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Reading Log For 1992 & Earlier

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

Frank Miller

Illustrated by Lynn Varley

Trade Paperback (Original 4-issue series: 1986)

DC Comics

TPB:

10th Anniversary Edition:

I originally read this in the late 80’s. I didn’t purchase a trade paperback until about later. And of course, I didn’t understand many of the subtleties until much later.
The trade paperback has an introduction by Alan Moore.
Along with WATCHMEN (1985), this was one of the series from the 1980s that demonstrated that comic books were not “just for kids”.

BOOK 1: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

Billionaire Bruce Wayne, long retired as Batman, has been defying death in car races. After Harvey Dent is released, a criminal appears to be Two Face, prompting Batman’s return. He has to know if the criminal is Dent. He has to know if redemption is possible.

BOOK 2: THE DARK KNIGHT TRIUMPHANT

13: Does the media sensationalism just perpetuate to the cycle of violence?

WOMAN EXPLODES IN SUBWAY STATION--
FILM AT ELEVEN.

20: Carrie Kelley: Ignored daughter of ex-hippies who decides to become Robin. For example:

GREAT DINNER, HON.

THANKS, BABE.

HEY... DIDN’T WE HAVE A KID?...

Batman takes on the leader of a gang called the Mutants.
26: The explicit violence plays as counterpoint to the campy 1960s TV show.
As Batman is being beaten up by the leader of the Mutants, he thinks:

...ROBIN...THE BOY HOSTAGE... THAT’S THAT TWO-FACE CALLED YOU...

...HEH...YOU HATED THAT...

BOOK 3: HUNT THE DARK KNIGHT

The Mutants splinter into other groups, including one emulating Batman with their own twisted vigilante justice.
The Joker feigns rehabilitation, and is released. He responds by killing hundreds on Letterman.
An aged Ronald Reagan is still president. Representing our fears that we could never escape the 1980s?
31: Superman reminisces:

YOU WERE THE ONE THEY USED AGAINST US, BRUCE.

THE ONE WHO PLAYED IT ROUGH.

WHEN THE NOISE STARTED FORM THE PARENTS’ GROUPS AND THE SUB-COMMITTEE CALLED US IN FOR QUESTIONING--

--YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LAUGHED...

THAT SCARY LAUGH OF YOURS...

SURE WE’RE CRIMINALS,” YOU SAID. “WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN CRIMINALS.”

“WE HAVE TO BE CRIMINALS.”

33: Batman is reminded of Commissioner Gordon’s warning:

...ALL IT WILL TAKE... IS ONE BULLET.

CAN YOU SEE IT JOKER? FEELS TO ME... LIKE IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER MY FACE.

I’VE LAIN AWAKE NIGHTS... PLANNING IT... PICTURING IT...

...ENDLESS NIGHTS...

...CONSIDERING EVERY POSSIBLE METHOD... TREASURING EACH IMAGINARY MOMENT...

FROM THE BEGINNING, I KNEW...

...THAT THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU...

...THAT I CAN’T FIX...

...WITH MY HANDS...

BOOK 4: THE DARK KNIGHT FALLS

13 - 14: Harlan Ellison is interviewed about the impending nuclear catastrophe, ...BE EATING OUR OWN BABIES FOR BREAKFAST.
15 - 16: An electromagnetic pulse blacks out the U.S. Bruce curses Clark:

CLARK, YOU IDIOT.

YOU LET THEM DO IT.

I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WOULD.

MAYBE DURING A BREAK BETWEEN POLICE ACTIONS, ONE OF YOUR MILITARY FRIENDS TOLD YOU WHAT AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE IS. AND MAYBE YOU LISTENED, CLARK.

ALL YOU NEED TO GENERATE THE PULSE IS THE ORGANIZED DETONATION OF A FEW DOZEN NUCLEAR WARHEADS.

THAT, OR A SPECIAL KIND OF NUKE THAT BOTH SIDES HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DEVELOP...

...YES, CLARK. BOTH SIDES.

I KEEP TRACK OF THESE THINGS, CLARK.

ONE OF US HAS TO.

16: A doomed astronaut writes in his journal:

Nothing could stop the Russians from emptying their silos at us now. We’d have no defense, no way to retaliate.

The only hope we have is that the decision to murder billions has to be made by a human being.

