This past weekend I ran across something that caught my eye on a forum that I frequent. That something was Night of the Living Trekkies. Instant gratification kicked in and I knew I couldn’t wait to check this one out. Boy am I glad I didn’t wait.
Night of the Living Trekkies is a zombie/sci-fi/Star Trek lover’s dream come true. Our inner (or not so inner – as in my case) geeks, our inner teenage boys (unless, of course, you are a teenage boy), our inner (or again not so inner – again as in my case) zombie story lovers will answer the call that is Night of the Living Trekkies. Authors Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall, life-long science fiction geeks and self-professed trekkies, bring us the sheer amazing-ness that is Night of the Living Trekkies.
Do you get it yet? Do you see that – in my strong, very strong opinion, at least – that Night of the Living Trekkies is amazing, astonishing, awesome, fantastic, incredible, marvelous, superb, wonderful, and every other adjective that could be considered a synonym to my list.
I loved Night of the Trekkies. Plain and simple. So what is it?
Jim Pike (our hero) went from wearing a soldier’s uniform to a hotel uniform. He traded in carrying weapons to carrying luggage. After serving two tours in Afghanistan he decided that positions of authority and leadership were not for him. And so he became a bellhop, then a lowly security officer at a hotel in Houston. During the weekend of GulfCon, a Trek only convention, Jim is forced to face hundreds of Vulcan, Klingon, human, and various other guests, in addition to some sort of virus turning these guests into flesh eating zombies.
Ha! No biggie, right?
Jim and a handful of survivors, Princess Leia included (Yes, I know what you’re thinking, Trek only so why a Star Wars character? But really, read the book and find out!), have to fight their way out of the infested hotel to safety, preferably before the government deploys their fail-safe.
The 250-odd pages of Night of the Living Trekkies are filled with plenty of Star Trek and even Star Wars references. I’m no trekkie so some of these references went over my head, but I definitely got some of them, and of course all the Star Wars, because well… I love Star Wars. There are battle scenes, surprisingly good characterization for a parody such as this, and a gripping story all together. I laughed aloud, a lot, and even got teary eyed about the end of chapter 32. I attached to the story immediately and couldn’t put it down. By no means is this a difficult read, just set aside a couple of hours to sit down and enjoy a few good laughs. It is a bit gruesome, so if thats not your thing brace yourself or skim the fighting pieces.
Night of the Living Trekkies was – again – fantastic! I loved it! By far this is one of my favorites of the year, and might be finding a place on my favorites of all time shelf. I can’t help but love the book. Even if you’re a trekkie who can’t stand the thought of zombies invading your trek literature, I’d still give it a shot. They don’t ruin the story. The authors take what’s (and this is my assumption, as again I’m no trekkie) at the heart of being a Star Trek fan and weave and entertaining and fairly original, as far as zombies go, web around it.
I can’t say it enough, get a copy of this and read it. It’s awesome! The best fourteen dollars I’ve spent in a long time!
Among Stories 