Star Trek – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews Redshirts by John Scalzi

Today Caramel reviews Redshirts, a book by John Scalzi first published in 2012. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about a space story, right?

Caramel: Yes, today we are talking about Redshirts, which is a story that is in a Star Trek-like universe. The book never comes out and says Star Trek of course, but you know it.

S: True. Even the title is a throwback to Star Trek. Redshirts are the ensigns and other members of the crew who wear red uniforms, and if you watch enough Star Trek episodes, at some point it becomes clear that whenever a team goes down to a planet with some of the main characters and a few crew members wearing red, the dangers in the planet would kill off at least one of those redshirts.

C: Yes. The book is really about that. The main character is this guy named Andrew Dahl and he is himself a redshirt. He joins the Universal Union, which is like the Federation in Star Trek, and is serving on the flagship. He realizes at some point that his friends keep dying. But none of the main crew dies. So the redshirts start getting suspicious.

S: I think that is a really smart plotline.

C: Yes, I think so too. But it gets even better. They realize that they do not really have memories beyond the ship they are on and so on, and they eventually discover that there is a real weird reason for everything.

S: Yep!

C: But I am not telling. I think it would be a big spoiler.

Caramel is reading Redshirts by John Scalzi. — Caramel is reading *Redshirts* by John Scalzi.

S: Yes, you do have a point there. Okay, so let us stop talking about the plot then and begin to talk about other things about the book. Actually I read Redshirts first and could not stop myself from laughing all the time. I thought you would enjoy it, too. Was I right?

C: Yeah, it was pretty good. I laughed a lot, too.

S: I also found the plot twists pretty neat.

C: Yeah, me too. But again, no spoilers! And I kind of guessed some of them.

S: Good for you! I did not. But you and Marshmallow are getting pretty good at guessing narrative arcs.

C: Well, we do read a lot of books.

S: That’s true.

C: Yeah, so the book starts out with a guy on an away mission, for lack of a better term, and he is eaten by land worms, I have no idea what those could possibly be. But they sound just about right for the kind of weird monsters that appeared in the original Star Trek series. And so we immediately get some action and some weirdness, and it is all fun from that point on.

S: I mean, I guess a lot of redshirts did die, I think, and death is not really funny, if you think about it, but in the storyline they were all quite absurd, and you could not help but laugh.

C: Yeah, the setups of the away missions were all weirdly amusing, but the actual plot of the book was awesome. Kind of mind-boggling and mind-twisting, but also funny. And awesome!

S: I am so glad you enjoyed it. But I am wondering. Do you think someone would still enjoy this book if they did not watch any Star Trek?

C: Yes, yes, the plot can still stand alone, but knowing Star Trek sort of just makes it better.

S: I think I agree. For a Star Trek fan like me, there were a lot of inside jokes, but if you are not a Trekkie like me,,I think it is still a great read. Lots of fun and also some things to think about after you are done.

C: Yep.

S: Okay Caramel. I think this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Let’s do that.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Redshirts by John Scalzi and recommends it to all bunnies looking for some funny space stories. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Redshirts* by John Scalzi and recommends it to all bunnies looking for some funny space stories.

Caramel reviews The Rescue Rabbits by Eric Seltzer

This week Caramel wanted to talk about a fun picture book written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue: The Rescue Rabbits. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Caramel reviews The Rescue Rabbits written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue. — Caramel reviews *The Rescue Rabbits* written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you found a book about bunnies!

Caramel: Yes! This is a cool book about rabbits that can talk.

S: You and I are talking!

C: Yes, that’s true. But other animals talk in this book too. Like hippos, elephants, a kangaroo. A lot of animals.

S: And they all understand one another, right?

C: Apparently.

S: That sounds so neat! Wouldn’t it be great if we could talk with all other animals?

C: Yep.

S: So tell me what this book is about.

C: There are four rabbits that do stuff. Their names are Ace, Chip, Dot, and Spot. And they help other animals. An elephant and fifty sick hippos and a duck family, a kangaroo…

S: Okay, I get the point. So the rabbits are like a squad …

C: … Like PAW Patrol!

S: Oh yes! That sounds just about right! The PAW Patrol puppies also try and help others in trouble, right?

C: I don’t exactly remember the show really, but yes, I think that is what they do. Can we watch some episodes at some point? Maybe I can remember–hint hint.

S: Maybe. But let us get back to the book.

Caramel is reading The Rescue Rabbits written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue. On this page there is a rhino queen, Queen Rex, and she is a bit too big for the helicopter the Rescue Rabbits are riding. — Caramel is reading *The Rescue Rabbits* written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue. On this page there is a rhino queen, Queen Rex, and she is a bit too big for the helicopter the Rescue Rabbits are riding.

