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8th out of 163 books
—
107 voters
Ishmael (Star Trek: The Original Series #23)
by
Barbara Hambly (Goodreads Author)
The U.S.S. "Enterprise(TM) " is on a peaceful mission at Starbase 12 when a bizarre cosmic phenomenon causes a Klingon ship to suddenly vanish -- with Spock aboard for the ride. Spock's last message from the Klingon ship is cryptic and frightening. The Klingons are traveling into the past, searching for the one man who holds the key to the furure. If they can kill that man...more
Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages
Published
September 1st 1991
by Pocket Books
(first published 1985)
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I still re-read this book occasionally. It remains a sentimental favorite. I grew up watching 60s westerns in re-runs in the 70s. In this book, Barbara Hambly did a wonderful job of tying together ST:TOS and "Here Comes the Brides".
Spock plays chess with Paladin from the TV series Have Gun Will Travel. Doctor Who is referenced four times. Little Joe and his brother "Hoss" Cartwright from Bonanza show up. One of the Maverick brothers is there. Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke), Lucas McCain (The Rifleman),...more
Spock plays chess with Paladin from the TV series Have Gun Will Travel. Doctor Who is referenced four times. Little Joe and his brother "Hoss" Cartwright from Bonanza show up. One of the Maverick brothers is there. Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke), Lucas McCain (The Rifleman),...more
Mar 21, 2008
Curtiss
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone
Recommended to Curtiss by:
No one, just keeping up with my enthusiasm for all things Star T
One of my favorite Star Trek novels; which, as it happens, features the cast of the contemporaneous TV series, "Here Come the Brides." The story switches scenes back and forth between the final frontier in the 23rd Century and America’s western frontier in the 19th century.
At a space station near Klingon space, Kirk and McCoy try to decipher a cryptic message from Spock who has been apprehended aboard a Klingon ship which has departed into Earth's past to sabotage the Federation before it is eve...more
At a space station near Klingon space, Kirk and McCoy try to decipher a cryptic message from Spock who has been apprehended aboard a Klingon ship which has departed into Earth's past to sabotage the Federation before it is eve...more
So, Spok is transported back to the 1800's. Okay, I get that. This was a VERY well written novel (the only reason it gets four stars). Firmly 80% of this book takes place in the 1800's, where Spock has lost his memory and is now going by the name Ismael. So, it goes without saying that a vast majority of this book has little to do with 'Star Trek' at all. Spock doesn't even go by 'Spock' during this time. He pod through a few months in Seattle, talking to lots of people on the way, and goes abou...more
I like the show Star Trek, but I don't read many Star Trek novels. I'm just not that interested in reading the further adventures of the Federation in Federation space. But if an author I like writes a Star Trek novel I will certainly take a look. Barbara Hambly has written several books I have enjoyed, so I was glad to give her take on Star Trek a try.
Ishmael is decidedly not a typical Star Trek novel. The alien Spock has amnesia and spends most of the book in nineteenth century Seattle, not kn...more
Ishmael is decidedly not a typical Star Trek novel. The alien Spock has amnesia and spends most of the book in nineteenth century Seattle, not kn...more
[These notes were made in 1985:]. This one had its roots in fannery, it is fairly clear - Spock fannery. But it's not bad; the plot is clear and, if you can stretch your conception of Spock's character so far, fairly plausible. Spock is captured by the Klingons while on a spy mission; induces catatonia and amnesia in himself to avoid spilling secrets, and wakes up on Earth in the late nineteenth century, near Seattle; with, apparently, his human component well to the fore and ready to be develop...more
Apr 29, 2010
Cathrine Bonham
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Here Come the Brides/Star Treck fans
I really enjoyed reading this book but had to give it 4 stars because many of the facts didn't match up with the TV Show.
No I don't refer to Star Trek. In fact if all you know of the Trek universe is the 2009 Movie then you will probably be alright. The TV show I am talking about is the 1969 Series called "Here Come the Brides." The Characters from "Here Come the Brides" are the colorful citizens of Seattle, WA (Cica 1867)who embrace the Alien and amnesiatic Spock.
The Characters for the most pa...more
No I don't refer to Star Trek. In fact if all you know of the Trek universe is the 2009 Movie then you will probably be alright. The TV show I am talking about is the 1969 Series called "Here Come the Brides." The Characters from "Here Come the Brides" are the colorful citizens of Seattle, WA (Cica 1867)who embrace the Alien and amnesiatic Spock.
