Vulcan! by Kathleen Sky

Posted by: Redhead on: January 28, 2015

• In: Kathleen Sky | Star Trek | Vintage SciFi
• 17 Comments

Vulcan! by Kathleen Sky

published in 1978

where I got it: purchased used

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Ahh, Star Trek. I grew up with you, I watched all your spin offs, I learned all about diplomacy and crazy hairstyles from you, I’ve even transferred my school girl crush on Shatner’s Kirk to Vic Mignogna’s Kirk. But in all these years, I’ve never read a Star Trek tie in novel. Until now.  Browsing at a bookstore with some friends,   Vulcan! by Kathleen Sky was pushed into my hands. ok sure, why not?

 

You know sometimes you just need a fun, brain-candy kind of book? Something that is sure to entertain but doesn’t require your brain to do any back-flips? This was one of the books, and the timing couldn’t have been better, because boy was I in the mood for some easy to read candy.

 

The premise is that the Neutral Zone between Federation space and Romulan space is shifting, and a solar system that had always been on the Federation side will soon be on the Romulan side. The Enterprise’s mission is to visit the planet and determine if the life forms there are intelligent or not. On the way, they pick up the Federation’s preeminent expert on zenobiology, Dr. Katalya Tremain. Kirk has been warned that she’s got a difficult personality, but he figures he’ll put on the charm, and she’ll be like putty in his hands. Dr. Tremain beams aboard, sees Spock standing in the transporter room, and freaks the hell out.  Apparently “difficult personality” was subtle talk for she’s happily vocal about her bigoted hatred for all Vulcans.

I wanna back up a bit, because there are two really interesting things happening right at the beginning of the book that grabbed me. I never knew how the Neutral Zone worked! I knew it was some kind of boundary in space, but I never really thought about that everything in the galaxy is spinning relative to each other, so things shift around all the time, so how the heck do you ever have a firm boundary? Well, now I know exactly how the Neutral Zone works, and i feel like I’ve got some kinda special Trekkie geek cred. Also, the character of Katalya Tremain. She’s a brilliant biologist, she’s one of the Federation’s best and brightest. But she’s also a complete asshole. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go a week in the blogosphere without someone saying “that person’s book is great,  but they are such an ass in real life that I just can’t bring myself to recommend or read anymore of their work”. It’s nearly the same thing with Tremain. Can someone’s professional work be respected and trusted, if in their personal life they are just a horrible, wretched person?   So, yeah, lots of interesting (but not brain-hurty) stuff to think about right away.

 

For the name of the book being Vulcan!, Spock doesn’t have a very big role in the story. It’s mostly about McCoy trying to figure out what went so wrong in Tremain’s past that she harbors such a deep hatred of Vulcans.  The two of them flirt a lot, although she makes it obvious that she’s not sure she’s ready for another relationship after losing her husband in a starship disaster. For those of you who are thinking “Kirk seduces every woman who visits the Enterprise!”, there are some hilarious passages where Tremain says she’s not above seducing Kirk so she can get what she wants out of this mission.  Sex and seduction is absolutely a weapon here, but Kirk and Tremain so hate each other that they can barely spend five minutes in the same room together.  That whole dynamic and everyone hoping to seduce each other was funnier to me that it was probably meant to be.  And then there is McCoy on the sidelines, who is trying to be so honest and authentic.

 

During her time on the Enterprise, Tremain meets a few other Vulcan haters, and she asks them why they hate Vulcans, and then laughs at their answers. Just goes to show there are plenty of ways to be a bigot.  Kirk is rightfully concerned that her casual hatred will infect other people on board, wrecking the carefully wrought balance of the crew.

 

When it comes down to it, Tremain and Spock have no choice but to go down to the planet and work together. Spock subtly tricks her a little, he’s pushing her to a precipice that no amount of McCoy’s rather plot-devicey but useless psychoanalyzing even got close to.  Surprising no one, while Tremain and Spock are down on the planet, it shifts into Romulan space, and they are stranded there for a while and must help each other survive. There is a fantastic mind meld scene that I wish had been longer.

As I write this review, I’m realizing that Vulcan! was a lot less brain candy than I’d thought. the plot itself wasn’t crazy interesting, but Kathleen Sky opens the story with some important questions, and closes with some truly excellent interactions between Tremain and Spock. (although, when we did get to the crux of her issue, my reaction was “really?”)

 

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So, after my first Star Trek tie in novel, would I read more? Most definitely.I’m especially interested in the ones that were written after the original series was cancelled,  but before Next Gen was greenlit.

 

Tags: Star Trek