Customer Reviews

The Amazing Stories (Star Trek)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Star Trek: The Amazing Stories edited by John J. Ordover is an anthology of short stories first found in the "Amazing Stories" magazine from 1998-2000. Now, add a few new stories and the publisher has a concise book of short stories. As the cover subtly states, this book's stories are those of the genre Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

The authors of this anthology are: M. Shayne Bell, John Gregory Betancourt, A.C. Crispin, Greg Cox, Christie Golden, Josepha Sherman, Susan Shwartz and Dean Wesley Smith. These authors make this anthology solid and follow the genre lines well, the characters follow expected dialog, but the stories are very concise and get to telling the tale quickly.

This book would be great for a car pool as you can finish a story on the drive into to work, and not miss anything on the way. I found the stories to be well thought out and written in a straight forward manner with adventure in small packages.

Some of the highlights are where Spock comes to terms with his father's death, Beverly Crusher has a "time" with the EMH as an emergency arises and the EMH is activated. I found this story the most interesting.

Oh, we can't forget Captain Proton, the defender of earth, yes, he has an awesome bout with a Space Vortex of Doom... sound interesting? Well, it is captivating and well written. And for all of you Seven of Nine fans out there... Seven learns a lesson in humanity from some very unsual aliens.

I enjoyed these short stories as a fast read and a quick Star Trek fix... so, pick up your copy and enjoy some of the bestselling authors of TREK. There is enjoyment, action, adventure that will pique your interest.

This volume compiles all the short stories featured in the brief publication of Amazing Stories. It was a great science fiction magazine that returned after several years. It's a loss to the readers when that was cancelled. I just wish this volume was longer. It includes tales from each series excluding Enterprise; which wasn't on the air at the time of publication.

Although I enjoyed this book, I think it was a little short on content. This could have contained twice as many stories with no problem, or more fully filled out stories. However, I'm a big Star Trek fan since I was a kid watching the show in Spanish in Panama, so this was just more of what I like.

Star Trek the Next Generation stories:

"Last Word" by A.C. Crispin
A very poignant story dealing with Captain Picard's desire to attend Sarek's funeral. He is continuing to have dreams relating to his mind meld with Sarek. This story takes place very shortly after the events of Unification parts one and two. He has recently mind melded with Spock as well. Overall a very good short story that fills a gap. A.C. Crispin is one of the better Star Trek writers.

"Bedside Matters" by Greg Cox
A very good short story, basically encompassing Dr. Beverly Crusher's prejudice towards the EMH. When a situation arise where she has no choice but to use the EMH, she discovers that it/he can be rather useful. An enjoyable short read by one Star Trek's best authors.

"On the Scent of Trouble" by John Gregory Betancourt
An fascinating tale about the Enterprise in a "first contact" situation. They encounter a Pelavian vessel. They discover that the Pelavians do not communicate in the same fashion as most sentient species. They are entirely telepathic and scent as well. What ensues is a very good short story. A very good read by one of the newer and better Star Trek authors.

"Life Itself Is Reason Enough" by M. Shayne Bell
A very good tale about the Enterprise leading the evacuation of a planet. The planet's atmosphere is collapsing. The story primarily concentrates on Lt. Worf and Counselor Troi. The planet's inhabitants are transplanted Innuit. I'm definitely looking forward to more work by this author.

Star Trek Voyager stories:

"A Night at Sandrine's" by Christie Golden
A very good story, focusing on Lt. Tom Paris, the holodeck and his past transgressions on a woman. Christie Golden once again proves why she's the go to author for Star Trek Voyager stories.

"When Push Comes to Shove" by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz
An interesting tale about a young alien with an unusual gift. Along with this young girl's gift, she brings back some memories to Seven. The two authors are definitely tops in the Star Trek genre and hopefully we'll be seeing more of their work.

"The Space Vortex of Doom" by D. W. "Prof" Smith
Another great Captain Proton story by the now master of Captain Proton stories.

I'd have to say that even though I think the price for The Amazing Stories is a little high. I would have to say though, that these stories were pretty good. This more or less offsets the slightly higher price. I would recommend this to any Star Trek fan.

While I enjoyed the first two TNG stories in this collection, the remaining two TNG and all three VOY were little better than average. This anthology isn't worth the price.