Crossroad by Barbara Hambly (Star Trek #71, September 1994).

In a rarely-explored region of space called the Crossroad, near the Crossroad nebula, the Enterprise is monitoring the developing civilization on Tau Lyra, the Enterprise encounters a ship where none should be. The starship is very similar to the Enterprise, apparently of Federation design, but with no insignia or external lights, and heavily shielded with a technology beyond any known. The crew is in serious trouble, and though they warn the Enterprise off they are beamed aboard when their lives are in the balance.

The crew of the ship numbers but six, including a Klingon and an Orion. The captain of this crew is a humanoid of unknown race. A Vulcan adolescent and a human are in great need of medical help and are taken directly to sickbay. The others, who decline to explain the circumstances of their condition except to offer reasons obviously not true, are confined to the brig. They escape, and use the computer system to take over the ship. These strange people warn of a greater danger, from someone who can control minds. When another ship appears, Captain Kirk must separate the truth from the lies, and decide whom to trust.

Hambly, penning her third (and so far final) Star Trek novel, writes odd little stories based on what could be called "mind games," which is often a dangerous area for Star Trek. Many of the very worst episodes of the TV series concerned the mental arena, as this is often static by nature. "Next Generation" most often broke down when entering this territory, and "Star Trek: Voyager" spent so much time with existentialist storytelling that many fans, such as me, finally gave it up as unwatchable. Yet Hambly, here as before, makes it work with interesting storytelling.

Hambly's previous Star Trek books are "Ishmael" (ST #22), an odd marrying of Star Trek with the show "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," and "Ghost-Walker," about another alien with mind powers. Both were odd, but with such good writing that the story held together. This is also the case here. It becomes obvious early on that the strange visitors must be from the future, yet Hambly maintains suspense anyway. Then, when the pursuers from a ruthless future StarFleet show up, Hambly keeps the destruction that such a 250-year advance in technology at bay by raising the specter of changing history that usually faces our heroes. Here, the invaders must be careful not to change anything that could affect their own future existence.

Kirk and Spock are the main characters here, with Uhura and Chekov little used. Hambly uses a lot of her own characters, and gives quite a bit of time to Nurse Chapel, specifically on deciding her future as the five-year mission draws to a close. Part of the transition of Chapel to a doctor in time for the first movie has a foundation laid here. McCoy, Scotty and Sulu are used mostly to advance the plot, but do get something to do.

Hambly is gifted at creating and showing us vivid characters that we can almost instantly care about. She fleshes out Captain Arios and young Sharnas quickly, invents a decidedly non-Utopian Federation future, and provides us with a lot to digest. She goes too far at times, inventing so much that it is hard to drink up at one gulp. But it's a lot of fun.

Fans will find well-drawn characters, plenty of action, suspense, and a twist at the end that keeps surprises coming. This book is good for Star Trek fans, and those who are not fans will also find plenty of interest here. This is not a book for Trekkies only.

Traitor Winds by L.A. Graf (Star Trek #70, June 1994).

In the time period after the original TV show but before the first movie, Admiral Kirk is in charge of a diplomatic negotiation with the Romulans. Waiting and hoping for reassignment to a refitted Enterprise, Sulu is a test pilot, and Uhura a StarFleet Academy lecturer in communications. Chekov has gone to the Security Academy, trying to build up his resume' for command. Scott is overseeing the Enterprise refit, while McCoy is in semiretirement.

Things seem to be going well for everyone, even if Chekov is under a lot of pressure in school again, trying something new. Then an old Enterprise physician, Dr. Mark Piper, gives Chekov an offer to work on disruptor research with a captured Klingon weapon. Soon, Piper confides to Chekov that he suspects one of his lab techs is an industrail spy. The confrontation turns deadly, and when both the disruptor and the plans for the cloaking device that is on the shuttle Sulu is test-flying disappear, the old Enterprise crew becomes hunted.

This is the third outing of the "Lost Years" series, following the original "Lost Years" book written by J.M. Dillard that appeared in hardcover, then "A Flag Full of Stars" cover-credited to Brad Ferguson but extensively rewritten by Dillard and very similar to the first in tone. This book changes the tone of the series in a way that is refreshing, but at the same time has some annoying problems.

Graf, actually the writing team of Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone, (L.A. Graf is reportedly an acronym for "let's all get rich and famous) writes a novel much the same as the others under this pseudonym. The focus is on Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura, the younger members of the bridge crew. Most of the action focuses on these three, with Kirk, McCoy and Scott as supporting characters. Spock, by this time deep into the study of logic on Vulcan and the Kolinahr, does not appear. The time frame appears to be getting very near to the time of the first movie, perhaps a year before that event. The primary hull, or saucer section, is on Earth for repairs while the secondary hull, or engineering section, is in orbit in drydock and figures greatly as a setting for the action.

This is a good book for getting all the characters into the act, as all six of our heroes who appear have plenty to do, even if the three youngest get most of the attention. There is also the appearance of other crew members, like Chapel, M'Benga, Rand, and more. The use of Piper is a nice touch, even if the writers are quite nasty to him.

There's a lot to gripe about here, though. The flow of the book is typical Graf work, a suspense novel that depends a lot on what is going on inside the characters' heads without a great deal of dialogue. The plots of these books vary, but the general flow is much the same. Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura, especially Chekov, get into mortal peril and must escape. Chekov takes a frightful beating and is badly hurt, and must struggle to complete the mission while in tremendous pain. Sulu does some daredevil stuff, and Uhura worries about everyone when not acting like a Pollyanna. After you read a couple of Graf novels, they become very predictable. This would be the last original series novel for a while, however. Graf would next novelize the "Voyager" series premiere, then write a couple of Deep Space Nine novels before returning to the original.

One of the problems with this novel, as well as others published under this name, is the number of improbable things that happen within it. The events do not seem to flow naturally, but instead unfold as they must to bring about the writers' plot. This is a common problem with fiction, as writers have difficulty bringing about the events they wish to present. It brings to mind the mention by Lewis Carroll of "believing six impossible things before breakfast." People act in strange ways, do strange things, all in the name of a plot. If the book is good enough, disbelief can be suspended. That's a problem here.

Ecklar and Cercone are simply not good enough writers to bring this off. This, like other books written as Graf, is not bad but not really good. The action and suspense may be enough to keep your interest, and if you like other books written by the same writers there is a good chance you will like this one. But I can't recommend it to anyone not already part of Star Trek fandom.