So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[Defcon]

^ I think that happens when you copy&paste from somewhere (for example if you compose your post in Word and copy it over to post).

[Christopher]

Lonemagpie wrote:

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It's Tom Straw - I saw an article/interview about that a couple of years ago, though I forget where and wouldn't have the link any more.

But I'm certain Marlowe is participating too, at least contributing to the outline and doing revisions on Straw's work. As I said, the character voices are so perfectly captured that it most likely comes from the same hand that does the final draft of all the show's scripts. And the acknowledgments do thank Marlowe's family, something Straw alone would have no reason to do. I imagine something similar to how Shatner collaborates with his various co-authors -- they do the bulk of the day-to-day writing, but he shapes the plot, handles the main character's dialogue, and has the final revision and approval for everything.

I gather that the authors won't publicly acknowledge their authorship until after the TV series ends, so as to maintain the illusion.

[Daddy Todd]

Considering how busy June was (Pride Weekend, a weekend in Portland, fighting my way back to a regular workout schedule) I got some good reading in, mostly in the second half of the month.

06/01/2012 Devil May Care (audiobook) by Sebastian Faulks
06/10/2012 Redshirts by John Scalzi
06/11/2012 Star Trek: Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within (na) by Christopher L. Bennett
06/14/2012 Fleet of Worlds (audiobook) by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner
06/18/2012 The Minikins of Yam by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/19/2012 The Murex (nv) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/21/2012 Juggler of Worlds (audiobook) by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner
06/21/2012 Winged Victory (ss) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/21/2012 Night of the Unicorn (ss) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/23/2012 Moondust by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/24/2012 Queens Walk in the Dusk by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/26/2012 The Dryad-Tree (ss) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/26/2012 The Painter (ss) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/26/2012 The Sudden Wings (nv) by Thomas Burnett Swann
06/28/2012 Destroyer of Worlds (audiobook) by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner
06/30/2012 Green Phoenix by Thomas Burnett Swann

Scalzi. Sigh. I know he's beloved of the geekarati, but he's just not to my taste. His snarky smart-ass protagonists don't appeal to me. It's like those profiles you see on Certain Websites where the dude thinks sneering and flipping you the bird is somehow attractive. No, just tiresome. Thus with Scalzi's characters. It's too bad, because the idea behind Redshirts is kind of cool. Frankly, I enjoy his blog a lot more than his novels.

Read Christopher Bennett's Star Trek: Typhon Pact e-novella The Struggle Within. That's a terribly generic title; the story was better. I was intending to start David R. George III's new Typhon Pact duology (Plagues of Night & Raise the Dawn) right after, but got sidetracked.

Thomas Burnett Swann wrote short lyrical fantasy stories and novels (most were really novellas, by current SFWA definition) about the interactions between humans and the prehumans who populated ancient Earth. Some remembrance of these interactions have come down to us in the form of myths and legends. Swann's stories are truly wonderful. And so very, very gay - in the best possible way. Swann is one of those lost & forgotten writers who certainly deserves to be remembered and read today. He died in 1976; the last time any of his work was in print in English was in 1996. Why doesn't the estate make it available in ebooks, at the very least? My old DAW and Ace and Ballantine paperbacks are getting pretty tattered.

The Niven/Lerner Fleet of Worlds series remind me a bit of those late-career novels by Asimov where he tried to stitch his three independent series into a single future history -- with mixed results. Niven seems to be attempting something similar here, adding context around stories such as "Neutron Star" and "The Soft Weapon". They're enjoyable listening while at the gym or driving back and forth to work, but when the Significant Other gets in the car with me I just shut off the sound system. It's too much work trying to explain how the current narrative fits together with Niven stories he read 3 or 4 decades ago.

[Christopher]

Daddy Todd wrote:

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Read Christopher Bennett's Star Trek: Typhon Pact e-novella The Struggle Within. That's a terribly generic title; the story was better.

Thanks! My preferred title was The Courage of Conscience, but apparently that wasn't exciting enough or something.

[Daddy Todd]

Christopher wrote:

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Thanks! My preferred title was The Courage of Conscience, but apparently that wasn't exciting enough or something.

And what I meant was "The story deserves a better title." It was a great story. That one, and your two DTI books have been excellent. Do you have any new Trek in the pipeline that's been announced yet?

[Allyn Gibson]

JD wrote:

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I've been in the mood for some more epic fantasy ever since I finished Game of Thrones in February, so I decided to start Eragon last night. My sister actually gave me this as a present a year or two ago, but I never got around to it until now.

Eragon. The plot of Star Wars. The names of Tolkien. The writing style of Jim Theis. Sums it up, really.

[Christopher]

Daddy Todd wrote:

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And what I meant was "The story deserves a better title." It was a great story. That one, and your two DTI books have been excellent.

Thanks again.

Do you have any new Trek in the pipeline that's been announced yet?

Nothing that's been announced yet. Hopefully an announcement will come soon.

[JD]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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Eragon. The plot of Star Wars. The names of Tolkien. The writing style of Jim Theis. Sums it up, really.

I did start reading it some either right after or right before my post about it, and I can see that pretty clearly. While reading the prologue I was able to pretty cleanly able to line up what was happening with the opening of A New Hope. I was able to do the same with more of the plot as I skimmed the Wikipedia synopsis.

[S. Gomez]

Finished Wuthering Heights, and read Shakespeare's Measure For Measure between that and my current read: Doctor Who And The Cybermen, the novelization of "The Moonbase".

I watched the first episode of the BBC 2005 miniseries version of Bleak House. Trying to decide if I want to keep watching it or re-read the book first.

[captcalhoun]

started reading VGD: What Judgements Come last night.

[Endgame]

I acquired the DS9 Millenium trilogy and a dozen other ST books. I finished "Sword of Damocles" by Geoffrey Thorne and am now reading "Traitor Winds" (ST-TOS #70) by L. A. Graf (1994). I finished "Private Desires, Political Action" by Laver (1997) and am now reading "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Kahneman (2011). I just read "Asian-Americans in the Star Trek Franchise" by Joel B. Kirk (2012) which I got from the Kobo Store. Saw the first four episodes of DS9 TV (Season 3) for first time. "The Search" was rather cool to actually see rather than have inklings about it. Also reading an introductory book on basic toxicology. Other books too. One on simple games for games theory "Playing Politics." (I ordered this one too.)

[Kertrats47]

Finally wrote my review of Raise the Dawn. Loved it!

I've read a few books in the past month, among them:
My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family by Zach Walls
Star Trek #15: Corona by Greg Bear
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game by Alan Gratz

And I'm currently reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and Your Republic is Calling You by Kim Young-ha.

[Fer]

After finishing Plagues of Night, I had to throw my planned reading schedule out the window and dive straight into Raise the Dawn.

[Greg Cox]

Coney Island: Lost and Found.

[Keturah]

Voyager #6: The Murdered Sun. So far just OK, but entertaining.