TRANSFORMERS - THE VEILED THREAT

A Del Rey Mass Market Original

Written by Alan Dean Foster

Copyright 2009 by Hasbro



Set between Transformers  and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in The Veiled Threat by Alan Dean Foster, captain Lennox and tech sergeant Epps are now part of the classified agency NEST and are in alliance with the Autobots in searching for Starscream and the Decepticons.

Based out of NEST headquarters, Lennox, Epps, and the Autobots - who have sworn to protect the humans - go around the world searching for Starscream and the Decepticons as the Decepticons search for various power sources. The question now is why do the Decepticons need the power?

The events from the book lead to the start of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. As more Autobots and Decepticons arrive on Earth from space, the battles between them are intense enough that there are losses of both Decepticons and Autobots. Although Lennox and Epps are major characters in the book, there is more characterization with Russian AI specialist Petr Andronov and Asian cyberneticist Kaminari Ishihara than with Lennox and Epps.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.

STAR WARS - DARK NEST III - THE SWARM WAR

A Del Rey Mass Market Original
Written by Troy Denning

Copyright 2006 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpt from Star Wars: Republic Commando: Triple Zero copyright 2006 by Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

In The Swarm War, at the Chiss-Killik border space, the alien insect race Killiks are at war with the Chiss. The Jedi try to stop the war, although the Chiss do not like their interference while almost Joiners, Jedi Knights Jaina Solo and Zekk assist the Killiks. Meanwhile, Jacen Solo believes that in order to stop the Killiks, they need to kill their old friend Raynar Thul.

When Jaina and Zekk refuse to return home to the Jedi Academy when Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker calls them, you know they are basically Joiners and you are concerned for them as they are in the trenches fighting with the Killiks. Luke wants the Jedi to be focused on committing to put the Jedi Order first instead of being distracted by other concerns which is driving the Jedi apart. Jacen being so cold blooded as to wanting to kill the leader of the Killiks, his old friend and former Jedi Raynar Thul, shows Jacen's slow path to the Dark Side of the Force. Luke, of course, disapproves and would rather search for another way, as killing is a last resort to the Jedi. Although Raynar has been unknowingly influenced by the Dark Jedi Queen Lomi Plo to control the Killiks for her own agenda, Raynar's stubbornness and forceful will is annoying and you almost agree that the only way to stop him and the Killiks is by killing Raynar.

The excerpt of Triple Zero by Karen Traviss shows Kal Skirata first encountering the Null clones children on Kamino and his basically adopting them away from the Kaminoans clonemasters who want to destroy them for being defective. It is rather touching to see mercenary Skirata's heart breaking as he sees these determined children protecting each other in order to survive.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Trek

Pocket Books

A novel by
Alan Dean Foster

Written by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Based upon "Star Trek" created by Gene Roddenberry

Copyright 2009 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. Copyright 2009 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.



The novelization to the movie Star Trek is about the launching of the new crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in an alternate universe from the original TV series Star Trek. After a bitter Romulan miner from an alternate universe destroys the planet Vulcan with Red Matter - in revenge for the destruction of his own home world of Romulus, the Enterprise is the sole surviving starship to stop him as he targets Earth.

This novelization by Alan Dean Foster is a good companion to the movie, whose prose adds more depth to the movie and the gathering of the crew of the Enterprise - including Doctor McCoy, asian helmsman Sulu, and Communications officer Uhura. You see a rebellious young James T. Kirk trying to live up to his late father's name, who once commanded a starship for 12 minutes before the ship was destroyed by the Romulan miner Nero in deep space of twenty years before. Starfleet cadet Kirk in turn becomes the captain of the Enterprise when captain Pike becomes a prisoner of Nero. An alternate universe explains outcomes that are different than what we have known before. With the original Spock as a link between the original universe and the new alternate universe, the concept seems more acceptable than having a totally re imagining of Star Trek. You look forward to a face-to-face meeting with both the mature and young Spock.

See the movie review of Star Trek.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Mission Earth 3 - The Enemy Within

Galaxy Press

Written by L. Ron Hubbard

Copyright: 1986, 1988, 2005 L. Ron Hubbard Library

Cover Art: Gerry Grace

Cover artwork: copyright 1988 L. Ron Hubbard Library.

All rights reserved.

