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Star Wolf #4
Blood and Fire
With an introduction by D.C. Fontana
The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than” human … and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds.
Formerly a never-filmed script for Star Trek: The Next Generation, this conclusion to the Star Wolf trilogy finds Executive Officer Korie and the crew of the Star Wolf answering a distress call from a mysteriously lifeless ship. On board the Norway, they discover half-wave, half-particle clusters of golden light—and a dead man. The lights are the energy form of bloodworms, a fatal infestation that feeds off the energy of living bodies, which scientists on the Norway have developed for use in the Alliance’s war against the Morthans. Officer Korie’s struggle between his conscience and his desire for vengeance will determine not only the safety of the Star Wolf, but the fate of the enemies he’s sworn to destroy.
The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than” human … and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds.
Formerly a never-filmed script for Star Trek: The Next Generation, this conclusion to the Star Wolf trilogy finds Executive Officer Korie and the crew of the Star Wolf answering a distress call from a mysteriously lifeless ship. On board the Norway, they discover half-wave, half-particle clusters of golden light—and a dead man. The lights are the energy form of bloodworms, a fatal infestation that feeds off the energy of living bodies, which scientists on the Norway have developed for use in the Alliance’s war against the Morthans. Officer Korie’s struggle between his conscience and his desire for vengeance will determine not only the safety of the Star Wolf, but the fate of the enemies he’s sworn to destroy.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 6, 2022
Possibly one of the most legendary episodes of Trek. Which was never an episode of Trek.
But! Whose certain featured elements and themes would also appear to have inspired aspects in later iterations of the franchise perhaps more than is formally acknowledged. Aspects, which make it feel like Gerrold's heritage is still energizing the core of the expanding Trek lore, and that the legacy owed to Security Officer Daniel Easton and Medical Technician Paul Berryman is finally getting fed to the system, too.
For TNG audience, whole of the story is a veritable funhouse of "who's who" in picking up on well recognizable character traits and barely disguised franchise tropes.
For someone like myself, who greatly enjoyed Gerrold's When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One: Release 2.0, this proved a real treat in seeing the darling entity in operation as an active part of a team. And, I also couldn't help but to sense certain mannerisms in the narrative familiar to C.J. Cherryh.
A wonderfully character driven, compassionate story. A notable part of Trek legacy, and likely an even better, more genuinely expressed piece of SF in on itself, removed from the calculated formulas of the franchise.
(My extended impressions over this is recorded in the reading updates below).
But! Whose certain featured elements and themes would also appear to have inspired aspects in later iterations of the franchise perhaps more than is formally acknowledged. Aspects, which make it feel like Gerrold's heritage is still energizing the core of the expanding Trek lore, and that the legacy owed to Security Officer Daniel Easton and Medical Technician Paul Berryman is finally getting fed to the system, too.
For TNG audience, whole of the story is a veritable funhouse of "who's who" in picking up on well recognizable character traits and barely disguised franchise tropes.
For someone like myself, who greatly enjoyed Gerrold's When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One: Release 2.0, this proved a real treat in seeing the darling entity in operation as an active part of a team. And, I also couldn't help but to sense certain mannerisms in the narrative familiar to C.J. Cherryh.
A wonderfully character driven, compassionate story. A notable part of Trek legacy, and likely an even better, more genuinely expressed piece of SF in on itself, removed from the calculated formulas of the franchise.
(My extended impressions over this is recorded in the reading updates below).
February 13, 2018
Blood and Fire (Star Wolf, #4) by [author:David Gerrold}, a fun space adventure which would make a fun movie. I'd like to read more of Captain Jon Korie’s adventures in the human war against Morthans (pronounced More-Thans)
7 of 10 stars
7 of 10 stars
abandoned
November 19, 2018The first two books in this series were fascinating. This one was boring; I dnf'ed at about 50%.
