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

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Apr 18, 2011.

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Rate DTI: Watching The Clock

  1. Outstanding

    100 vote(s)
    59.5%
  2. Above Average

    44 vote(s)
    26.2%
  3. Average

    14 vote(s)
    8.3%
  4. Below Average

    3 vote(s)
    1.8%
  5. Poor

    7 vote(s)
    4.2%
  1. Glitch

    Glitch Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Apr 24, 2011
    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I liked his last book, tantalizingly entitled BEEP BOOP.

    I hope you see what I did there.
     
  2. cal888

    cal888 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Ok, that passage came across to me a little heavy handed and it seemed the gay marriage issue was linked in with the other political/social issues Clare was having referenced on the previous page. I interpreted it more as commentary of today (where winning that argument requires bringing more people over to the other side) than the 24th century future of Star Trek. And I certainly have no issue with showing that marriage rights would be a settled issue 400 years from now!
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2011
  3. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    That's a pen name-- and it's a deliberate reference.
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I’ve now posted the annotations pages for DTI: Watching the Clock at my website. And yes, I mean pages, plural. There was so much science, Trek continuity, and the like to explain that the page-by-page annotations had to be split across two pages. Plus there’s a separate page devoted to discussing the characters and their development (since most of the characters here are original or developed from barely-established screen roles), and there’s even a page featuring many of the alien calendars I developed for the chapter headings (because I can be really obsessive-compulsive about things like this).

    All these goodies can be accessed from the DTI intro section on my main Trek Fiction page:

    http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/Trekfiction.html#DTIWTC
     
  5. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Yay! :) I always look forward to these. I'm particular fascinated by the calendar work. Thanks for linking/posting.
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Cool, thanks for posting the link. It actually already answered a question I was about to post the other day.
     
  7. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I do have a question about the book that popped to mind just the other day.

    You mentioned in your annotations that you couldn't find any instances of future time travel that would contradict the grid, but what about Henry Starling in the timepod that ends up blowing up Earth in the 29th century? How did he get through the grid? I can't imagine he sent an authorization signal or whatever the grid would require, nor could I imagine that just being in a 29th century Federation timeship would be enough if something as simple as a miscalibration could cause such a devastating effect. Let alone the havoc someone in a stolen ship, or even a museum relic from uptime, could cause.

    I hate picking at it, though, because I thought this book was amazing. Every description of temporal physics you had in the book just clicked for me, I thought it was an amazing way of bringing together all the disparate threads of time travel throughout the series'. And I'd been looking forward to a full novel based on the DTI since I first heard it announced months ago; I thought it was the perfect conception of them as an organization. I can't really say anything that hasn't been said already, but suffice it to say I thought it was an extremely well-written book.
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2011
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Whoops. I guess I overlooked that one.
    Although I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility that Starling sent a clearance signal. After all, he had 29 years to study the pod and reverse-engineer its technology. And since the pod was returning to its home time rather than intruding from another, the clearance involved might've been simpler and more automatic, enough that Starling could pass himself off as an authorized pilot without needing to do too much reprogramming.

    And it's hard to believe that a simple miscalibration could be enough to cause an explosion on such a scale. There may have been more details Braxton was leaving out so as to minimize "spoilers" for Janeway and Chakotay, or else his mental state made him an unreliable narrator.


    Thank you!
     
  9. BrotherBenny

    BrotherBenny Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    What if Starling's tinkering actually set off a chain reaction in the temporal protection grid surrounding Earth causing the grid to explode like setting off a minefield?
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I doubt the grid could function that way. By its very nature, it cancels out any unauthorized incursion before it occurs. It would simply have prevented the temporal rift from successfully forming in the first place. It wouldn't require a great deal of energy to nip the process in the bud, since a stable spacetime warp is a very difficult thing to achieve in the first place.

    Also, the grid's component satellites aren't actually in orbit of major planets; after all, they were built and brought online in secret. They operate over subspace, able to neutralize any incursion within a range of parsecs.

    Come to think of it, the one thing that might produce that kind of runaway energy surge is the divergent stress-energy tensor effect, which is what usually makes time warps unstable. If the rift were allowed to open in the 29th century (which would itself require clearance through the grid) and Starling's miscalibrations generated an instability right after... well, most likely it would simply collapse the rift. But if the timeship's engines artificially forced the rift to remain open and prolong the runaway energy buildup, then maybe there could've been a massive eruption of energy through the rift, which could've been devastating to Earth if the rift were too close.
     
  11. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I will have to read the annotations.
     
  12. Glitch

    Glitch Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Good book. Surprisingly sexy in some parts...and I really loved the allusions to Baxter's works. It makes sense that this particular author is a fan.
     
  13. Glitch

    Glitch Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    It would be interesting to know if the uptime temporal agencies have ever encountered Lazarus Long or any of his ilk. After all, the Star Trek universe is one than can be visited by a continua device.
     
  14. Hartzilla2007

    Hartzilla2007 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Great story and really liked the reveal at the end of the book. I also think the ending of the book kills any belief that the Trek books are now just dark and gloomy.
     
  15. Quimby

    Quimby Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Loved the book! Thank you for such a fun and thought provoking story.

    I am reading annotations on your site and I must admit, I missed the fact that there were 24 chapters. However, given you meant to allude to a clock, you missed a fun opportunity to present Chapter 4 as IIII rather than IV the way many (most?) Grandfather clocks do.
     
  16. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Are there even still audiobooks anymore? If so, they should totally get Jack Blessing and James Jansen to do the reading. :D
     
  17. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Oh, I really hope not. No offense to Heinlein, but the Lazarus Long stuff really wasn't his best work. (Time travel for purposes of incest isn't exactly my cup of tea. :p)
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I'm not a Heinlein fan and I've never read anything with Lazarus Long in it.
     
  19. Glitch

    Glitch Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Apr 24, 2011
    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    You did, however, reference him in your annotations.

    I'm much more interested in your referencing of Stephen Baxter. Did you enjoy The Time Ships? I thought it was fantastic...he's truly an underrated SF author.
     
  20. Glitch

    Glitch Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Just a note, I think Heinlein would have appreciated how you wrote the Deltan/human sexual interaction dynamic. The Deltan DTI agent felt alien but still relatable.