Interesting imagery.
Spoilers Coda: Book 3: Oblivion's Gate by David Mack Review Thread
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My impression was that it WAS prime Calhoun and crew, now working in the Mirror Universe for reasons unknown. Why else would he insist on bring his old crew along and calling his jaunt ship Excalibur?
But Calhoun is well-known to Luc Picard, and presumably Soleta would still be well-known in the Commonwealth Starfleet as Calhoun's longstanding romantic partner and subordinate. The prime versions' history is different.
This is pretty much an open letter to David Mack, Dayton Ward and James Swallow. However if any other author of a Star Trek LitVerse novel sees this, it applies to you to.
I finished reading this book and needed to take a few days to digest it. Overall I feel the CODA trilogy is hands down some of the best Star Trek writing ever done. It did everything for me to end the LitVerse that needed to be done. I am sad that LitVerse series has ended; the ending these three authors have given me as a reader is just perfect. I am sad but happy all the same time.
I got into Trek novels back in 2011. I got into them because my wife and I had gotten married and she wanted to watch Enterprise. She likes Sci-fi but never got into Star Trek much. She got the idea of watching Enterprise so we watched it. Then we watched Voyager & DS9. I had watched TNG and DS9 in original run (plus many reruns back in the 1990s). I caught about half of Voyager in original run.
Watching those rewatches got me into the novels, starting with the Enterprise novels, which to me are awesome especially, The Rise of The Federation series. Next I moved over to Avatar. I followed the Great Flowchart. I did the DS9r followed up by Destiny. l skipped the “A Time To” series and the “Cold Equations.”
The Destiny series blew my mind. I loved the world building of some of the alien societies of Typhon Pact novels. The politics of The Fall were great too.
But the novels are more then just that. What I most will remember is reading Destiny while my newborn son was sleeping and I was sitting in the rocker with him. I will remember reading Headlong Flight while being in the hospital. It was escapism for me from a mostly routine medical
procedure. I have read many of your 24th century adventures while waiting in car line at school. You have come with me to a few swim practices too.
For me Trek novels have kept me entertained for the last 10 years of my life. These characters the authors have brought to life have been companions in my life this last decade or so. You have been there in good times and bad. I can’t possibly thank all the authors enough. Thank you for writing these stories.
Y’all have kept Star Trek alive while it has been off the TV. You all were torch carriers for the franchise for me. Now with Trek coming back I hope y’all get to write more adventures in this new era of Star Trek.
I finished reading this book and needed to take a few days to digest it. Overall I feel the CODA trilogy is hands down some of the best Star Trek writing ever done. It did everything for me to end the LitVerse that needed to be done. I am sad that LitVerse series has ended; the ending these three authors have given me as a reader is just perfect. I am sad but happy all the same time.
I got into Trek novels back in 2011. I got into them because my wife and I had gotten married and she wanted to watch Enterprise. She likes Sci-fi but never got into Star Trek much. She got the idea of watching Enterprise so we watched it. Then we watched Voyager & DS9. I had watched TNG and DS9 in original run (plus many reruns back in the 1990s). I caught about half of Voyager in original run.
Watching those rewatches got me into the novels, starting with the Enterprise novels, which to me are awesome especially, The Rise of The Federation series. Next I moved over to Avatar. I followed the Great Flowchart. I did the DS9r followed up by Destiny. l skipped the “A Time To” series and the “Cold Equations.”
The Destiny series blew my mind. I loved the world building of some of the alien societies of Typhon Pact novels. The politics of The Fall were great too.
But the novels are more then just that. What I most will remember is reading Destiny while my newborn son was sleeping and I was sitting in the rocker with him. I will remember reading Headlong Flight while being in the hospital. It was escapism for me from a mostly routine medical
procedure. I have read many of your 24th century adventures while waiting in car line at school. You have come with me to a few swim practices too.
For me Trek novels have kept me entertained for the last 10 years of my life. These characters the authors have brought to life have been companions in my life this last decade or so. You have been there in good times and bad. I can’t possibly thank all the authors enough. Thank you for writing these stories.
Y’all have kept Star Trek alive while it has been off the TV. You all were torch carriers for the franchise for me. Now with Trek coming back I hope y’all get to write more adventures in this new era of Star Trek.
SOT, but was the class of the Jaunt ships ever mentioned? As those ships now look similar to Suurok class, perhaps there was a new class name?
So far, no specific class name has ever been given.
BONUS: Star Wars Legends and Future Star Trek Novels | Positively Trek on Patreon
In this segment that was cut from episode 164 about Coda, author David Mack talks about Star Wars Legends and the novels he would write in that universe. David also discusses his novel, "Star Trek: Discovery - Desperate Hours," and how it relates to what was done in season two. We also discuss the direction of future Star Trek novels in this era of new Star Trek on TV.
