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ekaser · 05-05-2013, 12:50 PM

I'd read Gerrold novels YEARS ago (70s), like "When Harlie Was One" and "The Man Who Folded Himself," and enjoyed them a great deal. I don't think I ever read any of his Chtorr series, and had never heard of his Star Wolf series until recently.

"The Voyage of the Star Wolf" is the first in the series, and was intended as a concept for a TV series. It has many 'echoes' of Star Trek (unnamed Tribbles make an appearance, there's a Morthan crew-member who has great similarities to Klingons and Worf, the on-board doctor, while female, shares grumpy similarity with Bones, 'Wesley' is listed as one of the crew members brutally killed at one point, there's even a sly reference to an 'enterprise' at one point that can be taken in two different ways. Gerrold was, of course, the writer for "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of the original series. (And the Chtorr themselves are mentioned once.) The computer on the ship is called HARLIE, which is, of course, linked to his earlier novel "When HARLIE Was One."

But in many other ways, the Star Wolf is a VERY different ship from the Enterprise, and it operates in a very different universe.

I enjoyed the book a GREAT deal, one of the better reads I've had lately. Many will grumble that it smacks of Battlestar Gallactica, not realizing that these books PREdate that series (at least, the newer, darker BG). But nothing is new, and there were many "space operas" written long before BG, Star Wolf, or any of the other popular works in this vein, and they all owe great debts of gratitude to Hornblower and such.

If you haven't read it, I give it a strong recommendation. It starts out weak (too much technical background that SHOULD have been woven into the story, in my opinion), but you quickly get past that, meet the characters, jump into the action, and once it gets going, it's hard to put down. I'll definitely be reading the other two books in the series, "The Middle of Nowhere" and "Blood and Fire."

The reason I tracked the book down (it's only 99 cents on Amazon as an e-book, the other two books in the series are $4.99), was that the books
started as a TV series proposal, got turned into novels when that didn't go anywhere, and now Gerrold, along with D. C. Fontana and a number of other folks have started a Kickstarter project to try to turn it into an "independent TV series." Well, worth checking out, if you enjoy science fiction:

David Gerrold's Star Wolf Kickstarter Project

Everett

05-05-2013, 12:50 PM	#1
ekaser Opinion Artiste Posts: 301 Karma: 61464 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Albany, OR Device: Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire	David Gerrold - The Voyage of the Star Wolf I'd read Gerrold novels YEARS ago (70s), like "When Harlie Was One" and "The Man Who Folded Himself," and enjoyed them a great deal. I don't think I ever read any of his Chtorr series, and had never heard of his Star Wolf series until recently. "The Voyage of the Star Wolf" is the first in the series, and was intended as a concept for a TV series. It has many 'echoes' of Star Trek (unnamed Tribbles make an appearance, there's a Morthan crew-member who has great similarities to Klingons and Worf, the on-board doctor, while female, shares grumpy similarity with Bones, 'Wesley' is listed as one of the crew members brutally killed at one point, there's even a sly reference to an 'enterprise' at one point that can be taken in two different ways. Gerrold was, of course, the writer for "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of the original series. (And the Chtorr themselves are mentioned once.) The computer on the ship is called HARLIE, which is, of course, linked to his earlier novel "When HARLIE Was One." But in many other ways, the Star Wolf is a VERY different ship from the Enterprise, and it operates in a very different universe. I enjoyed the book a GREAT deal, one of the better reads I've had lately. Many will grumble that it smacks of Battlestar Gallactica, not realizing that these books PREdate that series (at least, the newer, darker BG). But nothing is new, and there were many "space operas" written long before BG, Star Wolf, or any of the other popular works in this vein, and they all owe great debts of gratitude to Hornblower and such. If you haven't read it, I give it a strong recommendation. It starts out weak (too much technical background that SHOULD have been woven into the story, in my opinion), but you quickly get past that, meet the characters, jump into the action, and once it gets going, it's hard to put down. I'll definitely be reading the other two books in the series, "The Middle of Nowhere" and "Blood and Fire." The reason I tracked the book down (it's only 99 cents on Amazon as an e-book, the other two books in the series are $4.99), was that the books started as a TV series proposal, got turned into novels when that didn't go anywhere, and now Gerrold, along with D. C. Fontana and a number of other folks have started a Kickstarter project to try to turn it into an "independent TV series." Well, worth checking out, if you enjoy science fiction: David Gerrold's Star Wolf Kickstarter Project Everett