The Entropy Effect

Title:	The Entropy Effect
Creator:	Vonda N. McIntyre
Date(s):	1981
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek TOS
Language:
External Links:	at Wikipedia
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The Entropy Effect is a Star Trek tie-in novel by Vonda N. McIntyre.

This novel was the first place where Sulu and Uhura get first names later made canon: Hikaru (in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country") and Nyota (in the Abrams 2009 film "Star Trek").

See List of Star Trek TOS Pro Books with Fan Connections.

Some Comments on Money

Small salaries spark better writing? Fans will do it for cheap? David Hartwell, Star Trek pro novel editor, suggested both things were true:

Vonda took a pay cut to write "The Entropy Effect." One of her dreams in life was to write for Star Trek. At that time, an average advance [for an original novel] was between five and six thousand dollars. For a Trek novel, it was three thousand. This weeded out people who wanted to do do it for the money, and we got authors who needed to care about what they were doing.

Fan Comments

1981

I've been reading the pro books for years, each time wondering how they can possibly get worse. When I heard Vonda McIntyre was planning one, I held out some hopes — she's an excellent writer, and if she couldn't handle the universe in a pro format, no one could. I was highly pleased with "The Entropy Effect", and wrote to Timescape, expressing my pleasure. They forwarded my letter to Ms. McIntyre, and she sent me a card, indicating that 'maybe' she'll be doing another one — depending on the reaction to the first book, among other factors. So, if you'd like to see more by her, why don't you drop them a line?}

I have always maintained that the true test of any fan-type derivative story is whether or not a story in which you replace the famed title characters' names with 'non' names is still interesting.(For instance, all the Star Trek novels, except for McIntyre's The Entropy Effect, fail this test because if you replace the names with Smith, Jones, and Johnson, etc., the books immediately fall apart. Entropy would be a good book no matter what.

[This is] one of the best Star Trek novels ever printed. It rated it as The Best. It is action-packed and though the plot seems to be faulty, all the tangled strands ore resolved at the end of the book. Some people have complained about "plot errors", but all of their complaints are groundless. Anyone who has read non-Trek SF can verify that the book la pure SF in a pure Trek setting. Even the "Publisher's Weekly" critic and one of the major SF prozines gave it excellent reviews. A final proof Is that the book is already going into it's second printing.

Some people object to the introduction of new characters; however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that these characters didn't solve the mystery. And as long as they didn't, why object to them? The only point that I consider a valid criticism is that Scotty isn't quite in character. He certainly wouldn't want to be Second Officer to Mr. Spock. He'd rather stay in Engineering where he feels he belongs. Let McCoy do the administrative busy-work. Of course, McCoy might not want to do that either. And so what if Sulu is career-minded?

The Entropy Effect is the newest Trek novel to make the bookstore scene. Perhaps it is the one with the most controversy surrounding it, also. This is it — the book in which Captain James T. Kirk dies. The events surrounding his murder, the ramifications of it, and the ultimate solution to the situation comprise the main plot line. Despite the appearance of the cover, which shows the new Enterprise and Kirk, Spock and Sulu in the new uniforms, this story is set on the old Enterprise, somewhere between the ending of the series and the movie.

Dr. Georges Mordreaux was a brilliant physicist. Once. Now he is awaiting transfer to a rehabilitation center, charged with unethical experimentation on intelligent subjects — humans. The Enterprise, summoned from observation of a singular singularity (it’s naked), is expected to be the transport ship. Spock, who once studied under Mordreaux, suspects that the scientist is the victim of a plot to frame him, and asks for time to check into the situation. Only a few hours later, a crazed Mordreaux bursts onto the bridge and shoots and kills Jim Kirk. Spock, now in command, must try to save not only his friend, but the entire universe. Mordreaux's experiments have unleashed the entropy effect. In less than 100 Earth years, the universe will be totally in chaos, destruction not far behind.

Of course, Spock is the hero in this book. He makes the decision to go back in time and attempt to alter reality. He is abetted by McCoy, who is left reluctantly in command. The situation is complicated by Ian Braithwaite, the prosecutor who convicted Mordeaux, who suspects that Spock and McCoy conspired with the scientist to kill Kirk. That shows how much he knew about the three men, but his suspicions surface at a most inappropriate time for Spock. Will Spock succeed? Will he survive? Will Kirk survive, or will he remain dead? Only time can tell!

Surrounding the main story are 1½ love stories. The secondary one is between Kirk and the commander of a Border patrol, an old flame. The story is never really developed. Though we learn some of Kirk’s feelings for Hunter, we never learn much about her, and his death effectively puts an end to any further development. She has little to do with the story — another character could just as effectively taken her place — and seems to be thrown in simply to give Kirk a girl.

