DTI: Watching the Clock by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[JD]

Dimesdan wrote:

---

Does it? From every single source I've read, it's premièring on BBC One here, BBC America in America and Space in Canada this Saturday evening, which is the 23rd April. Of course, if you want to wait till the Tuesday, you'll be a tad late for the party and kicking yourself.

You're right, my bad. But it's still a good 2 weeks though.

[rfmcdpei]

TerraUnam wrote:

---

Yes. It's good. It's very good. It's CLB at his best.

Agreed. He built an engaging story out of a very complex setting. Nice characters (the Lucsly and Dulmur pairing was fun), nice exploration of other civilizations, nice development of time travel, nice everything!

[Dimesdan]

JD wrote:

---

You're right, my bad. But it's still a good 2 weeks though.

What's two weeks away? Doctor Who premiers on Saturday in the locations I said, plus I think Ireland and a few other places. Watching the Clock is out on the Kindle next Tuesday, less than one week away.

If you're saying they are on seperate weeks though, as they both fall within the same week, you'd be incorrect again.

Next week will be a good week though, not for the reasons you stated though.

TerraUnam wrote:

---

I don't want to post spoilers yet lest the thread jump on me but there are some great comic moments in there.

It's a review thread, spoilers are expected in here. If you really don't want to spoil people, just put them under the tags

[JD]

Yeah, I was thinking Saturday is the end of this week, so Tuesday would be next.

[Dimesdan]

JD wrote:

---

Yeah, I was thinking Saturday is the end of this week, so Tuesday would be next.

Yet they still fall with in the same seven days and thus fall in the same week.

[JD]

Ah, I guess you could look at it that way too. I'm just a big fan of time travel stories, so no matter how you look at it, I'm really excited.

[Christopher]

TerraUnam wrote:

---

I don't want to post spoilers yet lest the thread jump on me but there are some great comic moments in there.

Feel free to use spoiler boxes.

In terms of style it seems very much an evolution of your style in The Buried Age, better this time with experience and a freer hand to not have to neatly bundle everything up at the end. Several character choices seem similar to The Buried Age, you seem to have a preference with the styles of aliens you create. Similar choices manifest themselves.

I think I know what character you're referring to there, and I'm actually not too happy with the similarity. Once I realized I was in danger of repeating myself, I tried to make the character as distinct as I could, within the limits of the story I was committed to telling.

[TerraUnam]

Ok, I just didn't want to be pilloried by the thread.

Yes,

Lirahn

did seem a bit of a retake on Ariel from the Buried Age in both character and plot. I'm not unhappy about it. Different enough, but the two characters did seem to be very much cut from the same pattern.

Second,

The Defence Force of Delta recruits people on the basis that they get off on violence as a fetish.

. You're going to [in]famous for that one.

Third I was glad to see that the Carnelians made a return. I like them. I want to see more of them. Glad they were worked in.

Fourth, what is it with you and cybernetic cellular implants and cybernetic organisms in general? First the Choblik, then the Manraloth, now the

Selakar

. And then

the 29th Century TIC troops went into battle with temporary cybernetic implants.

It seems to be a favourite character type of yours. I like it too, I just wonder why you choose to use that type of character.

Fifth,

Jenna Noi. Loved everything about her. Also a bit of an Ariel character cast into the Federation mould, I thought.

Finally,

The two Presidents Baccos. One in bed wearing a Pike City pioneers jersey. . That was a great scene of characterization. It was fun, it was great writing, it was DTI to the core.

[Christopher]

TerraUnam wrote:

---

Yes,

Lirahn

did seem a bit of a retake on Ariel from the Buried Age in both character and plot. I'm not unhappy about it. Different enough, but the two characters did seem to be very much cut from the same pattern.

Well, the major difference is that

Ariel was more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist whereas Lirahn is simply power-hungry. If anything, with Lirahn I wanted to go against my usual pattern of writing antagonists and feature one who was an out-and-out villain. Though I ended up portraying the other major villain in the book the same way, so I wondered in retrospect if maybe I should've gone a different route with Lirahn.

I guess they both use their superior intellect and personal allure to manipulate people, but with Ariel it was subtler. Lirahn is much cruder and more blatant about it, more coercive, in that she actually imposes her will telepathically rather than simply being ultra-persuasive in her speech and body language.

Second,

The Defence Force of Delta recruits people on the basis that they get off on violence as a fetish.

. You're going to [in]famous for that one.

Well,

Gateways: Doors into Chaos gave us our first look at the Deltan defense forces and portrayed them as fairly aggressive, putting forth the idea that Deltans embrace all their passions equally. I was just trying to find a way to reconcile that with the more serene portrayal of Deltans I was building on from the development notes for TMP.

Fourth, what is it with you and cybernetic cellular implants and cybernetic organisms in general? First the Choblik, then the Manraloth, now the

Selakar

. And then

the 29th Century TIC troops went into battle with temporary cybernetic implants.

It seems to be a favourite character type of yours. I like it too, I just wonder why you choose to use that type of character.

Well, those have different origins. The Choblik were a race I created for my original SF back in the '80s; at first I just wanted them to be terrific engineers, and eventually it occurred to me that it would fit their mindset if they modified their own bodies with technology. I later refined that into the version of the Choblik seen in my Trek fiction. As for the Manraloth and the

Zcham (not the Selakar),

I just figure the integration of technology with biology is the future. We're already at the point where the line between nanotechnology and biotechnology is blurring -- researchers are making nanostructures out of DNA molecules, things like that. So I figure eventually the distinction will be blurred to the point of meaninglessness, that biology and technology will be one. (I think the Borg are a really, really crude way of portraying cybernetic organisms -- it was an obsolete portrayal when it was new.)

Besides, it's just different. We've seen so many hyper-advanced Trek races that evolve huge brains and psi powers or go incorporeal or whatever. It's a cliche, and it's evolutionarily silly. So when I deal with hyper-advanced species, I want to do something different from the convention.

As for the

future security troops, I actually based them on the security forces from the unsold Final Frontier animated series proposal that was in the news a few years back, with 26th-century security officers using "bugs," cybernetic implants derived from Borg technology, to link their minds. There's another more direct reference to that later on.

Fifth,

Jenna Noi. Loved everything about her. Also a bit of an Ariel character cast into the Federation mould, I thought.

Not sure what you mean by that.

How is Jena like Ariel? She's not really a seductive or manipulative character (although she could be maybe a little depending on how you read the "talk in the shower" scene with Shelan), and not misrepresenting her agendas beyond keeping certain things secret.

But I'm glad you liked the character. I really enjoyed writing her.

[TerraUnam]

Well, I see the Manraloth, the

Zcham, thanks

, the Borg and the Caeliar as all takes the same meme, the integration of biology and technology and what it means for a species. David Mack went down that road with the Caeliar and their catoms. I see real parallels with Erika Hernandez and the Change and how the Choblik develop and grow. Hernandez really does go through a regression to the womb and that exactly how she describes her experience with the Gestalt.

And yes, I was reading the shower scene that way.

I agree the Borg were old even when they were new.

[timothy]

what no bill and ted in the DTI

Looking forward to this book all ready pre paid for my copy.

[Christopher]

TerraUnam wrote:

---

And yes, I was reading the shower scene that way.

Which is actually not how I intended it, but it's not an interpretation I have a problem with...

[Corran Horn]

Mine shipped today. Very excited.

[Turtletrekker]

timothy wrote:

---

what no bill and ted in the DTI

Bogus!

[Ronald Held]

Maybe you expect George Carlin, as well??