Spoilers TP: The Struggle Within (ebook) review thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    There have been quite a few Star Trek e-book novellas over the years. From August 2000 - September 2007 74 entries in the SCE/Corps of Engineers series were released, the first 66 of these have also been released in 13 paperback collections. In 2006 they cut back from the monthly releases and instead went for a 3 month on/off rotation with a couple different miniseries, first TOS: Mere Anarchy, then TNG: Slings and Arrows.
    The e-book line then went on hiatus until the October 2011 with the release of TSW. October of last year saw the release of the TOS based Vanguard coda In Tempest's Wake, and this March we will be getting TNG: The Stuff of Dreams.
     
  2. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Here's my review of the book!

    (Man, I am just on a Star Trek week--must be my busted air conditioner)

     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Great review, thanks! You really got what I was going for. Except for one thing -- I don't see why there's anything crazy about the Kinshaya being nonhumanoid. Sure, their form bears a broad resemblance to griffins, but that's just an analogy for their shape (for one thing, they're furred rather than feathered, and I believe they have muzzles rather than beaks). If anything, it's the preponderance of humanoid aliens in Trek that's ludicrous and worthy of scoffing at.
     
  4. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I leave my suspension of disbelief squarely at the door, Christopher. For me, any answer for "Why so many human-like aliens" is that Star Trek's interaction with them is about our interaction with ourselves and different cultures. But yes, you're right they're not LITERAL griffons--which I'd be equally okay with.

    Glad you liked my review.

    It's sad we're not going to see any more of her character. Her death hit me like Tasha Yar, really.

    I hope nothing happens to T'Ryssa!

    You should write more novellas, this was quite good! I really hope we'll see some Kinshaya-Federation action soon.
     
  5. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I had a different view from both Sci AND possibly Christopher here, that the main benefit coming from this particular event on Talaria is the fact that it's a small change as opposed to a major cultural upheaval. The Talarian women have grievances with the government and the Talarian government doesn't want to appear weak by caving in. However, due to a series of oddball events, the two manage to get to talking for a bit. The government gives the females, presumably, their relatively modest demands and things go on fine.

    Except, of course, there will be future demands.

    Which, probably, will not be unreasonable themselves.

    And so on and so on.

    I saw Christopher depicting Women's Suffrage on Talaria with widening freedoms rather than radical overthrow.

    Of course, I may be falling into the trap of assuming that "progress" will mean becoming like the Federation when dealing with an alien race. As a feminist though, I'm inclined to be okay with this since "more freedom=good" with rare exceptions.
     
  6. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    No, that's not it at all. See my comments in post #51. My intent was to create a situation that initially looked like our historic gender-equality struggles, but then turned out to be something different, because, guess what, they're aliens! The idea was that the females didn't really need suffrage, that they had traditionally held full power over certain aspects of the social order while males held authority over different ones, and it had been an effective balance of power/division of labor until the current male regime started horning in on traditional female responsibilities and disrupting the balance. As far as the females saw it, they already held the more important roles in society while the males squandered their time on frivolous power games and fighting. So each sex thought of itself as the dominant one and denigrated the other sex's responsibilities.
     
  7. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ah, yes, I see that now.
     
  8. CaffeineAddict

    CaffeineAddict Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I just finished reading this, and enjoyed it - shame it couldn't be longer though, as it felt like there wasn't enough time to fully develop the plot potential. How come the ebook releases are "novellas" rather than "novels"?
    I liked the bringing back of Jono and tha Talarians, and the mention of bald tattooed romulan sub-species (like we saw in the first JJ movie).
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I'm not sure. Maybe because they can be? Novellas are too short to be sold as standalone print books, but magazines and anthologies rarely publish them. So e-books are kind of the only venue left for stories in that midsize range. We've already got full-length novels and short stories/novelettes in print, so if you're going to do original e-books, why not do something different with them, something that complements what's done in print rather than duplicating it?

    Not a subspecies, just a subculture/class.
     
  10. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    But yes, I actually do like the hunter/gatherer style culture of the Talarians. Strict segregation of duties versus oppression. That fits well with what we know of the race and explains a bit about how they got this way.

    Odd question, do you have an actress in your head for T'ryssa?
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Not an odd question at all; we've got a whole really long thread on casting ideas for Trek Lit. But I didn't base Trys on a specific actress. The best suggestion offered in the casting thread to date is a Hong Kong actress named Charlene Choi. Maurissa Tancharoen might also work, although she's shorter than Trys is supposed to be.
     
  12. CaffeineAddict

    CaffeineAddict Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Fair point- I suppose its because I don't read print novels anymore, I read novels on the Kindle, and the UK pricing for the novellas is the same as a full novel, the only difference to me was the length.
     
  13. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    *shrugs* At the end of the day, there is often an inevitable conflict between saying that you believe in universal rights and that you believe in cultural relativity. At some point, one often has to pick between them -- you can't say you believe in feminism, for instance, yet also have complete respect for cultural practices such as female genital mutilation; you can't say you believe in democracy without opposing apartheid systems; etc. Few cultures, not even the cultures of the West, are immune to these kinds of contradictions; we've eventually got to pick which side we're on.
     
  14. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Tis true.

    Yet we hedge our bets anyway, don't we?
     
  15. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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  17. Paris

    Paris Commodore Commodore

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    Ha! Indeed.

    ...Is that supposed to be Choudhury?
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Apparently, yeah.
     
  19. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

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    Still in my opinion they make great covers, usual better than the english version.
     
  20. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I might have misunderstood her descriptions in the books, because I always pictured her more Middle Easter or Indian in appearance than Asian.