The other story is one of the high points of this book. Finally someone has given Sulu a love interest. This story is more developed, with a beginning and an end. The Oriental’s background is revealed, along with his aspirations, through his brief relationship with Mandala Flynn, the Security Chief of the Enterprise. He transfers off the Enterprise early in the book, in search of his own desires about his career, Thus, he is not present when Kirk, and later Mandala, are killed. The expression of grief is brief but expressive, as Sulu realizes that perhaps the transfer wasn’t what he really wanted after all.

As far as the other characters are concerned, I was dismayed with the way Scotty was handled. To me, he did not seem quite right. He was a bit overdrawn at times — the grumpy Scotsman concerned only with his engines.

I feel that there is a bit more to Scotty than that, but it certainly wasn’t mentioned in this book. As for Uhura, what was there was her — including a scene where she gets to express her grief over losing Kirk. Maybe this crowd is most interested in how the Chekov character was used. Well...he wasn’t used much at all. There is some excuse for it, as the story line as stands doesn’t involve the navigator much. However, the two most emotional scenes in the hook — the leaving of Sulu and the shooting of Kirk — are ones he is present at, and he shows little or no reaction to either of them. There is no mention of any farewell between him and Sulu — though they are accounted friends. He shows more when Kirk is shot, but hardly does anything when it is announced that he is actually dead. Two events that could have shown more of inter-relationships — not only between Chekov and others, but more in general — and they are just about totally wasted. I know in my heart that there was more reaction going on than was shown. Ms. McIntyre just didn’t write about it.

An interesting feature to the book is the description of some of the security personnel aboard the Enterprise. They range from a Tyrannosaurus Rex-type, to a scarlet leopardine creature, to a 250 centimeter-tall gargantuan of a female. Despite the tendency of Human security guards to be blasted out of existence in the Star Trek universe, one feels that these guards might have a higher survival rate. It’s more realistic to have your hardiest, toughest crewmembers as security personnel.

In all, the book, while not great, is good enough to spend one’s credits on. Be prepared to be overwhelmed with emotion at times, and to be thoroughly confused by time paradoxes. This is not a dull book! It’s better than most, and gets a recommendation overall.

1982

If I can read a book straight through without stopping every couple of pages to write criticisms, I classify that book as good. That's exactly what happened with Vonda N. McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect."The Enterprise is called away from investigation of a naked singularity, to transport Dr. Georges Mordreaux to a rehabilitation colony. If Spock seems almost annoyed at the interruption, it may be because the data on the singularity lead him to believe the universe will come to an end in less than a century. Somehow, Mordreaux is tied up in this, and when the Enterprise gets under way to the colony, he murders Kirk and the Security Chief. But how? He had been under guard the whole time. Spock and McCoy must sort through this mess, and unravel the past to save the future. McIntyre is a writer! Her characterizations glow; each one of her people seems fascinating enough to hang a novel on,particularly the Security Team and Captain Hunter. She creates, for a welcome change, real women. I wanted to know more about these people before and after the events covered in the book. There is no one here black or white; all are subtle tones of gray.This is an adult book (the term, so often misused to mean semi-pornographic, should really denote something competent, complex and wise). The romances within are handled honestly, without maudlin sentiment, and the regular characters act like reasoning, capable beings despite their personality flaws. Kirk gets lonely, Sulu has doubts, Scott becomes irritable, but these things don't destroy them. The book doesn't clank, which will be a disappointment to some who like their literature crawling with technology. Yet,when McIntyre does disclose any hardware, it counts, like the repellent, horrible web gun. There are no strained attempts at "space jargon;" we find effective bits and pieces throughout like Neon's language; Hunter's dream-name. This novel deals with time-travel. I haven't sufficient scientific knowledge to pronounce judgement on McIntyre's treatment of it, and neither, I suspect, (despite Asimov's claims to the contrary) does anyone else. Her presentation of various effects sounds good, though, and has some consistency."The Entropy Effect" is the finest Star Trek novel I have read thus far; you owe it to yourself even in this day of the $2.50 paperback.

1983

Vonda McIntyre has a reputation for good SF, but I found THE ENTROPY EFFECT and the ST II novelization cluttered and pointless.

Considered by many (but not by me) the best ST novel ever, The Entropy Effect is very good. I rate it down for only one reason; it goes too fast. Some of the ST books I've read have been too long, but this one, at 224 pages, should still be longer. It covers too much territory for its length.

