Star Trek - Errand of Vengeance #1: The Edge of the Sword

(The hell? A non-numbered Star Trek book published within the last ten years? I must be losing my mind.)

Maybe it's because I'm not a Trek maniac (what are they called again? Trekkies? Trekkers?), but I'm not all that clear on the whole Klingon thing. In the Original Series, they were just these swarthy guys that kind of looked like Genghis Khan. By the time The Next Generation starts, they visually evolved into big, dark guys with a lot of ridges and a lot of hair. (The Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" gave a reason as to why TOS Klingons look different, but I don't buy it. I'd much rather pretend that they looked that way all along, which is probably why I'm not a Trekkie.)

OMG U GUISE! I totally can't tell them apart!

That said, I wonder in just what sort of way I should see Kell, the protagonist of Errand of Vengeance. Did he look like a TOS Klingon before he was changed to appear human? Or did he look like a TNG Klingon? I guess it doesn't matter in the long run; he looks human at the start of the story and he's described as small for a Klingon from the start. But I still wonder.

Hadaka Necktie-chan by Fujio

Let's talk about Hadaka Necktie-chan.

Several years ago, the doujinshi circle green park published a series of strips about a cute, innocent boy that says nothing and wears only a black tie and matching socks. The art style is very cute, and the stories are funny. Now, these self-published comics are being reprinted in Magazine Be-Boy.

Because of the art style, it isn't as pervy as it could have been, what with a lead character nearly naked the entire time (and that magical tie is always working, making sure nothing is seen.) If this was done in a more realistic style...

An awkward moment for all one.
From episode 18, "Necktie Koukan", Be-Boy 8/2011

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Murakami Haruki (Part 3)

There's a couple of things I want to say about Murakami Haruki.

First, Murakami has a thing for ears, and so I have a thing for Murakami's thing for ears. I only really noticed it while reading A Wild Sheep Chase, in which the narrator turns his girlfriend's ears into something erotic and mysterious. I thought it was weird at the time, and I still sort of do. But, people become attracted to all sorts of things, so why can't perfectly shaped earlobes be one of these things? And who am I to balk against author appeal?

Second, I often find myself wondering if Murakami's works are just varying degrees of semi-autobiographical stories. "Folklore" from part 2, for example, felt very much like the author really was the narrator.Yes, I know that he probably did not work at an elephant factory, or that he really isn't a walking computer, but there is a lot of himself in his writing, which is true for every writer. 'Write what you know' and all that jazz. (Also, you can't tell me that he doesn't have an acting friend whose real name is the same as a Yamonote Line stop, because I won't believe you.)

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Murakami Haruki (Part 2)

I've always thought there's something weird about Murakami's Vintage covers. The US releases are these blocky, colorful things with close-ups of people's faces. (The one for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman even features an ear.)

The version I have, however, is the UK version, which has a minimalistic, Japonisme-style cover. Almost all their covers, with the exception of After Dark, are simple and mostly-white. If the American releases invoke the strangeness of his stories, the British versions invoke the quiet, simple way he writes.

Now that I've said my peace, let's look at the next three stories in Blind Willow, "Aeroplane", "The Mirror", and "A Folklore for My Generation". All three of these stories involve a man recollecting an event from his youth. Only "The Mirror" has nothing to do with women. And none of them mentions the ear, which makes me very sad.

Star Trek #41: The Three Minute Universe

I'm starting to wonder if Star Trek novels can be categorized by how silly/annoying/good they are. I tried to think of some, but I get stuck after reaffirming with myself on how stupid Killing Time was.

In The Three Minute Universe, Kirk and crew find a part of space so hot that their sensors cannot even measure it. It turns out to be the titular universe, which appears in the middle of an occupied system and wipes out a sentient race, the Zirgosians, in a flash. The Enterprise heads to Holox, the last remaining Zirgosian colony, in search of answers and, hopefully, a solution.

After reading the title, I immediately thought of eggs and cup noodles, two things that only take three minutes to prepare. I thought the universe in question would be a tiny, lab-grown universe, a baby universe. A cup universe.

Delicious.

Fanbooking: Heroes, Sherlock Holmes, and xxxHoLic

I have, for the most part, an addictive personality. If there's something I'm into, I become addicted to it.... basically.  And I've lost count of all the things I've become addicted to over the years. Chocolate, stealing, stickers, medal games...

Several hundred dollars went into this game alone.
Someone hit me.

Fanbooks are no different. It was really bad a couple of years ago, when I would go to events, buy anything that caught my fancy, then stack it somewhere and forget all about it. I know I don't have to largest collection, no more than 500, I'm sure, but they're collecting dust, and I really shouldn't buy another book until I go through the ones I have already.

Especially since I've found a couple of duplicates in my collection. Fuck.

I mostly have Harry Potter, Gintama, and Hetalia books, but I do have few oddballs here. Let's check them out before I chuck/sell them.

Star Trek #39: Time For Yesterday

Last time, that being the post before, I talked about Yesterday's Son, a Star Trek novel by A.C. Crispin involving Romulans, the Guardian of Forever, Kirk/Spock teasing, and Spock's son. Now, let's talk about the sequel.

In Time for Yesterday, we reunite with Spock's half-Sarpeidonite son, Zar, as the entire universe is being threatened by time running amok. Pockets of space are experiencing hypertime (or some bull): spaceships have been lost in black holes, suns are burning out in extremely accelerated rates, and the universe is going to end in a few months' time. Admiral Kirk and his friends are ordered to get the Guardian to stop fucking around, but there's only one person in all of time that could get the job done. There's time-fuckery, grundgy sword battles, and a bit of ship-teasing and power trio love. What else would you want from a Star Trek novel?

What's that? Space battles? Klingons? The hell are those?

There are no Romulans, either. The story revolves more around Zar, his life and predicted death, and his relationship with the crew and others, than it does about the setup that the book opens up with, which is, admittedly, a very typically Trek plot involving ulta-powerful beings wreaking havoc on the universe.