Prophecy and Change

[marlboro]

Finished up this DS9 short story anthology this morning, and I was very impressed with it. There are about a dozen stories, all but one taking place during various points during the series run.

I thought I'd post a few comments on some of my favorite stories. Many of them would have made excellent episodes, imo.

(spoilers)


"Face Value", by Una McCormack

"I think I'm sorry," he whispered, "sorry that I killed Tora Ziyal."

Man, I would have loved to see what Nana Visitor, Andrew Robinson, and Casey Biggs would have done with script based on this story. I can't help but think it would have been one of those acting tour de force episodes like "Duet."


"... Loved I Not Honor More", by Christopher L. Bennett

This is how Ferengi stories should be written. They can be humorous without being cartoon characters in a lame sitcom plot. This is a great follow up to the two Quark/Grilka episodes. Quark's very Ferengi code of honor is displayed in a way that is logical, funny, and true to character. His thoughts on love and selfishness are are actually quite insightful, imo.


"Three Sides to Every Story", by Terri Osborne

A good, but depressing, story featuring Jake and Tora Ziyal. Makes a nice companion piece to a chapter in The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

"The Devil You Know", by Heather Jarman

"And so I begin again."

I loved the last line of this story. The story could have used a bit of polishing (The Blue Sky Project didn't make sense) but I think if this had been filmed it would have been the best Jadzia episode of the series.

A quick note: the Romulan palm scanner is brilliant. When you put your palm on the thing it pricks you with a needle, simultaneously poisoning you and testing your blood at the same time. It only administers an antidote if you are who you say you are. lol You don't more Romulan than that.

"Ha'mara", by Kevin G. Summers

Pretty good Kira and Sisko "getting to know you" story. If it was filmed, I think it would work better closer to the end of season 1 rather than the beginning as it was presented here.

"Broken Oaths", by Keith R.A. DeCandido

A good "fill in the blanks" story dealing with the aftermath of Hippocratic Oath( The one where Miles basically pulls rank on Bashir when the doctor tries to save some Jem'Hadar ). Some good character bits. Would it have worked as a solo episode? Maybe not. But I think it could have worked as a multipart B or C story over 2 or 3 episodes.


"Foundlings", by Jeffrey Lang

A nice little mystery with some solid characterization featuring Odo, his Terok Nor predecessor Thrax, and a shipload of dead Cardassians. "When a crime has been committed, isn't arresting Quark always the best first response?" A funny line in a somber story. Thrax is yet another great character who finally gets his chance to shine thanks to TrekLit. DS9 truly has a plethora of amazing characters, There just aren't enough books to give all of them their due.


So, to sum up, this was a pretty darn good collection and I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the show. I hope that we get to see some more stories from the pre relaunch era some day. I miss these characters.

 

[Christopher]

"... Loved I Not Honor More", by Christopher L. Bennett

This is how Ferengi stories should be written.

Thanks so much! That was my only DS9 story to this day, and I'm proud of how it turned out.

"Ha'mara", by Kevin G. Summers

Pretty good Kira and Sisko "getting to know you" story. If it was filmed, I think it would work better closer to the end of season 1 rather than the beginning as it was presented here.

That's interesting. I've always felt it worked perfectly as the second episode we should've gotten. Well, not "should've," but would've gotten if the concepts about Bajoran faith and culture that were developed later in the series had been known to the writers at the beginning. "Ha'mara" fills in some important gaps, and it feels right that these things would be addressed right after "Emissary," when the Bajoran people first become aware of Sisko's role.

 

[marlboro]

"Ha'mara"


It's been about 10 years since I've watched the first season of DS9 so my memory may be a bit fuzzy. My problem with the story being placed just after the first episode isn't Sisko's relationship with the Bajorans. My issue is the bonding experience he has with Kira while they are lost in the labyrinth. They rely on each other to survive a terrifying situation, they have some fairly deep conversations about personal topics, Kira saves him from drowning - heck they actually play like two kids at one point. So, while they don't become best friends by the end of the story, their relationship seems to have evolved quite a bit.

It just seems like that, after having this kind of experience, the two of them could fall back into the contentious relationship they had in season 1.

 

[Stevil2001]

I too like this anthology; here's part of what I wrote when I reread it a couple years ago: During Marco Palmieri's time at Simon & Schuster, he edited four anniversary anthologies: Prophecy and Change for Deep Space Nine's tenth anniversary in 2003, Distant Shores for Voyager's tenth in 2005, Constellations for the original's 40th in 2006, and The Sky's the Limit for The Next Generation's twentieth in 2007. Together, they constitute one of my favorite parts of Star Trek fiction, and though Constellations is probably my favorite, Prophecy and Change is next. The richness of the Deep Space Nine tapestry means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; it's great to see the characters grow and change all over again.

You can read my comments on all the stories at https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2016/08/deep-space-nine-reread-season-seven.html but in brief, I particularly liked "Three Sides to Every Story," "The Devil You Know," and "Face Value." I agree that Jarman uses Jadzia in a way the show was rarely capable of.