24: Superman diverts the missile’s course at the last moment to a desert:

“HARMLESSLY...”

THE WOMAN ON TELEVISION... SHE SAID THE BOMB WOULD DETONATE... HARMLESSLY...

YOU CANNOT TOUCH MY PLANET WITHOUT DESTROYING SOMETHING PRECIOUS.

EVEN HER DESERTS ARE ABUNDANT.

THERE WERE BIRDS, HERE, WHO SHE WOULD BLESSED WITH CHEST FEATHERS ABSORBENT TO CARRY WATER FOR MILES TO THEIR CHILDREN...

...BULLFROGS, WHO SLEPT FOR YEARS IN DRIED-OUT RIVERBEDS... THEN DUG THEIR WAY TO THE SURFACE WHEN THE RAINS CAME...

NOW... THERE IS ONLY BLACKENED GLASS...

...ENDLESS FLAME...

OUR PEOPLE, BRUCE. YOU LAUGHED AT THEM.

THEY CAN DO THIS... AND YOU LAUGH...

27: The narrative is interspersed with interviews as if from a later documentary. One interviewee is a caricature of 80s self-centeredness. For example,

...YES, OF COURSE I’D HEARD ABOUT THE BOMB. BUT I’VE GOT PROBLEMS OF MY OWN.

29: And:

FIRES ARE FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. THAT’S WHY I PAY MY TAXES. WE HAD OURSELVES TO LOOK AFTER.

36 - 37: Alfred recalls an reading The Purloined Letter (by Poe) to the nine year old Bruce:

...Master Bruce asked --no, DEMANDED...“the killer was CAUGHT. And PUNISHED.”

Alfred assured him that the villain had met justice.

Bruce slept like a boy.

Of course Alfred is mistaken. There was no killer in that particular story.
40: As Superman pummels Batman:

YOU SOLD US OUT, CLARK.

YOU GAVE THEM--THE POWER--THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OURS.

JUST LIKE YOUR PARENTS TAUGHT YOU TO.

MY PARENTS... TAUGHT ME A DIFFERENT LESSON...

--LYING ON THIS STREET--SHAKING IN DEEP SHOCK--

--DYING FOR NO REASON AT ALL--

--THEY SHOWED ME THAT THE WORLD ONLY MAKES SENSE WHEN YOU FORCE IT TO...

47: Several times along the way, Bruce Wayne thinks THIS WOULD BE A GOOD DEATH ... BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH which contrasts with the ending coda, THIS WILL BE A GOOD LIFE ... GOOD ENOUGH.

STAR TREK

Paperback

Pocket Books

Yes, I admit it. I was a Trekkie (back before they called themselves Trekkers). At one point, it just suddenly occurred to me how geeky I was. But the final straw was at a Star Trek convention (one of several I’ve been to), where a representative of Paramount spelled out exactly what it was all about: extracting every last penny from the fans.
You’ll notice that after Gene Rodenberry died, the number of novels, toys, etc. exploded.
These days, you could say I’m a recovering Trekaholic. It’s best that I take it in small doses, lest I get caught back up in it. I even bought the special edition DVDs of The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. The reason that they worked (and that the odd-numbered movies were cursed), was that the director, Nicholas Meyer was an outsider. He adapted the mythology to suit the story that needed to be told, not the other way around. Since then, the writers have been playing catch-up rather than innovating.
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve read dozens of these novels, blowing vast amounts of my childhood allowance (if only I’d invested in Microsoft instead...).
Most of the novels were either mindless repetition, or attempts by authors to latch their pretentious ideas to a franchise that would sell.
Nevertheless, some of the novels are excellent. I recently got rid of a whole crate of novels, but am keeping the important ones.

DREADNOUGHT! (1986)

Diane Carey

While researching this, I came upon a review from Trekkieguy:

First of all, Star Empire sounds like a Romulan name, not a
Federation name. Second, this novel is written in the "first person"
which means it’s told from someone’s point of view.
(The other novels are written in the "third person")

It’s not Kirk’s point of view; it’s from Piper’s, so the only
time we see Kirk is when he’s with Piper . . .
He’s not with Piper very often.

It’s an interesting story idea,
but that’s about the only thing going for it.

What’s funny is that the main reason I liked this book (and the sequel) was that they did not center around the main cast! Instead, Carey invented original characters. Kirk, Spock, and crew were relegated mainly to the background.

