Encounters and Countermoves

Zine
Title:	Encounters and Countermoves
Publisher:	Orion Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Nicole Comtet
Cover Artist(s):	Rick Endres
Illustrator(s):	Rick Endres, Bonnie Reitz, Gennie Summers and Patty Wright
Date(s):	July 1999, reprinted 2001 and 2008
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:	Orion Press page for the reprint, online version
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Encounters and Countermoves is a gen Star Trek: TOS 194-page novella by Nicole Comtet. Artwork by Rick Endres, Bonnie Reitz, Gennie Summers and Patty Wright. It was first published as IDIC Log #10 in 1992, then as a standalone zine novel in July 1999, then reprinted as part of the Orion Archives as Orion Archives: 2278 Encounters and Countermoves in 2001 (in digest-size) and re-released in 2008 (full size).

Summary

Doctor McCoy joins Captain Spock, Commander Uhura and a number of other former Enterprise officers on a cadet training cruise. They encounter a madman, rescue a stray cat, and conspire with the Romulans. A fun story!

Reactions and Reviews

Not tightly plotted, and the characterization is sometimes trite - McCoy appears only in his irrational-foil-for-Spock persona, Spock is rather uninteresting in his omnipotent perfection, and Uhura's main function seems to be social director. A surprising number of typos - Orion usually has very good editing - and far too many saccharine uses of 'special.' But some nice touches as well, and the novel is overall pretty entertaining. The cat was particularly fun. Captain Spock is taking a bunch of cadets off on 3-week training cruise and has gathered up the old crew except for Kirk, who appears only in a cameo at the end. Things go awry beginning with two stowaways - a lunatic who takes hostages to force the ship to take him to Serenidad, and a cadet's pet cat who gets loose and wreaks havoc with the ship's wiring. Spock resolves both. Then a cadet practicing firing torpedos just happens to hit the Romulan Commander's new renegade ship which was hanging about in the firing range and just about to be boarded by Orions. After a short reunion they repair her ship and send her on her way. This makes Spock melancholy and the crew gather round with metaphorical hugs - projects to keep his mind off his lost love. Then a party for Scotty and return home where Kirk comes aboard for inspection. As I said, rather loosely plotted, this one.

Captain Spock is taking a bunch of cadets off on 3-week training cruise and has gathered up the old crew except for Kirk, who appears only in a cameo at the end. Things go awry beginning with two stowaways -- a lunatic who takes hostages to force the ship to take him to Serenidad, and a cadet's pet cat who gets loose and wreaks havoc with the ship's wiring. Spock resolves both. Then a cadet practicing firing torpedos just happens to hit the Romulan Commander's new renegade ship which was hanging about in the firing range and just about to be boarded by Orions. After a short reunion they repair her ship and send her on her way. This makes Spock melancholy and the crew gather round with metaphorical hugs -- projects to keep his mind off his lost love. Then a party for Scotty and return home where Kirk comes aboard for inspection. An entertaining novel, though the plot could have used some tightening-up, and the characterization is sometimes trite. McCoy appears only in his irrational-foil-for-Spock persona, Spock is rather uninteresting in his omnipotent perfection, and Uhura's main function seems to be social director. There are also a surprising number of typos for Randy's editing, and there are far too many saccharine uses of the word "special". But there are also some very fine touches -- notably the cat. (Editor's Note: The typos were fixed on subsequent printings and on this website. -- Randy)