The Galactic Whirlpool

Star Trek Adventures #14

by David Gerrold

The Enterprise comes across a huge, antiquated vessel floating in space and carrying a colony of primitive human beings who have been lost in space. While the colonists are in perfect health, they must deal with the culture shock of learning that a world exists outside of their spaceship. Their initial reaction is fear, as they believe the crew of the Enterprise to be "demons." And their fears are heightened with the belief that Captain Kirk and his crew are unaware of an outside force pulling them into a whirlpool of death.

Librarian's Note: Alternate Cover for ISBN 0553241702 (ISBN13: 9780553241709)

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Ebooks, Star Trek Original Series, Fantasy

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1980

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Galactic Whirlpool is one of the early Bantam Star Trek Adventure books (#14) and hence the last one, in fact. Despite David Gerrold’s writing, there are some very uneven aspects to this story. If you are like me a lover of the Star Trek novels, you will recognize that this is pretty typical of the books. Disparate writers are going to have their own views of Star Trek, and of course write a novel that is refracted by that prism of understanding. There is nothing wrong with that, but if that vision conflicts with the readers view, the experience is going to be altered. In some ways good and in other ways bad. I admit that I expected a lighter story when considering that this novel was written by the creator of Tribbles. This novel was written as a hard science fiction novel where the hero of the story is not even a Star Trek regular. Not bad, not great. I have to say that overall, this is a middle of the road read for me. I love that D. C. Fontana wrote the forward.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very old-school "Star Trek", courtesy of one of the original series' break-out writers. It's as much a pure science fiction novel in its own right as it is a "Trek" adventure; there is a great deal of world building, character development, scientific examination, and minute attention to detail. It can slow the pace of the book down considerably, but the slower pace doesn't make it any less enjoyable. That said, it does feel very different to more recent "Trek" novels, and as a result, the experience was quite refreshing. Kudos to Mr. Gerrold for also filling in open-ended backstory that adds depth to the Federation of the 23rd century without contradicting anything added or established by the post-movie/TNG universe. A truly timeless read.

[Rindis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerrold writes an interesting story that feels a bit between a Star Trek story and a regular SF offering of it's age. I think part of that is that it's a 'big dumb object' story, with humans encountering a large structure traveling at about a third the speed of light. There's not much in the story that demands it be a Star Trek story. But, the main characters are there, and without them it wouldn't be quite the same story either.

There are places where it doesn't quite ring true to the universe as it is known now, but back before any of the movies had been done, much less the later series he was in a position of deciding more things for himself. The most grating part for me was suddenly including a couple of auxiliary shuttle bays in the saucer section (really, drop bays, anticipating Enterprise by about 40 years), which just hadn't been mentioned anywhere else.... It is actually somewhat logical, and I'd have been happier if these had been for smaller craft for external work than full shuttlecraft, but that idea doesn't show up until The Motion Picture, so, oh well.

The investigation of the star-faring structure is well-done and interesting, and the problems that result are quite logical. I'm not so happy with a lot of character reactions. Most of the Enterprise crew should react better than they do for most of the novel, as they know what—generally—they're getting into, but they don't seem to take that knowledge into account. On the other side of things, the action and consequences are well handled, and really help sell the story.

Structurally the two real weak points are the fact that a lot of background info gets dumped on you in one large expository chapter. It'd be hard to avoid it, and its presented well, so I think Gerrold was trying to avoid the problem. The other problem is that the name of the novel doesn't come up until about halfway through. A pair of black holes, with orbiting neutron stars, and associated other things falling into certainly qualifies as a 'galactic whirlpool', but it gets sprung on you a bit suddenly.

Past that, it is well done, and the second half of the novel, after everything is finally in place, really works well. The build up is a bit slower and piecemeal than I'd like, but it does come together, and is well worth the journey.

[Clint Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 3rd Star Trek Bantam. The Star Trek Bantams of the 70's aren't generally known for quality, but thankfully, this one surprised me.

In 2013, I watched the abortion that was "Into Darkness" and wanted pure Star Trek. I had hoped novels from the 70's would be the answer, but Star Trek wasn't big enough to enjoy quality paperback addendums at the time.

"Planet of Judgment", written by a Hugo winner, should have been a safe bet, right? Neg. But then there's another award winner--who transcribed all the original episodes--who put down his original flair with "Spock Must Die!". Was it brilliant? No. But it was more Star Trek-y than POJ.

I was about to stop with the Bantams altogether until I stumbled upon a book written by one of the authors of the original series himself. A certain creator of the Tribbles, Mr. David Gerrold.