The Enemy Within, part of the 10 book Mission Earth series, continues the adventures of alien combat engineer Jettero Heller who was sent to Earth from Apparatus space to study the planet. Heller is also being hampered to the point of attempted assassination by Soltan Gris, the Apparatus government officer in charge of Earth, who Heller believes is really working with him as the Apparatus government prepares to invade Earth.

In this satire about politics and intelligence gathering, it is fun to see the seemingly innocent Heller try to learn more about Earth and make things better for the planet while Gris frantically searches for a way to get a revealing communications message recording from Heller to preserve Gris's status quo as well as trying to kill Heller. Gris is totally clueless to the fact that his new sweet girlfriend is actually a tramp just using him while being so innocent. In the meantime, Gris works with the leaders of the political underworld to stop Heller from becoming famous.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - THE Q CONTINUUM - Q-ZONE

An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

Written by Greg Cox

Copyright 1998 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

In Q-Zone, the second book in The Q Continuum, the Enterprise battles some cosmozoans near the Galactic Barrier space, the high energy field beyond the edge of the galaxy first seen in the Star Trek episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, while Q takes Captain Picard back in time to observe the younger Q as they witness the destruction of the Tkon Empire.

While the illness of the Betazoid scientist, who brought the Enterprise to the Barrier for an experiment, might make you sympathetic to him, his obsession with penetrating the Galactic Barrier with no apologies is very annoying amidst the safety of the ship and crew as they battle the cosmozoans. He makes you want to make the Enterprise crew beat him around some as the Enterprise comes under attack. His lack of concern for his son and daughter, whose craving for their fater makes the son become more mature than he should as he takes care of his little sister, makes the scientist even more despicable as the Enterprise crew has the grace of trying to protect him. The super beings that the young Q pals around with are some of the most famous evil super beings in the Trek universe and you get to see their influence in the destruction of the Tkon Empire.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR WARS - DARK NEST - THE UNSEEN QUEEN

A Del Rey Books Mass Market Original

Written by Troy Denning

Copyright 2005 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

Excerpt from Star Wars: Outbound Flight copyright 2005 by Lucasfilm Ltd.

In The Unseen Queen, the alien insect Killiks are producing an alien membrosia that is being distributed throughout space, but a dark membrosia is also being produced and the Jedi blame the Killiks for it. Meanwhile, the Dark Jedi queen in charge of the Dark Nest of Killiks tries to get Luke while the Jedi masters become divided as to the best direction of what the Jedi Order should do.

It is sad to see a former Jedi become a Joiner and become a Dark Jedi. I was hoping Luke would break the hold of the Joiners and bring Alema Rar back as a Jedi. Raynar Thul was a lost cause when he became the leader of the Killiks. You also get a glimpse of Jacen as he grows more in the force and touches on the dark side as he is determined to prevent a galaxy wide war. With the Jedi masters divided as to the direction of what the Jedi Order should do, as half of them want to search for Luke, the Galactic Chief of State manipulates Jedi Master Corran Horn to lead the Jedi as Luke and Han are being held hostage by the Killiks.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

THE RADIOACTIVE REDHEAD

DAW Books

Written by John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem

Copyright 2005 by John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem

Cover art by Michael Koelsh

In The Radioactive Redhead, a Zachary Nixon Johnson novel by John Zakour, Zachary Nixon Johnson is the last freelance private investigator on Earth and takes on the job of protecting a pop star singer whose life has been threatened because of her awful musical singing talent, This, despite the fact that her audience goes into nirvana when she sings. Meanwhile, Zach's own life is threatened as he becomes the unwilling target star of an Internet reality show - "Let's Kill Zach."

This is an amusing book with P.I. Zach also dealing with the disturbing fact that his artificial intelligent sidekick changed his personality programming from a bookish man into a hot, sultry lady as an experiment. As much as Zach appreciates HARA, he misses his old friend HARV - besides, his jealous doctor girlfriend keeps breaking his home furniture. Dr. Electra can be even more dangerous than the reality show that Zach is a victim of as she gets upset that all his clients have always been beautiful women while Zach tries to find the killer threatening the beautiful pop singer. Although the book is a cynical version of the media, a lot of it has a sense of truth behind it, especially considering the marketing strategy behind both the reality show, and pop singer Sexy Sprockets fans and concerts. While the media is not normally fatally violent, it does get out of hand concerning Zach. Fortunately he is armed with both a gun and HARA/HARV.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.