So you repudiate your prior notion that compulsory military service, practiced in all those countries, is fascist? Good, that really seemed to be a rather poorly thought-out blanket statement for someone like you to make.
Those countries "conscript" roughly 20,000 people a year combined and the vast, vast majority (99%+ in Denmark in some years) volunteer anyway when asked. If that paltry number is "mobilizing the population" they're doing as bad of a job with that as you are with your analogy. There is militarizing the population to affect mass cultural/political change, and there's filling necessary job openings in the military. I was talking about the former, you the latter. The latter is irrelevant.
A few years ago, IDW did a complete collection of Early Voyages and I was really hoping they would bring back the original creative team to finally finish up the last story arc. They have done that with other series, but sadly they didn't do that for EV. I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it openly on here, but there are ways to get a digital copy of Music of the Spheres if you want to read it. I know I had one for a while, but that was on an old device that I stopped using before I got around to reading it.
I don't know if it's still active, but on the about me page at her site, she does still say to email if you want a copy?
That was what I was talking about, I just wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for talking about it since I'm not really sure if she's supposed to be doing that. I can't remember for sure if I got my copy from her, or from another poster on here who had it.
A bit off topic, but I once had a dream that CBS decided to allow Amarillo Design Bureau to use TNG and DS9 elements in their Star Fleet Universe products. But Amarillo put their own unique spin on everything, so Ferengi were evolved from rodents and had long furry tails.
Betazoids don't strike me as the kind who would read someone's mind - especially that of an offworlder - without their permission. (Yes, yes, there's Lwaxana, but she just does that to Picard because she's into him. She doesn't go around reading everyone's minds.) I would assume that visitors to Betazed could rest assured that their privacy would be protected.
Ah, but you could never quite be sure of that. There would always be that tiny suspicion in the back of your mind, and that is the seed from which your paranoia would grow. And the fact that everyone around you is mentally whispering to one another would also be disconcerting. Are there any books, Trek or otherwise, that contain an in depth speculation about what a telepathic society would be like? I had read that she used to auction off copies of her manuscript at conventions for charitable purposes, but I didn't know if copies were available online. Good to know that it's out there. Truthfully, I haven't read Probe yet. Or any other of Gene DeWeese's books either for that matter. They're on the list though.
That kind of paranoia isn't normal in the Federation. The Betazoids seem like an open and friendly people. They've presumably been Federation members for quite awhile as of TNG. I see absolutely no reason to distrust them or to assume that they would ever monitor anyone's thoughts without permission. They just don't seem like the type who would do that. I mean, Deanna doesn't go around reading her crewmates' minds, does she? And remember the trial in "The Drumhead", which had a full Betazoid as the prosecuting attorney. Theoretically he could have just read Simon Tarses' mind and been done with it. But he didn't... In any case, visitors to Betazed are presumably aware of the natives' natural telepathy, so anyone who is that afraid of being eavesdropped on (no matter how unjustified that fear is), won't bother going there in the first place. It's like the Deltans. Sex is part of every aspect of their culture. Yet if Ilia was any indication (and I'm sure she was), then Deltans "would never take advantage of a sexually immature species". So it's probably the same story here - Betazoids would never impose themselves on a mentally immature species. Although with the Deltans, there's the added complication of their pheromones being so strong (IIRC, because of this, visitors aren't allowed on Delta itself - only its outer moons), and not even Deltans themselves have any control over that. (Ilia said she took an oath of celibacy but I'm not aware of any measures she took to inhibit her natural pheromones. It was obviously affecting Sulu and Chekov...) Not in Trek, no.
I think there have been some TOS novels with Betazoids in them, so they must have joined somewhere between 2155 and 2265, in the Novelverse at least.
Gene Roddenberry (circa 1966): Star Trek Phase 0 A Pike novel, or series of novels, written by G.R. without having to worry about studio input or censorship. One question I would like to see answered - what did Pike do to earn Spock's unswerving loyalty? Anthony Horwitz: Uncanny Valley of Fear A high tech Sherlock Holmes pastiche featuring Data and Lore in a century long battle of wits. Christopher L. Bennett: The Roly Poly Holy War A light hearted buddy comedy follow-up to The Struggle Within. P8 Blue and the Federation's foremost griffin-ologist, T'Ryssa Chen, are the only ones who can stop the Kinshaya from declaring a jihad against the Nassat. Michael Crichton: BeoWorf A fusion of Eaters of the Dead and holodeck Norse mythology fantasy. William Leisner: A Sulu & Chekov story that explores their unique friendship over 3 different time periods; 5ym era, TMP era, and Excelsior era. I like what he did with Tom and Harry in Black Hats. C.M Kornbluth: The Marching Pakleds The story of a small cadre of brilliant minds who are the prime movers of Pakled civilization. aka "WE Make Things Go"
I once did a (humorous) story in which Barclay had a phobia about telepaths for this very reason. Then again, Barclay is kind of a walking repository of any possible 24th century neurosis. But, yes, Matheson would be the perfect author for a story like that. He's all about paranoia and coping with one's own mortality. (And this is where I point out that we got at least one TREK story out Matheson: TOS's "The Enemy Within.")
^ Sorry about that. You dedicated one of your books to him, right? Did you know him, or were you just a fan? A slight digression. I went through a huge movie watching phase for about a decade and I love making (unasked for) recommendations. Matheson is rightly famous for his books and his screenplays for classic tv shows, but there are a lot of hidden gems in his filmography that some mainstream audiences may not be familiar with. The Devil Rides Out, Dan Curtis' Dracula, Trilogy of Terror, Roger Corman's Pit and the Pendulum & Fall of the House of Usher, Dying Room Only, and Burn Witch Burn are all worthwhile watches for people with more...esoteric tastes. One of my favorites is the original film version of I Am Legend. It's "The Last Man on Earth" from 1964 starring Vincent Price. It's ultra low budget but I loved it. It should be a well known classic like NOTLD, imo.
I was Richard Matheson's editor at Tor Books for more than twenty years. Only met in him in the flesh once, at a World Horror Convention back in the nineties, but we spoke often on the phone and worked together on several projects, including reprints of his early work as well as four of his later novels. I even brought his old westerns, detective novels, and autobiographical WW II novel back into print. And, yes, Matheson is ubiquitous. I used to do a whole spiel at sales conferences about how he was the most famous writer in America who isn't a household name. If you have any interest in 20th century science fiction, fantasy, or horror, you know Matheson's work even if you don't know his name. The Twilight Zone episodes, the Star Trek episode, the killer Zuni doll, Duel, The Night Stalker, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come, I Am Legend, and so on and so on.
Based on his short story "Prey." I do feel sorry for the other two segments in "Trilogy of Terror," which nobody ever remembers or cares about. "Zun! Zuni! Zuni! All I ever hear is Zuni!"
I also liked the "Bobby" segment from the 1977 made for tv anthology Dead of Night. I don't know if it was based on a short story or not. It was remade as part of Trilogy of Terror 2 in the 90s. The original version is much better, imo. The 70s and early 80s were a golden age of made for tv horror movies.