Book reading timeline

[Steve Roby]

1) It seems that Killing Time created some controversy that had the publisher edit it and reissue the book. What exactly was edited and is it difficult to find an unedited version? Does the reissue show it as a 1st print or second and if not how do you tell which version you have?

Quoting from my own website:

In 1985, Pocket Books published Della Van Hise's novel Killing Time, then withdrew it from publication. The wrong draft of the novel had been printed. Pocket had the correct version in the stores pretty quickly, but didn't publicize the change. Van Hise was apparently active in the "slash" fan fiction scene (i.e., fiction about Kirk and Spock as lovers), and she worked a slash subtext into this novel, more overtly in the accidentally printed early draft. The editor at the time had Van Hise rewrite the book to get rid of that subtext. The revised version was used for later printings.

There are at least fifty changes from the first version to the revised version, some as short as a single word, others as long as a paragraph or two. Most of the excisions involve scenes in which there is physical contact between Kirk and Spock (for example, describing the warmth of Spock's hand on Kirk's face during a mindmeld). But there was also a sentence that described Spock's realization that Kirk was the person Spock was meant to spend his life with.

If the cover has raised letters for the title, it's likely to be the original; if not, check anyway, because at least some copies without raised lettering have the unexpurgated text. Better yet, just check page 41 for a passage that begins, "I understand that you were probably playing with dolls and wearing lipstick until you were twenty!" That appears only in the original.

 

[Mr. Domino]

I'd like to thank everyone who posted the lists in this thread - this is exactly what I've been looking for. I just got into reading the post-series novels (I've read Behind Enemy Lines and Tunnel Through the Stars, and have started The Battle of Betazed), and I can't wait to dive in further.

 

[timothy]

You want an exhaustive list?

Okay, here's a possible answer to your questions above. Thrawn gave you the most important, but if you want to know what else is connected, I'll give a list of most of the post-series stories that form part of, or tie into, the mainstream continuity. This is deliberately extensive, basically overkill. Keep in mind you don't have to read anything (well, starting a particular series half way might be a bad idea . If you want to know what in particular to read, the others can give pointers. But here's the big one. In more-or-less in-universe chronological order:

The Battle of Betazed
Tales of the Dominion War
Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances
The Left Hand of Destiny, book one
The Left Hand of Destiny, book two
Gemworld, book one
Gemworld, book two
Diplomatic Implausibility
A Stitch in Time
SCE omnibus: Have Tech, Will Travel
Avatar, book one
Avatar, book two
SCE omnibus: Miracle Workers
Section 31: Abyss
Demons of Air and Darkness
SCE omnibus: Some Assembly Required
Twilight
The Brave and the Bold, book two
SCE omnibus: No Surrender
SCE omnibus: Foundations
SCE omnibus: Wildfire
This Gray Spirit
Cathedral
A Good Day to Die
SCE omnibus: Breakdowns
Lesser Evil
Honour Bound
Rising Son
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Aftermath
Unity
Enemy Territory
Worlds of DS9: Trill: Unjoined
Worlds of DS9: Bajor: Fragments and Omens
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Grand Designs
Worlds of DS9: Andor: Paradigm
A Burning House
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Creative Couplings
Worlds of DS9: Ferenginar: Satisfaction Is Not Guaranteed
Mirror Universe anthology: Shards and Shadows
Worlds of DS9: Cardassia: The Lotus Flower
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Wounds
The Genesis Wave, book one
The Genesis Wave, book two
Worlds of DS9: Dominion: Olympus Descending
Genesis Force
Warpath
Fearful Symmetry
Vulcan's Soul: Exodus
The Soul Key
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Out of the Cocoon
Vulcan’s Soul: Exiles
Vulcan’s Soul: Epiphany
Corps of Engineers omnibus: What’s Past
Voyager: Homecoming
Voyager: The Father Shore
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Voyager: Old Wounds
Voyager: Enemy of my Enemy
A Time to Be Born
A Time to Die
A Time to Sow
A Time to Harvest
A Time to Love
A Time to Hate
A Time To Kill
A Time to Heal
A Time For War/A Time for Peace
Death in Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: The Red King
Resistance
Titan: Orion’s Hounds
Q and A
Titan: Sword of Damocles
Before Dishonour
Articles of the Federation
Greater Than the Sum
Destiny: Gods of Night
Destiny: Mere Mortals
Destiny: Lost Souls
A Singular Destiny
Losing the Peace
Voyager: Full Circle
Titan: Over a Torrent Sea
Voyager: Unworthy
Titan: Synthesis
Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions
Voyager: Children of the Storm
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
DTI: Watching the Clock
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire
Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
Indistinguishable From Magic

If you want to be even more exhaustive, the above books sometimes reference the events of novels set earlier than the series. You might, if you're being a completist here, want to get the Lost Era series and a few books set alongside it:

The Sundered
Serpents Among the Ruins
Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers
The Art of the Impossible
Well of Souls
Vulcan's Heart
Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves
Deny Thy Father
Catalyst of Sorrows
The Buried Age
Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles.

