cover image GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA: Waystation

GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA: Waystation

Steven E. McDonald, . . Tor, $24.95 (271pp) ISBN 978-0-7653-0485-8

Set in a complicated universe full of difficult challenges, screenwriter McDonald's franchise tie-in with the popular TV show is sure to please its target audience. Long after the Systems Commonwealth was destroyed, the captain of its one surviving starship, the Andromeda Ascendant , has assembled a motley crew and is trying to rebuild a benevolent civilization. As Star Trek demonstrates, Roddenberry understood the recipe for TV series storytelling: put some quirky characters in a container, then stir once a week and watch what happens. Though everyone in the cast gets time for distinctive shtick, this novel concentrates on two featured performers. One of the strangest crew members is Trance Gemini, a cute but not-quite-human being who jaunts back and forth through time as she tries to keep her comrades from making disastrous errors; this becomes quite confusing when multiple versions of Trance from different time lines are scurrying through the ship. Stalwart Captain Dylan Hunt, meanwhile, has to temper his idealism as he encounters new puzzles—and reconsiders some of the old Commonwealth's immoral behavior. The author weaves the plot threads together ingeniously, but even though new readers can figure out what's going on, they may wonder why these people and their problems are worth caring about. (July 6)

FYI: McDonald is the author of the novel The Janus Syndrome (1981).