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In the beginning, there were six logs, each containing three stories (adaptations of the Star Trek animated series), recently rereleased into three books, each of which contains six stories. If you're not confused yet, hang on a minute. The logs were popular beyond anyone's imagination. No surprise there, as they are written by Alan Dean Foster as well as being the only new Star Trek we had since the original series. And so the powers that be (read publisher), decided that Mr. Foster needed to make each episode long enough to be a stand-alone novel in and of its own right. So Star Trek Log Seven and up are one story per book, which means two stories in the new editions, because each contain two logs.

Originally, Mr. Foster had said he couldn't possibly draw out an episode of the animated series for an entire book. In Logs Seven and Eight he was forced to eat his words and go where no author had gone before. He also had to add new material to each of the adaptations, not only more detail, but actual adventures that extended the original animated episodes. The question is, did the change of format help the Star Trek Log series, or kill it?

I am delighted to say that Star Trek Log Seven and Eight are my favorite to date, and I really enjoyed the first six. After so many short works that resolved all too quickly, finally, I had something I could really sink my teeth into. It felt like watching a Star Trek movie, as opposed to a single episode. Everything you loved about the original Star Trek is there, with the exception of dated special effects. And yet, whenever the Enterprise fires its phasers, it is exactly those dated effects I see in my mind's eye.

As previously mentioned, there are two stories in this volume. The first, "The Counter-Clock Incident," involves the first captain of the USS Enterprise, Robert T. April. Some of you, no doubt, think Captain Christopher Pike was the first captain of the Enterprise, but that's not the case. He was only the captain before Kirk. According to the original series "Bible," Robert T. April came first.

As with the previous logs, Foster did a great job of getting inside character's heads, as well as adding enough science and pseudoscience to make the stories plausible, at least on some level. There are times during the book when I had to suspend my disbelief, about as often as happened when watching the original series in reruns.

"The Counter-Clock Incident" starts off with an alien vessel of unknown origin, that seems to be heading straight into an exploding nebula, apparently unaware that the radiation is too high for even the Enterprise's shields to screen out. After failing to contact the ship, Captain Kirk orders the tractor beams to be locked onto it. A handy solution, if the ship hadn't been travelling faster than thought possible, and they could later disengage the tractor. In this story, the Enterprise really does go where no man has gone before.

The second story, my favorite of the two, involves the rescue of a science survey on a planet thought to be harmless. Naturally things aren't what they seem, and Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy end up trapped in a situation that I won't ruin for you by recounting here. Let's just say, this is a fun story that leads from obstacle to obstacle, until the final obstacle, which is rather obstacular. Much like most Star Trek episodes.

I enjoyed this book immensely and feel a great need to rush out and read the next volume, however, I won't, because once that's done, I'll have finished the entire series, and I'm not overly looking forward to the withdrawal symptoms.

Steve Lazarowitz is a speculative fiction writer, an editor, a father, a husband, an animal lover and a heck of a nice guy (not necessarily in that order). Steve lives in Moonah, Tasmania with his family and four giant spiny leaf insects. You can check out his work at http://www.dream-sequence.net.