Red = Death

Reading Challenge 2017: book with a red spine. Redshirts by John Scalzi was a hilarious spoof on Star Trek and all the impossible situations that occur in each show, including the death of the infamous red shirts. We discover the crew of the ship Intrepid are based on a 2016 television series The Chronicles of the Intrepid as whatever happens in the show happens to the very real crew in the world of the Intrepid. Death by exploding head, killer robots, strange alien plagues, and general mishaps that would occur on the television show. There are some last minute saves, time travel, and miraculous endings that could only happen in the impossible world of science fiction. I laughed at the references and enjoyed the quick read.

Redshirt has always been a Star Trek fan laugh.  They are usually the first to die in each episode, having very little back story.  Some barely have a name, usually called "security officer", which is ironic considering they should be more prepared to fight than the average crew member.  Interesting, Scotty wears a red shirt and died in one episode of Star Trek: the Original Series, but then was brought back to life.  In subsequent sequel series, the command officers wore red, thereby stopping the curse of the red shirt death.

Who knew that a cultural phenomenon such as Star Trek would affect a color so drastically.  Of course, I have always preferred blue, especially that it signifies medical and sciences.