Spoilers Picard Autobiography by David Goodman - Discussion and Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by AutoAdmin, Mar 9, 2017.

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Please rate the Picard Autobiography by David Goodman

  1. Excellent

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%
  2. Above Average

    3 vote(s)
    17.6%
  3. Average

    4 vote(s)
    23.5%
  4. Below Average

    1 vote(s)
    5.9%
  5. Poor

    4 vote(s)
    23.5%
  1. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    And this is why the multiverse as established on TV is so helpful here. :bolian:
     
  2. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That's a good point-- if marketing matters in genre (and I would contend it does), then that must play a role.

    I'm really fascinated by what I think of as "nonnovel novels," like Nabokov's Pale Fire, a novel that is actually a book-length poem with annotations.
     
  3. DavidAGoodman

    DavidAGoodman Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Thanks. I think it would almost be an impossible task to avoid contradicting the novelverse - if I wanted to tell the story of Picard on the Stargazer for instance, I would be married to the characters that were created by other authors, characters that served the stories of those books but wouldn't necessarily serve mine.
     
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  4. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    While I would love for the autobiographies to be consistent with the Novelverse, I don't think it's necessary. It's from a different publisher, and written by a writer who isn't associated with the Novelverse, so it's really not at all surprising that it doesn't use stuff from it. Honestly, I kind of get a kick out of seeing different takes on the same or similar concepts in the Trek Universe.
     
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  5. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    Same here. Sure, there are a few bits here and there where I thought, "Wait, that's not what..." before catching myself, but I do prefer the autobios being beholden only to screen Trek.
     
  6. Ensign_Rowan_McGrath

    Ensign_Rowan_McGrath Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    In all honesty, I prefer the Federation:First 150 Years/Autobiography verse as it feels more Star Trek then the novels and am happy to use this as references. For starters, it gets rid of the stupid Andorian four genders crap.
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    An alien race having blue skin and antennae is okay with you, but having a different number of sexes than humans is not? I don't get it.
     
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  8. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I agree. Sounds rather diploidist to me.
     
  9. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    How do the novels not feel like Star Trek to you, or less like it? I've always thought the novels did a great job of capturing the feel of Star Trek.
     
  10. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Roddenberry, in his "Questor Tapes" monologue, remarked, in response to having the whole concept of human/android sex being shot down by the censors, that it's not often that you have the opportunity to create a whole new kind of intolerance.

    I guess lightning has struck again: in addition to racism, sexism, speciesism, &c, now we have diploidism.
    :vulcan::guffaw:
     
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  11. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    How do the novels not feel like Star Trek to you, or less like it? I've always thought the novels did a great job of capturing the feel of Star Trek.
     
  12. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I admit I try to figure out how that works, personally and just came up with:

    Male, Female, Hermaphrodite (Male fertile), and Hermaphrodite (Female fertile) but I admit I'm just guessing.
     
  13. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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    One of the novels went into a fair amount of detail with the facts of life, if not the actual mechanics. Either Paradigm or one of the Mission: Gamma books, I can't remember. Beta sums it up.

     
  14. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Cool beanz.
     
  15. Ensign_Rowan_McGrath

    Ensign_Rowan_McGrath Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I'm fine with four gender species but not Andorians or Aenar. I always see them as two genders because that's what I saw onscreen.
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    But it was TNG: "Data's Day" that established Andorians marry in groups of four. The novels were simply building on that. Yes, ENT depicted Shran as having two-person relationships, but both are part of canon, and it's certainly possible that social/romantic relationships could be practiced differently from marital/procreative relationships.

    And the novels have always portrayed two of the Andorian sexes as essentially male in aspect and two as essentially female, with the corresponding pronouns being used. So the novels' system is compatible with the apparent bisexuality we see onscreen -- naturally, it was designed to be that way in the first place, since of course it was meant to be reconcilable with a TV/film franchise where Andorians would be played by male and female actors. Besides, when interacting with two-gendered species, it's not implausible that Andorians would choose to adopt the appearance of a two-gendered paradigm, to accept being gendered as "male" and "female" for the convenience of non-Andorians, in the same way that, say, Chinese immigrants to the U.S. would adopt Western-style names that are easier for Americans to pronounce.
     
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  17. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    By that same logic, there shouldn't be any gay or trans humans in the novels either.
     
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  18. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Thankfully, that's averted by Discovery.
     
  19. Idran

    Idran Commodore Commodore

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    Ah yeah, good point; Beyond too. For gay characters, at least.

    We wouldn't have any gay humans in novels printed before July 2016 then. :p
     
  20. Ensign_Rowan_McGrath

    Ensign_Rowan_McGrath Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    The Andorian ceremony implied in "Data's Day" didn't indicate four genders to me to be honest.

    I always figured group marriages and polyamory was common (nothing indicates Shran had just only one partner [mind you I consider the last episode of Enterprise is nothing more then an RPG game and anyone except Archer can die depending on the parts you take) in Andorian culture.