So what are you reading now (Part 4)?

[kkozoriz1]

Read the first three (reissued) volumes of Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan. I skipped it when it was first being published because the whole cyberpunk Hunter S. Thompson vibe just looked like it was trying too hard to be cool. I finally decided to give it a shot a year or so ago and got the first (original) volume not too long before DC decided to reissue the series with more issues per book. Anyway, it's smart, it's funny, and it works. I'll have to get the rest of the series.

I seem to recall patrick Stewart saying he'd be interested in playing Spider Jerusalem. I wish I could remember where I saw that. Anyway, good stuff.

Found it <sorta>:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan

 

[indianatrekker26]

Just started up reading every TNG novel in chronological order, beginning with "Ghost Ship." I'm currently on "The Children of Hamlin." I plan to keep going until i reach the Destiny Trilogy. I have every TNG novel. It will be quite an undertaking.

 

[Thrawn]

I've been bouncing around since about February between Lost Era, the DS9 relaunch's first arc (through Unity), all of Peter David's books (including New Frontier), and the Mirror Universe collections.

I read Treason last week, which finished off New Frontier, and I just finished Catalyst Of Sorrows (7.5; I never bought the macguffin of the story, so I never really believed in it, but I liked a *lot* of the characterizations and minor details), and that's the last Lost Era book I hadn't read, so that only leaves me:

Shards & Shadows
Unity
Triangle: Imzadi II
I, Q

I'm thinking all four of those should be a good time. After that, I'll take a break from Trek for a while and check out Iain M. Banks, who's been recommended to me by at least 4,000 different people.

 

[JD]

Have you read Shards & Shadows yet? It's got some really good stories in it.

 

[indianatrekker26]

Actually, ive been jumping between the TNG books and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. I'm about halfway through LOTF right now, been enjoying it.

 

[Thrawn]

Have you read Shards & Shadows yet? It's got some really good stories in it.

Working on it. Just finished the second story. I liked the first, pretty meh on the second.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Finishing up The Burning Land by Bernard Cromwell. Next will be one of the Pip and Flinx books by Alan Dean Foster. I also have Thebes of the Thousand Gates by Robert Silverberg on "stand by".

 

[JD]

Have you read Shards & Shadows yet? It's got some really good stories in it.

Working on it. Just finished the second story. I liked the first, pretty meh on the second.

I don't remember the most of the stories very well. But the two that I do remember liking the most are the Vanguard story, The Black Flag (the events of which were retconned into the expanded Sorrows of Empire) and the Titan story, Empathy. I still wish we could have gotten the SCE companion e-book, I would love to know what the Mirror versions of it's cast members are like.

 

[Steve Roby]

Just read Stephen Marley's Doctor Who novel Managra, a fun and inventive novel featuring the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. Not sure what to read next.

 

[ICW]

I finished the S.C.E. omnibus Some Assembly Required. I am now reading the New Frontier novel Restoration

 

[JD]

I decided to take a couple days break from my books, and I read the ST: Alien Spotlights Vulcan and Andorian issues. I loved them both, but the end of The Old Ways annoyed me, in a good way.

 

[DevilEyes]

Have you read Shards & Shadows yet? It's got some really good stories in it.

Working on it. Just finished the second story. I liked the first, pretty meh on the second.

I've only read the first 5 so far (in my chronological reading of the 3 MU anthologies, which I am making a break from to read some other things, like the The 4400 relaunch novels):

1. "Nobunaga" - liked it much better than "The Age of the Empress" (which annoyed me by making the Terran Empire Humans not-such-bad-guys-after-all-at-least-compared-to-those-nasty-aliens)

2. "Ill Winds" - meh. I don't know if it would have made a difference if I were actually familiar with the prime universe Aprils.

3. "The Greater Good" (Margaret Wander Bonano's story about MU Kirk and MU Pike) - now this one was great. I loved it.

4. "Black Flag" (James Swallow's MU Vanguard story) - this one was awesome (and really dark), I enjoyed it even though I haven't read any of the Vanguard novels

5. "The Traitor" (supposedly about MU Picard, Guinan and Stargazer crew) - utterly pointless

 

[Thrawn]

^ I pretty much agree with all of that.

Everything after The Traitor, though, I've thought has been pretty awesome (except possibly Homecoming, which is fun but has a wacky ending). I just have one more to go, and since it's David Mack's, I'm expecting good things.

This is a good anthology; I'm pretty impressed with all the Mirror Universe stuff. For such a silly concept, it's been executed well.

