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From: chen@gitpyr.UUCP (Ray Chen)
Newsgroups: net.startrek,net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Followup to 'His was the most human...'
Message-ID: <1406@gitpyr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Feb-86 00:38:50 EST
Article-I.D.: gitpyr.1406
Posted: Fri Feb 14 00:38:50 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Feb-86 06:19:35 EST
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Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
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I've been seeing a lot about this chess game between McCoy and Spock.

Mark, do you remember what novel/draft this came from?

The reason for this inquiry is that the scene you've described sounds
very similar to a scene in "My Enemy, My Ally" by Dianne Duane
(her latest, published Star Trek novel).  There, *Kirk* and Spock were
playing a new variant on chess, "4-D" chess.  When it looked like Kirk
had had it and was about to resign, McCoy asked if he could take over,
did so, made some changes, (don't ask to me explain exactly what but it
was believable) and promptly beat Spock.

Before you go jumping about how McCoy shouldn't have been able
to beat Spock if Kirk couldn't, remember that the game was a
*new* variant with a very complex wrinkle that neither Spock
nor Kirk had ever played before.

I'm thinking what Mark may have heard was Dianne Duane
reading a draft section of "My Enemy, My Ally" that was changed
before it got published.

I don't remember when "My Enemy, My Ally" was published and
I don't have it handy (it's in Maryland, unfortunately).

Mark, you remember when you heard the draft read?

	Ray Chen
	gatech!gitpyr!chen

P.S. -- Also, even if what Mark heard was a draft of a new novel,
	I don't really think it's fair to judge Dianne on something
	that wasn't published yet.  She seems to have an "airy" or
	semi-romantic writing style.  So while I don't think she'll ever
	write a darker story like "City on the Edge of Forever",
	or "Balance of Terror", I do think she does a good job
	of writing interesting stories that stay ring true.
	Much more so than many authors I've seen out there.
	(At the risk of offending people, need I mention the
	"Vulcan Academy Murders" or far worse, "The Trellisane
	Confrontation" ??  Ugh.)