Real world article
(written from a production point of view)
The Rings of Time is a Pocket TOS novel written by Greg Cox. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in January 2012.
Summary[]
- From the book jacket
- 2020 The USS Lewis & Clark, under the command of Colonel Shaun Christopher, sets off on Humanity's first manned mission to Saturn. But the unexpected presence of a stowaway complicates the mission – as does a startling encounter with an alien probe. But when Colonel Christopher attempts to capture the probe, he suddenly finds himself transported across time and space to a future era of space exploration…
- Stardate 7103.4 The USS Enterprise responds to an urgent distress call from a mining colony orbiting Klondike VI, a ringed gas giant not unlike Saturn. For unknown reasons, the planet's rings are coming apart, threatening the safety of the colony and its inhabitants. Searching for a way to avert the disaster, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew investigate a mysterious alien probe that has just entered the system. But when the probe is beamed aboard, Kirk abruptly finds himself floating in space above Saturn, wearing an old-fashioned NASA spacesuit, with the Enterprise nowhere in sight…
- Two missions. Two crews. And a time-twisting crisis that spans the centuries…
- Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.
Background information[]
- The novel was announced by Cox on 17 April 2011, following the signing of contracts. [1]
- The name of the USS Lewis & Clark and the 2020 launch date of the Earth-Saturn probe, the first manned mission from Earth to Saturn, are both taken from the reference book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, ignoring the 2009 launch date from the Star Trek Chronology, 1st ed., p. 18.
- This novel was later collected, along with That Which Divides and the DTI novel Forgotten History, in the eBook omnibus Star Trek: The Original Series - The Continuing Missions, Volume 1.
- The character name "Zoe Querez/Qat Zaldana" is similar to that of Zoë Saldana, though when asked, author Greg Cox could not recall if he intentionally chose it to be so. [2]
Cover gallery[]
Solicitation cover, August 2011
Second iteration of the solicitation cover
Characters[]
- James T. Kirk
- Spock
- Leonard McCoy
- Montgomery Scott
- Nyota Uhuru
- Hikaru Sulu
- Pavel Chekov
- Christine Chapel
- Shaun Christopher
- Alice Fontana
- Marcus O'Herlihy
- Zoe Querez (β), alias Qat Zaldana (β)
External link[]
- The Rings of Time at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
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