Yesterday's Son

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Yesterday's Son
ISBN
0-671-03851-6
Preceded byWeb of the Romulans 
Followed byMutiny on the Enterprise 

Yesterday's Son is a science fiction novel by American writer

A. C. Crispin set in the fictional Star Trek Universe. It describes the events surrounding Spock's discovery that he has a son. Yesterday's Son and its sequel, Time for Yesterday
, make up A. C. Crispin's "Yesterday Saga".

The book was the first Star Trek novel other than the movie novelizations to make the

New York Times Bestseller List.[1]

Plot

While studying the archaeological records of the now-destroyed planet Sarpeidon, a scholar aboard the

Guardian of Forever (featured in the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever
") to journey back into Sarpeidon's past and rescue his son. Due to a miscalculation, they find a young man of twenty-eight instead of a child, who tells them that his name is Zar and that his mother Zarabeth died in an accident many years before. Spock introduces himself but refuses to allow Zar to call him "Father."

Zar returns to the Enterprise and passes as a distant relative of Spock, who oversees his education and attempts to train him in Vulcan telepathic techniques. They discover that Zar is an unusually strong telepath for a Vulcan; he can establish contact without touching the other person. Zar becomes conflicted and hurt by his father's apparent refusal to acknowledge him.

The Enterprise is called back to the planet Gateway to protect the Guardian of Forever from a

Scotty in command battles the Romulans. They decide to try again, but Spock disables Zar with the Vulcan nerve pinch
, wishing to spare him from danger. Kirk and Spock are captured and tortured by the Romulans. When Zar wakes up, he is able to telepathically sense their danger. He also realizes that his father cares about him, since he chose to protect Zar instead of Kirk, his closest friend. The Enterprise defeats the Romulan ships and a rescue party beams down. Zar creates a diversion by causing an explosion, allowing the others to rescue Kirk and Spock.

Once the Romulan threat is over, Zar decides to use the Guardian to return to Sarpeidon's past, but to a more settled location than the one he originally inhabited. He has discovered evidence that he is crucial to the planet's unusually rapid cultural evolution.

Characters

Background

Crispin was a fan of Star Trek and had read many of the novelizations by

All Our Yesterdays" that the episode cried out for a sequel... so I sat down and wrote it." She did a little research on survival in arctic regions but mostly used established settings and relied on what she already knew from the show.[1]

Crispin commented on the success of the book "I think readers were hungry in that era for stories that explored the inner lives of the Trek characters, and my book did that."[1]

Other versions

The book was also released in an audiobook adaptation read by James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy.[2] Doohan told Crispin he had read and enjoyed the book even before he had been asked to work on the audiobook.[1]

Reception

Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer of Tor.com described the "Yesterday Saga" as "both precious and hilarious."[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Talking Trek and Pirates with Author A.C. Crispin". StarTrek.com. April 11, 2011. Yesterday's Son holds the distinction of being the first non-novelization Trek tale to reach the New York Times Best Seller list.
  2. ^ "Star Trek: Yesterday's Son - A. C. Crispin". August 1999.
  3. ^ Cheeseman-Meyer, Ellen (9 December 2013). "Vulcans and the Women Who Love Them: A.C. Crispin's Sarek". Tor.com. I reviewed two of her novels some months back with phasers set firmly on snark; The Yesterday Saga was both precious and hilarious.
  4. ^ Cheeseman-Meyer, Ellen (5 April 2012). "The Yesterday Saga: Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday". Tor.com.

External links

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