Announcing Sci-Fi Month 2018!!!

Sci-Fi Month is an exciting event, hosted by 

Lisa @ Dear Geek Place 

and imyril @ onemore.org!!

I discovered this GREAT science fiction event on the blog Brainfluff, created, owned, and maintained by SF writer S.J. Higbee! So thanks to her for this serendipitous turn of events! Yes, I'm joining in, even though I'm a bit late to the festivities. It's not TOO late, though.

In the midst of my excitement, I had to pause and consider what book or books to read and review. I didn't have to think too long, though..... I decided to pick one of my Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) novels, of which I have quite a few. Of course, I just KNEW it had to be a novel featuring one of my favorite, and most beloved characters from that immortal show! Yes, I chose a novel featuring that quintessential Vulcan, Mr. Spock!

So this is the book I'll be reviewing -- which I've already started reading -- for this event! (Okay, it's an oldie, but it IS a goodie! Besides, this is my way of honoring the GREAT, and late, actor Leonard Nimoy, who so brilliantly brought this beloved character to life.)

If I have the time, I will be adding at least one more SF book -- either another Star Trek TOS novel,  or one set in a different science fiction universe.

Although I don't usually review TV shows or movies on this blog (or on my second one, for that matter), I might decide to publish a couple of posts regarding this show that I ADORE -- the original, the classic, THE ONE AND ONLY FOR ME -- Star Trek!!  (Kirk: "Ahead Warp Factor 1, Mr. Sulu.")

If you'd like to join in, the rules are very simple: there are NO rules! Lol.  Just click on the links above for further information! Participants who want to use the banner above (or any of the other event images) are asked to credit the creator -- imyril. The photo is by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash. The quote is from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. You can sign up for this event on a form, which you will find HERE.

There is also a master schedule form, which you will find HERE. You can input information about your posts on this form, such as the date of the post, your name, blog URL, etc.

For all those who want to join, I wish you a fascinating trip to far-flung galaxies! 

Spock Must Die!

(Star Trek Adventures, Book 1)

James Blish

Mass Market Paperback, 118 pages

Bantam Books

February 1, 1972

Science Fiction, Star Trek (TOS)

When a transporter experiment goes horribly awry, suddenly there are two Mr. Spocks! One is the true First Officer of the Enterprise. The other is his complete opposite, a traitor whose very existence poses a grave threat to the crew, the ship, and the Federation itself. One of the Spocks must die. But which one ... ?

James Benjamin Blish (East Orange, New Jersey, May 23, 1921 – Henley-on-Thames, July 30, 1975) was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen name William Atheling Jr.

In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of The Futurians. This was a group

of science fiction fans, based in New York, City,

who "were a major force in the development

of science fiction writing and science fiction

fandom in the years 1937 - 1945."

(Source: Wikipedia)

Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.

He is credited with coining the term 'gas giant', in the story "Solar Plexus", as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)

Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.

From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
 
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.

Blish also wrote some important SF works, such as A Case of Conscience (1958), and  Cities in Flight (1970), a four-volume collection. He was awarded the Hugo for Best Novel in 1959 for the former. In 1965, he also received a Nebula nomination for Best Novelette, for  "The Shipwrecked Hotel", with 
Norman L. Knight. In 1968, he received the Nebula award nomination for Best Novel, for Black Easter.
(For more Blish works, click on the Fantastic
Fiction link below.)
  
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.

Goodreads/Wikipedia

Fantastic Fiction