A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers)

[Strider]

@Christopher: I wonder if that was the intent of the writers, but any rate I think the interpretation you gave is one that even the devoutly religious can agree with. God preserve me from ever hating someone in the name of my faith.

KRAD wrote:

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Here's the line (from page 210: "There's no problem anywhere that can't be solved by two or more rational people sitting down and talking, and it means people get to live longer. There's an old human saying: 'I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve immortality through not dying.' Nonviolence is a good way to accomplish that, seems to me."

I'm rather proud of that bit, actually, and would be honored if you stole it. (The "immortality through not dying" quote is by Woody Allen, and is one of my two favoritest quotes ever.)

Thanks! Consider yourself honored, I guess. I'm just starting this whole teaching thing, I take ideas and quotes and stories that I like whenever I get the chance.

Back in my own high school days (not all too long ago I guess) I remember being somewhat more hard core about the necessity of violence or military action in a "hard" world where we needed to get our way or else someone else would. I'm glad I had some teachers and friends and good books that reminded that the best things about life are things like having kids and enjoying your friends and line dancing and going for a walk. Stuff like that. Everything else in life should be there just to ensure that as many people as humanly possible can enjoy those things too. That's the great thing about reasonable people talking, as you say. That's why that line resonated with me, I guess.

[Paris]

I'm only on page 207 as I just got my copy yesterday, but did anyone else notice that on page 116 and 117 (the casualty report from sector 22093) we see two very familiar Voyager names? I know people lost their minds after Before Dishonor and Janeway, and now these two occur "off-page"...I'm sure Full Circle will deal with it. Thoughts?

[Dimesdan]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this has already been discussed in the A Singular Destiny review/spoiler thread.

[Paris]

Dimesdan wrote:

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this has already been discussed in the A Singular Destiny review/spoiler thread.

OOPS I hadn't been looking in the thread as I was avoiding spoilers, and then I couldn't find mention of it when I looked. What page of the thread does it start?

[Dimesdan]

Paris wrote:

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OOPS I hadn't been looking in the thread as I was avoiding spoilers, and then I couldn't find mention of it when I looked. What page of the thread does it start?

I don't exactly have time to look through it myself but start from the beginning and it'll be one of the first major spoiler tags.

[Paris]

Dimesdan wrote:

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I don't exactly have time to look through it myself but start from the beginning and it'll be one of the first major spoiler tags.

Okay. Thanks a lot dude Multiple threads about the same thing can be a pain in the ass.

[Newspaper Taxi]

In a city less than 100 miles away from where I live there's a person close to the same age as me. The freaky thing is that this person's mother is also the name of my mother -- although they are two separate people.

How anti-climatic would it be if the two shocking casualty deaths were people that just happened to have the names as major characters? I mean, it's a big quadrant and all.

[LightningStorm]

Paris wrote:

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Okay. Thanks a lot dude Multiple threads about the same thing can be a pain in the ass.

Thankfully there's the Magic Merge™.

[Thrawn]

Newspaper Taxi wrote:

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In a city less than 100 miles away from where I live there's a person close to the same age as me. The freaky thing is that this person's mother is also the name of my mother -- although they are two separate people.

How anti-climatic would it be if the two shocking casualty deaths were people that just happened to have the names as major characters? I mean, it's a big quadrant and all.

In real life, things like that happen fairly frequently, but as a dramatic device it would be entirely stupid for an author to consider. I can guarantee that isn't the case.

[William Leisner]

Thrawn wrote:

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In real life, things like that happen fairly frequently, but as a dramatic device it would be entirely stupid for an author to consider. I can guarantee that isn't the case.

So, then, the Margaret Mitchell in that report isn't the resurrected author of Gone With the Wind? Because I was really looking forward to that story...

[elaithin]

Well, I finished the book last night.

As expected, I quite enjoyed it. I found the new character, Professor Sonek Pran, to be an incredibly fascinating addition to the "Articles" cast. I enjoyed the further development of the Aventine crew, most especially Bowers and Kedair. (Say, whatever happened to Leishman hitting on Geordi?) I'm a little dissapointed that we get no updates from the Bajor sector, but as that would at least partially reveal the fates of the DS9R cast, I suppose I understand why we didn't. Harrumph.

Overall, I think my favorite bits were actually the vignettes. The Captain's logs, the letters, the transcripts and the like. The one that affected me the most was the suicide note. Kudos, KRAD, for putting a very human face on such massive tragedy. That was very well done.

As for that casualty list? I beleive the phrase "magnificent bastard" has been tossed around - and it's well-earned.

And... the Typhon Pact. I always, always wondered why something like this had never happened before, and I very much look forward to seeing where it goes. Honestly, I hope it doesn't lead to another war because... well, been there, done that. But still... should be fun.

Overall, KRAD, great work. I now eagerly await Over a Torrent Sea and Losing the Peace.

[KRAD]

^ Thanks so much! I'm particularly glad you enjoyed the interstitial bits.

And, it must once again be said: MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH!

[Paris]

Just finished (in just less than 24 hours!), and I must say that with KRAD's track record (Gorkon, Peace/War, AotF) I had some high expectations. ASD exceeded my expectations and I can't wait for the rest 2009's post-Destiny. I really liked that we got quite the look at how things shaked out for all the major characters from the Gorkon from 2376-81. It's exactly what I was hoping for.

[KRAD]

^ Thanks so much!

[Newspaper Taxi]

Thrawn wrote:

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In real life, things like that happen fairly frequently, but as a dramatic device it would be entirely stupid for an author to consider. I can guarantee that isn't the case.

Oh, it's super stupid, and that's why I find it amusing. I'll elaborate:

Character X gets a transmission and opens channels.

"Character X...All we found of Character Y was her left-secondary wing. Now there's some options on what you can -- huh? Character Y doesn't have wings and is male? Are you sure? I see. *Sigh.* Well, sorry to bother you. Somewhere out there, though, someone has lost a loved one named Character Y and it's the Federation's duty to contact them. Good bye. Okay Frankie, let's try the next Family XY on the list -- "

(Space Dial Phone sound + image. Sound is drowned out by an angry mob of Trek-Lit fans assaulting the wise-ass writer.)