Private Mars Rocket II

As reported on Facebook but not here, I have embarked on a watch (can't really call it a re-watch) of Star Trek: The Original Series. Herewith, Part 1 from Facebook, and Part 2 which is new.


Part 1

the first episode of Star Trek (known now to fans as "Star Trek: The Original Series) aired on September 8, 1966. I wasn't born until later that month. The show's last episode aired in June 1969, before my 3rd birthday. For these perhaps obvious reasons, I've only seen the original in re-runs, which means out of order and recut for more commercials.

Because of the above I have recently started watching all of the episodes in order on Paramount Plus. They are offering the "Remastered" version, which was released in 2006. Some of the changes are very obvious - the planets look like actual planets, not blobs - and the Enterprise herself looks cleaner. The remastering also makes "oops" such as the occasional out-of-focus closeup jump out at you.

As to show order, the remastered edition has the original pilot as Episode 1, and the rest of the shows (so far) in broadcast order. The "second pilot" (Where No Man Has Gone Before) really jumps out as not in the continuity. (1960's TV was a different time.)

Also a different time was the hairdos (beehive central!) and sexual attitudes. As I learned in Mudd's Women (last episode I've gotten too) in the 23rd century, nobody is homosexual! I was also struck in that episode where the established female characters seemed to disappear.

At any rate, just some thoughts for a cold Tuesday while I take a break from work.

Part 2

So I've completed up to and including Episode 13. Some general thoughts.

1) Damn, the writers took ANY excuse to have Kirk running around shirtless! Relatedly, Kirk's not been near the horndog we remember him as. (At least not yet.)

2) "The Menagerie" (the two-parter where Spock hijacks the Enterprise) kind of blew my mind. In what universe (other than Star Trek, obviously) does mutiny and assault get laughed off? Roddenberry and at least some of the cast and crew (plus plenty of audience members) had served in real militaries. I think this was a case of the writers painting themselves into a corner and having to Rube-Goldberg themselves out.

3) "The Conscious of the King" also didn't age very well. In Shakespeare, several plays hinge on a girl pretending to be a man. It worked back then, in part because the actor WAS a man (or at least a teenager.) "Conscious" only works if we have a few people who have actually seen Kodos the Executioner. Now, maybe in the 1960s, where some states still issued drivers licenses without pictures, that was believable. Today - nope, they'd have the guy's fingerprints and DNA on file.

4) Regarding the tendency to re-cut episodes in reruns for more commercials, I was struck by how there was a lot of screen time spent having actors stare dramatically at each other. Not sure if that was foresight or just "we need to let the camera run to fill out the time."

"Anger is like a hot coal, you hold it in your hands with the intent to throw at someone else but in the process, you are the one that gets burned." -Buddha

The above quote from Priti Shah's new book Uplift is a good example of what this book is. It's a book designed to help the reader recognize their value in life. It has a number of exercises in which the reader is encouraged to reflect and write notes.

To be honest, I don't consider myself the target audience for this, but it is well-written and very thoughtful. If you or somebody you know is seeking self-understanding, I can recommend this as a start.

Full disclosure - I'm thanked in the acknowledgements of this book.

Space Station X: A lesbian comedy horror in space by A.Z. Rozkillis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I am a Kickstarter backer of this publisher, and this book was one of my rewards. The author, A. Z. Rozkillis, says in her bio that she "builds spaceships in her day job" and this novel feels like it. Our narrator, Jaz, is one of two crewmembers on an interstellar space station / pit stop. She's a hermit and is there because it's as far away from humanity as she can get. She's got a routine which works for her to minimize contact with the rest of the station's rotating cast of residents.

This being a horror novel, things happen which upset that routine, including a bit of unexpected romance with Saunders, the station's sole security officer. the book is billed as a "lesbian horror comedy." There are some humorous moments in there, more of the wisecracks you'd get in an action movie as opposed to LOL moments, but the horror is definitely there. I found it highly engaging.



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Angel Maker by Elizabeth Bear

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Elizabeth Bear is a prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction. Angel Maker is the third in a series of steampunk / alternate history novels set in the 1870s in an alternate version of Seattle. Don't let the series tag scare you - this book can be read as a standalone novel.

