The Fate of the Phoenix

The Fate of the Phoenix is a Star Trek pro novel written by Myrna Culbreath & Sondra Marshak. 
It is a sequel to the controversial The Price of the Phoenix.
See List of Star Trek TOS Pro Books with Fan Connections.
==In a Prior Form==
See Never Mourn Black Omne, the fanwork that was the rough draft of The Price of the Phoenix and its sequel, "The Fate of the Phoenix", combined.
==Summaries==
From the book jacket: "With the Romulans approaching the boundaries of Federation space and the Klingons threatening to break the Organian peace treaty, Captain Kirk and his crew face a new peril in the person of Omne, the powerful and twisted creator of the Phoenix process."
From Carolyn Kaberline's review at Orion Press: "As this sequel begins, it isn’t long before Kirk and Spock begin to notice a series of "flames" in the galaxy, and while they believe some of these may be nothing more than chance happenings, some appear to have been engineered by Omne himself. Soon Kirk is appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Federation to preside over the naming of the new Regent of the Voran Dynasty, a world near the Romulan sphere of influence. It is on this isolated planet that all forces come together and the crew of the Enterprise must once again face Omne, the man who triumphed over death. Also on hand are the Romulan commander, who is suspected of treason for joining forces with the Federation on Omne’s world, and a disguised James. While Omne once again holds Kirk prisoner, a deadly ray is released on those gathered there, and many members of the assembly are injured. Spock seems to be severely affected and shows no sign of life; however, Kirk’s pleas cause Omne to resuscitate him. It is at this time that we also find that Omne has created a duplicate of himself—a duplicate that seeks to kill Omne and Spock as well. It is only by joining forces that there is a chance to destroy the duplicate and guarantee the safety of all."Full review at Orion Press.
==Some Covers from Other Editions==
File:FatePhoenixreprint.jpg|an alternative cover featuring Black Omne, reprint edition
File:fatephoenix.jpg|an alternate cover, reprint edition, 1980s
File:FatePhoenixItaly.jpg|the Italian edition
==Not Canon, and The Hands of TPTB==
According to Marshak and Culbreath, Gene Roddenberry and Paramount were concerned that fans would assume the Phoenix novels were canon. While several tie-in Star Trek novels were out including Spock Must Die!, Spock, Messiah! and Kathleen Sky's Vulcan!, Marshak and Culbreath's were the first fan-written novels, and included notes about how they had worked closely with Roddenberry, collaborated with William Shatner on Shatner: Where No Man... and so on, so this assumption might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. 
The authors claimed that Roddenberry had reviewed The Price of the Phoenix but as work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture progressed, turned subsequent reviews over to someone else (Susan Sackett, or possibly future Star Trek Archivist, Richard Arnold?). This unnamed reviewer demanded that James, Kirk's Omne-created doppelganger, must die, because with the film then in production, "there could not be a second, identical, real Kirk left in the Star Trek universe."Jeff Ayers, Star Trek: Voyages of Imagination (Pocket, 2006).See also this in-depth interview with Richard Arnold regarding his attitudes and philosophies on Star Trek, particularly his view of canon re the tie-in novels and what he thinks of Interstat and other fanzines. Very enlightening.
This explains the bizarre ending to the second novel; James, now committed to his new life as a Romulan, is about to establish a matrimonial bond with the Romulan commander, when he is teleported to an alternative dimensional planet where Omne has been exiled. Spock and the Commander believe it will be possible to retrieve him, but the novel ends there.
==Reactions and Reviews==
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==References==
Category: Star Trek TOS Professional Works‏‎