STATEMENT: Killing Time sucks.
ELABORATION: There was a time when Pocket Books would take any manuscript, apparently. Della Van Hise, a Kirk/Spock shipper (and fanfiction writer), is a prime example of this, although there was more to it than that.
The manuscript was riddled with blatant hints at K/S, and the fact that the more offensive bits weren't deleted before publishing is still a bit of a mystery. The first print edition is considered a lost book, though if you search long enough, you'll find a copy. Even the revised versions of the book are pretty slashy, and it's probably the slashiest official TOS books ever got.
... So why do I dislike it? It has slash overtones and it's about time travel, two things I enjoy. On paper, it sounded great. As soon as I heard about the book, I went off in search of a copy so that I could read it as well.
And now that I have... I'm pretty disappointed.
Maybe it was the plot itself. The Romulans go back in time in an attempt to destroy the Federation before it could even get started. The 'Second History' they end up creating, however, is no better than the First, and it will only get worse as everyone in the galaxy starts going crazy. ... Well, okay, the premise was okay, but the execution read like... well... fanfiction, and dull fanfiction at that.
There's so much padding in this book. The Romulan Commander returns, only to have boring conversations with her science officer/co-conspirator and off-screen sex with Spock. (He caught a bit of the pon farr at one point, you see, and Kirk was out-of-state at the time...) The Enterprise was sent off to some place and came back to where they were first... for no reason. At all.
And there were points while reading this that I wanted to chuck things at the author out of sheer annoyance. Bones and his toes-bouncing is a major example, but one of the later bits that comes to mind involved Romeo and Juliet. Annoying Original Character called Kirk 'Juliet' after the two of them were kidnapped and dumped on a deserted world by the Romulans. Really, Hise, 'Juliet'? Where do you see 'stiff commanding officer' and 'insubordinate subordinate' in Romeo and Juliet? Stuff like this calls for classical Greek literature, like Achilles and Patroclus. (Maybe AOC hasn't read any Greek myths in a while...)
If I had more of a tolerance for bad fiction, I'd probably enjoy this more. I certainly enjoyed the recap by Stablercake. It did help kill some time, at least. And it introduced me to the phrase 'space karate'. (Though I could be thinking of another story entirely.)
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| SPACE KARATE! |
CONCLUSION: If I want to read slashy fanfiction involving the Romulan Commander, I'll re-read Courts of Honor by Syn Ferguson, which, coincidentally enough, was released the same year Killing Time was published.
Next Star Trek novels to ramble about: The Yesterday Saga by A.C. Crispin.
Star Trek - the Original Series: Yesterday's Son
Time For Yesterday (Star Trek: The Original Series)
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