Characters in DS9-R (& Millenium)

Even though I'm only just beginning to watch DS9 Season 4, I'm already looking forward to reading DS9-R. However, as I've stated a few times before in this forum, I've had a difficult time reading novels with mostly unfamiliar characters (such as New Frontier or Terok Nor). Hence, I have a few questions about the characters in the DS9-R novels, both individually and as a group.

First of all, as a group, how many of the regular or frequently recurring characters from the series are and are not in the novels? Also, how many new, regular or recurring characters are there in the novels? Names are fine in all cases.

Secondly, certain books seem to include very few regular characters, or so I would guess based on the descriptions. These books include A Stitch in Time; The Lives of Dax; Rising Son; and Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. How would rate this observation? Are there any titles I missed in my list?

Also, whenever I look at the list of characters in a particular novel on Memory Beta, it looks like a hundred different characters. How many of these characters are used throughout the novel, and how many are brief mentions? This should be applied to all books, both those from the list above (yours, not mine), and the rest. It can be applied generally, along with exceptions. Percentages, or range of percentages, are fine.

Also, I'm well aware that Millennium is not part of DS9-R; however, I would like to know how the above questions apply to it, as well.

Ideally, I hope you'll all convince me that "There's nothing to worry about. You'll enjoy them all!" However, if one or two titles might pose trouble, I'd like to be aware of them ahead of time, so I'll be prepared.

 

All the regulars continue to play some kind of role in the DS9-R, be it big or small, recurring or regular. There are four new "regulars" introduced, at least as I would categorize them, and about 10 reasonably important recurring characters, but I don't think you'll have much trouble keeping track.

Rising Son might give you difficulty, but actually I think you can probably skip it and not miss much. It's a great book, but likely not your sort of thing.

A Stitch In Time and The Lives Of Dax are so great that I'd have to recommend them anyway, even though you're correct that onscreen regulars are... rare, in both.

And you won't have any problem with Worlds Of Deep Space Nine.

Aside from that, your requests for information strike me as a little...obsessively detailed. Just read Avatar, and if you hate it, stop. If you like it, the rest of the Relaunch won't change your mind.

 

I'm more of a general thinker than a detail thinker. However, whenever I ask a general question online, I use a lot of more detailed questions to help explain my more general (and usually vague) question(s). The general question usually appears at the beginning or end (or both) of the post. Part of the reason for this is the fact that I know I'm generally not that great of an explainer.

In addition to the explanation value of the detailed questions, there also there for someone who thinks in more detail than I do. General is better for me; a lot of details help, especially when there is a pattern to the details.

ETA: Also, I can be a bit long-winded when it comes to explanations.

 

Thanks for the clarification (I think)...did I adequately address your questions?

 

Except for Millennium, absolutely. Thanks.

 

Here's the character list for the DS9-R that PsiPhi.org used to have:

Spoiler: Minor Spoilers, Avatar-ish

Kira Nerys- Colonel (Militia) Bajoran- Commanding Officer
Elias Vaughn- Commander Human- First Officer
Julian Bashir- Lieutenant Human- CMO
Ro Laren- Lieutenant (Militia) Bajoran- Security Chief
Ezri Dax- Lieutenant Trill -Counselor
Nog- Lieutenant ( Ferengi) Chief Operations Officer/Chief Engineer
"Shar"- Ensign (Andorian) Science Officer
Jake Sisko- Human Writer
Quark-(civilian) Ferengi Entrepreneur
Kasidy Yates- Captain (civilian) Human Freighter Captain
Taran'atar- Jem'Hadar "Observer"
Vic Fontaine- (hologram) Human Lounge Singer

 

The new characters in the main DS9-R series are so interesting and well-written that after a while you'll find yourself forgetting that they actually weren't in the TV show. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. It is a great, great series that is as good and often better than the show. Can't wait for the Soul Key!

 

I figured something close to that anyways. My main concern was too many unfamiliar characters all at once, either from the start, or in one or more particular novels (and possibly isolated to that particular novel or novels).

 

Dare I ask how you get by in normal books?

