TekWar is a science fiction novel written by William Shatner, assisted by (uncredited) science fiction author Ron Goulart.[1] It was first published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in October 1989. TekWar is the first of nine novels, and created an entire TekWar franchise, which includes the TekWorld comic book series, the video game William Shatner's TekWar, the TekWar TV series, and several related TV movies, including TekLords.

TekWar
First edition cover
AuthorWilliam Shatner and Ron Goulart (uncredited)
Cover artistBoris Vallejo
LanguageEnglish
SeriesTekWar
GenreScience fiction
PublisherG. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date
October 1989
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages216 (first edition)
ISBN0399134956
Followed byTekLords 

Plot

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TekWar is set in the 22nd century. The protagonist is Jake Cardigan, a former police officer who is framed for dealing tek, an illegal, mind-altering, digital drug. Sentenced to fifteen years' cryo-imprisonment, he is released after serving only four. Jake begins working for Walt Bascom, the man who arranged for his early release, and dedicates himself to hunting the real tek lords.

Reception

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The novel received negative reviews from People magazine. "Shatner tries to disguise language and narrative weaknesses under a blizzard of futuristic details and a pell-mell plot. It's a nice try, but Tek War is undone by superficial characters and stilted dialogue."[2] The social cataloging website Goodreads gives the book 3.19 stars out of 5, based on 1,248 ratings.[3] Michael J. Nelson's and Conor Lastowka's podcast series 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back analysed and criticised TekWar in 2018.[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ Shatner, William; Fisher, David (2008). Up Till Now: The Autobiography. Thomas Dunne. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-312-37265-1.
  2. ^ David Grogan; Ralph Novak; David Hiltbrand (27 November 1989). "Picks and Pans Review: Tekwar". People. 32 (22). Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. ^ "TekWar (TekWar #1)". goodreads.com. Goodreads Inc. Retrieved 16 Mar 2018.
  4. ^ Vanderbilt, Mike (30 March 2018). "Exclusive: It's game over when RiffTrax alums take on Ernest Cline and Ready Player One". News.