1984

Two years ago, in my review of the "Wrath of Khan" novelization, I said that its only major flaw was Vonda McIntyre's self-indulgence. She spent far too much time developing characters who were only bit players in the movie. This I wouldn't have minded, had it not been at the expense of the major characters that the story was really about. What I could not forgive, however, was her inclusion of characters from her own books, such as Entropy Effect -- characters who had absolutely no place in the ST II plotline. If you had not read her previous books, you probably would have said "Who the hell are these people?" But this did not detract from my enjoyment too much; overall, I enjoyed the book. And now comes the ST III novelization--nice and thick, almost 300 pages. "Great!" I thought, "Lots of juicy character development." And there was...but of her characters! "The flaw in the first book is magnified ten-fold here. There are three whole chapters before the events of the movie get started! Three superfluous aliens are bad enough, but we are also subjected to: the entire crew getting drunk over Spock's death, Carol Marcus acting like a pouting bitch whose motivations are never clear, and David and Saavik hopping into bed together! Give me a break! To the scenes that were my favorites in the film, McIntyre adds nothing; if anything, she detracts from the magic that the actors and director brought to those scenes. I was most disappointed with this book, and hope a new novelist is hired for ST IV.

Star Trek III was everything I hoped for and more. I only wish the movie was longer, so I immediately bought the novelization by V. McIntyre to fill in all the little details not covered by the movie. What a bitter disappointment, McIntyre completely disregarded the Star Trek II characterizations. Dr. Carol Marcus is unrecognizable, her son David's attitude unjustifiable. All our friends lost!

I agree totally with you about McIntyre's horrendous novelizations. (Her Carol Marcus is a bitch, her Kirk a wimp, and I couldn't believe she has Chapel say she had gotten over her love for and was only "fond" of Spock! (It's ironic the best novelization is Roddenberry's ST:TMP considering the way the movie turned out.)

Instead of the expected professionally written version of the script, Vonda McIntyre has produced the kind of novel zine editors receive from high school girls. Here is the fear/hatred of Kirk's masculinity that turns him into a lecherous tyrant and delights in abasing him, the depiction of adults with the emotional instability of adolescents.... Although Carol Marcus is not mentioned in the movie, I'm told; Ms. McIntyre has introduced her and a love affair with a youngster her son's age, and mentions David's approval of the relationship (there's lots of meat for a psychiatrist in those two!). This enforces my feeling that Carol is obsessed with dominating males, and her deliberate humiliation of Kirk (who is portrayed anyway as an insensitive clod) reinforces the impression. As for David, whose infantile and boorish behavior is at one point excused because he is "high" on the fumes of an evolved planet (there is no discernible difference at any other time, I can see), he shows the result of the damage a domineering mother can do--supposedly he is so brilliant that only he can recognize a dangerous element in the Genesis formula (although he certainly exhibits no other indication of brains at all), but he deliberately withholds revealing it for fear of upsetting his mommy and her team--an appalling lack of scientific integrity and responsibility. Though most of the sins are Mclntyre's, Harve Bennett cannot escape his share of the blame for the immaturation of Star Trek, with his Hollywood Youth Cult outlook and simplistic stories.

Two years ago, in my review of the "Wrath of Khan" novelization, I said that its only major flaw was Vonda McIntyre's self-indulgence. She spent far too much time developing characters who were only bit players in the movie. This I wouldn't have minded, had it not been at the expense of the major characters that the story was really about. What I could not forgive, however, was her inclusion of characters from her own books, such as Entropy Effect --characters who had absolutely no place in the ST II plotline. If you had not read her previous books, you probably would have said "Who the hell are these people?" But this did not detract from my enjoyment too much; overall, I enjoyed the book. And now comes the ST III novelization--nice and thick, almost 300 pages. "Great!" I thought, "Lots of juicy character development." And there was...but of her characters! "The flaw in the first book is magnified ten-fold here. There are three whole chapters before the events of the movie get started! Three superfluous aliens are bad enough, but we are also subjected to: the entire crew getting drunk over Spock's death, Carol Marcus acting like a pouting bitch whose motivations are never clear, and David and Saavik hopping into bed together! Give me a break! To the scenes that were my favorites in the film, McIntyre adds nothing; if anything, she detracts from the magic that the actors and director brought to those scenes. I was most disappointed with this book, and hope a new novelist is hired for ST IV.

1985

I think that, of all the pro—writers, who have handled Trek, she is one of the most
 sensitive and the best. She develops the characters, fills in gaps in the screenplay and
 brings in interesting scenes and characters of her own (as did Alan Dean Foster in the 
delightful Logs). Most film novelisations I've read are bare, shallow things taken directly from the scripts. But Vonda loves her subject and treats it with care. She has been a fan longer than most of us - according to Bjo Trimble's book, she was in that famous letter campaign - and so it's understandable that she should care. Her novel, 'The Entropy Effect' was the best Trek novel I've read.

