I have been reading Star Trek books off and on for years. From titles about Kirk and Spock to ones on Janeway and her crew, the books keep coming. I recently had the opportunity to read a new Star Trek book. This novel features characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation television show. The title of the book is I, Q. It was written by John De Lancie and Peter David. That's right, it's the same John De Lancie who played Q on the Star Trek: The Next Generation show. The book was copyrighted in 1999 and published by Pocket Books.

The book starts out with a woman on the beach. She is contemplating live in the multiverse. She is incredibly bored with everything. Then a bottle washes up on the shore. She opens the bottle and begins to read the papers that were in it. These papers are apparently a narrative that has been written by Q. As she starts reading, she knows some of the things that have been written but not some others. As she reads through this tale by Q, we are transported into the story.

Q, his wife Lady Q, and their son q, were fishing. This piqued my interest right away. I didn't know that Q had a wife or was even capable of that type of relationship. And to have a son on top of all that, wow! For those of you who've never seen the Star Trek shows may not know about Q, here is a brief bio. He is this pompous superior being that is a member of the Q Continuum (a whole group of pompous superior beings). He was introduced in the first Next Generation show and continues to show up now and again in one of the Star Trek vehicles.

At the same time Q is on his family outing, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and one of his officers, Data were enjoying the Holodeck on the USS Enterprise. The program that they are using has them on a boat in the ocean. They are fishing as well. Through a strange rift in the program, the boat is about to be sunk in a huge storm. This definitely wasn't part of the scenario.

As this is happening, Lady Q and q are being swept away from Q. They are plummeting down a dark hole. Q finds himself having to choose between trying to retrieve Lady Q and q from the dark hole or rescuing Data and Picard. For some strange reason, he opts to help out Picard.

All of a sudden they are in a vast wasteland. Q enlists the help of Picard and Data to get back Lady Q and q. Q feels that they are experiencing the end of time as they know it. Somehow they have to stop the progression of whatever is happening and get back Q's family.

Through a series of events, the trio is helpless to do anything to stop the End. For as much as they try, something blocks their path.

They meet up with an individual from another Continuum. She was even more pretentious than Q. But she wasn't quite as powerful. And there was some girl named Melony that Q tries to save.

There are also other members of the Q Continuum that don't want Q to stop the end of the world. In fact, they go to some great lengths to assure that Q can't stop the End of everything.

This story has a lot of different elements. There is the pompous Q needing help from Picard in the worst way. There is the other Q who seems to delight in the end of time. And there is the entity that is causing the end of it all. What right does one individual have to end it all?

I, Q is a masterful tale of struggling with your faith. Is it God that's doing this or some unknown entity? Is this for real or just someone's idea of a sick joke?

For a fun and entertaining reading experience, pick up a copy of I,Q. You won't be sorry.

Copyright © 2000 Bruce E. Von Stiers