My favorite Star Trek novel ^^ Featuring cameos by @dduane and @petermorwood even!
Some people don’t like “HMFJTP?” because “it doesn’t treat Star Trek seriously”. Other people like it for that very reason. YMMV.
I like it a lot, and not just because of the cameos (which we didn’t know about beforehand) - it’s fun, and it fits into Proper Trek in the same slightly loopy way as “Galaxy Quest”, a Star Trek movie (of course it is!) that wouldn’t have worked if the pastiche had been done with less affection for the source.
“There was a pie in (the Klingon)’s hand.
Blueberry, Kirk thought instead of ducking.
Splat.
Blueberry it was.”
Constant Snark, like Constant Serious, can only go so far before a bit of light relief is more than appreciated. If you want serious, I can recommend “The Final Reflection”, Mike’s take on Klingons, which IMO is more interesting an nuanced than the canon Samurai Biker version - but again, that’s just me and YMMV.
One small, rather serious note about Mike’s work: John M. Ford died ten years ago this month. He died without a will, and though not close to his family, the lack of his own wishes in the matter had a result I can best summarise by quoting the “Encyclopedia of Science Fiction”:
“It is to be regretted that his biological family, disapproving of his
genre work, is where possible suppressing any reprints. His true family
was Fandom.”
They can’t (AFAIK) influence the Trek books, but World Fantasy winner “The Dragon Waiting” - non-spoilery review (A), spoilery review (B) - many other novels and much of his short work is unlikely to appear again, and as for “Aspects: A Novel With Sorcery”, we can only look at the partials Mike sent us and sigh for what might have been.
Of course there would never have been another “Planet?”; Mike exploited a loophole which said, or didn’t, that “Star Trek as Gilbert and Sullivan musical comedy, film noir, advertising skit, five-door farce, sitcom, pastiche, parody and party political broadcast either individually or all at once is not expressly forbidden.”
That loophole was, not surprisingly, shut soon afterwards. But not in time to catch Dr Wally’s Kitchen of Wonders and its (cough) unique (cough) explanation of “Dilithium And You!”
“Yes, it’s the Klingons. These warlike beings are always on the prowl for dilithium, to drive their war machines, power their warships and do many other war things. And that shows why you kids watching shouldn’t try this experiment at home with any dilithium you might have around the house. That man will recover, because he got prompt medical attention, which we always have on call here at the Kitchen of Wonders. You might not be so lucky.”
That’s an important safety tip, Dr Wally…”
Enough quoting. I’ve got my copy right here, and I’m going to go read it.