BATTLESTATIONS! (1986)

Diane Carey

This book begins with Piper taking the famous Kobayashi Maru test... and passing!
Rather than a starship, Piper takes command of a small scouting ship, which was an interesting counterpoint to the normal stories about the flagship of Starfleet .
Her ship’s computer has been taken over by Spock, so Piper has to find a way to out-smart him... and she does.
Another Review from Trekkieguy:

This is a direct sequel to the novel "Dreadnought!" (#29)
and this, too, is written in the "first person".
I really wish they wouldn’t do that and I’m pleased to say
no one has done it since. So far anyway . . .

As for the storyline - of course Kirk didn’t steal the technology.
They even say so on the back of the book!!

Give me a break!!

Does the fact that I totally disagree with a someone who calls himself “Trekkieguy” mean that there’s hope for me?
From an interview with the author (http://stories.wigglefish.com/zine/twentyquestions/carey/6.html):

wigglefish: Your first two Star Trek books –

Diane Carey: Oh, yeeh.

wigglefish: They were so good though. And they were the only two that I know of that were told in first person.

Diane Carey: Yeah. After those [books] they made a [rule] that you can’t do that.

wigglefish: That’s too bad.

Diane Carey: Well, look, we’re working on it.

wigglefish: I always wondered if you wrote those books, using the word "I" for the narrator, because you were placing yourself – Diane Carey – in a 23rd century uniform.

Diane Carey: No. I was trying, as I always do, to figure out how I could best accomplish this task in a way that no one else ever had before; to do what is my job, and that is to give the readers something interesting that they haven’t seen over and over again. After you’ve written forty or fifty phaser battles, it gets to be a heck of a challenge. I remember exactly what I was thinking back then: I had already written six books, and I liked Star Trek very well, and saw that they were publishing six [Star Trek] books a year [at Pocket Books], and thought, well, heck, I’ll give it a shot. So I wrote up three chapters from the beginning of the book and a chapter from later on in the book, and I remember very clearly saying to myself, well, this is kind of nice, it would be fun to write Star Trek, but I’m not going to do it if I just do the same thing that’s always been done. Which is: Kirk’s point of view, pose the problem, solve the problem. So the only thing I could think of that hadn’t been done – because I really wasn’t very experienced – was looking at senior officers from somebody else’s point of view. We’d already seen them from their [own] points of view. So I just took this younger officer and said, okay, how would she feel about them? Well, Kirk upstages her all the way through both books, which is what you’ve got to have. You see, it’s Piper telling the story, but Kirk is still the hero. And that’s required. It would be the same as having a young detective following Sherlock Holmes around: you get a different perspective – but [Holmes] is still the hero.

wigglefish: But it’s the perspective of a person telling the story and learning these lessons about what it means to fight –

Diane Carey: And fail. And be made a fool of. All the stuff that really you have to go through before you make a good commander.

wigglefish: So until they change that rule, I guess we can’t look forward to another sequel to Dreadnought!

Diane Carey: Oh, you never know. You never know. We’re talking about it.

HOW MUCH FOR JUST THE PLANET? (1987)

John M. Ford

This was hilarious! No kidding, it was like something out of Douglas Adams.
Actually, I gave my copy away to a friend. I do remember:

An inflatable decoy starship
A pie-throwing fight at the climax

SPOCK’S WORLD (1988)

Diane Duane

This was the first hardcover novel. The author made an ambitious attempt to devise the entire history of the planet Vulcan. The scope was mind boggling; from a prehistory of roving bands to early space exploration, Duane created a compelling narrative.
Here’s Trekkieguy’s take:

The very first Star Trek hardcover novel.
I really wish the wouldn’t publish these in hardcover.
They’re just so expensive!!!
(Then a year later you can find them for 8 bucks!)
This novel is actually two stories in one.
You get a chapter of the first story which takes place on Vulcan
and then a chapter of the second story which takes place on the Enterprise.
The chapters on Vulcan are very long and slow, but the events
on the Enterprise are well written and worth the read.

