Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) ^ Thank you, Benny. I'm glad it lived up to your expectations.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) It's not good... not good at all... that this series is over. A good finale. The attack on Vanguard was the strongest part of the book, I think. Most of what's good has already been said; what I didn't like was the name-dropping of Hofstadter and Koothrappali (Cooper was already in the Hub), and the late arrival of the Enterprise. The series fared very well without Kirk and Co. and I think it wasn't a good idea to have the Enterprise, once again, swoop in and save the day. BTW: You do like your "salt-and-pepper", don't you?
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I for one could have gone for a chief engineer Wolowitz. Could have dropped his name saying he had to fix the Vanguard toilets! Maybe have waitress Penny in Ganz's employ.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) He's good with those. In an obituary written by Pennington? "I knew her well, Cervantes..."
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) But given how nicely the ePub looks, the Kindle version will just be plain dull (to look at). Sony Reader 1, Amazon Kindle 0.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Just outstanding. Loved it from beginning to end. Great way to end the series.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Simply amazing - Best ongoing Trek lit series bar none. This is Star Trek done right - TOS setting with modern sensibilities and nuances. (if there had been any doubt, I voted Outstanding )
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Got it in yesterday, started reading at about 20.00 hours. It's now 15.18, and I finished it 18 minutes ago. What a read, just wow. I find it very hard to grade Vanguard per novel, to me it's one long story. So I suppose the Outstanding I voted, goes for the entire series of Vanguard, and is a big THANK YOU, to David, Kevin, Dayton and Marco for their combined efforts, creating a series with a proper beginning, middle and end. This was just a fantastic read, and I'm gratefull for the effort that has gone into it.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Hopefully the Vanguard 4 get to coordinate on another project in the future.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) ^ We've talked about it, but we haven't found the right idea. It's also possible that trying to replicate this formula again wouldn't work — it might have been "lightning in a bottle", as the saying goes.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I often wondered what happened in the Ceta Alpha system after "Space Seed". No more.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I liked how Dayton Ward tied in VAN to the 24th century in "Paths of Disharmony" and how Destiny connected the 22nd and 24th centuries. If you do try another series, I hope it is something that spans over a large period of time.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Lightning does however strike twice in the same location, regardless of the so-called axiom. I think I speak for all readers of Vanguard when I say that we will wait for as long as it takes for that next brainstorm to come to you or the others. Vanguard was the most like televised Trek (on HBO) could be, a seven year run with high ratings throughout. Network executives would frothing at the mouth to have that, so I can only imagine what the bean counters at Pocket Books are doing, other than muttering to the deities about bottling your synapses. I, for one, will be looking forward to the next iteration of the Brain Trust.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) ^Yeah, what he said. I think what you guys did with Vanguard worked out great, I would be very happy to read another series done the same way.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I haven't got it yet but I'm planning on turning off the phone and digging in as soon as I do. Don't you dare interrupt my Vanguard farewell. I'm not looking for spoilers but I'm hoping that the end for Diego is something other than sitting in his country cabin. After what he allowed to happen to the colonists (including his ex wife) I hope for a bit more poetic justice for the end of his story. What he did was inexcusable.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) In fact, any "single" lightning strike is actually multiple strokes in quick succession, following the same path of ionized air, hence the strobing effect. However, "catching lightning in a bottle" is a different metaphor, suggesting the successful capture of something that's all but impossibly elusive.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I voted Outstanding...as much an opinion for this novel as for the whole series. It's been as exciting as any Trek in two decades IMHO. I finished it up in a flash this past weekend and I had two quick questions, they may be a bit spoilerish so here goes: Spoiler: About Cervantes Quinn... I'd love to see him pop up again...I do realize the point of leaving his whereabouts open ended serves to "conclude" his story here, but it is suggested that decades later he and Pennington do catch up. Any chance of a return of our favorite coffee drinking smuggler? and Spoiler: Ceti Alpha... This is most likely explained in the novel and I just missed it, but was it implied or outright stated that Starfleet accidentally blew up Ceti Alpha VI as a result of their fooling around with the conduits/Shedai technology? If so, that's a pretty big revelation and sheds new light on that part of Khan's story. Congrats to you, David, on a fully realized tale. I know you are proud of it and you should be. I'm glad to have had the chance to experience the series. Thank you.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I'm sure we haven't heard the last of some Vanguard characters.
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) I have to ask; why do you feel the need to point out the transparently obvious?
Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!) Thank you, very kind. And glad you enjoyed the finale. No, actually the text implied no such thing. Re-read their last scene together — it says explicitly that... Spoiler: Storming Heaven / Quinn & Pennington "it was only many decades later that Pennington realized that was the last he ever saw of Cervantes Quinn." They never meet again. Indeed. That was exactly our intention. You're more than welcome. The pleasure was mine.