VOY: Protectors by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Sho, Jan 19, 2014.

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Rate Protectors.

  1. Outstanding

    36 vote(s)
    40.0%
  2. Above Average

    46 vote(s)
    51.1%
  3. Average

    8 vote(s)
    8.9%
  4. Below Average

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. Poor

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. rfmcdpei

    rfmcdpei Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Protectors works for me, not least because it is a novel where past actions have consequences. Janeway isn't able to quickly reinsert herself back into her former life, B'Elanna and Tom's gambit has serious legal implications, Seven's past is influencing her relationship with Cambridge, and so on.
     
  2. vas2009

    vas2009 Captain Captain

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    Wherever you go, there you are.
    Got my book on Tuesday! Finished it, I absolutely love it. I haven't been on the BBS in a LONG TIME but I need to talk about this book!

    The Janeway "revamp" is realistic and I am intrigued with the re-introduction of some old foes.

    I ordered the other books in the series to fill in some blanks. I won't lie I was not interested in a voy series without Janeway. Now I am ready to embrace the other books in the series as well as Before Dishonor.

    TET was a good read but I was lost through most of it. Protectors was easy to follow in comparison.
     
  3. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Jun 15, 2008
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    Washington, DC
    Beyer really excels at this sort of thing. Woman has never met a reset button.
     
  4. rfmcdpei

    rfmcdpei Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    I was afraid that bringing Janeway back would be just that kind of reset button, that bringing her back would have no consequences and she could go back happily into her own life. Happily, no such luck. Reintegrating into her everyday life is difficult across the board, and--I think--is portrayed reasonably realistically in that Janeway herself really has to change.
     
  5. rfmcdpei

    rfmcdpei Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I do wonder: Can Julia Paris do what she did, in the United States at least?
     
  6. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    My copy will arrive in a few days. I'm rather envious of those of you already discussing it. :mallory:
     
  7. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2003
    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Given nearly four hundred years of legal evolution, it seems that Julia Paris can attempt such things. But the legal system knows enough to require mediation before its representatives will sign off on any verdict at all.

    You might pose the question at Law and the Multiverse.
     
  8. Kirsten Beyer

    Kirsten Beyer Writer Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 10, 2005
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Hey guys...a few things...

    Therin...WTF is that? You know what...never mind...I don't want to know.

    Thrawn...Oh, no. I've met re-set buttons. I've just never been able to figure out how they work. :)

    Rfmcdpei...Your question about Julia made me chuckle. A long time ago, I was working for a private individual as an administrator and I asked a question of his son, who was an attorney, about the likelihood of a member of this family bring a suit against him for an action he was about to take. His response...as long as there are courthouses still standing, they will. That was pretty much my take on Julia's ability to bring the claim.

    To those of you who managed to get the book early...I'm glad it seems to be working for you. I look forward to more discussion when more have had a chance to read it. I really appreciate that you are keeping spoiler-ish discussion to a minimum at this point. Very kind of you.

    To everyone who is interested to know...I received word today that the release of the next book, Acts of Contrition, is scheduled for October of 2014...on sale September 30th. So...an eight month wait...

    Sadly, that's not a record for me...we only waited six months between Full Circle and Unworthy. But still...not bad, especially when you consider that I was not yet a mom when I wrote those two and was pretty much writing full time.

    Sometimes I think, "Those were the days." Then my daughter does something hilarious and I realize they might have been, but I wouldn't trade these for anything.

    Best,
    Kirsten Beyer
     
  9. Madzilla

    Madzilla Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Jersey, UK
    Oooh, thanks for the info, Kirsten! that's not too long a wait at all. :D

    I received the book on Thursday from Amazon.de, but will wait to post a full review on here until more people have read it. Looking forward to the discussions too!
     
  10. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Kirsten: Not an intolerable wait, no. So, thanks for the update.

    To the room at large: All this talk of courthouses has me wanting another Sam Cogley mystery from Isabella and Ingersoll now. (I know the likelihood of that, yes. Just sayin'.)
     
  11. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Washington, DC
    Fabulous news, great to hear.

