In the Quake Zone by David Gerrold

Oh my goodness, what a wholly original take on time travel.

We are often told time travel stories that reimagine history; what if Hitler was never in power?  That kind of thing.

But in this story, there is a team of time specialists who travel up and down the stream on behalf of people willing to pay for the service.  What often happens is that small players, who have no bearing on history, are helped to avoid tragedies or bad luck.  Victims of accidents are prevented from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Our protagonist, Mike, is an operative for the Harris Agency which specializes in small cases.  He is sent back to the 1950s to unravel a number of missing person cases, which is thought to be the work of a serial killer.

While he investigates, by following the victims, he becomes entangled in the life of one of them.

I found the story confusing in the first quarter as it refused to settle into a narrative but once it did, I was hooked.  Gerrold can write compelling characters and situations that are just a small twist away from being comfortable.  I liked that.

In the last quarter, the story takes a big leap to one side, this was frustrating and yet welcomed at the same time.  It was like being interrupted by a commercial right at a crucial time.  I guess that was the point.

It was terrific fun and explored underground societies in a compelling way.

Stick with it because it is worth every page.

David Gerrold's website - https://www.gerrold.com/

David Gerrold

The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold - Book Report #168

This was the second edition of Gerrold's original insight into the Star Trek TV show.  This volume also included insights into the making of the first three movies in the franchise.

It was a terrific read.  It wasn't just gushy about how wonderful the show was.  As a matter of fact he goes into great detail to show how there were more bad episodes than good.  What made Star Trek so good was that, when an episode worked, it worked very, very well.

Even though it predates The Next Generation it is still a relevant book today.

It was interesting to read that the frustrations the fans had with NBC and Paramount are the same today with Paramount and CBS.

The book was written with warmth and love to the actors, crew and fans.  As it was admitted by the author; he is a fan as well and holds the creation in very high regard.  He blames the faults of the shows on the producers and the pressures the studios pressed onto them.

Gerrold expressed hope for more Star Trek to be produced in the future.  In the fullness of the 33 years that have passed since this edition was published we know that the franchise certainly enjoyed years of unimagined popularity with The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise.

I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the show.

David Gerrold