Sunday, February 28, 2010

Button Pins

I picked up a couple of Star Trek themed pin-on buttons somewhere along the way.


Spock from The Motion Picture. As a kid I remember really liking the displays behind Spock. Not sure where or when I acquired this; perhaps at a convention.


I'm sure we've all had days where we can relate to this sentiment. I could be wrong, but I think this was a present from my Mom. She knew me too well!

Pocket TOS Fiction 1990

1990 was the last year (to date!) in which I bought an original Trek novel. During the year Pocket released one hardcover, 5 original paperbacks, and one paperback edition of their hardcover from the previous year.


The paperback edition of The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard was published in August 1990. My copy is from the first edition.


My one and only hardcover Star Trek novel purchase was Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. It was published in September 1990. My copy is from the first edition. I don't have a record of my purchase date, but I do know it was purchased in a bargain bin for $4.99, so it might have been a little while after the publication date.


The other Trek novels featuring the original crew published during 1990 were:
- #48 Rules of Engagement by Peter Morwood, February 1990
- #49 The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes, April 1990
- #50 Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane, June 1990
- #51 Enemy Unseen by V.E. Mitchell, October 1990
- #52 Home is the Hunter by Dana Kramer-Rolls, December 1990

Pocket TOS Fiction 1989

In 1989 Pocket's TOS lineup consisted of one hardcover novel, 4 original paperbacks, and one paperback reprint of the previous year's hardcover. My interest in the Trek books was severely compromised at this point, so I ended up only buying two Trek novels during the year.


Vulcan's Glory (#44) was D.C. Fontana's first Trek novel under the Pocket imprint. It was published in February 1989. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 20 February 1989.


The paperback edition of Spock's World was published in August 1989. I don't have a record of my purchase date, but I suspect it to be sometime during the fall of 1989.

The other TOS Trek novels published during the year which I didn't purchase were:
- #45 Double, Double by Michael Jan Friedman, published April 1989
- The Lost Years (hardcover) by J.M. Dillard, published September 1989
- #46 The Cry of the Onlies by Judy Klass, published October 1989
- #47 The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Eklar, published December 1989

Pocket TOS Fiction 1988

My dedication to Pocket's Star Trek novels deteriorated further in 1988. Eight novels featuring the original crew were published that year, but I only purchased six. For one of them -- Spock's World -- I had a bit of an excuse in that it was published in a hardcover edition and I was still a university lad with little money to spare. (And in fact I did pick up the paperback edition when it came out in 1989.) The other (Gene DeWeese's The Final Nexus) I simply didn't purchase and still do not have to this day.


Diane Carey's event novel Final Frontier kicked off the year. It was published in January 1988. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased early in 1988.


February 1988 brought The IDIC Epidemic (#38) by Jean Lorrah. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased early in 1988.


Time for Yesterday (#39) is the sequel to A.C. Crispin's well-received 1983 novel Yesterday's Son. It was published in April 1988. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 13 April 1988.


David Dvorkin's Timetrap (#40) followed in June 1988. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased in June 1988.


The Three-Minute Universe (#41) by Barbara Paul was published in August 1988. My copy is from the first edition and was purchased some time during the Fall of 1988.


September 1988 saw the publication of Pocket's first Star Trek hardcover -- Spock's World by Diane Duane. I passed on the hardcover but did pick up the softcover edition in 1989.



Memory Prime (#42) by Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens was published in October 1988. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased during the Fall of 1988. This husband/wife writing team went on to pen many Star Trek books over the next twenty plus years.


The final TOS Trek novel of the year was The Final Nexus (#43) by Gene DeWeese, published in December 1988. I didn't purchase this book.

Pocket TOS Fiction 1987

The year 1987 marked a new high-water mark for Pocket Books, with seven (original crew) Trek novels published including one event book. This year also marked the launch of Pocket's Next Generation books, starting with the novelization of TNG's premiere episode.


Chain of Attack (#32) by Gene DeWeese was published in February 1987. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 21 February 1987.


Deep Domain (#33), written by Howard Weinstein, was published in April 1987. My copy is from the 2nd printing and was purchased in April 1987. (I'm not quite sure why this one went into a second printing so quickly, maybe the popularity of the fourth movie gave it a boost.)


Carmen Carter's Dreams of the Raven (#34) arrived in June 1987. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased in July 1987.


The second event novel was Margaret Wander Bonanno's Strangers from the Sky. It was published in July 1987. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased in July 1987.


The Romulan Way (#35) by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood followed in August 1987. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 21 August 1987.


October 1987 featured How Much For Just the Planet? (#36) by John M. Ford. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 22 October 1987.


The busy year of 1987 was rounded out by J.M. Dillard's Bloodthirst (#37), published in December 1987. My copy is from the first printing. My meticulous record-keeping from this period starts to get a little spotty around this time, so I'm not sure when I purchased this but it was probably soon after its publication.

Pocket TOS Fiction 1986

1986 saw the publication of six more original Star Trek novels, one of which was the first of several "event" books. Although I did purchase all of these books shortly after they were released, my fervor for Trek fiction was beginning to ebb around this time, no doubt partially due to the fact that I started university in September of this year.

First up was Mindshadow (#27) by J.M. Dillard. It was published in January 1986. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 16 January 1986.


Next, Crisis on Centaurus (#28) by Brad Ferguson. It was published in March 1986. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 15 March 1986.


May 1986 saw the release of Dreadnought! (#29) by Diane Carey. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 5 May 1986.


J.M. Dillard's second Trek novel of the year was Demons (#30), published in July 1986. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 26 July 1986.


In 1986 Pocket Books released their first "event" Star Trek novel. These novels tended to be by popular authors, longer than average, and of higher price. They were also released outside of the numbering sequence used for most books in the series. The first event novel was Vonda N. McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure which was published in September 1986. My copy is from the first edition and was purchased in October 1986.


The final Trek book for 1986 was the second of the year from Diane Carey -- Battlestations! (#31). Carey was really into exclamation points in those days! This was a sequel to her earlier novel Dreadnought! and was published in November 1986. My copy is from the first printing and was purchased on 24 January 1987.