    Can't wait for Tuesday...
     
  12. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Kristen, you nominally can produce a new Voyager novel in the 8 to 12 month range?
     
  13. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Location:
    New Therin Park, Andor (via Australia)
    Smirk. For Dayton Ward and David R George, I've done a few in-store photo shoots of their recent books - with appropriate props - but I don't think Galaxy Bookshop would have approved of this one. :devil:

    Strangely, this was also an item that Scott Pearson and Robert Greenberger must have decided they didn't need in "The Complete Unauthorized History of Star Trek"...

    [​IMG]
    Trek bizarre by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

    Although it seems to be an unknown Trek collectible in USA, the small print on the box says, "Made in England for Gasworks Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA."

    But back to "Protectors"...
     
  14. Kirsten Beyer

    Kirsten Beyer Writer Red Shirt

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Odd. Both Scott and Bob are dear friends and if they knew it existed, I find it hard to believe they'd have left it out. ;)

    The heavy lifting on any book usually takes six months. That's from the moment I start breaking a new story, create the short outline for preliminary approval for my editor, create the long-form outline from which I write, and then write the manuscript. I like to have at least four months for manuscript. I don't ever plan to take days off but sometimes life happens so it's unavoidable.

    I'm usually looking to get 1,500 usable words out of any given day's writing. It tends to take about 100 days to make that happen. The last few weeks are for major or minor re-writes once I can see the whole thing in some sort of final "shape" before sending it off to my editor for their first pass.

    After the editor does their work, I incorporate their changes and notes. If I'm really lucky, that takes ten days or so. It has been known to take as long as a month.

    Usually a few weeks after that, the book is in the production pipeline...I usually get three more passes after that...copyedits, and two once it's in "book" form. At that point we're no longer working from the original word file I created but from a pdf of the pages once they have been laid out. That whole process usually takes six to eight months.

    That's sort of the "normal" schedule. I'm pretty sure Full Circle took more like eight months for me to write. Unworthy and Children of the Storm were closer to six, but most of the "prep" work on Unworthy happened before Full Circle, so we made up ground there. And its production schedule was definitely tighter.

    Eternal Tide was another eight month writing process. I felt like that book was never going to be finished.

    Protectors was outlined and ready to start writing in January of 2013 and the moment it was done, I started the outlines for Acts. That manuscript was done mid-December.

    I had a whole ten days off before I started fiddling with the new one. Am in process on the long-form outline now.

    Until we started Protectors I usually had, for a variety of reasons, a few months or more of downtime before the next project started. I've been back to back since the beginning of last year and for now, there is no end in sight.

    Probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is...

    Best,
    Kirsten Beyer
     
  15. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    It was #89 of 90 pics sent, of which five were chosen. :cool:
     
  16. Anika Hanson

    Anika Hanson Captain Captain

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    Thallon
    Agggh. I'm so conflicted lol so I've got this on pre-order and it's coming out on Tuesday. I'm at a loose end in terms of books to read. I can't wait to start this but still have a few days before I can get my hands on it. Do I start another book or wait?
     
  17. Captain Kathryn

    Captain Kathryn Commodore Commodore

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    ^^Same here!!! Ahhhhh!! :wah:

    I do have other books waiting to be read on my Nook, but I figure Tuesday isn't too far to wait.

    I wonder if it will activate midnight Monday...that'd be sweet.
     
  18. Anika Hanson

    Anika Hanson Captain Captain

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    Thallon
    Yeah hopefully it downloads at midnight on Monday. I've decided to wait too. I figured that I won't be able to enjoy any book I star now because I'll want to quickly finish it to start the voyager book.
     
  19. David Brennon

    David Brennon Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    May 31, 2009
    I'm glad we're getting another one so soon. It could be a lot worse!

    As for the comments about your daughter... it melted my heart. I had to read that to my wife and she just looked at me with misty eyes and say "that is SO true!"

    We have a 14 month old boy sleeping in the next room, and it just gets me right in the heart when people talk about their kids like that. I love it.
     
  20. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Not too much detail at all. Thanks Kirsten.