And you might want the Vanguard series too, set before the above novels, during the TOS series.

I think that's more or less an exhaustive list....

Great list there but where do slings and arrows and seven deadly sins fit into that?

 

[bok2384]

Great list there but where do slings and arrows and seven deadly sins fit into that?

Slings and Arrows would be placed prior to The Battle of Betazed because they tell the first year (2372-73) of the Enterprise-E's service.


As for Seven Deadly Sins...

• "The First Peer" would be placed before Slings and Arrows as it takes place in 2267, less than a month after "The Deadly Years" (TOS)
• "Reservoir Ferengi" takes place in 2377, placing it at any point after The Soul Key and and before Homecoming (which takes place in late 2377/early 2378)
• "The Slow Knife" goes in-between "The Unhappy Ones" and Slings and Arrows and takes place in 2362.
• "The Unhappy Ones" occurs in 2269, prior to the events of "Day of the Dove", placing it between "The First Peer" and "The Slow Knife".
• "Freedom Angst" is a mirror universe tale and occurs in 2369.
• "Revenant" occurs in early 2380 and is concurrent with Greater Than the Sum.
• "Work Is Hard" occurs in 2370, placing it between "The Slow Knife" and Slings and Arrows.

 

[JD]

Just in case you don't know the years, the MU stories takes place before Kira and Bashir visit that universe in "Crossover".

 

[timothy]

Very cool thanks.

 

[Christopher]

"Revenant" occurs in early 2380 and is concurrent with Greater Than the Sum.

I know that's what the timeline note says, but I don't know why. As far as I can tell, there's nothing in "Revenant" that ties into GTTS.

 

[bok2384]

"Revenant" occurs in early 2380 and is concurrent with Greater Than the Sum.

I know that's what the timeline note says, but I don't know why. As far as I can tell, there's nothing in "Revenant" that ties into GTTS.

I remember being puzzled about that when I first read the story, as I was quite excited when I saw the reference GTTS.

My memory about it is a bit vague, but I remember that a post-Destiny setting seemed more likely. Could be wrong though, I'll have to reread.

 

[JD]

I just assumed it was because the author wanted it to be set as late in timeline, but still involve pre-Destiny Borg.

 

[Christopher]

Well, it could be overlapping GTTS, since that novel spans about three and a half months. But what's odd is that the timeline note puts it simultaneous with the core events of GTTS in November '80, and I don't see anything in "Revenant" that pins it down that precisely. And it's not like the two events are linked in any way.

 

[timothy]

what is GTTS? and I was also wondering are there any other plans to do any more challenger novels to be release?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

what is GTTS?

Greater Than The Sum.

 

[timothy]

Okay thanks.

 

[Mr. Domino]

nope, there are currently, as far as I know, no plans to revive the Challenger line - especially now that Indistinguishable From Magic has been released, featuring an entirely different Challenger.

 

[Christopher]

nope, there are currently, as far as I know, no plans to revive the Challenger line - especially now that Indistinguishable From Magic has been released, featuring an entirely different Challenger.

I don't see how that's an issue, since the two are set in different centuries, and it's a name that's been used by multiple earlier vessels. But yeah, Challenger was a project specific to Diane Carey, and she's moved on from writing to politics.

 

[Mr. Domino]

Not a problem for you or I, but I try and never underestimate the ignorance of the common reader - even someone with the good taste to indulge in treklit.

 

[Christopher]

Right, since of course we've never had two or three series about different ships named Enterprise. That would just confuse people too much.

 

[Mr. Domino]

Touche.

Its happened, though. In fact, one specific time in college, I had a friend who purported to be a big Trek fan, and I had just finished reading Imzadi - she hadn't, so I lent it to her. The next day she was horribly confused, because Kirk was nowhere to be found.

 

[timothy]

So are the challenger books and the gateway books importantnt to the time line reading?

 

[sulfur]

No.

A couple of the Gateways books are required reading (especially the DS9 tales), but not all are.