Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden

In the months that follow his reluctant retirement, Captain James Kirk is offered an irresistible adventure by a beautiful and mysterious young woman that will force Kirk to confront the fragile peace between the Federation and the Klingons.

Although he has written both fiction and nonfiction best sellers, this is Shatner's first Star TrekR-based novel
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

At 62, Captain James T. Kirk is a disgruntled hero when his first love, the Enterprise, is reduced to war-game maneuvers by his diabolical archenemy, Androvar Drake, now commander in chief. Kirk resigns his commission to help the seductive young Teilani. The fact that her world needs saving and that she can purchase the Enterprise for Kirk makes her all the more alluring. Suspicious of Kirk's motives, Spock and McCoy join the rest of Kirk's original crew aboard the Excelsior, which is traveling to the Klingon-Romulan world of Chal. There Kirk has abandoned common sense to chase the illusion of youth: a mission, a purpose in life, and an invigorating love life with Teilani. Their age difference doesn't matter because exposure to the planet's atmosphere reverses the aging process. Plot a little too pat? Turns out that it's a psychological setup by a demonic faction within Starfleet to lure Kirk into revealing the secret of this paradise of eternal youth. Excelsior reaches orbit, Kirk comes to his senses, and evil is, at least temporarily, thwarted. The "real" Kirk--Shatner--with the help of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, adds a satisfying, commercial-free, escapist episode to the apparently endless Star Trek series.. Karen Simonetti