Voyage of the Starwolf

This is the way Star Trek the Next Generation should have been written. David Gerrold cuts thru the New Age, wimpy crap that plagues the modern TV series and delivers a book that gives the hard edge a star ship needs on the frontier where the bad guys would rather eat you than talk.The book opens with the LS-1187 joining a convoy on the Silk Road. Only as soon as they join the ships, the Morthan Solidarity attacks and rips the heart out of the fleet. Commander Korie has mortally wounded captain, an untested crew and a severely damaged ship. On top of that he has the biggest warship in a 100 parsecs stalking him - the Dragon Lord. He performs the near impossible and brings his ship home, only to be sent out again (this time under Captain Hardesty) on a suicide mission.A great story and fast read.

For those of you who don't know, Gerrold is the unoffical co creator of Star Trek The Next Generation. After reading this novel it made me think of how much better the characters might have been had he been writing the Next Generation TV show. All of the characters in this novel take the Star Trek theme to a more realistic level.

Gerrold is a master story-teller,this book is great example of "space opera" science-fiction. The story is about a young first officer on is last voyage before taking command of his ship,the book also speaks about the first days of a terrible war,and the struggle of a crew and his captain to engage and destroy an enemy vessel in order to gain a name for their ship. If you like true sci-fi stories and well-built characters you must read this book. Well done David,we hope to read more about Korie and his crew.

Gerrold gives you a "Star Trek" like story line combined with a reasonable (and rather elegant) explanation of how the technology actualy works. (Even if he does forget that time is distorted at FTL speeds) He allso wrote the "Troubles with Tribbles" episode and you can see it in his trek-like writing style.

The LS-1187, under the command of Captain Lowell, is badly mauled by the Morthan Solidarity when it's pressed into service as a convoy escort on the oldest, safest convoy in the stars, the Silk Road Convoy. The new commander finally turns the tables on them and the ship finally gets its name. Blair Colquhoun @cybertours.com