The Characters for the most pa...more
It sounds like a soap-opera plot combined with fan-fiction: Spock loses his memory, and winds up in frontier-era earth, caught up in a scheme to find marriageable lads for a group of hopeful brides. Silly, but all around fun. Apparently the story jumps back and forth from the past to the rescue mission in the future, but I have next to no memory of anything about Kirk and the rest of the crew in this story; all the interesting parts revolve around Spock. The amnesia means he fits in much more co...more
A sentimental favorite. When I was in college, there was this girl who was at least as big a Star Trek fan as I was, and our mutual friends (including our respective significant others) kept pushing us at each other. One of us had just finished reading this book (I don't remember who, but I think it was me), and loaned it to the other. The inevitable discussion of the book, and of Star Trek in general followed. Long story short, we were married about a year and a half later, and will celebrate o...more
Don't stop reading, but the best description of this novel for those of us old enough to remember Star Trek the original series first run, is Mr. Spock meets 'Here Come the Brides.' As I read this novel twenty-five years ago (this review is being written in March 2011), I remember figuring this out and thinking that the author couldn't pull it off. What an absurd idea. I also remember finishing the novel and thinking, "By George, she did it!" It is a wonderful extravaganga through television mem...more
I hadn't re-read this for a while and was happy to find that I still really liked it. The Star Trek novels are very mixed quality, but Barbara Hambly is a great author and I can hear the actors' voices in the characters (which isn't always the case with these novels).
My favorite line is (view spoiler)
I never saw Here Come the Brides, but would be curious to watch that show based o...more
My favorite line is (view spoiler)
I never saw Here Come the Brides, but would be curious to watch that show based o...more
A wonderful, well written, subversive western-romance story nestled, in all places, the Star Trek universe. If you are a hard-core, action adventure Trekker, this isn't the book for you. Kirk and McCoy are stuck going through piles of those annoying plastic faxes in the future present, while Spock is abducted and ends up in the past an amnesiac in the middle of a "Here Comes the Brides" episode.
Many thanks to Amy H. Sturgis of Star Ship Sofa for sending to me to this truly unique little bit of...more
Many thanks to Amy H. Sturgis of Star Ship Sofa for sending to me to this truly unique little bit of...more
When I was 16, I discovered Star Trek, and wanting more than the 79 episodes I sought out the novels - soon discovering that quality varied wildly, from dead-on characterizations and very good writing to really bad generic sci fi novels couched in ST to make an extra buck. One of the good ones, one of the really, really good ones was by Barbara Hambly - talk about your excellent fanfic! Ishmael is, though I had no idea when I first read it or for a long time after, a crossover story, in which Sp...more
Reread this one for the umpteenth time. I think I enjoy it more every time I read it.
For those of you who don't know, the author combines Star Trek with another TV show from the 60's, "Here Come the Brides" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062569/. She possibly got the inspiration to do this because the actor, Mark Lenard, played Spock's father, Sarek, in Star Trek and Aaron Stemple in "Here Come the Brides".
I just found out that "Here Come the Brides" was based on a real event: http://en.wikipedia...more
For those of you who don't know, the author combines Star Trek with another TV show from the 60's, "Here Come the Brides" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062569/. She possibly got the inspiration to do this because the actor, Mark Lenard, played Spock's father, Sarek, in Star Trek and Aaron Stemple in "Here Come the Brides".
I just found out that "Here Come the Brides" was based on a real event: http://en.wikipedia...more
I'm a fan of Star Trek, not "Here Come the Brides." Given that this is billed as a ST novel, I'd say it's a big old fail. It's like a bit of romantic fan-fiction. Chapter after chapter of San Fransisco in 18dickety-two with the innumerable and indistinguishable "J" brothers is not what I signed up for here. Hambly suckers you in with an opening scene on the Enterprise, then follows it up with a bunch of Oregon Trail shit. This was the first Trek novel I've attempted and as it's roundly considere...more
I know I'm prejudiced on many levels, but I think this is the best Star Trek novel ever written. My copy is battered--and I'm one of the most anal folks ever about keeping books pristine--because I've read it so many times. After the recent movie, when I felt the need for Trek-fic, this is the book I came to. It's Star Trek meets Here Come the Brides, with amazingly awesome results. There's so much right about this book that I don't know what else to say except go read it!
