The Continuity of Days Gone By

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by ryan123450, Apr 11, 2011.

  1. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Awesome chronological list, Christopher. More tidbits that will be useful for the TOS page of my site.
     
  2. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Anyone know if this is right? I think this would be the only link to the novel continuity in The Children of Kings.
     
  3. SicOne

    SicOne Commodore Commodore

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    Thanks...I didn't know if it was like "Live long and prosper" or if it was more along the lines of "Employees are encouraged to wash hands after using toilet"...
     
  4. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    Throw an acknowledgment my way and maybe a link to this thread, and we're golden. :techman:
    No Prob. :)
     
  5. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    it's possible, because KRAD's reused the Black Fleet in his Klingon novels and it's sort of seeped into others, iirc.
     
  6. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Not the only link - Children of Kings builds on a tidbit from Spock's World, that the Orions are degenerate remnants of an ancient super-race.

    Also, some elements of Vulcan's Glory are recycled (like Number One's backstory) but with a few minor details altered.
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I've added Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter to my '80s-continuity list above, since I double-checked and found that there is a passing use of John M. Ford's Klingon naming convention in the first paragraph. I'd skimmed through the book's Klingon scenes and didn't notice any particular Fordisms, but I missed that first page.
     
  8. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Of course! I had planned on both of those things already. :bolian:
     
  9. Mysterion

    Mysterion Vice Admiral Admiral

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    And a joyous Ipso facto to you, sir. :)
     
  10. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    "I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts..."
     
  11. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I apologize for necro-ing this thread, but I was wondering if any of the published novels to date which deal with Christopher Pike's tenure as Captain of the Enterprise would be compatible with or fit into the 80s chronology as outlined here.
     
  12. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Off the top of my head, I dont think there were any Pike era books during the time period in question, unless The Rift was published at that time.
     
  13. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    1989 - "Vulcan's Glory"
    http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan%27s_Glory_%28novel%29

    This novel was written as ST V was underway, and DC Fontana (who had been outspoken about Shatner's intention to introduce an elder half-brother for Spock) was able to slip in a line that Spock was "the only son of Sarek", a cheeky snub of forthcoming not-yet-"canon".

    "The Rift" was 1991.
     
  14. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Hmmm ok. I had it in my head that Vulcan's Glory was later than that.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Sorry if this is necro-posting, but I just thought of another couple of books that connect to the '80s novel/Spaceflight Chronology continuity: the first two Trek novels by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Memory Prime and Prime Directive. Both books connect to How Much for Just the Planet? by referencing the "4-dimensional dilithium" theory propounded in that book. Also, Memory Prime follows the SFC assumption that Alpha Centauri was home to an indigenous humanoid species rather than just being an Earth colony.

    The tricky part is that Crisis on Centaurus, also in this continuity, treats Alpha Centauri purely as an Earth colony. But then, I mentioned earlier in the thread that the '80s continuity didn't hold together perfectly. And there's an existing inconsistency on just this point: Strangers from the Sky went with the SFC's notion that humanity's first alien contact was the Icarus meeting the Alpha Centaurians, but Spock's World substituted the Andorians (perhaps because Richard Arnold ordered any SFC references expunged?).

    As for where they take place in the chronology, Prime Directive is apparently, per the prologue, in the final year of the "first" 5-year mission. But Memory Prime is explicitly "a few years" after the events of "The Lights of Zetar," which would suggest a placement in the second 5-year mission I posited above. I'm not aware of any evidence in PD which would preclude it from preceding MP.

    So it's a borderline case whether they could really fit into the continuity listed above -- but the same probably goes for a number of the entries in that list. At least they are connected.
     
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  16. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Awesome discovery Christopher. I'll add them to my list also.
     
  17. chrinFinity

    chrinFinity Captain Captain

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    So in the future there is apparently no wikipedia, and also book stores still exist for some reason...

    One would think she could have at least activated her Brynner Info Net Terminal and checked on channel 90.
     
  18. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    You misunderstand. Garamet is Margaret Wander Bonanno, author of "Strangers from the Sky", who was firmly in the 20th century, memorizing ST research for her novel writing.

    For a mention/prediction of 23rd century BBS services, see Diane Duane's "Spock's World", which features several amusing excerpts from same.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I've been reminded of a few details about Greg Bear's early ST novel Corona which might make it a candidate for inclusion with the '80s continuity, though it's very much a borderline case. For one thing, it purports to be a fair number of years after certain TOS episodes (and suggests Kirk is in his 40s), but is pre-TMP in terms of crew ranks, uniforms, etc., which would make it one of the books that assumed a second 5-year mission pre-TMP. (On the other hand, it implies that Spock is in his upper 70s, which is hard to reconcile with canon, since that would've put Amanda in her 90s at least in the TOS timeframe.) Also, it references one or two things that were mentioned elsewhere in the '80s continuity, such as the starship Bonhomme Richard. Not really a genuine cross-reference, though. So it's a really tentative link at best. And there are things about Corona that are kind of idiosyncratic interpretations of the Trek world (Spock's age being just one of them), so it might not be a very good fit with the rest of the '80s-verse. I'm undecided on the question, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

    One interesting thing about the book, though, is that it seems to be the first-ever reference to the Federation News Service, an organization that was later established in canon (in Generations and DS9). Probably a coincidence, though.
     
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  20. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Adding that to my list. Good job again Christopher.