Burning Dreams

[KRAD]

Is there any possibility of for example accompanying each main entry for a novel or short story with something like "See also May 1st, 2151; SD 3467.1; SD 45921.3"?

Way ahead of you. The book's "main" entry will be in boldface, with any supplemental entries elsewhere in the timeline in regular typeface. The main entry has cross references to all the sub-entries, and the sub-entries all cross reference back to the main one. So no worries on that score.

 

[Geoff]

Christopher said:
But which one did you count as the "base" timeframe? I.e. if one were ordering/shelving the books in chronological order, or as close as possible, where would this one most logically go? My choice was

Spoiler: Burning Dreams (mild spoilers)

the post-"Menagerie" setting, because Pike telling Vina his life story after Spock beamed him down was the frame for most of the flashbacks. The 2320 Spock portions are the main exception to that.

True, but in turn,

Spoiler

the 2320 (Spock) sections provide the frame for the post-"Menagerie" sections.

In cases like these, we usually look at the basic structure of the story--Is there a "framing" sequence that provides the foundation for all of the backstories, and is that frame deliberately set at a specific point in the Trek mythos? Also, we might consider whether the later events presuppose that the reader has knowledge of intervening events that are outside the scope of the story. In other words, if a reader were to hypothetically decide to read every work of Trek fiction in chronological order, are there sections of the story that would "spoil" (or otherwise confuse) the reader who was unfamiliar with later events? If so, the later timeframe is usually judged to be the "base" timeframe when considering the placement. In Burning Dreams,

Spoiler

the 2320 sections (comprising the Prologue, Epilogue, and most of chapter nine) reveal Spock's ambassadorship, Sulu's command of the Excelsior, etc.; and since all the other backstories are derivitavely linked to the 2320 frame, we considered that to be the "primary" setting.

Of course, they're not all that simple. With Federation, after weeks of discussion, we finally opted to go with 2366 for no better reason except that it was the later of the two most prominently featured timeframes. But we just as easily could have selected 2293 (the framing story) or 2371 (chronologically the latest section).

 

[JD]

Just out of curiosity, how many pages will this timeline be?

 

[RookieBatman]

Geoff said:
The basic layout of the new revision will be radically different (and, I trust, much easier to read) than what was printed in What Lay Beyond. Additionally, in this revision we have placed any and all "sub-entries" for a given story (i.e., flashbacks, backstories, time-travel, etc.) in their proper chronological locations, and have included many more explanatory annotations (now in the form of footnotes).

That sounds awesome! I was already extremely excited about VotI, but now, I'm, like, a zillion times more excited! This is exactly the kind of book I would right if I ran the zoo.

Say, how do I join the Timeliners? Are they accepting applications?

 

[JD]

I'm starting to seriously consider picking up BD, even though I've never really seen much TOS, although, I have seen The Cage several times, thanks to the old VHS Pilots collection I have. But, before I did I wanted to ask how much familiarity to the rest of TOS is neccessary to fully undstand the novel? (Yes I know, it more than likely gives all the neccessary info in the book, but I have found that it is usefull to have seen the eps. that are referenced to get the full impact of the story).

 

[Christopher]

^^I think as long as you're familiar with "The Cage" and "The Menagerie," you're pretty much set.

 

[Geoff]

Ens. Brodsky said:
Just out of curiosity, how many pages will this timeline be?

No way to know until we see the galleys, but as an MS-Word document with an 8½"x11" page size, it was 125 pages long.

RookieBatman said:
Say, how do I join the Timeliners? Are they accepting applications?

We have several active members at the present time, but it remains to be seen how many will still actively participate once we put our noses back to the proverbial grindstones. There are always possibilities...

 

[Trent Roman]

RookieBatman said:
Say, how do I join the Timeliners?

I've heard that joining the Timeliners involves a pair of goats, three-hundred meters of industrial grade duct tape, forty-seven boxes of Total, a hot plate, and a vinyl record of "Dark Side of the Moon".

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Don't be ridiculous.


It's only two hundred meters of duct tape, and they changed the record requirement to "Bat Out of Hell" three years ago.

 

[Bobatiel]

^ Bet you still can't pinpoint the proper time frame for Requiem For A Martian.

 

[TerriO]

^Oh, don't think they can't. I know we discussed it at Shore Leave.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Christopher said:
Although I'm glad that the book is fully compatible with the Early Voyages comics. I'd feared it would contradict them, but there are no discontinuities between them as far as I can tell. Which is lucky, since I gather Margaret hadn't read the comics.

I'm thrilled to hear this. I was a big fan of Early Voyages, so it's nice to hear that there are no huge conflicts. Not that any contradictions would have interfered with my enjoyment of Burning Dreams, but it's always nice when two stories you like jibe without even meaning to. :thumbsup:

 

[Christopher]

^^Well, maybe not entirely without meaning to. Chief Engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace does appear at one point in the story, so we know Margaret was aware of the comics.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Christopher said:
Chief Engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace does appear at one point in the story, so we know Margaret was aware of the comics.

Or at least the other ST tale that has featured him: the SCE eBook, "Where Time Stands Still".

 

[Christopher]

^^See p. 354 -- in the afterword, she specifically mentions Grace's Early Voyages origin.

 

[garamet]

^Actually, that was KRAD's influence.

Or KRAD's fault, depending on your POV.

 

[TerriO]

Eh, everything's usually Keith's fault.

 

[Elemental]

I just picked up BD today along with the reprints of Strangers from the Sky and Vulcan's Glory.

In BD, I was interested (and a bit surprised) to see that some previous Trek lit works surrounding Pike have been mentioned. I was hoping I could get some help with some of the references to which I am not familiar. I don't think this is really spoilerish at all but just in case I'll leave some room...





On page 15, Pike is contemplating what he should tell Vina about himself. Some possible stories include:
-spacefairing leviathans (is this a reference to some other work?)
-a Vulcan gemstone (I'm assuming this refers to Vulcan's Glory - I haven't read it yet but it sounds similar to my understanding of the topic of the book
-a watering hole in San Francisco where time seems to stand still (is this possibly a reference to the "Captain's Table" which I've never read)
-a race called the Calligar (no idea)
-a Trill woman named Audrid (The Lives of Dax which I'm currently reading!)

Of course it's probable that not all would be references to other stories we've heard before but it raised my curiousity. Anyway, I'm only a chapter in but am really intrigued so far. Linear storytelling be damned!

 

[KRAD]

On page 15, Pike is contemplating what he should tell Vina about himself. Some possible stories include:
-spacefairing leviathans (is this a reference to some other work?)
-a Vulcan gemstone (I'm assuming this refers to Vulcan's Glory - I haven't read it yet but it sounds similar to my understanding of the topic of the book
-a watering hole in San Francisco where time seems to stand still (is this possibly a reference to the "Captain's Table" which I've never read)
-a race called the Calligar (no idea)
-a Trill woman named Audrid (The Lives of Dax which I'm currently reading!)

They are references to, in order, Where Sea Meets Sky by Jerry Oltion, Vulcan's Glory by D.C. Fontana, the Captain's Table bar, The Rift by Peter David, and "Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry in The Lives of Dax.

 

[Elemental]

Thanks. I sometimes wonder how you guys keep it all straight!