As someone who loves the spooky, occult side of the DC Universe, I really enjoyed the first issue of MYSTIK U. Think "Zatanna: The College Years" as she attends a magical university along with her fellow students: June Moone, Sargon the Sorcerer, etc. And where the teaching staff includes the likes of Madame Xanadu, Mister E, etc. A lot of fun so far, with some deep dives into DC lore as well.
Just finished Seekers series. Making my way through 2269 lit-verse right now but some of my list is out of order. Going back to That Which Divides, which looks to take place before the last Seekers novel. Also, why is a 2012 Kindle title still $15.99 ? I'm skipping over some of the old Pocket novels and will circle back.
Finished Crisis on Centaurus and found it pretty entertaining. On a superficial level the prose was very readable, so I found myself speeding through it faster than average. Other than the general main draw of the book, I was looking forward to it for its depiction of a version of Kirk and McCoy's first meeting, the details of Kirk as a landowner, and to see a version of Centaurus (that I knew would differ from what the Spaceflight Chronology suggests). I got a weird sense that the early flashback sequence grew out of ideas the author came up while writing the story on the fly, and he then felt it necessary to go back and insert the flashback to tie the story of the connections between Kirk, Bones, Joanna and the world of Centaurus together. It's just an impression, though. I enjoyed the details of Kirk's early career and this idea of a valley and river that have been given names of sentimental value to him. I wonder about the guilt factor attached to those names, from the episode that they are drawn from; the idea of the valley is that it's a peaceful place to Kirk, yet the names he's chosen haunt him in “Obsession”. The book's narrative unfolded in a way I didn't quite expect, specifically with regard to Kirk's storyline. While Spock's storyline unfolded in a straightforward manner seemed clearly outlined, I was surprised by the emphasis on the task of apprehending the group responsible for the New Athens incident. I certainly found it interesting, to see planetary politics, personal agendas, and Federation politics clashing over how to deal with the perpetrators and suspects. It makes sense to me that the Federation doesn't do the death penalty. I was surprised that Centaurus does. And then we have appointed administrators of an emergency government who take the jurisdictional clash deeply personal. The Federation gets cast in a bad light, to some extent. It's easy to sympathize with Centauran officials who want their justice system to be the one that puts the suspects and perpetrators on trial, even if they have lost their perspective. The Federation's justice system is conceptualized by the culture of the US, and one critique of the US justice system is that it depersonalizes what a crime has done to a victim, or victims: murder trials are always titled something like “The people versus Suspect X”. The Federation's intrusion is similarly depersonalizing, in this book. And to the book's credit, there is some small consideration of the fact that there is a shading of injustice in the actions of the Federation, which is stealing justice for itself and away from Centaurus, and thereby diminishing that Centauran citizens specifically were victims, not the Federation as a whole. However, I'm only commenting on this from the standpoint of punitive justice systems (such as the US and many other governments have) versus something called restorative justice. The Federation has Rehabilitation colonies, and that label hints at restorative justice concepts, yet bitter jurisdiction disputes and no consideration of a victim's rights is more characteristic of a punitive system. I'm making no claims to argue the merits of one system versus the other, just trying to dissect how the concepts intercept with general impressions of the Federation's justice system, and how it's depicted specifically in this book. I wasn't expecting a huge amount of consistency from the book, anyway. Centaurus seems to be another stand-in for an Earth-parallel, like the 20th century Rome planet, or the gangster planet. I was following it fine with my usual Devil-may-care attitude about the whole money thing. The story cracked right along it's spine for me, though, at about the 2/3rds mark, when Kirk and Sulu are staying at a hotel overnight. The accumulation of oddities, such as an ludicrously impractical VIP treatment which separates them from their shuttle (for the sake of making sure the story unfolds the way the author needs it too, one assumes), the breathtaking level of detachment, immobility and imcompetence on the part of the planetary government, and then...Sulu wanders off for some late night partying (in some red light district, the author seems to want me to think) in the middle of this humanitarian crisis. Wait, Sulu, did the Captain dismiss you? No possibility he might still need you, round the clock? You're doing this while the other shuttle's landing party wraps up it's on-the-fly nuclear de-armament program, and moves on to provide morale and medical first aid? I think a few other things were in the mix there. Some of the fill-in crew under Uhura's command on the Enterprise start flirting with each other, one randomly gets a “cool” nickname, and Chekov and a nurse...waste each other's time. It's ok. I still enjoyed the book, before and after the 2/3rds mark. I was fascinated by how the story plays out the jurisdiction conflict. I liked the unexpected emphasis the story took, with how Kirk is dealing with his arrest subjects. I liked the set-up of the Enterprise being sent in to provide emergency relief