Able to remove an appendix with one hand tied behind his back, The Doctor is also able to write an engaging book with tongue firmly pressed into his holographic cheek. While more "truthful" than Leslie Nielson's A Liar's Autobiography, The Hologram's Handbook is similar in tone and manner, told by a person who is rarely able to look beyond the mirror. The Doctor tells us organics just how things really are, and how they should be. Everything we love about The Doctor is here - from the biting sarcasm to the Data-esque desire to experience humanity. If you're like me and think The Doctor was the best (and perhaps the only truly great) part of Voyager, then this one is a must read.

In the tradition of Thieves' World, The Fleet: Counter Attack assembles a collection of stories from some of sci-fi's top names, each revolving around a shared universe featuring Us Against Them. The bulk of the stories are classic military sci-fi, with soldiers taking on vicious aliens. Very good stuff, and each story is well-written. As shared universe anthologies go, this one ranks up there with the best Thieves' World collection.

The only let-down comes from Piers Anthony. His story "Soft Like a Woman" is well-done, with just the right amount of action and dramatic tension. However, Anthony reveals his on-going obsession with perceived chauvinism. His main character is insulted, degraded, and ignored because she is a woman, and she complains that her gender is keeping her from being taken seriously in the Fleet. The only problem is that several other stories in the book featured women in prominent, "masculine" roles: combat platoon leader (Christopher Stasheff), pilot (Janny Wurts), commander (Jody Lynn Nye), to name just a few. Anthony's political tirade mars an otherwise excellent story.

This is not the worst Star Trek novel out there (see Triangle), but it may very well be the most dull, tedious, and downright booorrrring. Kirk and the gang go to a pre-warp planet, one which the Federation has been in touch with for decades (so much for the Prime Directive). Meanwhile, something is going on with Miri and the "Onlies" back on that planet that oh so coincidentally looks exactly like Earth. Just what that something is, I can't say as I didn't make it that far. Trek books are supposed to be mindless entertainment; this one was just mindless.

It's been many, many years since I finished the last page of the last Myth book, reeling from the cliffhanger ending. As the years went by, the whole series faded into dim memory. So, when I began to read Myth-Ion Improbable I found myself trying to compare it to . . . what? Was the Myth series really as good as I remember it being? Ultimately, I gave up trying to fit this one into the rest of the series and decided to evaluate it on its own merits, such as they are.

Asprin gives us an interesting, if poorly developed, plot involving cow vampires in a Western-style universe (sort of a spoiler there, but it's fairly obvious well before Skeeve figures it out). There are some amusing bits here, but only a few rise to the level of actual knee-slapping. What we end up with is a short novel that can be read in a couple of hours without in any way energizing or taxing the brain cells. Pure, mindless, harmless fluff.

If you haven't read any of the Myth books, don't start with this one as you'll be left wondering what the big deal is. If you're a huge Myth fan, avoid this one, too; you will no doubt end up enraged like so many other reviewers. If, however, you remember the Myth series fondly but not passionately you could do much worse than this one.

Unlike so many Ace anthologies, this one actually lives up to its title. Villains of all sorts triumph here, from familiar fiends such as Moriarty or the Evil Queen from fairy-tale legends to previously unheard of crooks, criminals, and cranks. Not every story is a rousing success. Rosemary Edghill's "The Mould of Form" is an extremely dull account of the beginning of Captain Hook's career, for example. But many are quite good, including Tanya Huff's "All Things Being Relative" (starring the aforementioned Evil Queen), Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Doubting Thomas" (which will prevent you from ever seeing Santa the same way again), and Pauline Dungate's "Nina" (reminiscent of a dark Bend It Like Beckham). Particularly powerful is Tim Waggoner's
"Horror Show" featuring a washed-up horror movie actor coming literally face to face with his career.

This is the first Ace paperback anthology in a long, long while I intend to actually keep for future reading. It is well worth the time of any and all fantasy and horror fans.