This is the very first Star Trek book I ever read. Someone told me about it after they found out I had been a huge fan of Bobby Sherman & the TV show Here Come the Brides when I was a kid. This was so much fun! An amnesiac Spock in Old West Seattle dealing with the likes of Aaron Stempel (played by the late Mark Lenard, who also played Spock's father, Sarek) and Jason Bolt. Have gone back and reread this book a couple of times in recent years, just for the grins it gives me!
Never mind Barbara Hambly's disappointing "Star Wars" novels...THIS is the good stuff. An absolutely GORGEOUS command of Spock's character, a fantastic use of old 60s TV characters, an interesting & different take on time travel, and a wealth of supporting characters that are so well sketched -- even the briefest of glimpses offer much depth. An absolutely fantastic read, with a suprisingly quiet, but suitably poignant, conclusion.
One of the best original series Star Trek novels. It uses an uninteresting and barely relevant MacGuffin plot device to put Spock in late 19th-century Seattle, where one of the people he meets is a businessman who will have a key influence on Earth's future. The Klingons want to tamper with Earth's history by assassinating him.
Spock meets the Mercer Girls in 1860 something Seattle. A local mill owner, Aaron Stemple, finds Spock injured, amnesiac, & lost in the wood. Spock has no memory of his spy mission aboard a Klingon's vessel, his subsequent capture, torture, or his escape so he doesn't know he is also not in his own time. This is a fish out of water story but one where the fish doesn't know it is a fish.
The book has a delightful time travel twist that allows Spock to save Stemple and in turn protect the man w...more
The book has a delightful time travel twist that allows Spock to save Stemple and in turn protect the man w...more
Hands down my favorite ST:TOS novel. I still re-read this every few years. You wouldn't think Star Trek could meet Here Comes the Brides successfully, but this ties the two together well. Such a treat for those of us raised on TV westerns AND Star Trek!
I love this strange little book. Again, another one written back when there was not a lot of close control behind Star Trek novels. The author actually got away with the book not only being Star Trek fan fiction but also Seeing fiction for a long forgotten Western.
Jul 31, 2010
Arlene Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
My favorite Trek novel of all time. Combines two of my favorite tv shows, Trek and Here Come the Brides, and because it was written by the extremely talented Barbara Hambly, it was exceptionally done and believeable.
This is the first of Barbara Hambly's three Star Trek novels. The plot is a blend of two TV shows - the original Star Trek and a bit of late 60's fluff called Here Come the Brides. Definitely for fans only.
Basically, this is a bit of fanfic that someone managed to get published, as Spock is zapped and is stranded in the past, with amnesia in the world of the old 'Here come the brides' tv show.
Mildly amusing and a decent read.
Mildly amusing and a decent read.
One of my favorite Star Trek book.
I am glad I reread it... It's one of those timewarp books where Spock goes back to the wild wild West where he meets his great great great times forever grand father. He has lost his memory and doesn't know why he is on earth but he somehow blends in and becomes one of the community. I love the way how the stranger in the strange land story develops and we get to see Spock without the strict "I am a Vulcan therefore I must be logical" face.
I also reread the "s...more
I am glad I reread it... It's one of those timewarp books where Spock goes back to the wild wild West where he meets his great great great times forever grand father. He has lost his memory and doesn't know why he is on earth but he somehow blends in and becomes one of the community. I love the way how the stranger in the strange land story develops and we get to see Spock without the strict "I am a Vulcan therefore I must be logical" face.
I also reread the "s...more
One of my all time favorite S.T. paperbacks...Love the crossover between Trek and Here Come's the Brides. It's so clever, and she obvioulsy know all these series intimately. :)
I really enjoyed this view of Spock, my Star Trek favorite. I have loved everything I have read by Barbara Hambly. She does fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction. They are all excellent!
I admit to a sneaking enjoyment of the Original Series paperbacks, and this one is my favourite. There are some lovely descriptive passages.
It's better than I remembered. First of all, I had never heard of the tv show 'Here Come The Brides'. I vaguely remembered it as that one where Amnesia Spock counts cards and that only because of the cover. Second, I react badly to things like the Kharsids' historical conquering of the Klingons, because I have nothing on screen to back that up.
The three Doctor Who shout-outs are cute. (The fourth and second Doctors are described leaving bars just as Trek characters arrive. Also, Kirk has heard l...more
The three Doctor Who shout-outs are cute. (The fourth and second Doctors are described leaving bars just as Trek characters arrive. Also, Kirk has heard l...more
It was good, but her own worlds are so excellent that I kind of resent the time she takes away from them to write in other people's worlds.
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aka Barbara Hamilton
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone...more
More about Barbara Hambly...
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone...more
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