"Galactic Whirlpool" is a real fun story that brings back one of my favourite secondary characters from the original series, Kevin Reilly (the Irish-happy guy who took over Engineering in "The Naked Time"). It fudges humanity's timeline a little bit--as it's known by Trek nerds--with talk of a lost human community, but if you like Star Trek, you must have an imagination, so don't worry too much about it.

After reading this, I will give the Bantams another shot. (Giving this four stars means four stars when compared with other Star Trek Bantams.)

Course, Captain?

Back to the 70's. Warp factor seven.

[Murphy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2009. Apparently I thought the novel was ok, but not as good as some of the earlier Trek novels I had read.

[David King · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Galactic Whirlpool” was the final Star Trek novel released by Bantam books before the licence was handed over to Pocket Books. What intrigued me the most about this novel was that it was written by David Gerrold, a writer who was involved quite deeply with Star Trek and who wrote the much loved Season 2 episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles”.

The story is based around a pre-FTL vessel known as the Wanderer which is found by the Enterprise to be heading towards the galactic whirlpool, two singularities spinning about each other that are traveling through the galaxy. The crew investigate the ship and find that the crew have lost much of their technology and have reverted to a rather primitive existence. It soon becomes obvious that the in inhabitants are now divided into two warring factions who are almost fanatical in their hatred of each other. Kirk and his crew must therefore work to end the civil war and restart the engines of the Wanderer before it is to late.

The story itself isn’t that remarkable and I have probably read this type of plot many times before. However, Gerrold still managed to keep me interested by providing lots of interesting details about both Federation protocol and characters history. He really uses this novel as a chance to explain and expand the Star Trek Universe that he obviously enjoys writing about. I particularly enjoyed seeing how Gerrold’s imagined pre-warp history of Earth differs from what is now accepted as canon. This difference is understandable as the novel was written back in 1980 before the real growth in developing Star Trek’s back story but if you are a stickler for the current continuity it may irritate you.

However, at times this attention to technical detail could actually bog the story down. At multiple times in the novel when there was an important plot point developing, he feels the need to slow it down with another information dump. Considering, the plot line isn’t the most original this could at times be a bit of a hindrance to really getting emerged in the story.

His love for the characters really shines through in this novel and I think he tries to give them a sense of realism. Yes, there may be slight variations from what we would have seen on the TV series itself but I actually found that this was an improvement. What really did impress me however was that as I read the book I could hear Shatner or Nimoy speaking, Gerrold has managed to catch the mannerism of the cast in his writing and I enjoyed seeing that.

Overall, this was an interesting enough novel although at times it felt more like a fictional description of the Trek Universe rather than an exciting and engaging story.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't...I mean...I don't know what to think about this one. It was a fair to middling Star Trek story, I'm guessing written down before a lot of what has become canon actually being defined. I mean, this generations ship in question is discussed in a massive info-dump as being constructed during the 21st Century whilst Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union competed for power and resources...well into the middle of the century...with no mention of Khan, the Eugenics Wars, World War III, the post-apocalypse, etc.

Also, the writer really needs to do some math or consult with someone about the vastness of space. This generations ship - the Wayfarer, as we find out later - is travelling the fastest it ever has: a full 1/3 the speed of light. And it has been travelling continuously since it launched in the mid-21st Century...which was roughly 200 years before the timeframe of The Original Series...which means, at most, this ship is roughly 70 light years away from Earth...and it is stated that it only got up to this speed by continually sling-shotting around stars as it passed them...so it hasn't even been travelling in a straight line...it is literally still in Earth's local neighborhood, only a couple of dozen light years away, at best. Considering that the Federation is roughly 10,000 light-years across, the Wayfarer is probably very well known and passed constantly by ships doing their business in the very heart of the Federation - it's probably a navigational landmark...but, alas, the Wayfarer is thousands of light-years away, near the border of Klingon space apparently - with the constant threat of Klingon attack mentioned again and again and again in this novel, only to never appear.

And then one of the characters - a Human nicknamed "Specks" - because he wears spectacles/glasses, which is something completely confusing and confounding to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, even though we find out as early as Star Trek II that Kirk wears glasses...which came out only two years after this book was published - he takes a bite out of a whole orange...like with the peel and everything...what kind of monster eats an orange like that?!?!

The weak female trope abounds as the "Tough Warrior Woman" turns to mush and cries whenever a man comes to rescue her. Spock is referred to as "demonic" in visage again and again and again...I never understood that quirk from the TOS-era. But, maybe in the 60's Vulcans/Vulcanians were "demonic"?...which doesn't help the rampant racism in the show. But, anyway...

It was, meh...

