So we're undoing Indistinguishable from magic?

[Lonemagpie]

tomswift2002 wrote:

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But I seem to recall hat with Magic at one point it was going to be a two-book story, and then the editor basically let Wolverine at it and said one book? So maybe there was stuff that was dropped out hat would've explained more of what was going on.

It was never written in full as two books though - it was pitched as two, with a synopsis as two, but it was written as one when it was commissioned. There were assorted other changes too, course (originally it was just Geordi and maybe Barclay on Challenger with an otherwise totally new crew, for example). So while the story arc had to be compressed for IFM, there was also a lot requested to be added in.

[Hartzilla2007]

TigerBait wrote:

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^ or a couple of her former commanding officers, as we lost two of them recently!! maybe they'll both stay dead...but i'm not holding my breath

Actually only Vaughn is dead, Kira is just stuck with the Prophets at least until the wormhole reopens if it ever does. So if Kira comes back it wouldn't really be a cop out since the author didn't actually kill her.

[Truth]

I hated the way they wiped away all the progress the book gave.. the reasoning was stupid.. There could not be two captains ? I served in the real miliarty and can tell you yes there can, hell there can be even more than two..most dept heads are captains aboard large ships. It does not mean they have the power to alt the chain of command, the first officer is still the next in line should something happen to the captain.
Second how many people who were under him have gone on to out rank him . This whole I'm not ready thing the writer came up with is crap I mean dude has what 25 years in star fleet now and has been involed in every combat condition you can think of hell, most 4 star starfleet admirals have not seen as much action as he has !!!That was a lazy excuse and the whole premise is starting to bother me..and turn me off..the writers keep yaping about how much starfleet has lost, yet one of the most experinced crews in the fleet are running around with officers who should have all moved on to command ranks by now.. you demoted him and now what does he do.. the samething as before come in for a few chaps ..throws some tech babble then gone... waste

[trash80]

Indeed ships can have more than 1 captain, and indeed the "captain" often isn't on smaller ships. The "captain" of a ship and the rank captain are subtly different.

I wonder whether Geordi's demotion is an example of some writers being stuck in the TV mindset. Its understandable why you wouldn't want multiple captains in the TV show as it would be confusing but in a novel you can easily explain why.

[Markonian]

trash80 wrote:

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I wonder whether Geordi's demotion is an example of some writers being stuck in the TV mindset. Its understandable why you wouldn't want multiple captains in the TV show as it would be confusing but in a novel you can easily explain why.

The problem is that the original TNG crew is slowly breaking apart because the characters move on with their careers. For the TNG fans, that means the loss of these characters, as they are leaving the Big E.

Moreover, not every TNG star can have his/her own series.
I'm okay with Geordi taking a back step for the moment but the Tamala/Leah thing needs explanation.

[Sci]

I was never a fan of the idea of him ending up with Leah. Geordi's behavior was incredibly creepy in "Booby Trap" and "Galaxy's Child."

[Halliwell]

This is a huge disappointment to me. I bought IFM and DTI: Watching The Clock at the same time and fell in love with both books. I almost feel as if my intelligence has been questioned by whoever makes choices like this as far as character development and moving the TNG era storyline along.

IFM was a good book and a good read and one like DTI: WTC I've read more than once. I liked the crew of the Challenger a hell of alot more than the crew of Titan or Aventine. The entire novel has a very TNG and light hearted feel to it that has been missing for a while in these books. There was exploration going on, adventure, mystery and a good love story for LaForge. It was good to visit with Guinan again...be aboard a Galaxy class ship again. The was humor and by the end of reading it I regretted not being able to read more stories with this crew, especially our Klingon test pilot Qat'qa.

I'd like to know who's smoking what at the editor's desk for these books because I want some. It sounds like some good shit if they decide this book is one to be forgotten and tossed aside while books like Titan's Typhon Pact books get a green light. Sheesh. At least if you're going to reset something or ignore it as far as a book's storyline at least pick a book that's, you know, actually a really bad book.

[Relayer1]

Halliwell wrote:

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At least if you're going to reset something or ignore it as far as a book's storyline at least pick a book that's, you know, actually a really bad book.

It's not a particularly well liked book on these boards.

Although it's certainly got the makings of a couple of good novels in it, there's a fair bit I didn't like, and the author graciously discussed these with some of us a while ago in another thread.

The bottom line is that amost all of the things I didn't like were not of the authors making, which makes sense to me.

I think it's lack of popularity could be the reason for the use of the reset button though...

[DarKush]

^
Despite the book's alleged lack of popularity (full disclosure, I wasn't the biggest fan of it myself), I don't think there was much in it that would require such an effort to reset. Scotty's death is ambiguous enough to bring him back. The Challenger was destroyed, the crew was broken up. Even Geordi, with a captain's rank, went back to the Enterprise. Leah didn't go with him, even if they were a couple at the end of the book. About the hardest thing to undo is Bok's death. And since I don't think Bok is that big of a Picard foe to begin with, I don't think it's that big of a loss to the Trek Lit. world.

It sucks that Geordi was demoted in the next series of books and I guess IFM will be swept under the rug. Despite it's faults it finally delivered on a Geordi story and finally gave us Captain LaForge, so for that I am grateful. Maybe ever TNG character doesn't need their own series (I didn't say deserve because I think all of the mainline TNG characters could probably do well headlining a book series or miniseries), but it doesn't serve Geordi well to just stick him back on the Enterprise with zero character growth, in essence making him the equivalent of a bulkhead, propping up the rest of the cast. Even the some newer, Trek Lit. characters are getting more development than him. I think Geordi would be a great candidate to head a new SCE series if TPTB ever decided to do that again.

[BillJ]

Sci wrote:

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I was never a fan of the idea of him ending up with Leah. Geordi's behavior was incredibly creepy in "Booby Trap" and "Galaxy's Child."

We don't agree on much, but we're on the same page here.

[JD]

I haven't read IfM yet, but I was really happy when I heard about how much new development Geordi got, so I am rather disapointed to hear about it being undone. Geordi has had a real lack of decent development over the year, and I was really hoping IfM would start to reverse that trend. Very disappointed to hear that he appears to be going back instead of going forward.

[Lonemagpie]

Relayer1 wrote:

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It's not a particularly well liked book on these boards.

Really? Always looked otherwise to me - the score/poll thread has lovely scores...

[USS Intrepid]

I'm very disappointed to hear this. I loved IFM, and this makes me far less enthusiastic about reading the new trilogy.

[Dimesdan]

Lonemagpie wrote:

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Really? Always looked otherwise to me - the score/poll thread has lovely scores...

indeed. I personally think it's one of the better novels to come out in recent years.

[Lonemagpie]

USS Intrepid wrote:

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I'm very disappointed to hear this. I loved IFM, and this makes me far less enthusiastic about reading the new trilogy.

Don't be - It's Mack, who's *always* a good read. He certainly won't have deliberately set out to "undo" anything.

No, this trilogy actually sounds pretty fucking great to me