2-part Mirror Universe question

[Robert Treat]

I thought I'd post a two-part poll. For the first part I wanted to post a poll of what everyone's favorite MU story was, but since they only allow four choices for the poll, I'll simply ask what people's favorite works were.

For the second part, with the airing of In a Mirror Darkly the Shatner trilogy of books followed Diane Duane's Dark Mirror as having been contradicted by a mirror universe episode. However there's nothing in IaMD that contradicts the Dark Passions pair of books by Susan Wright, and I was wondering if people thought they should have tried to make the latest series of MU books (Glass Empires, Obsidian Alliances, etc.) consistent with Dark Passions.

 

[Brendan Moody]

So far my favorite MU story in any medium is David Mack's The Sorrows of Empire. An epic story of tragedy and triumph, with great characterization and surprising scope, all in about 50,000 words.

I think it was better for the new MU books to have as free a hand as possible in laying out the shape of that universe, rather than remaining consistent with any previous fiction.

 

[RonG]

I think that having the newer MU books fall in line with earlier novels (i.e. Dark Passions) is only important as long as you feel the need to have a sort of "canon" for the MU (opening a can of worms right there )

As far as MU contradictions go, I remember a while back, while looking at the fan-made Star Trek Annotated Timeline (last updated in 2003...), that the author assumed that there were several Mirror Universes, thus explaining the MU in Dark Mirror existing alongside the one shown in DS9 and in earlier comics.

 

[Trent Roman]

As far as MU contradictions go, I remember a while back, while looking at the fan-made Star Trek Annotated Timeline (last updated in 2003...), that the author assumed that there were several Mirror Universes, thus explaining the MU in Dark Mirror existing alongside the one shown in DS9 and in earlier comics.

Absolutely. The Mirror Universe ought to produce divergeant timelines like any other quantum reality, and we can reconcile the different MUs seen in the novels and TV shows as different possible futures for the universe glimpsed in "Mirror, Mirror".

And I for one am glad they decided not to follow on Susan Wright's books. Though fun in a pulpy kind of way, Dark Passions never took its premise--a bleak and brutal version of what we know--seriously. Then again, DS9 stopped taking the Mirror Universe seriously too by the end of of its run... still quite happy the current line gave it the treatment it deserved, though.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[captcalhoun]

my favourite is Sorrows of Empire. and no.

 

[JD]

My favorite is definitely The Sorrows of Empire (I'm pretty sure this will probably the majority of people's answer, it is just that amazing of a story), and while I haven't read the Dark Passions books I know enough about them to be glad they didn't stick to them. Age of the Empress and The Mirror Scaled Serpent are really good to. The other three stories in Glass Empires and Obsidian Alliances are also good and worth reading, I just didn't think they were quite as good as those three.

 

[Dayton Ward]

My only regret about Age of the Empress was that we were required to tone down the quotient of MU Lesbian Goodness(tm) in the original drafts of the earlier chapters, which may or may not have included intentional homages to Dark Passions.

 

[Jim Johnson]

My only regret about Age of the Empress was that we were required to tone down the quotient of MU Lesbian Goodness(tm)

I had the same request for my Shards and Shadows contribution. The adroitly worded email from Paula Block was entertaining reading.

 

[Christopher]

...I was wondering if people thought they should have tried to make the latest series of MU books (Glass Empires, Obsidian Alliances, etc.) consistent with Dark Passions.

No, because then there would've been too many limits on the storytelling. For one thing, the current MU continuity couldn't have included Dave's concept of the Terran Empire wiping out every telepathic species it could find, including the Betazoids. And that's an idea that's got a lot of potential to build on, even aside from its relation to the crucial arc of the Vulcan sleeper resistance. It was crucial to The Mirror-Scaled Serpent and to at least two stories in Shards and Shadows, including my own.

Also: Annika Hansen, Obsidian Order Agent Seven of Corps Nine? Seriously? What are the odds she'd end up with the same numerical designation from two completely unconnected sources in two different timelines?

The Dark Passions books were entertaining, but I think what they were going for in terms of approach -- and credibility -- was different from the intent of the current MU book continuity. That version of the MU makes for a fun and moderately lurid read, but isn't necessarily the best basis for a wide-ranging, ongoing series.

 

[Christopher]

My only regret about Age of the Empress was that we were required to tone down the quotient of MU Lesbian Goodness(tm)

I had the same request for my Shards and Shadows contribution. The adroitly worded email from Paula Block was entertaining reading.

Well, guys, you know, it's possible to talk Paula into letting you keep the MU Lesbian Goodness(tm) if you can justify its presence persuasively enough...

 

[Dayton Ward]

Yes, but you'd already used "It makes my naughty bits tingle," and really....where do you go from there?

 

[Scout101]

Thought Dark Passions was fairly terrible, personally. Enjoyed the current MU romp, though, and like the way the story is setting up

 

[William Leisner]

Also: Annika Hansen, Obsidian Order Agent Seven of Corps Nine? Seriously? What are the odds she'd end up with the same numerical designation from two completely unconnected sources in two different timelines?

Dude, seriously? You want to get into "what are the odds" questions regarding the MU?

Hold on, let me put another pot of coffee on...

 

[Jim Johnson]

Well, guys, you know, it's possible to talk Paula into letting you keep the MU Lesbian Goodness(tm) if you can justify its presence persuasively enough...

Marco and Paula directed I keep the scenes to a PG-13 ish level (and rightly so), but othewise let things lay where they may.

So I guess "A Terrible Beauty" has MU Lesbian Goodness (TM) Lite, if nothing else.

It's quasi-MU Lesbian Goodness(TM)...
It's the margarine of MU Lesbian Goodness(TM)...
It's the Diet Coke of MU Lesbian Goodness(TM)--just one calorie, not MU Lesbian Goodness(TM) enough.

It's...I'll get my coat.

 

[William Leisner]

^ I Can't Believe It's Not MU Lesbian Goodness!

 

[Sci]

Waitaminute.

You can have novels full of blood and death.... But lesbian sex -- surely the most beautiful act known to mankind (and, yes, I do mean mankind) has to stay at a PG-13 level?

Well that's just depressing!

 

[RandyS]

Also: Annika Hansen, Obsidian Order Agent Seven of Corps Nine? Seriously? What are the odds she'd end up with the same numerical designation from two completely unconnected sources in two different timelines?

Dude, seriously? You want to get into "what are the odds" questions regarding the MU?

Hold on, let me put another pot of coffee on...

I was going to offer my own reply to that, but you did better.

 

[TerriO]

My only regret about Age of the Empress was that we were required to tone down the quotient of MU Lesbian Goodness(tm)

I had the same request for my Shards and Shadows contribution. The adroitly worded email from Paula Block was entertaining reading.

Well, guys, you know, it's possible to talk Paula into letting you keep the MU Lesbian Goodness(tm) if you can justify its presence persuasively enough...

When you guys get through puberty, catch up to the rest of the world, 'kay? We'll be up at the bar.

 

[Dayton Ward]

I've been to the bar. It sucks. No seats, the band sounds like a cat being stuffed into a wood chipper, and the drinks are watered down. Fucking grups.

 

[Defcon]

For the first part I wanted to post a poll of what everyone's favorite MU story was, but since they only allow four choices for the poll, I'll simply ask what people's favorite works were.

You can have way more than 4 choices in a poll. Just change the number to the amount of choices you want to have