Again, I must be doing something right, because I disagree with his assessment by 180 degrees!
To me, the most significant aspect was the philosophy of Surak. The author basically had to create a secular religion, compelling enough to convert an entire world.
OK, the continuity geek in me had a couple problems with it (there is no Vulcan death grip!), but that’s OK. As Nicholas Meyer often quotes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the details of SHERLOCK HOLMES (1887) shouldn’t get in the way of a good story.

FINAL FRONTIER (1988)

Diane Carey

The third (and arguably best) Giant novel, this one contained the first mission of the Enterprise, before Captain Pike, Kirk, etc.
The main character was James T. Kirk’s father, Commander George Samuel Kirk, a minor security officer, who gets swept up on a secret mission.
Carey obviously enjoyed fitting within continuity. It resolved into a successful explanation of why the Romulans developed cloaking technology.

GHOST SHIP (1988)

Diane Carey

Proof that a good author can still fail. Even though this was the first attempt to write with the new characters, there is no good excuse for this book.
Here’s a metaphor for just how half-assed this book is: look closely at the ship on the cover. It’s an upside-down BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!

ROBOTECH

Jack McKinney

(series of 20 novels)

Paperback

Del Rey

For those not in the know, ROBOTECH is the Americanized version of three (totally unrelated) Japanese cartoons. It would be as if the characters of Star Wars would suddenly refer to the events of Star Trek. In order to get enough episodes for syndication, Carl Macek came up with the idea of inventing some continuity between each series. For example, the heroes of the first and second series each left the Earth before the next series.
The main connection between the cartoons was that the vehicles (mecha) transform into robots (a staple at the time) and the common theme of fending off alien invasions.
The authors of the novels (Jack McKinney is actually a composite of two authors, not revealed until the end) performed an ingenious job of filling in the background. For example, every chapter begins with an excerpt from a (fictional) scholarly post-war history or journal entry, as if from a World War II encyclopedia. It’s as if the authors really wrote hundreds of books, in addition to the 20-odd novels. I’ve always wondered how much of these background books you could piece together from the chapter epigraphs.
While the cartoon succeeded on the merits of the serious anti-war statements and stunning visuals (for the time), the strength of the novels is the written description of battles, to which the reader can’t help but be drawn in.

ROBOTECH: THE MACROSS SAGA (March – June 1987)

(2) (3) (4)

Based on the Japanese cartoon Super Dimensional Fortress Macross.
When ROBOTECH first took to American airwaves, viewers were stunned that a cartoon had such (relatively) realistic battles, even going so far as killing off well-loved heroes.
Many fans were not pleased with some of the inventions of the McKinney:

Mecha was controlled via a brain interface called a “thinking cap” rather than controls shown in the cartoon
Events seem to be manipulated by the mysterious “Shapings of the Protoculture”

ROBOTECH: SOUTHERN CROSS (July – September 1987)

(9)

Based on Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross.
Because the Earth was decimated at the end of the first series, this series begins with reconstruction. The characters of the first series have traveled to the other side of the galaxy, to avoid a second invasion. Unfortunately, the Robotech Masters have passed them along the way and will ultimately devastate the Earth a second time.

ROBOTECH: THE NEW GENERATION (October – December 1987)

The original Japanese series, Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, at first glance seems to be a straightforward alien invasion story. In the ROBOTECH continuity, this is the third time in rapid succession that the Earth has been devastated.
One of the difficulties in continuity is the level of technology. Even though the mecha here should be third-generation, for some reason, they run out of fuel really fast. Back in the Macross Saga, the Veritechs never needed to be refueled.
At the end of the series, the Earth fleet returns, but the flagship mysteriously disappears.

ROBOTECH II: THE SENTINELS (April – August 1988)

(S1) (S2)

This series explains what happened to the original cast on the other side of the galaxy. A reason had to be devised for them to be delayed in returning to protect Earth, in this case, that the battle for Earth was only one of several conflicts in a much broader war.
Several new alien races were introduced (and they weren’t exactly realistic). The Earth Expeditionary Force would then have to liberate each of the alien home worlds from a branch of the Invid.
Carl Macek originally attempted to create an entirely new 65-episode cartoon series based on their exploits. A few episodes were made, but ultimately the sudden devaluation of the dollar relative to the yen made it impossible to continue. You can blame Reagan for that one (or read JAPAN INC. (1986)), although in retrospect, it’s probably better that the cartoon never got made.
The “planet hopping” nature of the series was reminiscent of the “island hopping” by MacArthur during World War II. How would the Japanese audiences take that?
Macek explains in ROBOTECH ART 3 that he suspected that the Japanese studios intended to cut out all the characters from the original 3 cartoons, and release the series in Japan as a stand-alone story. In fact, the artists drew the new characters in much more detail than the legacy characters.

