Spoilers Hidden Universe Travel Guide: Star Trek: Vulcan by Dayton Ward Review Thread

[Markonian]

Noteworthy for TrekLit: Spock's quote is from July 2387. That puts the Hobus event to the second half of the year.

 

[Idran]

Well, noteworthy if Treklit takes that reference in; keep in mind this book isn't meant to be explicitly consistent with anything but the on-screen media, it just takes references from a broad spectrum.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ What Idran said.

 

[Ronald Held]

Dayton, your link to VLI does not work on mobile Chrome. I did not check other browsers.

 

[Markonian]

In that case, DS9 could ignore that Quark launches a franchise of bars within two years...or go for it.

 

[David cgc]

In that case, DS9 could ignore that Quark launches a franchise of bars within two years...or go for it.

Well, in a way, he already has. He kept the Bajor bar open after he moved to the new DS9. Opening a third bar hardly seems like more trouble than a second.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I've been asked to deliver this comment from the local Vulcan Consulate:

We've read this offworlder visitor guide, and we find that much of the information in it is inaccurate, and outdated. For example, there is a whole section on a supposed Vulcan taboo about touching food directly with one's hands. That utterly illogical taboo ceased to exist about the same time as the equally illogical one about mind-melds, in the wake of the Syrannite Reformation, and like a number of other clearly illogical pre-reformation customs, as well as pre-reformation policies ranging from militarism and isolationism to the regrettable attempts to retard Earth's technological development, is now generally attributed to Romulan infiltrators. In fact, while there are a great many foods for which Vulcans prefer to use utensils, there are also many others, including many that are native to Vulcan, for which we clearly recognize the extreme inefficiency of eating with utensils, and to deliberately embrace such inefficiency without an overriding reason is illogical.

 

[Idran]

I've been asked to deliver this comment from the local Vulcan Consulate:

Huh. It's weird that they asked you to deliver it to a small historical fiction forum. Vulcans are strange like that, I guess.

 

[Jinn]

It's weird that they asked you to deliver it to a small historical fiction forum.

Especially since they don't believe in time travel... I guess that believe got blown out of the window along with the anti-finger-foodiness.

 

[CaptJack]

I love it. Give me MOAR!!!!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Especially since they don't believe in time travel... I guess that believe got blown out of the window along with the anti-finger-foodiness.

 

[Jinn]

If a Vulcan touches finger food it usually explodes. Spock could only touch it because he focused all of his humanity in his hand.

 

[Christopher]

Except that's a still from the scene in "All Our Yesterdays" where Spock gives in and eats meat, which is evidence that he's starting to abandon modern Vulcan behavioral norms and give into his primitive drives. So it doesn't work as a counterargument.

 

[Idran]

Except that's a still from the scene in "All Our Yesterdays" where Spock gives in and eats meat, which is evidence that he's starting to abandon modern Vulcan behavioral norms and give into his primitive drives. So it doesn't work as a counterargument.

I dunno, I think Jinn's argument makes more sense.

 

[Nerroth]

I'm working my way through this book, and it looks great so far.

The only thing I might have liked to see in it would be a marked planetary map, indicating where each of the highlighted regions in the book are relative to one another.

One slightly odd thing I noticed, though:

Spoiler

One of the banners shown in the art on page 36 seems to be the emblem of the Mirror Universe's Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. While other entries seem to open the door to trans-dimensional shenanigans, it would seem a tad unfortunate to fly a banner of a union which, in another timeline, conquered and despoiled Vulcan itself.

(But then, there are both Romulan and Dominion banners displayed nearby, and each of those realms would have done the same had they been given the chance to in the Prime timeline, so...)

 

[ronny]

Very fun read. I loved reading about the Vulcan tourist traps which I didn't expect but they all made sense. The worlds largest plomeek? Yeah I'd go see that.

 

[Markonian]

With the banners, they may he tourist-y, or Vulcan has become a safe haven for refugees of the former Alliance. With the Rommies and Dominion, they're great powers, so there could be a lot of visitors and interactions involving them.

As for the planetary map, I consulted the Worlds RPG one, but it's out of date.

 

[David cgc]

I just about died laughing at the Mel Brooks reference on page 73. Well-played, sir.

 

[JD]

I finished reading this earlier this week, and I really enjoyed it. It really made me wish Vulcan was a real place that I could actually visit.
While the travel information was fun, for me the highlight was the world building, with the little bits of history and culture that were spread throughout the book.

 

[brianwdaugherty]

I'm so looking forward to digging into this book, as I am the Klingon Empire version.

I do wish CBS would greenlight one on Earth.