McCoy: The Provenance Of Shadows

Oh my God - the end-all, be-all Star Trek (or any tie-in) book for me. Remember that episode when McCoy jumps into the enormous Cheerio of Space and ends up causing Hitler to not-lose and not-die? YOU KNOW. The one where Kirk falls in love with Joan Collins and Spock fashions the Internet out of 1930s junk material (mostly wood). REMEMBER NOW?

Anyway, like all good Star Trek episodes, this one left some MAJOR issues hanging. Such as, umm, the fact that McCoy bifurcated the world line and thus there's a second McCoy running around some second universe out there. In this most wonderful of books, a book that captures Star Trek's multicultural, zany-physics-professor essence in all its glory, we follow BOTH MCCOYS.

McCoy #1 is basically a rehash of the TOS seasons and movies, with a little bit of filler from his life off-screen. Like, his dating life. You know.

McCoy #2, meanwhile, soon realizes that he's stuck in 1930s New York City FOR KEEPS. And he better get a move on and fix himself a life! So, being industrious, he jumps a train down South and becomes the good ol' country doctor he always was, living amid the small town trials and tribs of Peachville, Georgia (or whatever it's called). That is, until Nazi fighters start bombing America. WTF! You may ask. WTF indeed. WTF, thinks McCoy. Ah yes - he and the Cheerio messed up the world line. And remember when Spock told Kirk about the whole WWII/Hitler issue? Oh, shit, consequencesss. Now McCoy gets to live through it. And so do we!

Sooo good. This book hit all my buttons. It was engaging, intelligent, silly and - at times - absolutely addictive. It made a real effort at portraying non-white, non-male characters (well, apart from the good doctor), and its eventual moral was a progressive, almost post-Freudian, “yo, therapy is awesome and will make you better at relationships!” thing. Adorable and funny, engaging and sad. Highly recommended.