Official Description and Cover up for DTI: Watching the Clock

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by JD, Feb 6, 2011.

  1. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I was just on S&S.com and they have put up the final description for DTI: Watching the Clock, and the cover. Here's the description:
    I love time travel (or time travel related) stories, so I am really looking forward to this one.
     
  2. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Yeah, this is gonna be great. Couldn't be playing to Christopher's strengths more beautifully - massive continuity porn with a scientific bent coupled with dryly sarcastic characters that need some serious fleshing out.

    Perfect.
     
  3. Sxottlan

    Sxottlan Commodore Commodore

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    Great cover.

    And I like the idea of the TCW threatening to re-open in the 24th century. That's the kind of continuity that I enjoy.
     
  4. Dancing Doctor

    Dancing Doctor Admiral Admiral

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    I'm almost as excited about this as I am for Cast No Shadow.

    (And since CNS is *the* one book I've been looking forward to the most, this means that WtC is a very, very close second,)
     
  5. Smellincoffee

    Smellincoffee Commodore Commodore

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    Glad they stuck with that cover. It's a beaut.
     
  6. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    This, Blind Man's Bluff, Indistinguishable From Magic, and Cast No Shadow are the only books I'm looking forward to. I wasn't even sure if I was looking forward to this one until now. Something just clicked with me.
     
  7. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    sounds cool.

    i'm looking forward to this, IfM and new Vanguard.
     
  8. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Pass.
     
  9. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

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    Very much looking forward to this one.
     
  10. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Sounds very intruiging, but the fact that it involves the Temporal Cold War does bug me a bit, since I wasn't a fan of the concept in ENT.
     
  11. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

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    Personally, one of, if not *the* most anticipated Trek novel of 2011 (and of 2010, for that matter..).

    A great concept, perfectly tailored for CLB :bolian:
     
  12. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Have been looking forward to this, and the cover looks snazzy. However wouldn't the most thankless job in Starfleet be as agents of Section 31 ;)
     
  13. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

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    More like the most thankless job in Section 31 is being Starfleet officers :guffaw:
     
  14. Bishop76

    Bishop76 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I'm a bit torn.

    I really find time travel obnoxious for the most part (and usually it leaves some pretty big plot holes laying about) and I'm not a big fan of the TCW (unless the nature of it is explained in this novel, I'm still not even sure what the hell it was supposed to be about). Also, I wish we could have gone with different characters. Mulder and Scully... really? It was cute in one episode, but I'm not sure about them as main characters of a book.

    On the other hand, Christopher's world-building skills and attention to detail are very well suited to writing a novel of this type.

    Odds are I'll give it a try, but will be really Lucsly about it.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    If that is actually the final cover, I'm surprised. It was supposed to be just one image element of a more elaborate cover.


    I don't know, but that first sentence in the blurb contains an error. DTI is not in Starfleet. It's a branch of the civilian government of the Federation. Hopefully that'll get fixed in the final cover.


    Well, that's the idea. This book is about filling in a lot of those plot holes, making more sense of the physics, logistics, history, and politics of time travel.


    Aside from the letters of their surnames, the characters of Lucsly and Dulmur as seen in "Trials and Tribble-ations" bear no resemblance to Scully and Mulder. They're more like Joe Friday and Bill Gannon from Dragnet -- and maybe a bit like Spock and Kirk if they were equal in rank (and if it's the no-nonsense early first-season Kirk). I also drew from such literary pairings as Holmes & Watson and Phileas Fogg & Passepartout. I did not draw on Mulder & Scully in the slightest degree. I understood from the start that if these characters were to carry a novel, they needed to be more than an in-joke. Besides, I was never much of an X-Files fan.
     
  16. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Cool, I'm a big fan of those kind of pairs, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

    I'm also very curious to see what you do with the TCW in this. I think it was actually a pretty cool concept, but in the end they seemed to kind of just drop it in favor of other storylines. I'm really hoping you at least give us a final answer about Future Guy's identity, that is probably one of my biggest unanswered question. TBH I'm still pissed we never learned who he was by the end of the show.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, I don't want to give away the game. A lot of questions will be answered, but as with most answers, there will be new questions raised. I took advantage of the opportunity to explain all sorts of stuff, but I also discovered that in some cases it was more fun to be mysterious.
     
  18. ST-One

    ST-One Vice Admiral

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    Same here.
     
  19. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    I'm not sure just yet, it sounds like a fun and interesting concept, Chris' writing has never struck me as that though. I've read most of his stories, they've been ok, nothing as special as others think though in my opinion.
     
  20. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm just not that interested in Time Travel nor interested in trying to see how it all fits together within the Star Trek universe. It's the subject matter that's the issue for me, it's just not my cup of tea.