We are back on mission at Star Trek CineMcCollough, going way back to the earliest days of the Pocket Books novels for number four, "The Covenant of the Crown." Written by Howard Weinstein - this is our second book review for Weinstein, who also wrote Deep Domain, after becoming famous for having a story produced for The Animated Series in 1974 when he was just 19 years old (!!!), Weinstein this time delivers us a tale of a dynasty in exile for eighteen years from a critically important planet that is also contested by the Klingons. It has a familiar feel to it, but isn't that what we like about watching reruns of Star Trek?

Tune in to our podcast episode and find out what we though of Weinstein's first novel!

Your friends at CineMcCollough are kicking off our third season of Trek Novel Madness today with the next randomly-selected novel from the pool of the first 50 Pocket Books novels -- what we call "Is That a Trek in Your Pocket?" The only Star Trek novel ever published - heck, the only novel of any kind ever published - by Carolyn Clowes.

"The Pandora Principle" takes place between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, and Clowes really knows how to fill in the correct details to paint the picture of a new Romulan plot to overcome the Federation... this one involving a secret research base that is the origin story of Saavik, the cinema-only Star Trek character from the three early 1980s movies.

Join Butch and Rob as they discuss this book and see if you agree!

Now, at last, we reach the Season 2 Finale, which finishes off the first half of our FIFTY BOOK mission through the Pocket Books Universe - what we call Is That a Trek in Your Pocket? -- before we begin the cruise through the second half we will take up the lone book by author Sonni Cooper (who was a name of note within the early Star Trek fandom, being part of the community that kept that fandom alive with newsletters and conventions and other such activities). Her contribution is the novel "Black Fire," which was published in January 1983.

If you wondered how everyone's favorite Vulcan, Spock (yes, this IS a Spock-centric novel, as was inevitably the case for someone so involved in early Trek fandom) can go from first officer on the Enterprise to court martialed to prison to escapee from prison to pirate to subcommander in the Romulan Star Empire, all in one single novel, then buckle your seat belts (if your vessel as them) and prepare for quite a journey - albeit one that may strain credulity a bit.

Who WOULDN'T want to see what Spock looks like as a pirate, am I right? Well let's see what Rob and Butch think. Then leave us a review and settle in for some well-deserved down time as they produce more content for your listening pleasure.