What's an actor to do when he's starred in two popular action television series, one science fiction and the other a cop show? Write a novel combining elements of both, of course.

In Tekwar, William Shatner brings us the tale of Jake Cardigan, an ex-cop unjustly sentanced to fifteen years of suspended animation in the orbiting Freezer for dealing Tek (he was a user though not a pusher), the illegal and addictive electronic brain stimulant. Mysteriously released eleven years early by a Special Parole Release order, Jake returns to Greater Los Angeles to find his family gone; his wife has divorced him. Adrift, he joins his friend Sid Gomez as an employee at the Cosmos Detective Agency. They are assigned to determine the fate of Dr. Leon Kittredge and his daughter Beth, both electronics experts who have developed an anti-Tek device. After Gomez is injured, Jake heads down to Mexico, where the Kittredges' aircar is rumored to have crashed.

Jake doesn't remain solo for long, though. While exploring the Kittredges' forest laboratory, he finds and activates an amazingly lifelike android copy of Beth. They team up and go looking for trouble, which, of course, they find in abundance.

Will Jake fall for the 'andy' Beth? Was Jake's ex-wife somehow involved with his unjust conviction? Will Jake run into his arch-enemy, the drug lord Sonny Hokori? Will Jake be able to resist the lure of Tek? Will our heroes run into all sorts of colorful characters south of the border?

Did Captain Kirk always get to kiss the girl?

Try Tekwar; you'll like it. it's an entertaining and humorous romp through the future. Shatner's characters, even the robots, are quite interesting, the concept of an electronic 'drug' intriguing, and the plot, never boring. Not too shabby, Mr. Shatner!