The narrator, Karen Memery, is a former prostitute who, with her girlfriend Priya, has bought a small ranch outside of town. Money is tight, so when the two of them get an opportunity to work as crew on a silent movie, they jump at it. What they don't know is that the movie crew isn't in town for the weather (which is typical Pacific Northwest rainy).

The novel is both a mystery and and action thriller, told by and containing engaging characters. Well worth your time.



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Poor Man's Fight by Elliott Kay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I met the author at a science fiction convention - we were both on the same panel - and the premise of "piracy and student debt" struck me as interesting. Intrigued, I bought the book.

Our hero, Tanner Malone, lives on a human-colonized planet in which students on graduating high school take a test. Based on the test results, they get assigned debt for their education. In part due to some pre-test personal issues and in part to a heavily-hinted-at attempt to cook the books, Tanner ends up with a substantial debt. Desperate, he joins the local Space Force. Unfortunately, said Space Force is running up against a pirate problem.

The book has multiple points of view and covers a broad swath of it's world. I found it highly entertaining, although at a couple of points I felt that Tanner just got too lucky. Overall I recommend it.



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Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A friend who reviews science fiction has been recommending this book for some time, so I finally broke down and bought it. It's a fascinating and dense book, full of concepts.

The main conceit is that in an alternate 1920s, the natives in and around Cahokia Mound (a real place in southwestern Illinois, very close to St. Louis MO) have been able survive and thrive against white expansionism. The area was independent for a long time, but during the Civil War joined the Union on the side of the North.

Structurally, the novel is a hard-boiled murder mystery, with Barrow, a "Lost Boy" (he was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby) working as a detective with the city police and investigating the murder. We get all of the tropes of a hard-boiled mystery plus the existence of the former royalty of independent Cahokia, as well as the Klan and Red Scares. It's really a great read.



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Hot damn - I got a Publisher's Weekly review!

Dark Green by Lif Strand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had read the second book in the series, Stolen Sisters, and enjoyed it. As a result of reading the books out of order, I had some hints of what was coming in Book 1. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dark Green.

Set in the fictional Mangas County, New Mexico, the story stars Jessie Torres, who has been hired to be the Special Deputy in charge of wolf attacks in the county. Her expertise and job leads to her investigating a murder and kidnapping, all while exploring the wonders of living in the wide open spaces of New Mexico.



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Lesbians In Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before by J.S. Fields

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Some anthologies can be tough reads because the theme is too narrow. This is not one of them - in fact, it's the best anthology I've read in a while. Thanks to a wide group of authors and good editing, there's not a bad story in the bunch. Having said that, a couple of highlights:

"Vendo Does Not Give Change" - an interesting take on AI and evolution.
"The Mycologist's Guide to Identifying and Antagonizing Extraterrestrial Fungi" - one of two stories with intelligent fungi in them.
"Decompression" - a two-character love story.
"While it Lasted" - an entertaining heist story.
"The Ritter Maneuver" - a great short Star Trek parody.

I highly recommend this book, and there's a Volume 2 coming out soon!



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As reported earlier, I am downstate at my parent's house. Although I tend not to have as much free time when I'm down here as I do at my house, I brought two Genuine Paper Books down to read. One was recommended in the Chicago Tribune and the other I found via John Scalzi's "The Big Idea."

The first was Vanishing Daughters: A Thriller by Cynthia Pelayo. I found it to be the opposite of thrilling. The story is very much set in and of Chicago and written by a long-time resident. However, it's Just. Damn. Slow. I have abandoned it at about the 50% mark.

The second story was Stolen Sisters (Mangas County Mysteries) by Lif Strand. It's Book 2 of a series and I'm 50% through the novel. I'm enjoying it enough that I've ordered Book 1.

Back in the day, I used to subscribe to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There was a reviewer - Charles DeLint (sp) for the magazine, and I eventually determined that if he liked a book I would not like it. I'm beginning to detect a similar pattern with the Tribune. If they like the book, I probably won't like it, while with the Whatever I have a better chance.