Ishmael

This is a really fun book combining two 1960s TV shows - Star Trek and Here Come the Brides. It starts with the Enterprise at a Starbase when Spock becomes suspicious of some Klingon activity. He has snuck aboard their ship to investigate when the ship leaves and then vanishes, right after the

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Enterprise receives a puzzling transmission from him. The next time we see Spock he is in 1867 Seattle badly injured, with no memory and no idea how he got there. Spock is rescued and nursed back to health by Aaron Stemple, a local mill owner. Aaron quickly realizes that Spock is not of the Earth but it doesn't seem to make any difference to him. Once Spock has recovered, Aaron gives him the name Ishmael, an identity as his nephew, and a job as his accountant. Spock, as Ishmael, begins to get acquainted with the townspeople and build a life. He gets occasional flashes of memory and feels that there is something important that he is supposed to do. I loved seeing Spock's human side come out, as he didn't know to repress it. There is enough of his true self there that his logical mannerisms and speech are evident and create some very humorous moments. One of my favorites is when he and Josh are engaged in a mock battle involving spoons, catapults, tea cups and a lump of sugar. Spock's mental comment to himself is: “and besides, he had no intention of allowing a human to win at this game…”

The setting is Seattle during the time of Here Come the Brides and the characters are all recognizable from the show. The Bolt brothers, some of the women such as Candy, Lottie and Biddy, and Aaron himself. I really enjoyed seeing Spock's unintended influence on them as he simply accepts things that are foreign ideas to them. I loved his complete acceptance of the idea of a woman doctor when it was something nearly unheard of to them, yet his attitude influenced their changing perceptions. His biggest influence ends up being on Aaron himself, who finds himself changing thanks to Spock. There is also an interesting connection between Spock and one of the residents of Seattle.

There is some time spent with the crew of the Enterprise as they work feverishly to figure out what the Klingons are up to and where Spock is. Kirk's worry about his friend and fears that he is dead are a prime motivator for him. His connections enable him to find people/beings who are able to assist him in his search. He is assisted by Bones, Uhura and Sulu as they skate along the edges of the rules. As is usual, they prevail just in the nick of time.

An interesting bit of trivia: In the TV show Here Come the Brides, Aaron Stemple is played by Mark Lenard, the same actor who portrays Spock's father in the TV show and Star Trek movies.

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Hands down my favorite ST:TOS novel. I still re-read this every few years. You wouldn't think Star Trek could meet Here Comes the Brides successfully, but this ties the two together well. Such a treat for those of us raised on TV westerns AND Star Trek!

What a great way to handle Star Trek - combine it with another period TV show. In this case, Spock is caught in a time jump, and finds himself in frontier Seattle dealing with the characters from "Here Come the Brides." There are also cameos from "Paladin" and "Bonanza." But beyond the novelty of

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this mix is the excellent writing, the imaginative turn of phrase, the deft handling of characters and their emotions. A favorite.

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Of all the storylines about Spock, this one is my favorite. It explores his human side without resorting to drugs, and without taking away his dignity. As a matter of fact, that is the theme of the whole book: the inherent dignity in humanity, and the bonding of persons in adverse situations. Like

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all the best Star Trek, it is a novel of hope.

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I keep returning to this book at different points in my life. It's a story about the power of friendship that has really made a difference to me, echoing my own experiences and reminding me of that power when I've forgotten it. Rather than transcending the television shows it's based on, I think

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the book reaches deep into the underlying archetypes in the shows and brings them into startling clarity. Highly recommended -- Billie

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Always fun. I love the various references in it - I know I'm missing some (or seeing them but can't identify them). And it was well after I first read the book that I found the main setting was a TV show - Bridal Veil Mountain (I don't know if that's the actual title). Still haven't seen any of the

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show, though I'd like to. The two Dr. Whos, Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica - is the spice smuggler from Dune or Star Wars? And was the gambler Paladin - was either of them Paladin, and if so who was the other? Fun puzzles. The story is great - Spock from a different aspect, without his history to support and guide him. I'm a sucker for amnesia stories anyway. And the romance aspects (no, not Spock!), and Biddy standing up for herself - and I love Sarah, though we don't get to see much of her. Jason really needs someone - this is why I want to see the show. The trigger for the crisis makes periect sense; the timing for the cavalry is suspiciously perfect, but that's the only major auctorial meddling I saw. The time loop is amusing, too, particularly since it wasn't intentional at the time. Excellent story - I've read it at least five times and likely more, and fully intend to read it again, and again…

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Spock time-travels unexpectedly to 1867 Seattle, getting amnesia along the way. Klingons plotting, mostly off-screen. Possible fanon planet name "Khlinzai".

just plain fun, and an intersting look at the beginnings of Seattle Washington's history.

When I was 16, I discovered Star Trek, and wanting more than the 79 episodes I sought out the novels - soon discovering that quality varied wildly, from dead-on characterizations and very good writing to really bad generic sci fi novels couched in ST to make an extra buck. One of the good ones, one

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of the really, really good ones was by Barbara Hambly - talk about your excellent fanfic! Ishmael is, though I had no idea when I first read it or for a long time after, a crossover story, in which Spock is captured by Klingons and winds up through a sequence of events that make perfect sense if you're a Trekkie back in Seattle of 1867. It was only years later that I discovered (I think because of Bjo Trimble) that the characters he encounters in the tiny logging town of Seattle weren't Ms. Hambly's inventions but characters from another TV series: "Here Come the Brides". It was a series starting in 1968, starring Robert Brown, David Soul (yes, that David Soul), Bobby Sherman (yes, that Bobby Sherman) - and Mark Lenard, aka Sarek of Vulcan. (Hence part of the joy of the crossover.) I'd never heard of it, and I don't think I've heard of it since apart from fannish mentions in connection with the book. The wonderful thing is – it's available on Netflix. When worlds collide…

This is one my old favorite comfort books, a perfect Star Trek novel which introduced me to Ms. Hambly – for which I will forgive almost all of the vagaries of the rest of the novel series. This one's a wonder, whether or not you know anything about "Here Come the Brides".

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A fun, light read with Hambly indulging in a mash-up (before the term was invented) between classic Star Trek and Here Come the Brides.

During a layover at Starbase Twelve the Enterprise crew investigates suspicious activity surrounding a Klingon ore freighter which seems to be more than it appears. As they follow it into the Tau Eridani Cloud, the Klingon ship suddenly vanishes . . . with Spock still on board. And on Earth in

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1867, a frontier businessman encounters an amnesiac stranger in the woods — one with pointed ears and green blood coming from his wounds.

Barbara Hambly's book is unique among the many novels in the Star Trek Pocket Book series. Unlike the others set in the Star Trek universe, Hambly situates many of the events in a different fictional world, that of the ABC television show Here Come the Brides which ran for two seasons in the late 1960s. To be honest I'm not a fan of such a conceit (and her insertion of thinly-veiled characters and references from other television shows and sci-fi franchises didn't help), but Hambly makes it work here, thanks to the strength of her characterization and her storytelling skills. There's also an underlying joke in her use of the series that proved rather clever once I understood what it was, and which highlighted the amount of work she put into realizing it. The overall result is somewhat different from most other Star Trek novels, yet it is that difference which makes it such a fresh and enjoyable read.

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Set half in space on the Enterprise and half in Seattle in 1867.