Killing Time

Real world article

Enter Second History – and a galaxy gone mad!

Killing Time is a Pocket TOS novel – #24 in the numbered series – written by Della Van Hise. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in July 1985.

Summary[]

From the book jacket: A Romulan time-tampering project leaves the Enterprise (and the rest of the galaxy) in an alternate dimension, where Kirk is an embittered young ensign and Spock is a besieged starship commander. Together they race to escape the plotting Romulans and return to their original timeline, before the unforeseen effects of the Romulan project destroy the galaxy.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

This is the only Star Trek novel written by Della Van Hise.
This story takes place after TOS: "The Enterprise Incident".
The name of the Romulan commander played by actress Joanne Linville in "The Enterprise Incident" is given as "Thea" here. More recent sources give this character's name as "Charvanek," while she is named "Di'on Charvon" in The Fate of the Phoenix.
According to Pocket Books, this story is considered controversial due to the manuscript having Kirk/Spock slash fiction elements, which were requested to be removed by Paramount. However, they were not removed, and 250,000 copies were printed. These romantic undertones between Spock and James T. Kirk were brought to the attention of the office of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, who made Pocket Books recall the first edition.
This edition subsequently became a collector's item, with more than fifty changes made to a revised version.
The 2023 episode SNW: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" employs a premise loosely similar to this novel.

VSS ShiKahr (β): Alternate universe version of USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), commanded by Captain Spock.
VSS S'Tasmeen: Alternate universe vessel commanded by Captain Benedict.
VSS T'Ruda (β): Alternate universe vessel commanded by Captain Christopher Pike.
Ravon (β): Romulan "flagship," a timeship commanded by Commander Tazol.
T'Favaron (β): Romulan transport scoutship.