August 6, 2014
This is the final of David Gerrold’s Star Wolf series. This is one of those instances where as a reader I would likely enjoy more tales of Korie, Tor, Armstrong and Brik. But, I am one of those readers who much prefer that the series end on a good, or high note, than to continue it to the point where I 1) stop buying it or 2) it reaches the stage of just being written to just be a money maker (Anita Blake anyone?).
While avoiding spoilers yes something(s) good finally happen to Korie. Brik remains Brik, and the Morthan security officer’s behavior and dialogue continue to add humor to the series. Gerrold adds enough depth to Armstrong to make him one of the more human characters on the ship.
A little background to this book. The story was originally intended to be an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As one of the writers of the original series Gerrold was familiar with the show’s high concept of being an allegory for modern times. The episode was going to deal with same-sex marriage and AIDS. Eventually the script was rejected and Gerrold, depending on whose version of the tale you elect to believe was fired or his contract not renewed because of this script.
Star Wolf is not just Star Trek reworked though. The characters are much different despite some similarities. Some people will say Brik=Worf, and that’s fair especially as Gerrold worked on the ST: TNG series bible. But Brik is also much different than Worf, just as Chief Engineer Leen and Chief Medical Officer Williger are very different from LaForge and Crusher.
The blood here refers to a blood borne disease that has decimated the one world it was found on. A small spoiler here-
The Star Wolf, under sealed orders, is sent to supply a ship that was turning the disease into a doomsday weapon for the current war. And, frankly that is pretty easy to figure out early on. Characters die, including at least one character readers of the series would not expect to bite the dust. Meanwhile the crew has to find a way to save the boarding party, themselves and suddenly they find things have gotten much worse.
Gerrold probably should be faulted for his information dumps. These are done as separate chapters and this works better in my opinion than having one of the characters do an info dump.
While avoiding spoilers yes something(s) good finally happen to Korie. Brik remains Brik, and the Morthan security officer’s behavior and dialogue continue to add humor to the series. Gerrold adds enough depth to Armstrong to make him one of the more human characters on the ship.
A little background to this book. The story was originally intended to be an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As one of the writers of the original series Gerrold was familiar with the show’s high concept of being an allegory for modern times. The episode was going to deal with same-sex marriage and AIDS. Eventually the script was rejected and Gerrold, depending on whose version of the tale you elect to believe was fired or his contract not renewed because of this script.
Star Wolf is not just Star Trek reworked though. The characters are much different despite some similarities. Some people will say Brik=Worf, and that’s fair especially as Gerrold worked on the ST: TNG series bible. But Brik is also much different than Worf, just as Chief Engineer Leen and Chief Medical Officer Williger are very different from LaForge and Crusher.
The blood here refers to a blood borne disease that has decimated the one world it was found on. A small spoiler here-
The Star Wolf, under sealed orders, is sent to supply a ship that was turning the disease into a doomsday weapon for the current war. And, frankly that is pretty easy to figure out early on. Characters die, including at least one character readers of the series would not expect to bite the dust. Meanwhile the crew has to find a way to save the boarding party, themselves and suddenly they find things have gotten much worse.
Gerrold probably should be faulted for his information dumps. These are done as separate chapters and this works better in my opinion than having one of the characters do an info dump.
May 18, 2017
David Gerrold's 'not Star Trek' series ends with an adapted Next Generation script that was apparently shelved because it featured a homosexual couple. There really isn't anything with modern attitudes that would scare the horses, and the couple just happens to be two men – dramatically and structurally it's just a couple, doesn't have that much of an impact and would work with any pairing. That's not to say it shouldn't be a homosexual couple, just that it probably doesn't raise eyebrows any more and on that basis it perhaps feels a little dated - or at least in the UK, maybe given what's coming out of the US that isn't the case over there).
The story itself is solid although feels different to the earlier Star Wolf books (and a bit more like a Star Trek bottle show). That isn't to say that there isn't solid rewriting to use the Star Wolf characters rather than Next Gen characters
There is an interesting afterword describing the development hell that Star Wolf found itself in, with many TV networks expressing interest but never quite picking it up. I suspect the series would work, although there are a lot more modern, ambitious science fiction series out there now so it wouldn't stand out as much.
