In the High and Far-off Days, O Best Beloved, when authors could play with their Trek commisions, John M Ford showed how it could be done. Inflatable starships, a milkshake dispenser gone horribly wrong, and a cast of hundreds whose sole aim is to keep the Federation and the Klingon Empire entertained and annoted in equal measure. ( )

I was recommended this book - the only Trek novelisation in my collection, honest! - by a friend who told me that it was a fine comic novel that just happened to be set in the Star Trek universe. And she was right! From the opening, where the chief Trek characters are summarised by their breakfast habits ("Bones McCoy was NOT a morning person."), through encounters with Klingons who are not, for a change, cardboard cut-outs, the whole thing rewards the reader with a sense that this is what the Star Trek universe would probably be like to live in - about as daft under the surface as our own.

The ending is perhaps the weakest part of the novel, with a sequence of increasing silliness which British readers of A Certain Age will immediately recognise as a Brian Rix farce (a species of innocuous sex comedy which inevitably ends with various characters rushing from room to room in a house or hotel without any trousers on).

This novel must have been sufficiently liked by those writing for Trek as one incident in it appears in an episode of 'Next Generation' - I'll leave it to dedicated Trekkers to decide what and where (clue - it's not one of the funny bits). The late John M Ford was one of America's less-recognised sf and fantasy authors. On the strength of this book, he merits further examination. ( )

John M. Ford (bona memoria) serves up the original Star Trek with a very wry twist.

At first, I was helplessly confused by all the silliness in this story. When I got to the untangling and the explanation, I laughed with delight. "I get it - wow, clever idea!" Overblown, perhaps, but I did enjoy seeing these oh-so-important and sacred characters look so foolish. ( )

Star Trek meets Alice In Wonderland, not entirely successfully. The humor has more hits than misses, but the story, about a mining dispute between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, is entirely forgettable (indeed, I have). An enjoyable enough read, and a departure for Star Trek, just of limited quality. ( )