Spoilers TOS: Harm's Way by David Mack Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Avro Arrow, Dec 14, 2022.

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Rate TOS: Harm's Way

  1. Outstanding

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    37.5%
  2. Above Average

    8 vote(s)
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    16.7%
  4. Below Average

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  1. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    Our Literary Treks interview with David is out on Sunday!
     
  2. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    My last comment on this matter in this thread.
    Kenya Barris is a Black American TV businessman, perhaps best known for the 2010s comedy series Black-ish. He is infamous for fetishizing biracial women in the image of his wife in work after work like some kind of bad parody of Loving v. Virginia. Given that Barris keeps getting funding from White-controlled corporations and support from loving White fans, a lot of Black people find it rather irritating that Barris's status effectively promotes the harmfully colorist trope that Black American women are only good if they are as light-skinned as possible, even as the likes of Black-ish get praise for representation. Hence, some would derisively argue Kenya Barris makes Black content for White people.

    I am using Kenya Barris as a comparison of how current Trek butchers Asian representation by selectively presenting Asian humans with the least likely of possible name styles to the point of us sounding un-Asian en masse, which I find infuriating in light of how often Trek gets praised for representation.
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    As I said, I think you might be getting that backward, since it seems likely that they create and name the characters with no particular ethnicity in mind until they're cast. Which I think is good representation, if they're casting Asian or other nonwhite actors to play characters conceived without a predefined ethnicity, or even characters who were originally white like Chief Kyle or Robert April. Although I agree it would be nice if they would make the character names more diverse.
     
  4. Laura Cynthia Chambers

    Laura Cynthia Chambers Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Who knows what new names will exist in the future, whether due to colonies differentiating themselves or people creating new languages and lives for themselves? Surnames like Warpman, Particle, etc
     
  5. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    OK, I wasn't originally going to say anything, because @Enterprise1701 keeps valiantly trying to direct the discussion elsewhere, so I thought the off-topic discussion would come to a natural conclusion... but then it keeps getting responded to here, and then continues. So I would like to please remind everyone that this thread should be about Harm's Way, not the various Star Trek shows. We have multiple forums dedicated to the shows, and in fact @Enterprise1701 has set up a thread to discuss the naming issue in the shows here in the SNW forum. I encourage you to check it out, and reply there if you wish to continue discussing it.

    Let's try to keep this thread focused on Mr. Mack's book. Thank you.
     
  6. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Can’t wait to read this when it’s out
     
  7. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    It is out — unless you're referring to someplace other than North America. So, I'm guessing you're not in North America...
     
  8. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    My avatar pic should give you a clue where I live.
    It’s not out until the 19th here
     
  9. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    Sorry. That sucks.
     
  10. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Finally got started. A little too much character at the beginning, but got better.
     
  11. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

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  12. Elwro

    Elwro Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Awesome! Downloading via Podbean right now. I have to say the title surprised me :-) [Nancy Reagan?...]
     
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  13. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Too bad I can't listen to it, until I finish the book...
     
  14. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    The joke will make sense when you listen ;)
     
  15. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I listened to your interview it was really interesting the deep dive into the book about Kirk and Spock and all the other characters .Thanks for posting your interview with David Mack talking about his hope of writing future Vanguard stories. I sure hope so that books sells well and we get more adventures with these characters!
     
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  16. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    Thanks so much for listening, we are glad you enjoyed it! I hope David gets more Trek books as well!
     
  17. Elwro

    Elwro Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Thank you very much for the show, and special thanks to Mr. Mack for providing such an extensive commentary. I really appreciate how well this fits into the Vanguard and larger Star Trek narrative!

    [Also, I can't believe that you guys managed to sell me on the Resurgence comic... ;-)]

    Coincidentally, I read the other David Mack's stuff first... when I started exploring ST novels, I was like WHAAAAT, the Daredevil writer is writing Star Trek now? TAKE MY MONEY!....

    ...and that was money well spent :-)
     
  18. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    I love all of this! Thank you so much for listening. I hope you do enjoy Resurgence.
     
  19. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Just finished this (and loved it!) and was then inspired to watch Day of the Dove. I was surprised how distrustful of Starfleet and the crew Mara is given her encounter with them in this book. She‘s originally afraid of Starfleet death camps and torture. I suppose this falls in the same category as Chekov’s hatred of Klingons for killing his brother.

    At any rate it was great to be back in the world of Vanguard and the Litverse in general. I hope the tease at the end was for more Vanguard related stories in the future, and not just foreshadowing the crew’s return to the station in later existing stories.
     
  20. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Couldn't hurt to have more vanguard stories.
     
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