Star Trek: The Original Series: Errand of Fury Book #1: Seeds of Rage

For any Star Trek fan - from the hardcore to the casual - who ever wanted an answer to the question of what all those OTHER crewmen and women were up to on the Enterprise, Kevin Ryan is the must-read author in this Trek universe. His ability to spin richly detailed stories and create sympathatic characters who were, in most cases, passers-by in the TV series, is unmatched. In SEEDS OF RAGE ( a sequel to the Errand of Fury trilogy) we begin - at long last - to understand the human element in the run-up to the Federation/ Klingon war. We find a father grieving and raging over the death of his son. A career woman at war with herself over an impossible choice. An alien culture fighting to retain its own honor. And all this against the backdrop of a seemingly unaviodable galactic conflict. This is not merely a great Star Trek story. This is a great story, period. Kevin Ryan's books make for good reading. They are fast, engaging, and true to the source material. Do yourself a favor, and get started on them today!

So far, Mr. Ryan's books have been breaths of fresh air in the ST franchise. He gracefully ties his new adventures to those in the original series. If you're a fan who likes to know what goes on below decks after Kirk calls for "Red Alert," than this books is for you. I can't wait for the next one!

I enjoyed reading Kevin's latest book "Seeds of Rage". I especially like the way he connected back to the "Errand of Vengeance" series and also the subtle connections made back to the original Star Trek series. The only thing I didn't care for, was that I'll have to wait for the next book. I'm looking forward to reading Part II soon.

As Star Trek fans might recall, "The Janus Gate" (LA Graf) and "Errand of Vengeance" (Kevin Ryan) trilogies were part of a Pocket Books experiment in 2002 to supposedly "relaunch" the "original series" Star Trek novels with a deeper look into, and weaving between, known TOS episodes via Kirk's Enterprise's "lower decks" crew - based, I guess, on the popularity of the episode "Lower Decks" in TNG, where viewers got to see a new perspective on day-to-day Enterprise-D ship life. LA Graf set their adventure just after "The Naked Time" and before "Charlie X". They used several characters who would soon suffer tragedy in "Balance of Terror". Ryan then set his first trilogy just after "Balance of Terror", with some of the action taking place simultaneously with "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" but before "Dagger of the Mind". He also used the surname-less Sam from "Charlie X" and rounded out that character. Following "production order", readers might realise that the unresolved brewing Klingon war theme would ultimately be revisited in the TV episode "Errand of Mercy". When the first six books' resulting stories turned out to be not all that different in style to most other TOS novels, Pocket's ST editors decided to absorb them back into the usual run of TOS fiction. Out of the blue, or so it seemed, came 2005's new Ryan instalment, the first of a sequel set of novels called "Errand of Fury". The new action in "Seeds of Rage" picks up just after the events of the episode "The Devil in the Dark" (thus "Errand of Mercy" is almost upon us). "Seeds of Rage", and the next books, promise to reveal exciting stuff about Sam [Fuller]'s vengeful father, Michael, and the fate of original Kevin Ryan character, Leslie Parrish. "Seeds of Rage" is a great read! It moves at such a fast pace that noone should have trouble finding the time to read "Errand of Fury: Seeds of Rage" all over again, if they need a memory boost, when the next instalment, "Demands of Honor", comes out in 2006. What I really love about both the "Errand of Vengeance" trilogy, and this first book in "Errand of Fury", are the high concept, out-of-left field, what-ifs Kevin Ryan throws into the mix. In the first trilogy it was "What if a minor redshirt we saw in 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' was a Klingon agent, and what if there were others?" and in this one it's "What if an Enterprise redshirt fell pregnant to such an agent?" Doing this makes the stories compelling, and adds to their page-turner nature. Even though we think we know how the events of the TV episodes turn out, Ryan puts a unique spin on our expectations, as his stories weave throughout the action of existing episodes. It doesn't matter that you haven't seen episodes such as "A Taste of Armageddon" (to know Ambassador Fox better) or "Errand of Mercy" (which introduces Kor and the Klingons to TOS audiences) but, if you have, you are in for many additional treats when reading "Seeds of Rage".

I loved the three part series by former Star Trek editor Kevin Ryan because they take place in the original series era. I hope they give him the chance to finish this saga. I don't see anywhere on the Trek book schedule parts II and III! Do we have to wait till next year to finish this series? What I do love about it is it doesn't focus on Kirk, Spock and McCoy. We get to see the other crew members in action. They might not survive at the end of the novel and that is what makes it so interesting. As a fan of Trek I know that our favorites will always win. In these novels there's a bit more suspense because you don't know what will happen next.