Pam E. East Lansing, Michigan

No, they do not fall lightly or easily, with the sole exception of the graceful fall of the British Empire, and when they do fall, civilization tends to revert to barbarism.

What would make an empire fall? Many factors, each self correctable to the unbaised observer, but with those in power never being or listening to said observer.

One of the essays, on the Vietnam War, does drag a little, and that is the only thing that slows down what is otherwise an excellent read.

Autobiography's are sometimes a tough read simply because "Truth" can be colored to favor or sanitize the individual who writes about him or herself. Memoir's written by the children of the famous tread an even more precarious path. Bitter children can write damning or un-flattering portraits. Adoring children can sugarcoat the subject so much that your teeth hurt after reading each chapter.

Dark Star, (St. Martin's Press, 1985), by Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, John Gilbert's daughter, has successfully become her father's biographer. She has objectively brought together the great and not-so-great moments and events of his life. Leatrice is the daughter of John Gilbert's first marriage to Leatrice Joy (the famous leading lady who followed in Gloria Swanson's fashionable footsteps as Cecil B. de Mille's perfect woman.)

Ms. Fountain's research is impeccable regarding Gilbert's background and career. A detailed filmography and general index is included. Young Leatrice lost her beloved father when she was just blossoming into her adolescence. She felt compelled to piece together and solve the mystery of Gilbert the man and the artist. Her search becomes our search, her discoveries become our link with the man and his bittersweet life and legacy.

For me, the discovery of this book redefined my devotion and interest in silent film entirely. The story of John Gilbert gave me a deeper passion to become an active participant in the preservation/revival movement of silent film. Dark Star is extraordinary and genuinely moving. Ms. Fountain's noble goal to connect one's perception to the complex person that this actor was, and to place John Gilbert as the premier romantic leading man of the glorious silent era has been accomplished.
- Copyright, 1997, Diane MacIntyre, "The Silents Majority"

The Enterprise is called to Archaria III, a planet jointly colonized by humans and Peladians. A new disease has cropped up and is only treatable (the double helix), in a temporary fashion. The Enterprise supposed to deliver the drug, quarantine the planet and see what help they might render. What follows is an excellent story, primarily using Dr. Crusher in her quest to find the cure. The author set everything up very well and wrapped up his portion beautifully.

"Vectors" by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristin Kathryn Rusch

Finally we have a story using Dr. Pulaski, who was unceremoniously dumped from the show. Not that she was anywhere near a replacement for Dr. Crusher. It is particularly interesting to see "Terok Nor" during the occupation and have the interaction with Gul Dukat. I felt the character development was very good and the Ferengi portions were written very well. The only true complaint is that the author's seemed to have done a poor job of closing out Kira's story.

"Red Sector" by Diane Carey

Red Sector is a fantastic story. It's very refreshing having a book that concentrates almost primarily on a non main character in John Eric Stiles. The character is extremely well thought out and written. The author nailed Spock and a hundred and thirty something Dr. McCoy perfectly. I'm dying to find out who the voice is at this point. Hopefully the next three in the Double Helix series will be as good as this one and the other two were.

"Quarantine" by John Vornholt

John Vornholt kicks out another fantastic story. Quarantine gives us a good idea of how "Tom Riker" ends up joining the Maquis. As is par for the course with John Vornholt, he goes into great detail describing a beautiful planet and all of its surroundings. Not a lot of Trek authors do that. I thought Torres seemed a little soft, considering her personality, but that can be explained away.

"Double or Nothing" By Peter David

This is another great installment to the New Frontier and the Double Helix series. Not having read the last of the Double Helix books yet, it seems that this one pretty much finishes the Double Helix storyline???? A favorite quote from the book, Riker - "I've got to get off this ship." Peter David did an excellent job of integrating Picard and Riker into the New Frontier. It's really interesting and well done how he brought Riker and Shelby together again. That portion was done very well and even better than I'd expected in another meeting of those two.

"The First Virtue" by Michael Jan Friedman & Christie Golden

The First Virtue is an excellent conclusion. It pretty much wraps up the reasoning to everything we learned in "Double or Nothing." In the First Virtue, we learn why Gerrid Thul wanted to create the Double Helix virus and why he wanted so much revenge for the loss of his only child. Both authors did a great job with their portions. The plot is well thought out, especially the portions of the book with Commander Jack Crusher and Lieutenant Tuvok. I felt that they captured Tuvok's personality quite well and gave a precursor to some of the decisions and general personality we saw on screen in Voyager.

Overall, I would recommend this Omnibus to any fan of good Star Trek fiction.

This one was written by none other than Capt. John W. Thomason USMC (author of "Fix Bayonets"). The story is a compilation of a number of short stories written for the Saturday Evening Post back in the 20s and 30s. "Praxiteles Baby" (actually a thinly disguised story of Thomason's Grandfather) is a transplanted Virginian who is a Hell Fire and Brimstone Preacher in Texas at the beginning of hostilities. His wife (also a firey Southern lady) is depicted reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by firelight and casting the volume into the fire muttering about that "Stowe Hussy"... Praxiteles seeing that his flock will need guidance in the coming hostilities, joins up with the 5th Texas as a Chaplain to see to their spiritual needs. After the first battle, he is found in the woods with a clubbed musket dripping with some sort of gray matter and is made a Captain of the 5th Texas by a general who sees his actions. The rest of the book is an entertaining and in many ways factual story of the Southern Texans in the late War of Northern Aggression. Thomason's narrative style is much like his graphic descriptions of the Marines in Belleau Wood and is definitely worth the read. An extremely talented artist, he illustrates his own books. Examples of Thomason's WWI sketches can be found illustrating the Poem "Rifles" in the Rifle Poetry section of this site - I got permission from the Marine Corps Association to use his sketches - great stuff!

Thomason is a great historian (specializing it the Civil War) and has written very entertaining biographies on such as JEB Stuart. You can no doubt tell he is a man of Southern extraction and sympathies. I had a copy many years ago and loaned it to one of our chaplains and never got it back! Hee, hee... it's that good! I didn't know it was still in publication, but stumbled across it while surfing Amazon...

If you like stories about patriotic "Sky Pilots", this one is for you!