The Positively Trek Book Club podcast just posted a BONUS segment from our interview with David Mack. We are temporarily making the clip available for free on Patreon.
In this segment that was cut from episode 164 about Coda, author David Mack talks about Star Wars Legends and the novels he would write in that universe. David also discusses his novel, "Star Trek: Discovery - Desperate Hours," and how it relates to what was done in season two. We also discuss the direction of future Star Trek novels in this era of new Star Trek on TV.
The Positively Trek Book Club podcast just posted a BONUS segment from our interview with David Mack. We are temporarily making the clip available for free on Patreon.
That was very interesting, thank you very much, @Admiral Rex . Still, it is a little bit depressing that we're not going to get another 'continuity' ala Titan, and that the classic TOS / TNG / DS9 series are not even guaranteed to get one book per year.
I will be angry if they cancel SNW together with the book ;-) [I was waiting for Adam Christopher's Mandalorian novel...]
I will be angry if they cancel SNW together with the book ;-) [I was waiting for Adam Christopher's Mandalorian novel...]
Apparently the Mando novel was cancelled was because Cara Dune was in it.
It’s so petty.
That's quite an overreaction. Characters shouldn't be blamed for things their actors have done outside of the show. It's one thing not to want to work with the actor anymore, but the character is separate from that. When I watched The Mandalorian, I knew what had happened with Gina Carano, but I still enjoyed her performance as the character, because that's her work, not her personal life. We've forgotten that those are two different things.
Is there a source for that?Apparently the Mando novel was cancelled was because Cara Dune was in it.
It’s so petty.
It’s just a rumor I’ve heard on some of the Star Wars discussion sites.
Could simply be that they want to take the story in a different direction and this novel contradicts that
Your later point seems to be more accurate (Link). Perhaps starting your post with “Rumors say…” as opposed to “Apparently…” The later suggests there’s some actual knowledge there with some background. Just a thought.
Earlier this year Titan Comics cancelled a Doctor Who series with Jack Harkness in it, and Big Finish cancelled a finished audio series with the character because some decade-old behavior by John Barrowman resurfaced. I agree with you, it's an overreaction to ban a character from tie-in fiction because of the actor, especially tie-in fiction, like comics and novels, that do not require the actor. But that's the decision that was made.
Hmm.
Dropping an actor (and with what appears to be very good reason) is one thing. But a fictional character is a separate entity that can be recast.
On the other hand, separating someone's personal life from his or her work can (and should) only go so far. Which is to say, Richard Wagner is a composer I can only stomach in those contexts (e.g., What's Opera, Doc) wherein he is being ridiculed. And I have been known to arrive at concerts intentionally late (or make "subscriber privilege" ticket exchanges) to avoid his music.
Dropping an actor (and with what appears to be very good reason) is one thing. But a fictional character is a separate entity that can be recast.
On the other hand, separating someone's personal life from his or her work can (and should) only go so far. Which is to say, Richard Wagner is a composer I can only stomach in those contexts (e.g., What's Opera, Doc) wherein he is being ridiculed. And I have been known to arrive at concerts intentionally late (or make "subscriber privilege" ticket exchanges) to avoid his music.
Should it? Gene Roddenberry was probably a sexual predator (although that was pretty much expected of any Hollywood producer back then). Should we throw out all of Star Trek?
We all do both good things and bad things in our lives. They don't have to reflect on each other. A good thing done by a flawed person is still a good thing that can benefit many people. Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves but also wrote the most powerful statement of freedom and liberty ever conceived by humans. We should let people's good achievements stand on their own, independent of those people's bad achievements. If we throw out their good works along with their bad works, that just makes things worse in the long run.
Think of people's creations as analogous to their children. They have an independent existence of their own and shouldn't be condemned for the bad things done by their parents. It's one thing if an artist's creations actively support the bad they do, e.g. the way certain washed-up '90s actors now make right-wing propaganda films as their entire output. But sometimes their creations are not only unconnected to their bad acts, but can actively counteract them. Ender's Game is a powerful statement about empathy and understanding for the other, repudiating everything Orson Scott Card now believes. Harry Potter can easily be read as an allegory for trans people discovering their true gender, anathema to J.K. Rowling's transphobia. The creation is not the creator. The creations that come from the good in us can transcend us even when we let ourselves be taken over by the bad.
To be fair, I don't think much of Wagner's music, either. At best, it's just catchy enough to be a source of annoying earworms.
Thank you (and Dan!) for making this available. It was an interesting (and informative) listen.
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Clever goalpost shifting. I can't wait for your Star Trek Online dream to continue in the face of Picard.
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