As a lover of time-twisty tales, and a fan of Rings of Time, can we expect another novel in that vein with No Time Like the Past?
News about early 2014 schedule
- Thread starter Defcon
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A difference that is no difference makes no difference.
Here's the thing, what I want, when all is said and done are stories that matter.
Now someone reading that might assume that means that I am talking about the kind of books we are getting from the post Destiny novels, or from the newly minted RotF era. But it's not quite as simple as that.
Continuity is nice. I'm a fan of continuity, and I do like it best of best when the events in a novel influence events in other novels.
But that's not the only way to matter.
When a story gives me insight into a character the way that Metamorphosis, gave me insight into Data, then the story matters.
When a story gives me a sense the history of earth that led ultimately to the Federation we have today the way that both the Eugenic Wars and Rings of time have done, then the story matters.
When a story takes an event that I've taken for granted and gives me a fresh perspective on it and it's impact on a character (such as Mr. Bennett's take on the events of Inner Light) then it matters.
The problem for me was that for much of the 90's "self contained" stories far too often seemed to mean that there was nothing but endless repetition of what had been seen on the screen, with no allowance for any aspect of the story to step even so much as a big toe outside of established box.
For a time I didn't mind, but the older I got the more tiresome I found that.
Fortunately right about the time they might have lost me for a long spell as a reader they decided to launch The New Frontier series.
That was the beginning and from there it has blossomed. Now we have things like the DS9 relaunch, and the Typhon Pact thread, and now the investigation of the early history of the UFP.
Now when the odd story comes along that is maybe a little simpler I don't mind. Often there will still be some fresh insights to be gleaned. But even when that isn't that case since I have so much stuff that matters I find I can better enjoy a story that maybe doesn't but is still well presented.
Here's the thing, what I want, when all is said and done are stories that matter.
Now someone reading that might assume that means that I am talking about the kind of books we are getting from the post Destiny novels, or from the newly minted RotF era. But it's not quite as simple as that.
Continuity is nice. I'm a fan of continuity, and I do like it best of best when the events in a novel influence events in other novels.
But that's not the only way to matter.
When a story gives me insight into a character the way that Metamorphosis, gave me insight into Data, then the story matters.
When a story gives me a sense the history of earth that led ultimately to the Federation we have today the way that both the Eugenic Wars and Rings of time have done, then the story matters.
When a story takes an event that I've taken for granted and gives me a fresh perspective on it and it's impact on a character (such as Mr. Bennett's take on the events of Inner Light) then it matters.
The problem for me was that for much of the 90's "self contained" stories far too often seemed to mean that there was nothing but endless repetition of what had been seen on the screen, with no allowance for any aspect of the story to step even so much as a big toe outside of established box.
For a time I didn't mind, but the older I got the more tiresome I found that.
Fortunately right about the time they might have lost me for a long spell as a reader they decided to launch The New Frontier series.
That was the beginning and from there it has blossomed. Now we have things like the DS9 relaunch, and the Typhon Pact thread, and now the investigation of the early history of the UFP.
Now when the odd story comes along that is maybe a little simpler I don't mind. Often there will still be some fresh insights to be gleaned. But even when that isn't that case since I have so much stuff that matters I find I can better enjoy a story that maybe doesn't but is still well presented.
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I've always found it funny that many of the older TOS pocket books have references to spending weeks studying nebulae. They get into all these adventures and still manage to do scientific research.
Well, for the first three years of the 5YM, the bridge crew only worked about 52 mins per week. The next year, they were down to just 22 mins per week. Gotta have something to keep the 380+ crew we never met busy, something to do with their time!
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Hmmm, I'd never thought of it like that...
[heard-it-all-before comment bemoaning the lack of novels set in the current movie continuity]
That way madness lies . . . .
That would be a huge undertaking. I wish I had that much time on my hands.
^I feel the same as Christopher. Spock's growth in the time period leading up to TMP, and directly after it, are key. Forgotten History did a great job of exploring the differences brought on by TMP. Whenever I see another 5YM book come out, it just makes me think the story is going to be all about the action or "planet of the week" and that zero character growth is to be expected. It's too bad Greg feels like this. I'd love to see him add something to these characters instead of telling stories where everything gets put back in the box at the end.
Personally, it's because of the "put the toys back in the box" thing I like about TOS books. Sure, game-changing events that shake up the status quo have their place and are fine enough, but that's basically what all the 24th century series novels are these days. It's nice to take a break from that and just have a stand-alone story which gets wrapped up at the end. As it is, TOS was for the most part planet/alien of the week, so the novels taking this approach makes it feel like an authentic episode.
Hell, I personally don't think it would hurt for the 24th century novels to do something set in the TV series timeframe. Sure, we all like catching up on the machinations of the Typhon Pact, and that's obviously working out for Pocket, but I'm sure there could be room in the yearly schedule for say one TNG novel set during the TV series run. I'm sure there must still be enough casual TNG fans who would dig a new novel that didn't have a bunch of new characters and ongoing storylines that have a few years of backstory to them.
I am absolutely one. Although I am about as far from a "casual" fan as you can get.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with what the 24th century novels are doing. And, in the case of ENTERPRISE, setting the books after the show and showing us the rise of the Federation is absolutely the right move. But, enough already with the constant "change and growth" stuff. Let's see some TNG, DS9, and VOYAGER novels set during their series.
At least once in a while.
I undertook that exercise a few years back. OK, in 1986, which was what, 27 years ago?
At that point I concluded that there were already too many episodes/books/comics than could comfortably fit in a single five-year mission.
I believe that was one of the reasons the "Pocketverse" of the '80's assumed a second five-year mission between "Turnabout Intruder" and TMP. (Well, that, and as a way to explain why Shatner, Nimoy and everyone else had clearly aged a decade in ~3 years.)
I imagine that a similar exercise undertaken today would have to pack ~40 years worth of adventures into a five-year mission. As someone commented, that way lies madness.
Exactly. That would be like trying to figure out how every single ARCHIE comic fits into Archie's high school years.
(Seriously, even if Archie was dating Betty and/or Veronica every single night of the week for three years, there's no way he could have that many dating misadventures before graduating!)
Exactly. That would be like trying to figure out how every single ARCHIE comic fits into Archie's high school years.
(Seriously, even if Archie was dating Betty and/or Veronica every single night of the week for three years, there's no way he could have that many dating misadventures before graduating!)
I always assumed that stories like Archie and the Simpsons existed in a weird universe where time repeated itself endlessly after the Earth passed through a weird temporal anomaly. Bart Simpson attended 4th Grade, had summer, attended 4th Grade, had summer, etc. And yet he remembers every year he's lived.
Well, of course, now there's a comic where he has finally married Veronica - and you flip it over to read where he's married Betty.
Not to mention that Calvin and Hobbes went through about ten Christmases, starts of school, ends of school, etc. yet Calvin remained six years old throughout. The Peanuts gang went through similar yearly cycles but aged at something like 1/5 or 1/6 normal speed; when the comic started in the '50s the leads were 3 years old, but they were something like 9 by the '80s. Although some of the characters were added as babies and then caught up with the others in age, like Schroeder.
Greg,
I'm going to ask:
Does this pick up any threads from Ring of Time?
Does this have anything to do with Khan and/or The Eugenics War?