[Rich Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was definitely one of the top ten Star Trek novels I've read. There's a lot of good characterization, informative exposition and a damn good science fiction story in this one. Hard not to be, considering David Gerrold's done nearly as much for the franchise as the Great Bird himself.

The story is set in the original series era, with all sorts of nuances, like cameos by Lt. Arex and M'Ress, and a great supporting role by Kevin Riley that nearly steals the book. I'm not going to detail much about the story, though I will say it would've made a great movie say circa 1972 - it would've fit in perfectly with the latter part of the Enterprise's five-year mission.

You're talking about a Clarke- or Bester-level sci-fi tale here, along with the familiarity of the genre-leading franchise. Excellent book!

[Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars because I read this as a teenager, and upon rereading it, it still holds up. It reads like a solid Star Trek OS episode with lots of worldbuilding with nods to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine.

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Above average classic Trek tie-in novel written pre-movies by the man who invented Tribbles. Gerrold is also a a genius SF author in general. Feels like an episode.

[Joe Xtarr]

A bit so-so. Captures the mood of a classic episode, complete with "ethnic savage" stereotypes and the usual misogyny. I generally like Gerrold's writing, but this made me respect him less. Also, not sure why Uhura gets a prominent cover spot (which is partly why I picked this one up - hoping to see her get her own storyline). She has barely more than a third-tier part.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stardate 4496.1 The contact team land on a spaceship and bring back one of the inhabitants, she believes that she lives on a planet, which acording to the Enterprise is heading for disaster. Travelling toward two rotating black holes - the Galactic Whirlpool
An entertaining re-read.
Adventures Number 1

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abissale. Bellicoso. Immaginifico.

[Vega :)]

fet handling men alltså. det här med kvinnosynen

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old school Star Trek adventure by the author of The Trouble With Tribbles.

[SciFiOne · Rating 5 out of 5]

1981 grade A

Classic Trek

[Luke Van Santen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This represents what Trek is. Even with the cringe-worthy bits (Vulcan satirist T'Pshaw, I'll take you home again Katholin, ...).

[Reesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars if I had the option. A fun and engaging story with decent characterization and some detailed (now non-canon) insight into Starfleet's—and Earth's—past.

Unfortunately, it tends to get bogged down with awkwardly presented "information dumps" that read like encyclopedia entries. There is an especially egregious scene of "tell rather than show" consisting of a librarian character (who is painfully clearly the author's avatar) going on a chapter-long historical diatribe that we're meant to believe occurs as a presentation to senior staff. I understand the need for exposition but yikes.

There was also a sudden and terribly convenient accidental death that reads like the author couldn't write himself out of a corner and took the easy way out. That was a bit disappointing, and it was hard to believe that no one so much as commented on the tragedy.

There was a painful lack of consistency in the speech patterns of the new characters, both as a people and individually, that increased in occurrence as the book wore on, with the new speech patterns being nearly forgotten by the final chapters. If you're going to decide a people (or a single person) speak a certain way, then you've got to commit, or the whole thing feels disingenuous and pointless.

I thought it was especially fun to often have the focus on one of the background characters of the show, who we've met but know little about, to break up the constant focus on well-known senior staff. "Kirk gets the girl" is even more predictable and boring than "the hero gets the girl," so it was nice to at least have "the girl" latch on to someone else for a change.

Speaking of "the girl," I would have liked to understand more about how this woman, who appears to be quite young indeed, managed to have a dozen careers before the one she's in now. She appears to have been this, that, and the other thing, all professions that require a certain level of training and study, yet she seems to be no more than 20, and there's no explanation for this. I kept waiting for it to come along, but nope! I'm not sure if this is a plot point that ended up getting dropped but not fully erased, or the author forgot where he was going, or we're really just supposed to believe that this young woman managed to hold so many disparate jobs in the last few years, while apparently being equally efficient at all of them.

Despite the flaws, it's still a fun read, an enjoyable interpretation of a well-worn SF plot, and one of the better early Star Trek novels. I'm glad I read it, though it is perhaps not worth a second go.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

After James Blish’s adaptation of most of the original Star Trek episodes and the first published original novel, “Spock Must Die!”, Star Trek novels entered an interesting era. Many of the books that made it to the market were one-stepped removed from glorified fan-fiction.

But as publishing rights were shifting to Pocket Books with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one glimmer of respectability hit shelves with David Gerrold adapting his initial story pitch for the original series for the printed page. The result was “The Galactic Whirlpool.”

I read “The Galactic Whirlpool” during my intensive Trek novel phase during my teenage years. The only thing I recalled about it was the opening featuring Kirk reflecting on the nature of his middle name and what that means about his character.