aid, when they are struggling with their own very serious issues; so we see them arriving at a crisis situation already worked ragged to begin with. I liked that Scotty and his echo came to a stopping point with their mutual admiration society (just as I was starting to ask what was the point of MacPherson's existence as a character) There are plenty of nice character moments through out. The imagery of the Enterprise coming to the rescue is a beautiful picture in the mind's eye. It mostly comes together very well for the climax. Notes regarding TOS 80's novel continuity: There was a moment where Chekov reflects on an occasion where Spock spent weeks without sleep, but at the cost of needing weeks of rest and recovery time afterwards, which felt like a nod to Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect. I don't know if the details match up perfectly, but it felt connected to that incident. The entry for New Athens in Memory Beta mentions that the novel Timetrap has Klingons react in a specific way to the aftermath of the New Athens incident, trying to take advantage of it in some way. I haven't read that book, so I really don't know. I'm reading through books that are listed as having a certain amount of connectivity in threads about alternative continuity that builds up, and reach their peak with Time For Yesterday, Spocks World, and The Lost Years. Timetrap didn't quite make that list, and I'm wondering if there is enough connectivity between Crisis on Centaurus and Timetrap, to merit Timetraps inclusion. Or if Timetrap's usage of the New Athens incident is very marginal in it's overall narrative. I'm reading through these books, guided in part by which ones lead into Time For Yesterday and other books where the continuity elements accumulate the most, but I've slated some of the seemingly less connected ones for reading after the main line, based on the notes I've collected. Books like Chain of Attack, and Shadow Lord, which use and therefore reinforce continuity elements, but without really themselves being referenced. If I hadn't already read Dreams of the Raven, it would have been grouped in with these books which I've got the impression are more lightly connected to the rest. Sorry for the wall of text.
After all these years, I still haven't figured that out. Good catch. I looked it up on Google Books -- there's only one reference, in a list of disasters that the Klingons used to create fake backstories for sleeper agents in the Federation, since the disasters meant the records from those places were lost so their backstories couldn't be disproven. But it is a pretty clear Crisis reference, so I guess it would go on the '80s continuity list. There are a lot of similarly tenuous links on that list, since the '80s continuity was always very loose.
It's like he grew out of Mr. Scott like a gremlin, except almost exactly the same. The only saving grace is two moments of contradicting Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott monologues poetically about Enterprise, and his echo finally (finally!) says something like, "Uh, yeah, okay. I'm going back to working the the Impulse drive plumbing, thanks." And then, "Of course we can do X manuver with the ship." Otherwise, he might as well just be called Mr. Scott As Well, or Scotty II. I never tried using that, until now. Never thought of it. Yes, a clear callback. Thanks!
All These Worlds (Bobiverse #3) by Dennis E. Taylor The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt I've got my next 10-12 books lined up to read now that I'm on a reading binge again.
On Friday I started one of the short stories in the Dresden Files short story collection, Side Jobs, but yesterday I changed my mind and switched over to Warehouse 13: A Touch of Fever by @Greg Cox, the one and only W13 tie-in novel. I was in the mood for something different, and this has been floating around my Nook account since it first came out years ago.
Finished Prometheus: Fire with Fire. Thought it was pretty good. Just starting Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (or J K Rowling).
I finished Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: I, the Constable by Paula M. Block & Terry J. Erdmann. I'm now reading Star Trek: The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard by David A. Goodman.
I'm finally getting around to Dayton Ward's Elusive Salvation. I often skip the TOS stories because there's lower stakes (we know the eventual fates of these characters), which makes them feel less compelling to me. But anything with Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln catches my eye, especially after reading Hearts and Minds made a few references. Titan: Fortune of War is waiting in the wings for me to start. Also been sifting through a backlog of comics on Comixology. The current items on my device include Volume 3 of Star Trek: New Visions, Marvel's Star Wars: Princess Leia, and the samurai manga Lone Wolf & Cub (not a big manga fan, but I love samurai stories). I plan to pick up some non-Trek books if (when) I get some Amazon credit for Christmas.
Finally read the first issue of the DISCOVERY comic book: some interesting backstory on T'Kuma that ties in with an old TNG episode. EDIT: Just found out that horror novelist Leslie Whitten has passed away. Tempted to reread his seminal 1960s vampire novel, THE PROGENY OF THE ADDER.
That's a weird one to start with. It's sort of the finale. After that, there's a time jump and everything starts over.
I was going to start with After the Fall but misread Memory Alpha and thought it too was set in 2376.
Started rereading THE PROGENY OF THE ADDER by Leslie Whitten, for the first time in decades. Holds up pretty well; I stayed up later than I intended reading it last night.