I own hundreds of science fiction and fantasy books, yet only two (Timothy Zahn's Blackcollar books) are published by Daw. Now I know that's probably not a coincidence. This collection is supposed to be a celebration of Daw's 30th anniversary, yet none of the stories are standouts and several, including Zahn's and Frederik Pohl's, seem to have "phoned in." Even C.J. Cherryh's contribution disappoints. Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect anthology, but if you want some provocative sci-fi pick up Universe 1 edited by Robert Silverberg instead of this one.

Graf's Death Count gives us a tale that takes place sometime between Star Trek I and II, with a focus on Sulu, Uhura, and security chief Chekov. There are plenty of plot twists and turns, and a surprising amount of suspense given that we know that both Chekov and the Enterprise will survive whatever is hurled at them. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are little more than background characters, a change which is both refreshing and disappointing (after all, it's not really a Trek book without at least *one* insult between Spock and McCoy!). Graf returns to the Uhura/Sulu/Chekov theme in Traitor Winds, a slighly better effort.

Nitpick of the day: The uniforms. The novel has to take place after Star Trek I, as Kirk's in command, Chekov's security chief, and Sulu is still helmsman. So, we should be seeing the gray/white duds from The Motion Picture. Yet the cover has everyone in the burgundy of Star Trek II-VI, and the text refers to "command gold" and "security red"! How very, very irritating . . . . .

You would never know this was Marillier's first book. Excellently paced, well-crafted, and evocative this is a book to read and treasure. Intended to be a retelling of a Grimm fairy tale in which a girl must save her six brothers who have been turned into swan, Daughter of the Forest never strays into silliness or pathos (although it does come close to the latter at a few points). One might expect an estrogen-powered book ala Bradley's Avalon given the title and cover; instead one gets a fantasy tale that can be enjoyed by either gender.

Another fine offering from McCullough, with a misleading title. This book is about Caesar and the Republic, not about "his women" who play a relatively marginal role at best. Oh, sure, we see a lot of Caesar's lover (and Brutus' mother) Servilia, mommy dearest Aurelia, and a near invisible wife or two, but none of them really factor into the novel, which focuses on Caesar's rise in the Republican heiarchy. Apart from Caesar, only Cicero receives extensive treatment, and McCullough's Cicero is an extremely well-rounded sort - all too human at times, both brilliant and insecure. The entire decade of the 60s BC is covered to fine effect, and if the ending (with "Caesar's women" finding out that Caesar has left to fight the Helvetii) is a tad (no, a lot) contrived, the novel remains well worth the time of anyone with an interest in Roman history.

I'm completely stunned by the generally awful reviews The Fearful Summons has received. One reviewer has even compared The Fearful Summons to the dreaded Triangle - there can be no greater insult to a Trek writer! In reality, Flinn has brought us an extremely delightful Trek book - think the flavor of Next Gen's "All Good Things. . . " but with the original crew. Kirk in particular is well-developed here, true to the way we see him in Star Trek VI without being a caricature.

As in "All Good Things. . . " the crew of the Enterprise (this time -A instead of -D, of course) have gone their separate ways. When Captain Sulu is captured by a pseudo-Ferengi race, Kirk rounds up his shipmates one by one to go on a rescue mission. Along the way Kirk manages to get some female action (in a PG-13 setting), McCoy complains, Scotty tells tall tales, and Spock . . . well, Spock doesn't do much, but what he does do, he does logically. In short, there's a bit of everything in here that most Trek fans love about the original series.

There certainly are flaws. Despite writing in 1995 or 1996, Flinn appears to be completely oblivious to the events of Generations, which means an opportunity to show Demora Sulu is wasted, and there some plot holes one could fly a Galaxy class starship through. However, since one should never expect more than entertainment from a Trek book, the flaws are minor compared to an extremely satisfying Trek novel.

One final note - Pocket strikes again with poor packaging. This one is hardly a sequel to Star Trek VI. Other than taking place a year or so after the movie, the novel has no connection whatsoever to The Undiscovered Country.