Vulcan's Glory

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Spock's first mission aboard the Enterprise!

Vulcan's Glory is a Pocket TOS novel – #44 in the numbered series – written by D.C. Fontana. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in February 1989.

Summary

From the book jacket: Here is a very special Star Trek novel; from the woman consistently voted by fans as their favorite writer from the original Star Trek television series!

D.C. Fontana, writer of such classic episodes as "Journey to Babel" and "This Side of Paradise", here brings us the never-before-told story of a very young Mr. Spock, on his first mission aboard the USS Enterprise. You'll also meet Captain Christopher Pike and his enigmatic first officer, "Number One" (previously seen only in the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage"), as well as the ship's brand-new engineering officer, Montgomery Scott.

Vulcan's Glory is the tale of Spock's struggle to reconcile his many obligations – those forced on him by his Vulcan heritage, and those chosen by him upon his enlistment in Starfleet – to balance the wishes of others against the desires of his own heart.

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

Memorable quotes

"Some officers have had a difficult time dealing with the fact that she is a genetically perfect being. On her planet, Ilyria, excellence is the only criterion that is accepted. She is technically designated as being the best of her breed for the year she was born."
"I see. She therefore would receive the appellation 'Number One' even if she were not the executive officer."
"You have it."

- Pike and Spock

Background information

This is the only Star Trek novel written by D.C. Fontana. Fontana also wrote several episodes of I AM ERROR, I AM ERROR, early I AM ERROR, and the I AM ERROR episode "Dax".
This novel was one of four classic Pocket novels re-released with new covers in 2006 to mark the 40th anniversary of Star Trek.
D.C. Fontana wrote sex scenes including a Vulcan into this novel, apparently in order to answer a long held question about Vulcan sexual ability; the pon farr is merely a fertility cycle, while Vulcans are capable of having sexual relations at any time outside of the mating urge, albeit without a successful conception.

Cover gallery

Characters

Canon characters listed below are linked to the main article about them. Non-canon characters are not linked, but those that recurred, appearing or being mentioned in more than one story, are defined further in Pocket TOS characters.

Regular and recurring characters

Christopher Pike
Number One
Spock
Montgomery Scott: A junior engineer assigned to the Enterprise
Sarek
Amanda Grayson

Other characters

T'Pring
Stonn
Caitlin Barry: Enterprise chief engineer

References

USS Artemis (β): Federation starship, commanded by Captain Daniels, the former assignment of Spock.
I-Chaya
kahs-wan
le-matya
Sehlat
ShiKahr
Vulcan's Glory: A large, uncut emerald, thought to have been lost years ago when the ship it was on crashed.
USS Yorktown: Federation starship, the former command of Christopher Pike and his Number One.

External links

Vulcan's Glory at Wikipedia
Vulcan's Glory at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Vulcan's Glory at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Previous novel:	Series	Next novel:
#43: The Final Nexus	Pocket TOS Numbered novels	#45: Double, Double
The Wounded Sky (#19)	Titan Books release order	My Enemy, My Ally (#21)