ROBOTECH: THE END OF THE CIRCLE (January 1990)

This massive novel, based entirely on the authors’ imaginations, explains what happened to the missing flagship. It ties together all the loose threads to give the audience a sense of closure missing from the ROBOTECH cartoon.

ROBOTECH: THE ZENTRAEDI REBELLION (May 1994)

This story occurs between the first and second series. It took many elements of the excellent Bill Spangler Malcontent Uprisings comic book series.

ROBOTECH: THE MASTERS’ GAMBIT (April 1995)

This was meant to fill in the gaps between the first and second series. It was more of a cyberpunk novel than a war story, and consequently fell flat.
Some elements were possibly taken from the ill-fated ROBOTECH: THE MOVIE, an adaptation of a fourth Japanese cartoon.
How bad was this book? So bad that they misspelled Gambit on the side.

THE PLANET PIRATES

Collected Volume:

Individual paperbacks:

SASSINAK (1990)

Anne McCaffrey & Jody Lynn Nye

THE DEATH OF SLEEP (1991)

Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon

GENERATION WARRIORS (1992)

Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon

OK, I admit it. I bought this for the cover. Overall, I found much of this boring. However, the space combat sequences were realistic and exciting. There was a strategy to boarding an enemy’s ships which reminded me of the Buck Rogers video game. McCaffrey is obviously best known for her Dragon Riders of Pern series, of which some of my friends were fans, but I never got into.
Lunzie: Sassinak’s great grandmother. She spends years in coldsleep (where have I heard that story before).
Sassinak: As a child, her colony is invaded and she is taken as a slave. She escapes to become captain of a starship whose purpose is to hunt down pirates she hates so much.
Genetically engineered Heavy Worlders fight for their civil rights. I have to give the authors credit for attempting to create an entirely new culture (with opera?), though it didn’t leave much of an impression.

The Hitchhiker’s “Trilogy”

Douglas Adams

Hardcover

Harmony Books, New York

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (1979)

First line:

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Arthur Dent: Picked up off Earth seconds before its destruction by the Vogon Constructor Fleet. The bulldozing of his house, earlier in the day parallels the destruction of the Earth.
Ford Prefect: Researcher for the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”

Zaphod Beeblebrox: The 2-headed, 3-armed, President of the Galaxy.
Trillian: Zaphod’s girlfriend whom Arthur once tried to pick up at a cocktail party.
Marvin: The chronically depressed paranoid android.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

The Sequel To The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (1980)

Library Binding:

A Christ-like figure returns just before the end of the Universe.
A rock-star spends some time legally dead—for tax purposes.

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING

The Cosmic Conclusion To The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy! (1982)

Knowing that the answer to life is “42”, people must ascertain what the question to life is.

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

The Fourth Book In The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy (1984)

Paperback:

The title refers to the last message left by dolphins as they took off from Earth.
The problem with this and the next book was that they were basically re-treads of earlier work. Even the titles are in-jokes from the first couple books, rather than original ideas.
149: God’s Final Message to His Creation.

MOSTLY HARMLESS

The Fifth Book In The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker’s Trilogy (1992)

The title refers to the entry for Earth in the Hitchhiker’s Guide. Ford originally had a long-winded description, which his editors replaced simply by the word “Harmless.” After much finagling, they expanded the entry to “Mostly Harmless”.

APPLESEED

Masamune Shirow

BOOK ONE: THE PROMETHEAN CHALLENGE (1985)

Manga:

U.S. TPB:

Besides numerous references to Greek Mythology, there are also parallels to BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932).
Shirow doesn’t underestimate his audience. He hardly feels any necessity to explain the difference between cyborgs, robots, bioroids, clones, etc. These storylines are very complicated. Every one of these books requires multiple readings to appreciate the intricacies. Some foreshadowing is very subtle, and doesn’t pay off until later books. Besides being a master of writing, I have to give Shirow credit for being one of the greatest living artists and (dare I say) engineers in true Renaissance form.
The overall theme to the series is the idea of a Sterile Utopia. After a series of World Wars, a mysterious nation state becomes the last true superpower. It is a planned community with a series of checks-and-balances between humans, genetically-engineered bioroids, and even an AI, with all the inherent behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. It’s interesting how cyborgs (who superficially look like robots) are of course really humans, whose loyalties lie appropriately.
Deunan Knute and her cyborg companion Briareos Hecatonchires are recruited (or collected) from badside by a bioroid, Hitomi, and allowed to immigrate to Olympus due to their prewar background in police SWAT. Briareos is especially worried that they are being used as pawns in a larger intrigue.