Picking up it close to three decades later, I was struck by how my memory had confabulated this sequence a bit and how little else I recalled about the novel as a whole.

Given that Gerrold was part of the writing team for the original series, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s got a good grasp on writing for the regular crew – and that he even brings in a few recurring characters as well, including Lt. Kevin Riley who was seen twice in season one and then vanished off-screen. (I guess if you take over the engineering section and demand ice cream for dinner, Kirk takes a dim view of things).

The Enterprise encounters a large vessel in the depths of space on a course for destruction between two interstellar phenomena. Once the crew has entered the ship, they find a group of colonists that left Earth a long time ago, divided into factions. Can Kirk and company convince them they need help before a course change is too late and their ship is destroyed?

Gerrold originally conceived this story as a two-part episode for the original series. In a lot of ways, this one feels a bit like an early episode of TNG, with an emphasis on Kirk getting all the information from his crew before he makes a decision. There’s even a memorable if lengthy, chapter in which the Enterprise librarian gets to offer his discourse on the colony and exposition dump a lot of useful information to the crew.

The first half of the novel is the more compelling with the second half not quite resonating as well. I appreciate Riley coming on the scene, but his interaction with a colony member brought over and then returned to the ship starts to get a bit tedious in the later pages. Kirk and company are kept off-stage (there’s a Klingon warbird hovering in the sector, requiring KIrk to stay on the bridge) in the second half, and the novel loses a bit of its momentum.

Re-reading “The Galactic Whirlpool,” I was impressed by the patience and attention to detail Gerrold shows. Many of the Trek novels can descend into being pure action and while there is plenty of action to spare, a lot of what appeals about classic Trek is on full display here. I also found it interesting to get the perspective of a guy who worked with some of the creative minds behind TOS in crafting a Trek novel.

Is this a perfect book? Nah.

But it’s a fun tie-in and one of those stories that probably would have been better on-screen than most of what we got in season three.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should have been four stars. It’s a page-turner that belts along with a great situation and some nice introduced characters and a conflict that is ripe for intervention by our heroes on the Enterprise.

There’s just a couple of issues. The rampant continuity dumps and references, as well as the invented history supplied by Mr Gerald, held the story up a few too many times. The invented history bugged me the most, to be honest. Although, in Gerrold’s defence, there was only the Original Series, the Animated Series and a single movie when he wrote this book, and any brain-breaking on my part trying to fit the backdrop for this novel against everything that’s happened onscreen since then is my own problem.

The other part is the very obvious ”showing his working out” that Gerrold does. The amount of work that he accessed or did himself to are his space with realistic is all there on the page and it does hold the reader back a little.

But these are fairly minor gripes against a book that is a highlight of this series so far: the regulars are portrayed quite accurately (and sparsely for some of them, although this was a feature of the show as well); the conflict they’re facing is nicely portrayed and fits well into the Star Trek mould, although it is resolved quite rapidly; it’s really a decent book, although quite derivative of other “generation ship” stories which were done with even more detail and effectiveness… but I’m reading a Star Trek adventure not a hard SF story.

Speaking of which, I was struck by how much admiration there is in the pages for Captain Kirk: Gerrold was a writer for the series back in the day, so I wonder what he’d think about the same level of admiration that gets dished put by the writers of Star Trek Discovery (which I love) for Burnham, and having it spat back at him by the current batch of alleged fans who call her a “Mary Sue” or worse?

[Paul Lunger · Rating 1 out of 5]

If it were possible to give a book 0 stars this would be a case of one that deserves it. David Gerrold who wrote the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and the book that explains how the episode came to being misses horrifically badly with "The Galactic Whirlpool" published in October 1980. The premise is seemingly simply as the Enterprise comes across a world that is actually a lost colony of travelers from Earth who never reached the world they set out to. Problematically though, these lost human colonists don't realize how far things have advanced since they were launched and believe the crew of the Enterprise are in fact demons.

Gerrod's story goes off the rails early on by the fascination of Kirk's with his middle name of Tiberius along with explanations of things that go ridiculously far off course that in places the book becomes unreadable. Granted the dynamics of the people living on this sphere are on the interesting side especially when the full extent of what their conditions and history are, but it still can't save this book that is one that honestly could've been a good 50 pages shorter with less overkill on details that aren't necessary. This in my estimation is one of the worst Star Trek novels ever written and is a shame considering what Gerrold is capable of.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this might be my favorite. I love all the SF aspects; it's not just a Star Trek novel. It's got a lot more, too... Gerrold has some interesting ideas about people & societies, about the qualifications of a leader, etc. And Kevin Riley gets a lot of page time, and Gerrold shows that he deserves it. (Riley, as leader of the contact team, talks Kirk out of accompanying them!)