I'm REALLY looking forward to Rise Like Lions. I wonder how much of this ever-widening scope will be included (Mac? Picard? Kes?) and who the focus characters will be.

 

[Thrawn]

So:

Shards & Shadows - 8. Mostly very strong, a couple early clunkers. Loved the last two.
Unity - 9. Not much plot in this one, but the characters are strong enough to carry it, and the end is beautiful.
Triangle - 8.5. Solid, and really well characterized, but not nearly as awesome as his other TNG giants.
I, Q - 7.5. They had fun writing this, and it was certainly fun to read, but ultimately didn't mean anything or tell me anything new. (And it was weird, how much like Q&A the resolution ended up being.)

Overall: Good stuff. I grade harshly, and I liked these.

Now I'm taking a break from Trek for at least my next 10 or 15 novels; I have about 80 more Trek novels that I want to read to get totally caught up, but I'll pick that up in a couple weeks.

Next: The Lost Fleet series, by Jack Campbell, and Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks.

 

[Starbreaker]

Guess I need to read a Lost Fleet book for sure now...

I am currently reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. Great book so far... and different from the stuff I normally read.

 

[Thrawn]

I like Dan Simmons a lot. I'm waiting for the Hyperion series to be available on Kindle to re-read it; when I read it the first time, I was in high school, and I think I'd get a lot out of a re-read.

 

[Csalem]

Finished reading 'Raise the Titanic!'. It was a bit odd going back to it as it is different from later Cussler books. It certainly flies along, and doesn't feel as honed as subsequent novels. I'd be interested to see it rewritten now in his present style. It also inspired me to finally buy the DVD.

Back to 'Seven Deadly Sins' after my little break.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just picked up I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER by Dan Wells. Looks interesting . . . .

 

[F. King Daniel]

I finally got round to finishing Vulcan’s Heart. I was disappointed. It had some good bits, but the Spock/Saavik thing was just wrong, the incest was wrong and Spock, pon farr crazy or not, acted totally out of character. His speech patterns seemed wrong to me throughout the novel.

I don’t think they got Nerendra III right either – other than the distracting “Oh no, I hope we don’t fall into that temporal anomaly! Anything could happen, even a trip to an alternate 24th century! Let’s hope that doesn’t happen lolz!” attempt at continuity porn, they botched the order of events: In this version, the Klingons knew Enterprise was helping before they fell into the vortex. Thus their disappearance would likely have been taken as their “heroic sacrifice” just the same as when they were crippled in the seconds after returning. The brief switchover to Alternate Tasha’s POV served no purpose outside of fanwank. Nonetheless I’d like to read more about the Enterprise-C crew one day.

I’m halfway though Inception (I know I said I wouldn’t get it, but someone was practically giving it away on eBay), which I’m actually enjoying. It’s sedate pacing perfectly matches my lethargic state in this summer heat. I like the world-building on Earth – it’s nice to see that the Federation and Starfleet aren’t quite as perfect as the propaganda would have you think.

I find the constant references to Commander Kirk’s “earning” his promotion and “rising though the ranks” quite amusing. If I didn’t know it was written before the film I’d think someone was trying to make a point

I’m awaiting the nuTrek sequel, where future-PETA demand swift, brutal retribution against Beagle-killer Scotty, leading to his exile on Delta Vega.

 

[Christopher]

I finally got round to finishing Vulcan’s Heart. I was disappointed. It had some good bits, but the Spock/Saavik thing was just wrong, the incest was wrong and Spock, pon farr crazy or not, acted totally out of character. His speech patterns seemed wrong to me throughout the novel.

Why do people keep calling it "incest?" There is no blood relationship between Spock and Saavik. He was her teacher and mentor for a little while, decades before the events of this book.

I don’t think they got Nerendra III right either – other than the distracting “Oh no, I hope we don’t fall into that temporal anomaly! Anything could happen, even a trip to an alternate 24th century! Let’s hope that doesn’t happen lolz!” attempt at continuity porn, they botched the order of events: In this version, the Klingons knew Enterprise was helping before they fell into the vortex. Thus their disappearance would likely have been taken as their “heroic sacrifice” just the same as when they were crippled in the seconds after returning.

I don't recall exactly, but I thought the idea was that the Klingons had believed the E-C had dishonorably fled the scene. And maybe in the alternate history where it didn't return, the Klingons who knew it was helping were killed before they could tell anyone, or the detail was misremembered after the fact due to the "fog of war" effect.