 

[Christopher]

During Marco Palmieri's time at Simon & Schuster, he edited four anniversary anthologies: Prophecy and Change for Deep Space Nine's tenth anniversary in 2003, Distant Shores for Voyager's tenth in 2005, Constellations for the original's 40th in 2006, and The Sky's the Limit for The Next Generation's twentieth in 2007.

And one of the career highlights I get to boast about is that I'm the only writer to appear in all four of those anthologies. Although Keith DeCandido and Jeffrey Lang were in three each. Marco was reluctant to use the same authors in every one, but he made an exception by inviting me to do The Sky's the Limit, since he was "in need of a Data story" and thought I'd be a good fit for it.

 

[Stevil2001]

And one of the career highlights I get to boast about is that I'm the only writer to appear in all four of those anthologies. Although Keith DeCandido and Jeffrey Lang were in three each. Marco was reluctant to use the same authors in every one, but he made an exception by inviting me to do The Sky's the Limit, since he was "in need of a Data story" and thought I'd be a good fit for it.

Heh, I never caught that. I guess I am glad he broke his own rule, because I would say that "Friends with the Sparrows" is the strongest of your four.

 

[Christopher]

^Thanks!

 

[JD]

"... Loved I Not Honor More", by Christopher L. Bennett

This is how Ferengi stories should be written. They can be humorous without being cartoon characters in a lame sitcom plot. This is a great follow up to the two Quark/Grilka episodes. Quark's very Ferengi code of honor is displayed in a way that is logical, funny, and true to character. His thoughts on love and selfishness are are actually quite insightful, imo.

Have you read Satisfaction is Not Guarenteed, KRAD's Ferenginar novella in Worlds of DS9: Volume 3? That was a great Ferengi story. Reservoir Ferengi, David A. McIntee's Ferengi/Greed novella in Seven Deadly Sins was good too.
I've heard good thing about The 34th Rule by Armin Shimmerman (yes Quark himself co-wrote it) and David R. George III, but haven't gotten around to reading it.

 

[marlboro]

You can read my comments on all the stories at https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2016/08/deep-space-nine-reread-season-seven.html but in brief, I particularly liked "Three Sides to Every Story," "The Devil You Know," and "Face Value." I agree that Jarman uses Jadzia in a way the show was rarely capable of.

I enjoyed your reviews. I agree with most of your opinions, fwiw. You made a point in your review of Foundlings that I'd like to address.

You wrote: "But the ending of the story reveals a plot too convoluted to believe; I don't buy why all the subterfuge was necessary."

I think that you are right that this story isn't as clear as it could have been. My interpretation is as follows:

- Thrax assumes that all the refugees are dead. He plans to frame Quark for running a refugee smuggling operation.

- Once he realizes that the kids are still out there, he decides to save them. If he admits that he knows the children were on the transport, he incriminates himself. So he leaves clues for Odo to put together.

- If Odo doesn't figure it out the kids die, but Thrax and the refugee pipeline are safe. If he does save the children Thrax is left with 2 options:

1) Maintain the fiction that he knew nothing of the children. Odo and Kira were really just operating on a hunch. Thrax didn't leave them any concrete clues.

2) Tell Odo everything, and use his confession to help convince Odo to help him to not only cover up the accident, but also help him smuggle more refugees in the future.

- Thrax went with option #2. He had been questioning Odo about his feelings concerning the Dominion and the Founders since he arrived on the station. Thrax's desperation and Odo's words "They are not my people" were enough to convince him that this was his best option


That's the best explanation I can come up with.

p.s. I still can't figure out why they couldn't bring the vault back to Nog in "The Orb of Opportunity." They explained it twice in the story and I still don't get it.

 

[marlboro]

Have you read Satisfaction is Not Guarenteed, KRAD's Ferenginar novella in Worlds of DS9: Volume 3? That was a great Ferengi story. Reservoir Ferengi, David A. McIntee's Ferengi/Greed novella in Seven Deadly Sins was good too.
I've heard good thing about The 34th Rule by Armin Shimmerman (yes Quark himself co-wrote it) and David R. George III, but haven't gotten around to reading it.

I'm not a big Rom fan, so I wasn't crazy about Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed. I do have a copy of Seven Deadly Sins so I'll be sure to check out Reservoir Ferengi soon.

The 34th Rule isn't bad. Zek is pretty clever in it. While the book had a good message, I think Kira's attitude and the Bajoran's actions were pretty extreme. It makes them too unlikable, imo. Some things you just can't take back.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm into the st story of the book, enjoying it so far

 

[Reanok]

I really like the Prophecy and Change story anthology I thought the stories were well written and really good.stories.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I still wonder who Anonymous, the writer of "Revisited." was. My theory, years ago, is that Anonymous was Kevin J. Anderson.

 

[JD]

Any theories about why he wouldn't have wanted to be credited?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It could have been a L'Angelo Misterioso situation -- under contract with another publisher, so he couldn't take a credit and had to write under a pseudonym. Otherwise, I have no idea.

 

[DS9forever]

I thought it was Marco Palmieri.

 

[JD]

That was my thought too, and I still wonder if he was also J. Noah Kym. I will admit, any time there was a question about who wrote a story like that during his tenure, my mind tends to go right to Marco.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That was my thought too, and I still wonder if he was also J. Noah Kym.

No, Marco was not J. Noah Kym.