The story itself is solid although feels different to the earlier Star Wolf books (and a bit more like a Star Trek bottle show). That isn't to say that there isn't solid rewriting to use the Star Wolf characters rather than Next Gen characters
There is an interesting afterword describing the development hell that Star Wolf found itself in, with many TV networks expressing interest but never quite picking it up. I suspect the series would work, although there are a lot more modern, ambitious science fiction series out there now so it wouldn't stand out as much.
February 8, 2023
A new Star Wolf novel based on an unproduced Star Trek: The Next Generation script. The Star Wolf finds the Norway infected with blood worms. Captain Parsons violates standing orders in order to save Commander Korie, his team and the Norway survivors. Is this right decesion? Can the people be saved without risking the Star Wolf. These are question encountered by the crew. Gerrold has produced another exciting story. Hopefully a TV series of this material will be produced. For now we got some exciting books to tide us over.
November 21, 2023
Another adventure for the crew of the Star Wolf. Rather than a villain they face a puzzle. The big weakness here is that despite the ship and crew being in danger of destruction and death and on a clock, characters major and minor spend their time talking about things that have nothing to do with the great danger. Several times in the book this goes from annoying to laughable.
Bad narrator
Bad narrator
November 8, 2019
Wrap Up?
The last book in the series?
We get to hear more of the adventures of the Star Wolf and her crew.
The last book in the series?
We get to hear more of the adventures of the Star Wolf and her crew.
June 27, 2022
Loved it, the best of the 3 I think. Wish there were more ...
January 24, 2013
4.5 stars:
The final book in this series has quite a history, starting well before the rest of the series was ever written. As I understand it, since Gerrold was involved in the original Star Trek series and knew Roddenberry, he was heavily involved at the beginning of The Next Generation. He wrote this episode featuring Trek's first openly gay characters -- you can read more on the history of that here. When that didn't happen, he ported it into a new universe he was creating for the Star Wolf TV series that he almost got off the ground. When that didn't happen, he wrote some of those episodes as this series of books.
With all the history behind this, it reads as just a great sci-fi story that just happens to have a gay couple in it, and obviously that's exactly how it should be. Gerrold did some really interesting things with sociological experiments with entire societies of various sexual orientations, but again this was just background info, not central to the plot.
Okay, enough about the history, and the gay couple, let me talk about the story. WOW! This was set a couple years after Middle of Nowhere, so there's a lot of character growth that shows through here. That elevates this above a typical sci-fi "how will they get out of this one?" episode and turns it into a deeper piece of fiction. Which is what Gerrold always does, and it's why I love his work. He expands on the idea of H.A.R.L.I.E. by introducing a L.E.N.N.I.E.: an AI that's paranoid and willing to self-destruct if needed, and is, frankly, insane. So there were several of Gerrold's earlier ideas that were seemlessly blended and expanded in this wonderful book.
He even includes an Afterward, where he explains the history of the planned Star Wolf TV series. This was more refreshing than expected, since I figured he'd talk about the Next Gen history instead, and I'd heard a lot less about the Star Wolf series.
Very good stuff. Good enough that I really wish there were more books in the series.
The final book in this series has quite a history, starting well before the rest of the series was ever written. As I understand it, since Gerrold was involved in the original Star Trek series and knew Roddenberry, he was heavily involved at the beginning of The Next Generation. He wrote this episode featuring Trek's first openly gay characters -- you can read more on the history of that here. When that didn't happen, he ported it into a new universe he was creating for the Star Wolf TV series that he almost got off the ground. When that didn't happen, he wrote some of those episodes as this series of books.
With all the history behind this, it reads as just a great sci-fi story that just happens to have a gay couple in it, and obviously that's exactly how it should be. Gerrold did some really interesting things with sociological experiments with entire societies of various sexual orientations, but again this was just background info, not central to the plot.
