Spoilers TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Oct 6, 2014.

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Rate Q Are Cordially Uninvited.

  1. Outstanding

    4 vote(s)
    12.1%
  2. Above Average

    11 vote(s)
    33.3%
  3. Average

    9 vote(s)
    27.3%
  4. Below Average

    9 vote(s)
    27.3%
  5. Poor

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Kertrats47

    Kertrats47 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Strip the requirement of "captain," and I think Tom Paris wins. In "Threshold," he was everywhere at the same time...

    Oh, right, we don't speak of that one.
     
  2. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Ah, I missed that one! Kira beats Picard by a good few years, then, if you drop the "Enterprise" part. Thanks, Nasat.
     
  3. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    My review of the novella is up now: http://unreality-sf.net/2014/10/25/star-trek-q-are-cordially-uninvited-review/

    Overall Q Are Cordially Uninvited is the epitome of what I would call a throwaway story. It’s fun enough while you read it to spend half an hour or an hour without thinking you have wasted your money, but ultimately you probably will soon forget that it even exists.
     
  4. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    If we don't drop "captain of the Enterprise", Picards wins, as La Forge was ranked captain but not the CO of the Enterprise.
     
  5. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Let's see. I just checked TNG: "The Price". It was only Data and La Forge who traveled to the Delta Quadrant via the Barzan Wormhole in 2366.

    Then in Destiny, Titan is already in the Beta Quadrant at New Erigol, Aventine starts at Columbia's crash site (Gamma) and encounters the Children of the Storm (Delta), the Enterprise-E and Aventine run into the Azure Nebula (Beta) and the Hirogen (Delta), and Enterprise reaches another galaxy touched by some temporally-displaced Caeliar.

    I think Greater Than the Sum stated that Hugh's group's planet was in the Beta Quadrant. They ran into the Enterprise-E via conventional warp.

    So in any case, regardless of captaincy:
    Picard, Crusher, and La Forge completed all 4 with Gamma in Typhon Pact - Plagues of Night at the latest.
    Worf must have finished all 4 with Delta in Destiny - Mere Mortals.
    Kira completed all 4 with Beta in The Brave and the Bold - The Final Artifact at the latest.
    Dax definitely completed all 4 with Delta in Destiny - Mere Mortals at the latest.
    So not exactly. Captain Picard got to Delta in Destiny and Gamma in Typhon Pact before the publication of Q Are Cordially Uninvited..., but Q Are Cordially Uninvited moves up his first in-universe visit to Delta.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2014
  6. Paul Weaver

    Paul Weaver Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    I'm amazed that riker has never made it to the gamma quadrant. The E-E was due to in Avatar but that's the closest they got until the typhoon pact.
     
  7. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Typhon. Not typhoon.
     
  8. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Too bad there's nothing onscreen about the Enterprise-D taking the opportunity to go through the wormhole in "Emissary" or "Birthright". You'd think that Picard would want the Federation flagship to be part of a major historical discovery.

    And too bad Sisko was in the wormhole for most of 2376. Otherwise he might have been in Kira's position during the gateways crisis.
     
  9. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    The weird thing that's stuck out to me rewatching DS9 S1 is that Starfleet apparently doesn't send any ships through the wormhole.
     
  10. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    I can imagine you could at least in part explain that by the Federation still remembering how they were burned on the Barzan Wormhole situation, and wanting to be extremely certain that this one is in fact stable, and won't leave anyone stranded 70,000 ly away unexpectedly? Even with Trek-level technology, I could imagine it taking a while to verify beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bajoran Wormhole is in fact stable, and not just seemingly so.
     
  11. Paul Weaver

    Paul Weaver Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Autocorrect :)

    Well they had runabouts, what more do you want.

    There were constant referrals to merchants going through, but with the exception of Dukat's Galor class ship in Emissary, do we have any direct evidence of any large ships going through before The Odyssey? It's been 20 years since I read the first few DS9 novels, but looking at Memory Beta the first one was "The wormhole is closed", the fourth was "Poker night". I suppose that was the original complaints about DS9, it was fixed in one place, not only was there no exploration, but the unknown was tantalisingly close! I can see why people shared Keiko's feelings.

    Once the White Star joined though, we got to do some proper exploration. For a season and a bit. Then it was back to the Alpha Quadrant until Vaughn's little trip.
     
  12. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    From "Vortex" and "Move Along Home," among others, we know that there are Federation civilian ships exploring the other side, though. If it is unsafe to send Starfleet vessels through, how much worse to let civilians go through unescorted!
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Just because we don't hear about Starfleet ships going through, that doesn't mean they aren't there. We only get to see about 18.2 hours' worth of the crew's experiences out of any given year (26 episodes running about 42 minutes each), which is about a fifth of a percent of the whole. So we're missing a whole lot of stuff. There could've been a bunch of Starfleet ships going through the wormhole during the otherwise uneventful days between episodes, or during stories that focused on events off-station.
     
  14. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    I tend to be a tough audience, so I grade on a curve to try and bring my reactions into line with how other people react.

    Basically, it has to be "The Price/Fate of the Phoenix" to get a public "Poor" from me. (In my heart of hearts, Marshak/Culbreath books rate "Steaming Pile of Cat Puke" but that's not a choice on the survey.)

    ...if that makes any sense
     
  15. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Random question. Do you know why it is that the covers of Raise the Dawn and Revelation and Dust have unnamed Excelsior class starships on them? The stories don't even have any Excelsior class ships. Do Pocket Books artists love the Excelsior class or something?
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    ^I'm not involved in the cover design process. You'd have to ask the artist.
     
  17. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    Finally forced myself to finish this. Stuff happens. Picard is bitchy at Q. Q is wearisomely "impish". I revise my grade down to poor. This is just... boring.
     
  18. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

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    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    What bothers me is how Picard and the other TNG characters keep bitching Q. After all, isn't it time after all these years to become friends? They could take enjoyment out of their interactions with him, or ask him politely for small favors. He's a joker but ultimately he's more helpful than villainous.
     
  19. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    Re: TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited by Rudy Josephs Review Thread (Splr

    One of the reasons I love Beyer's The Eternal Tide is that it presents the Q and the Federation characters as friends (to the extent that such different lifeforms at vastly different levels of power can be friends). Your final line there is pretty much exactly what Janeway says in the Qs' defence, and I found it a genuinely moving moment.
     
  20. Mizrach

    Mizrach Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    A slim ebook novella, max 2 hours reading.
    The final scene save it from being a mere "average" work. An Indiana Jones type of book, it isn't memorable or anything, but I liked it. Nice idea the pirates/collectors extinct people. Have they appeared in flesh in others books or in the series?