“Ishmael”

A couple of weeks ago, I received an offer: I could download Barbara Hambly’s Ishmael to my Kindle for ninety-nine cents, which I did. This is a Star Trek (the Old Series) novel, but being by Barbara Hambly, it has psychological depths to it, and vivid descriptions of scenery, whether a starbase carved out of rock, or the forests of the Pacific Northwest, or the rough streets and glittery gambling casinos of nineteenth century San Francisco.

Captain Kirk is in distress, thinking of his friend Commander Spock, presumed to be a captive of the Klingons, who are not noted for their humane and honorable treatment of prisoners. As the situation develops, Kirk learns more, with the help of several persons at the starbase where the Enterprise is currently stationed, and two of his own officers. Meanwhile — except that given travel through time, it isn’t exactly “meanwhile” — a businessman near the raw settlement of Seattle finds a badly injured man, or not quite man, in the woods, and takes him in even though he appears Satanic. Someone who spent many hours in childhood watching Star Trek will recognize Spock. There are business rivals in Seattle, there are threats, opportunities, and a rare woman doctor in San Francisco, and there are nonhuman imperialists casing the joint, the joint being the whole Earth. There are a batch of young ladies from New Bedford, seeking husbands in Seattle, since the recent American Civil War either killed off their sweethearts, or killed off the young men who might have become their sweethearts. There are different characters with different motives, skills, and limitations. Events proceed.