Okay, enough about the history, and the gay couple, let me talk about the story. WOW! This was set a couple years after Middle of Nowhere, so there's a lot of character growth that shows through here. That elevates this above a typical sci-fi "how will they get out of this one?" episode and turns it into a deeper piece of fiction. Which is what Gerrold always does, and it's why I love his work. He expands on the idea of H.A.R.L.I.E. by introducing a L.E.N.N.I.E.: an AI that's paranoid and willing to self-destruct if needed, and is, frankly, insane. So there were several of Gerrold's earlier ideas that were seemlessly blended and expanded in this wonderful book.
He even includes an Afterward, where he explains the history of the planned Star Wolf TV series. This was more refreshing than expected, since I figured he'd talk about the Next Gen history instead, and I'd heard a lot less about the Star Wolf series.
Very good stuff. Good enough that I really wish there were more books in the series.
September 5, 2012
This is the 3rd book in the Star Wolf series, if you don’t count the prequel that is. The book was certainly an improvement over the previous one. Not that this would be an extremely difficult task. As you can see from the book blurb this story was originally meant as a Star Trek - The Next Generation script and that I can believe. It would probably have made a fairly decent script as well.
It also says that it’s the conclusion of the Star Wolf trilogy. That’s a downright lie. This book brings no real conclusion to the story of the Human/Morthan war whatsoever. I get the feeling that someone used to write rubbish presentations for TV-show episodes wrote that crap.
Well, what about the book then? As I said it’s definitely an improvement over the last book in the series, The Middle of Nowhere. The book concentrates more on the actual story and there are not so much of the unrelated and boring discussions between members of the crew. That didn’t stop the author from throwing in one about sex again though. He seems to have a problem with that subject since he cannot let go of it. More TV-show syndrome?
The story of the book is fairly okay although it is a bit “trek-ish” in that there are a lot of fancy words but there’s not much sound science in it whatsoever. I can live with that since what’s there is not too bad.
In the end it was a fairly okay read but I’m not too sorry that the author decided to stop the series even though, contrary to the blurb, there was no real conclusion to it.
It also says that it’s the conclusion of the Star Wolf trilogy. That’s a downright lie. This book brings no real conclusion to the story of the Human/Morthan war whatsoever. I get the feeling that someone used to write rubbish presentations for TV-show episodes wrote that crap.
Well, what about the book then? As I said it’s definitely an improvement over the last book in the series, The Middle of Nowhere. The book concentrates more on the actual story and there are not so much of the unrelated and boring discussions between members of the crew. That didn’t stop the author from throwing in one about sex again though. He seems to have a problem with that subject since he cannot let go of it. More TV-show syndrome?
The story of the book is fairly okay although it is a bit “trek-ish” in that there are a lot of fancy words but there’s not much sound science in it whatsoever. I can live with that since what’s there is not too bad.
In the end it was a fairly okay read but I’m not too sorry that the author decided to stop the series even though, contrary to the blurb, there was no real conclusion to it.
April 27, 2008
Loved it. Just as good as the first and second ones. I have these in a Sci-Fi Book Club Edition 3-in-1. In the afterword of Blood and Fire, David Gerrold tells about how this story came to be and how often The Star Wolf world has come close to being a TV series. I only hope that someday someone with some sense will actually take it all the way. I know I would watch it.
January 12, 2008
Gerrold creates a complete and fascinating future space-traveling world. But his characters are what keeps me reading his books. This was probably my least favorite of the "set" but only because it's the most recent and I already had impossibly high standards.
July 7, 2009
The story has gone through so many transformations since it was first an accepted (later rejected) Star Trek episode with a gay scene (kiss?), that it's hard to see the heritage, but the introduction and epilogue connect the dots.
August 9, 2007
Stopped halfway through. Found it boring and illogical.
November 3, 2012
great book
October 1, 2015
Pretty much up to Gerrold's (high) standards. I recommend reading the prior books in the series first.
March 25, 2016
The weakest of the Star-Wolf trilogy.
December 18, 2014
This book is pure sour grapes for not being able to turn the story into a T.V. show. Very poor.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews