After a bit of a layoff, Butch and Rob return with the fourth and final novel by perhaps the earliest writing team of Star Trek novelists - Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreth - 1983's "Triangle."

We previously covered their two Omne novels - "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix" in season 1 (Journeys to Bantam) and covered their earlier Pocket Books novel "The Prometheus Design" earlier in season 2. This is the final novel the two produced for Star Trek, though they also wrote a couple nonfiction Trek books. Sadly, we lost Myrna last year on Halloween night, but Sondra is still with us.

"Triangle" is a book that is well in line with how Marshak and Culbreth wrote the first three - lots of Kirk and Spock and not much else from the crew, the galaxy, or perhaps even the universe, is once again in peril, and once again the authors treat Kirk and especially Spock as messiah figures that are the only hope to save us all. That plus more angst and sexual tension than you can shake a stick at.

It becomes quickly apparent that Rob and Butch are not big fans of this book - but give it a listen and decide for yourself!

Our next mission takes us to a little-traveled portion of the galaxy between the Sagittarius Arm and Orion Arm of the galaxy, where a gravitational anomaly has sent the Enterprise while also crippling it and leaving it potentially stranded. The only hope that the Enterprise crew has is to try and locate the needed supplies, negotiate for their acquisition, and survive an unstable star, all without overturning a carefully-balanced and insular civilization that is both advanced and backward.

Rob and Butch turned out to be pretty impressed with Lee Corey's only Star Trek Novel, "The Abode of Life." Give us a listen and see if you agree!

Rob and Butch have been life long Star Trek fans, and have enjoyed watching and reading Star Trek since 1984. But this summer, August 5-10, they took their wives to Las Vegas and attended their first-ever Star Trek convention, which just so happened to be the 60th Anniversary year since the first broadcast of Star Trek. As a result, the convention was well-attended, with over 6,000 attendees and nearly 200 guests from all across the Star Trek universe and timeline.

The primary goal was to see the stars who are oldest, and thus are least likely to attend future conferences - William Shatner, George Takei, and Walter Koenig. Alas, Koenig was a late scratch, but we got to see the other two, hear their presentations, and get our picture taken with them. While we were at it, we met all sorts of other Trek personae - actors from all of the series, writers of episodes and novels, production staff, and even a couple of our favorite Star Trek podcasters.

Give us a listen and see how it compared to your STLV experience, or maybe get inspired to attend next year!