TP: Seize the Fire by Michael A. Martin Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Thrawn]

I've read a few posts saying that copies of Seize The Fire were being shipped, so here's this, ready to go.

I personally haven't enjoyed Martin as much since he stopped co-writing with Mangels, but I like the Gorn and the Titan crew a lot, so here's hoping.

Have there been any preview chapters or anything released yet?

[ares93]

That was probably me. I have yet to confirm the information. The company has not yet responded to my email. But i will know in two or three days. meanwhile here is a screenshot from the company. Google translate in spoiler box below.

Stockholm 10-11-19

Hello! We have just sent an order to you!
Your customer number is *****, and the order number is *****

The order is sent an invoice and paid via postal transfer.

The order is sent by post. Therefore there is no
parcel number to track the shipment of the item.

Deliveries by mail typically takes up to three days.

Order's content:

94 432 Star Trek: Seize the Fire 79:00

Porto + 19:00 = 98:00 Total

Tax (6%) included with £ 4:47
VAT (25%) is included with the £ 3.80

Yours sincerely,

SF Bookshop

[toughlittleship]

I'm not as jazzed for Seize the Fire as I am for Rough Beasts of Empire (Zero Sum Game really laid an excellent groundwork for future DS9 novels) but I'll give this a chance.

By the way, weren't they going to be six books in the Typhon Pact series. Are the Kinshaya going to appear anywhere?

[David R. George III]

^ Typhon Pact had initially been conceived as a six-book series, but at some point, that got scaled back to four volumes. David Mack's Zero Sum Game features the Breen; Michael A. Martin's Seize the Fire involves the Gorn; my Rough Beasts of Empire covers the Romulans and, to a lesser extent, the Tzenkethi; and finally Dayton Ward's Paths of Disharmony deals with the Tholians. I don't believe that the Kinshaya appear.

As for Rough Beasts, I'll reiterate that it is not truly a Deep Space Nine novel. Ben Sisko features prominently in it, though. The other main character is Spock.

[ares93]

I will never, ever, in my life, forgive Martin and Mangels for breaking up my favorite star trek couple. Mr. Mack did a so incredibly good first book that I'll probably never forgive myself if I skip something in the series because of old grudges. So I decided to put everything behind me and buy the book.

[Angstromdweller]

ares93 wrote:

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I will never, ever, in my life, forgive Martin and Mangels for breaking up my favorite star trek couple. Mr. Mack did a so incredibly good first book that I'll probably never forgive myself if I skip something in the series because of old grudges. So I decided to put everything behind me and buy the book.

For a moment there I thought you meant "Star Trek couple" as in the Martin/Mangels writer duo.

With The Romulan War in mind I am a bit anxious about how a Titan book will turnout without Mangels.

[Enterprise1981]

Since ZSG was apparently in book stores before the "publication date", I'll be on the lookout for Seize the Fire this week. I'll take a distraction from the unanswered questions Mack created while waiting to see if some of them are answered in Rough Beasts. Will we at least get some clue as to what a Tzenkethi looks like?

[ares93]

Angstromdweller wrote:

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For a moment there I thought you meant "Star Trek couple" as in the Martin/Mangels writer duo.

Nah, not that duo. Those two, I'm still pissed at. But as ye say, "deal with it". And so, that is what I'm doing. I meant Ezri and Julian btw.

On second thought though. I they hadn't completely obliterated their relationship, Star Trek: A humuból szuletünk (Star trek: From ashes we are born) and Starship Kir'Shara probably never would have existed. So I guess I owe those two big time.

Btw: The next story on my deadline list is a Kir'Shara story for the november challenge, (if i finish on time, that is.) named "House call". It wont really pave the way for the other stories, its sort of a vignette. Specifially, the first officer, the CMO and the captain.

[Christopher]

ares93 wrote:

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I meant Ezri and Julian btw.

Wasn't it an editorial decision to break them up?

[ares93]

Christopher wrote:

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Wasn't it an editorial decision to break them up?

I wasn't involved, so I don't know. But I assume it wasn't. It is my understanding that the editors do their part when at least a rough draft is finished. The breakup was slowly creeping up on the reader from the beginning. The entire book was written in that way.

[Thrawn]

^ The DS9 narrative was heavily serialized, and much of it was planned by editor Marco Palmieri. The interviews in Voyages Of The Imagination talk about how, for instance, in the Mission: Gamma books, they planned the Gamma story but the Alpha story was already planned for them, and there were certain beats they had to hit.

[shanejayell]

I'll be looking forward to this one.

[Christopher]

ares93 wrote:

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It is my understanding that the editors do their part when at least a rough draft is finished.

Not in the case of Trek fiction. The editor is involved from the start of the process, either selecting writers to do projects the editor has in mind or considering pitches from writers and deciding whether or not to approve them. The editor may then suggest revisions to the outline before the manuscript is written.

And as stated above, in the case of an ongoing series like the DS9 novels, the editor's role is somewhat like that of a TV showrunner, shaping the overall flow of the storyline and guiding and coordinating the work of the various individual authors. And yes, that does mean that authors are often given certain key story points they have to include, though it's up to them to figure out how to do it.

[TerraUnam]

AIUI just because the Kinshaya were left out now doesn't mean that they can't turn up later since the Typhon Pact is the new status quo. It can always appear in the 2012 lineup or whenever an editor sees fit.

On the subject of Titan I hope for some serious Torvig story development but this one seems to focus on Tuvok. Which isn't a bad thing, but still.

[Rosalind]

ares93 wrote:

---

That was probably me. I have yet to confirm the information. The company has not yet responded to my email. But i will know in two or three days. meanwhile here is a screenshot from the company. Google translate in spoiler box below.

ares93, can you crop your image down to at most 640px width as a courtesy to those who has low resolution screens or small window sizes, please? Please see the FAQ on the guidelines for posting images.

Thanks.