Before Dishonor to Destiny: Unintended consequences to TNGR?

[LightningStorm]

I've also been known to warn for Voyager Relaunch hate. Trent! Watch out!

 

[Steve Roby]

I used to be a fan of PAD's work. Vendetta and Imzadi are classics of Trek literature, and early New Frontier is enjoyable... but his writing has become contrived, bloated, pompous and shallow, as if he doesn't give a damn for characterization anymore and just does whatever crazy thing comes into his mind and to hell with the consequences.

If you can't tell, Before Dishonor completely soured me on the TNG Relaunch, whereas I found Q & A to be one of the better Trek novels of the last couple years. Resitence seemed more to be a prologue than a complete story, and Death and Winter did nothing for me, but neither was so terrible that I wouldn't pick up the next novel.

I'm pretty much with you on a lot of that. I think PAD's work isn't what it used to be. I think Q&A was probably the most enjoyable of the TNG relaunch novels. That being said...

Thanks to that worthless waste of eight dollars plus tax and several hours I will never get back, I have no interest whatsoever in picking up any of the subsequent books in the line.

Many of us who found Before Dishonor lacking went on to read and enjoy Greater Than the Sum. It's a very different kind of story, written by a writer with a very different style from PAD's. There are plenty of Trek TV episodes and movies that are at least as disappointing as Before Dishonor, but they didn't keep me from watching, and often enjoying, what came next.

And while I have enjoyed David Mack's writing in the past, what I've heard about Destiny just makes me cringe. It's not the kind of Trek I want to read about. Not in the slightest.

Well, you've certainly got me curious what you've heard about it. A few people here whose opinions I respect found Destiny somewhat disappointing, but I thought it was great, with a strong focus on character and an ending very much in line with Star Trek's ideals.

Anyone who shares an opinion that is not 100% in favor of Bennett's novels will get a warning.

I haven't seen that happen. I have seen that a couple of regular contributors here had a tendency to be gleefully obnoxious to and about Christopher Bennett as a person, while not saying much about his writing, and that moderators let it go on for a surprisingly long time.

 

[OmahaStar]

Anyone who shares an opinion that is not 100% in favor of Bennett's novels will get a warning.

I haven't seen that happen. I have seen that a couple of regular contributors here had a tendency to be gleefully obnoxious to and about Christopher Bennett as a person, while not saying much about his writing, and that moderators let it go on for a surprisingly long time.

It happened to me. I talked about the work, not the person, and got warned for it. I couldn't believe it, but that set a precedent for it. We are no longer allowed to have opinions.

 

[Marie1]

Greater Than the Sum, did a LOT to redeem T'Lana which pleased me.

Of the three incarnations of T'Lana the one in Greater than the Sum was the worst in my opinion. Instead of trying to unite DeCandido’s and David’s “versions” of the character, the T’Lana here felt like yet another character (and the most uninteresting version for that matter), and Bennett don’t have the excuse of writing simultaneous with the other authors.

Its hard when you want to learn more about a character, and you don't get it right away- that happened to me during some of the MG books- which were great, btw, but I'm a little impatient. But some characters need to take up less space so others, that aren't our favourites, but maybe someone else's, get some time to grow.

We have a lot of opinionated people here, but I find CB is usually well informed, and backed up, source wise... He's on my list of people whose Trek connaissance I trust. But then again, sarcasm amuses me more than most people, and I tend to get frustrated by circular and rehashed arguments... and then cranky...

 

[Christopher]

Of the three incarnations of T'Lana the one in Greater than the Sum was the worst in my opinion. Instead of trying to unite DeCandido’s and David’s “versions” of the character, the T’Lana here felt like yet another character (and the most uninteresting version for that matter), and Bennett don’t have the excuse of writing simultaneous with the other authors.

Well, there were actually five different writers who tackled T'Lana: J. M. Dillard, who created her in Resistance; KRAD in Q&A; PAD in Before Dishonor; me in GTTS; and Dave Mack briefly in Lost Souls .

I'm sorry it didn't feel to you like I was trying to unify the character's depictions in her previous appearances, because that's definitely what I was trying to do. I was trying to explain her behavior in BD in the context of what J. M. Dillard established about her Dominion War backstory and its resultant traumas, and I was heavily informed by Keith's depiction of her as a self-aware, effective therapist who understood that Vulcans were entirely capable of suffering neuroses, and if anything had more severe neuroses than humans. Basically, if Keith's T'Lana looked at the way PAD's T'Lana behaved and considered it in light of the history and hang-ups of Dillard's T'Lana, I believe she'd come to the conclusions that my T'Lana expressed about the underlying psychology that they all had in common. But clearly I wasn't successful in conveying that to you. Maybe I could've done better if I'd had more than one scene to do it in.