BOOK TWO: PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (1985)

Manga:

U.S. TPB:

Deunan is recruited into ESWAT, which specializes in secret, politically-charged policing. The artificial intelligence in charge of Olympus (Gaia), whose charter is to protect humans and provide objective arbitration, suddenly takes drastic actions against bioroids. The key to shutting down Gaia lies in the DNA of Hitomi.
At the climax, the fate of the world relies on a single appleseed (genetically engineered to be round). Deunan has to decide where her loyalties lie.

BOOK THREE: THE SCALES OF PROMETHEUS (1987)

Manga:

U.S. TPB:

The story begins with the search for a rogue bioroid with cat-like features (a staple of anime), named Artemis. Artemis represents wildness, but eventually becomes (relatively) domesticated.
Deunan trains with ESWAT, but Briareos is concerned that her competitiveness will cause friction.
ESWAT is sent to France on a mission that at first appears straightforward; but like everything here, nothing is a simple as it appears.

BOOK FOUR: THE PROMETHEAN BALANCE (1989)

Manga:

U.S. TPB:

In the prelude, Deunan loses an eye in a hostage-rescue training exercise. But in Olympus, nothing is impossible to replace.
A group of Muslim fundamentalists have smuggled an unusually large landmate (exo-skeleton) into Olympus.

APPLESEED DATABOOK (1990)

These finally explain some of the basics of setting, timeline, etc. Many of his more outlandish ideas are never really reflected in the text.

MARS (1992)

Ben Bova

Hardcover

Bantam Books, New York

1992?

Jamie Waterman: Half-Navajo, half-Anglo geologist. He gets off to a bad start with his first words on Mars.
One of the innovative ideas here was the use of two identical spaceships tied together by a long tether. Artificial gravity was produced by their rotation. Also, if disaster struck one of the ships, the other could complete the mission.
The crew had to leave before determining if the “cliff dwellings” were just a product of Jamie’s imagination. I thought it best that they were. However, this was not the case according to RETURN TO MARS (1999).

HIGH FRONTIER

Chris Claremont

Hardcover

Guild America Books, Garden City, New York

FIRST FLIGHT (1987)

Paperback:

The author is best known for writing the hugely successful X-MEN comic book for decades.
Second Lt. Nicole Shea, U.S. Air Force: Her first command is of the Wanderer on a milk run mapping mission to Pluto.
Some notable features about this series:

This is relatively near-term sci-fi, so instead of a far flung Federation of Planets, the organizations are ones that exist today, like the U.S. Air Force and NASA.
Shea is a pilot who strives to be an astronaut, similar to THE RIGHT STUFF (1979), rather than an Star Trek-like space cadet, who will only stand around on a starship.
Although Faster Than Light (FTL) travel exists, it is fraught with danger and only used for interstellar missions, similar to overseas voyages hundreds of years ago. Many ships simply disappear. A detailed exploration of the solar system, which is vast in its own right, has yet to be done.

While on the mapping mission, the Wanderer is attacked by privateers (Wolfpack). The crippled ship then has a first-contact with an alien spacecraft.
Andrei Mikhailovitch Zhimyanov: Russian skyball player.
Ben Ciari: Security officer.
Chagay
Cat
45 - 46: Before departure, Nicole realizes that she and Ciari had their bio-telemetry monitored. There is no privacy for astronauts.
47: Ciari’s spacesuit was black, while those for the rest of the crew were brightly individually colored.
50: Zero-G hand-to-hand combat training with Ciari. Once you are away from the walls, you are helpless.

GROUNDED! (1991)

Paperback:

Shea tries to regain her flight status. The title is apropos, because this really doesn’t go anywhere.
The series is concluded in SUNDOWNER (1994).

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