Chain of Attack by Gene DeWeese (Star Trek #32, February 1987)

Newly equipped with a set of improved sensors for measuring gravitational anomalies, the Enterprise and passenger Dr. Jason Crandall head for an area of the galaxy where several anomalies have recently been reported. Crandall is the head of the project, but mostly an administrator rather than a research scientist. While using probes to investigate the phenomenon, the Enterprise ends up inadvertantly transported through a portal, and on the other side of the galaxy, or perhaps another galaxy altogether.

While the belligerent Crandall makes trouble, Captain Kirk orders a survey of the surrounding area to try and find the portal or another like it. All the crew can find is a series of dead worlds, entire planets killed by some warlike race. Eventually they contact a race that attacks them on sight, then another just as aggressive. The alien weapons are much less effective, but even lesser weapons in a massed attack can be potent. Kirk must find a way to get the ship back home through hostile aliens, and deal with the ever more desperate Crandall.

DeWeese writes a competent if unimpressive novel here. The setup with Crandall is suggestive of the many times "paper-pushers" made life more difficult for the Enterprise crew, and the plot itself is good but not terribly original. The contacts with new species are nicely handled, and trying not to overpower races with lesser technology is shown to good effect. There is limited characterization here, as the only characters that really shine through are Dr. McCoy and Crandall. Spock does get a nice scene, but he is also a bit of a deus ex machina, although that is certainly nothing new.

There's really nothing exceptional here either way. The story works, the situations are not overly contrived, the storytelling is competent. It's just not a particularly sterling example of writing, more a workmanlike job. DeWeese would write more Star Trek novels, both for the original series and for Next Generation.

Star Trek IV (movie adaptation) by Vonda McIntyre (unnumbered, December 1986)

Spock is alive, but has no memory of his life before. The Enterprise crew stands accused of many crimes, including disobeying orders and commandeering a starship. They are stranded on Vulcan and their presence is demanded on Earth, where a tribunal features the Klingon ambassador calling for Kirk's head.

As our intrepid heroes set out for Earth, a mysterious probe settles into Earth orbit and immediately blacks out all power around the globe, as clouds encircle the Earth and rainstorms begin. The probe is emitting a signal, but no one can figure out what they are doing. Aboard their makeshift Klingon vessel, the erstwhile Enterprise crew determines the signal is actually the call of a humpback whale, and sets out to travel back in time to before the huge mammals were extinct, the 20th century.

The seven crew members must negotiate an unfamiliar culture, locate some whales, and determine how to transport them back to the 23rd century. This calls for a lot of resourcefulness and walking a fine line to avoid changing the very history they must preserve. But the Earth is at stake....

Writing an adaptation of a movie script into a book is an interesting process. You generally have the script to work with in front of you as you write, but scripts are revised and scenes dropped in production. Some things in the book will likely never make it into the movie, and things which end up being big moments on screen don't always appear to be so in the script. Star Trek IV is a rarity in this category, in that almost all of the movie makes it into the book. This generally indicates a stable script and smooth production.

Writer McIntyre puts in just a few of her own touches here, adding some Carol Marcus material, having interaction between Christine Chapel and Janice Rand at StarFleet control as the probe menaces the planet, and adding Sulu material to play up her favorite character. McIntyre has a weakness about humor, as her stories tend to be deadly serious. But the humor of the script shines through, and those who have watched the film will be able to follow the lines from the movie quite easily.

Like most movie adaptations, this is a book mainly for curiousity's sake, or portability. With today's DVD technology, that is rarely even necessary. But it's a fun read for fans of the movie.

This was also McIntyre's last published Star Trek work. It appears that both parties got what they were looking for out of the relationship. Pocket Books got the currency of a respected science fiction writer, and McIntyre got some nice checks that come from writing licensed properties. A good time was had by all.