"By instinct, [Kirk} was a man of action, a problem solver, a doer of deeds. He had an aptitude for making decisions, and that was what made him so valuable to Starfleet. There were better navigators in the fleet, and Ensign Chekov, for one; And better, more logical brains as well- Mr. Spock for another. But there was no one in Starfleet who was more apt to make the right decision in a moment of crisis."

"The Vulcan satirist, T'Pshaw, had summed it up thus: 'over-emphasis on the examination of one's rationality is a good indication that one ought to have one's rationality examined.' The Terran philosopher, Solomon Short, had phrased it: 'This neurotic pursuit of sanity is driving us all crazy.'"

"The La Forge family has been breeding fine officers for Starfleet since Admiral George La Forge had commissioned the light cruiser USS Detroit, 270 earth years previously. The current Admiral La Forge has been the one to recommend James T Kirk to his appointment at the Academy."

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far and away the best Star Trek novel in the Bantam Books run. Did not surprise me that Gerrold had originally submitted this as a long pitch outline for the series, prior to being brought on and writing The Trouble with Tribbles.

The bonus, though, is that he really got what he could do to make it a great Star Trek Book, and not just an episode story. It hits all the areas I like: fascinating premise, interesting incidental characters, and all the established characters getting a chance to play their part. Bones was maybe a little under-used, but it was okay because using minor character Kevin Riley really added a new dimension to his two show appearances.

My favorite part was the extended scenes of speculation and analysis by the crew along the way. Gerrold was not afraid to spend a dozen pages with the characters considering what they might be getting into, analyzing what they know, and even exposition dumping the entire history of the major plot device. I was riveted the entire time. There is so much Star Trek voice and life in the pages of this book.

If you are at all a fan of Star Trek, I think you would enjoy this book. Unfortunately there is no eBook or it, but if you look around you can find a PDF at least, or pick it up cheap from a used book seller.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the end I really didn't care for this book. I ended up dnfing it at the end of chapter 24. I really don't enjoy books where the main cast isn't the main character.

This book sets up to be fairly interesting and the history lesson about early space travel was very fascinating. The titular galactic whirlpool doesn't show up until the second half of the book and I feel like it's a fairly poor title. They could have named it The wanderer or the l5 since that's the name of the ship they find.

It falls flat and feels kind of silly in the end. How one of the people living inside this almost derelict ship realize that the humans aren't terrible people is because of the motto of the boy scouts. Honestly that is what killed it for me. Before that there's a reference to a planet that is like baba yaga where the houses are on legs and walk and that sounded fascinating. And something that was pretty mild that I didn't enjoy and contemplated dropping because of is how the Starfleet academy believe in creative cursing is the best way for a captain to deal with stress and they make it into a game. Just silliness all around. I plan to come back in with quotes when I get a chance.

[Seren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay so I am definitely biased in my rating by my love of Star Trek. If this wasn’t a Star Trek book it would’ve maybe got a 3 star, because a lot of its charm comes from its love of the source material. And that is no bad thing.
Characterisation - brilliant. References - brilliant. And it’s about time too that Kevin Riley got his redemption arc.
I also very much enjoyed the discussion around what’s needed to be a good leader, and as a recurring theme throughout it worked very well.

This felt very Star Trek from start to finish, both in terms of its philosophy and its style.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short Star Trek novel by the guy who wrote the TV episode "Trouble With Tribbles", would have made a nice episode though the book discusses science (and pseudo-science) more in depth. Here the Enterprise is on a mission to find a Klingon ship intruding in Federation space, and finds a huge spaceship that seems nearly dead. Good story, characters and writing, enjoyed it.

[Alberto Bernal · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the creator of "Trouble with tribbles", comes this adventure of Captain James Tiberius Kirk and the Starship Enterprise. The craftsman of Mr. Gerrold shows once again, dealing situations most thrillingly and smoothly, passing from a non related situation to the heart of the story, and a great character development. Great Summer reading.

[Corvid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book written like Gerrold knew that if this got rejected for publishing, he could have any fanzine publish it immediately. Literally half the book is worldbuilding and exposition. There's so many little jokes and puns that you can't get through a single chapter without catching some. Five stars, I'm delighted.

[Dave Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the best of the Bantam books. There's some deep dives into topics and descriptions and theories that slow things down but that's a small matter. The plot is fun and I liked the ending. Recommended.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Longer than it should have been, Kirk and Spock aren't in it much. Apocryphal as a lot of early Trek novels are. Gerrold lays some good world building down but you can see the seams. Reads a little like Lt. Kevin Reilly fan fiction.