Theodore R. Cogswell (1918–1987)

Absolutely wonderful. It's a short story, originally published in one of the pulp SF magazines, and reprinted in anthologies over and over. Two cultures meet, and it's great for both of them, and possibly for the whole galaxy. One is a lost unit of spaceship technicians, who were sent to settle a planet and set up an advance base for their Empire...but the Empire fell apart before any ships actually made it. They had families with them (long-term settlement!) so they settled - but they stuck show more to their assignment, as well. Generations down the line, there's no one who remembers and very few who know what they were doing there, but everyone gets tech training - by rote, but solid. The other culture is the Protectorate, the strongman government that filled in after the Empire (or possibly after a few other governments/polities fell, the timeline is very unclear). It's a crabs-in-a-bucket culture, where the top folk survive mostly by pushing down those on their level or below (and keeping an eye out for a way to pull down those above, but keeping that secret). The base commander struggling to fulfill his orders with every tech either taken to support the Protector, or executed for failing to keep things running...comes across this base of technicians. The result is not a disaster, amazingly - it might even be the seed for a new start, escaping the terrible situation with the Protectorate. That's where the story ends - not with what happens next, just with possibilities. The Spectre General of the title is a highly amusing fiction-become-reality. I love it, when I didn't have a copy I remembered it for years, I'm delighted it's come back in electronic form so I can own it at last! show less

For a long time I didn't quite have the heart to toss this from my library. It appeared at a time when Star Trek fiction was rare, and was afraid if I got rid of the book it will go out of print--so it had stayed on my bookshelf for nostalgic reasons more than not. But I think of all the pro Trek fiction that I've read, it's the one where the crew is the most wildly out of character. I suspect the author was no fan and had no real idea who these characters are. I remember him even getting show more the color of Kirk's eyes wrong. I do remember it as engaging and imaginative in its premise and plot. If this novel were about Cogswell's own original characters, I might rank it 3 stars as a fairly enjoyable read. However, it's bad when I constantly thought how much better I knew these characters than the author being paid to make them alive on the page. show less

Surprisingly better than I thought it might be. A lot like an original series episode. The biggest downside is Ensign George and her "dop," which is original series-classic sexist/sexy bullshit.

A fun, quick Trek read. It's a bit campy, perhaps, compared to more recent TOS novels, but, let's face it, some of the original TV episodes were a little campy, too. The campiness isn't over the top, though, and all the things TOS fans love are still here. Even if you didn't know that it's one of the earliest Star Trek novels published, you might guess it from a couple of minor character mistakes - a red-haired Scotty comes to mind. These are minor, though, and won't prevent you from show more enjoying the book. show less