S: So tell me more about the book. What did you think of the drawings?

C: They’re pretty good. They’re very colorful. They are not really exactly realistic but I still like them.

S: Well, helicopter flying rabbits is also not very realistic. This is obviously fiction, right?

C: Yep. And they are all wearing clothes. There is a pelican wearing a hat, a tortoise wearing a cap, and a warthog and an elephant wearing suits. And there is a baby rhino in overalls.

S: And the Rescue Rabbits are also wearing clothes, right?

C: Yep. We are wearing clothes. Normal bunnies don’t wear clothes.

S: That’s right, but a lot of our readers probably do wear clothes. So maybe that is why the Rescue Rabbits are wearing clothes too.

C: Yes! Maybe so the readers don’t feel weird reading about naked animals.

S: And so that they feel like the animals are more like humans.

C: Yes. But not too much like humans, because that apparently freaks out humans. You told me about the uncanny valley before.

S: Yes, you have a good memory. Do you remember what that was exactly?

C: Not quite. What was it?

S: It is when things look too like humans, humans get scared. Here is a neat article about it: What is the Uncanny Valley? It is a concept first thought of in the field of robotics, when people were beginning to think of making robots look more and more like humans.

C: In Star Trek Voyager, there is a holographic life form and he looks exactly like humans. And humans are sometimes scared of him.

S: Yes, kind of like that. But let us get back to the book. What three words would you use to describe this book?

C: Colorful, happy, adventurous.

S: Yes, I like those words and I think they fit this book. So it is now time to wrap up this review. What do you want to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has enjoyed reading The Rescue Rabbits written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue. — Caramel has enjoyed reading *The Rescue Rabbits* written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue.

Caramel reviews Star Trek: Ships of the Line by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda

Caramel and the rest of the book bunnies household have been watching Star Trek Voyager during these months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Voyager is the third Star Trek series Caramel has watched, after The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. In other words, he is a little Trekkie. One of his favorite things about the whole series is the star ships. As a result it was natural that he would fall in love with the book Star Trek: Ships of the Line, edited by Doug Drexler and Margaret Clark, with text from Michael Okuda. Below he shares his enthusiasm about this book, as Sprinkles takes notes and asks followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you want to tell us about this book?

Caramel: It’s a good book if you like space ships and that kind of stuff.

S: Do you also need to like Star Trek?

C: Not exactly. As long as you like star ships, you are in luck. The book is packed with pictures of star ships.

S: All ships are from Star Trek, right?

C: No, not quite. There are some real ships too. There is a picture of the United States space shuttle Enterprise.

S: I see. I think that also fits in the Star Trek universe narrative though, right?

C: I guess.

S: Are the pictures photos or hand-drawn?

C: I think there are both kinds of pictures.

Caramel's favorite page of Star Trek: Ships of the Line, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda, is the front cover, because it has all the ships all together all in one place. — Caramel’s favorite page of *Star Trek: Ships of the Line*, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda, is the front cover, because it has all the ships all together all in one place.

S: What else can you tell us?

C: So on each two-page spread, there is a whole-page picture of a ship, and some writing.

S: What kind of writing?

C: There is a name for the photo or drawing and who it is by. Then there is a paragraph about the picture.

Caramel is checking out USS Voyager and the Delta Flyer in Star Trek: Ships of the Line, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda. — Caramel is checking out USS Voyager and the Delta Flyer in *Star Trek: Ships of the Line*, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda.

S: The content seems to be arranged in eight chapters (altogether in over 350 pages). Can you tell me a bit about that?

C: The chapter names are: “In the Beginning”, “The Creation of a Legend”, “Rebirth”, “The Finest in the Fleet”, “Of Gods and Men”, “There Will Always Be An Enterprise”, “Delta Voyager”, “Semper Exploro”.

S: Hmm, so I can guess that “Delta Voyager” is about the ships in Star Trek Voyager.

C: Yes, and “Of Gods and Men” is about Deep Space Nine.

S: And “In the Beginning” seems to be about the more recent Star Trek Enterprise. We have not yet watched that show. But so it seems that the book is telling us the stories of the star ships in the Star Trek universe in their chronological order.

C: Yes. Exactly.

S: Do you know who the people who put together this book are?

C: No, not really.

S: Apparently Drexler and Okuda both worked for the Star Trek shows, and Clark wrote many Star Trek books and novels.

C: Oh, I didn’t know that! But that is good. They must know what they are talking about!

S: Right! So Caramel, let us wrap up this review, but first give me your three words to describe this book:

C: Awesome star ships!

S: That works!

C: And stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!