1992

Vonda McIntyre must be one of the best Trek writers around. This was a very enjoyable novel, with good characterization, plot, and narrative. Was this one written before RA became such an influence? We actually have events which touch both the characters *and* the reader. If you're a fan of time-travel adventures, this is a must read!

(Numbers aren't the best indicators of the quality of anything, be it book, episode, movie, what-have-you, but they do give a better understanding of what worked/didn't work in the piece.

So, the numbers (out of 5):

Characterization: 4

Premise: 3 (time travel speeds entropy?)

Plot Handling: 4

Narrative: 4

Total: 4 [rounding up a bit for killing off Kirk ;)]

2004

I fell fast and hard for the Kirk-Spock relationship at age 11, when I read the fantastic pro novel The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre. In this book, Kirk is killed by a psychotic temporal physicist (around page 80 or so, I believe) and then Spock must unravel a maze of time loops to prevent the murder. I had no idea what Star Trek was when I read it, but it didn't matter -- the angst and beautiful pain of a logical, unemotional guy desperately trying to save the one person closest to him made a wreck of me. I was sold by the scene where Kirk lies dying in his own blood and Spock tries to save him with a mind-meld; the deal was sealed when I got to the end of the book, and Spock, waking in Sickbay to find Kirk standing over him, can barely control his laughter and tears.

2008

Taking a cue from discussions on K/S Central, I've been reading one of the older TOS pro novels. Most of us agree there were there were some gems early on and then the inevitable decline when too many cooks got in the kitchen and started issuing rules and regulations to the authors and seemingly demanding there be no stories centered on Kirk, Spock or McCoy together. Sad. Anyway, Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect appeared to be memorable to lots of folks so I began with it. Thank goodness I did, for I had an unexpected three-hour wait for a routine doctor's visit. I was the only one in the waiting room not crawling the walls, 'cause I had Kirk & Spock to keep me company. I'm not brave enough, nor do I expect ever to be, to take K/S with me to public places. "Entropy" is very well-written and while there was opportunity for a lot more emotion and angst, it is somewhat like a lost episode, and I'm pretty good at filling in the blanks.

2020

Vonda McIntyre was a very logical choice to kick off the new Star Trek fiction published by Pocket Books. The founder of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, the prolific author had over a dozen published short stories, two novels, and a pair of Nebula awards to her name and an outspoken love of Trek.

That passion for the franchise was an opportunity for David Hartwell, the editorial director for the Timescape imprint. He’d argued hard with his bosses for the publisher to move into the original novel space. Sure, the novelization had done very well, but they’d seen how Bantam’s books had made less and less of a dent in the market. That, combined with the cost of the license and combined author’s fee’s, made it a risk.

His solution? Pay the writers less. Cloaking his fiduciary shadiness under a declaration that he needed authors who “cared about what they were doing,” he offered an advance that was half of the $6000 normally paid to authors for original fiction.

McIntyre took the deal, maybe because a lot of the work had already been done by her when she was 18.

Wait, did she publish her old fanfic?

Kind of. She actually had a screenplay she’d written while a freshman at the University of Washington while the show was still on the air. She never had a chance to submit it, but it provided a framework that she could use to build out this fast-moving, ambitious adventure.

s the back cover copy indicates, The Entropy Effect involves astrophysics, time travel, and the death of our beloved captain. McIntyre takes her time getting to the big moment, allowing readers to spend time with a well-realized version of the series regulars4 and quite a few new crew members created just for this book.

McIntyre’s use of original characters (especially on the Enterprise) is something I really appreciate an author doing. New characters allow writers to create genuine tension by placing them in real danger, something that couldn’t happen with the main cast.5 Despite coverage in The National Enquirer and other outlets that the books had killed Kirk, there was no way a fan with more than three brain cells together believed that any long-term, canonical changes to Trek were going to occur anywhere but on-screen.

[snipped]

As you read, it’s obvious that McIntyre has a clear plan and has pinpointed the exact moments where character beats and plot points would have the maximum effect. The Entropy Effect reminded me of the best episodes of Rick And Morty in how much thought was applied to the intricacies of time travel and its effects.

It’s important to note, though, that it never feels like homework. McIntyre’s prose is punchy9 and her pacing is so tuned that you’re fed information just as you need it and reminded of previously-introduced elements without it being blatan

[snipped]

This book is probably most famous in fandom for establishing Sulu and Uhura’s first names, but it’s also a damned fine read on its own. McIntyre’s ability to balance the established and the new, combined with big sci-fi ideas, an audacious plot and clockwork pacing, makes this an essential read. It’s easy to see why she got the plum assignments of novelizing the next three Star Trek films and writing the Enterprise: The First Adventure.