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A Time To... Series

idreamedmusic

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
*waving*

Hiya, new to the board and recently rediscovering my love of Star Trek, specifically TNG. So please excuse a topic on what must be old news to most of you.
Anyways, I've recently been working my way back into Trek fandom and remembering how I used to inhale the novels as a kid, I got my hands on the "A Time To..." series and have been reading those. I'm only up to "A Time to Hate", but find myself thoroughly enjoying them.

To put things a bit in context, for years, my only exposure to Star Trek were the movies, which I made sure to catch. And while I don't seem to hate the last efforts as some do from what I gather from this board, I did end up being rather disappointed by NEM - albeit it had redeeming moments. Moments aren't enough to sustain a movie, though.

Reading the "A Time To..." series, I must say it was a wonderful idea to provide a bridge between the two movies and it actually made me appreciate NEM more the way it set things up and explains what happened in the interlude between the movies. Anyone else have that experience?

As I remember from my reading novels years ago, they tend to be hit or miss. And the plot idea with the phantom ship does seem a bit far-fetched to explain Picard's fall from grace when it comes to Starfleet. Not the idea in itself, but how it was handled the way Starfleet dealt with it. Nevertheless, I feel the novels really set things up well, especially when it comes to the overall feel of change and moving on that NEM seemed to have had - especially considering the characters of Riker and Crusher. I was especially glad to see Riker get some hefty story lines, as I felt he's been neglected in the movies.

So, kudos to the writers of the series, even though I'm not done with it, yet. But it did make me see NEM with different and less critical eyes.
 
You ain't seen nothing yet, cadet. The last three books of the series are some of the most highly praised TNG books in this community, and there are good reasons for that. Be sure to reserve a large block of time for A Time to Kill. Once you start it, you won't want to stop.
 
Welcome to the board! Always nice to have new readers of TrekLit. :)

I'll look forward to hearing your comments about my two contributions to that series, A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal.

Best,
~ David Mack
 
Thank you for the warm welcome to both of you!

I must say, I had no idea the actual authors were here, too. And with such high praise, I am seriously looking forward to finishing the series. I'm sure I won't be disappointed as I must say, the novels have gotten quite a lot more enjoyable from when I stopped reading them years ago. I know, I know - shame on me.

Thanks again and I'll be sure to let you know what I thought of them ;)
 
^ A lotof the authors post here. Out of the A Time to... authors, I believe only John Vornholt has never posted here.
 
Welcome! :bolian:

Smiley said:
You ain't seen nothing yet, cadet. The last three books of the series are some of the most highly praised TNG books in this community, and there are good reasons for that. Be sure to reserve a large block of time for A Time to Kill. Once you start it, you won't want to stop.
Yeah, I deffinitely agree with Smiley here. I'm reading ATtK and so far it is amazing. Deffinitely one of the best Trek stories I've read or watched.

There are actually quite a few Trek authors who post here. In fact I think all of the ATT... authors except Vornholt post here.
 
welcome to the board, idreamedmusic! I hope you'll have a pleasant time here.

oh, and when you finish A time to..., you've got to find yourself a copy of Articles of the Federation. :)
 
Rosalind said:
you've got to find yourself a copy of Articles of the Federation. :)

Yes!! That is, in fact, a requirement.

*writes down "Berlin, Germany"*

We know where you live.
nunchuck.gif



:p
 
Another welcome here. I wrote the concluding volume, A Time for War, a Time for Peace, and I hope it lives up to the first eight. :)
 
I started the series last monday and am almost finished with the first book. While the setting of the first book is a bit weird for me to understand, I have enjoyed the book and can't put it down. I wish I had more time to read them. Unfortunately, I am going to take a short break to read Q & A before the next "A time to..." as soon as it hits my door step on Monday or Tuesday. :)
 
wizkid said:
I started the series last monday and am almost finished with the first book. While the setting of the first book is a bit weird for me to understand, I have enjoyed the book and can't put it down. I wish I had more time to read them. Unfortunately, I am going to take a short break to read Q & A before the next "A time to..." as soon as it hits my door step on Monday or Tuesday. :)

This isn't required, but I suspect that your reading experience will be superior if you finish A Time to... before moving on to the post-NEM novels.
 
LightningStorm said:
Rosalind said:
you've got to find yourself a copy of Articles of the Federation. :)

Yes!! That is, in fact, a requirement.

*writes down "Berlin, Germany"*

We know where you live.

:p

Uh oh...! ;)

Will add it to my list then if I can get my hands on it.
Good thing I'm going camping next week, will provide me with some reading time.

Thanks again for the warm welcomes!
 
Rosalind said:
welcome to the board, idreamedmusic! I hope you'll have a pleasant time here.

oh, and when you finish A time to..., you've got to find yourself a copy of Articles of the Federation. :)
But you'll need to have read every other Star Trek book before you can begin to understand Articles of the Federation.
 
idreamedmusic

Blade Runner fan?

said:
As I remember from my reading novels years ago, they tend to be hit or miss.

These days, they tend to be pretty damn good. That said, I thought the first two books in the A Time To... sequence were among the weakest Trek books in some time; the rest of the books are all at least good, and some are absolutely essential reading. If your main interest is TNG, don't miss The Buried Age or the post-Nemesis books. If you like DS9, the post-finale books are about as good as Trek gets.
 
Steve Roby said:
Blade Runner fan?

Dude! You are literally the very first person EVER to get my nick! And I've been using it for years and years. *bows before you*
If I had to pick a favorite movie - which is tough enough in itself - that would be it, yes.

These days, they tend to be pretty damn good. That said, I thought the first two books in the A Time To... sequence were among the weakest Trek books in some time; the rest of the books are all at least good, and some are absolutely essential reading. If your main interest is TNG, don't miss The Buried Age or the post-Nemesis books. If you like DS9, the post-finale books are about as good as Trek gets.

Thanks for the advice. I never really got into DS9, but I'll put The Buried Age on my list, too.
Agreed about the general quality of the novels, though there were some great ones back in the day. I remember my teenage self loved "Imzadi", but then there was also so-so stuff like "Gulliver's Fugitives". All in the eye of the beholder, of course.

Also agreed on the first two "A Time to..." novels, compared to the ones after it that I've read. But then it's always tough to set up a series. Though my only gripe is Picard's sudden marginalization by Starfleet, which seems random considering everything that happened before.


Byron Blake - looks like we come from the same region of the galaxy ;) And thank you.
 
idreamedmusic said:
Steve Roby said:
Blade Runner fan?

Dude! You are literally the very first person EVER to get my nick! And I've been using it for years and years. *bows before you*
If I had to pick a favorite movie - which is tough enough in itself - that would be it, yes.

It's one of my top five, for sure. Probably in the top two with Casablanca.

But we're offtopic. Anyway, you picked a good time to get back into TNG novels.
 
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