This was a really fun book to read. VERY FUNNY! I wish there were more out there like this. I have always thought that Star Trek had the potential to be very funny.

Some of my favorite gags: Captian Picard is obligated by the honor of the emperor and is strong sense of diplomacy to eat food that has been buried in the ground for hundreds of years. It is disgusting but a rare delicacy. This is a running gag throughout the entire book.

I liked this book so much that I found the email addresses of the authors and sent them a note.

I said:

I was helping my dad move some old boxes to the attic the other day and I stumbled across your (and Greg Cox's) Star Trek The Next Generation novel "Dragon's Honor." So after 13 years I finally read it. I have always been a fan of positive feedback so I just wanted you to know that I really loved you book. I thought it was a fun story and most of all I loved the humor. I always loved the moments of humor in the TV show and wished there were more. I thought it was so funny when Riker won the whole planet and the running gag (pun intended) with Picard and the disgusting food was hilarious! I also really liked Worf's encounter with the Imperial Minister of Internal Security. It was hard to explain to my wife why I was laughing so hard at a Star Trek book. I read in Jeff Ayers book "Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion" that your initial goal was a Next Generation version of John M. Ford's "How Much For Just the Planet." Having read Ford's novel as well I would just like to say that I think you met your goal, especially in the humor department.
Anyway just wanted to say thanks for the fun novel, I really enjoyed it.

I was thrilled when a few days later I got an email back from both Kij Johnson and Greg Cox.

Kij said:

Thanks, Gene! What a delight to hear from someone about the STTNG
book. I really enjoyed working on it, and I was really pleased with
it. Humor is hard, and writing the book gave me even more respect for
John M. Ford's accomplishment. I never hear about DRAGON'S HONOR these
days, but every so often someone brings a copy up at a signing, and
I'm always happy to see it.
I agree -- Poor Picard!
Anyway, thank you for dropping me a line. You're right -- positive
feedback is wonderful, and it doesn't happen often enough for most of
us. :-)
Kij

Then Greg wrote:

Thanks for your note. I admit that's not a book I get much fan mail for anymore. Good to know people are still reading it!
To give credit where it's due, the whole book was basically Kij's idea. In fact, it was originally supposed to be a solo novel, but real life (and a new job) got in the way of her deadlines so I helped her finish it on time, mostly as a favor for a friend. I still tend to think of it as Kij's book.
This may be more behind-the-scenes info than you wanted to know, but I'm glad to know that you enjoyed our "accidental" collaboration!
Best,
Greg


It was very exciting to recieve emails from the authors. I know it is pathetic but I was a little to star struck to write back. I doubt they will ever read this but if they do, thanks for the emails!

Anyway great book and I highly recommend it.