Night of the Living Trekkies

Author(s) - Kevin Anderson (Blood, Gridlock, and PEZ: Podcasted Tales of Horror) and Sam Stall (The Three Stooges Career Guide)
Release Date - 2010
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi/Comedy
Tagline - "They though space was the final frontier - they were wrong"
Format - Ebook

Rating (out of 5):

     Growing up I was never a sci-fi fan.  I would watch some sci-fi movies and shows but my heart belonged to children's shows and movies until 4th grade when I grabbed my first Goosebumps book from R.L. Stine.  Then on I was hooked on the horror genre but I still dabbled in the films intended for children and sci-fi.  When I was in high school I finally sat down and watched Star Wars and was hooked.  I soon decided to dive deeper into sci-fi and it was only a matter of time before I checked out the original Star Trek series.  I was hooked on that as well and since then I have watched most of the shows but have avoided the movies until I could sit down and watch the shows in correct order.  Anyway, a few years back I bought my wife a Kindle and soon after found a book titled Night of the Living Trekkies.  I love a good parody but didn't check it out because I was afraid it was a fan fiction story.  A few weeks back I rediscovered the title on my iPad through the kindle store and decided it was time to finally check it out.  

     The story follows Jim.  Jim is a bellhop at a hotel in Houston as the hotel staff prepares for the big Star Trek con that weekend.  Jim was once a huge fan of ST but has since turned his back on childish things since his return from Afghanistan.  Jim has a sense and can determine when things are not right so when thousands of trekkies arrive for the con he starts to feel uneasy and could tell something is off.  Soon he starts to discover that the hotel staff is missing and one of his co-worker was bitten by someone earlier and soon discovers that a family friend was bitten as well.  He immediately starts to assume that a zombie apocalypse is upon him.  Soon his sister and her trekkie friends arrive and he tries to convince them that something is wrong but they refuse to listen until it is too late which forces him to fight through an undead hords of Klingons, Borgs, and other Star Trek characters with a red shirt and a model dressed as Princess Leia until they discover that this zombie apocalypse was brought on by extraterrestrial origins.    

     When I first spotted NotLT on my wife's Kindle I thought it was a fan fiction story of sorts and was not really in the mood for that.  However, after finding it again a few years later I decided to check it out and I am damn glad I did.  The story is not a fan fiction at all.  Instead, it is an original story that has nothing to do with the Star Trek universe other than mentioning it just in passing.  The characters in this story vary.  We have some that are really likable.  Great detail went into them with the revealing of their backstory.  These characters are the story's main focus and a lot of detail was given to them.  With that being said, other characters that are pivotal to the story just seem random and offer up little for the reader.  In fact, some characters that have so much promise are rarely referred to and then die off.  One that comes to mind is the Klingon arms dealer that was a hulking menace that wields his handmade weapons.  The guy is rarely mentioned and is then killed off.  I can understand killing the character but more action from him would have been awesome.  The story for this one is fun and instead of being set in the Star Trek universe it is set in the real world.  The story does make several references to the iconic television show, as well as, the less talked about animated series and movies but still spins a separate story altogether.  From that aspect, the story is just another zombie apocalypse tale following a rag tag group of survivors as they fight the flesh eating menace but we then get the Star Trek theme tossed in which really mixes it up.  The story is a little weak on the gore but replaces it with sci-fi elements that will blow the reader's mind.  Finally, the story flows very well and is written in a way in which it is easy to read.  When I was in college I purchased so many indie horror novels that were hard to follow and written in a way in which the reader had no idea what the fuck was going on.  Lucky for us, that is not the caste with this one here.  Overall, Night of the Living Trekkies is an outstanding read.  The story is fun and well worth your time.  Do yourself a favor and check it out!