Thomcat
1/10/2022
Groundbreaking in a number of ways, this was the first published book of fan fiction for Star Trek. Published in March of 1976, the two earlier original novels were some six years previous, and this also showed that there was a market for Star Trek fiction. I first read this not long after it was published, checking it out from the Spokane Valley library.
One of the best aspects of these stories was the introduction to each by a cast member. Some of these have stuck with me over the years, such as The Enchanted Pool and Ni-Var. Some were not great in my first reading, and haven't gotten any better.
This was probably my introduction to fanfic. No stores in my area carried the many Star Trek fanzines that these stories originally came from: Tricorder Readgins, T-Negative, Spockanalia, and others. What I didn't realize at the time was that all of these stories were written by women authors, and the editors of the collection were also women. A great start to two reading challenges in 2022 - Star Trek and Women of Genre Fiction!
What I also didn't know was the controversy and editing the stories received. Two authors in particular were very unhappy with these edits. Younger me didn't have the internet to search, and fanlore.org has been particularly helpful in pointing me to more information about this and the second volume in the series. It was worth reading these again with the expanded information, but I won't be pulling this particular tattered paperback off the shelf again.