Star Trek--The Lost Years

Author of three previous Star Trek novels ( Mindshadow ; Demons ; Blood thirst ), Dillard also wrote the bestselling novelization of Star Trek: The Final Frontier . She credits DC Comics editor Bob Greenberger for the premise of this new installment in the saga. In a storyline constructed to fill in the gaps between the end of the original 1960s TV series and the beginning of the feature-length movie series, the Enterprise docks on Earth, ending its five-year mission, and Kirk, Spock and McCoy go their separate ways. Promoted from captain to admiral, Kirk receives an assignment as special envoy and ``diplomatic troubleshooter'' in his new role as head of a specially created Starfleet division. Unable to continue serving under Kirk, Spock returns to Vulcan for a teaching position at Vulcan Science Academy. McCoy resigns from the Fleet and then becomes involved with Dwen, a woman with psi talents. A tense hostage situation arises and, naturally, this reunites the Trek team. The contrast of strongly etched, familiar characters in an unpredictable sequence of events provides a situation certain to appeal to the series' fans. (Oct.)