 

Remember, the DS9 characters were unfamiliar to you when "Emissary" premiered. Yes, there are new characters in the post-finale novels, but it's not like you're just dropped into the deep end and expected to catch up; the new characters are introduced one by one and you get an opportunity to get to know each of them in turn. One is a character we're already familiar with, Ro Laren. One starts out aboard the Enterprise and we get a chance to get to know him in a familiar context and through the eyes of familiar characters, and one isn't even introduced until the end of Avatar Book 2.

 

You too?!?! Also QFT...

But they do a good job of fleshing out the new characters... and I find that the writers stay true to the characters of the people we know from the series. I'm reading some of the early DS9 novels from the early 90s and I the characters don't act the way I'm sure they would in the series...

I need a time machine to hop to August, hang my vacation!!

 

Watching TV episodes, one after the other (not on the same day), makes it a lot easier to get used to characters for me than reading a novel, or especially a series of novels. Yes, when I watched "Emissary", the characters were unfamiliar to me; by the end of the first season, however, I was starting to get used to them. Also, I rewatched the entire first season as a way of seeing what I had missed the first time around, when I didn't know the characters as well.

By "normal" books, I'm assuming you mean non-ST fiction and story-type non-fiction. With those books, it's basically hit or miss, usually miss. Once in a while I'll find a story that I can really get into, but not often. Also, just because I get into it the first time, doesn't mean I'll get into it a second time. I almost have to be in the right state or frame of mind. In fact, sometimes textbooks are easier to get into than story books.

From what I understand, that is a fairly common trait for people with Asperger's Syndrome--reference books, how-to books, and textbooks being easier to read and get into than fiction. Even though I don't have Asperger's, I do have the closely related PDD-NOS: pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified. Asperger's, however, is the closest "otherwise specified" to what I myself have.

 

I didn't know that. I babysat a kid with mild Asperger's when I was in high school, and he devours fiction absolutely voraciously.

 

I know that people with Asperger's, or other, higher-functioning autism, are a lot more varied in their symptoms than those with lower-functioning autism. Also, there are a lot of non-diagnostic symptoms of Asperger's that I have the polar opposite symptoms from most people with Asperger's, such as the earlier mentioned general thinker--people with Asperger's are more apt to be detailed thinkers. This makes me wonder how common is it for people with Asperger's to have the opposite symptoms, in certain cases, from most other people with Asperger's.

 

My point is that it's the same in the books -- you're not just shown a bunch of new characters and expected to understand them all at once, but you're introduced to them gradually, one at a time, getting to know them a little bit at a time, just like in a TV show. Keep in mind that one novel has enough content for 2 to 4 episodes of a show, and unlike in TV, it comes to you at whatever pace you're comfortable with.

 

Part of the problem I have is that books contain just names and personalities, whatever that may entail. TV episodes also show faces and voices, as well as names and personalities. I'm a lot better at remembering faces than names. For example, it took me almost until the end of the first season (the first time through) to associate the names Dax and Kira with their respective characters; it took me a lot less time to associate the faces with the characters; and before that, it was basically face recognition within a particular episode.

My main concern with this thread was, Is DS9-R right for me? Personally, I wish there were more of a mixture of newer novels, containing longer and shorter novels; old, familiar crews, post-finale crews, and totally lit-based crews; etc. A little more balance for everybody, not just the hard-core Trek Lit readers. Not exclusively for people like me, but more balanced for everybody.

That said, most of the comments so far about the series (DS9-R) as a whole seem positive to me, which makes me more confident about the series as a whole. I'm still a little shaky on individual titles within the series, however. Also, no one has commented on Millennium. How's that for characters, new and old?

 

Millenium has some alternate universe-y stuff in it (iirc), but definitely features almost entirely characters with names you'd recognize.

 

But that's exactly what we have, assuming you're referring to the books as a whole rather than just DS9. We have books continuing from the series and we have lit-only book lines. We have book series that are more serialized, ones that are more episodic, and ones that are completely standalone. We have books that hover around 80,000 words, books that surpass 100,000 words by a considerable margin, and omnibuses containing 50,000-word short novels.

 

I guess I just don't see it as balanced.