The concept of normal Vulcans raises a host of distracting questions, and there’s nary a nerve pinch, mind meld, or salute to be found in this book. Other than fogging up a sensor reading or two, there is absolutely no purpose or point to this whatsoever. In fact, other than physical appearance, they have nothing in common with their progenitors. Unlike Vulcans, they show emotions, but they aren’t as aggressive as Romulans. The Enterprise has been assigned to the planet K’trall, home to a people who are an offshoot of Vulcan and Romulan genetic stock. Say what you will about Black Fire, but it did manage to worm its way into the halls of my permanent memory, and that is a lot more than Blaze of Glory has achieved, or is liable ever to.
But although you can’t say much in praise of Black Fire, it is difficult to deny that it is compelling in its own bizarre way, or that as total train wrecks go, it is at least a compulsively readable one. Really, the only thing they have in common is that they both prominently feature space piracy. I thought about Black Fire a lot while reading Blaze of Glory. There is almost nothing about Black Fire that is not completely bananas. Women write erotic poetry about his exploits. It wears its fetishes on its sleeve, contriving to paralyze Spock so that a Romulan villainess can keep him as a pet and turning him into a pirate who takes on the eponymous alias. Black Fire is an incredibly weird book, and time has done nothing to dull that weirdness. One of the very first books I ever reviewed on Deep Space Spines, back when the site was little more than a wad of spit and baling wire, was Black Fire by Sonni Cooper.
Not to be confused with: The Deep Space Nine episode “Blaze of Glory” (S5E23) Timeline: Early season 7, after “Interface” (S7E3) What’s the point of normie Vulcans? What’s the robot chick’s deal? And is this the Black Fire sequel we never knew we wanted? All this and more in Blaze of Glory, the book that tests the limits of what’s in a name. But when the political situation in the system turns out to be pretty sticky, it becomes less clear who’s an enemy and who’s an ally. This week, when an old friend asks for help dealing with a space pirate, Picard suspects his crew might be overqualified for the job.
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