adverts from the publishers selling assorted Trek merchandise. Personally, I don't consider this to represent good value for money. A magazine with just 5 articles doesn't offer enough variety to hold interest for very long and when some of the material is 5 years old, you begin to doubt whether the publisher's really care about producing a quality magazine. The final nail in the coffin is that the magazine totally ignores The Next Generation. It claims to be "The Star Trek Magazine" so why is there no coverage of this show? Presumably, Deep Space Nine will be ignored as well. If you haven't read the STARLOG material before, then this is probably worth buying, but if you're a regular STARLOG reader, or if you like a little more variety in your magazines, look elsewhere. FINAL FRONTIER Issue 2 нннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by Simon Plumbe нннннннннннннннннннннннн I was curious when I bought the second issue of this magazine to see whether they could improve on the first issue and create a more balanced magazine. Unfortunately, they didn't. Instead of the five articles present in it's premiere issue, the second issue had just TWO articles! There were 13 pages again devoted to their so-called episode guide and the rest of the magazine was taken up with the remainder of the movie photo features from the Starlog 25th Anniversary Special. Now, unlike the first issue that had articles from 3 different sources, anyone who has bought the Starlog special will have read ALL of the material in this issue. To make things worse, on the photo feature for Star Trek V, one of the old page numbers from the Starlog special was still on the bottom of the page! On the page opposite, there was a rather untidy blob obscuring the number. Was that really necessary? There was, again, no original material, and the promised letters section hadn't started, although with the tight deadlines for magazine publication, you have to allow for several weeks before letters get dealt with. Hopefully, we'll see the letters section appear by the third issue (if they last that long!). There's no doubting the quality of the original source material, but it seems as if the magazine was put together in a hurry just to meet publishing deadlines. When over a third of a magazine is given over to one item, something is obviously wrong. If there were 6 or 7 smaller, more varied articles, taken from DIFFERENT issues of Starlog, I probably wouldn't have any problems with recommending this. When I saw the first issue, I thought that was as bad as it could get. All I can say is that it can't get any worse! It MAY improve over the next few months, but to be honest, I doubt it. A final word - if you've bought this mag and you're thinking of subscribing - don't! It's not worth risking a subsciption on a magazine that probably won't be around in 12 months time. DEBT OF HONOR by Chris Claremont нннннннннннннннннннннннннннннннн Reviewed by John Kitts нннннннннннннннннннннн This is the first Star Trek comic book that I can recall to be issued as a hardback book, and with its excellent painted cover and rather large г15.50 price tag, I was hoping for something special. The story starts sometime shortly after Star Trek IV and jumps about throughout Kirk's career, telling his experiences with a previously unknown alien race that appears from time to time, attacking and capturing ships from not only the Federation, but Romulan and Klingon Empires as well. The Debt of Honor of the title is used when mavericks from all three governments decide to team up to deal with the powerful alien menace, with Kirk and the Enterprise holding up an unofficial Federation end (of course!). This story is well written with lots of nice touches throughout, but what really makes or breaks this sort of book is the artwork which, I am glad to say, is really excellent, the only exception being the aliens themselves - they tried for something like H.R. Geiger's ALIENS without simply copying them, but the finished aliens are a bit disappointing although this doesn't spoil it at all really. Overall, excellent all round and if you can afford it (92 pages hardbound), it's well worth getting. 9/10